MesonHill’s Anem

Chapter 3: What could be

Tuesday morning arrived in a flash. Celeste had forgotten about the incident on Sunday evening and had slept much better with the excitement of meeting people who might've finally provided her with a chance to bring back magic. She had been waiting her whole life for this moment. 

Celeste couldn't wait to get out of her room and go down to the common room to see Fawn again. She jumped out of bed, ripped open the curtains, rapidly threw on her uniform, and skipped out of her room and down the hall. She had no idea what time it was; she just hoped it was early enough for her to catch Fawn in the common room. 

Luckily for Celeste, when she arrived at the entrance of the common room, Fawn was sat comfortably on the sofa. She was vaguely watching the television, whilst chatting to Beck. Celeste rounded the sofa, and Fawn, on hearing her footsteps, turned around to see who it was. 

"Good morning!" Fawn smiled, patting the sofa beside her. "Sit down, we don't bite." 

Celeste planted herself on the edge of the sofa. She made sure to sit a fair distance from Fawn; not knowing how close was too close at this point in their developing friendship. 

"Beck, you know Celeste right?" Fawn asked Beck with a giddy smile. 

Celeste's eyes shifted to examine Beck. She had a vague idea of who Beck was. She knew he and Fawn were practically joint at the hip and anytime one of them went somewhere, you could guarantee the other would go too. However, Celeste soon realised that she had never paid enough attention to him before to notice the strawberry blonde (with a hint of ginger) hair on his head and the many freckles scattered across his cheeks and nose. He gave Celeste a sweet smile and its corners reached his deep, brown eyes. 

"Hi!" He started, "Fawn was just talking about you, actually. She was saying that you're a lot cooler than people say you are. Well, Jaxon, specifically." He had a soft tone to his voice, which was very welcoming, though the latter half of his announcement had a sarcastic undertone. 

Celeste looked over to Fawn, who was giving Beck a playful punch on his shoulder. It was as if she was telling him to stop making it sound like she was saying bad things about Celeste. But, Celeste knew Beck was only joking. Well, that's what she hoped, anyway. 

"Well, she's not too bad herself." Celeste giggled, along with the other two. 

Beck didn't seem as outgoing as Fawn. Fawn was loud and bubbly, whereas Beck appeared to be much more reserved: much more like Celeste, actually. She thought that could be a good thing. She would have someone else to keep order, along with herself. The only issue was that Beck seemed more the type of reserved where getting into trouble was f*******n and change wasn't something that was welcomed. That, Celeste was afraid of. 

"Celeste, tell me a bit about being an Anem. Fawn was explaining to me what you told her last night, but you know how she is. She waffles on a bit and I tend to doze off when she talks." He laughed at his remark. Beck's taunting showed Celeste that there was clearly a flirty relationship between Beck and Fawn, but she didn't want to question it just yet. "Maybe you could explain it a bit more interestingly."

Celeste agreed to Beck's suggestion and went on to talk about what she had told Fawn, the night before. It was amazing the way she really emerged from her shell when she talked about magic. She was in her element. 

Beck was listening as intently as Fawn had done the previous night, and Fawn still appeared as interested in hearing about it a second time. Finally, someone her age was as interested in Zirkyan magic as she was. 

"I hate to stop the fun, but we should probably head down for some breakfast before it's over,"

Fawn added. 

Celeste and Beck nodded in agreement, and three of them exited the common room and advanced to the canteen in the main hall. 

MesonHill wasn't the largest boarding school in Britain, so it wasn't a hard place to navigate. There were around 150 students in each year, and there were seven years. Most British schools had seven years, but their years consisted more of around 300 students. Therefore, MesonHill's grounds weren't as extensive as others, which was strange, considering it was a public school. But, the option to stay at MesonHill or to commute from your own home allowed for less of a need for dorms. 

The main hall was only a short walk from the Jade common room, but due to the drawn-out chat Celeste, Beck and Fawn had that morning, the hall was already mostly full when they entered. Luckily for them, Fawn's other friends had already saved a table, so they started over to the breakfast buffet to fill their plates whilst their seats were being kept warm. 

Celeste added considerably less food to her plate that day than the previous one. She picked up two slices of bread and put them in the toaster. After about one minute, the toaster pinged, and she picked out the toast carefully and started buttering it with a knife.

"Celeste that is the perfect slice of toast!" Fawn exclaimed. "That's exactly how I like mine. It's basically still bread, but crispy. I just always leave mine in the toaster too long, but you've clearly mastered the art." 

Celeste looked down towards her plate at the toast, which was a wonderful golden shade. It wasn’t too charred and it wasn't still bread. Fawn was right, it was the perfect piece of toast. 

"Do you smother yours in butter too?" Asked Celeste. Fawn produced a huge grin and nodded enthusiastically in response. 

Once the three of them had filled their plates with the food that they desired, they headed over to the table which was already occupied by Fawn's friends, Axel and Aria. Celeste dropped back slightly, ensuring that nobody had noticed, and tapped Fawn on the shoulder. 

"Are you sure it's alright for me to sit with you?" She asked Fawn. Fawn looked at her with a sympathetic, pitiful look as if she was a lost puppy. 

"Of course it is! Don't worry, they're going to love you. I know that Beck already does." She assured her and then turned back around to head to the table. 

They arrived at the table and placed their trays of food down, then took their places on different seats. Celeste had positioned herself in between Beck and Fawn, so it was less awkward for her. 

She looked over at Aria, who was giving a cold glare in her direction, and quickly darted  her eyes elsewhere when they fell on Axel. He didn't seem to be fussed that someone new was sat at the table. He leant back in his chair, running his fingers through his blonde, messy undercut. 

"Right then, let's address the elephant in the room, shall we?" Aria said harshly. 

Axel looked up and shook his head as if he had been stuck in a daydream. He had only just noticed someone new was sat at the table when he looked over to Celeste and gave her a sweet, welcoming smile. She returned it. 

"Yeah, this is Celeste, who I'm sure you know from detention yesterday. She's really cool and nothing like Jaxon makes her out to be." Fawn placed her hand on Celeste's shoulder, giving it a reassuring squeeze. 

"Celeste" Axel said, leaving a long pause. He swayed his finger around, but never quite focused his attention on her "that's quite a mouthful. I think we should call you... Cely." His finger landed, pointing at Celeste and she couldn't help but laugh at his playful, taunting manner. 

"I like it" she exclaimed, letting out a giggle. The others laughed too and agreed that this should be the name people called her. 

Aria, however, didn't share their amusement but why should Celeste have let Aria’s opinion trouble her. She didn’t even know her. Beck swiftly changed the subject by beginning to explain Celeste's story of magic and it was extremely satisfying for her to sit back and watch other people be as interested in the cause as her.

"Wait, so do you know where to find the stone?" Axel asked, directing his question at Celeste.

"Yeah, there's actually a lot of books in the library that, if anyone cared to read them, they could probably achieve world domination." She joked in response, but it was quite true. There were books on everything from becoming the most successful business person, to getting away with murder. 

"World domination, ay? I like the sound of that!" Axel replied with a smirk. 

Axel had seemed to have taken a liking to Celeste. Whenever she made a joke, he would laugh a little louder than the rest of the group. And, whenever she spoke, he didn't shift his gaze away from her. Celeste was glad that she could sense that Axel liked her as it put her more at ease, since she knew that at least one person at that table liked her. 

"Guys, do we all have a free period next?" Fawn asked. Everyone except for Aria nodded. 

Celeste was quite happy that Aria wouldn't be there for the next hour. She had been making her feel uncomfortable all the while she was sat there, so it would've been nice for her to be able to relax when she was gone. 

Almost on cue, the bell rang, signalling the first period, so Aria got up from the table, and headed in Jaxon's direction. She linked her arm around his, as they strutted out of the hall. 

The next hour was spent discussing more to do with magic, but mostly just the four new friends messing around and having fun.

"Cely, can you catch this grape in your mouth?" Axel shouted from halfway across the room, as he'd ran to, what was left of, the breakfast buffet to fetch a bunch of grapes. 

"I'll have a go!" She laughed. 

She stood from the table and faced Axel. He launched the grape, with a sort of basketball toss, and Celeste watched it carefully as it flew through the air. As it came closer, she moved left, then right, then left, then right to determine its direction. Finally, it was within inches of her, so she opened her mouth wide, in hopes of catching the grape. 

"Goaalllll!" Axel shouted as the grape landed straight into Celeste's mouth. She gripped the grape between her teeth and turned around to present it to Beck and Fawn for approval. 

"That was brilliant, Cely. I've never been able to catch one from that far away before!" Beck beamed. He seemed majorly impressed by Celeste's amazing catch. Fawn was impressed too, so much so that she volunteered herself to have a go.

"Alright, Fawn." Axel said, "Stand over there, and I'll throw it to you. You ready? Three, two, one, go." 

On Axel's cue, he fired the next grape into the air. Fawn was stumbling left and right, with her eyes locked on the grape. Celeste and Beck were cheering Fawn on from the table as they chanted her name. The grape came soaring down, and landed on Fawn's teeth, but it bounced back out of her mouth and hit the ground. 

"Touché, Cely. You win." She gave Celeste a sarcastic frown, which soon turned into a huge laugh when the others started booing at her. 

The group returned to their table, after the grape catching Olympic competition. Axel sat, fiddling with his fork and twirling it around in his fingers when he suddenly slammed it down. 

"Guys, I have just had the best idea." He announced. 

Celeste, Fawn and Beck all jumped at the sudden clink of the stainless steel on the table, and all of them diverted their attention to Axel. 

"We should go to France, and find the Zirkyan stone." He continued. 

Beck and Fawn were both taken aback at such an outrageous idea, but Celeste's hopes were raised. This was what she was hoping for. It was the only reason she was even sat at that table with them. If it wasn't for her ulterior motives, she would most likely be in the library reading her way through more books or completing more homework. 

"What? Are you joking?" Beck said. "That's absurd." 

Celeste was slightly offended that Beck didn't like the idea, as he'd clearly shown interest in Zirkyan magic before when explaining how it could be brought back, earlier that morning. 

"Why's it such a bad idea? I don't think it is." Celeste said as politely as possible. 

"See!" Axel said, nodding at Celeste "As I see it, that stone's either in that building in France, and we achieve a b****y heck of a lot from going there to find it. Or,  it's not there, and we just have a b****y good time on holiday, instead." He crossed his arms, leaned back in his chair, and lifted his feet to rest on the table. 

Fawn and Beck looked at each other with furrowed brows. 'Maybe, they might actually consider it' Celeste thought to herself. Axel was right. They had no idea if the Zirkyan stone was going to be there, or not, but Celeste was certainly willing to find out. 

"You know," said Fawn "you might have a point." She looked over to Beck, directly aiming her explanation at him. "If there is the possibility that the Zirkyan stone is there, there is a whole new world of opportunities for us. We all hate this school. We could get out of here! Just the five of us, living in a beach town somewhere and soaking up the sun in the summer months. That's what we could be! But, only if we find that stone." 

Beck had perked up, as Fawn relayed her idea on the situation. His eyes glistened, as he thought of a life where he could spend all of the time in the world with the people that meant the most to him. 

 "And, as Axel said." Fawn continued, "If it's not there, we'll have the best time on holiday, as a bunch of mates." She gave Beck a nudge with her elbow, hoping that the gesture might've made him more open to the idea. It appeared to have worked. 

"Oh, alright. But, you're gonna have to have every fine detail sorted on how we can do this discreetly to get me fully on board. Oh, and good luck trying to convince Aria. Glad I don't have the job of doing that." He looked directly at Axel, who rolled his eyes, knowing it was his job to try and convince Aria to come.

And, at that very moment, Aria walked through the main hall doors.