Jazlyn and I said our goodbyes and "I'll talk to you laters and headed to our classes. Moroi had different classes from Novices, so I wouldn't see Jazlyn until lunch.
Her and I were best friends, inseparable. I met her in kinder garden, and surprisingly, I still remember how we first met.
It was snack time, of course, and she'd offered me her crackers. I was a Moroi, so I couldn't take it. When I'd refused her food, she took the rejection heavily. She threw her crackers at me and called me a two-faced whore. She never knew what it meant, only that it was something you told someone when you didn't like them. When she did that, I spit at her, right on her blue frilly dress. Of course she got at me, pounding my arms that were covering my face. Teachers were coming at this time, so I took action. I quickly put my hands to her stomach, tickling her. She stopped hitting me and her silvery laugh pounded my ears. The teachers separated us and put us into time out. That's how we became friends. That's when the bond started.
I got to the Basics of Elemental Control class, the last period until lunch. I walked toward the only seat available, beside a new student I've never seen before. I plopped on my seat and dropped my bag onto the table. The new student smiled at me. I gave him a brief smile back. Then class started.
I was one of the only ones who hasn't specialized yet. Everyone told me that it would come, that one of the famous Moroi had specialized after graduation. I knew they were trying to make me feel better and everything, but that was the thing that didn't make me feel better. I didn't like that they looked at me and thought I needed encouragement and comforting.
After what seemed like a lifetime, class finally ended. I put my books back into my bag and slung it over my shoulder. Once I got near the door, someone touched my arm. I hastily snatched my arm away before turning to see who it was.
It was that new student. I had a better look at him, and despite never seeing him before, he looked vaguely familiar. He had dark brown hair, styled messily but neatly. He was pale, like all Moroi, but he was more muscular, for lack of a better word. He had a cute face and everything, but you never know whose out to hunt you down and spread rumors. There was one feature about him that stood out; topaz eyes. That was rare. Then he noticed me staring.
"Hello," he said.
"Hey," I said slowly, tilting my head.
"I--" he stopped. He looked like he was thinking. Thinking very hard. "I was wondering if you had the notes from today."
"I'm pretty sure I saw you writing them down." People pushed passed us, and I turned around and headed out the door. I wanted to see Jazlyn.
"Rexanne, right?"
I stopped walking and spun around, my eyebrows furrowing. "Nobody calls me that." No one called me Rexanne except for Aurora, but if she had it her way, she'd call me Rex, too.
"Oh. I-I'm..." he looked into my eyes and paused. His eyes looked way too--
Everything went black.
The next thing I knew, someone was carrying me. Where was Aurora? My eyes fluttered open. It was the new student. Where was he taking me? What did he think he was doing? I felt weak, and it was hard to move. I tried to push him, but I couldn't lift up my arms without struggling.
"Put me down," My voice was so inaudible, I could hardly hear myself.
He either didn't hear me, or was ignoring me. I hated that. I wanted to see Jazlyn.
"Put me down." I repeated, saying it as loud as I could. "Who the hell do you think you are?"
"Well..." he stalled. I hated that too. I already hated everything about him, and it was his first day here. "I think I'm A--"
"Princess!" Aurora. Thank God.
"I was just taking her to the nurse." the boy said, handing me over to Aurora.
"Well, I think you're done here. Go on to class." Aurora dismissed.
"Where were you?" I asked.
"I'm sorry. I was speaking to Headmistress Kirova. I got another guardian to look after you for five minutes, but I guess he didn't do his job."
"Oh." I didn't know what to say to that.
I felt a hum of anxiety. Jazlyn. She must be looking for me. I had some of my strength back, so I tried to stand up. Aurora let me, but she was cautious.
"I'm okay, I'm okay. I want to go to the commons."
"Alright. Feed first before you do anything else. I'll bring you there." Aurora held my arm all the way to the feeders. After I fed, I felt so much better. I assured Aurora that I was fine, and she let me go and walked to the other guardians.
I looked for Jazlyn in the pool of people. I found her, talking to a couple of our friends, Max and Kady. I walked towards her and joined in the circle.
"Rex, I was looking for you." Jazlyn smiled with relief.
"Hey, Jazz."
"As if you did that to Danni." Kady said. She was short, had long brown hair, and was had a quiet voice. She was a Novice, and a pretty good one. Despite her height, she could kick anyone's ass any day.
"Yeah, well, that's me." I shrugged.
I knew Jazlyn was talking to me, but I couldn't make a sound of it. Between Jennifer and Kady, on the other side of the commons was that boy. He was hanging out with Jason, a Novice, and Danni. It looked like they knew each other already. They were play fighting and everything. He didn't have the right to do that, just all of a sudden shoot up to the top of the food chain. Not that I cared. Maybe he's their apprentice.
"Checking out the new guy, Rex?" Paige said.
"Well, he is--" Max stopped herself. She was a brunette, too, taller than me, and had a baby face.
"No. I hate him." I retorted. "He tried talking to me in basics, and he tried to carry me to the nurse. And I still don't know his name." I almost didn't recognize my voice, there was so much venom in it.
At that moment, the new guy stopped smiling at Danni, who was showing off his hacky sack skills, and his head shot up. I watched him frantically look around the commons, then he paused. I smiled smugly. I watched Jason shake Danni, who was still kicking the hacky sack, and began freaking out. They snapped their fingers in the new guy's face, and they tried shaking him. A few moments later, the new guy came back to earth.
Switching my attention back to the girls, I told them the story from this morning. They asked questions, I answered back, and they told me how much of a clever person I was, yada yada.
After managing to get away from Max and Jennifer, Jazlyn and I started walking to the dorms.
"How was class." I laughed, having nothing else to say.
She didn't answer, she only smiled and shook her head.
"What?" I said, trying to break her wall of something I didn't know.
"You know what." she snickered.
"I... Honestly, I don't know."
"That new kid? You're always like that, thinking that they're the 'one'"--quotation marks in the air--"and everything, and you haven't even had your first kiss or nothing. Not even a relationship. Stop wishing for that paranormal romance you read in books. They're getting in your head." She laughed.
"What? No, I really hate that kid. He's really weird. Didn't you see his eyes? That's not natural. And it's not my book's fault."
"What? That his eyes extremely dreamy or something? So deep that it looks like there's no end?" she said that like she's heard it all before. Which she did not.
"No! That's not what I'm getting at. His eyes were topaz. Gold. Yellow with orange. Topaz." I tried hard to get it into her head. "You know how I blacked out when I looked into them? I never black out. I never faint. And so what if they looked like they had no end. They literally did."
"Rex is in love." Jazlyn said dreamily, twirling around.
"Shut up." I threw one of my erasers at the back of her head, but she caught it.
"Ugh. I hate you." I laughed. Then the words that followed spilled out like air in water. "But honestly. After that, he was carrying me, supposedly taking me to the nurse. And did you see how he was being buddy-buddy with Danni? He can't do that, he's new and Danni isn't. A whole lot of people want to be friends with Danni, I'll tell you that, and I don't think he would just offer up a spot for a new kid."
"I thought you didn't believe social statistics."
"Yeah, well, this is different. He's annoying."
I could feel that she started to believe that I didn't like him before she even said so. "Alright. Believable."
"Thank you."
In the ever-unpopular Slavic Art class I was forced into, we had to try to draw a specific piece of art, 'to get to know it better' Ms. Clooney says. While me and Jazlyn hardly even tried, Ms. Cloony walked by.
"Its the thought that counts, great art work ladies." She said, and walked on. She just didn't want to 'hurt' our feelings by saying that our imitations were horrible and that we could do better. But our imitations were horrible.
"Indeed, wretched." I mumbled under my breath, and we continued our subject.
"So Danni's having a party at his dorm tonight. You down?"
I laughed. "Like you even have to ask."
At around eight, I heard a knock on my door.
"Come in," Max shouted. Moroi and Novices had separate dorms. Max was my roommate.
"I don't think Rexanne would want me to." Him.
I swore under my breath, and stomped to the door, rage building, ready to tell him off. I swung the door open and scowled at nobody.
"What the..." I looked left, then right.
"I didn't know I fell that hard." Jazlyn grimaced.
There was a reason why I didn't feel her emotion of pain and clumsiness. Whenever she did something clumsy, she didn't regret it or anything. She actually kind of liked getting hurt, not in a masochistic way, no. But in a way that she felt sorry for herself like feeling sorry for someone else.
I couldn't help but laugh. "Lets go. Max, you coming?"
"Yeah," she said, running to the door.
We snuck past guardians and staff people, through unlocked doors. In no time, we were at Danni's. The door was slightly open, and we walked in.
"Alright, here is Rexaaay." Danni shouted, giving all three of us drinks.
Everyone wooed and repeated my name. Kady came up to me, almost tripping. I caught her, trying to keep her steady.
"Already, Kady?" I said. Freaking girl.
"No. I tripped on somebody's foot. I don't know, someone's laying down. It's only seven, suns just startin to come up. You know how I am."
"Only when the sun is at its highest." I laughed.
"So, you know that kid? His name is, um... I don't remember. But he used to go to Catherine's Academy. The best vampire academy in the universe. And he came here. That's why he shot up to the top of the 'status food chain' as you call it."
My eyes narrowed, and at that second, I saw him. My jaw clenched, and never unclenched when I spoke.
"What. The. Hell. Is. He. Doing. Here." Honestly, I didn't know how I could hate someone so much. It kind of scared me. What else was I capable of?