Firebolt(48)

“Well, you’ve got some now,” Becky said. “The way I see it, Paegeia should've been your birthplace, Elena. You belong here and I’ll make sure that you're going to understand everything.”

“I’ll help,” Sammy promised too.

The bell rang for the second part of the day. Everybody in Professor Gregory's class just stared at me as I walked in. The familiar new-chick's-first-day-at-school-feeling came back and it was so bad that my stomach turned.

“Good afternoon, guys,” he said as the second bell rang.

“And, ladies,” Riley sang annoyingly.

“Sorry, ladies. Elena, Master Longwei wants to see you in his office, please.”

The feeling became even worse after his words sunk in. I got up and put my books into my bag. I left just as he began his lecture.

The last time I was in the headmaster’s office I received the biggest scolding of my life. What does he want now?

It felt like it took an eternity to get there. I knocked timidly.

“Enter.” His voice came from inside the room. I found him sitting behind his desk busy with paperwork.

“You wanted to see me, Master.”

“Yes, Elena. Sit down, please. I heard what happened today in the cafeteria,” he said. “I'm going to cut to the point. You have so much to deal with, and it was wrong of me to throw you in the deep water before you were ready. You are struggling to cope with all of this, and now I'm forcing you to learn everything in such a short period of time. I know you are not doing very well in your classes, and all of your professors are worried that you started this year a little too late. What I suggest is that you take it easy, and then next year you can enroll with the first years.”

“Please don’t do that,Master. I swear I'll work harder,” I pleaded.

“Elena?”

“Please, sir. Don’t fail me because you think I can't make it. Fail me for the right reasons. Just give me a chance,”I begged.“I will even take extra classes after school. Becky and Sammy said they will help me to catch up. Please.”

“Elena, it is too difficult.”

“I don't care. I just want a chance.” I was adamant. Silence filled his office, and I saw him frowning at the papers splayed out on his desk.

He sighed. “Okay, fine if you're up for it, I will see what I can do from my side.”

I nodded. “Thank you, sir.”

“That will be all.” He spoke with a whisper.

I wiped away a tear as I exited his office.

I found Becky and Sammy sitting in our room, and everything came spilling out.

“How can he even suggest something like that?” Sammy asked.

“Maybe he's just worried about Elena. She did start late.” Becky tried to play the devil’s advocate.

“I don’t care, Becky. I'm not going to be left behind.”

“Okay, easy. I'm sure Lucian will help too. He has─”

“Let's just see what Master Longwei is going to come up with,” I interrupted, not wanting to talk about Lucian.

“It’d better be a good plan. Face it girl, you do have a lot of catching up to do,” Becky said, not trying to sound harsh.

“It is not impossible though.”Sammy eyeballed her.“Besides,that mark is really dark. I'm sure Elena can do it.”

“I just have to work harder.” I answered both of them and left for the library.

I had no idea where to start, so I started searching in a section that had something to do with magic.

Lucian kept jumping into my mind, and I had to push him away in order to concentrate on my task. I found a book called Nobody's Magic and paged through the first couple of pages. It sounded like a good book about where everything started, but the way the author write made me wonder if he was related to William Shakespeare.

Someone spun me around, as I was going to return the book to the shelf. I found myself in a pair of arms. By the smell of his shirt, I knew it was Lucian.

“Where have you been?” I hit his heavily muscled chest with both fists.

“I'm sorry, Elena, I had to do something for one of the Professors. I heard what happened today. Are you okay?” he asked, clamping both my wrists with his hands to stop my weak punches.

A tear rolled down my face, and he caught it gently with his thumb. He gave me a soft kiss, and I felt all of my doubts disappear in an instant.

“You need a break,”he whispered once we’d finally stopped.

“Lucian, I need to study.”

“You can study tomorrow.” He grabbed my hand and dragged me to the exit. His hands were really cold, but his touch made me boil from the inside.

My stomach did so many flips that it almost made me sick again.

“Where are we going?” I sounded confused when I didn’t recognize our path.