Williams and his gang turned around and followed Jonny, who gave Elizabeth and Gregory one last look before walking away.
He chose not to interfere with Williams' act for reasons best known to him.
After they had left, Elizabeth fell to her knees while still feeling very much overwhelmed.
She struggled to overcome her shock and crawl her way to Gregory, who had been a victim of her elder brother's malicious revenge on the second years.
"A-Are you okay, Greg?" she asked, trying to turn him around to get a better look at his face.
Gregory grimaced with every touch on his body and managed to turn for Elizabeth to see him after painful struggles.
"Don't... worry. Don't worry, Greg," she told him, "I will take you to the clinic."
That was a good idea. However, there was one problem.
She couldn't carry Gregory all by herself and unfortunately, she looked around and there was no one else closeby to lend her a hand.
It was just her and the painfully distressed Gregory Broomborn.
Realising that she had to do it all by herself, she sighed and began to pull Gregory up the best way she could and with all her might.
...
...
...
— Emerald Class, Second Year —
We returned from Auditorium C, at least most of us did, to meet Miss Double D waiting for us in class.
She did not have much to say except to advise us on the importance of practising in our own time.
"Do well to continue your practice with the brooms. They are yours now and at your disposal whenever you need them. Remember that this is the most basic of the spells you are going to learn throughout your time in this academy. If you can't master the Ascensio, then there's little chance that you're ready for what's to come."
Miss Dorian packed her things and adjusted her burnt orange skirt to come down a little.
"That will be all for now. Have a nice day," she said, bidding us goodbye.
As she was leaving, I glanced at the clock and it was a few minutes past 2 pm.
It was ten minutes past two o'clock to be precise.
We had finished earlier than usual today, perhaps it was owed to the announcement we received at the auditorium.
I didn't know for sure why we had a half day's worth of class anyway.
The class stayed silent until Miss Dorian walked out through the door and shut it behind her.
Then, the noise began.
Murmurings and chattering filled the class atmosphere, loud enough to be heard from the next class.
After about fifteen minutes had passed, the noise still lingered.
This was not the type of noise to wane with time. It was the type that was stopped by an external intervention.
That intervention soon came in the form of the slender blond-haired boy whose name was Albert Lorten of the Lorten Family.
Albert was the joint top student of the Emerald class along with Gregory Broomborn during our probationary first year in the Zenith Academy for Warlocks & Witches.
A sharp kid whom I would describe as one who enjoys his personal space as much as he enjoys the company of others.
What was the word again?
Hmmm... aha! An ambivert. That was the word to describe Albert Lorten.
...
...
...
"Picnic?!"
"What do you mean, Albert?" Rordon fired at Albert Lorten.
Albert nodded and smiled.
"Yes, a picnic albeit a small one. The idea is for us to get to know each other better than we already do. You all heard with Jonny said at the auditorium... we need to have a candidate in six weeks.
"Personally, I believe this hangout would foster our relationship better as a class and individually as well."
Some of us nodded and concurred with Albert's suggestion.
Some didn't like the idea and the rest sat on the fence on the matter.
He was able to gain the attention of the class partly due to his charisma as a person and partly because he made an obvious point that would help us.
Albert Lorten was truly making sense with his line of thought.
It is true that we can't select a candidate amongst ourselves without knowing each other at least beyond the level of daily superficial heys and hellos.
Everyone in the Emerald class had their cliques of two or three friends or even more.
That was not going to cut the mustard.
"By the way, where's Liz and Greg?" I wondered.
They hadn't returned from the auditorium and the announcement ended over an hour ago.
[ A golden opportunity has presented itself to you ]
A notification popped up, one that only I could see.
"Huh? A golden opportunity?"
[ Support Albert Lorten's suggestion for a class picnic ]
"Why would I want to do that?" I muttered under my breath.
I refuted the system's recommendation and I could tell that the outcome was not going to be in my favour.
...
...
...
Elizabeth relaxed into one of the chairs in the office.
"The doctor will be with you shortly," a nurse said, holding an open file in her hands.
She left Elizabeth and moved to Gregory, who was lying on the bed inside the room.
She conversed with him for a few minutes and wrote some things down in the file she held before walking out of the room.
After she left, Elizabeth could hear a low conversation going on, beyond the closed door, outside.
Gregory would have also been able to hear it if the pain allowed him.
The conversation lasted for about four to five minutes before the door to the office was pushed in, creaking and ushering in the doctor that they had been waiting for.
"Hello," the tall dark doctor greeted them.
"Good day," Elizabeth responded.
He immediately turned to Gregory who he had noticed was in distress and observed him for a few seconds.
"What happened?" he asked Elizabeth.
Elizabeth paused for a moment. She had not thought about the lie she would tell the medics if this kind of question ever arose.
She couldn't also tell them that it was Williams fault.
Not because Williams was her brother but because it would mean more trouble for the second years knowing how petty Williams Osvenor was.
"Um... he... um..."
"I-I fell... down... down the stairs," Gregory responded.
"I see," the doctor said.
He touched various parts of Gregory's body, trying to elicit certain signs that would help him in solving the problem.
"This isn't much of a problem anyway," he said.
"You should be much better when I'm done."
...
...
...
Meanwhile, I was laughing internally at the game that the system wanted to play on me.
The very suggestion that I had rejected had turned into my daily quest.
[ Daily Quest ]
Quests:
— Support Albert Lorten's picnic idea [ Reward: 3 Pimp Points ]
— Get the majority to agree to the idea [ Reward: 3 Pimp Points ]
— Find a date for the class picnic [ 6 Pimp Points ]
So I either carry them out or bear the consequences.
Tch!