✔ ALUEDAA

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"That was... Amazing!" I shouted. "But I don't actually understand why she didn't just send her bird, whatever his name was, to break the glass. Or why she just didn't use her magic to grow a plant outside the castle, break the window, break the glass that was holding her wings, and done! She can finally fly again!"

"Yeah, well," Cameron said, his mouth stuffed with pizza, "not everyone is as bright as you."

"I'll take that as a compliment," I muttered, taking my ninth piece of pizza, and carefully eating it, trying not to make any crumbs.

Mmmh, this is so good! Much better than the healthy protein pizza they made back in CARESS I thought, remembering the brown bread covered in some reddish liquid, along with yellow pieces of food.

"Okay children!" Elisabeth shouted, coming into the living room from the kitchen, placing the phone she had been using on the counter, "Time for bed! We have a big day tomorrow... First day back to school!"

Great! I thought sarcastically, wishing tomorrow wasn't a Monday. Is this how normal teenagers my age think? The usual thing they wish for?

"Fantastic, let's go back to that hell-hole, learn a couple of useless things, and come back home knowing utterly nothing about life!" Cameron said in glee, the sarcasm dripping from every word.

"Come on Cam, I know it's been hard for you... But you've skipped a month of school, plus Christmas holidays... So you're not doing that bad this year, are you?" His aunt, Claudia, said, walking down the stairs.

He didn't answer.

Instead, he got up, not meeting anyone's gaze, and headed upstairs to his room.

"I'm guessing Ivy is asleep?" I asked, trying to cut the awkward air.

"Oh, yes. She told me to tell you that if you ever wanted to watch another movie, that you could just go through her DVDs and watch whatever you want. Trust me, that's an honor. She doesn't even let her mom touch them!"

Elisabeth grunted, her phone going off once again making her leave the room to pick up and talk about some business problems her company was going through.

"You don't mind staying on the sofa tonight, do you? I'm sure I'll be able to fix you a room later tomorrow," Claudia said, patting me on the head.

"No problemo. And, don't worry about getting me a room ready. I'm going to attack my own room tomorrow, it should be arriving at around mid afternoon, just when I finish school."

She looked at me, and shaking her head in incomprehension.

"Night night, sweetheart," she said, closing the lights.

With those last words, she headed upstairs, leaving me alone with my trail of thoughts.

"Rise and shine! Time to go to the hell-hole called school!" A male voice called seconds before a heavy object fell on me, making me jump up, instantly wide awake.

"Are you serious?" I moaned, looking at what had been thrown at me.

A pink teddy bear. Hilarious.

Singing could be heard, the water of the shower muffling the words slightly.

"Is your mom taking a shower?" I asked, trying to start a conversation that didn't revolve around my semi-humiliating moment..

"Is Pinky heavy?" Was his answer, a smile playing on his lips as he concentrated on making his breakfast.

Bastard, I thought, playfully glaring at him for bringing it up, frowning at his idiocy for throwing at me the bear in the first place.

"Extremely," walking around the isle, I sat on a stool, and grabbing some cereals, I started scoffing them down, not even bothering to use a bowl. "so, what exactly do you do at school? Apart from learning useless shit, that by the way, most of it is false."

He looked up, his striking blue eyes squinting at me playfully, a finger moving towards his lips as if he didn't want me to tell anyone else, "Well, we make friends, skip class, smoke a littl' between classes, get into trouble, play pra-"

"I hope your not telling Alu the things your cousin told you last year!" Claudia screamed from upstairs, just loud enough for us to hear her over the crying seven year old and the singing woman.

"Never!" He shouted back, just as loud, a big smirk on his face.

Around half an hour later, we were all set to go.

"By honeys, see you all later!" Eli shouted, running out of the door in a black dress, her heels nearly as sharp as the blades we use in combat.

A couple of seconds later, the doorbell rang.

"She must of forgotten something," Cameron said annoyed, getting up from the stairs and opening the door. "What are you two doing here?"

I peeped my head out, trying to make out who was at the door.

"Guys!" I shouted, forgetting all about my too-shiny-to-be-wearable shoes, and running towards them. "You're coming to school with us today, right?"

"Of course, couldn't miss it even if we wanted to!" Elsu exclaimed, opening his arms to hug me.

"Okay, let me just put my shoes on and we can go walking," I said, checking the time.

"You do know I could take you by car," Cam said, a look of hurt flashing across his eyes.

Could he be jealous? Nah, he probably wanted to gloat about his brand new vehicle.

"It's healthier to go on foot!" I shouted from the living room, hopping on one leg to put on my shoes.

"Okay, let's go! I shouted, grabbing the army coat that had been dropped of yesterday evening for me to wear to camouflage myself, make it less obvious that I couldn't feel the chilly air of winter.

Ironic how it's a camouflage jacket, isn't it?

"Guess where we are staying?" Ungeld gushed the moment the door closed.

Lucky we still had an hour ahead of us until school started, I thought, a small smile tugging on my lips at the familiarity, yet unfamiliar, feelings surging through me.