Chapter 5

  Outside, there's rain coming down and it creates a grey sky, but leaves the trees and foliage below to remain green and healthy. The building of CCMS is a little grey by nature, a light grey, but today it's very dark. Glancing outside has me wonder if the rain will stop today, since it's been continuous for a few days now.

  Being in the second week since my new school life started, I've gotten mostly settled in here. Going around with my usual group, Hala, Syl, Lu, Thames, Morgan, Tula, Machiv, and Keito, quite a number of friends I surprisingly have, it's a fun environment that I have, since it works together with all that I'm learning. It's right now during history, and even though I'm adequately interested in it, my thoughts do spiral around to wonder about that day.

  I tried looking through the library on Sunday, since Saturday I went out with everyone to town for the first time and enjoyed the day there, for anything about the the pool and magic related to it. I'm not overtly interested in Valence and the pool of water he was in, but more of just the reason he's there. Why Valence is there, is what I'm wondering. It's odd really, since I've never seen anything like it, and I guess that makes it peculiar to me.

  There was some books on magic that I could partially understand, but most I couldn't. Way too advanced for me to understand, and probably for everyone else in my class to either. Actually, from what I know, some kids in my grade might be able to. I know Machiv is very true to his word about reading a lot, and reading quickly from what I know. It's not that he speed-reads, but reads fast. I think he mentioned he finished going through all of all our textbooks we were assigned this year, and I'm maybe two percent in. And he also had time to hang out with us in town, so I'm guessing he could be smart. It probably has to do with the fact that he manages his time very well, since Keito, who shares a dorm room with Machiv, says Machiv is in bed and sleeping by nine-thirty. I don't think I could ever plan out my day to get everything done by then, since I'm up until a little later than that. Machiv never boasts about it, but it's pretty obvious his brain is as big as his vocabulary insinuates.

  Tula and Hala too, are ridiculously agile with their brains. I know that Hala has not reached the same amount of reading as Machiv, but her memory is great. If Machiv and Hala, and Tula who can do math with her eyes closed, cheated together, they'd have A's all over their grade sheet. Though, they're not at all showy so they'd probably modestly say they did their best as everyone can. For fun on Saturday when we went out we had Tula answer math question while the rest of us used our phones to calculate the answers. Now, I'm not saying Tula is a quantum computer, but when I saw she could spit out answers like a gumball machine, I'm not lying. Hala too is pretty smart, though I think she keeps that put away because she's humble and doesn't care for intelligence in her day-to-day-life. I at least am able to spend time with them, as well as another group of nice people, unlike the other teens who seem to be causing trouble already in the school.

  The few kids in my grade that everyone seems to be noticing as rude and annoying I've mildly hear about. I've never personally seen but have heard a girl named Aya who got caught wearing some kind of charm that's not allowed, not at all similar to my innocuous silver one, and she tried to call her mother in to berate the school. I don't know how it ended up, but she also caused a ruckus in the gym when she got into a fight with the basketball team when they said they didn't need a cheerleader captain, since this school doesn't have a cheerleader team to begin with.

  I'd say it doesn't match the ambience of the school, and CCMS doesn't need one. But trying to weasel your way into the girl's basketball team while demanding you be treated with a little more than just the normal amount of respect when hijacking it doesn't come off that good. I heard Hala and Morgan both muttering about the b-word, and they had a lightning storm over both of them at the mention of Aya. 

  There's another boy too who is already trying to cast spells on others. There supposedly are charms and mechanisms in the school like in the halls that subdue the intensity of spells of certain nature to prevent accidents. I think his name was Myles, and he tried a handful of curses, as they're called, and nobody got hurt, but certainly he was caught. I think he almost tried a few spells on a teacher, but Mrs. Loop was present there and I guess being a person with a doctorate in Majestic Theory Myles backed down and stopped being a nuisance.

  The history teacher here, Mr. Kean, has a calm voice that seems an extension of the stereotype of history teachers, and he continues to talk. I do pay attention, but some parts unfortunately do leak away.

  "Of course, the beginning school of magic is the parallel school, but you all will learn about that more with your respective Majestic Theory teachers like Mr. Reap, Mrs. Loop, or Mr. Ida. For now we'll just focus on the idea of magic and how it was observed through the secular portion of the world."

  He continues on, and thankfully this class is in the morning so I don't have to try and stay awake too hard. After fifty minutes, with each class in this school and six classes a day, I'm done and say have a nice day to Mr. Kean, and go on to my next class. Majestic Theory, yay! I was just in the same class with Keito, and being quiet is fine but he also makes a great person to be around. He also is very good at taking notes, at least in the classes we have together, so I try to emulate his clear letters and writing. He chuckles when I look at it every now and then.

  "Oh, how is the basketball team?" I ask Keito as we leave and walk out into the hall.

  "It's very exciting," says Keito, as usual a taciturn person, but saying everything in the few words he has, "many events occur."

  "Are the twins a bit annoying?" I ask, and Keito turns his masked face to look at me, and chuckles.

  He recently changed all the bandages wrapped around his face under his mask to black ones, and I'm assuming that it's because he healed up underneath if he's wounded, and his mask that's a dark color as well with his face is darker than his deep brown hair. I haven't specifically asked what is the reason for his mask and bandages, but I don't ask him at all. Aside from his neck up to below his chin that's visible, only his ears are within sight. His black hair can be seen since the bandages as they reach around off his face they are gathered to a single rope or two of bandages that go around the back of his head, but it's true that his facial features are not available for eyes to look at. I'm wondering if it's something to ask him about, but I've somewhat concluded that it doesn't really matter, so just skim over it. Well, I've just really forgotten it as anything unusual by now, and it's just part of my life now.

  "Somewhat," replies Keito, and I chuckle this time.

  "Well, they're not bad. They just are strange in their own format," I say, and we arrive at a point in the hall to split.

  I wave to Keito and head off to my Majestic Theory class. The one with Mrs. Loop along with Syl, Hala, and Machiv in it. I already asked Hala and Syl how the basketball team was, but haven't asked if Machiv ended up joining the library club. I'll ask that when I see him in a minute.

  Passing by a window, I notice that this one looks out into one of the smaller courtyards. The one without the mausoleum. It really makes me wonder what exactly Valence is doing there. Outside of looking through information that I know in Majestic theory right now, I'm starting to question if Valence is even a person. 

  Sometimes in class Mrs. Loop goes off on a slight tangent related to a topic. I've had teachers do that before, and I find that it definitely helps in learning any topic because it makes it memorable. I think it has to do with relating to information to recall it easier. 

    I'm thinking that there was a point that Mrs. Loop said that some inanimate things can manifest human forms, especially when that music utilizes dynamic magic, which is in a way alive. It appeals to me that whatever I saw, which was Valence, could easily be an extension of that mausoleum. I mean, there was some kind of powerful magic that was present there, that weird magnetic field, and even if I don't know that much about magic yet it could definitely in my mind lead to Valence being an extension rather than a person.

  Walking into the class, I spot Hala and Machiv already here. Hala as a good student has all her stationaries out already on her desk and she also looks through the textbook. Machiv has some things on his desk, but he sits on it partially as he looks outside. He has on his black gloves again, and I recently found out that it comes up pretty high on his arms. It was only a week or so since we started school, but Machiv is already breaking down the uniform. Not ripping it or tearing it, but with no tie and only his pants and shirt, having ditched the blazer, he seems relaxed. Well, in his defense, I'm not wearing the blazer. It's warm here at CCMS since we're in Florida, and I guess the only reason I along with everyone else bothered to wear the uniform was because we were new. Nobody wears the blazers, and some of the teens have opted to wear black or navy basketball shorts, having stowed their pants. Machiv is in the minority of keeping his pants, but maybe he doesn't get hot easily, since his gloves coming up past his elbow would smother me if I had them.

  "Hey," I say as I reach my desk, and the two of them answer back.

  "Hey, how was history?" asks Hala.

  "A lot of content," I answer, "Keito manages, but I have issues with the dates."

  "I don't know how on earth he manages that," says Machiv, "it slips into his brain so easily, you'd think that he had some talent for it. Which he does."

  "You have trouble with history?" I ask.

  "Only remembering it," says Machiv, "I admit it's fun to know, but being tested on it has me on my heels."

  "Speaking of," I say as I glance at his hair, "did you try to destroy you hair?"

  "You could say," says Machiv as he takes my joke with a smile.

  Machiv until recently in his hair had the lavender tips. It wasn't much, but it was there and looked pretty cool. I've never seen people with colored hair that seemed to have a halthy and tasteful appearance. Some way or another it seemed to always be overpowering and too much. Machiv's hair with the lavender tips though were balanced, with the black and calm cool lavender balancing anc complementing one another. Though today, it's obvious that he decapitated all the parts of his hair with those colors, and his hair is black. Along with his peridot-green eyes and black hair and gloves, he reminds me of actual blackbirds. Machiv being stealthy in his movements, not that you can't spot them, but that they make little presence, also makes me think he is a blackbird in disguise. I thought maybe he was like a cat when we first met, but something about him is more bird-like than that of a feline.

  "Do you think you'll try dying the tips another color?" asks Hala as she reaches up and pinches some of his hair.

  "I could," says Machiv, "maybe a sharp red. Though, I'm thinking I'll just stick with black for now."

  "It matches your gloves," compliments Hala, and Machiv doesn't sharply turn his eyes, so I guess he's not offended when that's mentioned.

  "Does it offend you if I ask why you wear gloves?" I ask carefully, and Machiv turns to me before smiling.

  "Of course not. Ask away."

 "Why do you wear gloves?" I ask, "Are you hurt?"

  "No, nothing like that. At least, not totally," says Machiv, and reaches up under his sleeve, clicking something, and pulling one glove off, revealing a relatively normal arm, "I wear these to stop myself from chewing my nails. It's a bad habit of mine."

  "Oh, I see," I say.

  "But why are they so long?" asks Hala, "I mean, aren't they hot?"

  "Not really. Plus, if they were too short, I'd just slip them off and be back to nail-biting. Not something I want to happen. I've got to put measures in to stop myself."

  "Oh, makes sense," says Hala, "I though you had tattoos you didn't like so wanted to hide or something."

  "No, nothing like that," answers Machiv, and I spot Syl come into the class, "just trying to stop old habits."

  "Hey all!" says Syl, and I guess out of habit gives Machiv a shoulder hug, "Top of the morning!"

  "We saw you at breakfast."

  "Anyways," says Syl, and notices Machiv's hair, "what happened?"

  "I cut my hair," explains Machiv, "nothing exciting."

  "I mean, did you look in a mirror?"

  "Yes?" asks Machiv, saying it as a question, indicating why Syl is asking this.

  "Your hair looks–disfigured," laments Syl, using his taller height to look down at the top of Machiv's head.

  "It's not bad. I'm sure it's completely fine."

  "Couldn't you have asked me for help?" asks Syl, "Or even that Keito?"

  "You make it sound like Keito is useless or something," says Machiv with a grin, "I asked him, but he said he didn't think he would be able to do anything since he's not that creative. Not to mention, he just got back from basketball practice and was sore, so he might make things worse."

  "Eh, well," says Syl, "there are other people who could cut it for you."

  "Mmm, I'll ask Ivy next time, I guess," says Machiv.

  Hala almost smacks her forehead at how Machiv seemed to literally not realize that Syl is offering help. I guess in that sense Machiv is partially helpless, however, powerful in any other sense he is. 

  "W-who's Ivy?" I ask, trying to steer the conversation on.

  "Oh, Iverson," says Machiv as he nods to a particular boy in the class, "he's in my cosmology class and he's also a few doors from mine in the dorms. We get along some bit and I guess I'll ask him."

  I look at Iverson though, and he catches my eyes with his, smiles, and waves. I smile and wave back, and he smiles again before Mrs. Loop comes in and class starts. I glance though at Iverson a few times, and I think he does too. Though, there's a lot that's happening already so I need to spin my focus around to think of all those things. I'm certain that I can navigate through them, and for now focus on class.