"You cut your hair." I said lamely, mentally kicking myself. Here was the sister that I haven't spoken to for nine years and that's the first thing I have to say.
"Yeah." She smiled faintly, but it could have been my imagination because it lasted for only a split second.
"Uhm. Thanks for saving us from La Phing." I said awkwardly.
"Don't misunderstand. I didn't do it for you." She replied coldly. "I was only returning a favor."
Well damn. She's direct. "How have you been?" My poor attempt to change the topic.
"I've been fine. Now, if that's all, I'd like to be on my way. I do not have the time to answer idle questions."
There was so much I wanted to know. Why did you walk out on us nine years ago? Why do you hate us so much? Why did you go through so much just to avoid me? Do you know that even though you ignored my existence, all this time I've been left in your shadow? Do you know that I wish I could hate you too?
"I'll surpass you one day. And when that time comes, I hope we will be able to talk. I hope we'll be able to carry on a proper conversation. Until then, I will carry my unanswered questions." I said carefully.
"Very well. I look forward to then." Hayley responded, heading for the door. She hesitated, her face softening, she turned and said, "Good-bye Nathan."
"Bye sis." I waved slightly.
When she had gone, I dropped off the fruits near my sister's basket and left the hospital wing. It was obvious that she wasn't ready to talk; there was no point in pushing her. This way, we'd both have time to think carefully about what we wanted to say. Suffice to say, there was tons on my mind. Wearily, I made my way back to my dorm. Kyle wasn't there, but there was a note on the table that read 'gone to visit them'. I must have missed him on my way back.
Sprawling out on my bed, I stared at the ceiling. I don't know when, but I guess I dozed off because the next thing I knew, Kyle was standing over me telling me to get up. Groggily I cleaned myself up, getting ready for another day.
"Today we're having a meeting with the student council. You'll get to meet even more people." Kyle said.
"That's cool." I replied.
He stared at me for a few seconds before turning away. "You seem different."
"How so?"
"I dunno. Never mind. It's probably just me, let's get going." He smiled.
We arrived at the meeting room, which, let me tell you, was gargantuan. It was a really fancy looking place with a magnificent rectangular table in the center. Some people were already sitting at the table, and others were still filing in.
"There." Kyle pointed at the table. "Is where the student council members sit. They're all seniors…with the exception of two people."
"Oh? What do you mean?"
"There's one freshman and one junior." He smirked. "You're not the only special freshman Nathan."
"Ha ha. Very funny." I smiled back.
"There she is, the freshman Lily." Kyle pointed out a small lanky girl with short bobbed hair, skipping to her chair at the table with the rest of the council. "And right next to her is P.P.T, the junior."
"P.P.T?" I asked.
"Short for PowerPoint."
"Her parents named her PowerPoint? Like Microsoft PowerPoint?"
"Yep. Interesting name isn't it? P.P.T is really nice though." Kyle laughed. "Let's go over to our assigned seats." He led us towards the second row of chairs away from the table.
There were twelve council members. At the head of the table was the student president Ricky. He was very prominent and exuded an air of authority. When he rose, everyone else in the room rose too. He bowed slightly, welcoming us. We reciprocated his action. And then he began to talk in his loud booming voice.
"Good evening fellow students. Today we, the student council, have assembled you all here to address a couple of things." He paused, making eye contact with most of us. "First though, I'd like to introduce someone to you all quickly. He's this year's freshman exception. The brother to Hayley. Please welcome Nathan to the junior class."
Kyle nudged me. "Stand up." He whispered.
I rose slowly, bowed, and took my seat. Everyone applauded. I hadn't expected that. I saw Lily eyeing me curiously and pretended I didn't notice.
"I'm sure you have all heard rumors going around lately, that Priscilla will no longer be the coach of Arena Four. That is not the case. She will temporarily be out of action but once she recovers she will still be the coach." Ricky paused, letting everything sink in. "I don't want to hear anymore talk regarding that subject area."
Ricky looked around the room, daring anyone to contradict him. Nobody said a word.
"Moving on…Lily, can you give us this month's behavioral report?" Ricky said, taking a seat.
Lily stood up gracefully; though her full height was legitimately half of Ricky's she still had her own air of authority.
"Sure Ricky." Lily smiled. "The trouble-maker Jason was expelled from our academy for various reasons."
I briefly wondered if that was the same boy I beat up in the freshman wing of the school.
"The origin of ridiculously false rumors, Tom, has been punished in the Torture Chamber. Other than that, everyone's been on their best behavior." Lily said, taking her seat.
Well that's just lovely.
Ricky stood up again. "Thank you Lily. Now, I'm sure that you're all aware of the monthly tournaments. Our next tournament will be against the juniors of the Royal Courts Academy. The six chosen to represent our school must not fail. Bring glory and uphold our honor. Failure will result in the Chamber or worse. That's all, meeting adjourned."
As everyone began leaving, I heard a voice in the corner say: "Alice? What a fool. She brought on the emperor's wrath; she got what was coming to her anyways."
I whipped my head in the direction the voice was coming from. The boy was of a medium build, he was neither fat nor skinny. I walked right up to him.
"What did you just say?" I demanded.
"Woah, woah buddy…do you know who you're talking to?" The boy beside him said.
"Shut up, I'm not talking to you." I shoved him aside, rounding in on my target once more.
"Why are you so uptight about her? She your girlfriend?" The baffoon chuckled.
"Take it back." I said, gritting my teeth. Kyle was now beside me, holding me back (luckily for him).
"He's emperor Fuji's younger brother you know!" The boy I shoved aside earlier squeaked.
"I don't care if he's the emperor's brother, the emperor's mother, or the emperor himself." I was pissed. "Fight your own battles you coward."
"What's going on here?" Lily inquired from behind us.
"Nothing, heh heh, nothing at all!" Kyle replied nervously.
"Trash." The baffoon muttered, and began to walk away.
"Coward!" I shouted at him.
Lily frowned at me. And Kyle was sweating bullets.
"He meant Cow Award. Larry loves to eat cows ha ha ha, I mean beef." Kyle plastered a smile on his face.
Lily burst out laughing, clutching her stomach. "You're a riot Kyle. Okay, I gotta go now, talk to you guys later. Remember, play nice!" She skipped away.
"I'll kill him." I said.
"Nathan, buddy. What's wrong with you?"
"He was talking about Alice."
"He's also emperor Fuji's younger brother. I don't like what comes out of his mouth either but what can you do?" Kyle tried to reason.
"That's the other thing. He's a coward. Using your sibling as a crutch like that, he's weak. And he pisses me off."
"I see. Well why don't we head to class first. We can deal with him later if need be." Kyle suggested.
He didn't see. He didn't have to live in his sibling's shadow. My own sister was in Tier 1, but that didn't mean I could use her to fight my own battles. That kid Larry needs to grow up. I shook my head, trying to clear it. I was really agitated. And the recent confrontation with my sister, with La Phing, and with Larry wasn't helping. Right now however, I had to concentrate on class. If I wanted to become stronger, I needed to give it my all.
"Hey Nathan, are you going to apply for this month's tournament against the Royals?" Kyle asked.
Oh. That's perfect. "Good idea, thanks man." If I could get on that team, I'd be able to fight against the Royals, a Super Power nation. "So...how does one apply?"