I've been soooo busy at work lately! They kept giving me so much paperwork to do that I didn't have the time to write this on time XD

Hope you enjoy it ;D

Chapter 10: Kitchen Duty

Today, our dorm is on kitchen duty. Problem is, I've never really cooked anything in my life before. The girl told me that it's no problem and that it isn't that hard. It also seems like I'm not the only one in this situation; Stella also never even went into a kitchen before. I've been put on vegetable cutting duty.

"This is not a good idea…"

I mumble under my breath, my hand shaking. I have to admit that I am a bit scared to cut those vegetables. Why did they have to give me the hardest task? Alright… Let's start with something easy… The tomato? How am I even supposed to cut that? I'll try to hold it in place first and…

"Ah…!"

I bring my finger to my mouth. I just had to go and cut my finger… It doesn't seem too deep, but I had to find something to keep the blood away from the food.

"Onyx! Are you alright?"

Musa says to me, since she was standing right next to me when this all happened.

"Yeah, I just need to put a bandage on it and it'll be all good."

"They have some at the infirmary. We'll take care of everything here. You go take care of that finger, sweetie."

Flora reassures me and I do as she says. I leave the kitchen behind, while looking at my finger. It really isn't a big deal, but if I continue cooking with that, the food will just have my blood all over it. I don't think it's something people will want to eat.

I arrive at the infirmary and find no one there. I guess I'll try looking around for a first aid kit. They should be accessible to everyone. While I'm searching around for it, I hear footsteps approaching. I also hear a girl's voice.

"It hurts… I really don't feel so good, Professor."

"Alright, alright. I'll take care of you. Just hang in there until we reach the Infirmary."

Professor Palladium? He's helping out a fairy. He is sometimes in charge of the Infirmary. Why does her complaining sound so fake? She's probably trying to skip today's classes by pretending to be sick. It's kind of annoying how she's taking advantage of Professor Palladium's kindness like that. It's also pissing me off how he's just helping her… But I guess that's who he is. He's just… a really nice person.

They come into the infirmary, and, for some reason, the scene makes my heart squeeze uncomfortably. Professor Palladium had the fairy's arm around his shoulder, and had his own arm around her waist, to give her support. Why're they so close to each other? She doesn't even look like she needs all that support. Professor Palladium would do almost anything for his students… Any of his students…

He sits the whining girl on the bed and then notices me.

"Ah, Onyx! Did something happen? Did you hurt yourself?"

He leaves the fairy and rushes to me.

"No, it's nothing. I just need a bandage."

I then immediately turn away from him, not wanting him to see my confused emotions. The girl has stopped whining and is now playing on her phone. Yeah, she just wants to skip the day and have an excuse for it. I spot the first aid kit and open it without saying anything. I get a small bandage out and quickly wrap it around my finger.

"Onyx, let me see."

"It's alright. I have to hurry back to the kitchen, everyone's probably waiting."

I hurry out of the Infirmary and head for the kitchen. Professor Palladium is a very caring person. Not just towards me, but towards everyone. It makes me feel weird… Did I think I was special? Professor Palladium just treats everyone like that. It's just… who he is… not who I am to him… I don't know why this is even affecting me like that. Finding out that I'm not all that special is just something I'm not really used to, I guess.

On my way to the kitchen, I find the girls standing right outside it, being lectured by the chef of the school. I wonder what happened while I was away. After her lecture, the chef goes back into the kitchen, leaving my friends outside. I go up to them, wanting to know what's going on.

"Onyx, you're back."

Musa puts her arm around my shoulder in a friendly manner.

"I leave you girls for one minute and you get yourselves into trouble."

I adopt a teasing tone and chuckle.

"We just… burned a dish or two."

Stella gives an innocent smile. I'm pretty sure it was more than that…

"Actually, everything got burned."

Bloom corrects Stella. That's what I thought.

"And the kitchen's a mess…"

Flora shakes her head while sighing.

"We've actually just been banned from the kitchen as well."

Tecna informs me. We all laugh the whole event off, since it is kind of funny how fast all of that happened. I'm already feeling better now. I don't even know why I wasn't feeling good about seeing Professor Palladium taking care of that girl earlier. It doesn't matter though. He's nothing more than my teacher.

On our way to the dining hall, Stella tells us about the invitation she got from Prince Sky to go on a date tonight.

Today's classes went catastrophically as always. Today, though, it was even worse. Not only did I fail in the classes I normally fail at, but, during Professor Palladium's Potionology class, I mixed the wrong potions, and I made an error in the doses. This is the first time I ever do so badly in the Potionology class. I don't get it! Why am I so distracted today?

I head back to the dorm with Flora, who had the same last class as me. When we get there, Stella is already there with Bloom, trying to find the perfect outfit for her date, which is still in a few hours.

She drags us along and, when Tecna and Musa return, they are also forced to help her. Well, it's not like I have anything better to do. Besides, it'll be a good distraction for me, since I've been feeling extremely weird today.

We wish Stella good luck on her date. Before she leaves, she gives Bloom her Ring of Solaria, since it doesn't match her outfit.

"I'll take good care of it until you come back, Stella."

"I know you will, Bloom. Well, I'm off, girls!"

She leaves, all excited about her date. I hope it all goes well for her.

Thank you so much everyone for reading this story! I still can't believe how positively you guys are receiving it :3

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