What an Odd Alliance

POSSIBLY NEW BEGINNINGS

Zoya's alarm woke the pair up in the morning the next day. Zain threw a pillow on Zoya to turn off her alarm, which Zoya didn't appreciate and threw the pillow back at him. He quickly drifted back to sleep.

Zoya was ready for her first training with Professor Bakon. She sprinted down the hallways when she checked the time, and it was 3.55 am. She wasn't to be late on her first training day.

"Miss Fernando, I thought you forgot about our appointment," said Professor Bakon once she appeared on time at 4.00 am.

"But I'm on time," huffed Zoya, beads of sweat dripping on her forehead.

"Being on time still means you are late, Miss Fernando. I'd rather you be 15 mins prior to our session. Do I make myself clear?" Professor Bakon eyed Zoya.

She gulped, "Yes, Professor."

"Good. Now today I will exhaust your body with a few fitness exercises. I want to see the extent of where your body stops working, and which side is your weakest. This will help me prepare a proper plan for the two of us to work on."

Zoya was ready, and so the training began.

Professor Bakon made her do a 100 push-ups, crunches, a 10-min plank, and tried simple kick-boxing exercises where he instructed Zoya to punch the bags for another 100 rounds. Zoya's training clothes were dripping in sweat, but she wasn't tired yet. So Professor Bakon instructed them to run together for an hour as a start. Zoya finally broke after a thirty-minute run. Running wasn't Zoya's strongest suit, and Professor Bakon knew where to begin.

He excused her, and Zoya slumped towards the Lockers' room to shower. Her stomach grumbled loudly that it echoed throughout the empty lockers. She checked her watch only to find it was 6.30 am. Breakfast started, and she was ready to eat.

She arrived at the hallway and sat at the table far left. It was where the Quad Squad was eating, and she recognized it was the same table they sat on the day before. Nadeen was first to notice her, and waved for her to join them. Zoya ran eagerly and sat down, served her plate and began to devour her breakfast. Despite the change of the weather, the food remained warm. Zoya enjoyed their location as the morning sun reflected on the colorful mosaic glass that reflected funny bright rays on the food. It felt magical to Zoya. None of these new experiences could she compare to her home, except for her morning training. None of these bright colors made her feel so warm inside. Her wall room may have been her favorite color, but that was it. The Fernando mansion became cold when her grandma and mother passed away. And her grandpa now followed...

"Easy now, you could get a stomach ache if you keep eating that fast," Zain laughed at the scenery.

"I can't. I'm hungry," Zoya said, muffled.

"Can't she ever eat without speaking, I'm getting food crumbs on my uniform," Nora said as she whipped out the imaginary crumbs on her t-shirt.

Zoya rolled eyes and ignored her for the delicious food she was devouring.

"You can never deny a good appetite, can you?" Zain teased.

Zoya muffled a groan.

After attending different classes, separately. Zoya didn't skip a single class and took notes intensively. She was quiet in most classes, and replied when necessary. She took assignments enough to last her a whole academic term to finish, and they were all due a week after they were assigned. She made a mental note to plot revenge and havoc on humans who assign homework after she finishes eradicating werewolves. Bargaining the Siren sisters to haunt her Professors in their dreams would be interesting, would it not?

Zoya skipped lunchtime to attend a meeting with the Expedition Club. The meeting was at the gardens, which Zoya internally approved. Fresh air, and outdoors was what Zoya needed to cool off the remaining heat of the previous evening. That was short-lived once she spotted Zain. The group members assembled, and the meeting started.