Ace of Minds

The Ditching

As she was officially part of the squad, Irene sat with Denzel and his friends for dinner. There was an unspoken welcome from the three friends, something that said ‘You’re with us now.’ Denzel seemed to be more than glad to have Irene with them. Brian was never picky about anything (especially foods). Fleur said she had always wanted a girl-friend so she wouldn’t have to be with the ‘two-doofus’ all the time.

The sun was setting, giving an orange-purple combination painted across the sky. The eatery was open to nature, meaning you can feel the breeze of late afternoon air. They were feasting on fabulicious (quoted from Fleur) turkey. Irene had to admit the food was a whole lot better than any foods she had on Thanksgiving so far. And that was saying much since she was used to celebrating it in some fancy restaurants with her mom's celebrity friends—thanks, Mom. Much to her delight, she was fresh from the bathroom after waiting in line (again) for about twenty minutes.

Irene spared chuckles every here and there as the three conversed. However, her attention was not only focused on the three. She kept on glancing at someone two tables behind her—Logan Kassel.

He sat at the end of the table--a little far from Irene’s sight—but she still could see him. His shielded, dark aura stood out way too much. It almost seemed like he wanted to be noticed. And let’s not forget his gorgeous face.

There were a bunch of students on both of his sides, also across from him, but he was pretty much alone. He spoke to no one. He didn’t even spare a look at anyone. He just sat quietly, munching on his meal in snail-pace.

Why would he need someone to save his life?

He definitely wasn’t a damsel-in-distress material. In face, he should be the one doing the saving.

Irene sighed, knowing she would never talk to him again. The chance for her to discover the thing between Kassel and Elswood was as low as minus one.

“Irene?” she heard Denzel called her name, nudging her lightly on the shoulder.

She shifted her attention back to her friends in a heartbeat. “Yeah?”

“You’re zoning out for a good five minutes,” stated Brian. “So tell me, what’s the deal with Kassel? You’ve already fallen for him or …” Brian raised his brow, trailing off. The edge of his lips were threatening to curl up.

“I-I …” her voice failed her. She hadn’t known it was that obvious she was creeping on Logan. She studied her friends’ faces.

It was clear that Denzel wasn't Logan's number one fan. He didn't look amused at all, unlike Brian. Fleur was just like a normal teenage girl. She was definitely smitten with Logan's charm. She looked like she already made up a couple name for Logan and Irene and was ready be her maid of honor at their wedding. Brian stood to abstain. But he did have a teasing smile playing on his face.

“It just … he helped me with Floras and I haven't thanked him. I don't think I have the guts to do so, though.” Irene shrugged. Wow, she thought. Maybe there was a perk of being the daughter of Amanda Clarington after all. She was a natural liar.

Insert evil laugh.

Denzel squinted his eyes, “He helped you?”

What, is it a crime to help someone? Irene couldn't help but think. “I didn't know a thing about this flower called Enthrallum. So I almost touched it …” She grinned guiltily. Her friends already had wide eyes at the mention of the flower. “Thankfully Logan Kassel prevented me from being numb. Oh, he also helped me find the Veracium plant.”

Fleur pursed her lips, looking up. As if she was trying to remember something. “He’s not exactly famous for being helpful, you know?”

“He’s basically only famous for being undefeatable,” Brian pointed out.

Of course he was. After all, he only helped her because of some debt he had to Elswood. Irene held herself from saying that. She gave a shrug and an I-don't-know smile. “Maybe he was in a good mood?” she suggested.

Denzel rolled his eyes, feeling ridiculed, as he scoffed and muttered, “Kassel in a good mood.”

Despite her burning curiosity, she resisted asking Denzel about him and Logan. “Or maybe he's just charmed with my beauty?” Irene chuckled, and she was sure anyone could tell how fake it was. That was so not like her. But at least, it lightened the mood. “I mean my mother is a Hollywood actress. She must’ve passed down some nice traits.”

“Your mom is an actress?” asked Brian.

Nice change of subject, i***t, Irene scolded herself. “Er … yeah. Amanda Clarington?”

“Gosh! I know her!” Fleur cried out. “She’s so great in that action movie. Wait, what is it called again?”

“Mission 7?” suggested Irene. That movie was her favorite action movie so far.

“Yes!”

Brian rubbed his chin, his brows creased together. “I’ve seen her movies too, I think. Was it when we slept over at Denzel’s last summer?”

The said man shrugged. “I don’t quite remember … but I do remember you getting drunk and started sprouting facts like how you have an undying love for Kathryn Broom.” Denzel smirked, holding his laugh. But when he couldn’t hold it anymore, he burst out laughing in Brian’s face.

Fleur, who seemed to know what happened, laughed as well. “Oh, gosh. I still remember his face!”

“Hey, Kathryn Broom is my roommate,” said Irene. “Do you want to come over some time?” She grinned. She couldn’t believe how nice it felt to be fooling around with friends.

Brian flushed red. He scowled. “Oh, shut up! It’s over now. She’s not even that cute!”

“That isn’t what you said back then,” said Denzel.

Denzel and Fleur continued to laugh and teased him some more. As the laughter died, Irene took the moment to change the subject. “So, what’s one-on-one tutoring?” she asked.

After dinner, her schedule was to attend the one-on-one tutoring class. It had no teacher name on the timetable. Time and place were not mentioned as well.

“Damn it,” Fleur huffed. “Thanks for reminding me we still have that class,” she said. “I hate my tutoring lessons. Everyone thinks they’re the strongest one when the fact is, we’re just about the same. Okay, maybe not the same with Wright Egor because he’s like three hundred pounds of muscles.”

“You don’t know half of it. Imagine running like death’s chasing you during every tutor lesson. I wish one day my lesson would be about making winged-shoes. Could’ve cut some work,” ranted Brian.

Denzel scoffed. “People in my lessons are a pain in the ass. It's like they're competing on who owns the best Gucci bags or Ferraris. Showoffs.”

Irene nodded. She remembered Denzel telling her that his talent was to materialize things that he owned.

Brian’s talent was running. Not the coward type of running, but running. It was like he had NOS installed on his feet. He didn't brag about it. Irene had found out when he was running to the eatery. He was rushing at light speed, literally.

“Who's the tutor? The teachers?” Irene asked again since the two didn't really answer her.

Denzel answered the question, “Us.”

“Us?”

“The students.”

“Who’s my tutor?”

Now it was Fleur. “Well, you’re an unknown aka lab rat. They’re just going to give you anyone to tutor you. It’s supposed to trigger your talent to come when you spend some time with people of the same talent. They give you a tutor schedule every week.”

“Kind of sucks. But hey, what part of this darn school doesn’t suck?” Denzel snickered.

Irene wished whoever her tutor was it wouldn't be Harkin. It was bad enough she had been in the same line with her earlier at the bathroom. She kept whispering to her friends (who were also on the same line) while glancing at Irene, sparing glares every now and then. Certainly bad-mouthing her.

As Irene gave a small nod, Brian was already blabbering about when he was still an unknown, about his previous tutors, and so on. The talk about Logan Kassel vanished, thankfully. On that thought, Irene spun her head slowly to steal a quick glance at Logan. Then, almost too quickly, she turned back to her friends again. Her heart thumped loudly; she was afraid her friends could hear it.

With one brow raised, looking as challenging as ever, Logan Kassel was looking back at her.

---

Later that day, Irene had to retrieve her tutoring schedule down at Madam Clay’s desk. There had been an announcement when Unknowns had to get their tutoring schedules.

Harkin took the opportunity to yell as loud as she could, “Elswood, aren’t you an Unknown? You should go down to get your rat schedule. Who knows, you might have me as a tutor.” She smirked.

Irene wanted nothing more than to rip that big mouth of hers.

Harkin ended up laughing. No one in the room joined her.

Irene went downstairs with Kathryn and Diane. They were no longer wearing their uniform, though they still had the maroon sweater on. Irene put on navy blue jeans Elswood had bought and a pink tee beneath the sweater. Kathryn chose to wear a white, knee-length skirt, while Diane wore a pair of jeans identical to the ones Irene was wearing.

“I hope I’d get my talent soon,” muttered Kathryn. “This schedule thing goes on forever!”

Diane agreed with her, blowing up her long bangs. “I know, right? It sucks to be called like this every week.”

“Hey, Irene,” called Kathryn. “What do you think your talent would be? I’ve had this talk with Diane before. Yes, I know, pathetic,” she chuckled. “We both choose we'd be elementals. Wouldn't it be cool?” She shared a knowing look with Diane.

What talent did Irene want? Were there some lists in which she could look and decide which talent suited her best? “Uh … not sure. I mean, I’m new to this, so I’m fairly fine with this Unknown thingy.” Her friends’ faces fell. She backed up quickly. “But, I think strength like Fleur—Fleur Chaplin—would be great.”

“Oh, I know that girl! She’s hilarious! I have Fauna with her,” claimed Diane.

Irene smiled. “I know.”

When they got to the front desk, several students were already waiting for their schedules. There were about forty or fifty students waiting for their names to be called. Irene looked around. There were no chairs. She had to wait while hurting her feet, just great. It made her wonder why couldn’t Madam Clay have just told the goblins to deliver their schedules?

She was left alone despite the crowd. Kathryn had run off to her group of friends. The same went to Diane. She was not sociable enough to butt in some group’s conversation. She could only hope her name wouldn’t come last.

Apparently, the world hated her so much that she was the only one left in the room when Madam Clay called out her name, “Irene Elswood.” The registrar handed her the paper, which contained her tutoring schedule. Her eyes scanned her tutor names. Three names caught her attention.

On Monday (which was today) she would have Harkin as her tutor, and her brain instantly went to work trying to figure out a way to ditch the lesson. First, she didn't know what was Harkin's talent. Second, whatever her talent was, Harkin sure would make it hell for Irene.

On Wednesday, she would have a lesson with Brian. Couldn’t be bad, except that his talent was running. Irene sucked at pretty much anything athletic.

The last name made her breath hitch. On Thursday, written in a slanted font, was Logan Kassel.

She couldn’t help but feel giddy for the upcoming Thursday.

Irene looked up to find Madam Clay’s sweet, fake smile. “Um, I’m actually not feeling well. You know, first day and all … is it okay to not attend today’s tutoring lesson?” She feigned sickness.

Madam Clay frowned. “You seem fine … but if you’re really sick, I think you should go to the infirmary and stayed there overnight. I’ll tell Sulliewick to inform, uh, who’s your tutor?”

“Ruby Harkin.”

“Alright, Sullie!” she shouted, and not long after that a small, short-legged goblin ran toward the front desk. He looked cute. Well, as cute as goblin could be. “Go find Miss Harkin in the girls’ bunker and tell her that Miss Elswood can’t attend her class today.”

The goblin, Sulliewick, didn’t say anything as he bolted out.

Madam Clay turned back to Irene with the same smile, “You can go to the infirmary now. It’s on the second floor, west wing.”

“Thank you!” Irene almost hugged the registrar. She mentally thanked that Elswood was her father. It was no secret that Madam Clay only helped her because her label as an Elswood. Julius Elswood must have been smart, cool, nice, or a combination of all three when he was studying at Z.

Irene found herself wandering to the second floor. The infirmary was just steps away. She was about to open the door when she saw a familiar figure through the floor-to-ceiling high hall windows. He was heading toward the greenhouse. Instead of the school’s sweater, he was wearing plain, white shirt, but Irene could see he was holding the sweater in one hand, while the other was shoved into his pants pocket. Even from the second floor, Irene had a clear guess of who he was.

She halted herself from going inside the infirmary. She watched him as he neared the greenhouse. Just steps away from entering, the guy stopped on his track. He spun around and looked up. Irene could see his face clearly, the defined jaw, the sharp eyes, basically his otherworldly features. No doubt, her guess was right. The guy whose eyes were fixated on her was Logan Kassel.

It took few seconds for Irene to gather her senses back. She looked down to her feet as if it were much more interesting than the beautiful guy down at the greenhouse

Great, now she had been caught twice. He probably thought she was a creepy stalker and would steer clear of her.

She kept staring at her flat shoes for God-knows how long. When she looked at the greenhouse again, he was already gone. She heaved a deep sigh. Maybe she was imagining it. He wasn’t looking at her. Why would he?

She straightened herself and headed to the infirmary again. As she held the doorknob, ready to open it, a voice was heard from behind.

“Ditching on the first day, huh?”

It startled her that she almost jumped. She turned around to find none other than the guy she just saw two stories below. He was learning on the wall opposite from her, next to Room 58. Both of his hands were in his pockets. Throwing the maroon sweater across his shoulder seemed to be a trademark of his. Did he rush to the second floor as soon as he saw her? “W-what are you doing here?” she asked, her own voice made her felt small.

He shrugged, “You tell me, Elswood.”

“What do you mean?”

“You're the one staring at me from the second story when you're supposed to be in your tutoring class,” he pointed out. “Do you creep on guys on a regular basis?”

Irene couldn't help but turn pink in embarrassment. What was she thinking back then? Watching a stupid guy enter a greenhouse? Big deal. He might have thought of her as a crazy fangirl or something equally bad. Or worse.

Logan Kassel chuckled. His rich, deep voice made the chuckle less sincere than it might be. Or maybe, it was not sincere.

“I was just curious who’s going to the greenhouse this late,” she defended herself, still with pink cheeks. Thanks to the dimmed lights (all lights were a little dim in the building) Kassel might not be able to notice it.

“You know it’s me, Elswood.” His grey eyes gazed right into her aqua ones. His look might have drilled a hole in her head if Irene hadn’t look away.

Irene shook her head, now finding the pillars were more interesting than anything. “How could I know? It’s dark outside.”

“Well, I have this … let’s see, a trademark of not wearing a sweater and I'm sure you know no one with such messy hair.”

So he knew how he looked, pondered Irene. Wait, trademark? How did he figure … “What do you want?” she wanted to make her voice snappier but of course she failed.

“What do you want?” Now he was crossing his arms across one another, eyes still piercing hers.

“I … nothing, nevermind.” Suddenly she didn't want to talk about Elswood. Not when she felt intimidated by his presence.

“This might be the last time you ever talk to me, you know?” he provoked.

Feeling confident with her answer, Irene stated, “You’re tutoring me on Thursday.”

Logan squinted; he seemed to not know about it. But then his eyes lit up, as if he just remembered something. “Right, the tutoring. Well, what makes you think we’ll be talking? And I think they’ve made a mistake. I don’t tutor.”

“You’re on my tutoring schedule.”

The guy shrugged. “It’s alright if you want to waste your only chance to get answers just like this. I’m being extremely nice today, you know? And since there’s nothing to talk about anymore, au revoir.” He gave a salute before jogging lightly toward the west wing.

Irene watched as he slowly disappeared from her sight. Whatever Elswood had done to Logan, it was a good deed anyway, she thought. Logan was making it look like a big deal when it was probably just Elswood helping him cross the street or something, she convinced herself. It was not her business. Final.

With that, she entered the infirmary.

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