First Day Of Classes

Drew says as we leave the arena. "She wasn't focused on the fight."

"It doesn't matter," David says, "A loss is a loss. Lucas did not disappoint."

They keep on discussing the fight, but as I have no other opinion other than the fight was badass, I decide to keep quiet. With my limited knowledge, I have no business trying to analyze a fight of that level. As it is, I still can't make sense of what I saw in the fight.

Lathia suggests going to a restaurant and they all agree except me. I am beginning to feel like a sixth wheel and am a bit tired so I decide that maybe it's time for me to go home. I tell them and they don't try to convince me otherwise and Lathia and Drew tell me bye as I leave. The twins don't and I am not too surprised, for some reason it feels like they don't like my presence. As for Emma, she just nods at me before looking away.

I take off my robe when I get to the bookshop, not wanting to look weird as I go back home. At home, I eat a little snack and head to my room. As I lie on my bed, my body is suddenly overcome with tiredness. It had not fully recovered from the fight with the three golems.

I fall asleep dreaming of magic and fighting and golems all intertwined in an indecipherable mess. At different points, I hear my mom and Emily talking to me, but nothing is enough to shake me from my dreams. I lie there, lost to the world as time flies.

I wake up the next morning feeling refreshed. I look out the window and see that the sun had long risen. My mom should have gone to work long ago.

After a bit of stretching, I leave my room and begin to do my chores. In the living room, I meet Emily who is surprisingly awake watching television.

She turns to look at me as I walk into the living room. "Good morning sleepy head."

"I think you're more deserving of that name than I am."

"That would have been true a few months ago, but, ever since your accident you've been sleeping like your life depends on it."

"Well, my life does."

"So. What were you doing yesterday that made you so tired? Football practice?"

"Nope. I've given up on that. I'm learning martial arts instead. You might not believe it but Drew's really good at it and I asked him to teach me." The lie flows out of my mouth without too much thought.

"Drew? Martial arts? I don't believe it. If you want to lie, try something more believable, like maybe you were playing video games or something."

"I'm serious."

"Right."

She doesn't say anything else after that, turning back to the show she's watching. I do my chores in silence before taking a bath and getting breakfast. After eating my breakfast, I begin to get ready for my classes in the Metorium. I get my bag and keep my Apprentice robes inside it. After that, I am confused as to what to carry. Would I need a notebook and pen or would the classes be like the ones I had before summer began? In the end, I keep a notebook and pen inside my bag, just in case.

"Where are you going?" Emily asks me as she sees me leaving the house.

"To Drew's house."

She frowns a bit and I can't help but wonder what is going on in her mind. Probably something along the lines of 'Why are you always with Drew?'. "Take the spare key with you," she says, "I'm going out with Diane today and I don't know when I'll be coming back."

"Where are you guys going?"

She shrugs. "I don't know."

I nod and go to the kitchen. I pull open a drawer and take one of the two keys inside before leaving. Just as I am about to open the door I hear a knock.

I open the door and am a bit surprised to see Drew standing outside.

"Hey," as he glances at the bag on my shoulder.

"Hey," I say, getting over my surprise. He probably just came to see if I am ready to go to the Metorium.

"Is that Drew?" Emily shouts just before I close the door.

"Yeah," I shout back.

"Can you bring him here for a moment please?"

Drew shoots me a questioning look and I shrug. "You wanna go?" I asked nodding to the house.

"Sure," he says and we both go into the house.

In the living room, Emily is staring at Drew with a curious look on her face. "Ian says you know martial arts."

"I do," he replies.

"Prove it."

He shoots me a look as he sighs gently. He assumes the normal stance, the first thing Master Shawn had taught me when I first started to learn martial arts from him. He takes a deep breath and executes a kata, a series of movements that show an offensive move. The kata is something I have never seen before, it is very showy but even I -with my rudimentary understanding of martial arts- can tell that is a powerful move.

By the time he is done Emily and I are staring at him in amazement.

"Okay," Emily says, "I am now a believer."

Drew nods at her and turns to me. "Let's go."

We leave the house and go to the bookshop. At the bookshop, we meet the rest of Drew's team waiting for us. I greet them and Emma and Lathia respond, but the twins barely spare me a glance before turning to Drew. Once again I can't help but feel like I have pissed them off in a way I can't tell.

They wait for me to put on my Apprentice robes before we head into the In-between. Like before, once we enter the In-between their robes appear on them. This time I manage to see what happened, almost as soon as we enter the In-between a portal appear beneath them and moves upwards, leaving the robe behind.

Today the In-between is even more crowded than it was yesterday. It still surprises me that there are this many Laen and some part of me knows that it will take some time for me to get used to seeing this many people in the In-between.

We soon appear in the Metorium where we have to separate.

"So," I ask Drew just before we go our different ways, "what classes are you having this morning."

"I don't have any classes, you do. "

"Wait, so what are you going to do today?"

"We are going to train with our Masters." Lathia answers.

I want to ask about their Masters but I refrain from doing that as it will soon be time for my classes to start. "Later," I say as I wave at them.

I begin going to the ATC where Master Hogan had told me to come to yesterday. On my way there I see a lot of people wearing the Apprentice robes going in the same direction, the only thing is, they are all kids. They all seem to be around thirteen and I can see most of them shooting me curious glances, probably wondering why someone as old as I am is still an Apprentice.

I ignore the looks but can't help but feel a bit embarrassed. Of course, it is not my fault that I am still an Apprentice, after all I did not become a Laen when I was young, but still, the fact that I am the only one this old among this many kids makes me feel a bit ashamed.

I soon reach the ATC and not knowing exactly where I am meant to be, I follow the Apprentices in front of me. Hopefully, they know where we are meant to be. As we wind our way through the massive building, I spot a group of twelve-year-olds without robes following a Teacher.

Listening to the voices around me, I soon realize that they are this year's batch of Students. That's why they are not wearing robes, they are not Apprentices yet.