Decadence

Faithless

Nicholas' P.O.V

Another day of school arrived, with me being able to get rid of what I found out was a migraine. Even after I apologized for puking on him, Damien's mood left something to be desired thereafter. It was probably just concerning that he hadn't seen Aniya in a while. 

My memory was just a tad bit blurry yesterday so I can't actually say what might have been bothering him. In fact, the last thing I can clearly remember was him asking to take me to the nurse that morning. I figured that if I wanted to know the details though, I could simply ask Aidan later when I had the chance. After all, Damien usually skimped on the important parts when he told me anything anyway.

Again, like previously, our arrival to school was filled with an awkward silence. Another down point was that even though an average of at least thirty to forty people lived in the Alloyd estate, we were the only high school aged children. I'm sure that there must have been younger children, as I would see them playing in the courtyard from time to time. Most of the ones who were closer to our age tended to avoid us though. 

I knew that the Saunders' estate was even more crowded because unlike the Alloyds, there were only a few people in my family who didn't stay at the estate. The only Saunders who lived alone were those who were either excommunicated, married, or chose to leave of the own accord. 

I was not considered a member of the main family, so I doubt that I would have gotten the chance to live there if they had housed us by the purity of our blood like Damien's family did. I didn't necessarily think that was a bad way to do things however.

My first class today was one called Biomagis, which might have been the first class I didn't share with either Aidan or Damien. Unfortunately, I did recognize two people that were in this class. 

The first of course was Damien's long lived and unrequited love, Aniya Robinson. As soon as I walked into the classroom, her eyes darted towards me. Almost instantly, my spirits dampened because of this. 

Aniya obviously wasn't my friend and her bubbly and cheerful attitude only served to wear me out, no matter how much Damien adored her for it. So when she sent me a bright smile and waved enthusiastically, I simply turned away.

The other person who I abhorred the thought of sharing a class with was my own cousin. He seemed to not notice the fact that I was in his class or just didn't care. He had dirty blonde hair which curled at the ends and dark, grey irises. 

The last time I had seen him was when he had that match with Aidan. I was surprised that he went to this school and at the same time instantly cautious of him. He was the youngest son of the head of the family and often times belittled his cousins and others who he saw as weaker than him. 

He was pompous, selfish, and sadistic (in the sense that he often fantasized about murder and would only tell me when we were kids). I wasn't afraid of him exactly, but he was nonetheless cynical and aggressive in nature. Then again, many Saunders were as such in my opinion.

I found a seat in the front of the class this time, so as to avoid Severin, who sat all the way in the back, and Aniya, who was next to the window and surrounded by other girls. I slung my book bag haphazardly around the back of my seat and sat down. Immediately, I felt as if someone was drilling a hole in the back of my head. 

I turned around to see that Severin had finally noticed me and was staring intently. I groaned inwardly before turning back around. That was just great. I decided then that I should give my undivided attention to the lesson instead of mulling over two little inconveniencies. On the downside, it was Biomagis, a subject that no matter how hard I studied, I nearly failed all through middle school.