Trevor finally got some time to practice his breathing technique, but the gains were quite pathetic compared to when he had more time to invest in the method. He only got two more points in 'Energy' and a single one in 'Control'.

Tired, mostly because of the school week starting on the very next day, which meant more hours spent in the library educating himself, or in his safe room, practicing 'Shell', to finally be able to cast the spell, which combined with the classes would consume all of his time.

The only reason it made him feel that way, was the fact he simply had not enough time for the breathing technique, and his incredible progress suffered a major decline.

All he could do was hope for things to change, as he got more used to his new school.

He was thinking about it with a tray in his hand, slowly moving in the line for dinner in the cafeteria.

It was quite noisy there with all the chatter, and his eyes hurt a bit from the bright light since he kept them closed for a long time while meditating, but he was able to ignore all that, drowning in the sea of thoughts.

Since when he witnessed the strange project pursued by Professor Winchester, he couldn't stop thinking about that. It was incomplete, probably barely working with all the mistakes Lena pointed out, but still had such an incredible influence over his magic, that it was moving it in such a violent way. He couldn't help but wonder if it was ever to work properly, how much advancement he could receive by meditating in that space.

He put on some random food on his tray, too busy inside his own mind, to care actually what he was going to eat, and then left, heading to the closest free table he could see.

There first few were occupied just as usual since nobody liked to walk too much if they could avoid that. The ones at the far end were completely empty. He spotted one in the middle, with no people who would annoy him in his current state, and went there only partially registering his surroundings, trying to figure out his schedule, to have at least some time to meditate.

Suddenly, as he was with other people in the close vicinity, something hit his shoulder rather hard, and the tray with food escaped his grasp, landing on the ground, and spilling all the food. He immediately realized it was a guy, who slammed him with his shoulder, as he was passing by.

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The commotion picked the interest of other teenagers, and the one responsible for the accident chuckled, not stopping at all. Trevor turned around and quickly recognized the person by the hair as Duncan Esthose.

Images of Billy and Joe flashed through his head, and he had this strange urge, to pick up the tray, and slam Duncan with it in the head, but then he realized it would only bring up more problems. He made a mistake once with pushing where there was no need for it, and now he really wanted to be more careful, so he just suppressed his anger.

He had to go and ask the workers to get him some tissues, and a mop, to clean up the mess, which caused some of the students to watch him with annoying smiles on their faces.

As he was almost finished, Duncan showed up again, seemingly just passing by.

- Get used to it. The trash from the third is only good for cleaning up - he said.

Trevor glared at him like he wanted to burn a hole in the young man with just his eyes. His magic responded, flowing to his hands, but he didn't cast flare. He managed to get a hold of himself, as a plan of revenge emerged from his angry thoughts.

There was a way to show Duncan his place without a fistfight in the cafeteria. All he needed to do was get strong enough, abuse the way things were thought in defense against magical arts classes, and kick his ass.

As he realized that, a nasty smirk showed on his face. Then he went back to the line, to get his food again, and this time he even got to eat it.

Then he returned back to his room, full of energy, because he had a clear goal in mind to pursue, which railed him up.

On his way, he noticed that some students were already looking at him weirdly. News had to spread fast. The connection to what happened in the cafeteria was quite obvious. It made him think that they thought he was weak and could be pushed around.

For Trevor, it was quite funny, because those same people were trembling with fear in front of Lena, but he didn't want her to become his bodyguard. He had too much pride for that. So as soon as he returned to his room, he just closed himself in the safe room and began practicing casting the 'Shell' spell.

When his energy was completely gone, he sat down and began meditation, then got up, and returned to casting.

It was weird, but he could see the progress that he was making quite clear, as both halves of the circle were getting closer and closer to connecting. His focus remained concentrated on the goal, so he didn't realize how fast the time was flowing until the halves finally connected, creating a full circle.

The spell was cast, and a semitranslucent blue buckler appeared in front of him, just to vanish a moment later. He was out of energy to support it for a longer time

The success made him ecstatic, but also take a peek at his phone, to check the time. It was almost morning. He immediately felt how tired he was, so he decided to get some sleep before school began.

On his way to the bed, he quickly checked his status and learned that his 'Energy' increased by 1 and 'Control' by a whole 7. It was a surprising development, and he would normally feel way happier, but at that moment, he was just too tired, so he went to bed.