After the little incident had been resolved, the crowd of students had finally begun moving again. The mass of students were again being put into single file lines via age groups and moved up 3 at a time to get their uniforms, books and classrooms.
There was a part where all the students had the option to change into their newly received school uniforms and it became a small battle for the bathrooms. Some were adept enough to encase themselves with a veil of magic, obstructing the views of those outside and putting on the clothes easily..
Matthew, who had already changed, built a small earthen hut to help change Hazel into her school uniform. When he had finished and had disintegrated the hut, he saw the 3 new people he had just met waiting outside.
Zayne clasped his hands together into a cutesy stance and adorned a set of puppy eyes. "Matthew~ Dearest friend~".
Demetri looked at his friend with disgust and rolled his eyes as heavily as he could. "What this idiot means is, can you please raise huts for us as well?".
"Oh sure! No problem" Matthew said, raising earthen huts for them to change in. "Tell me when you're done".
And about 4-5 minutes later they were all done.
A crackling screech pierced through the gym and at the epicenter of it all was Mr. Sun. "In about 2 minutes you guys will be asked to move out and head on to your home classrooms. After you do so you will be introduced to your homeroom teacher".
This incited a little panic but not too much to cause the masses to go sporadic.
After the 2 minutes had passed, the students were finally moving out of the gym and into their own designated buildings. Of course, this meant that Matthew would be separated from Hazel so he just gave her a pat on the back and told her to behave.
. . .
Inside the Pre Building (which I'll call the 2nd building for the ages 7-9), Matthew had a letter on it saying "2, 2B". He had gotten lost and was trying to find his way around until he saw a familiar face.
Far into the distance, he saw Lauren who was also wandering around. Matthew ran up to her and asked for directions but was surprised when Lauren told him she was lost.
Looking at her hands, Matthew noticed the letter she held. "Looks like we're in the same classroom".
Completely ignoring Matthew, Lauren turned around and walked off to find her classroom.
Matthew was obviously annoyed by her actions and stormed towards her and went to reach for her shoulder, only for his world to be flipped upside down and he found himself on the ground. Looking up, he saw his arm was being held onto by Lauren and he realized that he was just flipped.
Lauren eyed Matthew for a split second before feigning ignorance to his existence and just walked off to find her classroom.
As she was walking off again, Matthew reached out to grab her ankle and yanked her off her feet, causing her to fall face first into the ground. If it weren't for her quick reflexes she would have smashed her face but she was able to quickly intercept the fall with her hands. She looked back with the same unfazed, pair of glossy blue eyes. In one swift motion she kicked herself free and dusted herself off, reassuming her royal air.
As she was about to wander off again she felt an emptiness in her hands. As she went to intercept her fall, the letter must have fallen out of her hands and onto the ground somewhere. Looking back to find her letter, she saw it in the hands of Matthew who was giggling to himself. "You look rather flushed princess".
For the second time this day she broke out of her trance like state and frowned a small bit. "Give it back".
"Nuh uh, not until you apologize" Matthew said, dangling the letter like you would a medal.
Lauren had felt embarrassed and frustrated by this strange boy's continuous scuffles with her and lost control of her emotions for just a second, but in that second she blasted a torrent of highly pressured water at Matthew. When she had realized what she had done, it was too late, she couldn't stop the torrent from hitting Matthew in time and she would be expelled from school.
She expected Matthew's body to be cut clean in half or for the very least for a few ribs to be cracked, but never in her wildest dreams did she expect Matthew to encase himself with Earth that fast. Not only did Matthew block the attack, he also countered with a punch straight to Lauren's gut. "O-oh, my bad! Ah crap! Are you okay?".
Matthew had not even processed what had happened yet and had acted purely on instinct. His body felt the danger coming before he could even see the spell that was cast, what he did see was himself punching Lauren in the gut with an earth encased fist.
Lauren staggered around for a bit before regaining her composure. "This never happened".
Nodding, Matthew agreed. "So uh...you wanna find our classroom together?".
Seeing no reason not to, Lauren had simply walked to the side a bit and gestured Matthew to lead the way.
Within a matter of minutes they had found their homeroom. Walking inside, they could already see the rest of the class in their seats and their teacher was there waiting for them.
"Ah, you must be Mr. Herzia and Ms, Tritus" A skinny but lean figure in glasses said (The figure has blonde hair and glasses). "There are 2 seats available at the back of the classroom".
Looking to the back of the classroom, Matthew could already see Demetri and Zayne sitting there. Zayne was sporadically waving his arms at the 2 whilst Demetri was doing his best to avoid being affiliated with him.
When Matthew and Lauren had finally sat down, The teacher had finally begun to talk. "Greetings, my name is Mr. Zoran and I will be your homeroom teacher for the year. Pleasure to meet you all".
Clearing his throat, Mr. Zoran walked to the side of the whiteboard. "For today's lesson, we will be introducing ourselves to each other".
He pointed to the first student on the left side of the front row and asked him to come up first.
A boy with brown spiky hair and green eyes walked to the front. He introduced himself and left the stage.
The cycle of walking up and introducing yourself kept on going until it was finally Matthew'a turn. "Hello, my name's Matthew Herzia and I'm an Earth Mage".
The class went silent for a bit and just went back to how it originally was. 'Not much of a reaction huh' Matthew thought.
Sitting back at his seat, Matthew had unconsciously checked underneath it for anything but saw nothing. A little embarrassed, Matthew looked around to see if anybody saw but to his relief, nobody did.
Unbeknownst to him, Lauren had seen the minor event. 'What a strange person'.
After an hour or so had passed, the class was allowed to leave for recess.
Before Matthew could slink off on his own, Zayne had grabbed him by the collar and pulled him towards himself and Demetri.
"Woah there pal, before you slink off on your own let's go explore the school grounds together!" Zayne exclaimed.
Demetri only scoffed a little at his friend's actions but ultimately agreed.
Twisting around, Zayne snatched Lauren's shoulder and pulled her towards the group too. Matthew was surprised at how Zayne could so easily handle Lauren.
Lauren felt no need to outrageously react in any type of way when Zayne had grabbed her. She remembered back to when she had flipped Matthew and felt embarrassed, so she wanted to control that little impulse more.
Walking from hall to hall, the quartet of 8 year olds ventured the school grounds. The school really was prestigious, the walls were an iridescent white and the floor was spotless with no soot or grime as far as the eye could see.
The students of this Academy were so prim and proper, they were all stiff from trying not to get in trouble and were relaxed due to everybody having the same mindset.
It was truly a dream school.
The ensemble eventually reached a place that seemed perfect to use as a hangout place. It was an abandoned Janitors closet with a pretty generous sized interior.
Clasping his hands together, Zayne let out a squeal of excitement and gushed over all the endless possibilities that this room could be used for. "Guys, this place is perfect! Come on, help me clean this dump".
Obviously resigned, for some reason Demetri followed suit after Zayne. "You owe me one, I ain't nobody's janitor".
Before Demetri could ask Matthew to help him out, he saw that Matthew was already inside and clearing out the room. 'W-what! Since when did he!'.
Lauren's eyes flashed to Matthew and she was extremely unsettled. She too had not noticed Matthew get into the room. Something inside her was telling her to keep an eye on this boy.
"Yo Lauren, are you just gonna stand there forever? Come help us!" Zayne huffed as he moved a large bucket away.
Almost robotic, Lauren had easily picked up the bucket Zayne was struggling to move and carried it to the opposite end of the room.
After 5 long tedious minutes of soft grunting and loud groaning, the squad had finished tidying up the room and sat down, almost immediately sighing out of relief. But as soon as they sat down the bell rang and they had to rush all the way back to class.
"God damn it!" Zayne groaned.
. . .
The school bells rung, signalling the end of school. Matthew met up with Hazel and went back home. On the way back, Matthew met up with the dynamic duo again, June and Gordon (yes I changed his name to Gordon, I realised the little typo I made).
June was waving like a madman and beckoned for Matthew and Hazel to come over. "Matthew~ Hazel~".
"Stop it sis! We barely know them!" Gordon hissed, punching her sister on the shoulder lightly. "What if they find us annoying?".
"Owwie, Gordon! Momma said no hitting!" June whined. "Besides, I'm sure they like us since they're actually coming over".
Smiling, Matthew wondered if these 2 were straight out of a comic book. "Don't worry, I enjoy talking to you 2".
June beamed at the though of somebody enjoying talking to her. In her previous school she had been bullied for being a loud mouth. She had talked a lot to her peers simply because she really wanted friends but got the opposite of what she wanted. Instead they ostracised her and bullied her for talking too much. After being selected to go to Kiertzche Academy, she still had issues talking to people as they were really tense and didn't want to ruin their opportunities in school. So when Matthew revealed he liked talking to her she felt ecstatic.
Gordon had relaxed his overly fake and mature complexion and softened it to what his regular face would look like. "Stupid sister…".
On the bus, Matthew and June were talking like 2 birds chirping early in the morning. They talked about their experiences with the tests and their new friends. When Matthew revealed that his new friends were Demetri Fourthbringer, Zayne Ares and Lauren Tritus, she dropped her jaw.
Eyes bulging out of their sockets, June had her mouth agape like a stranded fish. "No way! Mommy said that they were the kids of really strong people!".
Genuinely perplexed, Matthew tilted his head a bit. "They are?".
Piping up, Gordon just had to intercept with this conversation. "Of course they are! They're the children of the very top leaders of this world! The direct descendants of the first Grand Mages! They're like royalty!".
This time, Matthew had his mouth agape. "No way!"
Clearing his throat, Matthew recomposed himself. "Well, it doesn't matter to me, they're my friends and nothing is gonna change that fact".
Gordon smiled when Matthew had said this. 'I think sis and me will get along with this guy for a while'.
. . .
Finally, Matthew had reached his stop and got off the bus with Hazel in tow. For some reason Hazel was always sleepy and Matthew had pondered if she slept in class.
When they reached the front door of their house, Mary jumped out and hugged the 2 tightly. "You're back! Oh I missed you so much! So, how was your first day!".
"It was great Ma! I made 3 new friends and Hazel…what did you do today Hazel?" He said, genuinely curious.
Rubbing her eyes a little, Hazel told the 2 about her day. "I talked with this guy called Edmond and made friends with 2 girls called Anna and Elouise".
Mary and Hazel were shocked that little anti social Hazel had made 3 friends! They thought she would be a nervous wreck who would cry for their mother but she was quite the opposite.
"Dang Hazel, I thought you would sleep through all your classes" Matthew jeered.
Yawning, Hazel sleepily looked at her brother. "Shut up poopy, the classes were really boring".
A vein visibly popped out from Matthews forehead. "Who you calling poopy?".
It was times like these that reminded Mary that her son was actually an 8 year old. Everything he did felt like they were the actions of some mature man but were actually the actions of a scared and desperate child. 'If only their father was around' Mary thought, rubbing her necklace.
After washing up and eating dinner, Matthew was reminiscing on his first day of school. He had made 5 amazing new friends and he genuinely thought that this new school would welcome him wholeheartedly. Laying his head against his pillow, Matthew let out a breath of satisfaction. "Guess things are starting to look better".