~ Five ~

The kitchen was busy early in the morning. Eira flipped the pancakes she made and prepared plates and cutlery. But only two plates. Then she filled one glass with milk and two other glasses with coffee. Since her mother passed away a year ago, Eira has been in charge of cooking in the kitchen. Eira placed the pancakes one by one on the two plates, along with the arrival of one of her brothers, Charlie.

"Morning, sweetheart." Charlie put his bag on the floor and sat on one of the chairs. "Hmm.... The smell of the pancakes is amazing."

Eira just kept quiet hearing her brother's praise. She added syrup to the pancakes and then washed her cooking utensils.

"How was school?" Charlie put a small piece of pancake in his mouth.

"As usual." Eira sat on her chair.

"If there is a problem, tell me. Anything." Charlie asked but Eira just stared at him for a moment and then drank it. Charlie looked at his only sister. His sister was indeed a quiet child, but usually, she would tell him anything. But since their father and mother died, she became more and more quiet. Even always avoiding them.

Footsteps were heard entering the kitchen. Scott came with a disheveled face and hair. Scott sat on his chair and started cutting his pancakes.

"Going home drunk again?" Charlie asked while eating his pancakes. Scott didn't answer and just ate his breakfast. "You're not a kid anymore Scott. Behave yourself. How long are you going to be like this?"

"Oh come on. Really? A lecture this early in the morning?" Scott protested. He started to look annoyed.

"Lecture? You're already twenty-one years old. You dropped out of college and wasted your time!"

"Wasting my time?! I'm looking for the reason why our father and mother died!" Scott raised his voice.

"Oh for God's sake Scott!! Our mother and father died a year ago! It's time for us to move on!!" Charlie also raised his voice.

"Move on?? Move on?! Are you fucking crazy?!"

Bang!

Charlie hit the table with both of his hands. “Enough!!” Charlie shouted. “Mom and Dad died in an accident. There’s nothing to find out (Charlie softened his voice) I lost them too, Scott. But you have to stop this madness and move on.”

Scott laughed. “You never cared about mom and dad. Always have. Even though you were their favorite child, their pride. But look! You don’t even fucking care!”

“Scott…”

“No!!” Scott stared angrily. His eyes were wide open, he was grinding his molars. “Don’t ever order me around.”

“I don’t—“

“You don’t know what happened. Even as the first child you don’t know about our family. So you better not try to control me or order me around.” Scott stood up and left the dining table.

“Scott!!”

Charlie called him but Scott didn’t care. Charlie took a deep breath. But soon, he saw Eira, who was drinking the last drop of her milk. Charlie closed his eyes and took a deep breath once again then opened his eyes.

“I’m sorry. I—“

“I’m leaving,” Eira said shortly and stood up from her seat.

“I’ll drop you off.” Charlie stood up.

“No need.” Eira put her empty glass in the dishwasher and left without letting Charlie say anything else.

Eira put on her headphones and listened to her favorite song while walking to her school. Her brother’s fight? She was used to hearing it. At first, she felt scared and sad. But they always fought every day, making her used to it and not bothered. She also didn’t want to interfere with anything about her brother.

Eira walked towards the usual place where the school bus would pick her up. She could have asked her brother to drop her off but ever since her parents died, she preferred to be alone. Away from the crowd and focus on her studies. She was one of the smartest girls in her school and she would make sure she would continue to be the best. She wanted to get a scholarship to go to school far away from her home. Her house was full of memories of her parents. It would be a lie if she had moved on from the death of both of her parents. She cried every night and kept remembering it. That's why she wanted to go as far as possible.

"Morning Nerd."

A car slowed down and a girl inside called Eira Nerd then laughed and drove off. Eira didn't hear it because of the loud music but she knew what the girl said to her because she was used to hearing it. At school she was just an ordinary girl with an ordinary appearance. Her body was slim and could be said to be quite tall for a girl in her age. Her face was a mix of Asian and Western. Her father was from America, and her mother was Asian, with long, curly, dark brown hair. But she was a loner, quiet, a nerd and smart. Maybe that's why she was called Eira the Nerd or Eira the Looner. Even so, she didn't care. She had no desire to socialize, especially after her parents died.

"Eiraaaa!!"

A girl had been calling her while running. Of course, Eira didn't hear her. The girl caught Eira, surprising her. Eira took off her headphones. The girl controlled her irregular breathing from running.

"When did you get here?" Eira stared in confusion.

"You and... those damn headphones... Oh, I'm tired." The girl still looked exhausted. She put her hands on her hips. "Stop listening to music too loud. You'll go deaf!" she grumbled.

Eira just shook her head then put her headphones back on and started walking again.

"You—" the girl rolled her eyes and then chased after Eira.

***

Lyall stood still in front of his open and empty locker. He sighed repeatedly.

“That locker won’t fill itself, you know?” Miro also looked at the locker. “That’s a clean locker.”

Lyall snorted then closed his locker and looked at Miro.

“What? I was right.”

Lyall shook his head and then left Miro. Miro walked quickly to catch up with him.

“You’re not going to put your textbooks in there? Don’t tell me you’re going to carry them all day? Every day?”

“Can’t you stop being so hell talkative? You’re hurting my ears early in the morning. I’m already damn annoyed enough with having to go to school today.”

“School isn’t bad.” Miro made his comment making Lyall glare at him. Miro raised both of his hands, indicating that he surrendered.

“Why are you here with me? Where are your friends?”

“Always full of suspicion. They’re in this school of course, somewhere. They’re not bad, Lyall. Apart from their nosiness and curiosity, they’re pretty nice.” Miro explained.

“Hm.. Sure.” Lyall replied indifferently. “Then how long have you been friends with them?”

“Since I moved to this city. I come from Japan. After my father died, my mother moved me here. And now she is a teacher at this school.”

Lyall stopped walking and looked at Milo.

“I just wanted to know since when you guys have been friends, not your life story. No need to tell me.”

“Oh great.” Miro replied while looking the other way. Lyall, who realized that, turned his head to where Miro was staring.

Four teenagers walked into the school. They were very handsome and everyone was staring at them. The entire corridor seemed fascinated by them.

“Do I have to know who they are too?” Lyall asked while still staring at them.

“Uhmm.... No?”

Lyall looked at Miro. “That’s a question that shouldn’t be answered with a question.”

“So he’s the hottest guy right now?” said one of the four teenagers. He stood right next to Lyall and looked him up and down.

“And why are these boyband members talking to me?” Lyall asked without looking at the four teenagers. Just as Miro was about to answer, Lyall looked at one of the teenagers and spoke again. “I don’t hate boybands, no offense but you guys look like you’re going to have a concert.” Lyall shrugged his shoulders.

“Very funny.” One of them chuckled. “You know, your arrogance will bring you down very hard, and more importantly, you’re nothing here.”

“Ohh.. That’s hurt ( holding his chest, with facial expression pretending to be in pain) but I don’t care ,tho. I don’t care who you are, what you do, or if you dress like a boyband, drag queen, or whatever. I really don’t care ( walking closer and staring closely ) I also don’t want to fight for no fucking reason, with a boyband member that I don’t know and i don't wanna know. Just do me a favor. Don’t ever bother me or talk to me. That will annoying me so much.” Lyall patted one of the boys on the shoulder and walked past them. Miro followed Lyall.

Miro laughed in satisfaction. “You were amazing earlier (clapping happily) They are indeed annoying. The handsome boys are good at sports, especially their parents, who are quite influential in the city, making them big-headed. They bully some students too.”

“I thought it was you and your friends who liked to bully other students.”

“Oh, come on, Ly. I told you they’re actually nice.”

“Well as you said. I don’t fucking care tho.”

“But wait, why are we walking out of school?”

Lyall stopped in his tracks and looked at Miro.

“Then why are you following me?” he asked inquisitively. His eyes narrowed.

“Nothing. I just thought I might show you around the school or the city.”

Lyall frowned. “What are you? A tour guide?”

Miro rolled his eyes. “No, I just—“

“Welp, I don’t care. Just don’t follow me.” Lyall turned to leave.

“Don’t follow you? Where are you going? Hey!”

“He's not going anywhere.” Zaiden suddenly appeared in Lyall’s way.

“Oh shit.” Lyall cursed.

“Get back to school, now.” Zaiden ordered.

“Oh yeah? Said who?”

Zaiden pointed at his head. “Your mother.”

Lyall growled. He knew Zaiden was mind-linked with his mother. Miro grabbed Lyall's hand and pulled him into the school.

In class, Lyall sat lazily listening to his teacher talk. He reluctantly followed his mother's wishes which he thought were very unreasonable. But he was quite disturbed because he had to sit next to Eira. Moreover, he smelled a strange scent from Eira's body. He doesn't know what perfume Eira was wearing but it was quite disturbing and pungent to his nose. But strangely, the scent... Calmed him down.

"Okay, I won't bore you with my lecture. Let's play a quiz. (complaints were heard from several students) I will give additional points to those of you who can answer it. One question, one point. Are you ready?" there was no answer from the students. The students seemed to dislike the idea of ​​a sudden pop quiz. "Oh come on. Good luck! Now close your books."

All the students closed their books lazily. They looked uninterested. Lyall also looked uninterested, he just stared out the window.

"Good. Now tell me, what is the meaning of Involving conic Sections? Explain it."

All the students were silent, only Eira raised her hand.

“Miss Lurvine?”

“the intersection of a plane and a double right circular cone. By changing the angle and location of the intersection, we can produce different types of conics.”

“That’s correct. And... What are the four basic types?”

Eira raised her hand again.

“Miss Lurvine.”

“circles, ellipses , hyperbolas and parabolas.”

“That’s correct. Well done. Oh come on. Are you guys going to let Miss Lurvine take all the points?”

“That’s nothing new. We’re used to it.” One of the students joked.

“Maybe she’ll get sick if she doesn’t take all the points.” Another student said making the class laugh. Lyall glanced at Eira who was just staring at her hands. Eira’s expression was very flat, as if she didn’t care about the teasing.

“Alright, stop that Mr. Mclean. There’s no trolling in my class.” the teacher said firmly.

“Sorry Mrs. Brighton.”

“Alright, let’s continue. Now explain Circle and Ellipse.”

No one raised their hands.

“Oh my gosh, did none of you study?” The students just stared at each other. Mrs. Brighton sighed. “I knew my subject was the least favorite but I didn’t expect it to be this bad. Okay, Miss Lurvine.”

“If the circular cone is cut by a plane perpendicular to the axis of the cone, the intersection is a circle. If the plane intersects one of the pieces of the cone and its axis but is not perpendicular to the axis, the intersection will be an ellipse.” This time Lyall answered.

“Wow well done, new kid. Mr. Lycaros. One point for you. I’m starting to like this. Next!”

The bell rang, signaling the end of class. The children began to prepare to leave the classroom.

“Ugh, I hate it when the bell rings when it’s fun. Okay, don’t forget to do your homework that will be collected next week. I will give you an F if you don’t do it. Remember that.”

Lyall quickly exited his class followed by Miro. He walked quickly towards the outside of the school.

"Is that girl always like that?" Lyall asked without stopping his steps.

"Who?"

"Eira."

"Ah her? Yeah, always. Kids always trolling her. She is smart and nerdy, especially since she is a loner. No one is her friend."

"Just because of that? But I am also smart and a loner."

"Yes, with a super handsome face, a great body, rich parents, and an alpha."

Lyall stopped his steps and looked at Miro. "Are you mocking me now?"

"How could I? I compliment you. Anyway, we went the wrong way. Biology class is over here." Miro pointed the opposite way. Miro walked towards the Biology class. But after a few steps, he stopped again and turned around. "Are you coming? Or do you want to go out and meet Zaiden again? He is guarding outside i guess."

Miro laughed and walked back. Lyall growled then snorted in annoyance.

"You! I'm sure you're a wolf sent by them to keep an eye on me. Right?!”

Lyall guessed. He tried to align himself with Miro.

“Me? That’s impossible. I’m just an omega. There’s no way an omega would guard an alpha.” Miro said without looking at Lyall.

“Hah! What an excuse. I know that’s true. You must have been sent by someone. Right?”

Miro laughed amusedly at Lyall’s curiosity.

***

Lyclaws pack

Alastor tapped his fingers on the table. He looked like he was thinking about something. His eyes were far away.

“Your Highness.”

Someone calling him interrupted his reverie. Alastor turned his head.

“Everything is ready, your Highness.”

“Good, send them immediately. Don’t make any mistakes. Do you understand?”

“Yes, your Highness.”

The man left the room and another man entered.

“The wizards have been waiting for you, your Highness.” Said the man who had just entered.

“Good, it’s time. Tell them to come in.”

The man bowed respectfully and left the room. Soon several people dressed all in black entered. Alastor looked at the few people and smiled.

“Welcome, my allies.”