"What are you looking at?" Avery asked as she packed her purple bag with new books allotted to us and a handful of stationary. Two days passed in a breeze.
Not!
Not only Shade seemed to hate me, which was no surprise, he was the worst 'buddy' on the damn planet. I also found out that his father was the Captain of AIB and his older brother, which was not surprising at all, was stationed in Breo as the Commander of the Etria Order, the deadliest wardens of Blackstorm Penitentiary.
"The rain. It's gotten really gloomy. It was quite sunny a while ago. I can't believe the weather changed so drastically," I said as I pulled away from our casement window. I picked up my own black bag that was a hand-me-down from my mother. But I knew it wasn't. Like she could own a vintage Nike bag. It belonged to my father. Just like all of his other stuff, he had his initials monogrammed on it as well. Luckily for me, the embossed initials were inside the bag rather than outside.
"We should get going. Don't want to be late for the first day of school," Avery stated. I nodded my head. Stuffing the ID card in my hoodie pocket, we headed to our first class. The training for self-defense had not started yet and I was extremely happy about it. Who ever liked waking up early in the morning to workout? Not this girl.
Upon entering the school campus, we found out that all of us were enrolled in a special class on an almost abandoned floor. All the Earthlings with their Eybosnian buddies were made to study together in one room. Talk about exciting endeavors. Although, the use of any regional dialects were prohibited on campus grounds, the rule which was created after the Peace Treaty and our arrival into this great school.
Even though the school looked like a prison from the outside, it was quite decent on the inside. It still had the Lothalt walls but there were plenty of windows for cross-draft. I was shocked that they could even construct windows large enough for a person to run away.
Avery and I sauntered to our designated classroom. I noticed Hayden talking to Erik and one of the girls I didn't know. He tilted his head and our eyes met. A small smile stretched across his face. "There is my beautiful girlfriend," he said, gliding toward me.
Smacking my lips against his, I grinned. "Who's the girl?" I asked.
Hayden wagged his index finger. "Nothing surpasses you."
"You know it."
He dragged me to Erik and the girl. "Nyles, this is Kwon Su-mi. And Su-mi, this is my girlfriend, Nyla, that I was talking about." He introduced us.
Su-mi sprung from her seat. "Hi! Nice to meet you."
"Likewise." Something about her gigantic smile irked me. Her eyes kept sliding towards Hayden, who simply grinned at me. Inwardly face-palming myself for doubting Hayden, I said, "Where are you sitting?"
"At the back, babe," he replied.
I turned and found Hayden's stupid bag with tons of pins of 80's rock bands, which he didn't even listen to, on a chair at the back of the classroom. I marched to the table next to it when a bag dropped in front of me. I looked up and found wavy blue hair flying across my face. "Hyrad. That's my seat," I said, pushing her hair out of my face.
"Is it, now?" Hyrad pouted it. She leaned over the table. "Don't see your name on it."
"You know I was going to sit there." My eyes narrowed.
"Did I?" Her passive-aggressive tone annoyed me. She stepped forward. "But what can you do about it?"
If it were a cartoon, you could've almost seen the rising level of my anger and the steam that was about to explode. "I can do a lot of things, Hyrad. Starting with my foot up you shit…" Before I could finish, Daxton appeared next to me. "Nyla! I was looking for you. I saved you a seat. Come."
Hyrad and I glared at each other before Daxton pulled on my arm and led me away from her. Sitting two seats away from her, by the window, I could feel Hyrad's smugness surround me. Daxton's buddy sat in front of him and pivoted in her seat, facing me. "Hello. We haven't been formally introduced. My name is Lexin Torro." She gleamed. It was very noticeable from her accent that she had recently learned English. She was quite cute for an Eybosnian. Her expression was quite jubilant unlike our other classmates.
"Nyla Richards." I shook her hand and that was when I noticed her Mark. There was a silver mark on the inside of her forearms. "Your Nalin is quite peculiar. It's shaped like pointy daggers."
Lexin blushed. "Because it is. Some of us are gifted with weaponry Nalins."
"Weaponry Nalins?" I asked. "Aren't all Nalins kind of like weapons?"
"Ya, but I can conjure limitless daggers and knives," she replied with a sad expression. It was evident that she was upset about the fact that she could conjure something that cool but wasn't allowed to use it due to the ban on using their Nalin powers. Quickly switching her emotions, she said, "Anyway, I am so excited for this Union. My parents are part of the Peace Treaty Committee. I was waiting to meet you all. Not to brag but it's great to be in the same class as the Human Aliens."
My jaw dropped. Did she call us 'aliens'? "Lexin. It's not polite to call them Aliens. We spoke about that," Shade said as he pulled the chair behind me and dropped down.
"I am terribly sorry. It slipped." Lexin's face dropped. My heart instantly felt bad for her. She was like a small pug that was shouted at.
"It's alright. We are aliens on your planet. We don't know much about you guys. I am excited to be here too," I said. Lexin immediately smiled at me toothily.
"Are you? Are you 'really' excited?" Shade raised an eyebrow. "You looked as excited as Hyrad when she heard about the news. And let me tell you it was not pretty." I threw a pointed look at him. It didn't even faze him. He casually shrugged and waited for our homeroom teacher to arrive. A lady in a white pant-suit with a structured fitted jacket that had upward curves on the shoulder entered confidently. She placed her books and a pencil case on the table. Slowly removing her jacket she draped it around the chair. Well, I now knew why the shoulders of her jackets were curved.
"Hello class, my name is Kula Fialex. I am your homeroom teacher and also Planetary Meteorology teacher." She grinned. Her curved shoulders were quite distracting.
Daxton leaned over and whispered, "Is it just me or does she have portable fruit bowls on her shoulders?" I grinned at Daxton's joke. But Shade didn't find it amusing. He scowled at my brother who in return winked at him.
"Before I call out the attendance, let me go over the rules and regulations of the class decorum," Ms. Fialex said. "Firstly, you can call me Ms. Fialex or Ms. Kula. Secondly, all your classes will be restricted to this floor. You will be assigned individual lockers here at school and the dorms. However, I'm guessing that your buddies might have already told you about that. Third, the cafeteria will be open to you too. Buddies, make sure you're with them during the lunch hour for at least a month or maybe more if you guys finally become friends." The Eybosnians scoffed, making Ms. Fialex purse her lips. "And at last, I'll be handing out your class schedule now. So, take a good look at it. Lexin, dear, could you be so kind as to pass this along?"
Lexin nodded happily and grabbed the papers from Ms. Fialex.
"If you have any questions, please be free to ask," she said as she opened her register. Just then Zerakh raised his hand. "Yes, Zerakh, do you have a question?"
"I sure do, Ms. Kula. Why are we forced to attend classes with 'them'?" Zerakh asked with a stern face.
Ms. Fialex observed the entire class before smiling. "So, you can improve the skills that you are clearly lacking in. And that's being a decent Eybosnian."
Zerakh scowled. He opened his mouth to speak but Hyrad placed her hand on his shoulder stopping him from uttering whatever he was about to say. Ms. Fialex threw a nod at Hyrad and began taking attendance. All were accounted for but one. One of the Eybosnians was absent. I looked around the room and realized I hadn't seen the absentee Eybosnian even during the Orientation program. Who was he, or she?
"Well, good luck on your first day, kids! I'll see you during class," Ms. Fialex walked out the room.
Daxton turned around and grinned widely at me. I frowned. Why the hell was he grinning at me? "What?"
"Well, did you take a good look at the schedule?" Daxton asked.
Shaking my head slowly, I withdrew the sheet of paper that Lexin had handed to me. As soon as my eyes landed on the next period, I groaned loudly. Avery hopped to my seat. "Did you see our next class?"
"I did," I cried.
You must be wondering what the next class could have been that got me all weepy and depressed. You would have been too if you knew it was P.E. And it wasn't 'regular' P.E, it was Eybosnian P.E. Or as they liked to call it, Stealth and Camouflage. Who would keep S&C so early in the morning?
As we headed to the Sports Center, my hands began to get numb. I hated S&C and it wasn't because I was bad at it. It was just that all the games that were played during this period were more inclined for Eybosnians physiology. Some of them even cheated using their Nalins. Most of the time, the teachers just ignored it. During every S&C class at my old school, the Earthlings were always pitted against the Eybosnians and were penalized for losing. It was clearly an unfair system.
The Sport Center at Eybosnian Academy was so much more luxurious than the sweaty gymnasium of my old school. It had both a Pitchball ground and a Demohoop court. It also had a grand gym with the latest machineries and an indoor swimming pool. My jaw dropped in astonishment. Our buddies led us to an elevator that took us to a basement level. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw what appeared before me when the door opened wide.
It was a terrain training ground. Almost the size of a small city or a large town. It was massive. Hold up, our S&C class was being held here? Now, my hands being numb was no more problematic as I had a bigger one. My entire body froze in shock. If it hadn't been for Hayden hauling me out of the elevator, the Sports Center would've had a new monumental addition. A statue of a frozen lady.
A man, probably in his early 40's, stood at the entrance. I guessed he was the Coach. But he didn't look like a regular Coach. Which I kind of prayed for. He didn't wear a tight polo T-shirt with shorts that enhanced their beer bellies or had a whistle around his neck. The man in front of me was burly and big. He wore a black long-sleeved T-shirt that shaped out his wide chest and thick arms and wore black track pants. One could think he was out to assassinate someone and probably he could, but it was also because he had three long scars across his face. Talk about looking intimidating.
"Welcome to your first day at Stealth and Camouflage. My name is Julrian Teydon, you'll call me Mr. Teydon. No Coach, no Trainer. Just Mr. Teydon. Do you get me?" His voice boomed. Everyone agreed feebly. "Today we'll be playing Domination Rings. Have you, Earthlings, ever heard of that game?" We shook our heads. Whatever it was, it wasn't going to be good for them.
"Well, I shall explain it to you. You will be divided into four groups as you haven't yet been sorted to your house colors. The groups will be Blaze, Aqua, Tellurian, and Zephyr. Once you've been divided into groups, I'll hand over the rings of your group colors. The rules are simple, your objective is to place your ring in the enemy base. Once you've accomplished that, you win. But if you're caught by the enemy, you will be tagged and sent to the Frozen Lands and that member of your team will no longer be allowed to continue further," Mr. Teydon explained.
"So, it was basically like Capture the Flag but with rings. And instead of stealing, you place your ring in the enemy base," Avery said beside me.
"Well, now, let's get you, infants, in groups."
~*~*~*~