Chapter 5 CHAPTER 005
Asher doesn’t know what he was expecting when he arrived at the academy’s cafeteria, but it’s louder than he expected.
The cafeteria is huge, with long rows of tables stretching across the room. Students from different elements sit together in clusters, their uniforms creating patches of color everywhere, such as reds for Fire, greens for Earth, blue for Water, and flashes of yellow for Lightning.
There are no ice elementals or a bench for them in sight. Guess they eat in a different cafeteria too, but does that mean they are also mixed with other elements or is it just them? Because this cafeteria looks like it has all the students of the academy in it, except for Ice students.
The sound of voices bouncing off the high ceiling makes Asher’s skin crawl, plates clatter, and loud laughter comes from every part of the room. For a moment, Asher just stands near the entrance holding his tray, unsure where he should sit.
Back home, lunch was quiet. His family rarely spoke at the table unless it was to tell him to be careful with his curse or to remind him not to embarrass them or burn their house down again.
Asher exhales a sigh. Perhaps he should go find a lonely place to sit. He almost turns to leave when he hears a familiar voice calling for him.
“Asher, over here!”
Asher looks up to see Ori waving from a table near the windows with Kaelen sitting beside him, eating quietly. Asher swallows the lump in his throat and walks over slowly and sits down across from them.
“Hey,” Ori says with a small smile, adjusting his glasses at the bridge of his nose cutely. “First class survived you?”
Asher nods slowly. “I think so.” Comes his quiet reply. He can still feel shame burning through his being, knowing he scared his teacher. Rase might have been there to ease him up, but Asher still felt miserable and learned nothing.
Kaelen glances up from his food. “Breathing control?”
Asher nods again. “Yeah.”
Ori adjusts his glasses again. “I heard every fire elemental hates that class at first. Rase always complains of how boring it is, but he never seems to pass and repeats it each year. This is his third year,” he whispers the last part of his sentence as if he’s sharing a world secret.
Asher doesn’t realize it when he smiles, but it vanishes from his face a second later, just in time as the thick book suddenly lands on the table in front of Ori, who jerks, startled.
Asher looks up as Ori and Kaeleen find four fire elemental students standing over their table. Asher notices that they’re bigger than most of the other students in the room, their jackets flying open and their expressions full of arrogance as if they are in control of everything.
The tallest one of them leans towards Ori, hovering over him with his bigger body and height, while Ori leans back.
“That’s the homework for tomorrow,” he says, nodding toward the book. “I want it done tonight. Just like last time, do you understand, water boy?”
Asher looks at Ori’s expression as it morphs to fear and anxiety. He looks like he’s about to shit his pants as he nods eagerly. Asher feels heat rising slowly under his skin as he clenches his hand at the top of his lap, watching the scene. But, then the tall boy averts his gaze to Asher, and his lips stretch into a smile.
“Oh, you’re the new guy everyone’s talking about.” He leaves Ori’s side and approaches Asher. He takes the empty space beside him and suddenly throws an arm around Asher’s shoulders.
Asher clenches his hands even tighter to keep himself from heating up like last time. If he had at least learned something about his breathing control, he would have at least known what to do, but instead, he hollered in self-pity throughout the class and now, he feels like burning up from a mere touch.
“You shouldn’t be sitting with them,” he starts, nodding toward Ori and Kaelen. “You’re a Fire Elemental. You should sit with your own kind. And we are the best Fire students in the whole academy. If you join us, you’ll have people watching your back.”
Asher stops himself from grimacing. Slowly, he removes the boy’s arm from his shoulders. “I’m fine here,” he says quietly.
Instantly, all forms of playfulness vanish from the boy’s eyes as he slams his palm on the table and rises to his feet. “How dare you reject my offer? You have no idea what you are dealing with, do you, new boy?” he growls, poking at Asher’s chest as he speaks.
Asher looks at him with hardened eyes, not ready to be bullied when he’s barely a week old in the academy, but before he can say anything, a loud thud echoes in the hall while the boy groans in pain, his hand going to the back of his head where he was hit.
“Who dares?!” he growls loudly, turning sharply.
Asher’s eyes move away from the basketball that hit the bully to the one who threw it, and his breath catches in his throat at the sight.
It’s a group of Ice students standing a few feet away; five of them and Asher’s blue-haired boy stand in the middle, looking completely relaxed, with one hand tucked casually into his pocket.
Xavi. Asher remembers his name.
He notices how the loud voices in the cafeteria have died down, and everyone is staring.
“Oops,” Xavi says lazily, with a small mischievous smile on his lips that shows that he feels no remorse for hitting the other boy with the ball.
“What the hell was that?” the taller bully snaps.
Xavi tilts his head slightly, looking more amused than offended. “It looked like you were having trouble finding your size; thought I’d help,” he shrugs, and the other Ice students behind him chuckle.
The Fire bullies step forward. “You looking for a fight, Ice boy?”
Xavi shrugs. “Not really.” Then he gestures lightly toward the table where Asher is seated. “But if you’re going to pick on smaller groups during lunch…” his eyes flick briefly toward Asher before looking away. “…you should probably choose someone your own size.”
The tallest bully spits. “It’s pointless having a fight with you when we can’t touch. Fuck you, Ice boy,” he grabs the balls and throws them at Xavi, who catches it effortlessly and he shoves two middle fingers in front of him before walking off with his friends.
Xavi looks up from the ball and his blue locks on Asher’s crimson and then he winks.
A quick, careless wink and just like that, he turns and walks away with the other Ice students, and there goes Asher’s heart, beating faster again.
As soon as the ice students walk out of the cafeteria, it erupts with voices again, almost all of them wondering what the hell just happened.
Asher stares at the table for a moment, trying to calm the strange heat building in his chest until Kaeleen speaks.
“Well, that was unexpected.”
Ori immediately leans back slightly in his chair to whisper. “That was Xavi Vael.”
Asher swallows and nods. He knows the blue-haired boy; they met.
“He’s one of the Ice elites; powerful, popular, and completely out of control. He has an awful reputation of being a playboy, and despite being forbidden from entering here because of the fire and ice rule, he still comes here. He breaks rules for fun and has slept with almost everyone in the academy except for fire elementals, of course; they are off limits.” Kaeleen explains and then tilts his head with a wondering look. “He has never helped anyone being bullied before. I wonder why he chose to help us.”
Asher doesn't say anything but for some reason, he thinks he knows the reason why.