The Fragile the Broken and the Brave

13. Riverside

7.28.20

"Benjamin get out of the car or I'll drag you in there."

"I don't want to!"

"Too bad!" As the old man tried to drag me out of the car, I spread my limbs out so that he couldn't. His fingers suddenly pressed onto my pressure point behind my neck, and he was able to get me out of the vehicle while I tried to end the pain.

"No! No! No!" I screeched at the top of my lungs while he pulled me, and I realized that I looked like a child throwing a temper tantrum. Oh well, I'm legally a minor and I'm allowed to pitch a fit when he's trying to drag me from my friends. However, he managed to get me into the building, and we came into a kind of principal's office except it was much creepier.

"Jack Evans, never thought I would see your naughty face again in my school."

"Sorry headmaster, I know I was a nightmare teen."

"And with you, you drag another one."

"Yes sir, he's my son."

"Whys he so... Old?"

"His magic never awoke until a few days ago."

"Whatever. You know the process to enroll him. I'll call another student to show him around."

"No!" I shouted again. If they enroll me, I'm sort of stuck here forever. Well, as long as it takes to graduate.

"Benjamin, you're staying. Stop throwing a tantrum; you're making a bad presence of yourself."

"I already told you that I don't want to be here."

"Well tough luck."

"You called, Mr Gonzales?" A teenaged, pretty attractive boy walked into the room, and he smiled warmly at us. I instantly stopped my fight as soon as I was in front of a peer, and I heard Jack sigh in relief. The kid in front of me had jet black hair that was back in a neat ponytail, but it was also braided into dreadlocks. His complexion was dark but still pretty mixed, and he stared at me with dark brown, almost black, eyes. His jawline jutted out perfectly, and he could probably be a model of not for a scar running down the side of his lip.

"Yes, Michael. I want you to show the new kid around. This is Benjamin, and he's going to be starting classes tomorrow."

"Cool! Come on!" The boy pushed me out of the room by my shoulders, and I allowed myself to finally relax. Maybe this place will be alright after all. I can make new friends and maybe get used to living with a whole bunch of other warlocks and being powerful together.

***

"And this, is the dormitories. You're going to live here for the next... Three ish years. They're pretty nice, and you do live with a roommate. I don't have one yet; I hope you can live with me. That would be so cool!" I just noticed that he has a tendency to talk a lot, but I didn't mind. I usually talk a lot, too. "I should probably take you back to Mr. Gonzalas! He and your dad are probably done enrolling you by now."

"I guess."

"Hey, are you okay? You don't seem super thrilled to be here like most."

"It's just been a crazy few days. 5 days ago I was just a normal boy that thought he was a human, and now I'm here. Away from all of my friends, family, and life."

"I know it's going to be hard, but you're going to find your place here. I can help you, and we can be friends! I only have like 2, so it'll be nice to have another! I can even introduce you to them!"

"Thanks, you're very kind, Michael."

"Call me Mikey, dear child."

"Benji."

"That's a cute name!"

"I guess so." He pulled me towards the place we came from, and we walked in on the two men finalizing my enrollment.

"It was nice to see you again, Jack. Glad you matured at least a bit."

"Kids, man. They suck the life out of ya!" They both laughed, but then my father turned to look at me directly. "Benji, don't break anything. Behave yourself, and for the love of God don't piss off the teachers. They'll eat your soul. Bye bye!"

"Bye."

"Alright kid, here's your schedule. You're higher on the spectrum of raw magical abilities, so I have you in slightly more advanced classes. You'll be fine, kid. Mikey, I know you've been dying for a dormmate–"

"Oh my God I would do anything to have someone to live with! It would be so cool, and I could totally help him with all of his magic and stuff! I'm also a really clean person and we wouldn't cause any trouble except for staying up all night having slumber parties and tea!"

"Mikey, please calm down. Yes, he can be your dorm mate. Please don't burn the school down."

"Yay! We won't. Come on Benji." We both walked out together, and he had this crackhead grin. It was helping me to know that someone wanted me here, but I was going to miss Connor... And Will... I still feel guilty for what I did to papa. "Alright this is our dorm. I kinda lied about being neat; I totally make a mess. At least I clean it up, though!"

"It's okay, I'm kind of a slob too."

"All I ask is that there's clean forks at dinner time."

"I might be able to do that."

"I will not eat my ramen with a spoon!"

"Conjure up some kind of fork or something."

"That isn't how this works."

"So you can't magic silverware to yourself?"

"You can't magic anything if it doesn't either belong to you, nature, or a close friend. I can magic one of my forks, but not anyone else's."

"That's insanely not useful."

"You'll learn a lot more about your powers over the next few years, Benji. They're useful, but dangerous if over or misused. Please be careful that you don't become power hungry and overambitious. It's bad for your health. Oooh! Here's your room!"

When I looked around the dorm, I realized that I got to have my own room. The living area was between our bedrooms, and it actually looked pretty high budget. The kitchen overlooked the living room, and I could see a laundry room on the far wall. He pushed me into my bedroom, and I looked around. The room was rather small, but it would work since I don't really need much space. There was a school issued uniform laid out on the bed followed by a suitcase full of my clothing that Jack probably brought for me.

"You should go to sleep now. They wake us up at 5am sharp for breakfast then morning classes begin at 6:30."

"That sounds horrible."

"You'll get used to it; life here is all in the schedule. It'll engrave itself into your brain and then when you go home for summer break, you'll keep getting hungry at 4pm, going to sleep at 8, and waking up at 5 in the morning. It sucks."

"I'm sure it does... Night."

"Night."