Yes, I did technically say that I only post on the weekends, but honestly I forgot to post this yesterday, so here it is!
"How did your first ability detecting tutor session go?" Zarina asked during study hall—Lyrei had been at the library during lunch. A few other people had joined the table they used to study, so she had to keep her voice extra quiet. Lyrei didn't want any rumors spreading about her extra efforts to manifest.
"It was okay. Obviously, we didn't get anywhere, but I was given homework. Apparently, if I do some exercises everyday, my mind will be 'more open to manifesting,' whatever that means." Lyrei made air quotes with her fingers and rolled her eyes. "I have a feeling that they're just made up to waste people's time, because I was reading about ability detecting today in the library and there was no mention of those exercises."
Zarina nodded, too focused on her current homework assignment to reply.
"Anyways, I'm glad that my tutor ended up being someone who is nice. Some people say that their tutor was strict or mean, but Sir Connell is okay."
"That's good." Lyrei and Zarina fell into a comfortable silence as they both turned back to their schoolwork.
The rest of study hall passed the same, with a few more snippets of conversation scattered throughout a silent work period. By the end of it, Zarina had completed almost every one of her assignments. The only homework she had left now was a practice assignment for her ability session with Sir Lorcan. She could easily do that later, though.
"How much work do you have left?" she asked Lyrei as they headed to the Leapmaster.
"None," Lyrei replied with a grin, turning around to face her best friend.
"I just have a small assignment left, and I can do that tonight. Is today a good day to work on your ability detecting?"
Rei's face fell for a split second before brightening back up.
"Of course! You know my parents said you can come over any time, right? They love it when I bring you home."
They smiled at each other before turning back to the Leapmaster. Lyrei shouted "Maplebranch!" and they both stepped into the beam of light, allowing it to pull them away from Foxfire.
What was that about? Zarina frowned, following Lyrei to the backyard of her family's estate. She shook away that thought quickly and tried to immerse herself in helping her best friend. There really wasn't much to do; Lyrei seemed very distracted the entire time, glancing up at the sky every few minutes to check the sun's progress and looking away whenever Zarina tried to talk to her.
But Rina didn't want to say anything. Not after their last fight; she didn't want to do anything that made the wrong impression on Rei.
So she continued to make an effort to help her friend throughout the week, even when Lyrei seemed disinterested or absent at times. They'd already had one miscommunication happen recently. Zarina didn't need to start another.
Every night, Rina lay awake long after she turned off her lights and closed the blinds on her windows, wondering if something was wrong.
Does she not want to be my friend? Am I being a bad friend? What if my apology wasn't good enough? These were all thoughts that ran through her head in a loop, over and over and over again, until Zarina couldn't stand it and had to get up. She spent a few hours after this each time it happened reading or completing homework assignments to distract herself. When there wasn't anything for Zarina to busy her mind with, she drew mindlessly in the margins of one of her notebooks.
"Are you okay?" Lyrei asked one day at lunch. She seemed to be staring intensely at Zarina, which made her fidget uncomfortably.
"Yeah, why? Is there something on my face?"
"Um…well, actually…I was just wondering if you're getting enough sleep. You have some pretty dark circles under your eyes, and you look like you might spontaneously fall asleep any second," Lyrei admitted.
"Oh…" Zarina looked away, not wanting her friend to know why she had so many sleepless nights. "It's fine, I just…I have a lot of homework."
"Okay, good, because I was getting a bit worried about you."
The two friends returned to a pleasant silence—well, it seemed pleasant for Lyrei—as they finished up the rest of their lunches.
The rest of Zarina's classes felt like torture. She was too tired to concentrate on anything, and by the end of the day, she just wanted to go home and collapse on her bed. Rina ended up having to cancel her daily ability detecting meeting with Lyrei.
"Sorry," she apologized as she walked with Rei to the Foxfire Leapmaster.
"No, it's okay," Lyrei reassured her, looking more relaxed than usual. "Take as much time as you need to get rest."
Zarina smiled before turning to the Leapmaster and glittering away into the light.