The next morning, I lay quietly in my bed under the incessant scream of my alarm clock.
Beep, beep, beep.
The wall right in front of my bed had the projection of a little panda jumping up and down with a sign that said, "Wake up."
I swiped my hand, shutting the alarm clock down, and rolled over to the side.
Today was not going to be a good day.
Not only was the Blood Witch going to be all over me about yesterday, but later, I also had to spend hours locked in a single room.
Groaning once more, I quietly got up from my bed and walked to the bathroom to freshen up. Taking a quick shower, I quickly dressed myself in my Academy uniform and walked out of my room. Climbing down the stairs, I strolled towards the kitchen.
"Good morning, young master," Uncle Zorin greeted me as I sat at the table. "You're earlier than usual. Don't want to be late to the Academy today, I presume?" he asked while serving me eggs and toast.
"Yeah, you got the call yesterday, remember?
"Do you want me to call the Academy? I can make an excuse on your behalf. "
"No, it's fine. I can probably take care of it."
We chatted like this for a while before I quickly finished my breakfast. Saying goodbye to Zorin, I leaped up from my chair and exited the mansion. I had to take a long walk to the taxi stand, after all. It was best I moved early.
The moment I exited the mansion, a sharp gale greeted me, hitting me right in the face. Looking up, dark clouds were swirling in the sky without any sign of the sun.
"Argh," another groan escaped my lips. Yep, today was going to be terrible.
---
Despite the brewing storm outside, I still somehow managed to reach the Academy safely and soundly. I entered my classroom and walked toward my desk.
All right, so far so good. Nothing had happened yet. That was a good sign.
Around me, my classmates were sitting at their desks, busy chatting with each other. A bit of eavesdropping revealed, the most prevalent topic seemed to be about yesterday's game.
They must have heard the news about ArcticBlaze's crushing victory. Too bad they weren't able to see it live.
Musing to myself, I was just about to turn and brag when suddenly—
"You are so dead," a voice called out from behind.
Turning around, I saw a girl my age dressed in academy uniform, standing beside my bench with a slight smirk on her face.
"It's all thanks to you. I grinned as well. Tell me, Vega, did you really rat me out to the Blood Witch, or was Jadis lying about it?"
"A bit of both. Vega's smirk got a bit wider. But I wasn't talking about that. The Blood Witch called me to her office just now. She wanted me to pass off a message: meet her in her office after the first lecture."
A sigh escaped my lips. "She must be preparing something good."
Maybe her new beliefs about no more physical punishment had subsided.
"It's your fault. Running away during a punishment?" Vega sat down on my bench. "You have no idea how mad she was yesterday.".
I nodded. "None of this would be happening if you had just kept your mouth shut, though."
Her smirk turned into a smile. "Jadis was already going to give you up. I just took the credit."
"Yeah, right. Like you wouldn't have done it anyway."
"I suppose you have a point there."
Both of us let out a chuckle at the same time.
"By the way, did she say anything about Thorne?"
"Thorne? She didn't mention him; come to think of it, that was weird." Vega scrunched up her eyebrows.
"That's good. Hey, you're the teacher's pet, right? Can you become a narc once again and tell her that I forced Thorne to run away? Maybe put in a bit of theatrics as well."
"And why would I do that?"
"Because if she believes you, I will get punished for Thorne's sake as well. Don't lie; I know how pleasurable my misery is to you. I'll let you come and watch in case it's a physical punishment."
Vega narrowed her eyes for a second, pondering. "All right. I'll go talk to her right now. By the way, where is Thorne? Shouldn't he be here yet?" she questioned, looking around the classroom.
Now that she mentioned it, she was right. Thorne had never been this late. Pulling out my smartwatch, I sent him a couple of messages.
Yo, where r u?
Everyone is asking bout u.
U r coming today, right?
There was no reply. He hadn't even received the message. Frowning, I was about to give him a call when—
"All right, settle down," a middle-aged man in a teacher's uniform marched inside the classroom. "Quickly get back on your seats. Your graduation exams are coming up soon, and we still have a lot of syllabus to cover."
His eyes fell on me, and he paused for a second, frowning. Then he looked away as if nothing had happened.
"Pay attention to the projector. Today, we are going to finish the chapters on 'Psychological Resilience and Mind Training.'"
After the lecture ended, I once again took out my smartwatch and began checking my messages. There was no reply from Thorne. The guy hadn't even seen the messages.
What was happening?
Confused, I gave him a call, only for it to go straight to his voicemail.
I should go and look, I decided and stood up from my seat.
Although skipping classes a second time after getting punished was going to be troublesome… I'll figure something out. I should probably go meet with the Blood Witch first in case she started looking for me.
So, without wasting any more time and ignoring Vega's grinning thumbs up, I immediately strode out of the classroom towards the Blood Witch's office.
---
The teachers' faculty was located in another building, so it took me quite a while to get there.
Still, a somewhat puzzling sight greeted me the moment I reached the staff hallway.
Standing outside her office was Thorne, along with a middle-aged man dressed in a butler's uniform standing beside him.
She... Did she call his house to complain? That was so above the line. Is that why she called Uncle Zorin yesterday?
No, she wouldn't have called him if that was the case. She knew my situation better than most, after all. A bit puzzled, I walked towards Thorne and shouted, "Why aren't you answering my calls? Or my messages?"
As if coming out of a trance, Thorne looked up, his eyes meeting mine. "Vale, you're here. Good. I need to talk to you about something."