Premonition (Chapter 3)

The boy's eyes widened as he found himself staring into an ocean of dazzling blue. Hers only doubled so as she started into his bejeweled eyes of emerald. Speechless and in a trance, both nearly jumped out of their skins when their math teacher suddenly materialized out of nowhere and slammed a book upon her desk. "Well then, welcome back to earth, Miss Pendragon and Master Flourite. If you would be so kind as to join us on page 362." Unaware that they had been staring at each other for a full 15 minutes, both attempted to flip through their enormous books while hiding shaky hands. "Now, now, there's nothing funny about math, I should know." he ushered to the snickering girls and boys that were trying to keep a straight face.

After class, Arista had returned straight to her dorm and flopped belly up on her bed. All she wanted to do at this point was to bury her face in her pillows and perhaps scream before falling asleep. She became agitated at the thought that, a man, any man caught her attention. She prided herself in her harsh first impressions of people she met, this helped her to avoid future disappointments if whosoever were to say, back-stab or betray her in any way possible. While debating with herself mentally, she withdrew her new black blanket from beneath her bed. Arista whined in dismay. It smelled just like him, though she hadn't noticed it before, the warm material was scented with the earthy odor of pine and rain. Closing her eyes, she momentarily let every bothering thought drift away from her mind. She let out a heavy sigh, and let sleep wrap itself around her.

It was a little after high noon, and the dining halls were filled with the aroma of roasts and stews. The boy took to haunting the empty halls while its usual inhabitants were away. He and Arista seemed to share more in common than they thought. With her back against the wall, she slid herself to the floor and performed her daily ritual of making yet another entry into her world of black and white. He though, sat next to the opposing wall, watching her intently. Normally Arista wasn't used to company being the loner that she was, but somehow she didn't mind HIS at all. She felt his presence familiar but couldn't quite put her finger on whose was it exactly. Had she met him before? A childhood acquaintance perhaps? That would have been quite impossible though, for all her years before the academy, she was like a bird in a cage. Home-schooled in her family's mansion where the word freedom didn't exactly register in her daily activities. She was lonely, yes; for she was brought up by several different maids and butlers, never staying long in their work. They came , and they went, along with her workaholic parents who never felt guilty enough to come home to their love starved only daughter.

She never had a friend in the world. Though an only child, she was far from being spoiled. She was fully aware of her position in the household and often used logic to acknowledge difficult puzzling tasks instead of relying on others from an extraordinarily early age. In result however, most of the time, she was emotionless and would dream of a life beyond all this grey. She had no dreams or wishes she wanted fulfilled. She gave up scraping for her parents affection, let alone the wanting for them to be proud of her. Personally, they were nothing more than the people that financially supported her that hardly even visited their own 'home'. Every passing day was just a bother and utterly pointless. That was until her dreams started. In those dreams, no words ever left the lips of either party, but the relationship seemed to blossom even then.

Due to nightly practice, Arista was quite skilled in reading one's body language. What she collected from her handsome stalker sitting across her, was that he appeared fairly interested in what she was doing, and was trying to read her facial expressions as she wrote on. He also shifted occasionally in his seat but always held the same position. On the bridge, no doubt, either to leave or to go on studying his object of interest. He however had no choice but to leave together with her as the bell sounded, alerting them that they would no longer be alone.

She blushed, furious with herself as she hurried to stuff away the boy's cloak that lay sprawled across her bed, her efforts all in vain as he stole a glance at its new use. Pretending not to notice, he walked over to his own bed and unpacked a few things. Feeling both pressured and guilty, she managed to mumble a few words of thanks and a notice that she would give it back to him in a better state. His back was still facing her as he straightened himself to catch her flustered speech. His sudden pause was enough to tell her that he was listening and that she heard what she had just said. She knew well, not to expect a verbal answer. He continued to unpack what looked like an array of paints and a few blank scrolls. The paints, he laid out on his bed almost in a way that made Arista think that he was displaying them on purpose so that she could see. He took his time, fumbling with a few brushes before gathering his multi-colored treasures and slowly making his way to the door. She thought she had also seen a pen-knife when he was portraying his stationary. What puzzled her was that, he had, in his own way, actually told her where he was going and what he was up to, but why? He didn't exactly seem like the type to care even IF others were concerned about him.

Having the evening to herself had only made her even more paranoid than she already was. Jumping at every noise she heard, expecting the return of her guest, scolding herself in the process. Fed up, she snapped her book shut and headed for the baths. Thankfully, she was spared from wearing her uniform for the next 3 days as even the teachers were at a loss as to how to handle the extra students. You can't expect boys to learn how to drink tea with their pink's up, now do you?

Grabbing whatever that was in the upper drawers, she snatched her towel and left. Holding her breath, she snuck around the corridors, praying she won't bump into anybody. She completely wore out her tolerance for the day. Tip-toeing across the floor, she stopped in front of a huge archway covered in wisteria. A little further ahead, she pushed the brass handle and inhaled the lily scented hot spring water. However, to her dismay, it was crowded with the usual alien-like beings that could never seem to shut their pie-holes. "...When in Rome..." Arista breathed out lazily as she hung her towel on a nearby vine.

To her left, a group of girls were exchanging stories on how their new boyfriends asked them out. On her right, a bunch of younger girls were splashing each other with soapy water. She closed her eyes in agitation as she tried the feel the water around her instead of the urge to yank their mouths off. That changed though as soon as she heard the voice of the queen bee. 60 degrees north east and way, way, way not far enough for her liking.