Wings of Fire as Humans: Jade Preparatory Academy

Chapter Forty-Five: Winter Icestorm

A/N: Thank you SO MUCH for 10,000 reads!

Winter stomped down the stairs, his face twisted into an expression of grump.

This was a normal occurrence with Winter, but today, he was in an especially bad mood. Winter had woken up late, but that wasn't very grumpy-inducing.

The reason Winter was in a bad mood was because of Qibli. (Huge shocker, right?)

Qibli had decided he was going to make everyone breakfast. That should tell you enough in itself. When he'd gone to use the stove, Qibli had turned it up to the highest setting, hoping that would make it cook faster. Somehow, the food had caught fire, and it had taken the combined efforts of Winter, Moon, Peril (who was the opposite of helpful), and Kinkajou twenty minutes to put out the fire. (They had not allowed Qibli to help, even though he'd wanted to).

Now, as Winter headed to his first class of the day, he was NOT in a good mood. He kept his head down, concentrating on walking and fuming. Because he was staring at the ground, he didn't notice the Kypseli coming the opposite direction until he bumped into her.

"Hey!" the Kypseli shouted. "Watch where you're going!"

Winter stopped in the middle of the hall and gawked at her for a moment. Then he realized he was acting like Moon had when he'd said the same thing to her, so he put more effort into coming up with a response. The best he could do was, "Seriously?"

The Kypseli, who Winter now realized was an adult but not a teacher he knew, scowled at him. "Are all Glacees this slow?"

"No, only me," Winter blurted before he realized that that probably wasn't the best thing to say.

The Kypseli continued scowling. "Somehow I doubt that. All of you lower ranks seem pretty dumb to me. Maybe Glacees aren't as dumb as Reshams, but still dumber than us."

Winter stared at the Kypseli, trying not to be too offended. This was normal - if you were talking to a Resham or an Ua. But not even Kypselis said things like that to Glacees. "Who the heck do you think you are?"

The Kypselis's eyes narrowed dangerously. "Someone with a lot more power than you, so I suggest you shut your mouth."

Winter scoffed. "Yeah, right. You're not a teacher. You've got literally no power here. You're probably not even supposed to be here. What'd you do, climb through a window so you can accost students?"

The Kypseli's expression somehow managed to become more intimidating. "No, I entered through the front door like a respectable person. And I have more right than any of you students to be here, considering I run this place."

Winter laughed. This Kypseli was so overconfident. "You know literally nothing," he said. "And I'm about to be late for class, so I should be done with this incredibly stimulating conversation."

"Good," the Kypseli said, her voice now filled with venom too. "You deserve it."

Winter rolled his eyes. "Whatever," he said in the tone he used when talking to his friends. He'd never used it to address his parents or other adults before, but this Kypseli was asking for it. "Goodbye."

He walked off down the hall, and when class started, he absorbed himself with schoolwork. The conversation was soon forgotten.

That was his fatal mistake.