Draeyer Academy (Rewrite)

Chapter 10-Raised Well

"I'm a teacher. My students cause me headaches every other day. And I warmed up eventually, you know," Gael mumbled.

"He'll hate you for being nosy."

"I know."

"I'm not talking you out of this, am I?"

"Nope."

Kreis groaned. "Fine! Have it your way. If you come to me, drunk and complaining about Alec, I won't hesitate to say 'I told you so'."

Gael's laughter escaped him as he watched his friend fume. "Okay," he said. "But, trust me when I say you'll like this kid soon enough. You're only taking longer because you're being petty about the injury he inflicted on you."

"Let it go, you piece of drae shit!"

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He continued to watch Alec finish with Asher and turned to start cleaning Iris' scales. The kid still looked somber, but happier compared to two weeks ago. Gael hoped that his wounds would heal with time, like his own wounds did. Not all wounds.

He ignored the last thought and happily watched as Iris started to sink to the snowy ground from Alec's attention. The young man paused and looked around before his blue eyes landed on Gael. Gael raised a hand in greeting. Alec pursed his lip, hesitating for a moment, before nodding in greeting. Soon, he went back to ignoring Gael.

Gael found it funny. Alec did not like him one bit. But in the last two weeks, he had come to notice that Alec was physically unable to be rude to anyone polite towards him. Alec remained polite, simply because Gael remained polite to him. If someone was rude to him, he'd get snappy and blunt, glare with cold menacing eyes, or just straight out pretend that they don't exist.

Whoever raised him, did an amazing job, he thought.

But his thoughts soon turned to the townspeople of Gelun, and his mood plummeted just a bit. He had come to notice that they would avoid or glare at Alec every time they passed. He only knew that it had something to do with Alec's brother and the Red Boils epidemic, but he asked the Ryders to stop investigating the details. All he really needed were the essentials. His name, age, address, and family members. Any more than that would make him feel like he's treating the kid like a criminal. Maybe one day, Alec would tell his story himself.

He was pulled from his musings when his commu-crima started ringing. He picked it up from his bedside table and found that it was the Headmaster calling. He pressed on the crystal screen and brought it to his ear.

"Good day, Headmaster Donovan," he said.

"Gael, it's just us. You can drop my title," he heard an old voice say.

"Yes, Uncle," Gael said with a resigned sigh.

"Kreis mentioned a certain someone to me," Donovan said. "Are you bringing home a kitten?"

Gael's lips twitched in amusement. "He's more of a cub, than a kitten. He knows how to use his claws too."

A deep chuckle came from the other end of the line. "I hope you know what you're doing, child."

"With all you due respect, uncle," Gael began, "did you know what you were doing when you decided to take me in?"

There was a pause before a louder chuckle came from the old man. "Fair enough," he said. "So, how will you introduce this kid to everyone you know?"

"I still have to ask the kid if he's fine being my long-lost little brother."

Donovan remained quiet on the line before suddenly bursting into a loud and hearty chuckle. "If you like this kid this much, then he must be amazing. I'm so excited to meet him."

Gael smiled bitterly, not minding his expression because no one was there to see. There was a 50% chance that Alec would drop his politeness towards him when he introduces his new backstory. Even if it was for the sake of hiding his identity.

We could make people think that he hates me because I took him from his home and forced him to live with him. It was partly true. That way, it wouldn't be difficult to act.

He sighed. "I just hope he'll be a lot more polite to you than I was when I first met you, old man."

"Let's hope so," Donovan said. "The semester is about to begin, I hope you come back quickly." 

"We're leaving tomorrow, Uncle," he said. "How could I pass up the chance of having fun with my students?"

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New family? New headache?