---------LEGEND---------
PLAYER/USERNAME
Grace/Lasair
Xia/Genevieve
-------------------------------
The day to go back to school had arrived. Xia's mother drove grandma Jennifer's Ka almost in front of the college before stopping and helping her daughter out as if she was no longer capable of even opening the car door on her own. Being seen in that situation in front of the students who were entering the college made Xia deeply uncomfortable, the only defense she had to avoid demonstrating how being treated as if she was no longer capable of doing anything hurted her was to react in a passive-aggressive way: She responded to her mother's courtesy with a grimace and a nod as she got out of the car.
“Ready for your first day?” Maylin asked her with a smile, “don't move from here when classes are over, if I'm late it's only because I found traffic on the street.”
“Yeah,” Xia said, sighing, “see you later, mom.”
Having said goodbye to her mother, Xia headed towards the door of the Eastern Passage Community College, an institution opened in 2036 and therefore still quite young in its curriculum compared to the others, and this could be seen in the way in which the structure was maintained and furnished with an eye aimed at practicality rather than aesthetics, in some ways it almost reminded Xia of a hospital, and she had had enough bad memories of hospitals as it was.
Xia reached the classroom for her first lesson and made her entrance. She had arrived slightly earlier than the scheduled time for the lesson, and yet, she counted eighteen students already seated inside with their tablets resting on the tables. Some looked up and observed her... Xia felt like everyone was judging her legs, she bowed her head accepting for the umpteenth time that this was her reality, her punishment for having survived an accident that should have killed her by any right. Xia advanced with bowed head to the first free seat available and after a brief maneuver with the crutches she sat down.
Xia had just put her tablet on the table when a young woman in her mid-twenties entered the room; she was wearing a long peach-colored skirt and a white pullover, on her wrist she had a small watch and around her neck she had at least three necklaces of dubious value, made up of wooden spheres and small stones streaked with multiple colors. She wore a pair of small eyeglasses resting on the tip of her nose and her straight blonde hair was tied in a high ponytail with a red elastic band.
The woman placed the bag she was carrying with her on the desk and after having adjusted her clothes as if she had arrived there in a hurry - which one might have suspected given that she was out of breath - she turned her attention towards the class, twenty-five students in all. “Good morning everyone, I'm Professor Zoey Grant and I'll be your 3D art teacher,” she said, smiling at them, “if you have any questions, feel free to interrupt by raising a hand.”
The students waved back, one student raised a hand and after being given the green light to speak, asked, “Professor Grant, will you take us with you when you’ll visit the Jurassic Park?”
A third of the class chuckled
"Ah ah ah. How funny," Zoey sighed, "well! If this was the only question..." The teacher clasped her hands together, “then, let's proceed with the roll call of those present.”
After a few minutes of back and forth between Zoey saying the student's name followed by said student responding with 'present', they got to the first potential absentee of the day, “Grace MacNeil? Grace MacNeil?” the teacher's clear eyes began to probe them all in search of this student.
Of all the people who had been present up to that moment, the only one who seemed too distracted to realize that her turn to answer had probably come was the student who was sitting next to Xia; she had her head bowed watching LotA videos on her smartphone, her face dotted with freckles on her nose and cheeks was partially covered by some long carrot-red curls. She was completely lost in her own personal world.
“Hey… hey, Grace!” Xia whispered trying not to make too much noise, which was difficult given that the room was spacious and with the silence present the acoustics were nothing short of perfect, "I think it's your turn to answer!"
Apparently Xia guessed right since when she called her name Grace's green eyes became clear again, she raised them to look at Xia as if she didn't understand how she knew her name, then she realized what Xia meant and jumped to attention like a spring, "p-present!" she trilled loudly, catching the teacher off guard.
"Oh! G-good,” Zoey said once she realized that Grace was just being a little exuberant, “please, I understand that today is the first day of class and that you all still have memories of the summer holidays, but… ” she waved her hands slightly in mid-air, she seemed like a rather easy-going and peaceful woman, perhaps too much so, she was running the risk of not being respected by her students, “can I ask you to pay attention, please? Not so much for me but for your future.”
“Y-yes, Mrs. Professor, I... I'm sorry”, Grace sat down again, red-faced under the laughter of the other students, but Xia didn't say anything... she was more busy wondering why Grace's way of behaving and the sound of her voice gave her a bizarre sense of déjà vu.
Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.
- - -
By the time the lesson was over Xia had lost count of how many times she had nudged Grace with her elbow to get her to regain her attention, the red headed girl just couldn't find interest in the course even if she had to for her life. In any case, Xia came to the obvious conclusion that whatever the reason for her lack of interest in a course of study which Xia assumed she had chosen herself was a matter that didn't concern her and would cease to concern her completely from the next lesson, since she would have made sure to sit away from Grace so as not to be distracted by her disinterest... if Xia wanted to continue playing with Lasair, her grades had to not fall below A-, because her grandmother was a woman of her word.
Xia waited for most of the students to leave first and only when she was almost alone did she get up and armed with her crutches she left - at her own pace - the classroom, where apparently Grace was waiting for her.
Now that they were both standing Xia was able to get an idea of her height: Grace was about two inches taller than her, which didn't mean she was tall considering Xia was just under five feet six inches tall, however, Xia almost stopped in front of her, lips pursed and in silence.
“Um…” Grace's discomfort was evident. She lowered her head, rubbed the back of her neck, “th-thank you for helping me in class, my mind was elsewhere.”
“I noticed it.”
Grace kept her head bowed, her cheeks flushed in obvious embarrassment. She sank into silence, Xia remained silent. Yup, déjà vu.
“But I don't understand why you chose these courses if you're not interested in them,” Xia said, shrugging her shoulders, “you should think carefully about your choices because I won't always be around you to attract your attention and if you face the year like this you won't get anything else than to be rejected.”
“I-I know,” she muttered softly, with an attitude that almost made it seem like Xia was her mother. This girl would have ended up getting really hurt sooner or later if she had continued to leave her emotions so exposed, in war and in life the best option is always to keep your cards close to your chest, this is also the first rule of war.
Xia sighed, "well, I'm happy to have been of help, but if I stay here any longer I'll be late for my next lesson", she gave her a banal nod by way of farewell.
"Oh! Right! Sorry..." would have Grace ever stopped saying 'sorry'? She was seriously starting to remind Xia of someone. Xia had already walked a few steps away when Grace called her again, "What's your name?"
“Xia, Xia Bennet.”
- - -
The relatively low profile of the city of Halifax loomed before Xia's eyes as her grandmother's Ka zoomed across the MacDonald Bridge to take her home, her first day at college had gone well after all, Xia didn't find it particularly difficult to stay focused on the lesson - first of all because she was a very diligent student, and secondly because she didn't want to be deprived of her virtual reality set - apart from the distraction provided by Grace, who Xia discovered was following exactly the same path as hers and therefore she found herself sharing the same class again.
They were almost at the end of the bridge when Xia's mom decided to add her voice to that of the song playing on the radio, "so... how was your first day?"
"Fine."
“Good, good,” Maylin murmured in response, they reached the end of the bridge and began to enter the city streets of the southern bank, “my day has been terrible, a client today did nothing but talk to me about her children's problems without stopping not even for a second. At a certain point I started to fear that she would have fainted due to lack of breath in front of my eyes!”
“Mmh…” Xia nodded a few times, her eyes fixed on the road.
“When she left I had to take a coffee break and I stood at the window. It's crazy how quickly it gets cold here, I forgot about it!” Maylin said, bringing her eyes to Xia for a moment and smiling at her.
Xia froze, the moment her mom was no longer looking at the road she saw again the accident that killed her aunt and her cousin. Her throat suddenly went dry, “l-look at the fucking road! Not me!”
"Oh! Right!" She immediately looked back out the windshield, her smile already gone, “sorry.”
Xia's heart was pounding in her ears, it took her a few seconds to realize she was digging her nails into the seat, "don't worry, it's... everything's fine..." Xia relaxed her hands, "sorry, sometimes I don't feel completely comfortable inside a car.”
“No, it’s fine, I understand,” Xia already knew what her mom was going to say, and she didn't like it, “if you need to talk about it and get help, I…”
“No need. I'm fine", Xia stated although in her heart she knew she was saying it more to herself than to her mother, "how's things going with grandma?"
Maylin seemed almost surprised by her daughter's sudden interest, given that Xia hadn't shown any until then, "she's getting used to us, I don't think she's ever going to forgive me for not having achieved the perfect life and for having gone to live over a thousand kilometers from home."
It was ironic considering that Xia was now the one who was over a thousand kilometers from home, it's really true when they say that history is not a straight line but a circle. “you made your choices mom, if kids always grow up like their parents wanted we would be less like persons and more like clones.”
“I know what you're thinking,” Maylin said as if she were reading her mind, “and I'm sorry that things turned out this way, but…” she gave Xia an encouraging smile, but didn't take her eyes off the road this time, “I'm sure you'll make some new friends here and have a great life, you already have a new friend if I'm not mistaken. Every now and then when I pass by your room I hear you talking to someone."
“She's a player on LotA,” Xia replied, shrugging, “she's not a real friend.”
"Why not? Can't you make friends online?”
“Don't you know that it's dangerous to give your personal information to strangers online?” Xia raised an eyebrow, “besides, this player for all I know could be playing from San Francisco, or Vancouver, we couldn't become friends over this distance not even if I really wanted to go out of my way to introduce myself and ask her name... heck, I don't even know if she's really a she.”
“Got it, it's just that you seem happy while you play together.”
Xia pursed her lips and muttered something deliberately incomprehensible, she felt almost guilty of having found something that made her feel good and a company that, however unknown and distant it might have been, seemed capable of understanding her. Xia continued to keep her eyes on the road, not admitting that she was eager to get home to eat, study, and then meet up with Lasair for the next expedition into the world of LotA.