A Pretty Regular Day.. Birthday.. [Open]

Eighteen.. He was eighteen... Honestly Magic didn't know what to do with this information.. He came to the school just before his seventeenth birthday, so he had been here a year.. A year he had worked with his gift, a year he had been trying to change.. Well it hadn't really worked... but he was happier than he had been when he was with his mother..

It had been a weird year.. So many things had happened... He got split in half, he got into a physical fight with his brother for like the first time.. He destroyed an airport, he got reunited with an old friend, he went crazy.. He also was relearning how to play the piano.. He got second place in the tournament.. and he showed Adeline how he felt about her, though not much happened there..  Jeez.. A lot had happened to him..

And now here he was on his eighteenth birthday sitting around in the courtyard doing nothing. These days were never special for him, hell holidays in general were never special for him. The winter prefect paused in his walk and just plopped down onto one of the benches, and ran a hand through his hair. He didn't expect anyone to bring it up, he didn't expect anyone to get him anything. He was fine with it being just another normal day.. He would prefer if he could just relax, but being a prefect in a school filled with hormonal teens, relaxing probably wasn't going to happen.

Wow! Life was so... boring. The school's holiday spirit had died down and besides Gossip Girl, times were pretty normal. On her way from Roseburry to her dorm, she decided to take a stroll through the courtyard and see what trouble she could cause there. Humming a tune, the charming girl walked around the courtyard, looking at the flowers and plants starting to grow. Gracefully plucking a flower from the soft earth, she started picking off the petals, a malicious grin across her face. Walking around for who knows how long, she stopped when she spotted another person. A prefect? Maria felt like she'd seen him before but couldn't remember. "Someone looks a bit lonely." She said teasingly, walking up to the boy.

Edward had been lurking a short distance, not particularly doing anything good or bad. He noticed Magic sitting on a bench and a girl he didn't know the name of walk up to him. The Winter decided to walk up to the two. "Hey Magic. Hello, whoever you are. Sorry, I don't know who you are." he said plainly, sticking his hands into the pockets of his jeans. He figured that he'd eventually have to at least try to make friends with the boy, since he and his brother were close friends.

Magic shifted in his sitting position, leaning back against the back of the bench, resting his elbows on the top of the back. "Not lonely." He simply responded. "If I wanted company I could easily find it." He said to the girl just before Ed arrived. He glanced over to Ed just as he walked up to the two of them. "See?" The prefect said. He looked between the two. "Now what do ya want?" Asking both of them, because surely they both had a purpose in approaching the winter prefect.

Kasumi wandered down the halls of her new school, trying to get her bearings. She had just joined the academy as an initiate yesterday, and the introverted thirteen year-old knew she had to try and fit in now. Walking down the hall and into the courtyard, Kasumi occasionally stopped, as if to stop a person for a quick chat or something, then slowly shook her head and continued on her way. She knew she had a horrible social life, and she knew she was much too scared to start a conversation with just anyone. It was impossibly hard for her, this task of going "out of her comfort zone".

Slowly, Kasumi's thoughts drifted into their own little world within her mind. It was so much easier to retreat into that fantasy world fueled by books and anime, to forget about reality once in a while. Here, she could make up stories about herself, stories where she was much less shy, where she had a much better "gift" than her current one. As she was lost in these fantasies, she suddenly stopped, her nose an inch away from a girl's back.

This jerked Kasumi back into reality, as she jumped away with a small gasp. Without thinking, she began to apologize repeatedly at the girl Maria, saying, "O-oh, I'm so sorry! I didn't, um, see you there... I'm really sorry! I, um, sorry! I didn't mean to--" It was then that Kasumi realized that she hadn't even bumped into this girl. She probably wouldn't have noticed Kasumi if the introvert hasn't spoken first. Kasumi hung her head at her own stupidity, frozen in embarrassment. She was shpure the two boys talking to her would think she was some weirdo now, too.

His birthday. Three months off from her own - same numerical day.

Was she supposed to do something? Should she even be doing this? It was silly, really silly. He was just a friend of her's - one whose been sticking with her and keeping up with even the most trivial of things that she had been bothering with. There wasn't much to her. Even in a barren courtyard with only her and another person around, there was no way they'd bat as much as an eyelid towards her. A ghost, someone who was plain and uninteresting, nothing really noteworthy. The only thing that would make her distinguishable was the shining badge denoting that she was a prefect, a position that she wasn't worthy of. The high-marking rank of a role model student. What the hell was the school even thinking?

She was anything but a role model. Her grades were rather poor, sans music and art, and she didn't excel very well with her gift. Always, she did everything in her power to not use this... gift of hers. It was harmful, painful, and caused people more suffering than they deserved. If only she could simply heal - that made her envy Logan and Ethan more than anything. Where had Logan gone...? Disappeared without a trace, not so much as a goodbye letter or anything. Perhaps he said something to someone else and they never got around to telling her anything. After all, who bothers trying to talk to a student like her?

Plain. Uninteresting. Abnormally shy. Over anxious. Easily flustered. Difficult to talk to.

What did her friends see in her? They were too kind. She didn't deserve it.

That's why, she wanted to do her best to make this present special. Her arms cradled a modest box, neatly wrapped with verdant green wallpaper and a simple white ribbon, a ribbon that rivaled the blank slate of the snow that was beginning to wane. A crimson envelope was tucked gently between the box's lid and the bow, concealing within them two plane tickets to England. London, England - he had said that a long time ago. For the rain that drove people inside and cancelled out the noise, a place where he could possibly relax. Should she have made it more decorative? More sleek? Something... better? Maybe something more elegant or sophisticated than cookies would've been better, but... well... She was getting too used to work. Was this something he would like? Was this something he would've been fine with for his birthday? He always said it was just any other normal day, but it shouldn't be like that at all.

He hadn't abandoned her after all of this time. How did it even come to this? Why was she getting so worked up over something like this? It was just a friend giving a gift to another friend, right? Why had she spent a freaking week rehearsing in front of a mirror just for all of this? There wasn't any reason to be nervous or anything. It wasn't like they didn't see each other... They saw each other almost every day, but not much outside of class or anything. She didn't know if it was school or work or maybe even both or maybe if it was the fact that he didn't want to be around her or anything. That, uhm... one night on New Year's was... uhm... That shouldn't make her face so red or anything, should it?

The familiar heat was crawling up to her ears again, she was sure. The same thing that made her hands fumble around nervously and give her this overly-queasy disposition. The same thing that brought her to the courtyard, aimlessly wandering around and maybe trying to locate him. And then awkwardly cause her to back away.

What was she supposed to say? Hello. That was simple. That was pretty good, wasn't it? Nope, it wasn't... It sounded too formal. Should she go for something more casual? Was she even supposed to start with hello? Start with happy birthday? Was there supposed to be some kind of greeting that people have for these things? A "how to be social manual for idiots" would be very much appreciated... There must be a book like that somewhere.

Oh wait, too late.

He was right there.

Where was a tree to hide behind? There were already three other people there... That one very tall girl who exuded so much pride that made her shrink away with her red hair and bodacious body and everything. A boy who seemed rather reminiscent of a certain speedster she knew, except he had a more confident air to him that seemed to be made out of steel. That and the rather obvious different colors. Another student, most likely new. She had an awkward air to her - something all too familiar, almost as though she were staring into a mirror and looking at a younger version of herself - with silky black hair and fleeting dark eyes. And then there was well, Magic. He was always so good-looking and handsome and pretty much too good to be hanging out with someone like her. He was the definition of what people considered attractive... and he had that kind of rebellious and authoritative air to him that made him all the more charming. Or something? Stop. Just a friend, just a friend... No way that he thought of her in any other way than that.

Friends totally kissed each other in the platonic way. Yeah, they most definitely did. Totally, right? Like, that was completely normal. There was no way it wasn't. He probably had some special person already waiting for him and everything and there wasn't anything that he actually wanted to do with her besides a few things here and there... And that was getting lucky. It wasn't like they danced, hung out at Winter Formal, went on vacation together, and did a few other things. Haha, right. It's not like they didn't destroy an airport together... No, that was her fault alone.

Adeline quickly retreated to behind a tree, her back touching what she could've either assumed was its smooth bark or rough texture. At the corner of her eyes, she tried to glance at them and maybe hear what they were talking about, but that was practically impossible. She didn't have that super-hearing that she stole from Magic before. That was temporary. She needed a verbal cue or anything. If Kearn or Callum were here, this would be easier. But they weren't. They were back home. She couldn't rely on them all the time. She shouldn't be relying on other people.

So she took a deep breath and opened her mouth to speak. You can do it. were the words she wanted to say, but they never voiced themselves. Maybe they were just caught in her throat, coiled the same way a spider weaves its web to ensnare its prey. Maybe she just had no confidence in herself to do this. But all she could do was let her mouth hang open and not let the words pass her lips.

She couldn't speak.

So much for rehearsing.

He didn't notice me... He didn't notice me. Yeah, right. Trying to escape from someone who could hear the scarcest of whispers or anything was impossible. How fast was her heart beating...? Why were the butterflies suddenly storming in again? This was not the time for this... This was not the time to hesitate or anything. But... what could she do now? For all of the times she wanted to stop speaking, to lose her ability to talk to avoid making a fool out of herself, it came at the worst possible moment.

She couldn't communicate. At all. Stupidstupidstupid... The warning signs were there. She was dumb to ignore it.

She clenched her fist. You fuckin little bastards. Does everyone just like to randomly like to butt into conversations? She gave a sigh, attempting to hold in her anger. Trust me, you'll know who I am soon enough, I won't let you forget it. Turning back to the prefect, she gave innocent yet fake smile. "Well, I don't know why this kid is here, but I was passing through the courtyard on my way to the dorms and saw a guy who looked pretty damn lonely." She said flipping a strand of hair behind her shoulder and crossing her arms. He doesn't look that bad... Before anything else was said, a girl bumped into her. Turning slightly around, the taller student glared at the stuttering girl. "Stutter much?" The charming girl snapped. The girl already looked embarrassed but she would need to be taught a lesson if to ever stop her habit. It was already bad enough to have all these random people around, but now she had to deal with a timid girl? Before she turned to Magic once more, a small movement caught her attention. Holy shit, these losers never end! "Stop hiding. You think we wouldn't see you?" Maria's arms were still crossed and she rolled her eyes.

Edward tensed. She called him a kid. "Don't call me a fucking kid." he said with his teeth clenched. He turned back to Magic. "Well, since you and Barry are close friends, I figured we're gonna have to at least act like we get along." he said to him. The Winter looked to the area where Maria had called to, only barely seeing the semi-hidden figure of a girl. He tilted his head slightly, wondering why she was hiding. 'Maybe she's like Rose.' he thought.

How many people were going to randomly show up around here? Well he shouldn't be to annoyed by that because this is in fact the courtyard a pretty popular place at the school, but it was the fact that they all decided to flock over to him. His eyes shifted over to the girl who didn't even run into Maria but still apologized anyway. There were always a few of those like that wasn't there? Magic gave off a sigh. "Again, I wasn't lonely. Also leave the girl alone can't you see that she is new here?" He growled slightly, becoming annoyed with the situation.

He didn't move his head as he looked over to Ed with a kind of cold stare. "And you choose now to do that? Barry isn't even here. Why act like it when there is no reason too." His eyes glanced over to where Adeline was, but didn't say anything. He figured she was hiding there for a reason. Maybe it was because of all the people.

Of course Magic had heard Adeline when she approached. It would be hard not too. It was hard not to hear anything, unless he was in a sound proof room, or he was using his gift to block out sounds. He flicked his gray-green eyes over to where she was hiding behind a tree, but didn't quite see her, only a little bit of her side. His angle was weird. His eyes moved back up to Maria when she spoke up. He clenched his teeth to bite back an immediate reply, then he decided he didn't care and spoke anyway. "Leave her alone as well, Ms. I wanted an excuse to flirt. I mean that is why you came over here isn't it?"

Kasumi stared awkwardly at her feet, wishing she could disappear for about the third time that day. It was a common wish she had, and one she could actually accomplish if she tried hard enough, but it would be a bad idea to do something like that, with her gift. "Stutter much?" the snap from the older girl jolted Kasumi's brain, and she scowled under her bangs. What a "charming" girl. She didn't seem to take much time to figure someone out before judging. Kasumi was, in reality, a very opinionated person. It was a characteristic of hers that was often hidden by her timid personality.

In a low mutter, she said softly, "Yes, in fact, I do "stutter much". It's a trait of mine that might be more easily fixed than your absolutely wonderful consideration." She said it softly enough that Maria likely wouldn't hear, but after she said it, Kasumi's cheeks colored again, and she began to back away.

Kasumi listened to the boys' talk, only mildly interested, but she wanted to know why exactly Maria was so abrupt. Was it because of the conversation? Or just plain old personality? She raised her head slightly at the sound of one of the boys telling the girl to leave her alone, and couldn't she tell that Kasumi was new. It was sweet, really, what Magic had done, but not too necessary. If anything involving physical violence occurred, as long as the opponent didn't have a gift or something electrical, Kasumi couldn't be harmed.

"Ah, I am sorry, very sorry for disturbing your conversation... Perhaps I should just go..." Kasumi whispered, slowly backing away.

Sometimes, she wished she was invisible as she used to be at this academy without people catching her sneaking around or wandering about in their vicinity. A world without her around, where she had gone so far off that people began to forget about her existence, as they forget about the burden or pain or sadness that she brought upon their shoulders. People will continue on with their lives without anything changing - nothing would've been affected if she had gone away for so long. Eventually, she would simply fade out of existence and be nothing more than a violet, hazy-eyed dream that someone would have at the back of their heads for a few brief moments before it was nothing more than a whisp of something that it used to be. There wasn't much to her. After all, she was completely forgettable.

At least, that's what she would've thought before. And now she couldn't walk around without people finding her. Sure, it was mostly because she was named a prefect and the one thing prefects had to do was help anyone who came to them. Not that she didn't want to - she was glad to provide any assistance that someone asked of her, completing even the most trivial of favors -, but she just couldn't get around with a weak presence anymore. There wasn't any moment where she could simply be a ghost who haunted the courtyards or a normal student so long as the shining badge was stitched onto her uniform.

That, and a certain boy's hearing.

Or maybe she was too obvious.

Yes, that must be why. That's the only reason why two other people saw her right over here.

It wasn't bad that she found herself shrinking behind the tree even more, right? A quick spin hastened by her own hesitation and she was sitting within the confines of the shadows, in her comfort zone. Darkness was, more than anything, her element. There, she could hide and shroud herself where nobody could find her. The dark hid every inch of someone's face, emotions weren't distinguishable, nothing could be seen. Not a single person could see all of her nervous tics, wouldn't ever notice her, and there was something eerily calming about it. Like a never-ending game of hide and seek. Suddenly, she felt homesick and wanted to go back more than ever. She missed being with her family. The visit back during Christmas only strengthened that desire. But quitting was a big "no".

Swallowing down her anxiety, Adeline bit her lip and slipped the present box into her school bag. This wasn't the time to give it to him, was it? She could either try and slip away or go over there and talk to him. Or maybe she could simply wait here and someone would come over to try and start conversation with her. Idiot. She couldn't speak. Right. How was she supposed to do this again...? There had to be an easier way to do this. She never really was great with social situations or any social setting and taking away her ability to talk and at least communicate was too much. Now she was pretty much a failure beyond repair. Overworking it, letting it break. It was like a child who used one toy so much that it was now useless after they grew tired of it.

Of course, she really needed a mental count to ten. Each second rang clear in her mind without so much as a missed timing, being precise with the biological clock of time, it made her realize that she was going over ten. It was twenty now. Then thirty. Maybe it was fifty? How could she be so reluctant like this? Then again, she was always teased about being such a big scaredy-cat, letting herself get picked on and simply smiling and pretending that nothing was wrong and she was fine with it. Adults always said that if you didn't give a reaction, then they would stop. But they never did. People were liars or she was the easiest target around; had to be the latter. People weren't that bad... They never were. Everyone had their own reason for something. Everyone was fighting a hidden battle that she didn't know about. Everyone had their own demons... was that the expression?

Quietly, she couldn't help but wonder why the taller girl was being rather snappy. Did something get on her nerves? Did someone say something wrong about her before she was around? This was the same person who had come to visit Jonathan back at the infirmary. She was there when she... did stuff. Haha, nobody told Magic about that. Hopefully nobody did. Every moment was just one step closer to the grave. Just one step closer. Taking a deep breath, she clutched onto the strap of her bag closer, the contents inside rattling as she finally found herself moving towards the side of the tree where they would see her a bit. But she didn't want to move closer.

Violet-blue eyes kept flickering restlessly and there, never resting on one of them for very long. Her breaths were shallow and weak, gloved hands balled up in the pockets of her uniform. What should she say or do? Saying hello or hi or any other variation was no longer an option. Instead of anything more, she sheepishly offered a smile that was more shy and fleeting and didn't seem to be directed at him when her gaze found itself staring at the ground again.

One hand untucked itself from the security of her pockets and lifted itself in a cautious wave. Should she have done that? That was something she should've done, right? Was... was that other girl backing away from the others? There was a sinking feeling telling her that this was going to go wrong and that she should've left when she had the chance.

Thing always went badly when she appeared.

"No, I didn't come over here to flirt. I wouldn't flirt with anyone like you." Maria said half in a sneer, arms crossed. He may look decent, but who would flirt with a prefect anyway? After Magic had finished blabbing on, she snapped her head to the stuttering girl.

Maria gave an annoyed sigh. "Listen, I don't really give a shit about your traits. And you may be new, but you need to learn how to live with people like me. And fear them." She said, glaring at the girl. "Sometimes it's better to leave things that aren't not suited for." She added, then looked to the shy girl that decided to show herself. "Are you here for the show too?"

Brown eyes looked back up at the older girl, surprisingly calm considering the situation. This type of person wasn't quite as common where she had come from, but she'd met a few nevertheless. See, Kasumi had a thing for trying to figure people out. Being the unnoticed one back in Oregon, she could do this quite easily. It seemed that it was the slightest bit harder to go unnoticed in a place like Beata, but eventually Kasumi would fade into the background again, observing, and observing.

"Oh, are you a person who should be feared?" Kasumi said politely, not in a sarcastic way, but simply mildly curious. "And I was "living with you", was I not? Perhaps my comment made that unclear, but I have no problem " living with you"." All this was said with the utmost politeness, and complete sincerity. Then, listening to Maria's next sentence, Kasumi tilted her head in confusion. "U-um, could you repeat that? 'Leave things that aren't not suited for?' I'm afraid it doesn't make sense in my ears...umm..."

"The show? Er, I'm afraid I don't know what this show is... Would you, um, mind explaining?" Kasumi winced inwardly, realizing how horrible she sounded. Talking was something she never really liked. How she wished to be in a library, reading books, without having to deal with strange people...

Edward rolled his eyes. He completely ignored the girls for the time being since they weren't going to give him the time of day anyway. "You know, if you ever want a chance at that Warren kid, I'm your best bet, bucko." he told Magic, knowing it would get him riled up. From the moment he heard Magic talking about Warren, he knew that it was some very private and personal matter.

Magic crossed his arms over his chest, and was about to retort to Maria's first comment, but he went rigid at Maria's next comment. Fear her? No. That isn't how things worked around here, if anyone should be feared around here it shouldn't be her. Gray green eyes narrowed as the winter prefect stood, uncrossing his arms, and standing in an intimidating manner. Physically flinching at the mention of Warren's name.. God he hated that guy with a passion.

Magic clinched his teeth, and glared over at Ed. "Shut the fuck up, and never mention that name unless I ask." Magic growled before turning to the two girls that were mostly the source of his agitation. Not caring in the slightest if they were girls. Magic shot a hand out and grabbed Maria by the collar of her shirt, and yanked her forward slightly. "If I ever see you tormenting a new student ever again, you are going to have a bad time. I know this isn't your first time, I know you got into trouble with Leo. You are almost out of luck ya got that?" He hissed at the Autumn, before shoving her away from him roughly.

He looked at the new student with less anger, but it was still there. "Now you. Don't go picking fights with older students, unless you can surely defend yourself. Better be careful because most students here have a gift that can kill anyone in a split second." He scowled before turning away from the three, and flopping down on the bench again. Ugh why did he have to deal with drama. Why can't he just enjoy his birthday in peace?