Jia was mumbling as she stomped her way through the dorm and waited patiently for Rose to open the room door. She remembered that she had left her room key with Zoey before leaving for the Debutant Festival however, she couldn`t get it back because her blonde roommate was off in some dark corner with her boyfriend.
Once the door was open, Jia went straight to the couch nearest to their balcony and fell face first into it before turning and clutching a pillow to her chest.
"So…what happened on the dance floor?" Rose asked as she took a seat in the other couch.
Jia sighed,"Dylan was…-"
Suddenly a knock on the door interrupted her.
Both girls turned to frown at the door.
"Who could that be?" Rose said as she stood and Jia groaned before pushing herself off the couch and standing.
She spun around as her magic inched to be released. To just release one little bolt of lighting or to electrocute someone. It was times like this that she understood what her Soul Magic Professor meant by saying that their magic can sometimes manifest into a being and start whispering thoughts to them. Whether happy or violent thoughts, it depended entirely on the sorceress themselves.
Once Rose opened the door, Jia heard her friend snort, "What are you doing here? And how did you get up here?"
Jia growled and spun with lightning orb raised, her eyes glowing silver and yellow. However, she stopped when she saw that it was Dylan standing at the door.
"Dylan, I thought you were Roy, "Jia said as she lowered her hand. What was he doing here? After what had happened she was expecting him to leave in a hurry. Roy was the one trying to talk to her but she outright ignored him and ran for her dorm with Rose following closely behind her.
"I came to check on you, "he answered her unspoken question.
"Well isn`t that nice of you." Rose commented sarcastically. She hadn`t really forgiven him for putting her friend in an uncomfortable situation.
"Humor me," Dylan said when he turned to Rose before looking back at the white haired sorceress," Could you dial down the lightning magic so we can talk?"
"Oh sorry," Jia said as the orb vanished and her eyes returned to their normal blue color.
"May I come in?" Dylan asked.
Jia nodded and Rose stepped aside for the Knight to enter their room. He took a moment to scan the girls room. There were little homey touches of band posters, paintings and stickers on the walls. On their coffee table were magazines, reading books and the odd lipstick or perfume bottle. Their kitchen was clean but it smelled like pizza and tomatoes.
"So what`s up?" Jia asked.
Dylan turned to Rose with a raised brow as if telling her to leave but the techno sorceress simply folded her arms and ignored him. Jia sighed, "Rose, would you give us a moment?"
Rose swung her head towards her friend with a dropped jaw, "You`re not serious?"
"Please," Jia pleaded.
Rose pursed her lips and huffed, "Whatever, but I`m going to be in my room, researching." She then moved to her bedroom and opened the door before Jia called her name. She spun around expectantly.
"Could you please put a silencing spell on your room?" Jia pleaded.
Rose nodded reluctantly before heading into her bedroom and closing the door. The door then glowed a faint pink before Jia moved to take her seat.Dylan moved to take Rose`s old seat and leaned back.
"Nice place you girls have here, more spacious then at the Academy," Dylan stated.
"Get to the point ,Dylan," Jia snapped," What was that tonight? Because not only did my cousin want to take a shot at you but your best friend, Tristan as well."
"I told you. I had a theory and I wanted to prove it," Dylan answered and he watched as Jia`s jaw tightened as if to show how annoyed she was.
"What theory?"
Dylan gave her a smirk, "Now Jia, you`d be stupid if you didn`t figure it out by now."
Jia huffed, "I`m not stupid but I`m also a practical being."
"Practical yes, but being oblivious would be sad for you."
Dylan watched as Jia watched him thoughtfully for a moment or two before her eyes narrowed slightly," Are you trying to say that Tristan…"
Dylan tilted his head at her," Yes."
"That`s insane!" Jia exclaimed," He hardly pays attention to me unless it`s something important and most of the time, he`s glued to his ex. You saw what happened tonight."
Dylan nodded, his face looking serious as ever," Exactly, tonight I saw a scared teenager running away from a girl that he has unfamiliar feelings for, therefore he ran to someone familiar and simple."
"Simple, I`m simple! I`m simple as the next girl!" Jia reasoned but then she felt stupid for saying that as she looked away flustered.
"No you`re not." Dylan denied and Jia turned back to face him," You challenge him, make him second guess himself and make him think the impossible. That`s why he thought distancing himself tonight would help."
"Hang on," Jia held up a hand to stop him," We`re both just operating on the theory that he like me, which he doesn`t."
"If that`s what you think," Dylan said as he stood," I`m sorry if I made you uncomfortable tonight but I had to show my friend what kind of person he was missing out on just because he was scared."
"Knights don`t get scared." Jia pointed out.
"Oh yes we do, we just learn to conquer our fears, no one is truly fearless," Dylan revealed.
Jia ran a hand over her mouth and was about to say something when the dorm door opened to revel, Clary, Ash and Gillian.
"Oh, I didn`t know you were entertaining," Clary said with a smile as she stepped in and opened the door wider for Ash and Gillian.
"We were just talking," Jia said as she stood and made her way over to Ash and Gillian while Clary retreated to her bedroom.
"Seems like whenever I see you, you are always talking to some kind of Knight," Gillian pointed out as she moved to hug the sorceress," We just came to see you and check on how you were doing."
"Your cousin said that you would be coming today but we didn`t see you when we arrived so your friends sent us up here." Ash added.
"The tomboy redhead said that you weren`t feeling well." Gillian said and Jia deduced that she probably meant Fiona. Rose was a red head as well but she was more of girly-girl red head.
"Just some cousin trouble, Roy`s driving crazy." Jia told them.
"Well, family can do that to you." Ash said and Jia remembered that Ash himself had three younger sisters after him.
"Yeah," Jia said as she then turned to Dylan and jerked her head ta him," This is Dylan, he`s a teammate of Mike and Roy."
Dylan nodded at the Seniors.
"I know him, the Sophomore's resident bad boy, next to Tristan, of course," Ash said with a nod at Dylan who arched a brow at him.
" Oh, is he good?" Gillian turned to ask her boyfriend.
"Very, he beat up Marcus Opill," Ash revealed," With only escrima sticks."
Gillian smirked and eyed Dylan, who rolled his eyes," It`s rude to talk about someone in front of said person."
"Bad and rude," Gillian observed," I like him already. You should date him Jia."
Jia slapped her forehead," I`m not dating him. He`ll drive me crazy and I'mnot his type."
"Honey, those are the best kinds of men."
"Gillian ,please," Jia groaned.
"Where`s Rose?" Clary asked as she stepped out of her room and sauntered over to the kitchen to get a bottle of water and drank from it.
"In her room," Jia answered as Clary stopped drinking before she closed the cap of the bottle.
"Cool, I need to borrow her lip gloss," Clary said as she put the water bottle back into the fridge and ran over to Rose`s room before entering without knocking.
"Nice girl, perfect hips ,if I say so myself," Gillian spoke up.
Jia turned to the light sorceress with a groan, "Do you have to find something attractive in everyone you see or meet?"
"Most defiantly. Now, we must be off but I have a gift for you," Gillian said. She then waved her hands over the coffee table and a basket of sweets appeared on it," For you. A Welcome-Back gift from Ash and myself."
"Coconut and hazelnut chocolates!"
Jia bolted over to the basket and started to hug it close her while Ash shook his head. Gillian clasped her hands and smiled at the little sorceress as Dylan watched with interest.
"Your favorites, right?" Ash asked.
"Yes!"
Gillian waved as she turned and left with Ash following closely," Enjoy, Jia, darling."
"They`re interesting," Dylan commented.
Jia nodded as Rose and Clary came out of the bedroom.
"So who was that?" Clary asked Rose made her way over to sit on the couch nearest to where Jia was.
"My acquaintances," Jia answered.
"They seem weird," Clary commented.
"They`re supposed to be," Jia said with a laugh. She then looked up at her friends with a grin as Clary ran a hand through her hair and licked her lips, Rose's lip gloss was cherry flavored and she wanted to make use of it before the night was over, "Well, I`m off to dance, you three coming?"
"Dylan will go with you," Jia answered.
"Wait, what?" Dylan asked.
Clary smiled and pulled the Knight out with a loud good bye at both girls. Last Jia heard of the two teenagers was Clary telling Dylan that he didn`t have to dance with her, just escort her down to the dance floor.
Rose smirked at her friend, "That was unexpected."
The sorceress just shrugged, "He deserved it. Want some chocolate?"
"Yes, please," Rise answered eagerly as Jia handed her some chocolates before she sat down and asked her fill her on her interview for the pageant. Rose was a bit taken back as she didn`t expect her friend to remember after the terrifying experience she just went through. Never the less, she revealed how it went and how that results would come out in a later date for the second interview. She then asked Jia to retell the events of the shot out and of what happened to her after she was rushed to the hospital. Jia grimaced but she only told her of the important details before revealing the dream she had of her mama.
Rose looked really troubled.
"That is a lot of things to remember," Rose commented.
"Tell me about it, I mean, I barely know how to control my powers and now I have get the Old Honor Guard together and find out what the phrase Lighting Twice means in order to defeat the Emperor." Jia ranted.
"At least we can say life isn`t boring."
Jia rolled her eyes,"I`d take boring any day over this."
"You mentioned that your father also gave you your mother`s armor?"
Jia nodded as Rose bit into her chocolate and licked her lips. "He wants me to use it to protect myself."
"It`ll be different from your sorceress uniform, right?"
"Yeah, I can only use it if the situation is dire. Completely different from my mama`s situation."Jia answered.
Rose frowned, "How so?"
Jia chewed her chocolate and swallowed before answering, "She used her armor more times than her usual sorceress uniform because mama was always a warrior first and sorceress second, complete opposite of me."
"But you`re a warrior too, we`ve seen you in action remember?"
"Things were different in her time, she had to rely more in her warrior skills in order to remain single, she took a vow that she would only marry someone who could beat her in single combat. So ,fighting all the way and not much sorcery training." Jia explained.
"Really? That`s how your parents got married? Sounds so harsh." Rose muttered.
"Actually, their story is much more romantic, "Jia said with a happy smile, "I`ll tell you about it someday."