"I didn't write this one, but I can teach you how to read it! It's a really great book—"
"Enough," Arthur said. The word was quiet, but heavy. Cedric politely stopped the moment he heard the tone.
"I've had enough of your nonsense," Arthur spat, standing up. "How much longer will you mock me? It seems that you're no longer a child, so I won't treat you like one either."
He collected the heavy book from the table and slung his bag onto his shoulder, the leather strap digging into his uniform.
"Why are you acting like this, Arthur?" Cedric asked, his voice trembling slightly. "This isn't like you!"
"Telling you would be a waste of breath. If you couldn't notice such obvious signs already, you're beyond saving. I don't associate myself with people like you."
"But mom would want us to be friends with each other!"
Arthur froze. He turned back, his face twisted in a snarl. "DON'T CALL HER THAT! That's a pathetic attempt at manipulating me, playing the victim, huh?"
He threw his hands in the air and shifted backward in a mocking gesture. "She's not your mom."
Arthur stepped forward and pressed his finger hard into Cedric's chest bone, digging an inch deep into the flesh. "We're not even related. You're just some sort of monster that looks like me. Don't forget that I was the one who picked you off the street. I'm the one who convinced MY parents to take you in. And now, you're trying to take everything from me. But I won't let you."
He looked him up and down once more, a gaze filled with supreme judgment, before ambling out the door, leaving Cedric standing alone in the center of the room.
"You really said that?" Derrick asked in a somewhat surprised tone, eating his lunch quickly but in a composed manner.
"I always believed the two of you were twins. I mean, I thought he left and came back when I saw you, but when I looked back at the front of the line, there he was, and you also just looked… more tired."
Arthur's plate was half empty. He dragged his fork along the porcelain, the metal screeching back and forth. "Yeah, but do you think I went too far?"
There was no hesitation from Derrick. "No, what you did was definitely just. People like him, who waste their gifts, need to be put in their place. Honestly, I envy you. I wish I could've said it to him myself."
Arthur nodded slowly.
"It's hardly that important right now though," Derrick continued. "We'll be able to beat our frustrations into those lazy brats next semester when we're in the Honor Class."
"Yeah, you're right," is what Arthur said, but he wasn't looking at Derrick. He was drawn to the fairy-like girl sitting across from him several tables away.
"You know, that really takes me back to the night of the second day of classes, when we made that pact together to get to the Honor Class together," Derrick droned on in the background. "I actually believed you were trying to use me for something, but it turned out that you really just wanted a friend who you could lecture on philosophy—which is humorous looking at it from the perspective of the lesser, but I greatly appreciate your teachings."
There were no thoughts in Arthur's mind for the last ten seconds. Or was it twenty? He did not even comprehend time. Even after she noticed him and looked into his eyes, he did not look away until another couple of seconds passed.
She was a friend; but someone I regarded as a child, even though we were of the same age. She was ignorant and immature. She awakened mana one day, not too long after me and Cedric received ours, but they moved away a week later.
What could've changed in her in the year since her family moved?
What has happened to me to start thinking so deeply?
His eyes answered his question for him. Oh, right. What a stupid question.
It was 06:55. Since his outburst four weeks ago, Arthur had left every day before the morning bell rang at 07:00 to avoid Cedric. But today, they had both woken up and begun to leave at the same time.
While putting on his leather boots, Cedric smiled while humming to himself.
"Are you excited for the guest lecture from the Judicial Board representatives today?" Cedric asked, beaming. "It's too bad that the first years are the only ones that won't get to meet the Commissioner, but we're supposed to get a lecture from his deputy Vice-Commissioner, who is only a decade older than us, the youngest one to ever be appointed! Every other year we just get a free day, but for the first time, we're getting a lesson as well! Isn't that exciting?"
Arthur heard all of it, but it didn't appear as if it took away from his focus of straightening his uniform. How could you speak so casually like nothing happened?
"I heard from my friends that the staff in charge of monitoring students will all be drinking alcohol down in Varethal because the two guests will be awake the whole night!"
Is this forgiveness?
"Do you want to sneak out of the Academy and stroll around the city with me?" Cedric asked, half-joking, continuing to smile his innocent smile.
I never apologized. I never apologized…
Arthur stood up, his face hardening. "Don't speak of useless things to me ever again. You've wasted my time. We are not friends. We will never be friends. Leaving the Academy is an extreme offense. Mention it again, and I'll report it to your Instructor. I could easily tell my Magic Engineering professor to bring it up in their next meeting, I could just inform him after class, and you would be expelled just like that. I'll do the same if you aren't already asleep by the time I get back from my Magic Engineering class tonight."
He stepped out of the room with an uncertain expression, leaving the silence to swallow Cedric's smile.