Nend Ardhon Chronicles - Complete

Chapter 32 – Drezara’s friends or rivals?

During recess at Paullu’s School, he arrived at his usual spot at the back of the Gym under a tall plant, where a game of Bane Dagnir was going to start, right above him.

As Paullu was about to seat on the floor, he felt the movement of the water at his right side and when he looked, a group of five females were near him, all them bearing a huge smile. Paullu got up again and looked at his classmates, wondering what they wanted. A light green female approached and asked, a little worried:

- “Paullu, I… I mean, we all thought if you could help us after School. We are having some problems with mathematical calculations and if you could help us, it… would mean a lot to me… I mean, to us! Yeah, to us, because we all need your help!”

Paullu scratched his head and looked up, attracted by a shout from a player above and looked at his bright red female classmate again, trying to remember her name:

- “Sozi Shield … Well, I suppose, but I was going to study with Drezara after School, and I don’t know if it would be appropriate or not for me to join you all, considering that my girlfriend is expecting me.”

The light green female gulped and after one of her friends elbowed her, she stuttered:

- “Yeah… I don’t see the problem with that… you would be helping a group of friends… classmates, I mean! I mean, we are all your friends, right? Considering we are in the same class and all…”

- “Yeah, but why up until now neither of you even talked to me, Sozi? We are classmates for quite some time, but none of you spoke with me about help or anything!”

Sozi Shield quickly nodded:

- “You are right, but… it's only because you always rush out of class before any of us could say a thing! And after school, you go straight home, and you never hang out with anyone!”

- “Yeah, sorry about that, Sozi. It’s just, I don’t have much free time, I always have to go meet my sister to go home. I also help her out with her training, and I train a lot or help my mother at her Clinic. I always have trouble managing time to be… around other Water-Dragons… and… I also don’t like to be surrounded by so many people, I would rather be alone with my books and my studies. I suppose you might think I am a little rude, but I don’t do it on purpose!”

From their backs, a familiar voice spoke:

- “Yeah, but you are rude, and distracted, and you don’t even think about other people’s feelings! You are a very lousy friend. As a boyfriend you are not so bad, but as a friend, you are indeed a disgrace!”

The group of females looked back, and Drezara quickly swam between them and poked Paullu’s nose, with a huge smile. He tilted his head wondering why she said something like that, and she poked his nose again:

- “Remember the signal I told you about that I was going to do when I am joking? Geez, at least make an effort to remember what I say!”

Paullu slowly nodded:

- “Yeah, now I remember, you said you were going to poke my nose to show me you were joking! You mean I am being a bad friend if I don’t help them with their studies? But what about you? You also need help, remember?”

- “I think I can give you some slack. You need to be with your friends, remember? You can’t always be with me, you must also learn how to deal with other people! Unless…”

Drezara turned to look at the light green female and tilted her head:

- “Unless all this was just an elaborated plan for you to be with my boyfriend, and that’s a really bad thing to do. Paullu is not the quickest one to figure out if someone is making plans to take advantage of his goodwill, but he tends to overreact and to be very angry when he founds out someone is making a fool out of him!”

- “No, I… I mean… us… I mean, we just…”

Drezara made a slight smile:

- “I get it, he is very interesting and rather pretty, but why none of you tried to approach him and learn a bit more about him before we start dating? He is not that scary!”

Sozi Shield vigorously shook her head:

- “No! He is not scary! We all think he is… very cool… and… sorry, I guess we were all stunned by him and… but if he is your boyfriend I understand if you are angry and… yeah…”

Drezara shrugged:

- “Not that I am angry, sad would be a better word for what I am feeling right now. Sad for you, I mean. You are his classmate, you had plenty of time since he started attending this School, but you, I mean, neither of you girls, tried to approach him. I know he is somewhat distant and that makes him look cool, but none of you tried to figure out why he is like that or even talked with him before today?”

- “We… I mean… I thought about talking with him since School started, but I could never gather the courage for that. He is… too different from every young male in this School, it’s kind of… difficult to figure out how to approach him…”

Drezara winked one eye towards the baffled boyfriend at her side:

- “Yeah, I always watched him from afar for these last Tides, and I had to broke one arm to gather my courage. I knew him before he started to attend this School, because when I was very young, I always saw him training in his back garden with his father and sister, on my way to my Private School. I was surprised when he entered this School and I couldn’t manage to gather the courage to talk to him. But unlike you, I didn’t try to make out some kind of plan to approach him, it kind of happened and I took advantage of it, and told him what I wanted, straight to his face. I am still surprised, but it actually worked.”

Sozi Shield looked down and slowly nodded. Paullu was staring for quite some time to a female at the back, and when the silence was becoming too uncomfortable, he pointed at her and asked:

- “Drezara, why is she back there? Wasn’t her the one that punched you yesterday, inside that bathroom?”

- “Yeah, it's her shift, right now. Remember what you said to the ones that attacked me yesterday? That they had to do everything to make sure nothing happened to me? They more or less made a schedule, so that I am always with one of them working as my bodyguard.”

The dark green female stuttered:

- “Yes… I… want to apologise for what I did… I already said it to Drezara…”

Paullu turned to look to his classmates while answering:

- “I don’t care less if you apologise to me or not. As long as you apologized to Drezara, it’s fine by me, but I would prefer it if you never spoke to me again, I don’t like to waste my time.”

The dark green female slowly nodded in silence and Drezara frowned at Paullu:

- “We need to have a very serious talk about your manners, you brat! That’s not a very polite way to talk to a female, no matter what she did. I bet your mother would be very angry if I tell her what you just said.”

- “You wouldn’t…”

Drezara approached Paullu’s face and spoke:

- “Just try me! If needed, I can ask Byia to help me in giving you a good old beating. It seems I must teach you how to treat females, and if you are stubborn, it will hurt a lot. Now, say ‘yes, Drezara’ and apologise to my bodyguard.”

Paullu jolted at Drezara’s serious face and answered while bowing to the dark green female:

- “Yes, Drezara! I also ask for your forgiveness, it was indeed rude of me, and you are already being punished, there was no need for me to say something like that.”

Drezara’s bodyguard quickly nodded, and Paullu’s classmates burst in laughter. Sozi Shield made a huge effort to stop laughing and answered the surprised young male in front of her:

- “I am sorry, Paullu, but it was funny! I guess none of us was expecting that your girlfriend ordered you around like that. It also makes you look more… friendly, I guess?”

Sozi Shield looked at her classmates, and they all agreed with her and made a few jokes about it, calling Paullu a nice guy instead of the absent-minded he always seemed to be. Drezara gave him a quick kiss and pointed up:

- “Now, if you excuse me, my teammates are waiting. Our rivals are up there, looking at me with angry faces. As usual, they don’t like to see me near you.”

Sozi Shield asked before Drezara swam up:

- “But… you are not afraid? I know you are a good player, but lately, you are more like a target! I always see you being punished way more than your teammates!”

- “Yeah, and while they are trying to get me, my team wins. We need to train a lot because the Regionals are coming, and my team is one of the best.”

Sozi Shield glanced at the other team and saw them looking at Drezara and whispering, and she asked:

- “They seem to be making a plan to get you. Aren’t you afraid of getting hurt?”

- “Not really. Unlike them that only have one masseuse in their team, I have an amazing Healer at my disposal.”

Drezara slapped Paullu’s head with her tail, making him avert his eyes from the group of females above, that were waving at him:

- “Wake up, already! I am counting on you to help me if I get hurt! And judging by the way those girls are looking, they will hurt me a lot!”

- “Ouch! Alright, I am here if you need me, geez! But if you know they are going to hurt you, why do you still want to go play?”

Drezara pointed with her left thumb claw while talking to Sozi Shield:

- “Can you believe this guy? I just told why I need to train! Sometimes I don’t know what I am going to do with him! Well, goodbye then, please make sure he doesn’t wander off to somewhere else, I bet I am going to break an arm or a leg!”

Drezara quickly swam up, joining her team and going straight to her position in the middle of the field, leaving behind a dumbfounded group of females and Paullu still rubbing his head. Sozi Shield smiled while speaking:

- “She is funny, Paullu. You got yourself a very nice girlfriend. If it were me, I wouldn’t react so friendly by seeing my boyfriend being invited by a bunch of females. Well, it could also be because she didn’t like you so much, but after everything she said, I can very well see that she likes you a lot. Neither of us had a chance with you, right?”

Paullu shook his head and answered:

- “I guess, but I think it was mostly because she is very straightforward, and she speaks what is in her mind. I always had trouble finding out what others wanted to say, but I never have a doubt when Drezara speaks to me.”

- “Yeah, I could never do that, I would die of embarrassment if I said to you what is in my mind! But I heard her talking about your sister Byia and your mother? She met them already?”

Paullu answered while looking up at the game that was about to start:

- “Yes, she even met my grandmother yesterday. They all like her, but I can’t say the same about me and their parents. Her mother likes me a lot, but her father, not so much. I know it’s because of my sister that had a few disagreements with him, and he doesn’t like me because of that, but it still bothers me a bit. Well, like Drezara says, I can’t force anyone to like me, right?”

The group of females laughed, and Sozi Shield spoke while looking up, attracted by a shout of pain:

- “Drezara became a target again, but her team already scored. I don’t know, she said you could help us with our studies after School or not? It was an excuse to be with you, but it was also true, we all need some help with a few Classes.”

Sozi Shield turned bright red:

- “Did I just admitted that it was a plan to get you alone? It seems I learned something with Drezara, without even wanting!”

- “Yeah, Drezara does that quite often, she influences others without even noticing. I won’t mind helping out, and since I now know it was also a plan, I can tell you that it will not work out because I already have a nice girlfriend. But as a friend, I will help.”

Sozi Shield slowly nodded and spoke while the rest of her group were smiling:

- “A friend… Yeah, I think I can take that, friends are never too many. What about Drezara? You were supposed to study with her, right?”

- “Yes… Maybe… She can join us? I know she doesn’t have many friends, and I don’t know if those teammates are her friends or not because I always see her alone or playing that weird game.”

Sozi Shield tilted her head and answered:

- “Yeah, the clumsy Drezara is more or less famous, around here. I don’t get it how she is always bumping against everyone in the corridors, or tripping on her own feet while at the same time she is the best Bane Dagnir player in School. I guess she never had a chance of making friends because she is so shy. I never heard her speak, until today! You are changing her, you know? She looks more confident, she even managed to joke with us!”