Wizards

CHAPTER 7: Gold Coin

"Oh, I'm sorry I didn't mean to wake you up," said the woman wearing thick glasses while picking up the luggage she dropped that startled Rei. . . . Her pupils were unusually large.

     It was morning already. Rei only noticed after she felt the ray of sunlight touched her skin. . . . And was that strawberry she smell?

     Rei smiled at her. Was she the one who smells like strawberries?

     "The dean told me that I'm having a roommate, and seeing that you're on that bed — y'know, sleeping — you must be her."

     Her hair was as black as a crow's and her skin was as white as snow. She wasn't Snow White, but she can easily be one. She extended her arms as Rei sat up, introduced herself as "Brooke Binder".

     Brooke looked at her watch and spoke, "It is 7 o'clock. We're just in time for breakfast."

     She gestured at the far corner of the room. "The bathroom is over there. We'll have breakfast after you prepare and then I will accompany you to the dean's office. I will just take care of some things, and then I will be back for you."

     Brooke left the room and closed the door behind her, leaving her luggage opened on the floor and her clothes everywhere. She just arrived this morning and yet her things are scattered everywhere.

     Rei stared at the mess. Messy. But she can't do anything about it, it's her room. It was messy but it made her smile.

     The Kid Ranch. . . . She remembered this kind of mess in the Kid Ranch. Sister Annie would already be scolding them right now if she saw these.

     Rei grabbed the box by the foot of her bed. She opened it and grabbed a white t-shirt, a yellow hoodie, and a pair of jeans.

     After that . . . she turned on the shower and let the warm water flow through her body.

     First day, huh? She thought.

     She was done. She went by the window. She stared outside. Another green. The plants here were healthy, or maybe because the plants here were perfectly fed by sunlight and perfectly hydrated by the clouds.

     The garden was full of Nesting Peak students. Some were carrying books, some were just scrolling through their phones. She giggled after seeing naughty ones turned water into something distasteful. Some of the students were levitating things. Some students were being fed by floating spoons while reading a book.

     "Are you ready?" A voice behind her. Brooke.

     "Yes," she answered.

     Rei followed Brooke outside to the ground floor.

     "This school is just like any other school," Brooke said. "Same system . . . you go to your scheduled classes, professors discuss, they give homework — or not. Although there are no divisions here, there are only year levels."

     "And what year level are you?" Rei asked.

     "First year," she answered. "I've been here last year, but my father pulled me out for business matters. I basically own the room we're staying in that's why I don't have any roommates. Father doesn't want me to have any. He said people that aren't within our level are thieves and liars, and therefore cannot be trusted."

     So what if she's rich? So what if her mere presence produces glamour to the surrounding? So what if her every step feels like glitters are about to burst out from the floor? Rei never gave much care about her status. She's poor, she knows it, and she's proud of it.