Sorry that I haven't been uploading lately! As I mentioned before, I wasn't able to upload for two weekends in June, but last weekend I ended up not posting either. I was already struggling to write when some personal stuff happened, causing me to be more de-motivated. Along with that, I decided to change the chapter order to give you an exclusive chapter. This chapter is from Lyrei's point of view, and takes place during Chapter 4. I thought it would be interesting to explore her thoughts and feelings , and for some reason it was much easier to write this than Zarina's chapters. Anyways, I hope you enjoy this chapter!
"Have a great day at school!" Lyrei's mom squeezed her practically to death as they stood in front of the Leapmaster. Her dad wasn't able to be there, since he was on an assignment for the Council, but it meant everything to Rei that her parents tried to see her off to school every day.
"Thanks, I will," Lyrei replied, pulling away from her mom and turning to face the Leapmaster. "Foxfire!"
As the light of the crystal swept her away, Lyrei took one last look at her mom, grinning widely at her before she appeared in front of the school grounds. There were only a few other prodigies so far, since Lyrei insisted on being early to every school session. If people are going to expect me to mess up, she always said to herself, then I'll subvert my expectations by doing everything right.
Most of the other prodigies that arrived early milled around in the purple grass, chatting or exchanging Prattles pins. Not Lyrei. She itched to bust out her impressive collection and offer up the Prattles unicorn, which she had two of, or the Prattles selkie. Instead, she headed directly to the orientation room, where only a handful of other prodigies were.
One benefit of arriving super early was that Lyrei was able to stake out a spot closest to where she needed to go. She chose a spot directly next to the hallway that led to the Level 4 atrium. That way, she could get to her first class early.
When more and more prodigies began to stream into the orientation room, Lyrei straightened herself and scanned her eyes around the room for Zarina.
Unfortunately, it seemed that either her best friend wasn't as keen on arriving early as Rei was. There's still a few minutes until we need to technically be here, she reassured herself. Plus, there was no way that Rina had somehow injured herself, or gotten sick, over the weekend. Lyrei's parents would've heard about it and told their daughter before school started.
Two minutes into orientation, and Zarina was nowhere to be found. Okay, maybe she just can't find me, Rei reasoned with herself. There are a lot of blonde elves, and Zarina is shorter than average.
But that didn't make sense either. Ever since the beginning of their first year at Foxfire, Zarina and Lyrei had always met at the same spot during orientation.
Finally, Lyrei decided to just drop it and actually listen to Dame Mera. Most tuned her out. Once again, though, to show everyone that she wasn't a trouble making delinquent just because she hadn't manifested, Lyrei paid attention (for the most part).
When orientation ended, Lyrei walked as fast as possible to her locker. Zarina and her had always ended up having their lockers very close to each other. However, Zarina didn't seem to be at her locker either. I wonder where she is. Now Rei was getting really concerned. Zarina never skipped stopping at her locker before going to class.
Oh, well. I'll see her at lunch, and then she'll tell me why. I'm sure she has a completely reasonable explanation.
Lyrei was correct–Zarina did, in fact, show up at lunch–but she wasn't acting normal. She sat at the other end of the table, barely giving any answers to Rei's questions. It's like she's avoiding me.
She shook her head to clear away that thought, running her hands through her hair and causing it to become messy and disheveled. Why would she be avoiding me? I didn't do anything wrong–did I? Rei widened her eyes, tears brimming and threatening to spill over.
Looking up, she spotted Zarina walking away. The two girls made eye contact for a few seconds. Zarina opened her mouth and took a breath, looking like she wanted to say something, before she closed it again and turned away. Lyrei sat there, alone at her table, for the rest of the lunch period. She couldn't focus during her next session, The Universe, as she was more concerned with not letting herself cry in front of her Mentor. He snapped at her two times before she was able to start paying attention.
I promised myself I would make a good impression, Rei thought bitterly as she trudged over to study hall. When she saw Zarina sitting by herself, however, she immediately forgot everything that had previously happened as her heart beat twice as fast as before.
"Rina! I've been meaning to talk to you all day! Why have you been avoiding me?" Lyrei exclaimed as she sat down next to her friend. She looked at Zarina expectantly, banishing any thought doubting that Zarina wanted to hangout with her anymore. After all, she was most likely going to be Talentless, and she knew that Zarina's parents were obsessed with social status.
"Sorry, Lyrei, not now," Zarina said quietly, turning back away to look at her assignments. "I have a lot of work to do."
Lyrei deflated, hunching over a piece of paper and pretending to do her homework. Really, she just sat there staring at it and willing herself not to cry. I can't show any sign of weakness. No matter what happens.
It took about half of study hall for Lyrei to actually start getting any work done, and by the time the school day had ended, she'd barely done anything.
She spent the rest of her day curled up on her bed, sobbing into her blankets, and standing in the shower for an hour to wash away everything that had happened. She tried swallowing away the lump in her throat, or wiping away her tears, but they just kept coming.
Eventually, as the sun began to set, she had managed to get ahold of herself and was laying under her covers, writing in a journal.
Right before she went to bed, she felt a buzz from her Imparter. She pulled it out and found a message flashing across the screen: Incoming Call from Zarina Wynra.
Also, I know you probably weren't expecting me to upload today, but I had a bout of inspiration and wanted to give you another chapter as soon as possible. I will try to upload more than usual this weekend to make up for the long hiatus!
