THESE HIDDEN WINGS

[63.1] THE GATHERING

•|•|•

"Did you get any rest?" Claire asked, eyes on me, "You look almost as bad as me."

•|•|•

I BLINKED TWICE at the statement, trying not to pay attention to the heavy load that weighed my arms down so that my posture took a hunched position which honestly did nothing to help me with my height issues.

Yes, I was undeniably short when compared to him. But steal for him??!!

I shook my head slowly, eyes wide as he stared down at me with a knowing smirk. She was his girlfriend or whatever, he could do it himself.

I- I didn't want any part of this.

"Did you want to say something?" he asked, folding his arms.

I nodded frantically before looking down at the load in my hand. How on earth was I going to get my book out and start writing with both my hands this full? I glanced up at him then at the book and he raised an eyebrow, watching me in what I assumed was amusement.

It was hard to figure out any expression on his face, it always seemed dull and cold.

I looked down at the books again, looking back up at him with pleading eyes, but the smug look on his face told me I wasn't getting out of this.

"Nothing? Good-" he grunted now tucking his hands in his coat, his eyes searching the space above my head, before looking at me with a satisfied smile.

"I'll come for it tomorrow," he grunted before he passed me by disappearing out of sight. I stared at the empty aisles not knowing if he had really left or had just decided to switch rows.

When he didn't show himself in the next two minutes, I glanced down at the heavy books in my arms my shoulders slouching with a deep sigh.

He was gone and had left me with a load of books he didn't even need. I knew there was no way he was reading all this.

Huffing, I looked at the first book trying to figure out where it had come from. Luckily, we had just been in these two rows, so I was able to put back most of the books.

The last one, however, took me a good thirty minutes as it was black but without any name on it. After I was done my muscles felt sore and my eyes droopy. I hadn't gotten the sleep that I had desired so much. Passing the study tables I had been at when Harvest found me, I pitied the fact that I had not thought about taking a nap there, whilst I rested my head on the table.

Anything could beat this feeling.

Unluckily for me, the gathering Mr. Ogustus had informed us about was in the next twenty minutes. So, I had to get to the King's Courts after I picked Claire up from the sceptres.

Trudging down the empty hallways, with only a few people lingering about, I made my way out of the Crown, following the stoned pathway to the sceptres.

Finally entering the girl's wing, I rolled my shoulders, trying to relieve the ache from carrying my backpack all day. Knocking on Claire's door, it swung open only a second later with a flushed face looking at Claire, her hair all over the place, eyes wide.

"Thank goodness you're here," she panted, relief on her features, pulling me in by the arm.

I tumbled inside, giving her a quizzical look as I glanced in between a washed-up-looking Claire and an intense Lira.

"Where did I put it?!" she half screeched, her hand skimming through the numerous papers that had littered her desk. My eyebrows hunched at this glancing over at Claire who rolled her eyes with a soft sigh.

"She can't find her quiz cards for Artificial- something," she trailed off with a slight huff, running a hand through her dark locks, her voice lowered, glancing momentarily at a panicking Lira, " we better go before-"

Papers started flying everywhere as Lira got to her feet, now literally shoving all the papers on the floor eyes frantically looking all over.

"That happens!" Claire screeched grabbing my hand and her bag and dragging me toward the door. I stopped her by holding onto the door, looking back at Lira who seemed to be losing her mind, throwing Claire a 'shouldn't we help?' look.

Claire raised an eyebrow and both our gazes turned to Lira who seemed to be now calculating what I assumed was the position she was most likely to store her notes, possibility-wise.

I blinked at this shaking my head as did Claire opting to leave, closing the door behind us for sanity's sake.

Leaving the room, believe it or not, made me realize how stuffy it had been, Claire tried her best to flatten her flaky hair as best as she could as we walked down the hallway. I gave her a questioning look and she returned it with a

'Trust me, you don't want to know."

I nodded, realizing I probably didn't, chuckling alongside her as we walked into the open, the light breeze tickling our skin.

"Did you get any rest?" Claire asked, eyes on me, "You look almost as bad as me."

My shoulder drooped and I sighed writing down a statement. 'I lost my keys."

She gave me a worried look, "Where? How?"

Of course, I couldn't tell her that, but in normal circumstances, if indeed I had lost my keys, they wouldn't be lost if I knew exactly where they had been and so I shrugged, pulling up my bag straps.

"We should retrace your steps and look for them. They may just be in your bag too, you would be surprised how many things I've lost that I ended up finding in there, one of those hidden spaces," she added, her eyes narrowing down on nothing in particular as she talked.

I nodded writing down my answer as we walked into the King's Gardens, 'after the gathering.'

She glanced at the note momentarily before nodding, her eyes taking in what mine were.

There were enough people by the platform for it to be at least two hundred students. Everyone was whispering to each other as a microphone on the platform was set.

Claire and I came to a stop in the middle of the crowd, eyes watching quietly as some random students finished setting up.

My eyes traveled to the front of the platform where Daya and Ellie were climbing up the stairs, standing right by the edge whispering lowly amongst themselves. As usual, she was dressed in a neatly pressed uniform, perfectly sized to her body. Her strawberry blond hair in luscious waves past her shoulders, her green eyes bright as she stood next to Ellie.

My eyes landed on the shiny, silver metallic object that she was playing with her hands, as she grinned, still conversing with Ellie.

I studied the object my heart beating louder with each passing second-

"The Prime teachers are here," Claire whispered lowly to me, causing me to snap from my daze, eyes trailing down to the other side of the platform where the Seven prime teachers were walking up onto.

I took a deep breath in, here goes nothing.

•~•
Baby steps.
•~•