RE:WRITE

49.0 Candela_Chapter 13: Triangulation

"Seriously? Are you guys going to study at all?" I asked, exasperated.

We were having breakfast at the Inn and preparing to go back to the Academy. Or at least, I was preparing to go to the Academy. For some reason; Kai, Amy and Zoe didn't want to go and it seemed like Lily might ditch it too.

"There's no point if you're going to ace it for us anyways," said Kai. "We could spend this time more productively outside."

"We don't have improv today so it'll be boring as hell..." grumbled Zoe.

"So you're going to have fun without me?" I asked.

"We'll be preparing for the difficult times ahead," said Amy.

"Oh? Are you going to train?"

"No, we're going shopping."

"For what?"

"Essentials."

"What essentials? We already have a ton of food in our Storages and we can make water with magic."

"The clothes here are the best on Erath," said Amy. "And they're affordable too."

"You're going shopping for clothes?" I asked.

"Yep," replied Kai.

"Wait, why are you going?" I asked, narrowing my eyes.

"What, I need new robes," he said.

"Bullshit! You've been wearing the same set of robes since we met!" I said.

"Exactly!" He smiled.

I sighed. I wasn't going to win this argument so I gave up on persuading them. Lily, on the other hand, had been strangely silent.

"You said you might ditch today, Lily. But if you're not going shopping, you might as well come with me," I said, facing her.

"Oh I'll come with you all right, but I sure as hell won't be going to any of those boring classes again," she said.

"Then what will you be doing?" I asked, annoyed.

I knew I'd have to carry the team this time but I didn't think they'd bail on me after one day of classes. It wasn't like I liked studying anyways. I already knew enough to ace the test so the only reason I wanted to go to class was to search for information I might have missed. I couldn't let my plan fail because I didn't know about some monster's den or active volcano.

"It's none of your business!" said Lily, tersely.

What the hell?

She left without another word. The others finished their breakfast and offered to let me join them but I declined.

At least one of us needed to keep their shit together.

I resigned myself to attending another round of boring lectures and made my way to the Academy. I was considering whether to try an off-beat class like improv because of the way Kai and the others had reacted last night but decided against it. That wasn't my kind of thing.

"Ouch!"

"Hm? Watch where you're going," I said.

Someone had bumped into me as I turned the street. I wasn't fazed at all but the other person had fallen on the ground. That wasn't surprising – my level was much higher than that of most people.

What was surprising, however, was who I'd bumped into.

"Wow, you're a lot sturdier than I thought you'd be," said Saar.