Chapter 8
"Kai! Are you alright? That must've been horrible to endure. It was disgusting to hear about. The way they talk about people just for gossip." Els frowned.
"It's disrespectful. They're just pissed that they couldn't get close to Drew Ozera the way you could." Roxy scoffed.
"If I was you I would've beaten them. But since I'm not, so I can't." Ingrid pouted.
"Those guys aren't worth half my time." I waved nonchalantly. "Besides, I'd rather not get detention on my first proper day at this school. I should at least attempt to make Guardian Maxwell's job manageable."
"I bet you could've taken them all on. That would've put them in line for sure." Ingrid huffed.
"It's because I'm new. It's alright though, I'll deal somehow." I shrugged. Although I said that, I had no idea how I was going to put up with it. It was no doubt only going to get worse. "And besides, if I took them all on, they'll all be missing out on class tomorrow. Personally I think of that as being a blessing rather than punishment." I smirked. "Seriously, I've never met royalty before so I don't know how to behave so I'm sorry if I cause problems for you guys since you're hanging out with me and all."
"We hang out with you because of that sassy attitude of yours." Els grinned.
"We need more people like you around here to put those bitches in line. If we weren't around then they would practically be ruling the school." Roxy rolled her eyes.
"And we cannot allow that!" Ingrid giggled.
"Imagine the nightmare that would ensue under their reign!" Els gasped in feigned terror.
"They would surely have the men as their slaves." Ingrid agreed.
"And have people like us who don't take their crap do all the dirty work like clear up duty or something…" Roxy shuddered.
"Okay, they aren't in charge and they're never going to be in charge so let's not try to imagine the horrors of it. Just the idea of having them in charge makes my blood boil in revulsion." I grumbled. "So I'm curious, just how bad did those rumours get during dinner? I want to know how far they can get."
"I'm not really sure what you consider to be bad, but they were thinking that you were leaving early to hook up with a guy." Roxy rubbed the back of her neck awkwardly.
"Specifically Nick." Ingrid added.
"It seems as though he has his eyes on you Kai." Els frowned. "Be careful with him Kai, he has a lot of people he can bribe around here."
"If he wants to mess with me he's welcome to try, but he's going to find that when a guy like him plays with fire, they get burned." I smirked.
"A guy like him?" the three of them questioned.
"Someone who has a much larger bark than bite. So what if he has people he can bribe? It is those people who are the weakest; it means that if the people he could bribe don't obey him, he'd be practically defenceless." I shrugged. "But there's no point worrying about these kinds of things because this is just the way I am and I can't change it just because some prick seems to find me entertaining."
"Pretty colourful language you have going there." Ingrid smiled shyly.
"Sorry, bad habit. This is what happens if you spend too much time on the soccer field."
"Oh yeah! You didn't tell us that much about it." Els pointed out. "You mentioned that you had a team right?"
"Yeah, I was the captain of the soccer team. Man this school has some major bad timing! Why couldn't they have decided to find me in two weeks' time or something? This is so unfair."
"Why?" Roxy frowned.
"There's a really important tournament final coming up and we're up against an old rival. They've been trying to beat us for the past three years and they've always failed. They're strong and smart guys when it comes to the field and stuff but that other school is a really tough opponent. I just wish that I could be there to support them." I sighed.
"I can't really understand it since I've been here pretty much all my life but from the sounds of things that sounds really unlucky." Roxy patted my shoulder sympathetically.
"Hopefully I'll be able to catch them on TV though. This year the finals is going on live." I grinned excitedly. "I'll just have to make sure I drink tonnes of caffeine to get me through the day and night."
"Hm… sounds interesting, maybe we'll join you." Ingrid pondered aloud. "If you don't mind of course!"
"Why would I mind? I could explain everything while we watch the game." I smiled. "Somehow you three don't seem like the types to understand soccer very well."
"All you do is kick the ball and score it without giving the opposition possession of the ball right? What's so hard about that?" Els frowned.
"There's a lot more going on than just that." I sighed knowing that my predicament was true. "There's also brainwork going on behind the scenes, knowing who to pass to at what types of critical moments, analysing the opponent's weaknesses and knowing how to use it against them, and it takes a lot more skill than most people realise to tackle correctly and affectively at the same time."
The three stared at me for a moment before they all burst into laughter. "You really love the sport don't you?" Els beamed smacking my back playfully.
"You bet." I grinned sheepishly. "So about that movie you guys mentioned earlier…"
"Of right!" Ingrid smacked her forehead and turned on the TV. The film: Inception came on the screen and I squealed in delight.
"I love this film!"
"Well we thought that it might be your type of thing and it just so happens that we like this kind of film as well so it's a win: win situation." Roxy laughed and laid her head on my stomach.
The next day was rather shocking even though I was expecting something to happen. I was on my way towards the dinning room with Ingrid, Roxy and Els when before any of us realised what was happening, I was suddenly soaked to the bone with water. The ice cold water that drenched me seemed to shoot up from the ground and fall on me from the ceiling. Either way, the ice cold water seemed to hit me from all directions. Not a single spot of me wasn't wet and absolutely frozen. I had to admit that it definitely wasn't a pleasant feeling at all!
"Ai that is cold!" I squealed in shock and tried to shake the water from my skin and clothes to no avail. "Oh no…" I groaned as I felt my nose tingling which meant that I was about to sneeze. I tried to hold it in but it was a failure and I gave almost ten small sneezes in succession. My friends just stared in shock before grins spread across all their faces and they burst out laughing. "Not a word, I know I have a weird sneeze." I grumbled in displeasure.
"I was expecting you to have some kind of a butch woman sneeze but that was so cute!" Ingrid beamed and looked like she was planning to hug me but then she took note of my wet clothes and thought better of it.
"This is when being a Moroi would be helpful." Roxy smiled sympathetically.
"Just be glad that it's not you guys who are sopping wet." I shivered. "I'm going dash back and change into warm clothes so that I don't get hypothermia. Safe something for me at breakfast, anything edible is fine and a cup of coffee too please."
"Better be quick or it'll go cold." Els nodded and gave me a shove back towards the dorms.
I ran back as quickly as I could possibly go with stiff wet clothes on. I took the stairs two at a time until I got back to my room and I threw all my wet clothes into the hamper and wrapped a towel around my body to dry off. I grabbed one of my many pairs of warm cotton trousers, a tank top, a long loose off-shoulder jumper and a change of underwear too since the water had completely soaked through. I towelled my hair until it was as dry as it was going to get before throwing my towel into the hamper as well. This time on the way to breakfast, instead of being attacked by water, I seemed to trip over no matter where I went and I had a feeling that it was an air specialist's fault this time. I collapsed at the table when I found where the others were sitting and I groaned.
"It's first thing in the morning and I'm already tired." I whined. "This is so unfair."
"Sorry Kai but since we're not Moroi, there's not much that we can help with," Roxy gave an apologetic smile.
"Don't worry about it, it just goes to show how petty some people can be. It's a totally wasteful way of using their power but it's their own decision if they want to abuse it." I shrugged and took a sip of my warm coffee and sighed in content. "Coffee is definitely a good kick-start to the morning."
"Kai you sound like some kind of a secretary who's just pulled an all nighter to finish off work." Ingrid teased.
"Secretary? Me? That's not possible!" I laughed. Then I suddenly remembered something that made the colour drain from my face.
"Kai?"
"I… I'm so dead!" I smacked my head on the table and groaned.
"What's wrong?"
"I forgot to do Brooks' homework that he set me yesterday! And I have to endure extra lessons with him as well today! What am I going to do?"
"Having some trouble there little miss prodigy?" an unfamiliar voice chuckled.
"Ah! Eric! Tom!" Ingrid piped up.
I turned around to see two rather tall boys walk up to us and sit on the left over seats at the table. I tilted my head in confusion and turned to Ingrid.
"Kai, meet Tom my older brother and Eric his best friend." Ingrid pointed at each boy in turn.
I glanced at the two boys and I could instantly tell that Tom was her sibling considering how they seemed to have matching eyes and similar hair. There were some features about their faces that showed that they were related. I was surprised by the somewhat intense gaze that the other boy Eric seemed to hold as he watched me. The way his eyes trailed over me suggested that he was inspecting me and I resisted the urge to arch a brow at him.
He suddenly reached out and I tensed instinctively and watched him warily. His large hand went to my hair and plucked out a twig with a leaf attached to it. "Did you have some trouble this morning? You look like you've been pushed through a bush," he asked with an amused smile.
"Well that wouldn't be too far from the truth." I scoffed.
"The four royal's fans right?"
"Huh?"
"They have their own fan club. I take it you were attacked by those fans this morning?"
"I don't know who attacked me this morning and I don't like falsely accusing people so I can't really say." I shrugged.
"A girl with a sense of justice, impressive. Most girls would be gossiping and bitching about who it could be by now."
"Ah but Kai isn't just a normal girl, she's a female prodigy! It's about time we had one." Ingrid pointed out.
"What is it with you people calling me a prodigy? I'm hardly a prodigy." I grimaced. "Isn't that quite farfetched?"
"Not at all," she shook her head with a grin.
"Well I think it is, I'm nothing like Rose Hathaway after all." I insisted.
"Rose Hathaway was hot." Ingrid's brother Tom grinned. "And she's a legend to this day; the amount of different stories that is tied to that name is incredible."
"So Rose Hathaway is your type huh?" I teased. "Unfortunately for you, you're about a century late."
"She died not that long ago," he pointed out.
"Yes but she died an old lady, I didn't really think that you'd be chasing after someone half a century older than you." I laughed.
"Point taken," he grimaced.
"Yeah, Lissa Dragomir died surprisingly early, no one expected her to die in her 50s. My parents still talk about the shock it brought to the world sometimes." Els commented.
"It would be a shock if her death didn't shock the world." I scoffed. "I mean, wasn't she the one who changed things for the better and helped push forward the whole idea about Moroi fighting alongside dhampirs again?"
"So you did pay attention to the lesson!" Els pointed at me.
"It seemed somewhat interesting. I mean, didn't the one before her allow the stupid the law about lowering the graduation age? What were those idiots thinking for doing such a thing?" I frowned.
"Apparently the Moroi were desperate. Dhampir numbers were getting smaller in comparison to the Moroi." Eric commented.
"That's only because you guys practically breed like rabbits." I rolled my eyes at him and he watched me curiously.
"You can tell the difference between Moroi and dhampir already? I thought you were a total newbie at this?" he asked with a somewhat flirtatious lilt in his voice.
"Instincts." I shrugged to avoid the topic. I couldn't say that I could tell because I grew up with them. That would mix up my made up story and complicate things too much. And it was partially true that it was instinctual because dhampirs could always tell between a dhampir and a Moroi. It was a way for us to sense each other or something ridiculous like that. I didn't really get why we'd ever need to be able to sense another dhampir but it was already built into our systems somehow so there was nothing I could do about it.
"So, you mentioned not having done your work for Brooks. It's only the second day Kylie, isn't that cutting it a little close?" Eric asked.
"I can't help it, I got a little side tracked last night with the movie and everything so I just sort of forgot…"
"What was your work?"
"Just to read chapters 1 and 2." I told him.
"Are you good at cramming things in at the last minute?"
"Oh hell yeah."
"Then remember this," he smirked and practically recited the whole two chapters. I remembered what I could and stared at him in awe.
"How did you do that?"
"I have a photographic memory it seems so I tend to remember anything I read or see for a very long time," he shrugged in a casual way.
"You are a life saver." I beamed at him and relaxed in my chair. "And feel free to just call me Kai."
"Nah, that's too much of a boy's name and you Kylie Valentine are anything but a boy," he winked at me. I noticed the other three girls stare at us expectantly so I turned to face them.
"What?"
"We'll tell you later," they chimed in perfect synch and I stared at them in confusion.
"Hey, there's a party on Saturday for anyone who wants to come. Are you guys interested?"
"A party?" Roxy asked.
"What's the occasion this time?" Els tilted her head to the side.
"No occasion, just a party." Tom shook his head.
"Well, if we're invited then we'll be there." Ingrid smiled.
"Really?" I blinked in surprise.
"Trust me, if we get into an upper year's party, it's definitely worth going." Els told me.
"So what do you say? Are you in?" Eric asked me and I thought about it for a moment.
"Why not? I'll need something to loosen me up by the end of the week." I nodded.
"Do you drink?"
"That is the most ridiculous question any has ever asked me." I smirked. "I'm the queen of drinking games."
"Oh really? Well I look forward to seeing the truth about that myself," he winked. "We should probably get going, lessons start soon and most people have already left."
"Thanks again for the help Eric."
"No problem, pleasure's mine," he smiled and gave her a small wave as he left with Tom.
"Oh my god Eric definitely has his eyes set on you Kai!" Ingrid squealed when she was sure that they were gone.
"Excuse me?" I asked in shock. "You're joking me right?"
"No way, Ingrid's totally right!" Roxy grinned.
"The way he was staring at you was like he really wanted you to go to that party." Els nodded in agreement.
"You guys are definitely exaggerating things." I told them stubbornly. "Let's just go to lessons before the teachers find a reason to murder me in my sleep."
"Now you're exaggerating," they all rolled their eyes at me. The day seemed to flash by surprisingly quickly and as promised, during the combined training I paired up with Ingrid to see if I could give her any extra tips about what she was doing wrong. By the time my lesson with Brooks came, I was dreading it. Private one on one lessons with him was something that I would never want. He used to have it out for me and I didn't particularly like him either, so the feeling was mutual. I couldn't believe that out of all the teachers at this school, I was stuck with Brooks! It was the worst luck I could possibly have!
"You're late," he scowled as soon as I walked into the classroom and I paused in mid stride to glare at him. I took a deep breath and let it out to prevent the hurl of abuses that was on the tip of my tongue from spilling out. No doubt my swearing at him would no improve our relationship at all.
"Actually according to the clock just above you, I'm on time."
"You'll find that you're half a minute late."
"What? So you want me to start arriving five minutes early or something? Sorry but that's not going to happen." I told him stiffly.
"Being slightly early wouldn't kill you Valentine," he scoffed. "If we start early, I might even consider letting you out early."
"We both know that's never going to happen unless due to an emergency Guardian Brooks."
Unhappily I dumped my bag on the ground beside my seat and sat down before taking my books out.
"Just to let you know, I'm only going to be teacher you this session once a week."
"But I thought the timetable said that I had you for a teacher three times a week after class?" I frowned in confusion. However, on the inside, I was secretly jumping for joy!
"You have Vampire 101 three extra times a week yes, but I won't be your teacher for all of them. I don't have the time for it so think of the other two sessions as study groups or something because you'll be joined by Andrew Ozera and Daniel Zeklos. They're the top in the year for this class and they have the time so I've picked them as your teacher."
"You picked people from my own year to be my teacher?" I stared at him in disbelief. My mood dropped instantly at the thought of having Drew Ozera and Dan Zeklos as my teachers. If this ever got out, I'd never hear the end of it from their fan club!
"Considering how you don't even know some of the most basic information required, whether they are in your year or not does not matter. Either way they will know much more than you do."
Now I was caught in a deeper dilemma. What was worse? Having Brooks as my teacher for three extra lessons per week. Or having two of the royal punks as my teacher for two extra sessions a week? My mind must've been messed up, because I really couldn't tell which would be worse…
"Valentine!" Brooks slammed his hand down on the table in front of me causing me to jump. "If you want to survive at this school then you'll have to stop zoning out."
"Got it Guardian Brooks." I nodded absentmindedly.
The next hour that went by was probably the most boring and infuriating time of my life. It certainly didn't help that he was treating me as though I was some kind of an idiot and went over everything about three times to make sure I understood it. It was annoying because I couldn't tell him that I knew half the stuff about what he was nattering on about. I had to pretend that I had grown up in a completely human environment with barely any knowledge of the vampire world. Sometimes, life really was a bitch.
The hour that went by was definitely a complete waste of my time. There wasn't anything that Brooks mentioned that I didn't know already. The stuff that he mentioned really was elementary and I could still remember from my time here at the Academy when I grew up here. Most of the time, I focused on the clock in the classroom and counted down the minutes that I still had in that godforsaken lesson. I never thought the time would come when he would tell me to pack up my books.
"See you around Guardian Brooks." I told him relatively politely before dashing out of the classroom. In truth, I honestly couldn't have cared less if I saw him again for the next week! The boring lesson that I just had was enough to scar me for life. In my haste of running down the hall I practically crashed into someone. "Sorry," I apologised immediately before I even looked up.
"Desperate to go somewhere Valentine?" a voice chuckled that I vaguely recognised. Glancing up I saw the guardian who took our training yesterday.
"Guardian Jenson right?" I asked.
"Yep," he grinned surprisingly boyishly. I couldn't help but smile at that. "Why the rush?"
"I don't like Vampire 101 lessons." I told him.
"Ah Joe did mention something about you needing extra lessons in other subjects," he commented.
"Oh? Did he also mention how you might be roped into my extra training sessions?" I grinned cheekily.
"He did mention that as well," he laughed. "I look forward to seeing what you're like without holding back."
"Hm… I don't think even I know the answer to that." I frowned when I tried to think about it. It had been a while since I had to push myself through a difficult situation.
"Well hopefully we'll find that out soon so we can see what you're weakest points are and what we could do to compensate them."
"You're right, maybe I'll try going all out tomorrow and see what happens."
"You? Going all out? We're going to need Dr Salvatore to make sure none of us die by accident," he joked in good humour and I had to laugh at that.
"I doubt I'm capable of doing that against two skilled guardians attacking me at the same time."
"That's something we won't know until we try it out," he shrugged. "I'd rather be safe than sorry."
"Well, I guess I should be proud that a full guardian such as yourself considers me capable of rendering either you or Guardian Maxwell unconscious." I winked. "Do you usually overestimate your students?"
"It has happened a couple of times," he nodded. "But I don't think this is one of them. I reckon that if you actually tried, you could accomplish such a thing."
"Guardian Maxwell wasn't kidding when he said that you were observant." I smiled.
"Besides, sometimes, it is better to overestimate and be disappointed afterwards than underestimate and be sorry for the mistake later." There was something in his voice that seemed to undermine his normal carefree tone. It was as though he was speaking from an past experience and from the saddened gleam that flashed across his eyes, I had a feeling that the mistake he spoke of had cost him something important.
"You're right about that." I nodded grimly and remembered the first time I underestimated my own magic. The accident cost us an entire house because I burned it to the ground due to my lack of control. From then on, I rarely ever took my bracelet off. Very rarely.
"You want to talk about it?" he asked with a somewhat soothing tone that seemed to persuade me to want to tell him but I shook my head. It wasn't a particularly pleasant memory for me to recall so I pushed it back into the back of my mind instead.
"Nah, it's nothing much really. And I'm sure my stories won't be as worth telling as yours."
"A guardian's tales aren't always as interesting as you all seem to make it sound."
I shrugged in nonchalance. "I don't actually know what they're like considering I've never heard one. Maybe I'll convince you or Guardian Maxwell to tell one sometime."
"Ah I see her! Kai!" Ingrid waved her hands above her head in greeting when she saw me and a moment later I saw Els and Roxy join her from around the corner.
"Looks like I'm being called for Guardian Jenson." I laughed and waved back at her. "I'll see you in training."
"I look forward to seeing you're capabilities Valentine," he nodded and walked off while I headed over to the girls.
"What was that about?" Els asked curiously.
"I bumped into him while running out of Brooks' lesson and we just talked for a little about training and stuff." I shrugged nonchalantly. "He's going to be joining Guardian Maxwell to stretch my skills or something."
"Oh wow… hey, what are you planning for Thursday?"
"What do you mean?" I tilted my head in confusion.
"Thursdays are free in the morning, or in human schedule in the afternoon, there are no classes so we can do whatever we want including going into town!" Els jumped in excitement.
"I have nothing planned." I shook my head. "I didn't even realise that there were no classes on Thursdays. Except, I still seem to have bloody Vampire 101 after lunch period." I grumbled.
"Seriously?" the other three stared at me in disbelief so I showed them my timetable.
"That's so unfair!" Roxy protested.
"Tell me about it." I scoffed.
"I'm sure if we ask nicely the headmaster will let you off just one lesson and we can all head to the city together!" Els suggested.
"What would we do even if we go?" I frowned.
"Shopping!" they beamed with excitement.
I just stared at them for a moment and grumbled. Oh course that was what they had in mind. That's the only thing girls seemed to care about when it came to going to a mall. I sighed in resignation when I realised that there were some things that I wanted to buy to decorate my room a little to make it more personalised.
"I'll do the asking of the headmaster since I'm the one wanting to bail on my lesson. Have you three already gotten your permission?"
"Yep, got it in advance last week," they nodded.
"I'll go ask him now. How about I meet you guys back at the dorms?" I suggested.
"See you back at the dorms then." Roxy nodded and the three of them headed off as I made my way to Martin's office.
