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

Chapter 31: The Academy of Eavesdropping

After a successful AEE rotation that allowed me to nail down the details on my Poetry Waves, I am feeling exhilarated. Nothing perks my mood up quiet like schoolwork successes, aside from maybe some alone time with one Paxxon Philips. But seriously it feels good to have the storyline down, the wave shaping came easily for me. For a reader with a background in writing and even poetry you would think the storyline would have been the easy part for me. I mean it is just a retelling of my childhood afterall: A Wind Mani and a Water Mani meet at Acamancy and fall in love. They have a baby girl they raise together until the WInd Mani realizes he is destined for travel and adventure, not fatherhood. The mom bends but wont let herself break, the young girl, me of course, watches her put the pieces back together slowly and keep a brave face for her daughter to make up for the night she found her sobbing on the kitchen tile. Young single mom meets a kind Normie businessman with no wife or children but a strong and responsible foundation. They marry and the girl gets a new dad and a new brother and a new home all at once. But they are not her only family, that same year girl meets a set of twins that would become her extended family and they all live happily ever after.

Cheesy I know, but Theo thinks it has potential to score high and even win. I cannot wipe the grin off of my face as I head over toward's Paxxon's last class of the day to meet up with him. I don't usually meet him in his classroom but I wanted to walk to dinner with him today and get some extra time together. As I approach the classroom I see that the door is open, and the room is empty.

"Philips headed toward his dad's office," a student, I don't know but who apparently knows who I am, directs me.

I have never been in the Dean's office. We walked past it on our campus tour, but the door was closed and, of course, we didn't go inside. Since then, I haven't had any reason to be sent there, or invited in. As I head down the hallway I pass a closed Leadership room and have to stop myself from shoving the door open and pleading my case for Leo, and other Mani's under 50%, to be able to attend school here. I hover outside of the door for longer than I should have, but when the door bursts open, it wasn't because of my hands. The person busting the door open as they stomp out of the room is the last person I expected, okay not the last person, but still. Calum St. James literally runs into me, as he is storming out of the room and into the hallway.

"Hey, been walking long St. James? Where is the fire?" I tease. 

"What are you doing here?" he replies with more venom in his voice than I expected, despite the anger clearly visible on his face, even to me.

"Woah there, I was trying to walk and you ran into me. Besides, I could ask you the same thing. You aren't a member of the leadership board, so how did you score an invitation?"

"Official Apprentice Meeting, top secret business, you know," Calum deflects with a roll of his eyes.

"To your displeasure I am an Apprentice too, and the moment you score an invitation on that premise, I would too. Care to tell me the truth? Or should I be on my way?"

"Great idea, head on ou–"

"Hello Emalyne, see you in Training tomorrow. St. James," Jameson says with a stern nod in Calum's direction.

"Wow, that was intense, you really messed up huh?"

"None of your business."

"Well I was concerned with your absence today, and asked Ryker to remind you I do not wish to make it to Top of the Class now, or ever, because you messed up and gave up. So get your ass to class tomorrow."

"Don't worry your pretty little head about me, I didn't miss a thing, I'm a lock. Besides, you have more important things and other people to worry about."