1 REI

Rei, in his nineteen years of existence, still had no idea why his classmates (and schoolmates) have this habit of screaming every time they were on their way to attend the university's flag ceremony.

Despite the pale-skinned boy's growing annoyance, the screaming and squealing of classmates (and schoolmates) still continue to increase in volume upon the arrival of their very own university's most popular group of friends. Rei does not share their excitement nor does he get the hype. Those people poop just like him. Those people would end up getting wrinkles as soon as they reach their late fifties. They would even end up getting buried or cremated soon! What's with the unneeded screaming that might end up breaking his eardrums one day?

"Xavi, marry me!"

"No, me!"

"Enya, you are my goddess!"

"I love you, Jest!"

And of course, you readers might ask him. Why is he is even there? Why won't he just leave and read books at the library or something since he's definitely a nerd desperate to get a good grade?

Well. It's not like our unlikely protagonist over here doesn't want to bolt out of his current position at this very minute. It's the fact that he cannot. It's absolutely mandatory to attend the flag ceremony. It's not his fault that this group of friends he dislikes makes the location for the flag ceremony their very own Met Gala.

Of course, since Mother Earth hates him, probably because of the candy wrapper he ignored and did not pick up when he was on my way to the university, his favorite (not) person manages to find him amidst all her adoring fans.

"What a sight for sore eyes," Enya, the witch of the story says in her annoying falsetto-like voice upon reaching Rei. She was holding a latte in her hand, her manicured nails glistening upon being exposed to the sun's rays. Rei silently hopes Enya finds someone else to throw it on. He's wearing a white shirt since they have Physical Education today. "Why won't you just change schools, dork?"

"Why won't you just find someone else to call a dork, Enya?" Rei answers.

Jest, one of the three individuals in the group of friends stopped himself from laughing, hiding his grin behind his hand.

Weird, Rei thinks. He definitely wasn't joking. Xavier, or Slavier, as Rei calls him sometimes, remains silent behind Enya. He's also the third and the last member of the group of friends, and Rei notes that he's closer to Enya than Jest is. Rei also calls him Slavier since he's Enya's oh-so-loyal slave or knight. If this was a fantasy novel, he's definitely her knight. A witch's knight.

Enya frowns. She lightly shakes her half-full latte. Rei instinctively steps backward. Not that he's scared of the villainess. He's just worried about his white shirt and having to do the laundry on a Monday.

The witch was about to say something when the university's school hymn finally started. She grits her teeth so hard that Rei wished it would have cracked.

Enya flips her hair and made her way to the end of the line alongside her friends because they were late.

At least being an early bird pays off, Rei thinks, grinning to himself. He turns to Medea, his best friend and apparently his only friend in the entire school, who was already laughing. "She's gonna throw a fit after this," Medea whispers after she finished laughing her ass off. "You should probably avoid her for now. I'll cover your skinny ass."

Rei feigns offense. "Excuse you, this ass is divine."

Medea rolls her eyes and smacks the latter's bum as if to check. "Definitely not a divine ass. I would give it a solid two out of ten."

"Rude," The boy mutters as he turned away from Medea who was sticking out her tongue towards him to listen to the principal instead who was currently announcing something.

"Herstein University is very pleased to announce how Mr. Ortega recently won another archery contest! Please give him a round of applause!"

Did Rei mention that Xavier is an international archery champion? Well, if he forgot, then yes the boy is. Not only is he among the best in the world, but he's also ranked five.

Not that Rei was checking.

Everyone clapped. Some even yelled his name, particularly Jest who slung an arm around Xavier's shoulders while jumping as if he was the one who won.

It occurred for about a solid three minutes before the entire place went back to the normal gossip-filled place and everyone not giving a care about what the faculty on the stage was talking about.

Later the students found themselves on their way back to their classroom. It was so monotonous, something they all do every day except weekends, but of course, every Monday wouldn't be a Monday without a certain witch deciding to stop Rei from entering the room with her fake glitter nails.

"Do you want a latte? I mean, you probably won't be able to buy one since you're so poor,"

She hands it to Rei. Rei bets she spit on it or something. It was half-full as it was earlier, but he simply doesn't trust witches.

"No thanks, I'll opt for the vending machine coffee," Rei says, about to duck in order to get past Enya's arm, but of course the witch would not let him pass so easily.

"You definitely should get this latte." She insisted with a vicious smile. Now Rei's very convinced she poisoned it.

Rei rolls his eyes subtly. "Fine,"

Enya's grin grew even wider. Rei thinks the latte probably has a bug inside. She hands it to the boy and after accepting it, Rei makes his way to the back of the room and threw it inside the trash can. Upon noticing that nobody was sitting by the window, he made a run for it.

As he sat down he realized the room was eerily quiet. He looks up and notices Enya's face was already red due to anger. Her hands were already fists and she looked like she was about to explode. Honestly, she should. Rei had enough of her schemes. This is not what he expected at this university, what the hell.

Medea gave him a thumbs up from the front row. She always sat there to ogle at their adviser, Mr. Wade. Rei just pretends not to notice it to save her from embarrassment.

Enya looked like she was about to scream when Mr. Wade appeared behind her with a frown.

"Ms. Collins, I'd appreciate it if you and Xavier here would already take your seats,"

The witch was about to say something back but Xavier pulled her towards the chairs nearest to where they were, which was kind of away from Jest, who was already busy talking to some of the other boys in class.

Rei could not help himself from thinking about why the two boys hang out with Enya instead of listening to Mr. Wade's discussion. Not that it would matter listening to the man, Medea would obviously take notes in order to impress their professor, which she could share with Rei later. The boy's thoughts drifted more towards Xavier, for everybody knows that he was closer to Enya than Jest is. He notes the first possibility being that Enya's really gorgeous. However, so is Medea, and almost all the female population in their university.

He leans his head against the wall on his left side. How about because the witch is smart? Not just smart, but really smart. Rei honestly doesn't want to acknowledge it but Enya is indeed smart. She's smart enough to continuously be his competition when it came to their examinations and quizzes, and in the rankings in general. The witch was actually intelligent enough to be more known for her it rather than her beauty. Nevertheless, Xavier is known for his intelligence as well. Despite having the need to be absent when he had training for both local and international archery competitions, everyone still knows how good the boy was at anything that involved calculations and solving, which Rei can admit is difficult for him. He would rather read, thanks.

What about her personality?

Rei immediately shakes his head, making it ache due to the sudden harsh movement. Definitely not, he thinks. Her personality sucks big time.

He slowly felt himself drifting away with his thoughts, completely blurring out what their professor was currently talking about. Rei knows it's not what a student holding on to a scholarship should be doing but can you blame him? It really is kinda suspicious why Xavier even hangs around with the witch. Also, Jest, but he'll think about it in the next period.

Not that Rei cares, of course. He's simply passing time. Or so he says.