Chapter 14

Falling Apart

I couldn't function in the couple weeks after Kyle had been expelled. Since my room had been smoked out, I'd been moved to a single room in the academy instead. I hated it. I felt alone again. Isolated all over again. After my falling out with Ivan and Nicolai, I truly kept to myself. That was until I told Erin about what had happened. She'd been determined to find a way to get Kyle back to Milkweed, but I urged her not to stress about it the way I had. Merlin had already told me I was outnumbered with the outcome of the discipline.

In the middle of the night, my phone had gone off. I'd rejected it the first time it rang to go back to sleep, but when it rang again, I knew it must've been something important. It was Erin.

"Erin?"

"I'm sorry...I wasn't gonna call but I couldn't wait till the morning."

"Are you alright?"

"I'm fine, I was just reading through the Milkweed Academy official handbook of conduct and—."

"At midnight?!"

"It's the witching hour...heh..."

"No. You promised me you weren't going to stay up doing this."

"I couldn't sleep." Erin whined. "And I just happened to come across the book of conduct, so~..."

"Fine, what did it say?"

"Okay, so the handbook actually has a whole list of circumstances that are eligible for appealing a discipline—."

"English please! I can't process all of this right now. I just woke up!"

"...you grouchy old man. Just listen! Kyle, or a board member, can place an appeal form in the school board and fight back on the grounds of self defense! He was a victim of bullying, and that's one of the circumstances listed in the handbook. Get it now?"

"So it's a loophole to the rule?"

"Ja, Nightbreed. A loophole."

With a plan in place, I went to the Headmaster's office the next day and filled out an appeal form on Kyle's behalf. Merlin was proud to see I was challenging the system, but when I'd run into Professor Flan on the way out, things had instantly gone tense. By the look he'd given me as he entered the office, I was more than sure that he knew what I was doing and had heard conversation between myself and the Headmaster.

The thought was confirmed when he'd shot me bad looks throughout my class later in the morning. The glares were so obvious, that even Ivan and Nicolai had caught a few of them. Even though we were no longer friends, Erin told me we'd need them for the case we were building against Professor Flan. I was hesitant to ask them for help, but for Kyle's sake, I did it anyway. Of course, I received a tongue lashing the moment I approached Ivan after class.

"I'm sick of you and that stupid wizard! You chose a troublemaker over us, so you deal with it!"

"I didn't choose anyone!"

"You totally did when you wouldn't report him to the headmaster."

"Ivan, there were no sides until you decided to make it that way! You decided to isolate him during a hard time, not me! I'm not a sheep that'll blindly follow you just because you tell me to, you have Nicolai for that!"

"Hey!" Nicolai gasped, puffing his cheeks out towards the insult. I was over the two of them.

"Forget I asked! You're both useless!"

I supposed Ivan had realized what I was saying was true. They had been very harsh to Kyle and they hadn't been empathetic towards his situation at all. In our elixir class, Ivan had finally spoken to me once more and expressed his change of heart.

"Look, I didn't mean to make you choose sides. Okay?" Ivan spoke to me as he was setting up his beakers for class. "I was just annoyed when I saw what happened. That kid always acts first and thinks later. It's childish to me..."

"He's going through a lot. Especially at home. His father dragged him out, Ivan, they're awful parents."

"I mean, I guess..."

"I wouldn't have asked you for help if I didn't need it. I really don't think what happened was fair. There was a lot just building up and it all blew over when it could've been avoided."

"So what are you planning to do to change it?"

We planned a full on court case against Professor Flan. Ivan and Nicolai decided to help out and after a court date was planned, the hearing was scheduled on a Friday afternoon, after class hours. We worked on our arguments and mapped out a clear plan with Erin over the week and when Friday finally arrived, we were more than ready. We were doing this, not only for Kyle, but to prove a point. Professor Flan couldn't just keep treating his students this way.

With the entire week that had gone by, his aggression towards me had only gotten worse and worse. Especially when he'd been informed about the details of the hearing. It had been unbearable at times. He singled me out in class and did his best to put me down the same way he'd actively done to Kyle. Never in my life had I felt so low and I finally understood how discouraged Kyle must've felt and why he'd always been so hesitant to ask me for help with studying.

Ivan, Nicolai and Erin encouraged me to speak about how I'd felt on the bench during the case and I did. I honestly felt that with the statement coming from me, an active board member and the current Wizard of the Year, I'd been taken more seriously than another student like Kyle, who wasn't as well off. In a way, that upset me, but only proved what he said true about The Realm. It truly was all about someone's status and reputation more than anything else here.

We'd won the case and with the win, Kyle would be able to submit re-entry forms for possible admission back into Milkweed Academy. It was a massive win for us all and I was thrilled to share the news with Kyle. I rushed to the common hall to make my way back to my dorm later that evening. We'd planned a celebratory dinner at an eatery in the realm's town square, but before I got myself ready, I wanted to call Kyle with the good news. I hadn't heard from him since he'd been expelled and I was thrilled to see him on my crystal when I called.

"Kyle!"

"Sigmund? Did you mean to call me?"

"Ja, ja! Are you alright? Where are you?"

"I'm back in England actually. Reception on magic devices is poor, but I can hear you clearly at the moment."

"I have some news for you."

"News?" Kyle grimaced. "I don't think I need anymore eventful happenings right now.."

"No, no! It's good! I swear!"

"Good for who exactly?"

"You! Now listen!" I couldn't help but laugh. I really did miss Kyle's stubbornness. "You can apply to return to Milkweed!"

"Now, what set of utter nonsense are you talking?"

"I'm going to file an appeal on your behalf. You'll get re-entry forms in the mail after I do! I had to fight for this to happen. We literally took Professor Flan to court over this!"

"Court?!" Kyle gasped. "What court? And who's we?"

"It doesn't matter right now! What matters is that we won the appeal and you can apply for re-entry! I'm gonna send you the forms, I just need to know where you are right now!"

"...Sigmund, if this is some sick joke—."

"I swear! It isn't!"

"Hm..."

"What do you mean, hmm?! Aren't you happy?"

"Truthfully? I don't know..."

"HUH?!"

I was shocked. He hadn't even sounded joyful about what I was telling him. I had no idea what he was on about, but this hadn't been the response I was expecting from him. At all.

"It's only been a week." Kyle continued. "I don't know if I'm ready to come back. Ever."

"W-What are you talking about?! What about our sorting y—?"

"Look, I know you wanted me to be there for sorting, but I'm actually happy right now. Milkweed and being in the realm just made me really stressed out. I was depressed there."

"What about your studies? You'll be behind if you wait! You can't just not come back! I-I don't understand..."

"And that's okay. I thank you for going through the trouble and fighting for me...but I don't think I'm ready to go back and I don't know if I ever will be for a while."

"...ah."

"I should get going, I have a big trip coming up and I need to prepare. If I change my mind, I'll give you a call."

"Sure..."

"Alright, well, take care!"

"Ja...you too."

And just like that, Kyle had ended the call. I couldn't process anything that had just happened. I didn't understand the response, at all. After all that work and effort we'd put in for him, Kyle had discarded the entire opportunity. Not a second thought about it. This wasn't a decision that happened every day. In fact, an appeal had never been challenged against a teacher in the academy's history!

My cellphone ringing in my suit jacket snapped me out of my thoughts. It was Erin. I didn't know what to say to her. I didn't know what to say to Ivan and Nicolai either. I'd dragged them into the hearing room today and it was all for nothing. Professor Flan had been furious about losing that case to a couple of students. He vowed to make the rest of the term hell for us and Kyle had made us go through it all for nothing. Nothing!

"Hey Sigmund!" Erin spoke over the phone when I finally answered. "I'm leaving now! Are you on your way already?"

"Erin..."

"Sigmund?! What's wrong? Why do you sound like that?"

"He's not coming back."

"Huh?"

"Kyle. He's not coming back to Milkweed."

"What are you talking about?"

"I called him. He's refusing to go through with the appeal."

"...but we won the case. Did you tell him we won?"

"I told him everything!"

"I don't understand...did he really say he was refusing? Like, did those exact words come out of his mouth?"

"Erin, he told me he doesn't want to come back to the realm, ever again."

"Oh my gosh..."

The tinge of disappointment in Erin's voice said it all. Especially after she'd traveled from her own school earlier in the day, just to be at the hearing room at Milkweed. Hearing her voice turned my own disappointment to anger. This wasn't fair on any of us. Kyle had truly brushed off the news without even a question about how we'd been able to achieve re-entry for him.

Over dinner, I explained the situation to everyone more clearly. I told them about how he'd shrugged off the outcome, told me he had some trip to take and ultimately ended the call without even the slightest care. Ivan, of course, was peeved.

"See what I told you about that troublemaker, Nightbreed?!" He instantly growled, his fist hitting the table in frustration. The silverware in front of him jumped with a jingle on impact. "I told you to leave him alone! He doesn't care and he showed he didn't care when he set your room on fire!"

"I can't believe him..." Nicolai sighed. "Now we're gonna be Professor Flan's victims for the rest of term. He literally put a target on our backs!"

The three of us groaned in realization. Erin frowned as her eyes darted across all our expressions at the table. None of us had even touched our food.

"Okay, listen..." Erin breathed. "The situation sucks, I know it does. And I know I won't be in the same trouble as the rest of you guys, but you should all be so proud. We challenged the system and we won! You know how this place is, you can never challenge anything here."

"Oh, we won? What did we win, exactly?" Ivan mumbled sarcastically, massaging his temples. "Ridicule from our professor?" Erin's brows furrowed in annoyance.

"Not ridicule, respect."

"Flan doesn't respect anyone! You wouldn't know that though, you're a Halfmoon girl."

"Yeah.." Nicolai chimed in. "Why do you even care anyways? It's none of your business. You don't go to our school." I sat up to speak when they started arguing with Erin, but Erin was quick with a come back.

"Excuse me?!" She snapped. "The two of you, dunces, wouldn't have had a clue what to say on the bench if it wasn't for me. I came up with your entire argument!"

"Dunces?!"

"Oh, don't like dunces, Ivan? How about dumb asses!"

"You wanna go there?!"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" I mediated, throwing my hands up and holding back a laugh. I couldn't help it though, it came out anyways. "Hahaha! Guys, stop!"

"This isn't funny, Sigmund!" Ivan pouted. That only made me laugh harder. Soon enough, Erin laughed with me and Nicolai followed. Ivan crossed his arms. "Glad you all think this is funny."

"It doesn't matter anymore, okay?" I finally sighed. "If he doesn't want to come back to Milkweed, that's his issue. Forget him. Stop talking about it. It's out of our hands now. We have our sorting year after this term, so we have to stay focused. If we have to be in trouble with Flan, so be it."

"But I don't wanna be in trouble..." Nicolai whined. I shrugged.

"This is our last term with Flan, so let's just do the best we can. If we start to struggle, let's make sure we study together and help one another. We can't give him a reason to put us down. We have to prove ourselves. Okay?"

Erin smiled as my friends nodded in agreement. I was beyond upset with Kyle, in fact, I wanted nothing to do with him after today. He was honestly no one to me. I had to push what had happened aside and press on, for the sake of my grade. There was more to worry about than Professor Flan, at least in my case. I still had work to deal with and a pending tour quickly being planned out.

—

Half the week had gone by since the appeal and things had finally seemed to calm down a bit. Don't get me wrong though, there was still chatter about the case and not only was Professor Flan still actively retaliating against my friends and I, but I'd noticed some of my newer professors being cautious around us as well. They'd been more friendly and willing to assist me during my first week with them, but now, they hadn't been paying much attention to any of us. It was almost like a silent protest in some cases. They clearly didn't agree or approve of us having challenged an educator. It was rough, but we did our best to ignore it.

On our way to our elixir class, Nicolai and Ivan frowned with one another. I let out a massive sigh. Professor Flan had really laid it on us on this particular morning. We were glad to finally be out of his classroom, but knew that our elixir professor wasn't the kindest either. Ivan shook his head.

"I don't know how much more of this I can take..." He spoke, running his fingers through his jet, black fringe. "This can't go on the entire term, right?"

"I doubt it will." I replied. "It's still fresh, that's all. Something else will happen over the next couple of months and we'll be yesterday's news."

"How are you so sure?" Nicolai asked. I shrugged.

"It's like being a celebrity." I told them as we turned into the classroom. "I see random tabloids about myself all the time. Completely made up news. I can either feed into it, or ignore it and go on with my day. I choose to go on."

My friends nodded as we worked together to set up our space before the start of class. Our usual desks had been moved and in their places, cauldrons had been scattered around the room. We'd started a new chapter in our studies and now, we were getting familiar with using cauldrons for spell assistance and potion making. During this exercise, the cauldron hour, we were instructed to get into groups to formulate a potion of the day before the end of the class. Groups were split into fours, but of course, no one wanted to work with the trouble makers.

For the past couple of days, we'd been a firm group of three. The rest of the class had distanced themselves from us. That changed when a new student walked in during the start of the class period. Escorted into the room by a board member, the tall and rather lean, blonde haired student stopped at the Professor's desk for a text book. He was walked over to our circle afterwards, just as we started adding ingredients to our cauldron.

"Boys, this is Klaus." Our professor informed us. "He's a transfer student from the University of the Underworld. I'm adding him to your group, so treat him kindly and help him catch up, alright?"

"Yes, Professor." We responded.

The passive 'treat him kindly' comment made me roll my eyes, but we nodded anyways as the professor walked off. Klaus blinked towards what we were doing as he set his messenger bag to the side. Adjusting his blazer, he looked into the cauldron with his hands on his hips before he spoke.

"I'm actually pretty good with elixirs." He told us, catching our attention. "It was my best subject at the Underworld."

"Then why'd you transfer?" Ivan asked, rather bluntly. Klaus shrugged.

"I always thought I was made for strictly dark magic, but the practices started to go against some of my personal beliefs. I thought Milkweed would be a better fit."

"Personal beliefs, huh?" Ivan questioned yet again. Ivan had been leaning towards dark magic himself for some time. He was sure he'd be sorted into a class related to it next term. He was always a bit defensive when it came to people talking down on the practice, but Klaus didn't seem intimated by his questioning. In fact, he only shrugged again.

"Ja." He nodded, peaking my own attention. His accent had already caught my ears when he first spoke, but now I knew for sure. "I just thought I could keep studying at Milkweed, but keep the evil stuff at bay. I'm not evil, I just like dark arts." Ivan ignored him to add more ingredients into the cauldron, but I wanted to speak more to Klaus.

"What do you think you'll be sorted into next term?" I asked him. Klaus gave me a toothy smile and I returned it.

"Hey!" Klaus chuckled in realization. I supposed my voice gave me away the same way his had. "Bist du Deutscher?!"

"Ja! Bist du?"

"Ja! Ja!"

We laughed together, something that annoyed Ivan as he stirred the cauldron.

"Oi! You don't hear me speaking Polish, do you?! English, please!" He groaned, making Nicolai laugh. "And stop all that laughing, I'm sweating over here stirring this! Help us!"

Klaus and I gave each other knowing looks as we kept our laughter back to help with the potion. Turning back to my textbook, I pointed out the page we were on to him so he could flip the pages in his own book. To my surprise, Klaus didn't seem to need the textbook. In fact, he took hold of the ladle used to stir the mixture, an act that caught Ivan off guard.

"What the—?!"

"You're supposed to stir counter clockwise." Klaus interrupted Ivan. "You're stirring the wrong way."

"No I'm not! It's clockwise!"

"You're wrong. Check the textbook."

Looking down at the recipe guide in my own textbook, my brows raised. I turned the book to Ivan to look at and both him and Nicolai peered at the page. In realization, Nicolai covered his mouth, but snickered anyways whilst Ivan folded his arms in embarrassment. Klaus was right and he only grinned towards the silence. With just the change in direction, the potion finally started to glow.

For the next half hour, we worked together to heat up the potion we'd been working on. Ivan stopped questioning Klaus and we actually found him to be a good addition to our team. He told us he'd been studying at Milkweed before, but decided to give the Underworld a try after believing he was more suited to be a dark wizard. Nicolai jumped in his own realization.

"Oh! I think we were classmates before!" He gasped. "I remember you now! But you were really short!"

"Hahaha!" Klaus laughed, nodding towards the statement. "Ja, I was short. I don't know where the height came from, but I just shot up last term."

"Me too!" I chuckled, throwing sage into the cauldron. "I've always been the shortest in my class till now."

"Same, same! And I'm still taller than you, Sigmund!"

Ivan looked between us as we spoke to one another and handed off the ladle to Nicolai when his arms got tired.

"If your hair wasn't such a weird color, you guys could pass as twins." Ivan spoke, pointing out my hair. "You guys even laugh alike. It's weird."

"I was thinking the same thing." Nicolai agreed. "They smile alike too!"

"It's only because we're German!" Klaus retorted. He paused for a moment, looking away from the cauldron and stepping aside. He lifted my satchel from the floor and held it out. It was glowing. "Who's bag is this? Someone's getting a crystal call."

"It's mine!" I answered as he pulled it from the bag to answer. I wasn't sure who was calling during school hours, and the room was very loud as the groups around us were actively working on their own potions. I excused myself when Klaus handed me the crystal and walked out with it into the hall. To the shock of my life, it was the last person I'd expected to call me.

"KYLE?!"

"Hello, Sigmund."

"Hallo! Apologies, I was in the great hall. It's caldron hour."

"Caldron hour?"

"Ja, it's something we started this term. We have to get used to using them now for elixirs. I was working with my group, so one of my teammates answered and—."

I caught myself suddenly. Why was I explaining myself to him? Why was he calling me?! What did he want from me now?

"Wait, why are you calling me?"

"O-oh, um, right. I was calling about the re-entry process. I wanted to know how I could get started."

I was absolutely baffled by what he'd just said. Not just confused, but disgusted. Did he forget how he'd discarded the information last week? Did he think he could just call me whenever he felt like it?! This was unacceptable!

"Re-entry? For what?"

"Well...I'd like to come back to Milkweed."

"You told me you had no interest last we spoke."

"I know, but—"

"You disregarded all the hard work and effort I put in to fighting for you. You brushed it off completely. You said you were happy where you were. You had some trip to take."

"I-I didn't brush you off, Sigmund. I-I mean, I know I wasn't interested at the time, but—"

"Do you understand how much we went through to push that trial for your appeal, Kyle? Do you?!"

"...no...I guess I don't understand."

"To this day, I'm still getting backlash from Professor Flan for taking him to claims court. My new professors think I'm some sort of trouble maker for taking him on the way I did. There's poor stigma around me right now. It's been a very rough start to my term, thanks to you, and you didn't even care for my efforts. And now you're calling me for more help?!"

"Sigmund, my goodness...I had no idea."

"Of course you didn't! You didn't even show an ounce of gratitude when I called you about the verdict! I went through all of that trouble for nothing!"

I was furious. Beyond furious. Kyle really believed I was his little servant, waiting on him at his beck and call. He was using me like some sort of second option. Like a plan B in case his dominate plan went wrong. I was over it and I was over hearing from him. I didn't want anything to do with him any longer.

"Don't call me again. I don't want to hear from you anymore."

"Sigmund, please! I'm sorry! Really, I am!"

"We're not friends anymore. For real this time. I'm sick of you using me. Honestly, I'm growing to despise you. You're a curse on my life."

"I swear I'm not using you! I need help, Sigmund! Please, just one last time if you must! I can't stay here!"

"You've done enough to my reputation here. You chose not to take the help when I offered it to you, so deal with your decision and all the misery that comes with it."

I actually hung up on him. I was tired of his whining and begging. I needed to move on with my life and I didn't want him to be part of it anymore. He was keeping me back at this point. Walking back into the classroom, the boys looked to me when I joined them once more, pushing the crystal into my satchel.

"Who called?" Nicolai asked. I shook my head.

"Doesn't matter."

—

"You sure I won't get into trouble being here? They already think I'm a troublemaker at Milkweed."

"As long as you don't get caught when you leave, you'll be fine."

A couple weeks towards the end of our first month of the new term, Erin had begged to see me. We hadn't been able to spend much time together or even call much. We'd been too preoccupied with settling into our new classes to do much, till now, of course. Erin called me to come over to Halfmoon, something that was very much not allowed. Students from opposite schools weren't allowed to visit one another, especially with Halfmoon Hallows being an all girl's school. Erin assured me that her peers snuck people in all the time and never got caught, especially over the weekends.

"Meghan isn't gonna be here all weekend." She informed me, taking my cloak after I'd arrived through the bay window. She was speaking of her green-skinned, roommate. "She's hanging out with her girlfriend! Even if she wasn't though, she wouldn't have cared if you came over."

"You sure?" I asked. "I don't think she likes me very much. I made fun of her after the relay last term and she still hasn't forgiven me. Always gives me that chilling glare."

"Hahaha! She's over it, Sigmund, and she does that to everyone. Relax!"

Setting my cloak aside, Erin finally gave me a warm hug, something I'd been looking forward to since I'd arrived. I hugged her back and nuzzled the top of her head with a sigh. Instantly relaxed.

"I missed you, Erin."

"Missed you too, Sigmund."

I sat on the fuzzy rug Erin had placed on the floor when she let me go and pulled my satchel beside me, opening it to pull my elixir text book out. Erin went for her own at her desk and bought it over quickly, sitting across from me. Our text books were different, but we wanted to compare the lessons and see if we could help one another.

"Okay, so, why are you struggling so much this year?" Erin asked me, catching my attention from the book. "You were really good with elixirs last year."

"I'm good with memorizing formulas, which was the bulk of the class last year, but this year is different. We actually have to brew them now and follow specific steps. I feel like I sometimes rush through the steps."

"You need to learn to slow down then. When it comes to elixirs, it's not a race against time. It's about accuracy."

"Ja, I know...but I hate slow."

"Hahaha! See? You're messing yourself up!"

I smiled as Erin poked fun at me. Just being around her made me feel less stressed about the term ahead. She always kept things positive and always found a way to reassure me when it came to my worries. She made them feel like no big deal and it put me at ease.

She pointed out the index in her textbook.

"Look for the cauldron intro chapter." She told me, flipping the pages to the chapter. I looked through the index in mine and did the same when I found the page number. "Ha! It's practically the same wording! Look!"

"Oh, you're right!"

"I feel like I did this last term though, but witches tend to use their cauldrons more than say a wizard or a sorcerer would, so that might be why." Standing up from the rug, Erin looked down at me with a warm smile. I smiled back. "Want a snack before we start?"

"Ja! Whatcha got?"

"Whatcha?! Hahaha! I'm rubbing off on you!"

"Shut up!"

"Popcorn. Want?"

"My dentist said I can't have popcorn, but make it anyways."

"Hahaha!"

Erin had a different room this term than the one she'd had last term and she was really excited about it. There was a little nook where she kept a microwave and a tea kettle and she swore it was a game changer from her last dorm. She wasn't allowed to snack as an enchantress, so it was easier for her to smuggle food this way. Clearly, she had snack options.

I sighed lovingly as she vanished into the nook and looked back down at our textbooks, lifting hers to get a closer look. Catching my attention, Erin's crystal ball had begun to chime at her desk. Setting the textbook aside, I stood up from the rug and lifted the crystal from the decorative stand to answer the call for her. I paused when I saw who was on the other side.

Kyle.

He didn't say anything immediately, in fact, he blinked in confusion. I was just as confused. What the hell was going on here?!

"What do you think you're doing calling Erin's crystal?!"

"Sigmund—!"

"Don't call Erin! EVER!"

"What the-? Why are you shouting?" Erin called out from the nook. Rounding the corner with the bowl of popcorn, Erin paused when she spotted me holding her crystal ball. "Wait. Is that my crystal?"

"Why is he calling you?"

"Why are you answering my calls?"

I didn't understand why she was being so defensive. Setting the bowl down, Erin reached for the crystal, but I held it up above my head and backed away quickly. It hit me, the reason why Kyle was calling her. Knowing Erin, she was still trying to help him find a way into Milkweed. I didn't want her speaking with him after how ungrateful he'd been towards us.

"You've been helping him, haven't you? I told you to leave the situation alone and stop talking to him! He's trouble! He didn't want our help!"

"You can't tell me who I can and can't talk to! Give me my crystal back!"

"No!"

"Sigmund, give me my crystal!"

"Not if you're going to talk to him! No!"

"You're being petty!"

"And you're not listening! This is the one thing I'm asking of you!"

"He's your friend, Sigmund!"

"No, he's not! Erin, I'm serious!"

"Sigmund, don't yell at her, please!" Kyle butted in. "I reached out. It's my fault."

I was beyond furious about this entire situation. Him, reaching out to my partner was crossing a line for me. He'd done it under the radar after I refused to help him. I was shocked that Erin hadn't told me about any of this. Clearly, this wasn't the first time he'd contacted her if he had her crystal code.

"It is your fault!" I shouted at Kyle. "All your fault! Not mine, not hers, so stop calling us!"

"Give me my crystal back!" Erin yelled, snatching the crystal from me when my guard was down. "I'm sick of this! He said sorry already! What's your deal? We have to help him!"

"So you've been talking with him behind my back?! Is that what's going on? Is that why he's calling you?"

"Yes! I'm tired of walking on eggshells about this. It's silly. He's my friend!"

"Oh, wunderbar! So happy for you two! Glad you're friends, have fun with your friend then." I turned away from her and picked my satchel up from the rug, shoving my text book into it. I honestly felt betrayed. Erin knew how I felt about Kyle and for her to have kept this a secret rubbed me the wrong way. Erin's eyes grew as I pulled my cloak on.

"Where are you going?"

"Back to Milkweed."

"You're kidding me, right?"

"Are you? Are you kidding me?!"

"Guys..."Kyle called from the crystal Erin had set aside. "Come on! Stop!"

Erin watched me as I buttoned up the cloak. I saw her expression, the hurt in her eyes. It upset me, but so did this situation. As I turned to leave, Erin spoke out.

"If you walk out, I don't wanna see you anymore!"

The tone of her voice shook me to my core.

"...You don't mean that."

"I do. I mean it."

I couldn't believe it. She was choosing helping Kyle over helping me. This was supposed to be an evening for us after having not seen each other in a while and it was ruined. Everything was ruined. I'd felt relaxed before with her and I was stressed all over again. There was a pain in my chest. I wasn't even sure I could trust her anymore.

"Oh, really? Fine then!"

"FINE!"

"FINE! Auf Wiedersehen!"

"WHATEVER! JUST GO! AND TAKE THIS WITH YOU!"

The necklace I'd given to her over the summer. We'd exchanged necklaces when she first visited my estate in Germany. Both of our necklaces, a surprise we had for one another, had coincidentally turned out to be made from dragon's blood, a material used in the occult for protection. We never took them off after that day, but this day was unlike any other. She'd unclasped it from around her neck and chucked it at me. It fell to the floor in front of me and I collected it quickly. I felt the emotions rise up in me looking at the abandoned necklace in my hand, so I shoved it into my vest pocket. Then I did the same, unclasping the necklace she'd gifted me, throwing it back at her.

"BACK AT YOU!"

Instead of leaving out the window, the way I came in, I pulled the hood of the cloak over my head and slammed the door closed behind me, materializing from the hallway to the academy's borderline outside. I wanted to conjure my broom to start my trip back, but I just couldn't. I couldn't do anything in that moment. I could hardly breathe.

I hid behind a tree in the darkened forest and sat in the grass, pulling my knees to my chest. As I pulled the necklace from my pocket, my vision blurred when the tears welled up in my eyes. I regretted how angry I'd gotten, instantly. I wanted to go back and say sorry, but I'd been so loud and horrible to her. The shouting match was out of character for the both of us and I knew what I'd done and how I'd acted was unforgivable. She didn't want to see me anymore. I was heartbroken.