A cold breeze blew across the city. The sky was a deep shade of grey, with clouds that seemed to stretch on forever. Every now and then, droplets of water kept dropping from the sky.
A bird was chirping on the window of a small apartment, its melodic voice resounding across the street, but someone wasn't having it. A young man was snuggled up inside his blanket, trying to escape the chill of the morning. But as time ticked by, he couldn't take it anymore.
"Fu*k off!"
he screamed, and the bird flew away. He dragged his unwilling body out of bed and stood there for a couple of seconds, trying to shake off the sleep. Before he knew it, he had fallen back onto the bed.
Thud...
"Dam! I'm so sleepy".....he mumbled to himself, tilting his head to the side. His eyes fell on the clock on top of his drawer.
"Mmmhh..."
"Sh*t!"
His eyes went wide instantly. He sprang to his feet and dashed towards the bathroom.
"Don't tell me that good-for-nothing is still asleep!"....A middle-aged man was sitting on a sofa, wearing a red suit. His face didn't look good for some reason.
"I am going to kill that brat"...he muttered under his breath as he stood up from the sofa.
"Dad, I'm here!" A cheerful voice of a girl interrupted him.
"How do I look, Dad?"....she asked, her eyes full of expectation.
A smile appeared on the father's face. "You are always beautiful, dear,"....he said with a smile.
"Yeah, Dad, you're the best!"...She quickly hugged her father.
"Now, where is that ill brat and why isn't he here yet? We're already running late!"...Uncle Barrett said, scanning the place, trying to find him.
Crack!...
A cracking noise came from the door, and a head slowly peeked out.
"Aiiii... someone is already missing me this early morning..." Rhydan said lazily.
"You... I'm going to kill you!"...Uncle Barrett erupted in anger.
"Dad, don't let him annoy you this morning. Let's leave him behind," Kate said before turning to leave. An interesting idea popped into her head....."Why don't we have him run to the academy as a punishment?"
Uncle Barrett smiled. "Perfect. And don't even dare take a bus. Make sure you get to the academy before me, or we reach there at the same time," he said before disappearing with Kate.
"Sh*t!... I am dead".
Rhydan quickly went into his room, grabbed his bag, and dashed out through the back door, taking the shortest route he knew. He continued to dash through the crowd like a crazy person, and people often turned to give him odd looks.
One hour later, a car came to a stop in front of the academy gate. The door opened, and a beautiful young girl stepped out of the car.
"Bye, Dad, see you in the evening"... Kate said goodbye to her father before going into the academy.
Thirty minutes later, a guy came running like a lunatic and pulled his brakes in front of the academy gate. Rhydan felt like collapsing right now, but he held onto himself. He knew his evil uncle was somewhere close, watching him.
"You're thirty minutes late..."
And soon enough, A voice echoed in his ears.
"What the heck?" Rhydan was startled. "Do you expect me to be faster than a car?!" he shouted. He was pissed off by the wird looks people had been giving him all along, and coupled with the exhaustion from running all the way.
He looked around, trying to find his uncle's exact location, but alas, he couldn't find him.
"You should by now, if not that you've been fooling around..."
"As if..."
Rhydan snorted before passing through the academy gate. The academy guards continued to give him odd looks as he continued talking to himself.
Rhydan saw that the instructor was already in the classroom. He was late, and today was his first time at Riverstone Magic Academy. His plans of making a flashy entrance had been destroyed by his uncle. He just hoped he wouldn't get on the bad side of the instructor. He walked into the classroom with a smile on his face and gave the instructor a slight bow.
"Who are you?!" The instructor asked.
But before Rhydan could take any further steps, his fears came true. He stopped in his tracks and faced the instructor.
"Umm... I'm Rhydan Rhys," he answered politely.
"Are you supposed to be in this class?"
"Yes, sir."
The instructor glanced at his wristwatch and then back at Rhydan. "Get out," the instructor said while pointing towards the door.
Puuffff!
At the corner of the classroom, someone was struggling to control her laughter. Kate knew very well that Rhydan would be going crazy right now.
Rhydan just gave her a look with a weird smile on his face before exiting the classroom.
"If you take your future seriously, you won't be coming late. Let this stand as a warning to anyone who plans on coming late to my class next time," the instructor said audibly, making sure everyone was hearing him, including Rhydan, who had just stepped out of the classroom.
Rhydan paused after hearing the instructor, but didn't turn to look at him. He was indeed angry, but not with the instructor — he was angry with his uncle. He wasn't worried that he missed a class. He knew very well that this was just a freshman class, and nothing serious would be taught today.
Instead of dwelling on meaningless issues, Rhydan went toward the cafeteria to grab something to eat. He was really hungry after running all the way from home to the academy. He couldn't help but curse his uncle whenever he remembered the weird looks people had been giving him after running like a crazy person through the streets.
Rhydan walked into the cafeteria, went ahead and ordered what he wanted, then took his seat in the hall. The cafeteria was a huge hall with chairs and tables arranged in lines for students. It was more like a restaurant, but much bigger.
As Rhydan was waiting for his food to be served, he tilted his head to the side, and his eyes fell on four figures sitting at a table not far from his. A guy with brown hair and a white long-sleeve shirt was sitting with a girl at his right side and two other guys eating calmly by his other side. The guy himself looked like a gentleman, but what he was currently doing was the opposite of his appearance. This guy was someone from one of the influential families in the city. His name was Tavian Lucas.
His hand was currently inside the shirt of the girl sitting next to him as he gently fondled her breasts, without a care in the world who was watching. Taking a closer look, the girl didn't seem to be enjoying it at all. She was uncomfortable and seemed to be trying to resist his advances. It seemed she was being groped in broad daylight, and no one was saying anything. This made Rhydan furrow his brows in confusion. It seemed he was invisible to everyone, or more like they were scared of looking at him. The two guys eating by his sides were obviously his lackeys.
"What the hell is he doing?!"...
Rhydan screamed in his mind, irritation plastered all over his face. He was already pissed by his uncle and the instructor this morning, and now someone had to be doing such a shameless act in front of him. He really felt like killing the fellow right now, but he knew that wasn't possible.
Rhydan continued to stare at the guy with a crazy look on his face. Soon, the guy felt someone staring at him. He raised his head, and his eyes met Rhydan's gaze, but he didn't look away. This surprised the guy even more.
"Oh! Someone's looking"...he said with a smile. "Hey! You like what you're seeing, right? Would you like to give it a try?".. Tavian said casually.
Rhydan shook his head with a mocking smile on his face and spat on the floor in disgust.
Tavian's face turned ugly instantly.
And at this moment, Rhydan's food was served. He had just ordered a simple fried rice and a can of soda. It wasn't yet time for lunch break, so anything you ate in the cafeteria at this hour you would have to pay for, and yup, Rhydan was one broke guy, so he can only afford this much.
"Someone wants to be a hero... hahaha... hahaha..." Tavian laughed. The laughter attracted some people's attention. They could sense that something was about to go down, but none dared to stare. They only continued to sneak glances at them from time to time.
Tavian calmly nodded his head, signaling the two guys sitting on his side. They stood up and began to walk toward Rhydan with deadly looks in their eyes.