Chapter 13

Separated

My first term at Milkweed Academy had gone by so quickly and the summer holiday had gone by even quicker. I was the busiest I'd ever been in my life, but I was also the best I'd ever been in my life. Although my schedule was filled to the brim, I still returned to Milkweed Academy at the start of my new term in the Autumn. Kyle and I had once again decided to dorm together and I was thankful for that. I didn't have the time or the energy to switch rooms.

This new term was also the last term I'd have with Professor Flan and it was set to be an intense one in preparation for the year to follow, which was to be our sorting year. The sorting year was the start of the formative years of study in every student's life. Instead of taking miscellaneous classes, the way we had been during our last term, the curriculum was made more specific by a wizard's magic class or type. It was exciting to think about, mainly because I wasn't exactly sure of what type I'd be sorted into. I felt like I'd always been good at a bit of everything.

Kyle hadn't been in our dorm the morning of our first day and I hadn't seen him unpacking when I'd arrived the night before. I found that strange, but I still headed off to class with Ivan and Nicolai. The two were happy to see me and started up an instant chatter to catch up.

"My hair is finally starting to turn blue! Look at the roots!" Nicolai beamed, lowering his head to give us a look. "My mother said I get it from her side of the family. They're nightcrawlers too, so maybe I'll get some new powers this year!"

"Puberty! Yay!" Ivan retorted sarcastically. I couldn't help but laugh at that, much to Nicolai's displeasure. Ivan sighed as he continued.

"I hardly did anything after visiting Sigmund. In fact, my father made me work at the elixir shop most of the summer. Hated it!"

"At least you got some practice in with potion making, right?" I shrugged. "That's gotta be good for something!"

"Gotta? Ha! Listen to you, Mr. Positivity!" Ivan snickered. "Lemme guess, you did nothing but snuggle up to your witch of the year all summer?"

"I can tell." Nicolai chuckled. "You're even talking like her. You said y'all earlier and that caught me off guard."

"Didn't know you were a New Yorker, Sigmund!" Ivan finally laughed, Nicolai instantly joining in. I rolled my eyes and fiddled with the jewelry under my collar. Ivan took notice. "And what's with the necklace? You've been twirling it since I saw you last over the summer."

"Erin gave it to me." I shrugged, pointing my nose away from them as they laughed more. "And I don't care, I gave her one too!"

So yeah, maybe I did spend more time with Erin over the summer than originally planned, but it just sorta fell into place. Apart from enjoying each other's company, I'd been filming all summer long out of a production studio in New York City. When we first started filming, I'd sneak Erin in during my lunch breaks to look around the studio. Eventually, we got caught when we'd been snooping through the costume closet of another production, but my management actually loved Erin and let her stick around. She even helped with the show by giving me solid critiques on my magic, something the normal people on staff couldn't do, and she'd even given me pep talks at times when I was stressed. Not to mention the hugs. I relied on those after a while.

I wasn't embarrassed about admitting we'd been around one another. I knew Ivan and Nicolai wanted me to be, but I'd never give them that satisfaction.

"I'm not embarrassed! I don't care!" I repeated as we turned into Professor Flan's classroom. Looking to my desk, I frowned. Kyle wasn't there. That was unlike him. Typically, he'd already be settled on his side of our desk with his stationary organized in front of him. It was our first day back. I hoped he wasn't running late.

"Good morning, students!" Professor Flan called out to the classroom when he walked in a couple moments later. Students rushed in after him and took to their seats, but there was still no sign of Kyle. I cringed when the professor closed the door.

"Good morning, Professor.."

"Wake up! Wake up!" He clapped at the class, setting his binder down on his desk. "I hope you've all kept a book at your bedsides over the summer holiday. This is a major turning point in your learning. After this term with me, you'll be sorted into types and taking extra classes with upperclassman. This term is NOT the term to slack off!"

Of course, this was the moment Kyle chose to show up late. He'd interrupted the professor with a knock to the glass of the door and sheepishly walked in when the door was opened for him.

"Speak of the devil himself!" Professor Flan retorted. "The biggest slacker of them all! Completely unacceptable being tardy on the first day!"

Apart from the professor's comments, I was taken aback by Kyle's appearance. The first thing I noticed was his hair. Typically, it was always a tangled mess, but on this morning it had been especially messy. Noticeably so. Then, there was his uniform. There was an odd, brown stain splattered over his purple, Milkweed sweater vest. As he sat beside me, I leaned in to whisper to him.

"Why are you late? What happened?"

"Does it matter?!" Kyle spat back at me. He looked upset and I was honestly surprised with his tone towards me. As the professor started the lesson on the board, I pulled my notebook out of my satchel to start notes. I conjured a quill and ink and opened my notebook, pausing when I spotted a pink sticky note on the inside cover.

Happy New Term!
Have a good day today!
xx
-E

Erin. I felt my face flush instantly and quickly pulled the notebook closer to me to keep the note out of view. Looking over it again, I couldn't help but smile. At one point, Erin had left these notes all over my trailer during filming. And I mean all over. I'd been discovering them all throughout the summer in the costume closet, the fitting room, on mirrors, even in the bathroom. Sticky notes had become a running joke and it was hilarious seeing that she'd found a way to leave one in my school book. Unfortunately, someone didn't find it as humorous as I did.

"What are we reading that's more important than taking notes?!" Professor Flan asked suddenly. I gasped, my gaze shooting up from my notebook. The professor was stood right over me and he did not look pleased. In fact, he looked furious. I was shaken.

"H-huh?! Are you speaking to me?"

"Are we passing notes?"

"No, Professor! Never!"

"Let me make something VERY CLEAR." Professor Flan started with a slam of the piece of chalk in his hand, which broke on my desk in front of me and made me jump yet again. "And this is for EVERYONE in this room! If you fall behind during this term, there's NO COMING BACK from failure! No make up exams, no re-dos, no extra credit assignments! You WILL be held back from your sorting year and you WILL repeat this term again and again till you pass! Have I made myself clear?!"

"Yes, Professor..." The room answered, fearfully.

We continued to take notes in silence and after some time, the professor pulled a stack of papers from his desk drawer. A pop quiz. The tests were quickly passed around the room and a timer was started as soon as every desk was occupied with one. It was a short review on what we'd learned last term and I'm not gonna lie, but I hadn't studied much over the break. Not out of ignorance, but just because of how busy I'd been with work. I was able to get through the test, but I found myself pausing and getting stuck on questions that I knew, for sure, I'd breezed through last term. Mentally, I told myself I needed to study more, straight away.

As the timer on the professor's desk went off, marking the end, the professor stood up at the front of the room to begin going over the answers.

"Alright, switch with your table neighbor. Take out your red ink for grading."

Lifting my test, I turned to Kyle to switch papers with him. Kyle didn't do the same and I also noticed his test paper was hardly done. In fact, he'd only gotten through two of the fifteen questions. He hadn't even glanced at me, his head was lowered and his expression was void. I was confused before, but now I was concerned.

"Are you gonna tell me what's going on?" I whispered. No response. I wasn't sure what to do. Professor Flan had already started with calling out the answers. "Kyle, please, speak to me..."

"Is there an issue over here?" Professor Flan asked suddenly as he approached our desk. I shook my head quickly. I didn't want him to come over again. I knew he wouldn't show Kyle any mercy, even in his compromised state. Professor Flan was a nasty, foul spoken teacher. He was quick to shout and quicker to give punishments. I swapped papers with Kyle, but the professor had noticed his paper anyhow. Even more shocking, he pulled the paper from in front of me and held it out to the class for all to see.

"This is a perfect example of what I don't want to see this term." The Professor announced. "This is an embarrassment! Milkweed Academy is a prestigious school for high level members of the occult. Does this look high level?!"

"No..." The class answered. I was in total shock. I hadn't wanted the professor to see Kyle's test. This was the last thing I was expecting. As if things couldn't get anymore shocking, Kyle had shot up from his desk, cleared his belongings from the table into his backpack and walked straight out of the classroom with a massive slam to the door. I cringed, surprised the glass of the door hadn't shattered. The class was dead silent in that moment. Oddly enough, the professor gave a rather sinister grin.

"Anyone else want to slack off?" He asked the room. "You can follow him out!"

I didn't understand why he walked out. I didn't understand why he wouldn't talk to me. Something was clearly wrong. No one walked out of class that way, especially not this term. This term was important! The class went on as usual after the incident and it was the talk of all our peers moving into our following class. I wasn't happy to hear Ivan and Nicolai joining in on all the gossip with some of our other classmates. They were saying awful things and joking around about his appearance. I didn't like it.

"You guys shouldn't talk about him. He was obviously having a bad morning." To my surprise, they only laughed at my statement.

"Oh, come on Sigmund! You don't walk out on a class, no matter how bad of a day you're having!" Ivan replied. "He's gonna be in huge trouble!"

"Huge trouble!" Nicolai repeated. "I wonder what Professor Flan is gonna do. He's the meanest!"

They spoke like they were anticipating seeing Kyle get into some sort of trouble. That annoyed me. I knew they were the types to poke fun, but I didn't think my friends were gossips. There was nothing I hated more than a gossip.

As we turned into our elixir class, Ivan and I found a seat together and Nicolai sat in the desk in front of us. When I realized Kyle wasn't in this room either, I pulled the crystal ball from my satchel and tried to call him. There was no response. I wasn't sure what to do, but it would have to wait till after class. I was thankful for the lunch period ahead, mainly because of how difficult the elixir class turned out to be. I felt bombarded with information and honestly didn't feel as confident as I'd felt last term. The new potions we were learning were very specific in their instructions, down to the temperatures. I wanted the class to be over and felt relived when it finally ended.

I reached out to the teacher and told her my concerns, but she assured me that I'd get the hang of things as the term went on. I wasn't so sure, but I took her word for it and followed Ivan and Nicolai out into the hall for lunch. Ivan threw an arm over my shoulder and gave me a sympathetic look. I guess I looked as stressed on the outside as I felt on the inside.

"Don't look so down! You know we can always study together if you need extra help! This was all I was doing all summer long!"

"Thanks, Ivan." I smiled weakly.

"Now you see why I hated it so much! Mixing elixirs is a bitch!"

I walked to the lunchroom with Ivan and Nicolai, but ultimately decided to skip out on it to take my new textbooks back into my dorm. They were weighing down my bag and also making my arms sore to carry. It was a lot this year, for sure. I made my way down to the common hall and hiked up the stairs to the second floor where my room resided. Opening the door, I was surprised to see Kyle inside. He was sat at the window seat with his knees pulled to his chest, head buried in his arms. I closed the door behind me gently and walked my books over to my desk, setting them down. The aura around him felt dark. I felt uneasy. I wasn't sure if I should speak, but I did anyways.

"Kyle? Do you need to talk?" He ignored me, again. There was no response from him and he hadn't even met my gaze. Was he upset about earlier? Was something going on? Enough was enough. I sat beside him on the window seat and pressed him for an answer.

"Why are you ignoring me? What did I do to you? Is this about the test incident? I didn't want the Professor to see the paper, he came over and—."

"I don't care..."

"Then what's the problem? And did you stay in here all day? I don't see any of your new books."

Kyle finally looked up from his arms, revealing reddened eyes and dark circles. He'd looked just as tired earlier in the day, but now it seemed as if he'd been crying. My concern was growing.

"Kyle, what happened this morning?"

"It doesn't matter anymore!" Kyle suddenly snapped. "I'm sick of this school! This place is ruining my life!"

"What are you on about?" I gasped.

"My parents claim to care about me going here, but they're doing everything in their power to keep me dragging behind! I have no new school clothes, no new room décor, I practically had to BEG for school supplies this term!"

"Oh..." I frowned. How terrible. I couldn't imagine a total lack of support. Kyle hardly ever spoke of his parents to me, but anytime he did, it was always terrible. It seemed nothing had changed with their relationship over the summer holiday. Before I could offer him supplies, he just went off again.

"And do you think Professor Flan cares about any of that?! He drags me down whenever he gets the chance to! He ALWAYS DRAGS ME DOWN! HE ALWAYS FINDS A WAY TO MAKE ME FEEL LESS THAN! HE ALWAYS GOES OUT OF HIS WAY TO MAKE ME QUESTION WHY I'M EVEN HERE!"

"Kyle, calm down! It's alright!"

"IT'S NOT ALRIGHT! I'M NOT ALRIGHT!"

"Kyle!"

To the shock of my life, fire. Kyle had shot up from his spot and conjured fire to burn his books, his bedding and the little he had of his desk belongings. Smoke was quickly filling our small space, but he just went on and on, tearing through the entire side of his room in a fit of rage. I wanted to grab hold of him and stop him, but I was honestly afraid. His aura was off and he'd dashed out of the room anyhow once he was finished with his destruction. I felt my throat start to burn from the smoke and opened the windows before I left the room for air myself.

The smoke bellowed out into the hallway as I opened the door to our room. I crouched over, placing my hands on my knees to catch my breath again. I heard rushing feet, running in my direction and looked up, spotting Ivan and Nicolai sporting terrified expressions.

"What's going on?!" Nicolai gasped. "Sigmund! Are you okay?!"

"Ja...I'm fine..." I breathed out. "I...I don't know what just happened."

"Mój Boże! Is the room on fire?!" Ivan gasped. The two of them rushed towards the room to have a look for themselves. I shook my head.

"No fire, just smoke."

"What happened?!"

"Kyle...he just—."

"Kyle was here?!" Nicolai interrupted. "Oh my gods! He's out of his mind!"

"Look at this place..." Ivan marveled as he walked into the dorm and viewed Kyle's side of the room. Nicolai quickly began to pull my belongings from the room, I assisted him and Ivan followed suit, turning to me as we set everything down in the hall. "This needs to be reported to the Headmaster, immediately. This is totally unacceptable."

"Wait—no!" I jumped. "You can't! He's already in trouble with the Professor. I don't want him in anymore trouble."

"Sigmund, he ruined your room. You can't sleep in here, it reeks of smoke. You'll get sick."

"I know, but—."

"But nothing!"

"He's having a really hard time at home, Ivan. It's just been a bad day for him, is all."

"That doesn't give him the right to make your living situation bad too. That was selfish of him. Let's go."

"Go where?"

"The Headmaster's office."

"Ivan, please."

"Where are you sleeping tonight, Nightbreed?"

"I'll figure it out."

"Or you could let the school board figure it out. I'm sorry, but if you don't report that weirdo to the Headmaster, I wi—."

Everything stopped when Kyle came back into the common area, where we were stood. They didn't waste time shouting at him and I actually gasped when Ivan pushed into Kyle and called him a bad name.

"This is exactly why I never wanted to hang around you. You're a freak!"

"Ivan!"

"First day of class and you can't even take it seriously. We pulled your weight all of last term to help you pass and I'm not doing it again this term. You're on your own! I'm done tolerating your nonsense!"

"I'm not helping either." Nicolai added. "And I don't want you hanging out with us anymore. I only hung around you because Sigmund insisted, but after what you did today, I don't wanna be associated with the class flunky."

"Is that how you feel?" Kyle finally spoke out. He looked and sounded defeated. His voice was broken, but Ivan and Nicolai showed him no remorse. Neither had Professor Flan earlier in the day. I was sick to my stomach. This was beyond cruel. The entire display from the smoke filled room to the bickering was overwhelming. And now, we'd made a scene as other peers in the room block watched it all. I had to speak up.

"No! That's not how I feel! Stop, everyone! Just calm down!" Ivan threw me a nasty look and I gave him one right back.

"I'm over you trying to cover for him!" Ivan spat.

"I'm over you putting him down! This is ridiculous!"

Ivan pushed past Kyle and headed down the stairs with Nicolai. I knew what they were about to do and I warned Kyle, but he didn't even bat an eyelash.

"So what?" He shrugged. "Let them report me."

"W-what do you mean?! Kyle, what is wrong with you?! You're being irrational now!"

"I don't care if they report me. I don't care if the Professor disciplines me. I don't care anymore. I'm really tired of this place."

I didn't like how he was speaking. He was talking as if he didn't want to study any longer. I remembered my father in this moment, telling me about how he was forced to drop out because of his situation at home. I never even knew dropping out was an option, but surely Kyle's home situation couldn't be that bad, right? He couldn't be thinking this way.

"...are you giving up? Right before our sorting year?"

"I don't care."

"KYLE! Stop and think for a moment! Really listen to yourself. This is the last term before our sorting year. You just have to get past this one term."

"I don't care! No one cares!"

I don't know what it was about that statement, but it hurt me. And I hadn't meant to shout at him, but I was feeling the frustration rising in me. He couldn't be serious.

"I CARE! I CARE ABOUT YOU PASSING! I CARE, KYLE! I DO!" He hadn't even looked my way. "There's been so many times that I've stopped what I was doing to make sure you'd move up with me. You have to move up with me. You can't give up now. We're so close."

"I'm done, okay?! There's no we, Sigmund. You're the wizard of the year while I hardly earned a passing grade. You're rich and famous and popular. I'm none of that stuff."

"What the hell does that have anything to do with it?!"

"You fit in here! You said it yourself over the summer, that stuff about your family, your family is realm royalty! You belong here! You've belonged here for centuries. I don't belong here! My parents hardly belonged here!"

"I thought we were a team. I mean, I know we have our differences, but I just thought we had a mutual understanding."

"We don't, Sigmund. We never did. We're not friends. We've never been, you just tolerated me, like your real friends said."

"Tolerated, huh? Wow..."

I didn't know what to say to that. The way it came out of him so easily, without hesitation and how sharply it came out hurt. It hurt a lot. He bought up my social status, my rank and my reputation. Kyle never cared about any of that before. He didn't care about me being a celebrity and wanted nothing to do with my fame. That was what had pulled me to him in the first place. He was the only person who didn't care. At least that's what I thought at the time. I was honestly crushed.

Still, Kyle's gaze didn't meet mine. I figured our conversation was over, so I collected my textbooks from the floor in the hall and went on my way. Passing Professor Flan, Ivan and Nicolai on the stairwell, they'd tried to stop me but I wanted nothing to do with it anymore. Nothing.

—

I decided to spend the rest of my lunch in the study hall, away from the common area. I opened my book of elixirs and read over the chapter we'd gone over earlier in class. It was hard to focus, in fact, I couldn't focus at all. I'd always thought Kyle and I had a mutual, somewhat respectful relationship. Maybe a slight friendship? He'd been to my estate over the summer and I'd had such a wonderful time hosting him along with the rest of my friends. I just thought things were different than when we'd first met. To hear him say what he had, honestly hurt me.

I closed the book with a deep sigh that I didn't know was in me. Professor Flan had been on his way up to the room last I saw and I was regretting the fact that I'd left Kyle alone. Yes, he hurt me, but he was clearly going through something major. I just wished he would've opened up instead of choosing to be so stubborn. Knocking me out of my thoughts, I hard what sounded like a door slamming shut with a booming echo in the distance of the study hall.

"HOW DARE YOU!" I heard Professor Flan shout out clearly. I looked towards the door of the study hall, focusing in on the noise, and my eyes widened when I heard Kyle's voice in return.

"YOU'RE NOTHING BUT A GLUTTONUS, DISHOVELED, OGRE OF A PROFESSOR!"

I flew up from my seat and grabbed my belongings as quickly as I could. Before I could even exit the study hall, an upperclassman stopped me.

"Your roommate is facing off with Flan! He just rushed out of the Headmaster's office!"

"Mein Gott!"

I dashed down the great hall as fast as I could manage with my weighted books in the direction of the office and came directly front row to the argument between Kyle and Professor Flan. Kyle looked absolutely unhinged and the professor did nothing but egg him on.

"Do you think I care if I'm removed from your class?" Kyle shouted. "DO YOU?! If I never have to see your acne ridden face and chapped lipped smile ever again, it would be the best day of my life!"

"Scheisse..." I snickered, covering my mouth to keep back a laugh that wanted to escape me. The insult had been so spot-on, it was shocking. And he just kept going. It dripped from his lips like poison.

"I'd be BLESSED to never have to smell your foul breath or watch you slug down mountains of carbs first thing in the morning! It would be the GREATEST HONOR to be removed from your class!"

"I REFUSE TO BE DISRESPECTED LIKE THIS!" Flan finally shouted back. Kyle didn't let up.

"I'VE TAKEN DISRESPECT FROM YOU FOR THREE TERMS NOW, FLAN! THREE TERMS! Don't you remember what you called me just this morning in front of all my peers? The EMBARRASSMENT OF MILKWEED ACADEMY!"

"And you're only proving my statement to be true! The proof is in the pudding!"

"Pudding, huh?" At the corner of my eye, I noticed Kyle seemed to be reaching for something in his cape pocket. By the time I came to the realization of what he was about to do, the end of a glowing wand was already exposed. I hadn't even gotten the chance to tackle him before he shot the professor with a beam of light. It had all happened so quickly.

"You like pudding?! Well, there you go, you disgusting pig!"

The joint gasp in the hall that followed honestly said it all. Members of the board that had rushed into the hall covered their mouths in shock. Professor Flan had been cursed by Kyle and turned into a humanized, literal Flan dessert. Wiggling and glazed over and just extremely unsightly. I couldn't look. I felt nauseous.

"Mein Gott, I can't stomach this..."

There was shouting behind me as I rushed away and I don't know why, but I just felt sick about it all. It wasn't from the way the professor looked, I think it was just from the stress. The shouting match I'd had with Ivan, the smoke in the room, the classes I was struggling in all of a sudden and the underlying fact that I still had work to do. The stress of everything that had happened within the course of the first day made my stomach uneasy. Thankfully, there was a washroom close by and I was able to heave out everything that was trapped in. I'd never thrown up from stress in my life.

—

I got called into the Headmaster's office later in the day to talk about Kyle's discipline. Apparently, since he refused to reverse Flan's curse, he was being expelled from Milkweed Academy. It had been decided on a ballot the board had conducted and I was the only member to vote against the decision. I didn't understand why they wanted to expel him after Flan's display in the hall earlier.

"He was being abused by that professor!" I argued with Headmaster Merlin. "You and I heard it! If anything, he should be excused for what happened today."

"I did my best to have that happen. I agree with you completely on that issue, but given the opportunity to undo the curse, Kyle outright refused."

"Then increase the suspension penalty. I'm not signing off on him being expelled."

"That's just not an option anymore..." Merlin sighed. "And unfortunately, the board has voted against you."

"W-wait. Let me talk to him. Maybe I can get him to agree with reversing the curse. Please."

"Mr. Nightbreed, I know you mean well, but the document has already been submitted for review and the vote has already been placed. We can't go back on it, it's against protocol."

"Headmaster, please. Just this once!"

"I'm sorry, Sigmund."

I was completely shaken up, more now than I had been before. I didn't understand why this was effecting me so much until I crossed paths with Kyle again in our room. It wasn't the same anymore. Not just the condition of the room, but the homey feeling I felt at Milkweed. Kyle, as strange as it sounded, was part of what made Milkweed feel like home for me. He was a familiar face, the first face I'd come in contact with when I'd first arrived at the academy. I didn't see him this way before, but after he'd stated we weren't friends, it made me realize that we were. We were friends in our own, strange way. Kyle was my friend. I didn't want to see him go. Not this way. Not before our sorting year.

Our eyes met as I entered our room and I instantly felt emotions well up inside me. I didn't want to cry and I really fought hard not to.

"What's wrong with you?!" I paused when my voice cracked, turning away for a moment to collect myself before I confronted him again.

"I can't help you this time! They won't let me stop the discipline! You've screwed everything up!"

"Sigmund..."

"I don't care if we're friends or not! I don't care about the spilled tea! I don't care about any of it! Why did you do that? Why?!"

"I'm just tired...okay?"

"I'm tired too, Kyle! I'm tired of working and studying at the same time! I'm tired of running from meeting to meeting with the school board on my only free days! I'm tired of people only wanting to be friends with me for my money! I'm tired of having to save face in front of our peers because of my grades! I'm tired of touring when I'm supposed to be on holiday! I'm tired of my parents not coming home anymore! I'M TIRED! WE'RE ALL TIRED!"

I hadn't meant to shout and I didn't want to cry, but I did both. I felt helpless. Why didn't he care? Why did he have to botch this to this extreme? What was I supposed to do without him?

"Who am I supposed to talk to now? Ivan? Nicolai? All they ever care about is being around me to make themselves look better, it's obvious to me. Ivan's been comparing himself to me since our first grading cycle. Nicolai is a total dunce who does whatever I tell him to! They're soul-less!"

"I'm sorry, okay?"

"It's beyond sorry at this point. I can't help you. You've ruined everything. Look at our room, Kyle. Just look!"

With Kyle turning away from me, yet again, I'd given up. I turned back to the door and opened it, gripping the strap of my satchel.

"Good luck to you...with whatever you do. Maybe we'll see each other again, soon. Maybe..."

With the news of Kyle's expulsion reaching his parents, they had made the trip down to the academy themselves to collect him. Furious, Kyle's father argued with the board for a resolution, but was met with opposition and ultimately was unable to reverse the order. When Kyle reached the great hall with one measly bag of belongings, he was practically dragged out by his father in front of the entire board. I managed to catch the scene as he was being pushed out the front door of the academy.

When he finally gave into his father, Kyle allowed himself to be pushed towards the family's car at the front of Milkweed. I couldn't believe how openly abusive they were being to him. I also couldn't believe no one was doing anything to stop it.

"And if you even think you're going back home to be in comfort, you've got another thing coming!" His father shouted at him. "I'VE HAD IT WITH YOU, KYLE! HAD IT!"

His mother opted for the cold shoulder method of shaming him, taking her spot at the passenger side of the car as his father took the driver's seat. Opening the back door, Kyle tossed his bag in first and then took his seat. Before he could close the door, I ran to him. I didn't want him to leave. Seeing his parents this way, in the flesh, frightened me. I was scared for Kyle. If they felt comfortable enough to do this in public, I didn't want to think about what happened in private.

"KYLE! KYLE WAIT!" I called as I raced over to the Bloodworth family car. Kyle's father shook his head.

"Close the door, NOW!" He ordered. Instead of listening to his father, Kyle hopped out and met me halfway. Pulling each other into a tight hug, Kyle buried his face in the crook of my neck and finally cried. It was a heavy sob that shook his entire being, but he still managed to suppress his volume. He grabbed my academy blazer, almost like a silent beg.

"I'm sorry..." Kyle whimpered. "I'm really sorry."

"Me too..." I muttered.

As Kyle's father approached, I felt a negative aura from him. It felt so terribly dark and dangerous and I didn't want Kyle near it in his time of vulnerability. His father and I exchanged sharp glances as I turned Kyle away from him. I knew I couldn't hold on forever though and as Kyle collected himself, I finally let him go. Kyle wiped his eyes quickly, though he let out a sniff and a hiccup and finally turned back to climb into the car. With Kyle's father returning to the driver's seat and both doors slamming shut, I watched as the rusty, burgundy vehicle slowly pulled away.

From the back window, Kyle peered out to me. I gave a weak wave, but Kyle's head lowered and he turned away instead. The entire incident left me feeling uneasy. Something wasn't right with his family. At all.