As Humanly Wizard

8. Demotion - but worth it

"Eddy, I'm so sorry."

Eddy sniffled.

"It's okay, Brett, I think I'm just emotional because it's been a big day with the moving and hearing Edwina's story and..we..didn't get to make our bed...."

Brett tightened his grip on Eddy's hand.

"Eddy, we.. we'll do it again! I'll take off the sheets and we'll make the bed!!"

Eddy shrugged. He turned to Eddy and mustered a wry smile.

"It okay Brett, we'll just do it next time, don't worry about it, come to think about it, it really is no big deal.. there're other more important things we should be thinking about... like how we're going to return Edwina to her body..."

Eddy pulled his hand away from Brett's grip and left their bedroom. Brett looked up to the ceiling, suppressing a groan. He so wanted to say and do the right thing by Eddy and was so frustrated that he kept messing things up and hurting his feelings. He wondered if he would ever learn to be able to say or do the right thing. He sighed and dropped his shoulders as he sat down on their freshly made bed. He wasn't even sure if Eddy would want him to sleep next to him tonight, their first night in their new flat..!!

"Brett"

Brett looked up. Eddy was standing by their bedroom doorway.

"Yes Eddy?"

"I decided I don't want coffee. Can we just go to sleep?

"Um.. yeah, of course we can."

Brett didn't ask if he was allowed to sleep in the same bed with him. He sensed that was not a good question to ask and it was better to assume it was okay unless Eddy said it wasn't.

"Brett, please wake up. I looked it up and think I found the information we need."

"Eddy..? Looked what up?"

"How we're gonna send Edwina back."

Brett's eyes shot open.

"Eddy, I think I did it.. She's opened her eyes.. she's made it back in."

"She's stirring.. it looks like she's in a lot of discomfort."

"It must feel weird waking up after being asleep for 3 weeks."

Brett and Eddy were peering into a crystal ball from Brett's old bedroom in their wizard world, viewing Edwina's hospital room.

"Damn.. how can we get a nurse in there?"

"Allow me, Eddy."

Brett snapped his fingers and the small vase by the window in Edwina's hospital room fell and shattered on the floor. Within seconds a nurse came running into the room.

"F*ck Brett, I thought you were gonna press the nurse call button !!!"

"Eddy! That would be more suss!! Like who would've pushed it!?!?"

"Well maybe they would think Edwina did if we just waited a little bit longer till she could move a bit more?"

"Oh damn, the nurse is too preoccupied with the stupid broken vase, she hasn't even seen Edwina stirring."

Brett and Eddy stood side by side in the Dean's office.

"Explain yourselves. You first, Chen"

"...I used some unauthorised spell tokens to help a spirit in limbo return to her body, for compassionate reasons."

"Yang?"

"Same sir. I used some unauthorised spell tokens to help a spirit return to her body, for compassionate reasons".

The Dean sighed.

"I understand Chen coming up with an idea like this, I've always known him as the.. rather sentimental one. A little overboard of being compassionate. But you, Yang? Was this a directive from your companion, Chen?"

"No" "Yes"

"Eddy!" "Brett!"

The Dean slammed his desk with his fist out of frustration;

"Oh for crying out loud, stop trying to cover up for each other!!"

The Dean's office walls shook and the two students felt rumbling under the stone floor.  They both flinched.

The Dean sighed again.

"...This stunt has cost you both a credit mark. I can only grant you a pass mark at best for code of conduct for this term. Your merit status in the human world has been demoted to a credit average. You are dismissed."

Eddy had stormed down the corridor ahead of Brett when they left the Dean's office.

"Eddy!! Eddy, wait!!!"

"A credit? A f*cking credit!? I don't even know what they look like!! I've NEVER been awarded a credit before."

Brett struggled to keep up with Eddy as he spoke.

"I know.. it's a pretty severe punishment.. Eddy, I know you had a distinction average.."

Eddy suddenly stopped.  He turned around to face Brett with a shocked expression on his face.

"Oh f*ck.. Brett..."

"What ?"

"You.. you had all high distinctions.. OMG you were a dux candidate. You could've come first in our cohort."

Brett shrugged.

"I don't care about that. Humanology is such a low regarded subject anyway and scores so low on our merit scale I would've never gotten Dux, I knew it from the start of our semester. You should know more than anyone that I didn't take this subject for the credit points."

"Brett..."

Brett looked up and noticed there were tears welling up in Eddy's eyes. Brett stared at his.. friend, still struggling to work out whether he had made him cry because he'd said the wrong thing again.  Was it because he badmouthed the subject of Humanology?  He honestly had no idea.

The strong hug Brett was pulled into confirmed that he hadn't said the wrong thing. Brett smiled into Eddy's chest as he reciprocated the hug.