What truly happened between Jolie Ruewen and Brant, an unexplored tragedy.
It started with a spark, it grew into a blaze, all that's left is ashes.
"Sing swan, Spring swan then lets fly.
Follow the pretty bird across the sky.
Call swan, Fall swan, t...
Jolie had practically floated into the lunch hall on her personal cloud nine. She had finished her first alchemy session not only without blowing something up, but she totally passed her first assignment with flying colors. The ecstatic prodigy hopped into the lunch line. She was nearly at the front, when she spotted Brant walking towards her. He cut the line and went right behind Jolie, earning quite a few glares from fellow prodigies.
"Hey, Jolie, how did it go-"
"It was amazing and Lady Galvin doesn't hate me and I'm really happy and now I'm not as nervous." She blurted out.
As she recounted the events, Brant's smile kept getting wider and wider. Finally, he said, "That's my Jolie, always having to overachieve and get the mean mentor to like her. I have one problem though, you didn't blow anything up. You totally could have "accidentally" blown up something. Like her cape, that's her most prized possession. Man, that would have made a great story."
"I'll let you do that if you ever have Galvin." Jolie elbowed him with a grin. Brant was notorious for his accidents. The poor guy meant well, but disaster always seemed to follow in his wake. For instance, Brant was sopping wet. From the tip of that little piece of hair that always stuck up on his head, to his very soggy shoes.
"I probably would," He chuckled.
"Honestly, what did you do," Jolie wasn't even surprised anymore, although..."It was Elvin history, Brant! How could you have possibly gotten this wet?"
"Well, you see, I was learning about something I don't remember and then I fell asleep and when the mentor dumped a bucket of water on me!" His outraged tone combined with a playful twinkle in his eye let Jolie know he was probably going to doze off again in his next history session anyway.
They picked up their lunch trays and looked for a table. All of the tables were crowded with friends, catching up and eating lunch. There was one, somewhat empty table, on the far end of the cafeteria, with two other level ones quietly talking and picking at their food. As Jolie and Brant headed over, the girl looked up at them, startled. She looked down and seemed to be hiding behind a cocoon of hair.
"Is it okay if we sit with you guys?" Jolie asked, wondering if they were alone in the back for a reason.
"Yeah, sure I'm Zale and this is Sorynn." the boy replied. "Are you sure you want to sit with us? I mean, we are twins."
As Jolie looked at them again, she noticed how alike they were. They both had the same fiery-red hair, deep blue eyes, and soft features. They were definitely twins. But Jolie never really liked how everyone in the Lost Cities showed so much scorn to twins. It wasn't their fault that they were twins.
Although they were almost identical, the boy, Zale, had a warm openness about him, while the girl, Sorynn, seemed to retreat within herself as they approached.
"Hey, you're the girl this doofus almost bowled over during orientation." Jolie realized.
Sorynn made a small nod and then went back to hiding behind her hair. She seemed very shy but Jolie figured it was just because she had just met them.
"Again, I'm really sorry." Jolie gently elbowed Brant , yet he still almost dropped his tray.
Jolie sat down next to Sorynn and signaled for Brant to do the same. The twins looked surprised but tried not to show it, and Sorynn looked down at her food.
"First of all, I'm Brant, and this is Jolie and second, I'm only a doofus sometimes. Right now you're looking pure greatness." His joke fell flat on its face (much like Brant does on a regular basis) and was met with awkward quietness. "Well, looks like it's soupy, purple stuff on the menu today. How is it?" he said breaking the silence. When they didn't respond he continued. "I don't really have any homework you want to come over to my place after school?"
"Um." He seemed taken aback but in a pleasantly surprised way. "I mean, sure, if you're okay with having twins over at your place." Zale replied, jokingly.
"Just forget that stuff," Jolie told them, "That doesn't matter to us."
The ice was broken and soon enough, the new group of friends were having a great conversation about the Opening Ceremonies.
Another girl strode up to the table. She had the typical long blond hair and bright red lip gloss, which did not look good with the bratty smirk on her face.
Meanwhile, Zale was full on laughing, tears glistening in his eyes. Even Sorynn was smiling a bit. Then he paused mid-wheeze, "So..." He cracked up again, "You- you're that one kid who caused the massive-"
"Hey freaks," she said, slamming her perfectly manicured hands right in front of the twins, making them flinch. Then she noticed Brant, "I'm Estela, Estela Vacker. Hey, cutie, what are you doing sitting with these creeps? You should be sitting with the normal people."
Something inside of Jolie tightened with an unfamiliar territorial feeling.
"Nah. I'm not into the whole fake, mean look you're trying to pull off. So I suggest you leave us alone, or things are going to get messy." He casually responded.
The knot inside her slackened. She still didn't know where it came from though.
Estela just scoffed and then turned to Jolie, "You're that Ruewen girl. Your family is almost as important as mine, but I can see why you're hanging out with the weirdos. You and your stupid zoo."
She was about to say another snooty insult when Jolie had finally had enough.
"Back off!" Jolie said standing up.
"Or what?" The girl snapped back.
"Jolie please. It's okay." Zale whispered.
"No, it's not. You're my friends now and I hate girls like Little Miss Prissypants who think the Cities revolve around them." Jolie told them. And she really did mean it. The Vacker's were a very important noble family and Alden and Della were amazing. The difference between them and this Estela girl, is that they earned the respect they're given.
"Just leave us alone." Brant snarled in disgust, backing her up.
"You don't want to make an enemy on the first day." Her teal eyes glinted with malice as she glared at all of them. Jolie held her stare until she stalked off, flipping her hair at them.
Phew. Jolie realized she was holding her breath that whole entire time.
"Thanks guys, you really didn't have to do that." Zale sighed, very relieved.
"Yes we did." Brant said.
"You're our friends now." Jolie replied, "We are here for you." The twins blushed.
"Thank you," Sorynn whispered almost inaudibly. But Jolie and Brant still jumped, surprised. She was so quiet, they started to think she couldn't talk. She was finally warming up to them.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Hi guys! SOOOOOO SO SO SO SO (times infinty) sorry for taking forever. I was just not getting any inspiration on the special so I'm giving you the next chapter instead! The special will be about 3,000 words so that's 4 times as long a regular chapter. I've got a lot of homework right now but I'm really trying to finish it. Writer's block sucks people but I will be posting sometime in the near future.
