Magus Academy 2

Chapter 11

"Hmm... I don't think we need to. More like you want to. Like, We're not gonna die if we don't talk," I replied sarcastically.

What? I couldn't help it! My sarcasm was in control of my mouth and I couldn't censor the things that came out of it, ok!

"Ok, I get it, I'm a jerk. But do you really need to use your sarcasm against me like that?" Jamie rolled his eyes as I mentally celebrated.

He rolled his eyes! We were back to being friends... I think.

"Sorry," I mumbled before glancing at Jamie, "No, seriously. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have lashed out at you like that and-"

"No, I'm sorry. For everything. I know I crossed a line and I'm an idiot. A foolish idiot with no filter," Jamie interrupted quietly, hanging his head down in shame.

Almost instantly, I smiled widely. I was really going to enjoy this.

"Hmm... I guess I'll forgive you," I saw Jamie's eyes lit up, "But can you do one thing for me?"

I gave him the puppy dog eyes which not even Mark can resist.

Jamie nodded repeatedly, his blue eyes never leaving my brown ones. To be honest, I was pretty sure that he was blushing and that almost made me blush.

Almost.

"Call yourself an idiotic, incompetent, stupid bleeping jammie dodger," I replied whilst Jamie chuckled quietly, "Oh, and also forgive me for my bleepiness. I really am sorry, you know."

"And you're forgiven. After all, I'm merely an idiotic, incompetent, stupid bleeping, jammie dodger. You happy, now?"

Although Jamie sounded irritated, there was a hint of playfulness in his eyes.

Bleep, yeah! Me and Jamie were definitely back to being friends!

"Very," I said quietly before wrapping my arms around his neck. A few seconds later, I felt two arms snake around my waist. Jamie then nuzzled his face against my hair.

"Why did you have to forgive me so easily, I had a whole depressing story to tell you and everything," Jamie then whined lifting his face from my hair.

A story, huh?

Although I didn't need anything more a sincere apology to forgive Jamie, I was still curious and of course, wanted to know more.

"Ok then, if you don't tell me that story of yours, I will personally go to your room, melt your limbs off, snap your bones and break ever single one of your teeth off... one by one..." I whispered threateningly, my face inches from his while my hands played with the ends of his hair.

"Well... in that case... I guess I'll have to tell you a story then..." Jamie replied in a barely audible whisper.

Finally, I let go, my heart still hammering in my chest. I smiled sheepishly at Jamie before sitting down on the floor, crossing my legs.

"Ok!" I chirped whilst Jamie sighed, sitting down next to me.

"When I was a kid, I had the worst temper ever," Jamie began while I rolled my eyes.

Of course he was a short-tempered baby! I thought bitterly. For some reason, I could never imagine Jamie without his temper.

"I had a good reason to be as well! I was pushed beyond my limits ever since I was a kid. Not by my parents (no, they're the most loving people I've ever known) but by the royal guard. He'd force me to wake up at dawn, work all day and sleep at midnight. If I did something wrong one day, I'd have to work twice as hard the next. That's where my temper started," Jamie explained while I placed my hand on his shoulder, rubbing it sympathetically.

Obviously, I didn't know much about Jamie's life in the castle but I never imagined life to be that bad.

"Any little thing would get me to explode. I even got mad at my sister. However, one day, I took it too far. I was stressed and tired and Sophie was right there. I did and said some things that shouldn't be forgiven. I ruined our tight relationship just like that."

Jamie snapped his fingers right in front of my face, causing me to blink in surprise.

"I nearly drowned a whole village, you know. The guard was pushing me to the point where I literally snapped summoned a giant wave during a festival. Thankfully, my dad stopped it in time. After that, the guard would make me work even harder. I remember fainting so many times. I even have some scars from him. The man retired now so I decided not to tell anyone. People just assumed it was my stupidity that got me injured."

I desperately felt like slapping him: why didn't he tell anyone? He could've been saved from his torture and yet, his parents never found out and Sophie must've never noticed anything.

"For seven years... seven whole years I had to go through that. You're lucky Lisa, that you didn't have to go through what I did. And I'm glad. You don't deserve it," he then said as I gasped.

No bleeping way! I was expecting something like a couple of months maybe a year at worse but not a full seven years.

That means he only had a few years of his life without that torture. Only a tiny amount of freedom make up for seven years of pain.

I suddenly felt like an absolute idiot. Here I was complaining about how hard my life was while Jamie had to live through that for seven years.

"Slap me," I ordered Jamie glanced at me curiously.

"Pardon?" His blue eyes glinted in amusement; however,r when he saw I was serious, he frowned in confusion.

"Slap me as hard as you can. I deserve it. You've gone through too much and not only did I remind you of that but I also got angry at you for a stupid reason. So, slap me," I explained as Jamie shook his head.

When I was 11, Mary used to punish me over every little thing. She practically drilled the whole punishment thing into my head.

You kill someone, you go to jail, you sneak out of the house, you get grounded.

In my case, you hurt your friend, you get slapped.

I prepared myself for impact and when it didn't come, I looked up at Jamie who had a rather hard to read expression on his face.

"Actually, I already kinda punished you," Jamie said mysteriously as I tiled my head confusedly.

"Hmm?" I asked.

"Where are your shoes?" Jamie asked as I looked around in panic.

Finally, I found my shoes floating in the pond _ soaking wet.

I totally deserved that.

I think.