In the morning, I woke up and didn't say a word to Mortimer. He was still sleeping. I didn't even see Tim and Randolph on my way out. In the lounge, I thought I would hear conversations about the graffiti job, but no one had said a word. They all were talking amongst themselves about nothing too scandalous.

I reminded myself it was still early in the morning, and no one had probably been out yet.

As it got closer to breakfast time, people left for the dining hall, and I joined them, hoping they'd see the rec hall on their way, but it was in a different direction. Yet along the marble path, mages of other colored cloaks came walking by, snickering to themselves amidst the Fyrons on their way to the morning meal.

"Why is everyone staring at us and laughing?" I heard one kid say.

"Have you guys seen the message at the rec hall?" a Voltrun yelled.

Many of the Fyrons stopped and looked at the Voltrun, perplexed.

"I'm not saying I wrote it, but I don't disagree." The Voltrun chuckled and rejoined her friends.

Chatter broke out amongst the Fyrons, and nearly everyone agreed to change directions to see the message at the rec hall. As we all approached the building from the side, it could be seen from far away, and I tried my best not to laugh or smile. It felt impossible, but I did it. Walking through the thick trees, we came up to the building.

FYRONS SUCK

Gloriously written in large black letters on the side of the building. In the daylight, it looked much more hilarious. The group of officers and professors standing in shock and whispering to themselves made me laugh all the more on the inside.

It killed me not being able to roar with laughter. My lips were about to come apart at the seams, but I had to keep a straight face. I would've been the only one who thought it was funny. Everyone else gazed at the message, wide-eyed and disturbed. I felt it would be a big deal, but it seemed to bother them more than I thought it would.

Wonderful.

"Anyone have any idea who wrote this?" an older Fyron said at the front of the group.

Silence.

"It has to be a Glacien or an Aquaso, guaranteed," another kid said.

I snorted but was quick to extinguish the laugh and awkwardly exhale.

"I swear, I'm going to destroy whoever wrote that," the same Fyron at the front of the group said.

"It's all right, Albert, we'll settle it on the Dragonstryke field," some kid said.

It was surprising how long the kids stood there, gazing up at the message, wondering who could have written it. I waited for some people to break from the crowd. I didn't want to be the first one to head toward the dining hall. Eventually, a few shook their heads and left, and I followed behind, trying to look as melancholy as them. No one had any idea.

As I entered the dining hall, I searched for the table with Chris and Boris. Sure enough, they were already sitting together with their food tray in front of them. I hurried to the line, got my breakfast, and joined their table. As soon as I sat down, I erupted with laughter.

Boris and Chris joined me and cracked up. Even silent Chris snorted.

"Dude, you guys should have seen the looks on all of the faces on the way here. The Fyrons are so disturbed by it. I take it graffiti doesn't really happen here?" I whispered.

"Not at all. This might be the first time this has ever happened in Attleton history," Boris said.

I stabbed my food, a pyramid made of an egg-like texture with a savory sauce poured over it. It was delicious. "I don't know about you guys, but I kept thinking about other ideas last night. I couldn't really fall asleep."

"Thinking of other ideas?"

"Yeah, like, how are we going to follow up this prank? This little stunt was awesome, but we can keep it going," I said, chomping at my food.

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Boris and Chris looked at each other with uncertainty.

"Why don't we wait for things to blow over with this latest work? I don't think we should follow it up with something so quick," Boris said.

I waved my hand. "You're right. I don't think we should do that either. We can give it some time and let things die down. But I think we should do another prank of some kind. Perhaps aimed at the Fyrons again?"

Boris scanned the cafeteria at his sides without turning his head. "I guess I'm down to exchange ideas. I'd rather wait a week or two, though. If we did another prank so soon, the professors would be on the hunt for the culprits."

I thought about it for a few seconds. "Yeah, yeah, I suppose you're right."

We finished eating our breakfast, mostly in silence. I asked them what I should expect from my first day, and they said I'd probably be working on getting fire sparks out of my hands. Boris held up his hand and had tiny green gusts of wind come out of his fingertips. Chris did the same, but tiny purple bubbles popped out of his fingertips and burst before landing on the table. They both chuckled at me as I stared at them with my jaw dropped.

"Wow! That was amazing!" I said.

"You've never seen something like that before?" Boris shrugged as if what he had just done wasn't incredible. "Anyone and everyone can do this. You can, too. You just have to awaken the power within. I guess that's the tricky part, but you've really never seen anyone do that?"

"You must forget." I wagged my finger. "I'm from the Nomagi World. My hand catching on fire randomly was unheard of. No one had ever seen anything like that, myself included. It was freaky, and I thought something was seriously wrong with me."

"Nah, you're fine. You have Professor Shia, too. She's an excellent teacher. You'll have fun in her class."

A heavenly bell chimed throughout the dining hall. We all turned our attention to the professors' dining room doors to see Principal Pine standing in front of everyone, expressionless.

"I'm sure some of you might be aware of the message painted onto the recreation hall this morning. I just wanted to remind you that such behavior is unacceptable on campus. Since most students enjoy breakfast daily here, the culprits are likely inside, listening to this message. Just know we will get to the bottom of this. If any student has any information on who wrote the message on the side of the rec hall, please inform Counselor Jonathan or me. Not to worry, your identity will be kept secret, and you will receive a reward. Some other announcements: morning classes will resume as normal, and Mage Force Officers are still guarding the campus paths. That is all. Thank you for your attention." Principal Pine turned around and went inside the professors' dining room.

The dining hall chatter resumed.

"I might just turn you guys in to see what this reward is all about," Chris said, and Boris and I snickered. But part of me wasn't sure about Chris, or Boris even. I still felt like I barely knew them.

As we finished breakfast, Boris and Chris left the table before me. I was the last to go, but I didn't mind. Standing up and picking up my empty tray to drop off, Farrah approached me.

"Hey, Rollie, can I talk to you for a moment?"

My heart fluttered, but I stopped and smiled. "Sure, I have about a half hour before class, so you better make it fast," I joked.

Farrah laughed, which was a massive relief. I worried she would miss my sarcasm. I wondered what she wanted to talk about, guilt began to eat away at me. Sure, most of the Fyrons I had met had sucked, but Farrah didn't. Farrah was the exception.

"We can head towards the classroom building and talk if you're really in a rush," Farrah said.

"I'm in no rush, but I do have a class coming up. We can walk and talk, though, if that's okay?"

"Sure."

On our way to the educational building, we walked side by side, closer than I usually would with someone I barely knew.

"Thanks for walking with me," Farrah said and smiled. "I just wanted to tell you how sorry I was about last night at the dinner table. It was disgusting behavior from everyone, and I feel like I didn't do enough to defend you."

I felt it was true, but I didn't want her to feel worse about the situation. "It's all right. I shouldn't have let them get to me so much. I guess I can have thin skin sometimes." I shrugged.

"Just know that you can sit at our table anytime. It was really cool talking to you. I'm intrigued by what football and dirt biking are all about."

"Really? Why?" I looked at her, surprised. "My old world seems so boring compared to this one. I want to know everything about this world. Especially Dragonstryke. Are you involved in Dragonstryke?"

"No, it's not for me. I do like riding a dragon bike, though. But I was never interested in using a dragon bike for sport or hurling fireballs at people. It can be dangerous."

"Football is a tough sport and can also be dangerous. So I'm used to that. I need someone to teach me how to ride a dragon bike, though."

"Oh, well, if you need help, I can show you. It's really not that bad."

"I do have a mentor. I imagined he would probably show me how to do that." I had no idea why I said that. Why did I say that? Why did I say that? Why did I say that?

"Yeah, your mentor should probably be the one to show you that anyways." Farrah laughed about it but seemed disappointed.

"Who knows, maybe he's an idiot and isn't a good person to fly a dragon bike with."

Farrah giggled. "I guess it's possible but probably unlikely. Do you know who your mentor is?"

"Some Winderon named Patrick. Apparently, he's also from the same world where I'm from."

"Oh yeah, Patrick is a brilliant guy. I don't know much about him personally, but he also plays on the Dragonstryke team, and he's pretty good."

"Noted." I nodded. "But even if he can show me a thing or two, it would still be fun to ride around dragon bikes. Where can you even do that anyways?"

"They allow for open flying at the fields on the eastern part of the island. But yeah, that's a great idea. We'll have to do that maybe next weekend?"

"I'd really enjoy that." I beamed.

We arrived at the education building, and Farrah waved at a few friends. "I got to go, but I'll talk to you later, Rollie." Farrah's lip curled up, and she walked away.