"Are you being serious?" Oliver asked.
"Do I look like I'm joking?" Josh chuckled.
"Sorry about that man." Oliver Sympathised with Josh.
He couldn't imagine what it felt like to grow up without having any parents. It must've been hard on Josh.
"Why're you being sorry? It's not like it's your fault."
"So, where did you grow up?" Oliver asked, sitting on a bench.
"With my aunt," Josh replied, "Wonderful woman she is."
"Your childhood wasn't a great one was It?" Oliver asked.
"It was a complete disaster up until a certain point. Been bullied for most of my life." Josh replied.
"How come you got bullied?" Oliver asked confused, "You're a fire affinity wielder."
"To tell you the truth, I never really got my magic affinity until recently." Josh revealed.
Oliver raised his eyebrows, "How is that possible?"
Never had he heard of a scenario where a person just suddenly hot weakened. All awakened had been awakened since birth. There was no way to change a normal human to an awakened.
"I was getting bullied by this kid and I kinda burned his hand up pretty badly." Josh quickly cooked up a lie.
How could he tell him that he got a system from an ancient book that would lead him to the seven mystic pieces? Even a fool wouldn't make that move.
"That must've felt good didn't it?" Oliver grinned.
"It did feel good." Josh smiled.
"You said your childhood was a disaster up till a certain point right?" Oliver asked.
"I did say that." Josh nodded.
"What changed?" Oliver asked curiously.
Josh sighed and proceeded to tell Oliver the story of how he met Danny.
"So he'll probably die in a few days?" Oliver asked.
"Probably." Josh nodded.
"Man, I must admit you've been through a lot." Oliver sighed.
He wasn't sure if he would still have his mental health intact if he went through what Josh went through. He was lucky he had a pretty decent life.
"A lot has been through me."
Josh and Oliver chuckled.
"So what about you man?" Josh turned to Oliver, "how's life treated you?"
"Life's been pretty fair really. My dad is a B-rank Hunter and my mum runs a business." Oliver replied.
"Got any siblings?" Josh asked.
"Oh yeah, I've got a younger sister Chloe." Oliver replied.
Josh put his arm around Oliver's shoulder, "wouldn't it be great if I was your brother-in-law?"
"Don't get close to my sister or I'll cut your fingers off." Oliver warned jokingly.
"What if she falls in love with me?" Josh grinned.
"She'll just right back up." Oliver shrugged.
"You're crazy man." Josh chuckled.
"I get that all the time." Oliver grinned.
"We better get going man, it's getting pretty late." Josh suggested, on seeing that the sun was setting.
"Yeah, I need my beauty sleep," Oliver got up from the bench, "don't want to get red eyes on my first day at school."
"I need to look good for the ladies." Oliver ran his hand through his hair.
Josh chuckled, "good luck with that."
"I'm usually lucky with girls, had a few girlfriends, what about you?" Oliver asked Josh.
"All the cute unawakened usually get taken by the awakened," Josh replied, "besides, I never really did care about girls anyway." Josh shrugged.
"Not until now that is." Josh muttered.
"You've got a girl you're eyeing?" Oliver heard Josh mutter.
"Not really." Josh replied, " Not sure if she'll like me back anyway." Josh sighed.
He couldn't decide if what he felt for Zoey was actually what he thought it was. Perhaps they would be better off as just friends. It's not like she would accept him anyway. The fact that her sister and she were friendly with him didn't mean he had a chance.
Although he wasn't quite sure of what Zoey's attitude was like, he was sure that she wasn't some arrogant spoilt kid.
"Why wouldn't she dig you?" Oliver looked at Josh like he was crazy.
"Because she's from a pretty powerful family." Josh replied.
"A powerful family? What family is that?" Oliver asked surprised.
"The White family." Josh replied.
"The White family?" Oliver repeated, awestruck.
"I'm sure I didn't say it with water in my mouth." Josh chuckled.
"W-which one of them? They're twins right?" Oliver asked.
"The scary one." Josh grinned.
"Zoey White?" Oliver looked at Josh surprised.
"Her." Josh nodded.
"You're crazy man," Oliver shook his head, "that girl is psycho. There are rumours that she has a really messed up idea of fun."
"She seems cool to me." Josh shrugged.
"I guess you're one of those guys into that kinda stuff," Oliver nodded, "and j thought you're pretty normal."
"She's not like that." Josh sighed, "know what? I'm going to introduce you to her and her sister tomorrow."
"For real? That means I'll get a chance at Cherry." Oliver said excitedly.
"Working do that if I were you." Josh shook his head.
"I'm sure she'll fall for me," Oliver smirked, "I'm irresistible."
Oliver opened the door to their room.
"You still reading? Nerd!" Oliver teased Billy as he jumped on his bed.
"The sweet feel of a bed is second to none." Oliver cuddled his pillow.
"Sweet dreams." Josh blew a kiss at Oliver.
"Ewwww." Oliver contorted his face in disgust and turned to the other side of the bed.
Josh grinned and turned to Billy, "Billy right?" Josh took a seat beside him.
"Yeah." Billy nodded, without turning from his book.
Looking at this short skinny boy reminded Josh of himself. A shorter and skinnier version of course.
"What was high school like as an unawakened?" Josh asked.
"Was too weird to be a Lackie. Never got home without at least falling over." Billy sighed.
"I just hope I don't get bullied here. It's a good thing you guys are cool though."
"You know. I did get bullied." Josh revealed.
"How is that even possible?" Billy asked.
Josh explained his early life events, how he met Danny, and how he miraculously awakened his magic affinity.
"Although you went through a lot just like me, you're a lucky guy." Billy said, feeling a certain connection with Josh.
"I guess I am," Josh nodded, "look, the thing is. You can still make an impact, you know live a successful life. I see you want to go into engineering, I have some things we can work on together. For now, you better get some sleep man it's getting pretty late." Josh yawned and went to his bed.
"Thanks." Billy smiled.
All his life he had been treated like trash. Now, he had finally gotten people who cared about him. Just this thought made him feel warm inside. He dropped his book and closed his eyes, drifting to sleep.
-----
The next day at 7:00 AM the students were woken by an alarm ringing in their dorm rooms.
"Couldn't they wake us by 8? My dream was almost ending." Oliver grunted as he got up from bed.
Josh chuckled, "What were you dreaming about?"
"I dreamt that I held Cherry in my arms," Oliver replied with a blissful expression on his face, "I was 2 inches from kissing her when the stupid alarm woke me up."
Josh shook his head and turned to the other person in the room, "slept alright?"
"Yeah." Billy nodded.
Josh got on the floor and began doing some pushups.
"I bet I can do more numbers than you." Oliver boasted.
"Oh really?" Josh merely smiled.
"It's not all about having huge muscles and a good physique you know?" Oliver scoffed.
"Then what is it all about?" Josh asked, feigning an inquisitive expression.
"It's all about skill." Oliver got on the floor.
Josh chuckled, "Alright then. Be my guest."
"I'll count." Billy said, getting in front of the two.
The pair began, with Josh doing more pushups in a shorter time space than Oliver.
When he had gotten to forty pushups, Oliver fell on the floor exhausted. Josh continued until he reached a hundred pushups.
"And for the record, I could've still done more." Josh smirked.
"Show off."
------
"What's wrong with you watch where you're going!" A boy bumped into Josh.
Josh saw the face of the accuser and his facial expression turned ugly, "Are you retarded or something? You bumped into me."
"Shut your smelly mouth up you stupid piece of thrash." Samuel glared at Josh.
"Says the guy who smells like he just bathed in a sewer." Oliver chuckled.
Samuel glared at Oliver, "Don't get into this if you don't want trouble."
"I kind of like getting in trouble." Oliver glared into Samuels's eyes.
"Leave this to me, Oliver." Josh stopped Oliver from doing anything stupid.
Fighting in a school hall was a serious offence, and he didn't want to get into any kind of trouble on his first day at school.
"Look at this." Josh shoved his watch at Samuels's face.
"What? This isn't supposed to be possible." Samuel was confused.
How did this unawakened trash suddenly have a magic affinity? This wasn't supposed to be possible. People didn't just suddenly get magic affinities.
"Impossible is nothing." Oliver smirked.
"Cringe bro." Josh chuckled.
Samuel got over his shock, "It doesn't matter if you're now awakened. You're still a piece of thrash and you're beneath me."
"We'll find out if your theory is true in a months time." Josh answered calmly.
"You know we're in the same class right? I'm going to give you hell." Oliver threatened.
"Bring it on." Josh stared into his eyes.
Samuel turned around and walked away.