Jia sighed and sat up before running a tired hand over her mouth.
"Technically yes," Jia answered slowly. Her brain was literally screaming for rest.
"What's technical about your status, you either are or you're not?" Rose asked as she folded her arms.
"Ease up Rose," Fiona scolded her.
"Okay, I am, I'm the Duchess of House Norvel, okay?" Jia admitted.
"At least now you're honest," Rose mumbled.
"Hang on, that's not fair Rose," Clary said Rose turned to her, "It was her decision not to tell us. It's her private life. It's not about being honest."
"But we're her roommates and teammates," Rose protested. Zoey and Kyra put down their bag packs on the floor beside Jia's.
"Exactly, her teammates and roommates," Fiona stressed out the 'roommates and teammate' words, "We've all just met, we're not all going to sit down and suddenly start spilling our private lives to each other. These things take time."
"Yeah, just because everyone knows everything about your life doesn't mean you should know about theirs," Clary added.
"Girls , please just stop," Jia pleaded quietly. They all stopped to see her rubbing her head and grimacing.
"Sorry, Jia, we were being insensitive," Kyra apologized as she took a seat beside her.
"It's fine," Jia answered. She then gave her roommates a leveled stare, "Look, I didn't tell you girls who I was because I didn't want you to treat me any differently. I've been treated like a doll during my younger years because wherever I go, someone has to announce who I am and I didn't know if the other kids wanted to be my friend because they truly liked me or if they just wanted to be friends with a Lady."
"We do want to be your friends," Clary insisted with a soft smile.
"Yeah, you don't have to worry about that when you're with us, "Fiona added. All the girls then turned to Rose.
"Fine, whatever, "Rose scoffed as she stalked away to her room.
"I really didn't mean anything bad," Jia groaned. She ran her hands through her hair before they stopped to rub her neck. It was slightly sore from sitting in class all day.
"It's okay, give Rose some time," Zoey assured her, "She'll come around."
"You telling her that or yourself?" Fiona asked, crossing her arms over her chest.
Zoey shrugged, "To be honest, I have no clue."
"Oh! I forgot to do this yesterday," Clary said as she took out her camera from her bag, switched it on and started recording, "Okay, so, now that we've all met. It's time for the big reveal."
"What reveal?"
"Magic reveals."
Fiona groaned, "Do we have to?"
"Yes," Clary insisted as she turned to her first," You start Fiona. Trust me, one day you're going to watch this video and thank me plus it's essential to team building."
" Fine, "Fiona consented before she uncrossed her hands and held them up. They started to glow red before a sphere full of lava appeared floating above her palms," As you can clearly tell, I have lava magic. "
"Are you fire proof?" Jia asked, looking slightly intrigued.
"No."
When Fiona's lava sphere's disappeared, Clary turned to Zoey, who timidly pointed a blue glowing finger at the coffee table in front of them. The table slowly rose above the ground before landing, "I can manipulate gravity. Mostly make things float or heavy. Not really that special."
"Every sorceress magic is special, "Fiona corrected her. Zoey smiled timidly and nodded. Jia could tell that she was still finding that hard to believe.
Clary then turned to her roommate, who shook her head, "Maybe another time Clary."
The camera girl nodded and finally turned to Jia, "What about you?"
Jia sat up straighter and took off her glove before the lightning flickered over her hands;"I have lightning and thunder magic."
"Does that mean you can make it rain?"Fiona asked with a sly smile.
"No, but whenever I get angry or annoyed, lightning strikes and thunder booms," Jia answered sheepishly before putting on the gloves.
Fiona's smile dropped, "Bummer, I was hoping you'd make it rain over a certain someone I know."
"What's with the gloves?"Kyra asked with a chin jerk.
Jia huffed, "I have trouble controlling it so I tend to accidently electrocute people when I touch them or if they touch my hands. The gloves were made to isolate my powers."
Clary lowered her camera with a grin," Really? I have that too sometimes!"
"What?"
Clary then handed her camera over to Fiona, who after a moment of stalling, turned to record her," Hi, everyone, my magic is a bit of a wild one. I can petrify objects or people."
Her palms glowed green briefly as she held them up to the camera before she chuckled, "Sometimes I accidently petrify people without even knowing how."
"That's scary," Jia stated.
"And we all know what magic Rose has," Clary said to the camera as she rolled her eyes," The girl was born with technology magic."
"She was?"
"Yeah, why do you think her parents own a technology company? The magic's been in her family for many generations," Fiona informed her as she switched off Clary's camera and gave it back to her.
***
Jia sat quietly in her seat and stared at the straw in her hand. Things at school were a bit of a party. She just wished that there wasn't still a distance between her and her roommates. It was true that they had just met this week but she was used to flowing conversations and laughter. Her room mates were great but mostly kept themselves busy but they haven't even had a team training session or field trip yet so she wasn't sure how they were going to perform as a unit.
Not to mention, because she didn't tell them she was a duchess, they pretty much took offence to her and by 'they', she meant Rose. The girl felt that just because there was someone richer than her living in their room, she needed to be given the cold treatment. Fiona was okay and so were the other girls. Zoey was slowly warming up to her after their talk and she was glad that her roommate treated her like a normal friend. Jia felt that she acted so timid because she had a self-esteem problem but that was something she was sure that she could help her roommate with.
"Stop frowning before you break your face." Roy said as he slid into his seat.
Jia gave him a tight smile, "Better."
"No, that's your emotionless smile, I never liked that smile."Roy said as he leaned back against his seat. His cousin didn't look happy.
"Then I am afraid I have to disappoint you because this is all you're getting."
Roy pouted, "Well, boo-hoo for me."
Jia chuckled and leaned back in her seat.
Roy picked up the menu n the table before tapping the screen. He ordered two chicken lunch combo's before the menu disappeared. He watched Jia play with a lose strand of her white hair before finally asked her how she was doing.
"I'm great." Jia answered quickly. She tucked her hair behind both her ears and nodded.
Roy arched a brow, "Really?"
Jia bit her bottom lip before finally giving in, "Okay, no, I was lying. Everything is horrible."
"What? Already on your first week and things are bad?"
"You know that I love the freedom I have now, "Jia began softly. Roy nodded with pursed lips as he prepared himself for the rant that was soon to come from his cousin's mouth.
Jia then finally blew up, "But I'm beginning to think that the female world outside of Castle Paravel is full of self-centered, narrow minded and rude girls! Ever since they found out that I am the Duchess of Norvel, everyone, and I mean, everyone, has been asking me whether I should expect royal treatment. Hello!"Jia slammed her fist on the table," Get a clue people! I came to Viola to get educated on magic, not to be treated like a doll and, of all the other royals and nobles in the school, they just had to pick on me because I didn't make a formal announcement that I was a Duchess. Why can't they pick on the others as well? Like, this girl Ophelia, she's the Duchess of Jules. A high noble house in Kovia but no… they want to pick on the girl from Azazael!"
Roy grimaced, "Okay-"
Jia held up her hand to stop her cousin, "And another thing, Rose, she's one of my roommates, she a rich girl and since she found out that I am richer than her because I come from old money, she's been cold towards me. It's not my fault I was born in the House of Norvel. If she has a problem, she should have taken it up with the Spirits of the Universe or Magic Guardians. I just want to go to school and have a normal high-school experience. Is that too much to ask?!"
Roy's eyes darted to the side before landing back on his cousin's red face, "Are you done?"
Jia pursued and lips and contemplated whether she needed to say anything else before deciding that she was done, "Yes."
"Okay, it's my turn to speak and don't interrupt me."
Jia frowned, "I don't interrupt you."
"Yes, you do."
"No, I don't."
"Yes."
"No."
"Yes."
"No."
Roy spluttered, "Spirits, you're doing it right now!"
Jia pouted, "I'm sorry."
"Look, I went through pretty much the same thing when I started at the Academy. Heck, I think I had it much worse because guys don't use words but instead they use their fists," Roy admitted. Jia's face fell as Roy continued," I got jumped a lot during the first week and I fought back because I couldn't lose to them. Your dad made sure that I could at least hold my own in a fight and I was so lucky for that. My teammates weren't close to me except for Mike. You know him ,right?"
Jia nodded slowly, "You said he was the gentleman in your group. Real honorable."
"Yeah, but then he was picked on too but only because he was a freshman. "Roy paused then sighed and ran a hand over his mouth, "We didn't all talk to each other until the time we were sent to our first Field Operation in Callisto. Things happened there that made us join together as a team. Those guys now have my back and we have each other. We all fight for one another. As for the insults about my noble status, I made everyone see that they had to take me seriously and to –"
Jia concluded, "To treat you like you were an ordinary person."
Roy snapped his fingers, "Exactly."
"How does this help me?"
"Give it time for the school to calm down and work hard to master your magic."Roy instructed her," And as for your teammates, time and a trial by fire is all you need."
"Okay, thanks Roy," Jia said softly.
"You're welcome."
"One more thing, why didn't you tell us about the fights at the academy?"
Roy shrugged, "I figured that I was old enough to solve this by myself. And you should remember that as well. The two of us can't always run back to our parents whenever we face a problem."
Jia nodded. Jia didn't know the dynamics and day to day events of an all boys school but she felt that it was a bit brutal at Roy's school. Roy went to Ashton Knights Academy, a school for Knights and soldiers in training.
A military school.
Some of her dad's recruits came from there but they had to be the best of the best. It taught heroics, combat, strategic training and so much more. It was suppose to be one of the best military schools next to
It was kind of sad that boys beat each other up in there just to prove that they were better than the rest.