Zodiac Academy: New Gen

Tarin Chapter Four

"Why did you say that?" I whisper to Rygar as we are all still sitting at the table. What? I was asking a question!" He whispers back to me. You didn't have to bring up her breakdown," I say, this time with more anger. "Tarin, chill; it was a joke, " he says, shaking his head. Looking down at my hands, I gave up too quickly on this argument.

We sat there for a few more minutes before another servant announced that the ballroom was ready. Our family loves to dance, so every year after dinner, we go to the ballroom to finish the night with drinks and dancing.

I wondered if Elara would return after that; I would completely understand if she didn't. The music starts, and everyone moves and drinks. I sway for a minute with Celaria before I see that Elara has returned. She walks in and right over to a servant, asking for a drink. Before she could even get a sip down, Augustaline grabbed her hand and dragged her towards the dance floor. They danced and swayed right next to where Rygar and I were dancing with our dates. I could tell that she was annoying Zandera by occasionally bumping into her.

Before I could even say something, Rygar grabbed Zandera's hand and pushed past Elara and Augustaline back toward the drawing room to chill. I immediately see all the other kids follow them back there, leaving the adults in the ballroom. Augustaline grabs Elara's hand and pulls her along with Ender to head to where the others have gone. I follow suit, stopping my dance with Celaria and leaving to the drawing room, basically leaving Celaria behind. "Excuse me!" I hear Celaria say as she struggles to keep up with my pace, following behind Elara. I stop and turn towards her before she almost runs into me. "you left me back there!" She growls. I didn't care for Celaria's emotions but didn't want to mess up Rygar's chances with Zandera. "I'm sorry, " I say poorly, not meaning it. She smiles and grabs my hand, following me into the drawing room, where I immediately spot Elara on the couch next to my chair.

Celaria marches over to the spot, "that's my seat," She says, pointing to where Elara is sitting. "Oh, I'm so sorry. I didn't know we had assigned seats," Elara says, drawing a chuckle out of me. Celaria scoffs before grabbing my hand, forcing me into the chair, and sitting on my lap, smiling at Elara. Elara rolls her eyes before turning back to Augustaline.

"Elara, what house do you think you will go into?" Celaria asks, obviously unable to drop the question. " I don't know," Elara says dryly, not wanting to have a conversation. "I just don't think that you are really Ignis material." She continues poking at Elara. Celaria and Zandera were Medusa's orders, with one fire element. They shared the room below Rygar and me. Rygar had wanted to sleep with Zandera for a while, leaving me to take the hit with Celaria, but she wasn't ugly; she was beautiful with dark brown hair and green eyes; she just had a personality that bored me. "Like I said, I don't know what house I want to be in, but I guess that's the benefit of three elements, right?" Elara said with a passive-aggressive tone. "You would be better off with freaks in Aer!" Celaria says, looking at her nails. "And what's that supposed to mean? Queen Darcy was in Aer." I say aggressively, never calling Aunt Darcy queen before. I look at Celaria, who is physically upset at this point, her hair on the verge of turning into a snake.

"It doesn't matter what house she is in," I say, trying to break the tension. Elara looks at me, locking eyes for a second before Celaria grabs my chin and kisses me. I don't fight back against it, but I don't give her more than just my lips. I look over to Elara, hoping she is still looking so I can mouth an apology, but where she is sitting is now empty. I find her over by the bar with the others as the triplets pour everyone over there shots. I watch as they all shoot back the shot and slam the glass on the bar, laughing. I wanted to toss Celaria off me and join them. I look over to Rygar, who has caught precisely what I am thinking. "Let's play a game," Rygar announces with a devilish smile. "everyone gather around the bar." He says, lifting zandera off his lap with ease.

The others were already gathered around the bar when we walked over. I stood as close to Elara as possible without causing drama with Celaria. "Truth or dare?" Rygar says, looking around the room. Everyone agreed with ease; I could see the hesitation on Elaras's face before even she gave in. "Okay, Kale, go first!" Rygar says, pointing to where Kale and Azura had made themselves comfortable. "Truth or dare!" Rygar says to him. "Dare!" Kale says with a sinister smile. "I dare you to go and take another bottle of alcohol from where the adults are," Rygar says, smiling. "Done," Kale says, standing up and leaving the room. We all sit in the room for at least 5 minutes before the door slides back open, revealing Kale with not only one bottle but three. He drops them onto the counter and sits back next to Azura.

"Truth or dare, Rygar?" Kale says with a bit of attitude. "Easy dare," Rygar says cockily. "I dare you to transform into your dragon right now," Kale says dryly. Rygar hesitates for a second, looking around the room. His eyes land on Elara; he hesitates for a minute and starts to undress. "Dude, what the hell are you doing?" Ender says, pretending to cover Augustalines eyes. "I'm not running a brand new tux," Rygar continues, stripping to absolutely nothing. I look at Elara, who has looked away from Rygar as he is completely naked. Rygar walks over to the center of the room, transforming into a dragon and returning within seconds. He walks back to the bar, pulling nothing but his boxers and pants on, leaving his ripped, tattooed upper body exposed.

"My turn!" He says, looking around the group. "Elara, Truth or Dare?" Rygar asks sarcastically. Elara pauses for a second, knowing if she picks the truth, Rygar will spare her no mercy. "Dare." She says confidently. "I dare you to sit in that closet for five minutes in the dark," Rygar says, looking at the closet door straight ahead. "Rygar," I breathe, knowing that the closet I found Elara having her breakdown in years ago. "She wants to play. She can play!" Rygar growls back to me. Elara hesitates for a second, looking at the door. I hear Zandera and Celaria giggling behind her. Elara turns back around and looks at everyone before walking to the door. She stood before the door for a minute before reaching for the handle.

Once the door was closed behind her and we could see the lights were off, we started a timer. We all stood there in silence, watching the door. She said she was fine and the voices were gone, so I'm sure she would be alright.