Chapter 5
"Sorry." I smiled apologetically as I removed myself from him. I noticed how his hand seemed to linger on my back a little.
"Why don't you sit with us this morning?" Dan offered gesturing at the spare seats. I glossed over at the other people on the table and shook my head. Nope, definitely not sitting at the jock table.
"You guys up for it?" I asked turning to Roxy and Els.
"Sorry, I think Ingrid's already reserved a table for us." Els shook her head at Dan. The three of us walked off and headed towards another table where an energetic bubbly sort of girl was practically bouncing in her seat as she waved.
"Hi." I smiled in greeting.
"You must be the new girl that Els and Roxy was talking about!" she gushed excitedly. "I decided to leave early this morning to get a good table. Otherwise I would've been there to wake you up as well. I'm Ingrid French."
"Wow you're a total morning person." I laughed. "Nice to meet you I'm Kai."
"I know, I've heard. Apparently you decked everyone on Saturday at the initiation party. Wow…" she marvelled.
"It wasn't that amazing." I grinned as I got a plate of pancakes and a coffee.
"I can't wait to see you in combat class," she squealed. "Have you got your schedule yet?"
"Yeah." I said. "I'll show you after breakfast, how about that?"
"Sounds good." Ingrid nodded enthusiastically. "So how are you feeling? It can't be easy being separated from everyone you've known."
"It's not easy but it's alright." I shook my head with a smile. "Besides, it's probably for the better this way." This way I could train for the best and protect everyone even better. And as much as I loved my new family in the human world, I also loved Joe and Martin and seeing them again reminded me just how much I'd missed them.
"What'd you mean?" Roxy asked curiously.
"This way I can learn from the best so that I could protect people and things which are important to me." I grinned. I would make my parents proud. Thinking back, I knew that Mum and Dad would've wanted me to graduate from this school. This was the place where they grew up and met; where they fell in love and where they donated their time to help train novices. While Dad could've lived at the Royal Courts, he chose to stay at this school to help train any Spirit users that appeared.
Mum on the other hand wanted to help train the novices. She'd been an absolute legend in the guardian world and I loved her so much. As my mind began to cast back to what happened on that day, Els asked me a question.
"Sorry what?" I asked shaking my head to clear my mind.
"Are you okay Kai? You looked a little pissed for a moment." Ingrid frowned with concern.
"Sorry, just thinking back to a jerk I remembered from my old school." I lied easily.
"We were just saying how well you're fitting in already." Roxy grinned.
"Really?" I smiled cheekily. "Give another day or two and I bet you I'll be sent straight to the headmaster's office."
"So I take it you're not exactly good at keeping to the rules?"
"Well, I've been told that I have a sharp tongue so…" I shrugged.
"So basically you talk back a lot." Els laughed.
"I'd be careful with Guardian Brooks then. He doesn't react well to people with sharp tongues at all." Ingrid shook her head with a shudder.
"Really?" I asked feigning intrigue. I knew full well what she meant but they didn't know that I already knew the teacher. "I hope I get in his good books then. I've got him as a teacher for three extra classes a week."
"You're joking," the three dead panned.
"You are one unlucky girl Kai," Roxy shook her head.
"It's been nice knowing you. That man is an absolute devil." Els shuddered.
"I've never known a teacher as strict as him." Ingrid grimaced.
"Wow, great luck I seem to have then. I seem to recall having vampire 101 with him after assembly." I tapped my chin thoughtfully.
"I think I have the same." Els commented.
"We've got training." Roxy and Ingrid piped up.
"I've got extra class with that dorm dude Guardian Maxwell I think after lessons." I sighed.
"And to think we were going to drag you over for a movie. How about after dinner?"
"I think I should be free by then." I nodded.
"Then it's settled!" Ingrid cheered loudly causing everyone in the hall to look at her. "Sorry…"
"You are crazy you know that. You don't look like someone who's been stuck in the infirmary for ages whatsoever." I laughed patting her back. "So what time are classes meant to start and do you think I could get away with not attending assembly?"
"Well, to be honest, since it's your first one I think you should go. You might hear something important. And Mr Hunt isn't actually that boring."
"Mr Hunt?" I questioned.
"He's the headmaster. Haven't you met him yet?"
"I think I saw him when I first came here." I shrugged nonchalantly.
"Well either way, I reckon we should get going. It's nearly time for assembly." Ingrid suggested and we all left the dinning hall. I hastily brushed my teeth so that my breath didn't stink of caffeine and pancakes. I grabbed one of my shoulder bags with a note book and pencil case inside for class.
The four of us headed to the hall where assembly was going to take place and as soon as I walked in I was engulfed in a familiar scent of lavender. Looking over to the side, I realised why. Guardian Maria Valiere was standing not far from me and I remembered her as one of the kind female guardians in this academy. If I remembered rightly, she taught home economics and maths. Checking my schedule, I realised that I had her teaching me for both of those subjects. Guardian Valiere was a kind woman in her mid 40s now and she had curly blonde hair which was always tied into a bun and soft yet sharp chocolate coloured eyes. Her hair was tied to show off her molnija marks. They were tattoos that signified a guardian's kills. So far, her marks symbolised the killing of three Strigoi. If I were to get those marks, I would perhaps have two stars showing two accounts where I've killed an unknown number of Strigoi and two other single marks which I couldn't remember symbolising four individual or accountable kills, one of when I was ten and the other three of the other night.
Six years ago, I'd run away before they managed to give me a tattoo for my kill. Heck if I had that tattoo now, it would've been harder to hide my identity. I would've had to make some sort of story up which would've been even more complicated to fabricate. Thank goodness I didn't have it.
Looking over she caught my eye and she gave me a warm welcoming smile which I returned with a cheerful smile; another thing that I wouldn't have accomplished all those years ago. The four of us took a seat towards the back and I couldn't help but marvel at the structure of the hall. Seriously, the architecture of this academy would never fail to amaze me. The structures were ancient with a splash of modern technology with electricity and other types of machinery.
Roxy had been right earlier, Martin was pretty good at making the morning speech interesting. Not once did I think about slipping off to sleep while he spoke. However, when another guardian stepped up, that was a different story. I was practically out for the count by the end of his first sentence. His voice was so dreary I was hoping I wouldn't have him as a teacher for any class at all. I frowned when I didn't seem to recognise him, he must've been new. Either that or he hadn't been one to fawn over me as a child. In all fairness, out of all the guardians in this school that I would be able to confidently identify, I only knew six who knew me personally before my escape.
When his dreary speech was over, Roxy had to nudge me pretty hard to wake me up. I yawned and stretched as I stood up to release the tension in my muscles having sat in the same position for nearly an hour. Roxy and Ingrid laughed when Els and I yawned at the same time and even stretched at the same time. The pair of us had no clue as to why they were laughing until we looked at each other and realised what just happened. We were quickly nicknamed the dozy pair by the two more cheerful girls and they teased us as we headed to our first class. I was so not looking forward to this. Nope. Class with Guardian Brooks was not going to be fun whether he knew me this time round or not.
Luckily, for this first lesson he wasn't teaching anything particularly complicated. God vampire history could get so boring especially when it came to learning about one of the previous Queens: Tatiana Ivashkov. As far as I knew, she wasn't one of my close relatives. Although her nephew Adrian Ivashkov was. If I remembered correctly, he was my great great great great great grandfather. Or maybe he was more ancient than that…
"Valentine, a word if you please?" Guardian Brooks commanded as I walked past him at the end of class. Els gave me a look saying she'd meet me outside and I nodded in acknowledgement. "Here are some books and I want you to look over chapter one and two in preparation for tomorrow's extra session."
I stared at him and accepted the books numbly. "Please tell me you're joking." I nearly choked. I cannot believe that I was getting work on the first day! That was so uncalled for. No one else did.
"If you want to graduate with dignity, I would read through chapter one and two thoroughly," he almost glared at me. Almost. Wow he really did hate people talking back to him or even questioning his decisions.
"What is it with everyone and talking about bloody graduation?" I grumbled as I stormed out of the classroom. "It's in two fucking years away."
"And Valentine?"
"Yes?" I said scornfully.
"There will be no swearing in my classroom." I stared at him in shock for a few moments before stomping out while I grumbled.
"What's wrong?" Els asked worriedly.
"That asshole set me homework!" I complained.
"Ouch, that's unfortunate." Els grimaced.
"Whatever let's just get to H.E. before he catches me swearing about him." I scoffed. "I already know that he and I aren't going to get along at all."
"Home Economics is actually pretty fun. All we do is cook. I'm not sure why it's in the syllabus to be honest. I reckon it's so that people actually know how to cook when they get out into the world or something."
"Which is a ridiculous notion when most of the Moroi in this school can afford bloody cooks. They're so damned lazy." I scoffed.
"You'd be surprised Kai. There're quite a lot of people in the class who are pretty talented with cooking." Els smiled.
"Are you?"
"I'm afraid I'm rather disastrous. No one would pair up with me because of it. Last week I almost set the whole classroom on fire and spilled an entire wok full of oil. We were frying stuff. If it weren't for the fire specialists in the class, the room would definitely have been wrecked." Els sighed.
"Well no problem, I'll go with you."
"Really?"
"Of course, I'll just let you chop stuff. Can you do that?"
"Sort of but not well."
"I'll help teach you."
"Thanks Kai!" she squealed. When they walked in, I practically stopped dead at the door way when I noticed who else was in the class. Nick O'Connor.
"Seriously, could this day get any worse?" I grumbled.
"Well, I wouldn't say it'd get worse but it might get better depending on how you look at things. We've got combat class for two hours before lunch." Els piped up.
"That's better, definitely better." I smirked.
"You must be Kylie Valentine. I think I saw you this morning but I haven't had the chance to formally introduce myself. My name is Maria Valiere."
"But most know you as Guardian Valiere right?" I smiled kindly. "I sort of got the gist of titles in this school."
"Have you ever cooked before?"
"You bet."
"Then you should find this class relaxing or challenging depending on your level of skill." Maria smiled warmly. "Please take a seat for now and we'll start in a few minutes time while waiting for everyone else to arrive."
"Nice you meet you Guardian Valiere." I inclined my head to show my respect for her before following Els to the back of the room beside the window.
"Well look who it is, it's the new chick of the school." Nick grinned as he turned around in his seat.
"Wow it's the leading douche bag of the school." I marvelled with a mocking smile.
"Hey there'll be no bruising the ego," a boy I didn't recognise commented.
"I don't think I know you." I tilted my head to the side with a curious glance. Nope, definitely haven't seen such a cute innocent looking boy before.
"I'm Christian Chance," he smiled.
"Nice to meet you. So I take it you're his bodyguard."
"I don't need a bodyguard." Nick scoffed.
"Really? Well we'll have to see about that." I grinned. "Look forward to seeing you in combat class O'Connor."
"Anything to see you out of that jumper and sweating all over." Nick commented lustfully.
"I'd be surprised if I even break a sweat fighting you." I rolled my eyes.
"Alright class, let's get going. The assignment's on the board. Get to it!" Maria commanded and everyone dispersed. All it said on the board was: 'Make what you can with what's provided.' Since all the ingredients and material was already set up on the table for us, we didn't have to get anything.
"So we can make stew looking at the ingredients we have. That ain't too hard. Right, Els please tell me you can chop potatoes into relatively medium sized chunks."
"Yep, that I can do."
"And the carrots."
"Yep."
"What about the onions?"
"I'll start crying and that'll take a while."
"Then I'll do the onions. Could you measure the water and wine with the amount that I tell you, and also chop the tomatoes and mushrooms?" I listed as I rolled my sleeves up. I twirled the knife in my hand before proceeding to dice the onions into medium pieces and some others which would be smaller. Then after rinsing the knife and cutting board, I chopped the meat into chunks and diced some of the herbs too.
I began with frying the onions with a dash of oil and salt. When that was done, I threw in the mushrooms, carrots with a chunk of squished garlic so that it could be easily located and removed later. I liked using garlic in my cooking but I hated eating it. Unconsciously I began thinking of a tune in my head. It was a habit I fell into since a young age when I starting cooking for myself. I fried everything in the pot and swayed a little to the tune that no one else could hear but me since it was in my mind. I sprinkled salt, pepper, and a pinch of sugar before adding in the meat. When that was slightly cooked, I added the herbs so that the meat would be fried with the spices and the tomatoes. Then I added the water and wine. I chucked in a few splashes of tobasco and a little ketchup before placing the lid on the pot. Then I washed everything that we didn't need. Looking around I noticed most were only halfway.
"Have you done this before?" Maria asked curiously as she came over.
"I've been cooking for a while. Living alone has its benefits." I shrugged.
"You live alone?"
"Lived." I corrected. "And yeah, I'm an orphan hence there's no one to throw up a hassle about me being shoved into this school so suddenly."
"How long have you been on your own?" she asked with motherly concern.
"A few years." I shrugged. "Oh and Els turn the flame down, some retard just turned it up hoping it would boil over and cause a mess." I said without even looking over. I'd seen the prank from the corner of my eye while the prat thought Maria had my whole undivided attention. "Open the lid to let some of the pressure out too please." I instructed. Els did exactly as I asked.
"How did you know that?" Maria asked curiously with surprise glistening in her eyes.
"I've learned to take notice of things even if I'm not focusing on it." I smiled.
"Definitely a good skill. I look forward to tasting it."
"Thanks." I stood up, gathered some corn flour and mixed it with some water before adding it to the stew to thicken the mixture so that it wasn't too runny. "You want a taste?" I offered to Els.
"Yes please!" she nodded enthusiastically. She took a sip and her eyes twinkled in delight.
"I take it you like it." I laughed before taking a taste for myself. Something was still missing… scanning the table again I grabbed the salt and added a little bit more, then I added some lemon sauce with a splash of Lea and Perins. Taking another taste I nodded in satisfaction. "Leave that to simmer for a while longer to let the flavours develop even more and then it'll be set."
"You're like a total cooking genius!" Els giggled.
"Nope, it's called getting tired of buying take-away all the time so I bought some simple cookbooks before developing my own style." I grinned. "Seriously, take-aways are great but only once in a while. Freshly cooked food and fresh off the stove or out of the oven type of food is always going to be the best."
"That is so true." Maria agreed having heard my statement.
"Is there an oven available for use?" I asked.
"Yep. This is one thing I do know how to use." Els said cheerfully. "Do you want it warm?"
"Yeah." I nodded. After a couple of minutes to let the oven warm up, I put the pot in and turned the stove off. Everyone stayed on during break to have a taste of their food.
"Why do I get the feeling you'll pass Home Economics with flying colours?" Els laughed after polishing off her plateful of stew. "Seriously, what else can you cook?"
"Well…" I trailed off. There was a huge range so the list could've gone on for a while.
"Never mind. Can you do deserts too?"
"Hell yeah."
"I have to say Kylie, this is impressive. If you ever wish to cook, you are welcome to come here." Maria smiled.
"Really?" I beamed.
"Yes. I trust you not to wreck this classroom since I can see that you respect cooking and you can handle the equipment so well."
"Thank you so much Guardian Valiere."
"Hey Kai, we'd better go. Guardian Maxwell and Jenson won't be happy if we're late. More like they'll kill us." Els piped up. "Thanks for the great lesson as usual Guardian Valiere."
"It's a pleasure Elie. Be careful in combat training girls." Maria cautioned with a voice I recognised so well.
"Oh I can't wait." I smirked while thinking of my revenge against the boys who'd picked on the wrong girls. Els and I wasted no time and hurried to the dorms to change into appropriate attire. Having done that we rushed to the training rooms. We weren't late but by the time we arrived several pairs had already begun training.
"Oi, you must be that new kid, Valentine right? Let's see what you can do. O'Connor, get over here! We're going to start you off easy then build upwards." The one I supposed was Guardian Jenson explained. He must've been new. I would've remembered someone like him if he was here all those years ago. He had a tanned body, firm muscles without being over muscular and intelligent eyes that suggested he'd witnessed far too much in his life time.