The first week passes by with many introduction from teachers, my favorite is my main teacher, Professor Finch. He is a retired knight with a sword given to him by the previous king. They apparently were childhood friends too. He singled me out due to my fight with Edward and how I stressed not overextending. He also liked how I caught the blade, which no one would ever expect in a fight due to how dangerous it is. In reality, if you can stop the blade from moving, you can grip the sharpest part of the blade, but the vice grip is much safer.

Every day after the fight I see Edward shadow fighting, and admit his swordsmanship is elegant and flashy, but a good show won’t win a fight. I notice how he took my advice to heart and see a more balanced stance. I smile, maybe I can teach him a couple things. He focuses too much on swings, when it’s better to stab with a rapier. Claire watches him and encourages him to try his best, I often wonder why she lets him treat her like an item. I think of how I’d treat her, but I get that sharp pain and realize I I guess I still can’t get over Jessica.

On the second week of school I decide to make amends with Edward and try to find common ground with him. On my daily walk from lunch break I see him practicing, so today I decide to approach him.

“You look much better with your extensions and looks like you don’t shift your weight as much.” I say to him.

He recoils in fear that I’m here for another fight and says,” Don’t come any closer, I don’t want any trouble.”

Claire gets up from her usual spot and I say,” Don’t worry I’m here to apologize for breaking your nose, and to fix your style.”

“I don’t want or need your help.” He says in defiance.

“Yet you listened to me about over extending.” I say with a smile.” Another thing you should work on are quick jabs. Rapiers are meant for stabbing, not long arcing swings.”

“I-I know that, it’s just….” He tries to come up with something but is flustered.

“Here, loosen your wrist too.” I say and he flinches when I grab his wrist.” Use your wrist’s range of motion to manipulate the blade, don’t keep it locked.”

Claire is watching as I instruct, her wand ready in case I hurt Edward. I smile at her and then adjust Edwards stance to a more dynamic one. One where is legs are bent more and easier to adjust in a fight. His old stance had him almost straight with no chance to adapt, however it looked cooler to him.

“In a fight, no one cares about how fancy you look, you should focus more on the fight, rather than your appearance.” I say.

He tries another round of shadow boxing and he adds more stabs than swings. I give my nod of approval and he smugly turns his head, obviously his pride doesn’t allow him to like me.

I sigh,” Like it or not, it’s my job to keep Claire safe, and I need all the help I can get. If you can’t beat an unarmed man, then you have no luck against an unknown assailant.”

“I’ll just use my magic, I am the second most powerful mage in our class.” He says.

I pull a knife out from its hidden sheath and ask,” How long does it take to cast a spell? Two seconds? In two seconds you could be dead. That’s why you need to know how to fight without magic.”

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

He gulps and Claire points her wand at me,” Do anything like that again and I will stun your ass.”

I gasp sarcastically,” How very unlady-like of you to swear.” Then I get a book thrown at me which I dodge.” I guess I’ll go then.”

I walk past Ryan and Beth holding hands and laugh at how embarrassed they are about it. They remind me of middle school couples and I chuckle at the thought of them. It reminds me of of my awkwardness with Jessica and how I acted with her. I feel the sadness come over me and wonder if I’ll ever move on.

I make it back to my room and Smokey runs to me,” Play?” he asks me. I shake my head and lay down to study what I learned to do. One answer I learned today was that magic is controlled by the frontal lobe, which is where a mage gets pain if they push themselves too far. It makes sense since I remember learning that the frontal lobe controls a lot of your personality.

I also found one part of the history of Acleirea very interesting since it was the last mult-race war so far. The mad king rallied monsters and humans to try and conquer the other races, which he succeeded in and unified the language. That’s why English is spoken all over the continent, just an old habit I guess. The most interesting part of the story was an unknown hero rising up and rallying the Dragonic and Banrir to rebel against the mad king after a twenty year long tyrannical reign. I’m mostly curious about the unknown hero and wonder why he is the only important figure in history no one knows about.

I found myself with more questions than answers, even asking Professor Fisk, our history teacher, about the hero got me nowhere. I decided to focus more on my ability as a mage, and my failing grade in magic practice. Even for a magic item user I sucked at any type of magic, no idea why, but it made me so frustrated. No matter how much I studied, practiced, or asked questions, I got no where. If it hadn’t been for the fight with Edward, I would probably be the butt of many jokes around here, but I was branded a delinquent and no one messes with me, but that means no one tries to be my friend either.

Smokey whines at the door, which snaps me out of my deep thought and I hear a knock with an accompanying,” Can I come in?” by a female voice.

“It’s unlocked” I say.

The door opens and Claire comes in, I shield myself expecting a book to fly at me. With no projectile being thrown, I lower my arms. She sighs and say,” You idiot, I didn’t come to hurt you. I came to thank you, Edward started treating me better ever since the fight."

I feel relief, and then say," So he learned to let you speak? Good for him."

After an awkward silence she speaks up, “You realize you don't have the best rep here, right? You got into a fight on your first day and you hang around Ryan and Beth who are kinda the weirdos of the school. I remember what you said about wishing more people talked to you at your old school."

“Yeah I can see why the fight was bad, but they really aren’t that weird.” I say.

“Are you kidding? When they are together they can barely function! If they touch hands they fumble and apologize, if anyone says anything related to dating they turn red instantly.” she says," they don't talk to any other people and are always sitting in silence during class."

“Yeah I guess they are kinda awkward, but they are the only ones who talk to me, and I’m thankful for that at least.” I say,” Plus I don’t see anything wrong with the way they act, they know nothing about dating or love.”

“Oh please, love is a made up emotion the lower class made up so they could enjoy their lives.” She says with disdain.

“What did you just say?” I ask feeling anger build up.

“Love is just made up to inspire children to reproduce, it doesn’t exist.” She says confidently.

I move without thinking and corner her. I throw a punch at the wall creating a hole in the wall.” How dare you talk about love that way!” I yell,” You have no idea what losing someone you love feels like!”

She looks up at me towering over her, frightened, and I realise what I just did. Thankfully I had enough control to aim at the wall.”Leave, NOW!” I yell.

She hurriedly leaves with tears welling up in her eyes and I try to calm down.” How could she say that?" I think to myself. My breath is rapid and my blood boiling. I try to calm myself but can’t seem to get over how pissed I was at what she just said.