20 - Butterfly Effect [2]

The night passed swiftly and before I knew it...

—Ring!

The alarm clock rang loudly. Again and again.

It was frustrating, but necessary.

The morning of the next day had arrived.

If I hadn’t set up my alarm, I might have settled for waking up hours later than I planned to.

—Bang!

I slammed the top of the clock causing it to keep silent.

Turning to rest my back on the bed with my eyes to the ceiling, I sighed.

’So I have to go back to school in this world...’

I hadn’t given it so much thought until now.

It felt as if all of the waves of school experiences — which I don’t miss by the way — hit me all at once.

I recalled how exhausting it was to sit through hours of teachings, some you will understand and probably enjoy but others... pfft! Don’t get me started.

...Frustrating.

That was the singular word that could describe it.

It’s been years since I stepped my foot into any classroom in my past life.

Now, I have to do it again.

"So exciting..." I remarked with wicked sarcasm layered in my voice.

My face was listless, drained of any happy feelings that I hoped to experience this morning.

Argh! I wanted to scream.

I wanted to scream so bad.

I put my pillow over my face to muffle it.

Regardless of how I felt, there was no avoiding it.

I had to go.

’At least it’s the last year,’ I thought.

Link was already in the last year of the three years required as a cadet in the academy.

That much was bearable.

Repositioning my mindset, I saw it as a challenge of having to endure the next couple of months.

Arduous as it may seem or not, I have to win.

Retaking classes or redoing a year was out of the question.

I slapped my cheeks from both sides, thought lightly, to motivate myself.

Getting out of bed, I entered the shower, experiencing a relaxing cold bath.

Then, I had breakfast. Scrambled eggs and a few slices of makeshift toast bread.

Good thing I knew how to cook in my past life.

’I should keep my chef skills hidden in my sleeves,’ I considered, visualizing scenes where my cooking skills wowed taste buds and charmed the hearts that I feed.

Trivial activities pretty much took up the rest of the time until when I was ready to go.

—Knock! —Knock!

I looked at the door, pausing my belt buckling for a second.

"Who’s it?"

No answer.

That was surprising. I made a face because it, indeed, was.

My voice was loud enough.

Two more knocks came.

I sighed and quickly buckled my belt.

Grabbing my blazer coat and bag, I hurried to answer the door.

My guess was that it was one of two people.

Either it was Wendy or...

"Bran..." I muttered as I opened the door.

Bran was the second anyway but it was mostly Wendy from my memories.

If it were possible Wendy would be the first two people that visited my room the most. As for Bran, not as often.

Bran looked me over and smiled while tapping my arm. 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

"You are ready in time today," he commented with a bit of suspicion.

Then he looked to the right and to his left before leaning it.

"What’s the occasion?" he asked, covering the corners of his mouth with his hands.

I rolled my eyes.

Clearly, Bran was teasing but I didn’t blame him.

Link had that indelible mark of a latecomer.

"I thought I’d have to wait for you like your girlfriend," he continued. "I don’t know how she keeps up."

I scoffed, smiling and shaking my head as I shut my door behind me.

"Maybe when you find someone who is endeared to you, you will understand."

"Tch! You little..."

"Hahaha!" I laughed loudly.

Blowing raspberries at Bran, I ran off as he pursued.

"I will do you in," he threw playful threats at me as we ran through the hallway and downstairs.

Just a few flights of stairs and I was already out of breath. That was when he caught me.

Bran wrapped his arms around me, mimicking a strangling action as we both laughed.

"Unhand me, you bag of muscles!"

"Take back your words, scrawny man!" Bran blasted back. "At least I’m able to carry my weight without feeling like I’m breathing my last."

"Oh really now. Low blow."

"""Hahaha!"""

We both laughed.

It was a cheerful and beautiful moment.

I could see, for myself now, why my old self and Bran Livingston were very good friends.

"Where’s Wendy?" he asked, changing the topic. "It’s unusual for her to be late. You are polar opposites of each other. Black and white."

I simply pointed behind him. "Speak of the devil..."

Bran turned and saw her.

Wendy was already on her way to us.

She wore her usual gleeful face as she hopped towards me and Bran.

"Good morning, Bran," she greeted with excitement and waved at him.

"Good morning, Wendy," Bran replied and high-fived her. "I see you had a splendid night’s rest."

Wendy nodded frantically, making Bran’s eyes avert to me.

He looked at me weirdly, as though commending me with an "Attaboy!" level of praise.

"Good morning, Link."

Before I could reply, Wendy leaned into me and gave me a kiss on the cheek.

"Mwah!"

My cheeks flushed.

Bran looked at me and chuckled.

"Did you sleep well?"

I nodded. "Yes."

She wrapped her arms around mine and dragged me forward with Bran following closely behind.

Together, we left for classes and gradually, other cadets started coming out from the hostels.

****

The classroom for the final years was a large space.

At best, we would only take up half of it. Maybe, three-fourths.

The seats were designed in a way that they formed a semi circle with a small stage and a huge black board steady against the wall behind it.

Different conversations flew around the class among friends and acquaintances but that didn’t last long.

A couple of minutes after we arrived, before I could barely register the faces in here, a figure entered and the class went silent.

This man had long, beautiful, flowing black hair.

Calling him a diva just because of his hair was not wrong.

If this was Earth, I could swear he used all the expensive hair products I could think of.

But what caught my eyes were his eyes and the colour of his skin.

He possessed bloody red eyes and a skin that looked pale and sickly.

It looked like all the blood that should have circulated through his skin had gone to his eyes that were partly hidden underneath the hat he was wearing.

"Ahem..." the man cleared his throat loudly. "I trust you had a good night’s rest."

As he spoke, my eyes grew even wider.

His teeth. They looked razor sharp, almost like beastly fangs but shorter.

Those features. Goodness me! How did I not piece them together in a second.

"As you already know..." the man continued.

This man was...

"I am Kenny Alucard."

...A vampire.

"Welcome to your final year in our Ivory Academy."