Sorry, I took a little longer to update this time. My stomach has been bothering me so much, these past three days I've only eaten soda crackers and toast cause that's all I could keep down. Now that I've managed to crawl out of bed, I'm updating! Yay for updates! Damn, I need a laptop. And a tablet. Life, why do you hate me?
Anyways, on with the chapter!
Books
Ryuusei shook his head in disbelief. He had just found out about the truth behind his conception, and was now listening to his mother try to explain herself.
"Ryuusei! I didn't even know that it was a one-night stand! Alright?" Aki confessed, causing Ryuusei to just look away from her, stoic as ever. There was no response from him.
Aki pressed on. "That Alexianna girl pulled it out of me somehow… I don't- I'm sorry." Aki admitted and apologized.
Ryuusei's expression remained the same. He gave her one glance before exiting the room.
Ryuusei stalked toward his office, a couple hallways away. Today, his job as a guidance counsellor would begin. Perfect timing, after the entire student body found out how he was conceived. He could tell this wasn't going to be his day.
He approached his office and took down the sign up sheet next to the door. Almost every girl in the school had signed up for an appointment with him. Great.
He really hated being attractive sometimes. It was so annoying to have to go through letting down so many people as easily as possible. Stalker after stalker. Fangirl after fangirl. And now he was going to have to deal with a bunch of hormonal teenaged girls signing up for appointments with him just to check him out.
He went through his list of female students at Arcadia Academy and discovered that Hino and Alexianna were the only two girls who hadn't signed up for an appointment.
This was going to be a long day.
/
Hino was on her way to her first period class alone, supplies in her Arcadia Academy book bag she had received at orientation. Chancellor Izayoi had asked for a couple volunteers to try out the uniform for a couple weeks, and Hino had volunteered. She fixed her blazer, unbuttoning the front of it, along with the top of her dress shirt. As she did so, none other than Jeff had decided to catch up to her.
"H-hi." Jeff greeted tentatively.
Hino could sense his cautious approach to her and rolled her eyes. "Hi Jeff. How'd you make out last night?" she asked, sarcastically.
Jeff winced at the jab, afraid of upsetting her already. "Look I'm-"
"Whatever. It's none of my business. Next time, leave a tie on the doorknob so I know to come back later." Hino cut off, not wanting to hear Jeff squabble over the matter.
Jeff gave a nervous laugh. "Okay. Sure."
After Jeff's reply, Hino remained silent all the way to the classroom.
/
"YO! LEX!" Kheika called as she, Zebel and Jeff grabbed a table in the large and very purple cafeteria.
Alexianna had already gotten her lunch (which was provided for free by the school) and had started to head over to where Takeshi was waiting for her. She looked back at the group of three who were waving her over. She looked at Takeshi and put up a finger, mouthing 'one second' as she turned and walked over to Kheika.
"Hey guys, I cant eat lunch with you today." Alexianna announced.
Kheika frowned at her and asked, "Why not?"
"I, sort of, already have plans, with someone else." She admitted as she gave a shy glance toward Takeshi.
A sly smile crossed Kheika's lips. "Plans, eh?" she gave implicationally, wiggling her eyebrows a bit as she did.
Alexianna laughed at her friend and turned a slight shade of red. "Stop! He and I are… friends-ish…" she gave unconvincingly. The truth was, she had no idea what to call him. Was he a crush? A friend? A mere acquaintance? She was confused to say the least.
While Alexianna dealt with her group, Stephanie approached Takeshi, who's eyes were locked on the french psychic and didn't even notice Stephanie approach him.
"What cha' doing?" Stephanie asked casually.
Takeshi snapped out of his staring trance and gave Stephanie a small smile. "Waiting for someone." He informed.
Stephanie looked in the direction his eyes were glued to and landed on Alexianna.
"Oh! Someone has a hot date!" She teased as he nudged him.
From afar, and unnoticed by the others, Grace and Cleotra were sitting at a table together, Grace's eyes were locked on Stephanie as she watched her nudge Takeshi. "She so likes him." Grace concluded, getting Cleotra's attention.
Cleotra raised her eyes from her book and looked towards Stephanie and Takeshi. "I don't think so. She looks like she's just teasing him about something. Y'know how friends do that to each other, all the time?" Cleotra gave, thinking Grace was way off her rocker.
Takeshi's cheeks reddened a little at the jest Stephanie made. "It's not a date. We're just going to hang out." He protested.
Stephanie smirked at him. "But you do think she's hot!" she teased.
Takeshi's blush deepened a smidge and he looked away from Stephanie. "No… Well, maybe…"
"HA! I knew it! You liiiiiiiiiike her!" Stephanie exclaimed, jumping out in front of him so she could catch his expression, which was priceless.
"I- ugh! Steph, stop! I don't know how I feel about her. Some stuff happened last night. I just want to make sure she and I are on friendly terms, if anything…" he informed, slowing down his speaking pace as he spoke.
Stephanie nodded in the most unbelieving way before nudging him again. "I wanna hear ALL about your date during fourth!" she demanded as she started to walk away from him. "I mean DETAILS mister!" she exclaimed and pointed at him as she found a table and sat down at it.
Alexianna approached Takeshi, lunch in hand and a soft smile on her face. "Where do you wanna sit?" she asked.
Takeshi tilted his head at her before responding. "Follow me." He instructed as he started to walk down the hallway, away from the cafeteria.
Confused, Alexianna started to follow, not sure of where they were going. "We're not eating in the cafeteria?" she inquired.
"Just follow me." Takeshi re-iterated. Alexianna frowned at him as she continued to follow, not liking being left in the dark about where they were going.
After what seemed like a millennia of walking in silence among the halls of Arcadia Academy, Takeshi opened a door that led outside of the building and gestured for Alexianna to go through it. She tilted her head at him, expecting an explanation.
"Just trust me." He gave as his 'explanation'.
"Why should I?" she demanded, crossing her arms as she did.
"You wouldn't have followed me all this way if you didn't trust me." Takeshi countered, gesturing towards the door he was still holding open for her.
She shifted her weight. "Ever heard of curiosity?" she returned, as if they were playing a game of badminton, only wit was their birdie.
Takeshi sighed. "Hey, it's your call." He gave, pretending to be defeated as he went through the door himself.
Alexianna watched the door slowly swing back and close with a clang, which made her jump a little. She looked around, scoffed a little, then returned her focus on the door.
"Damn."
She went through the door to discover a beautiful rose garden. Red roses, white roses, pink roses. She stood there, frozen in utter disbelief of all the beauty surrounding her.
Takeshi was sitting at a little table, accompanied by two chairs, that hade an antique look to them and matched the garden nicely.
"How did you find this place?" Alexianna asked, still suffering from shock as she slowly walked over and joined Takeshi at the table.
"A little exploring. Me and Steph took a detour to English class. They have a bunch of gardens here apparently." Takeshi explained.
Alexianna was dazed by the utterly gorgeous scenery. "It's so beautiful."
"You like it?" Takeshi asked slightly tentative.
Alexianna nodded at him with a small smile, careful not to activate her powers. She cracked out her lunch, and Takeshi followed suit.
"So, where are you from?" Alexianna asked him, wanting to start a conversation.
"Neo Domino. You?" he quickly shifted focus to her, not wanting to talk about himself too much.
"Versailles. I love France, it's so much different than here. All of your lit up skyscrapers and duelling on motorcycles on a bridge. We're a little behind the times, I guess you could say. This garden reminds m of home so much." Alexianna divulged.
Takeshi smiled at her, glad she was opening up to him. "It sounds lovely." He commented.
Alexianna returned his smile and nodded. "So, how did you end up in Arcadia Academy?" she inquired.
Takeshi froze mid-bite of a sandwich he had unwrapped. "I, uh, don't like to talk about it…" he replied a lot slower than he had been speaking this entire time.
"Oh. I'm sorry…" Alexianna trailed off awkwardly.
Takeshi cleared his throat. "Anyways, how are liking the classes here?"
They kept making conversation throughout lunch, clearing any bad air that there was between them. It would make a nice memory for them.
/
Ryuusei looked up from a file he was reading to see an icy haired girl in beige pants, a beige button up coat, white gloves and a dark blue scarf staring at him, arms crossed.
"M-may I help you?" he asked, a little reminded of Setsuka…
"I'm Xerxes. You called me down?" She gave straight forward to him.
"Oh! Of course, sit down." Ryuusei replied, gesturing to the seat in front of his desk. "How may I help you?"
"I need to switch my classes." She gave bluntly, not wanting to drag the process out.
Ryuusei frowned. "I'm sorry, you cant do that. You're in age group classes. You have to stay with your level."
Xerxes hardened her gaze, which started to make Ryuusei uncomfortable. "Are you sure you cant make an exception?" she gave monotonously.
Ryuusei went through Xerxes' file. It had her age down as 13 with a question mark beside it. Was the school unsure of how old she was? "How old are you?"
"… Would you believe me if I said I was 16?" she questioned, though it seemed more like a threat than a question.
Ryuusei looked from Xerxes, to the file, then to Xerxes again. "How about 15?"
"Would I be in Hino's class?" Xerxes asked, raising an eyebrow at him.
He shuffled some files around. "I can make an exception. Are you a gifted student?"
"Aren't we all?" Xerxes jested.
Ryuusei sighed and pulled up a time table with the 16-year-old age group class and handed it to Xerxes. "I'm putting you on a probationary period with the class switch. If you have any problems, just sign up for another appointment."
"How long is the probationary period?" Xerxes asked, looking at the time table.
"A month." Ryuusei answered, then stood up. "Thank you for not signing up just to gawk at me."
Xerxes stood and nodded, getting what she wanted from the guidance counsellor. She left and headed for her new class; English with Carly-sensei.
Xerxes entered the class to find four people, all sitting far away from each other except for Jeff and Hino. Everyone looked to her, surprised to see her standing in the door.
"Xerxes!" Hino exclaimed, gesturing her over.
Xerxes smirked and sat next to Hino in the vacant desk next to her. Hino looked overjoyed at her friend's presence. Jeff wasn't nearly as giddy.
"Xerxes, have you transferred into my class?" Carly asked the girl. Who nodded and handed her teacher the new time table she had received from Ryuusei.
Carly looked it over and shrugged. "Alright. Welcome to English. Here's your copy of Macbeth. We're working on a work sheet right now, it's a pre-reading exercise. Hino can catch you up on what to do." Carly instructed as she handed the multi-eye coloured girl a work sheet and returned to her desk, nearly tripping twice.
"How did you get into this age group?" Hino asked surprised.
"Pulled a few strings. What are we supposed to do?' She asked.
"You have to draw a picture of your pre-conceived idea of Lord Macbeth. Once we're done the book, we do another drawing of him that should end up being a lot different from the first one." Hino explained.
"Easy enough. Hey Lancelot. I heard you found yourself a Guinevere." Xerxes teased.
Jeff sighed and ignored her before getting back to work on his drawing.
Xerxes chuckled before setting to work on her own drawing. Xerxes' drawing ended up looking like a very violent psychopathic murderer that somewhat resembled Jack Atlas. There was a lot of gore and blood in drawing.
"That's… Neat." Hino attempted to cover up her concern for her friend.
Xerxes very slightly smiled. "Thanks. I really like drawing."
"I can see that." Hino faked a positive attitude, very concerned and scared over the graphic drawing.
"Hey Hino, check out mine." Jeff grabbed her attention and presented his drawing with a snarky look on his face.
The drawing was of Xerxes dressed as a King. Xerxes gave him an extremely cold look, which he shrunk back under, almost peeing himself.
The 5 students handed in their drawings and Carly continued the lesson with more pre-reading exercises.
/
Psychic abilities class finally rolled around, much to the student's excitement.
Aki took her place at the front of the classroom and wrote a word on the board.
"Power?" Hino whispered to Xerxes. A couple of the other students whispered as well until Aki clapped her hands and made them stop.
"Power. What is the definition of power?" Aki asked, waiting for a student to raise their hand.
Cleotra's hand shot straight up.
"Yes, Cleotra?" Aki called on her.
"Power has no set definition, because it applies to so many people in so many different ways." She answered.
Aki nodded her head. "How does power apply to you then? Care to show us?" Aki gestured to the front of the class, beckoning the platinum blonde forward.
Cleotra stood up and approached the front of the class. "Can someone turn off the lights?" she asked. A student at the back of the class flicked a switch and the room became a lot dimmer, though there were still windows in the classroom to let the light in.
Cleotra's attention went straight to the remaining light source in the room, while all other sets of eyes were on her. After a few moments, her form convulsed and she turned into a black orb of matter that resembled smoke. Two little spheres of white light appeared with the black smoke which resembled eyes and the orb bounced around the room, settling in the darkest area of the room where it grew a bit in size.
The entire class was shocked and started excitedly whispering to each other, some pointing at her, others just standing there, mouth agape.
The orb bounced over to another dark corner where it seemed to disappear. Everyone was silent. The student at the back of the classroom flicked the light switch again, and Cleotra re-appeared in her regular form, leaning on the wall, eyes closed.
When she opened her eyes, everyone clapped.
She smirked and bowed to Aki before taking her seat again next to Grace.
"That certainly was power. Who else has a definition of power?" Aki dived back into the lesson. She scanned the room, no one raised their hands.
Aki took another scan of the room and her eyes landed on Hino.
"Hino. Show us what power is to you." Aki voluntold and moved over to give the pinkette the floor.
Hino, shocked that she was chosen, slowly stood up. She looked back to Xerxes nervously who rolled her eyes at her and gestured her hand towards the front of the room. Hino gave her ice-haired friend a glare before kept moving slowly to the front. When she reached her 'spotlight' at the front of the room, she looked across the crowd, feeling a little nervous. Her eyes finally landed on Jeff, who was sitting alone and smiling at her, the look in his eyes saying 'you can do this'.
She took a shaky breathe. "I need a book." She blurted, still looking at Jeff.
Jeff grabbed a small, leather journal from his book bag and brought it up to the front for her. He laid it on the desk in front of her and gave her arm a reaffirming squeeze.
"Go for it." He whispered to her, giving her a sweet smile.
She nodded to him, a little more confidence filling her. Jeff backed up a couple steps, still smiling. In the back, a furious Kheika was turning red with anger and possessiveness.
Hino focused on the book, staring at it hard for many minutes. For a while, nothing happened. A couple students groaned in annoyance. Their impatience, instead of faltering her, angered Hino, and she used it to fuel her concentration.
The book started to levitate.
The students, no completely focused on her, watched in awe as Hino raised her hand a bit, making the book follow suit. She moved her hand side to side, which the book copied identically.
Jeff let a proud smile spread across his face as he watched Hino control the book.
When she finally put the book down, she gained a huge applause from the class.
Aki felt pride and success filling her up, and it was only the second day.
END
This is obviously the longest chapter I've done so far. I'm hoping to keep making them about this length, which is 3000 words. A lot of people wanted to see more powers for the psychic class, plus it helps advance one of the sub-plots I have going. If you just submitted your character with the basic psychic power, I'm going to need you to PM a possible 'special' power I can use for this class.
Review please! Or I'm turning Ryuusei and Setsuka ugly. No one likes it when the pretty people turn ugly. So review!