A/N: I don't know what to say, but thanks for waiting. Sorry it took so long to get this chapter out, but I think the wait was worth it! My next chapter will come out soon and the next one sooner after since I will be on break by then.

By the way, there's no Neal in this chapter and Roald only has a small part. Next chapter will have more of both of them, though, along with Joren. Sorry about the changes of spoilers.

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Corus High School

- CHAPTER TWO -

By night writer

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            Kel awoke in the morning to the smells of bacon, eggs, and the heavenly aroma of coffee. She sat up in bed to see that Kalasin was still sleeping. She quietly got dressed in some clothes she left out for the day. Walking out of the room she shared with Kally, she entered the living room and headed to the bar.

            Kel bit her lip to keep from laughing as she saw Salma and another girl dancing to some music as they cooked breakfast. Salma used the spatula she was cooking eggs with as a microphone and sang, "If I could, then I would…I'll go wherever you will go –"

            The other girl flipped her hair to the side and belted out, "Way up high or down low, I'll go wherever you will go…"

Kel coughed loudly. Salma and the other girl spun around to see Kel sitting at the bar with an amused smile on her lips. Sal spoke up first, "Morning, Kel."

            The other girl smiled in greeting. "Hi, I'm Uline Hannalof. I'm guessing your Keladry, right?" Uline was a beautiful brunette with dark green eyes that twinkled when she smiled.

            Kel gave a warm smile as shook Uline's hand. "It's nice to meet you. You can call me Kel, though. So what are you two doing up so early?"

            Sal gave a cheerful grin. "We're cooking breakfast, obviously."

"And the singing?" asked Kel as her lips twitched slightly.

"We love 'Wherever You Will Go,' whenever we hear it…we tend to start singing, and under certain circumstances, dancing."

Kel's hazel eyes flickered green in amusement. "Why don't I set the table?"

            Uline smiled gratefully. "That would be great actually. The plates and stuff are in that cupboard there," she pointed to a cupboard to the side.

            "Okay." Kel set up the table that was located in the living room. After a moment's thought, she headed into the room she shared with Kalasin Conte. A few minutes later, a frustrated Kel walked out of the room and walked straight into the kitchen.

            "Is something wrong, Kel?" Salma asked.

            "My mom signed me up for my classes for me, since I was too busy to do it myself. My schedule isn't exa –" She was interrupted from finishing up her sentence when a scream echoed throughout the dorm. "What was that?"

            A mini whirlwind tore into the bathroom and was out again within five minutes. It then moved into Kel and Kally's room and back out again to be seen hopping up and down on one foot. The mini whirlwind also known as Kalasin was currently trying to tie her shoes, brush her hair, and zip up her backpack all at once.

            Salma looked at Kally questioningly and asked, "What's with the hurricane, Kally?"

            The black-haired girl replied, "I have to see Mrs. Loreto about the paper due next week. He said that this was the only time he had free anytime soon and I'm late!" As soon as that got out of her mouth, she said a loud 'goodbye' before running out the door at a dead sprint.

            Kel's mouth was open in an 'O' position as she stared at the now closed door. "That was…interesting."

            Uline popped a piece of bacon in her mouth before replying, "You get used to it after awhile."

            "Kally is always late to anything when it happens before noon. Anytime after that, she usually manages to get to on time." Sal explained.

            Kel gave a small smile and nodded.

            "Oh! I forgot to ask you if you need help getting to your classes today."

            Kel gave a shake of her head. "I'm good to go, Sal. Thanks, though."

            "It's no problem, Kel. So Uline, what's this I hear…"

***

Keladry Mindelan, 1st Year Student, Corus High School

(Advised to take advanced classes)

Period 1: Advanced Common Languages – Yayin, Matthew – C 10

Period 2: Physical Education – Bell, Eda – G 01

Period 3: Advanced Math – Ivor, Blake – C 18

Period 4: Plants and Animals – Reed, Lindhall – B 04

Period 5: Advanced History and Law of Tortall – Olau, Myles – A 09

Period 6: Customs – Oakbridge, Upton – B 11

Period 7: Advanced Technology – Salmalin, Numair – D 15

Period 8: Myths and Legends – Tkaa, Luke – D 12

Period 9: Combat Arts [a.k.a. Dueling and Shang Arts] – Ezeko, Obafem and Seastone, Hakuin – G 03

            Keladry looked at her schedule for the year and sighed. It's going to be a tough year, Kel thought. Most of her classes were advanced classes taking her above regular 1st Year classes. There was a good chance that she had mostly upper classmen in her classes. She hoped to have any of her dorm mates in one of her classes, but she knew the chances were slim.

            She walked down the long corridor that was filled with students chatting with each other. She was dressed in the mandatory school uniforms, which consisted of a white long sleeved shirt, navy blue shirt, black vest, and red tie. It CHS rules that all students wore their school uniforms every Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday. The rest of the days were free dress days, which means that you could wear whatever you want. Today was Tuesday meaning it was a uniform day.

            Kel heard the first bell ring meaning you had ten minutes to get to your first period class. She lengthened her stride as she moved down the corridor at a faster pace. C 07 … C 08 … C 09 … yes! C 10. She slowed down as she neared the door and stopped completely when she was in front of it. Inwardly cringing, she slipped on her calm façade as she entered the classroom.

            The classroom was rather large and had a sterile look to it. A chalkboard and dry/erase board took up one wall of the room. Large windows allowed sunshine to filter into the spacious room. Single desks were lined in neat rows and columns. The teacher's desk was neat and bookcases were scattered around the room. Students lounged in seats waiting for class to start and the teacher himself was writing on the chalkboard.

            The bell rang as Kel walked steadily up to the teacher and took out the slip of paper that she had gotten, stating she was a new student. She coughed softly to catch the teacher's attention. The teacher was a short, black-haired man with a goatee. His face looked bland, but his eyes were observant.

            Mr. Yayin read the piece of paper. "Alright, Miss Mindelan. Welcome to Advanced Common Languages. I'm going to introduce you to the class, so please hold on a moment." He walked to the head of the class and grabbed a pointer of his desk. Taking the wooden rod, he smacked the floor a couple of times to get the classes' attention. "We have a new student here at Corus High. I would like you to help her get well acquainted with the school. So please give a nice hello to Keladry Mindelan. Come up here, Miss Mindelan and tell us a bit about yourself."

            Kel inwardly groaned as she walked to where Mr. Yayin was standing. The class gave her their attention all right. Some murmured hellos, some gave her a once over, and others just plain ignored her. Pasting a fake smile on her face, she spoke, "I'm Keladry Mindelan. I just moved here from the Yamani Islands."

            Whispers erupted all over the class when they made the connection between the name Mindelan and Yamani Islands. "She must be the daughter or something…" "Thank Mithros I'm not that tall…" "I heard her mother…" "Killed five men to save a bunch of…" "President Conte is giving them all…" "Look at her, she looks like she has no feelings…"

            Kel watched quietly as Mr. Yayin started to tap his pointer steadily against the ground with his face gaining a steely front. "I WILL HAVE QUIET!!"

            The classroom became so quiet that you could hear the cars passing by the campus about five miles away. The students looked terrified or nervous. One boy, though, just sat there with a sneer on his face looking at the teacher with contempt. The boy had his dark reddish-brown hair slicked back from a strongly chiseled jaw and steely gray eyes. Some girls would call him hot with his built body and good looks, but Kel found just looking at him turned her stomach.

            The teacher went on lecturing, "Never in my lifetime have I met such a bunch of inconsiderate blockheads. When a new student comes to class, you do not talk around the person, you make them feel welcome. I never thought that people with such prominent backgrounds could have no sense of courtesy within one bone of their body. For this reason, I shall assign to you a one thousand-word paper due in two days on etiquette and decorum of different countries. Choose one country, I do not care which, and write on it. It will be on my desk first thing Friday morning. Understood?"

            A bunch of mumbled agreements and nods was his answer.

            Mr. Yayin gave the class a glare before turning to Kel. "Miss Mindelan, this assignment is not required for you, but you may also do it for extra credit. You can have until Monday to turn it in, though. Now please take a seat next to Vinson Genlith over there. Raise your hand, Mr. Genlith."

            Vinson Genlith turned out to be the boy with the steely gray eyes and permanent sneer. He gave the teacher a glare, but stuck his hand in the air slightly. Keladry walked down the aisle to her seat under the heavy gazes of her fellow classmates. They were definitely not friendly looks. As Mr. Yayin proceeded to explain the day's work, Kel slowly sunk back in her seat. This is definitely not my day…

***

            Kel sighed inwardly with relief as the bell rang for the end of class. Mr. Yayin seemed like a strict teacher, but he turned out to be not to bad.  It was her classmates who made her want to walk out of the classroom as fast as she could, though. The Genlith guy especially got on her nerves, he kept on giving her side glances that made her want to take a long hot shower. Kel sighed and walked out of the room heading towards her next class across campus.

            A five-minute walk later, she made it to her second period class, which was Physical Education. Heading into the room with the sign G 01 on the door, she saw that it wasn't a regular classroom, but actually a small gym. There were weights and other exercise machines located throughout the room. Desks were located in the room also along with a large dry/erase board. Students were chatting all around the room and the teacher was seen nowhere. Kel scanned the room and to her surprise saw Kalasin sitting at the desk talking to two guys and a girl.

Deciding against walking over and interrupting their conversation, she was just about to sit down at a random desk when she heard someone shout, "Kel!" Looking up, she saw Kally waving her arms like a madman earning her a few strange looks from around the room. She ignored them all, though and continued waving her new roommate and friend over to her.

Kel signed with resignation and headed over to the black-haired beauty. She smiled calmly at the small group when she reached them.

Kally looked happy as she grinned. "Hi Kel! I can't believe we have a class together. This will be so great!"

One of the guys chuckled in amusement. "Alright, Kally, how much coffee did you have this morning?"

"I had one cup for your information, Mister!" Kalasin said huffily. "Anyway, I have to introduce you still, so shut it." She glared at the guy, who just rolled his eyes in response. "Moving along here…Keladry Mindelan, I would like you to meet Faleron King –" Faleron King was a handsome, dark-haired boy with a rather charming personality.

"Lalasa Isran –" Lalasa had beautiful black hair that curled all the way down her back. When she smiled, her black eyes sparkled and she lost that shy look she had most of the time. 

"And the dope over there is my older brother, Roald Conte." Roald Conte looked like he stepped right out of a teen film. He had those good looks that girls loved to fawn over. His brilliant white smile contrasted with his tanned skin, which she learned later, came from playing football. His coal black hair was buzzed at the sides and he had bangs hanging casually over his forehead. 

Kel greeted them all with a smile. "Nice to meet you all."

"Same here," replied Faleron.

"So what do we do in this class?" asked Kel.

Roald spoke up with a low, husky voice. "It depends on what Ms. Bell feels like doing. She's nice and all, but she has a tendency to be –"

"To be what, Mr. Conte?" All five students turned around to see a woman with pale, intelligent eyes. She had short-cropped hair that curled around her face, which was dainty but weathered.

"Uh…well, um…you see," stammered Roald with a blush staining his tanned cheeks.

The woman, who Kel surmised was Ms. Bell, laughed slightly and shook her head in amusement. "Calm down, boy. I'm not going to bite…well, at least not right now."

Kalasin giggled. "How was your weekend, Ms. Bell?"

"Just find, Kalasin. Now, let's get class started since the bell has rung." Ms. Bell shouted loudly to the rest of the class, "GET TO THE LOCKER ROOMS AND GET DRESSED FOR SWIMMING. MEET ME AT THE POOL IN SEVEN MINUTES!" With that the grandmotherly looking woman walked out of the classroom whistling a cheery tune.

**

            Seven minutes later saw the class standing at the side of the huge pool dressed in their swimsuits. All the girls' swimsuits were black in color with a small white design at the breast. The boys had black swim trunks with the same small white design on the bottom of the trunks.

            Ms. Bell was explaining what they were going to do in class today. "We will be racing to find our top three swimmers in this class. Later, we will have all of the other winners from other period's race with our top swimmers until we have the fastest three swimmers in the school. We're alphabetically, so ALBURST and BAKER up first!"

            As Kelly Alburst and Denise Baker raced went up to race, the rest of the class went on chatting quietly with each other.

            Kally grinned manically. "O' Dear Brother of Mine…"

            Roald groaned despairingly. "What do you want, Kally?"
            "Guess who I'm racing against if it's alphabetical order?"

            Roald's dark blue eyes widened. "Oh please no…"

            Kally grinned menacingly. "Oh yes…"

            "CONTE and CONTE is up next!!"

            Kel whispered to Lalasa and Faleron, "Why is Roald so scared of swimming against Kally?"
            "Kally is the top swimmer in the school, while Roald is only an average swimmer. Basically, Roald is going to be swimming miles behind Kally," Lalasa explained. Faleron chuckled in mirth.

            The three watched the Conte siblings line up at the edge of the pool. Then Ms. Bell sounded the whistle loudly and the two were off towards the other end of the pool and back. By the time Roald was halfway across the pool, Kally had already touched the other side and was heading back.

            "GO KALLY!!" yelled Lalasa.

            All the students cheered or whistled as Kally rose out of the pool, grinning widely as she watched her brother finally finish.

**

            The loud whistle echoing off the walls signaled the end of P.E. "GO CHANGE!" bellowed Ms. Bell. "Mindelan? Stay behind for a moment, please?"

            Kel shared confused looks with her friends before heading towards Ms. Bell. The grandmotherly looking woman looked hard at Keladry with a scrutinizing gaze.

            Suddenly she spoke, "Mindelan, I heard you signed up Combat Arts."

            "I did, Ms. Bell," Kel confirmed.

            Eda Bell sighed deeply. "I was worried you might say that. You see females aren't welcomed with open arms in the fighting arena. If they allow you to take Combat Arts, then that would make you an automatic member of the Dueling Club. You will be facing some tough decisions and I can only wish you the best. But all that yapping is not why I asked you to stay…I have a note for you to see the principal and I have a feeling it will be about your choice of classes."

            Kel stared at the piece of paper that was now in her possession. "Why would they care so much?"

            "Some very influential people are old Dueling Club members and back when they went here, there were some pretty bad prejudices about women. I suggest that you tread carefully, Mindelan. Wyldon may or may not back you up on your decision to continue taking the class or not. Whatever you do, though, just make sure you think carefully about your choices." As soon as she finished speaking, the old lady walked away with long confident stride and a nod in farewell.

            Kel sat staring at the paper before her that said to go to the principal's office at lunch. Before she knew it, break time was over and she had only a short time to change and get to her third period class.

***

            Advanced Math with Mr. Ivor passed quickly as had Advanced Technology with Mr. Salmalin. Kel soon found herself standing outside Principal Wyldon's office preparing herself for the upcoming confrontation. Finally being able to calm herself, she knocked three times on the door in front of her. At a deep voice saying, "Come in," she entered the office.

***

            Cavall Wyldon has seen many things in his lifetime that made most men cringe. He faced down five deadly assassins to save the lives of the President's children. Now, though, he found himself in a less than desirable position. Keladry Mindelan, whose parents were responsible for the treaty with the Yamani Islands, signed up for Dueling and Shang Arts with a stellar record in those categories. The problem was that when certain prejudiced alumni of CHS (more specifically, former members of the Dueling Club) found out about this, they were outraged at the possibility of a female member of the CHS Dueling Club.

            Now, he had to either choose to back up this young lady entering his office right at the moment or feed her to the wolves. "Miss Mindelan, please have a seat."

            Keladry Mindelan sat down in front of him and looked at him with a knowing look in her hazel eyes. "Excuse me for my rudeness, sir, but I do know why I'm here. It's about my signing up for Combat class and certain…old members of the Dueling Club, doesn't it?"

            He looked at her sharply and then sighed. "Yes, it does Miss Mindelan. I'm in a bit of a bind whether or not to switch you to a different class or let you take the class. You do know of course, that if I let you take the class then your automatically allowed onto the Dueling Club. Which leads to the people who brought up the matter. Now tell me, young lady, what do you think I should do?"

            He noted that her face was composed and she thought carefully before speaking. "I believe that you should do what you think is right. I guess I will have to respect your decision either way."

***

            Kel fought to keep control of her emotions as she looked at the contemplating principal. He asked slowly, "Why do you wish to take this course?"
            She looked down for a moment and then spoke, "I've read in books about heroes and legends of Tortall. I've seen that most of them were men and few were women. Then General Alanna Trebond-Olau came along and seemed to change all of that." The principal nodded in understanding. Alanna Trebond had disguised her gender to get into the Tortallan Armed Forces (which had not allowed female soldiers awhile back) and moved up in the ranks quickly. When she faced down the treasonous Roger Conte, her real gender was revealed and she caused an uproar in Tortall. With the help of Jonathan Conte and her other friends, though, she was able to keep her rank and there was even a bill passed allowing women to join TAF. No women have taken up the chance as of yet.

            Kel continued to speak. "I want the chance to help people and I think the best way to do so would be to join up with TAF. I will when I become of age, but I know that I will need to be able to combat others. This class will help me to do so. It will be like a stepping stone to my dream."

            The man behind the class was quiet for a long moment after she finished speaking. "I've made my decision, Miss Mindelan. You will be allowed to take the class and I wish you the best of luck. I will aide you as much as I may, but it may not be much."

            "Thank you, sir."
            "Your welcome, Mindelan. Now you may go."

***
            Kel found herself walking out of Myths and Legends with a nervous spark in her normally calm face. She walked slowly down the corridor to her last class of the day…Combat Arts. Please don't let it be too bad…

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Naomi's Commentary [formally night writer's commentary]

Hey there, y'all! Righty then, this is what happened in this chapter. Kel went through classes and basically the chapter set up the next chapter, which is the one you want to read. The idea behind the next chapter is on the CHS Informational page (Ch.1 – Fanfiction.Net). So read the spoilers or…don't.

This is really short, so I won't be all babbling. Good day or night!