Mage × 6

Ch 2

(AN: Friendly reminder that this book contains strong language (including f-bombs, though I'll try to censor those with an *). Enjoy ♡)

Kayden

"This seat taken?"

I glanced up to see Micah standing over me with his lunchtray in his hands. I gesture toward the seat across from me and he sits down.

We eat our lunch in silence, though Micah practically inhales his food. He's done by the time I'm a third of the way through mine.

"Damn, Micah, you even taste that?" I asked jokingly

He smiled somewhat sheepishly. "Yeah, my dad eats fast 'cause he's used to living on a carrier, so I guess I just copied him."

"An aircraft carrier?" I clarified. "Was he in the navy?"

Micah nodded. "He worked with the engine, so he knows a bit about nuclear power and stuff. He doesn't tell us much about it, though; says it's confidential."

"I get it. I wouldn't want the secrets to working my military ships to get out either."

There was another small moment of silence before two more trays clattered onto our table and caught our attention. I held in a sigh at the twins that had joined us.

"Hello," Micah greeted them. The brother waved back.

"Hey," he said. His voice sounded a bit high, but I didn't question it. "My name's Jace; you?"

"Micah. And this is Kayden." He pointed at me.

"Nice to meet you. She's Selene," Jace introduced us to his twin sister.

Selene and I waved when we were each introduced.

"So what were you guys talking about?" Jace asked. "The military? Our mom was in the military."

Have I mentioned they were nosy? No? Well, they're nosy. And annoying.

Micah 'ooh'ed. "Cool, what branch?"

"The army."

They blabbed on, leaving Selene and I to talk. We glanced at each other before going back to our lunch.

Robin had popped up at some point, but no one noticed her until the bell rang because she was so quiet.

"Where'd you come from?" Micah asked her only getting a shrug in response. "Do you talk?" Another shrug, but small. "Want me to quit asking about it? I'll quit asking about it."

Robin just shrugged again before walking off toward her 4th period.

◇ ◇ ◇

"Ughhhhhhhh I am so glad the day's finally over!" Jace groaned as he plopped down next to me on the 'Bus 35 Bench'. I internalized an eye roll and Selene sat next to her twin.

"Quit being so dramatic," she told him. "Plus, it's only the first day. There's so many more, so you better get used to it. This isn't even your first year at a school."

She went on to call her brother a big baby and told him to suck it up. I pretended to scroll through 'interesting' stuff on my phone as the twins rambled until something caught my eye- or someone.

Robin was sitting on the other end of the bench with headphones on. I finally realized that the four of us rode the same bus and therefore lived near each other. I had to hold in another sigh. I refused to believe I lived anywhere close to real-life Ruffnut and Tuffnut over here.

I decided to scoot closer to Robin to get away from the twins while they were distracted. The loner didn't notice me either, but that was fine with me. She didn't wanna talk and neither did I really.

The bus couldn't have gotten here fast enough. I boarded without a second glance and sat in my usual spot from last year. Just my luck that all my back-of-the-bus friends had either switched busses or schools. Unfortunately, this meant there was a lot of open space that was quickly occupied by- you guessed it- Robin and the twins! God, that sounds like an 80s band...

Robin sat in the seat across the isle from me and put her backpack on her lap, still wearing her headphones. Selene and Jace put all their stuff in the seat in front of her and sat in the seat in front of me.

"Hey, Kay," Jace greeted. "I can call you Kay, right? It rhymes."

"Sure I guess?" I told him.

"Cool. D'you know why she doesn't talk?" He asked while pointing at Robin. "She mute or something?"

I shrugged. "I honestly don't know. I was the one that gave her and Micah their tour of the place and she didn't say a single thing the entire time."

"Oh. You know her name?" Selene piped in.

"Robin," I replied.

"Well she's adorable," she said. "Look at her staring out the window with those big headphones. Why's she so tiny?"

I blinked, not too sure how I should answer that. I decided to just put my earbuds in and ignore them the rest of the ride. When someone puts their earbuds in, everyone should realize they don't want to talk.

...

I don't think the twins got the memo...