Here Again [Closed]

She shook her head feverishly, her face only getting slightly redder as she tried to hide it and duck down even lower. "I-I'm n-n-not really... th-that busy." There was only so much one person can do. Faculty was constantly asking her to fetch this and that or help them here and there. Some might call it as doing errands and that it was useless to let the staff play around with her so much. But they were requesting for assistance for a reason - they were all so busy with their jobs, planning out lessons and lectures for the next day, grading paperwork, their desks piled with essay upon essay. It was the least she could do to help lighten their workload. Even if she said 'no', they would go ask for another student to help them, and it'd waste someone else's time. Better to have her agree and get it over with so nobody would have to try and adjust their schedule because of a little error.

Haha, but she knew better than anyone that she was too busy. Maybe it was like she was trying to play teacher's pet, taking on any volunteer work whenever prefects were requested or when an area needed to be cleaned. Most people were fine with it; there were those who thought she was trying too hard to be liked by the academy. Am I? Adeline wanted to believe that was why she was doing all of this. But what could she say when she wanted people to notice her and tell her that she wasn't as useless as she believed? What a pathetic hope. It wasn't going to happen.

It never would. Fate held everything against her for good reason. No reason to deny it.

"Th-there are so m-many things happening a-around the academy though..." Event after event. She never remembered the school year being this busy when she first began attending. It was just the Formal and tournament. Maybe it was only because she wasn't very involved and stuck to the walls like paint, pretending that she didn't exist. People would pass by her and never see that she was there. "I-It'd be wrong if I-I didn't tr-try to do s-s-something t-to help."

God, she'd changed a lot. Before, she always carried around a parasol to hide behind. Something she picked up from her mom, who never seemed to be around without it. Nobody ever questioned why - it was quite peculiar to see someone always having one in hand. But hers had broke, splintered and completely unusable. It wasn't the worth the money to buy a new one. And then there was that eyepatch. What a silly and stupid thing she was doing. Her eyes used to create every source of her power. They still did, but at least her control was somewhat better. Keeping them concealed was the only way to keep anyone safe.

Would she be able to recognize herself if she went back to then? How much had changed? How much had stayed the same?

...

Was the change as much as the past?

Of course she was trying to help out with a little bit of everything.. It was just her being selfless again.. A small huff escaped him. He helped out in slightly different ways.. He made sure that students weren't killing each other. With his hearing, he was able to hear the fights, and react pretty quickly or at least try to react pretty quickly. He never really assisted the teachers with much. He liked to stay away from them outside of class, well cause he was sort of a rule breaker himself. He liked staying up past curfew, and well some other things, but they were the smaller rules. Nothing to big.

"It doesn't really help that it seems more, and more people show up. We get more students than the students who graduate or leave the school." He understood that fact. Everyday kids discovered their gifts, and everyday their parents found out about it, and either sent them off to school, or probably tried to get them fixed somehow. Magic considered himself lucky that his mother just sent him off to school. His mother could have easily just sent him out on the street, well he would have been fine there, but he would have never met Adeline, and he never would have learned to control his gift better or anything like that.

Ah, of course Magic would talk about the influx of students that seem to be attending the academy with each passing day. While it did mean more personal profiles and information to help file and organize, for him, it meant having to listen to more and more people talk, a quiet conversation that could explode into an obnoxious outburst. There were too many people around. Didn't it hurt listening to it all? A thunderstorm was one thing, but in a place so crowded and filled with tons of white noise... It seemed so overwhelming. Most people would be all "The more, the merrier" because it meant there'd be strangers who would soon become friends. If there was one thing it seemed that the Winter house disliked, it was new people. Or the thought of interacting with them. She hadn't met another Winter who was completely alright with talking someone else; everyone seemed to prefer the indoors or burying their faces into a book.

Lifting her head up a little, Adeline softly asked, "W-would you pr-prefer th-that the sc-school closed, then?" She bit her lip. "I m-mean... to n-new students."

Well he certainly didn't like the loud conversations of people as they chatted, he also didn't care for the paper work either, but for some this place was a safe haven. "Well.. I wouldn't mind if it was closed to new students, because that's less noise for me, but at the same time I don't want it closed cause this place is basically a safe spot for some people." He would really like if some people toned it down with certain things. There was one time he walked past a few students who felt the need to yell at each other.. It wasn't that great of an experience for him. As for hearing everyone's conversations? As long as he was in a big crowd the words sort of drowned each other out.

Maybe the academy was a safe haven, filtering kids in and out as they discovered their gifts and got sent away from home. But all it was provide them a place to stay temporarily, sometimes by force, even when some had their own families who didn't want their children to attend. Sure, those special cases like Magic made Beata the perfect refuge. It wasn't a school for the ordinary; and that's why it couldn't be considered secure. It wasn't. It could never be.

On a campus where each student was a complete freak of nature, from throwing fire out of their hands to superspeed to manipulating sound, it was impossible to feel safe. Anyone could kill you at anytime. The feeling was only made worse when you find out that the faculty trained students to hone and embrace these gifts, even mentoring them to utilize weapons under the guise for self-defense. Protect themselves from what? Each other? Monsters? People from the outside? Sending them on missions that could potentially cost them their lives or at the least, a few broken bones or mental damage the crippled their stability. Like they were trying to raise an army of deranged kids against some unknown force.

Why? What was so potentially dangerous that they needed to enlist children who were cast away from society to fight for them?

There was no such thing as complete pure evil. The world wasn't only black and white. It wasn't two sides of the same coin. Some people were more to the right than the left, vice versa, but always, there was something in between. Nobody was completely on one side. Magic wasn't. Vince wasn't. Aspen wasn't. Barry wasn't. Laine wasn't. Kearn wasn't. Warren wasn't. A reason was always there, even if it wasn't presented. The school was hiding something from them. After the mission at the mansion, the Evaluation, the silly propaganda they put up for festivals and tournaments, she wouldn't lie. This academy seemed less safe with each passing day.

Everything about the school screamed danger with bright neon lights.

It's not right.

The danger was unknown.

She hated this place. A constant reminder with each taunting coaxing for her to use her gift, directions to control it, a reminder that she couldn't in the past. A reminder that she was a complete failure and could've prevented what happened if she had been more careful instead of reckless and stupid. A mistake that cost the lives of peers, tearing her family apart, and killed a friend. She made the same mistake again, even after a year, against two students. Right on the academy's grounds. I suck at this. There's no point. Why even try?

Magic was lucky that he could this place to be so nice. Maybe he had thought about it this way before but was able to move on. His past didn't seem to affect him when he seemed to be constantly changing, trying to make himself a better person for the sake of everyone. She couldn't do that even if she tried. So it was always that stupid front and pretending to be alright. It worked. Except he could read right through it. It wasn't fair.

Adeline forced herself to smile. "Mm. I e-enjoy school a-a lot." A part of her loved it here because there were people she would never have met and got to know. She wanted to protect it, to help out however she could, and maybe one day fix herself. But that wasn't going to happen. "I love e-everyone h-here. E-e-everyone's always s-so kind... It m-makes school f-f-fun." It wasn't a lie. School was fun, in spite of all the dangers and everything around them that made someone question the academy's purpose. It would never replace her doubts.

Maybe she was the only foolish one, clinging onto the past like it was her lifeline and she'd go insane without it. Maybe she would. She couldn't forget the past when even the flowers seemed to taunt her in her failures. It wasn't fair. It wasn't fun. But she was stupid anyway. Who cares?

I want to go home.

This was no utopia. This wasn't a paradise.

Every day was Halloween, putting on a smooth and perfect mask and letting it slip on. It made her feel like she was miles away, slipping away from anyone's grasp, and impossible to connect to. Nobody had to know. That's how it should always be. Distancing herself was the only real solution. Adeline averted her gaze, turning away from Magic. Don't let him read her expression. Don't let him read her voice. Don't let him figure anything out. Enough was enough.

I want to go home.

Now that? He would never say that. Magic never really cared for school, he never really cared for the people inside it except for a select few. "Now I would have to disagree with that statement. I do not enjoy school. I find it rather boring, and people? Don't really care for them either. Some of them just get on my nerves to easily. Now I will help if I have too." He adjusted slightly in his spot. He kind of already knew which ones he didn't want to interact with from hearing conversations from them before. You learn a lot on someone from accidentally listening to their conversation. And it was already too late about not letting him read her voice. Anytime she spoke he was already reading her voice. It was just something that happened. He could tell she was hiding something.. but he didn't ask. She would just end up annoyed by him asking most likely.

"Huh...?" His response almost came out as a surprise to her and the immediate reply escaped before she got a chance to think it through. It made sense, after a few moments of contemplating. Magic had been forced to come to the school without much of a choice and on campus, he was practically restricted. A former gang leader having to abide to guidelines and rules like a normal student didn't fit. Practically imprisoned and chained down, he couldn't do anything about it - especially with his position as prefect and his name widely known by most of the students because of his success in the tournament. No wonder he jumped out the window that day. No wonder he went insane. She was stupid not to notice. Don't bring it up. Any mention of this would cause something completely unnecessary; he'd kill himself if she tried to throw the blame onto herself.

But, did he really not enjoy school? He was confined to the normalities of society, yes, but she couldn't help but notice that he had loosened up. Even if he didn't like it, he was talking to other people and making an attempt to open up instead of acting completely dark and unapproachable. His behavior generally drove others away. He was making an attempt to change that. And yet, he said he didn't care for any of them. Adeline couldn't see that being the case. If he didn't care, he would've resigned as prefect already and passed the baton to someone else. Magic still kept his position after all of this time.

Though other students only seem to know him as someone too intimidating to approach, there really was something more to that. His reason for it was almost the same as her own masquerade. Almost.

Absentmindedly twirling a lock of hair between her fingers, she looked towards him at the corner of her eyes, hesitant to glance up. She focused on her hands, now curled together on her lap, and took a deep breath. "I th-think you l-l-like school. Y-you a-a-always try not to l-look like you care, b-but..." Adeline paused for a few moments, her mind grasping for the right words and how to explain this effectively. She was never good at getting her point across. Might be why she was such a pushover. "Y-you're like Y-yang. I kn-know you're strong... and uhm..." She really wished she paid more attention to Taoism when it was being discussed in class.

"Well, y-your strength c-comes from your k-k-kindness, and s-so, what I m-m-mean is..." Her lips thinned, and Adeline shook her head with an inaudible sigh. She was bad at explaining these things. Really, really bad. Everything she thought about was always rather weird and one of those kind of things that didn't really make sense; it's why she kept these sort of things to herself. A small smile etched itself onto her features as she finally managed to muster up the courage to look him up front. She was only half-conscious of what she was saying, not realizing that there would be other implications with her words.

"You're r-really, really kind. And I love th-that about you."

Well, Kearn did say she was always slow with these kinds of things. It didn't matter when she thought that those kind of happy events would never happen with her. It wouldn't. She didn't match anyone and she'd prefer not to annoy someone else for the rest of eternity. Her hands had been subconsciously playing with themselves and close to the beginning, her eyes had fallen back towards the ground.

Well he did like this school but he didn't like school. He didn't really care for being forced to learn, nor did he care for learning stuff he already knew about. Like sound, he had already knew a lot about it, but when he discovered his gift, he learned anything he could about sound. If a teacher taught something he already knew about Magic would get very bored, he also didn't care for the classes where people kept talking instead of trying to learn. There were so many things he found irritating from school in general.

He was about to say something when she kept speaking. Talking about his strengths. Heh, she seemed to have him decently figured out. Well there were times he truly didn't care, and there were times he did, but most of the time it's never a great amount. He cares enough to not let anyone kill each other, or seriously harm each other.. It was like a tiny gang, except with less loyalty.. Well that was a bad comparison.

When she mentioned loving his kindness that was when another small blush rose to his face. He brought up his hand and covered his mouth like he was kind of thinking about something. He wasn't really one to get compliments like this, so he didn't really know how to deal with them. Should he say something back? "Uhh.. Thanks." He said in a bit of a soft tone. It sounded sincere, which he was. What should he say now? He was never really good at this kind of thing. God he was such an idiot.

After all of that, she didn't know how to respond. Was there supposed to be some kind of follow-up or something like that? The more she did a double-take on her words, the more she realized how fucking cliche they were. What was this? A novel? A movie? People these days didn't get their strength from the power of love and friendship. Yup, that was pathetically dumb. Ah god, what was she thinking? Absolute stupid, stupid, and stupid. And you believe it anyway. Despite how childish it was and obscure the idea sounded, someone always fought better when they fought for someone else's sake. Everyone had somebody, in the end. Somehow. Of course, there had to be an exception to that rule.

Adeline slowly opened up her palms before curling her fingers back in, eyes concentrated on her hands as though, with enough concentration, she could bring back her sense of touch. Still nothing. Magic didn't have to find that out. If he did, it'd probably be too late to reverse everything and she'd be stuck in a state that couldn't be considered remotely human. She told him that she didn't care if she died. Was that only the case because she could already be called dead? He was too kind for his own good and figuring this out would cause more pain and suffering that he didn't need to know about.

She let out a small, breathy laugh, wringing her hands once again. "P-people l-l-like you get h-hurt easily, th-though..." The words were hushed and silent, something she could barely hear herself. He didn't need to know she felt the need to take the blame for what happened to him. She was quick to feel it was her fault for anything that went wrong. It had become an awful habit, along with apologizing so frequently. Or at least, that's what people have told her. There wasn't anything incorrect about it. Everyone seemed to become more susceptible to unfortunate events when they were around her.

Peering over at Magic and the way he was hiding the lower portion of his face, she tilted her head in slight confusion. Was he holding back a cough? Had she made a mistake before when he said he wasn't sick? "Uhm... Are y-you s-s-sure you feel well?"

Hurt easily? That wasn't true at least not in most cases. He could take a lot. He had been through a lot. A lot of things didn't phase him anymore, and all of the smaller things didn't even touch him. He was tough. The blush soon disappeared, and he lowered his hand. He was lost in thought now. How could someone like him be hurt easily? Unless she was talking about him getting angry which was a sort of common thing, not really from being hurt..

"Huh? Oh.. Yeah I'm fine." He responded to her question after being broken away from his thoughts, only to returned to them soon after. Her statement honestly confused him. He didn't really think either of those things to be true about himself. He wasn't that kind.. nor did he get hurt that easily. Great just another thing to think about in the middle of the night, along with the other billion things that plagued his mind.

Now that he thought about it, he hadn't really been cold-hearted to anyone. At least not like he had been before. He guessed that was because he was trying to be friendly to everyone except for a select few. "How much longer do we have til the doors unlock again?" He asked. There was something in his dorm he wanted to look at. That was if he could find it among the mess that was his room. Eh it wouldn't be that hard.. Yeah he already had a general idea of where it was.

Right, right, of course. He wanted to know when the studios would open up. She thought about fumbling around a bit and pretending she didn't know the exact time left, and that she'd been guessing with each instance she'd brought it up. But hell, that was impossible when there was a clock stitched right on her shoulder and the constant ticking in her head with every single second passing. Adeline's eyes glued themselves back to the ground, listening to the clicking sound and the grip on her own wrists around each other tightened. It was like she was trying to mangle her hands subconsciously. A small, shaky breath escaped.

So he wanted to know the time. "Uhm... A-a-an hour." That was the question anyone would ask if they didn't have a watch on them or even their phone. What a drag, waiting for time to fly by at a snail's pace and hoping at any minute their expected event would happen. People wasted their time the more they wanted something. Impatience. Complete impatience. Everyone was a victim of it at some point - some more than others.

Did he want to leave that badly?

He wanted to leave the room yes. As for leaving her? Not really. He liked being around her, even though it was awkward sometimes. He didn't really care for being cramped up in a small room for too long unless it was of his own choice.. He frowned slightly. His mother tried to lock him in his room far too often.. He would be in there for a few days without being able to leave.. So being in a place like this? It wasn't too bad, but it was bad enough to eagerly await the doors being unlocked. It wasn't bad enough for him to break down the doors like he did a few times when his mother locked him in his room.. Yeah being yelled at after he returned a few days later was always fun.

"That's good. If you weren't here I probably would have.. Well.. Probably would have broken a window to get out or something.." That was true. She was keeping his mind off the time that was slowly ticking by. If she wasn't here he probably would have lost it or something. He wasn't too fond of being trapped in places.

She wasn't exactly sure how to respond to that and her best answer was to let out a nervous, breathy laugh. Magic would've broken a window if she wasn't around? What prevented him from doing so now? It wasn't like she would've said anything to the staff; hell, she'd be taking the blame for it. Maybe that was why - he knew she would. A common cycle and routine with anyone she managed to associate herself with. There wasn't any problem with it. He could've went along with it, couldn't he? Adeline never did pin him as someone who was claustrophobic. You really could never judge a book by its cover.

Slumping against the piano behind her, her thoughts began to recollect themselves, grasping at the final straws. Sixty full minutes to talk. They lasted pretty long so far. Only... a good portion of that time was spent in contemplative silence and another bit was playing the piano. Even more was interrupted by the sudden phone call. Nothing she brought up was actually worthwhile. That was the question. What were they supposed to talk about now? She wasn't used to conversing with someone non-stop - that was more on Kearn's field and even then, Callum was more the center of attention.

Introverted twins. He was more of a wall-flower but she was a complete shrinking violet.

Adeline let out a quiet sigh. It wouldn't do her any good to continue lingering on the past right now. Right, right... Find something to talk about. There was the school festival, that was a thing. Haha, no. It was too loud there. Not like he would go to some crowded event like that. Yup, of course not. Definitely no way he would be heading to some kind of place filled with dozens upon dozens of students, flooding the zone with noise that could be heard across the world and beyond. She avoided them like the plague herself, so there was that.

Would be a pretty bad idea to bring the subject back to music, but it was one of the things on her mind. The song he was playing before; it sounded so pleasant to the ears and nice and she hadn't heard it before. To say that she wanted to ask him what the name of it was an understatement. Learning it would've been nice. But she held herself back from making a stupid gesture. Everything you say is stupid anyway. Haha, yeah...

"O-oh..." Straightening back up away from the black and white keys, her eyes wandered to her back. She didn't know how badly damaged it was, in all honesty. She hadn't bothered to check because it reminded her too much of back then. Not knowing meant that Magic wouldn't question her about it if she seemed perfectly healthy, right? Ignorance is bliss. There wasn't really much else she knew what to do, but Adeline couldn't help but bring up the silly offer.

"D-did y-y-you need to do s-something...?"

Magic just sat there against the wall lost in thought for a moment. He brought his knees close to his chest so he could rest his arms on them, then his head on his arms. "I don't need anything. I would just like to get out of here.." He stated. "I don't do well trapped in spaces for too long." He said a bit softly.

Oh, so she was right. He really was claustrophobic. At first, the thought had only occurred to her and she didn't actually expect him to admit it. It wasn't like the walls were closing in on them and shrinking the size of the room; the studio was rather commodious, only the floor and space was littered with instruments around - that was blatantly obvious for a music-centric room. Obviously. That was how she saw it, though. Magic must be viewing the place in a different perspective compared to her. Silly her, how selfish she was to even let the idea come to mind that he was completely okay with staying in this kind of tight space. Good gods... how the hell did he even manage in crowds and Chicago again? The slimy, cramped alleyways were filled in the area he lived in and it was a complete rush hour at almost every time of day, the crowd scarcely thinning out until late at night.

But it wasn't like she didn't understand either. Tight spaces weren't all that bad, but to say that they made her comfortable would be an all-out lie. Adeline didn't necessarily fear them, no. Preferably, she would avoid them when she could. The inability to move around wherever she liked made her feel restrained and trapped like a bird in a cage, unable to freely soar through the open skies and the dawning breeze lift her even further. How could she know anything about that, though? She could barely think for herself and make decisions, so there was no fucking way anyone would let her roam freely. One wrong move and she might as well cause a scene.

The dark, eerie silence blanketed the room again from her lack of response. Dark and quiet. A combination she was familiar with and welcomed most of the time. Here, this was just stupidly pathetic and awkward. Dim lights, thunder rumbling in the background, the soft pitter-patter of rain, and windblown noises. Halloween spirit was getting to her. The event was even more hyped up in comparison to years before - heaven knows why - and some bit of her mind had adopted the infection. She wasn't scared... Haha... No. Absolutely not. Most definitely not. Definitely not wondering what demon had possessed her into sticking around while he was playing.

There's no demon except you.

Of course. She was thinking about herself. That wasn't a surprising answer.

They wouldn't be stuck in this situation if she had just left instead of listening in and unable to resist the temptation of soothing piano tunes. Magic wouldn't have kept playing and would've been able to leave once he heard the janitor. Hell, he could've heard her footsteps as she exited the room and knew that it was curfew. But nope. They were stuck in here, in the studios, and Adeline wasn't quite sure how she managed to last decently, conversation-wise. Would that be considered decent? Who invented the idea of socializing anyway? If someone could strike her dead right now, she would be fine with it.

How much time had passed by now as she was stalling to think of something to say? Seconds? Minutes? Time traveled at its own pace and never seemed consistent. There were times when it would speed right past and snatch everything away from you and then there seemed to be the times where it was swinging its arms sluggishly around like a sloth. Mentally thinking about not checking the time was akin to thinking about breathing. Having a second thought about it makes you do the complete opposite. Seventeen minutes and thirty six seconds and counting. They still had forty three minutes. There was no way she could think of something decent to talk about for that time.

All she wanted to do was pretend that this never happened and that she didn't disturb him. Somehow, along the way, Adeline found a small part buried deep inside her that was relieved that he wanted to leave because of the cramped space instead of her. Or like most people, Magic could be saying that so that he didn't offend her. Did she seem that sensitive? Yes. Right, right... she was still the same girl who cried and held onto the past like a fool. Others' personal issues grabbed her sympathy and tugged heartstrings while she tried to ignore her own problems and pretend that nothing was wrong, that she lived that sort of perfect life. Perfect lives... she wasn't sure if those existed.

Her mouth had opened to say something but before she could get even a single breath out, a faint sound appeared in the hallway. It was too quiet for her and at first, she had dismissed as just her imagination. But then there it was again, resonating against the walls in a solo stampede and the clinking of metal against one another. And the turning of the door left a crack that slowly opened up to reveal the burly figure of the janitor.

The studios were opened early.

It was a close call and Adeline let out a breath she hadn't realize she had been holding. Whatever she was about to bring up was stupid and trivial anyway. The gruff man's eyes, slightly masked by his bush of hair, glinted and seemed to widen in surprise seeing the two in there. Water was dripping from the umbrella he held, a glistening puddle forming from the tips and sparkling as it reflected artificial light. Dirt and fertilizer smeared the squeaky clean brown of his boots and his hair was sprinkled with a few twigs and flower petals. "You kids, whaddya doin' 'ere? How'd 'ya get in anyway?" were the first two things to leave his mouth as he released the key from the lock, twisting it and tugging it soundly into the pocket of his furry coat.

Now, she was lost for words again. Answer the truth? They'd both get into trouble in almost any case, but if there was some way to snatch the fault onto her, Adeline searched for it. She would've liked the answer to come quickly, her mind digging through lost archives that she wasn't aware that she still retained. Her mind wasn't one to quickly analyze something and figure out solutions as though they were the easiest things in the world. After a moment of deliberation, she stood up from the piano bench she had confined herself to for the last few hours. Working under pressure was worse when the janitor seemed to be staring right at her.

"U-uhm... I uhm... sn-snuck in here l-last n-n-night and..." With a nervous glance over her shoulder towards Magic's figure, she took another deep breath, summoning her confidence into whatever she was saying. There was no way she could give him a chance to explain things. "H-he followed me h-here and c-caught me... W-w-we were locked o-out though."

The man in front of her eyed her curiously, dissecting each and every one of her words to see if she was lying or not. It only made her shrink even further. "Aren'tcha a prefect?" She gave an almost imperceptible nod, shuddering as the janitor barked back in an aggressive tone with gentle words. "Kid, don't do anythin' bad, 'kay? Wouldn't wantcha to get into 'ore trouble. Understood?"

"Y-yes. I-I-I'm r-really sorry for all of this."

It was better this way, at least. Magic wouldn't get into trouble. Less for him to worry about. "I won't punish 'ya this time, but if 'ere's a next time, you're askin' for it." He finally turned to address the other male prefect behind her, who - to his eyes - seemed to be slinking in the dark corners. "'ya did good, kid. I'll see 'ya guys 'round." Without waiting for a response, he moved to unlock the other sections of the studios and promptly left.

Letting out a small sigh of relief, her hands cupped at her chest, Adeline didn't dare turn around to look at her friend. She had made a decision for both of them and there were those consequences. Well... not really much this time, huh? A lucky break, but it did mean the faculty was on a more careful watch of her. Fun. They didn't think she'd go around and kill people like what happened with the Haruki twins, did they? It was an accident. That's what she wanted to convince herself of. Was it? You didn't like something and you tried to kill it. Same as before, right? Her lips thinned and after what felt like an eternity, she managed to say something.

"Do you h-have something y-you n-n-need to do before school st-starts?" The bell wasn't due to ring until another two hours or so. It was enough time to somewhat prepare... Sort of. Somehow, along the way, she had grabbed her bag and slung it over her shoulders, awkwardly lingering by the doorway as she waited for Magic's answer. Hopefully her little act before hadn't caused him anger that she had done something like that. Again.

Maybe, just maybe, if she thought this through more, she would've had better results. Maybe she was too quick to take the blame. But that was fine. He already had enough of a burden to deal with, didn't he? Maybe he knew more about her, but that meant nothing when he didn't even know the basics of that story. The bare minimum was disclosed to him and that was all.

A cup of coffee or tea sounded nice right about now. Perhaps she could prepare one before heading to class.