New Beginnings : Rise of the Darkness

Problematic Friends...and Teachers (Monday Blues Pt. 2)

Janet POV
I was busy preparing for the Skills Exam coming up. I had gone down to the gym on Level Eight to practise dodging. I was super sweaty, but I had improved—I hadn't been hit by more than ten balls in the past five minutes!

Just then, my phone beeped with a text. I read the message—it was from Addie. She had invited me for lunch.

"Unfortunately, I can't go! I have lunch plans with Fang." I rejected her.

Addie immediately responded. "Fang? You mean the hot guy in our grade? Like, one of the three most popular and mysterious boys in school?"

I laughed silently and replied, "Yeah, he's my roommate."

Addie sighed, "Lucky girl...are you dating him?"

I was shocked. "No!"

Addie responded, "Why not? He's so stylish and cute...what I wouldn't give to be his girlfriend! Trust me, Janet, you should go for it with him, or you'll regret it."

I turned off my phone and wondered whether Addie was right. But something in my bag beeped again.

"It can't be Addie again, right?" I cried out loud in frustration, ignoring the people staring at me.

But the object beeping was my RoboPlanner. I quickly cast the picture on a white wall and noticed the time was 0750. The planner was beeping to alert me that my next session was coming up!

I raced to my classroom on Level Nine, thinking about Fang all the way.

Edgar POV
Slightly out of breath, I arrived at unit 6-22. I opened the door and sighed in annoyance. Lady Ispera was still my teacher for Alchemy? "That's what I got for choosing a hated subject with super few teachers," I reprimanded myself.

"Ah, Edgar. Nice to see you again!" Lady Ispera called. Before I could return the greeting, she grabbed me and kissed me on the lips.

She had the worst crush on me—she graduated not long ago and she was 19, whereas I was 17. It was normal for her to feel attracted to someone about her own age, but she kept acting on it. Out of the 124 times people had asked me out, she had asked me 8 times.

She was the only one who wouldn't give up—the other 116 girls I said no to just walked away and cried a bit, but still remained as my fans and supporters. I wasn't looking for a relationship—I just wanted to focus on my studies.

But I had dated some people in the earlier grades. I had one girlfriend I dated from 2nd Grade to the end of 3rd Grade. Then we broke up because she did some seriously inappropriate things to me and I got creeped out.

"Edgar, let's make a potion together." Ispera said and pointed at the two vials in front of us. She quickly listed off some ingredients I had to add in, but as each ingredient was named I got more and more sceptical.

Finally, I told her, "Ispera, do you really think that I don't know these are ingredients for a love potion?"