The Echoes of Rivalry & Ruin (The Acamancy Series I)

Chapter 23: Perks and Privileges

After dinner we head to Paxxon's dorm. On the outside it looks the same as all of the other dorms. Paxxon is on the 7th floor of the dorm building, and even though there are much less dorms on this floor, the outside of the rooms looks the same as every other floor, it looks the same as the door to my dorm. But once you enter the room it is giant. Or maybe it just looks huge because instead of two twin bunk beds shoved against walls with desk and tables on either side, he has one queen size bed, a small desk inside the large closet, as well as tall but narrow dresser, a large bean bag chair, a small but basically empty bookshelf and endless empty space. Paxxon does not have roommates, he doesn't need extra beds and desks and tables and dressers. He has his own bathroom, his closet doesn't have to fit 4 plastic dressers and has additional shelving added so it fits his dresser and desk. Even with a larger bed and added chair he still has walking, standing and sitting space for at least 7 people, yet he rooms alone. I have three roommates and we have to squeeze in our space to attempt to co-exist, it is nearly impossible.

I take in all of the room before me, slightly and secretly jealous. Maybe I can convince Paxxon to let me sleep in here with him. It would be a dream, even if I had to walk up 7 flights of stairs or wait for the elevator. Just as I completed that thought, I noticed an extra door that Paxxon opened to reveal he was holding out on me. We just walked up the stairs when he had a private elevator of his own next to a giant bay window, overlooking a beautiful view. The window in Paxxon's dorm faces east and overlooks the East River which is so much larger than I had ever realized it was. I can only imagine this view in the daytime, as the sunlight glitters off of the surface of the River. In the dim light of the lampposts around it, I can barely see the waves breaking the surface and the waterfall in the distance, but it's still stunning. The view of the sky up here is much nicer than from the small windows in my dorm, or the classrooms. We are higher up and above the lamp light so the stars are so much more visible from here. That's the one reason I wish I was a Light Mani and not a Water Mani sometimes, I love stars. The light mani's get to go into the tower at night to study constellations, they also have night classes where they go on the mountains to learn to pull light from the night sky and literally get to hold mini stars in their hands, it would be a dream of mine to work with the stars like that, and the moon. I can only imagine expansion on moonbeams instead of dew drops, but I try not to dwell on it. In many ways I am so fortunate, the Mani Skill sets are becoming rarer, and getting to attend Acamancy is even more rare. More and more Mani's are marrying and having children with Normies, and the Manu bloodline levels are dipping. There are so many Normani's, like Leo, that are under 50/50 and will not get to attend Acamancy, and learn to hone their skills, and get to experience all of the things I am fortunate enough to be doing.

"Sorry I spaced out again," I tell Paxx as I finish gazing out of his window and realize he left the secret room and is sitting back in his room, in the beanbag chair.

"The fact you feel the urge to apologize for something rooted so deeply into the core of your being, in which you have zero control over, and in no way affected me negatively makes me want to apologize to you instead. It has become rather apparent to me that this is something you have been shunned for throughout your life. I must let you know I wish for you to never apologize for being yourself Emalyne. I experience much enjoyment in our time together and find all of these quirks you possess to be fascinating. I too indulge in frequent self-reflection and find much use in it."

"I wouldn't say that I have been shunned for it. My parents did get annoyed that I would space out and not hear what they said, and teachers would call my daydreaming an escape from classwork until they saw the scores on my exams and my schoolwork and then they just ignored it. I would get teases now and then from classmates because of the 'weird look on my face' when I stare off, and I have received my fair share of mean mugs from strangers thinking I am staring at them and not lost in thought. But it's just a habit to apologize, I guess."