"If you don't concentrate on what you are doing, then the thing that you are doing is not what you are thinking"
-Alfred Tennyson
Together they stood in the rickety elevator of the Institute. Lisa had never trusted it; she had once been trapped in the cabin for half an hour. She had rammed the doors, tried to pull them open. Since that day she felt like the elevator wasn't fond of her. The doors opened with a squeak, Marianne was waiting for them in the hallway with Lotte and Maxim next to her. The little girl ran to Jonathan.
"Did you bring me food?" She pulled on Jonathan's shirt and Anna took the two buns out of her coat.
"I have an egg sandwich for Lot and one with cheese for Max." She gave them to her brother and sister, who ran away together. Sometimes they got along so well, but sometimes they were like fire and ice. Lisa wondered if she would ever understand how siblings work. Arthur and Olivia looked a little lost, Arthur scratched his curly hair, and Olivia examined her bitten nails.
"So, I have your test results." Marianne was wearing her reading glasses - in the same orange color as her hair - which made her look slightly older, she was examining a piece of paper. "Jonathan," she stepped closer to her son, "you scored well on average for all the subjects but languages." Even though she was whispering, Lisa was sure everyone could hear her.
Jonathan swallowed noticeably. "But Mom." He scratched his head, looking for an excuse. "Can't you-"
"No." Marianne was very strict when it came to teaching. "You'll have to get a tutor, which won't be me, since I already have enough on my plate with Lot, Max, Olivia, and Arthur." Arthur wanted to protest, but Olivia stopped him. Somehow Jonathan seemed relieved that he would no longer be taught by his mother.
"Who will teach me then? You haven't hired another substitute teacher, have you? The previous one had nearly decapitated Anna-"
"No, you will tutor each other." Marianne looked at her and Anna. "Lisa, you will tutor Jonathan in Latin," Lisa nodded, she could handle that, "and you will be tutored by Jonathan on the hand-to-hand fights. You failed that subject, otherwise good grades." She swallowed, she had foreseen that, since Anna had accidentally knocked her out during the exam.
"Why me?" Jonathan crossed his arms.
"Because you had the best grades on it," Marianne said sternly, turning to Anna now. "Great job as always, but I think you could score even better for demonology." Anna nodded and all three received a piece of paper with their scores.
"Man, this feels like a parent-teacher conference," Arthur grumbled. Unfortunately, Marianne had heard that comment.
"That reminds me, I'm going to test you both as well. Since I got no information from the Academy."
"You mean, right now?" Olivia asked incredulously. "But we haven't prepared anything at all."
"You'll do fine, you've seen everything at the Academy, haven't you?" Arthur and Olivia exchanged glances and opened their mouths, but Marianne cut them off. "Let's go to the training room, you guys start too?" she said with a sideways glance at them, Anna nodded. Lisa peeked at Anna's score for Latin on her slip of paper, and then at hers. Unbelievable. Arthur and Olivia were still protesting behind Marianne's back and Lisa quickly caught up with them.
"Marianne, why do I have to tutor Jonathan while Anna has better grades for Latin?"
Marianne hesitated. "Because I know Jonathan doesn't listen to Anna, but you do," she said and moved on. Lisa turned around, Anna pouted at her and Jonathan leaned casually against the wall.
"Good luck Archie!" he called after them, Arthur and Anna looked at him angrily.
Anna scraped her throat. "I'll go train some more and I think mom wants you to start too," she told Jonathan. He was leaning against the wall.
"Did you all hate this too? Mom is pretending to be our teacher." Anna glared at him. He nodded and walked over to Lisa. "Alright master, what are we going to do first?" he said dramatically. Lisa boxed against his arm as a teaser for what was coming. "Okay, then I'll just put on my gear." He left the hall. Lisa wanted to say something to Anna, but she had already left.
*
Lisa laid on her bed and stared at the white ceiling. She just had to lie down for a bit. She didn't know why, but she was tired, even though she hadn't done anything yet. She felt her skin burning under her long-sleeved outfit. Lisa had pulled her hair back and looked around in her room.
She remembered Marianne let her decorate this room all by herself. Most of the furniture came from her room in the manor, but she also had pictures of her and the Starkweathers on a wall. Together with Anna and Marianne, she had painted the walls light-blue. The room in the Institute was slightly larger than her room in the manor, although she had had a view of the park and pond from there. Someone knocked on the door and Jonathan stepped inside, wearing his uniform too.
"Are you seriously sleeping?" he asked with an open mouth. Lisa jumped up.
"No, I'm ready." Jonathan glanced around her room with curiosity, then turned abruptly and walked down the hall. Lisa walked next to him. At first, she hadn't really known Jonathan, he had just been Anna's brother. Now she thought he was mostly annoying, but that might be because of Anna's input. He could be funny at times, but she still felt like she didn't quite know him. They arrived at the training room and he opened the door. An arrow landed right next to the door and Lisa almost jumped in the air.
"Alright Arthur, just a little bit more towards the goal now," she heard Marianne say hoarsely. Jonathan took her wrist and pulled her outside.
"Maybe we should practice elsewhere." She heard Arthur shout some more apologies to them. Lisa agreed, hoping Arthur wouldn't hurt anyone.
They arrived at the training room on the second floor, the sun was shining directly on the windows in the ridge of the room, it was sweltering. She didn't understand how it could be so hot here, while it wasn't even ten degrees outside.
"Okay," Jonathan started, standing in the center of the round room. "Try to hit me." Lisa took a deep breath and came standing in front of Jonathan. Her head barely reached his chin, let alone she could hit his head. She laughed.
"Seriously?" He nodded firmly. She lashed out with her right fist and he stepped aside in a flash, his hands folded behind his back. She remembered that Jonathan wanted to become a boxer when he was young. He had been so disappointed to find out that it was not possible.
She lashed out again, this time from the bottom, trying to hit his chin. He bent down and swept her legs from the ground with one quick movement. She slapped against the floor and looked up, Jonathan was standing up again and held out his hand. So that's how we're going to play it. She ignored his hand and leaned on her elbow. She turned around and took him down. Surprised it had worked, she got up again. He laid on the floor smiling at her, she asked what was so funny.
"I'm glad you didn't spare me." He got up again. "Get in position." She clenched her hands and held her arms out in front of her. "You have to spread your legs more and if you are going to hit, move from your hips, that's where the strength comes from." She did what he said, but he warded her attacks with his arm.
"I can't hit you anyway, you're way too big and strong," she sighed. He patted her head.
"Then you have to take advantage of being little."
She put her hands on her hips. "As a matter of fact, I'm not small. You're just a giant." But she did take his advice. She slid between his legs on the slippery floor.
"What the-?" Jonathan looked behind him in surprise. Lisa jumped on his back and put her arms around his neck. It was meant to be a stranglehold, but it probably looked more like a hug. Jonathan leaned forward and Lisa was catapulted, falling on the ground again. Her back cracked when she got up. Her ponytail had gotten loose and she threw the elastic band on the ground. Lisa glared at Jonathan, who gave her a crooked smile in return. She unzipped her uniform jacket and threw it on the floor, it was too hot in that sweater.
"Come on, is that all you've got? Half-blood?" he mocked. Lisa grunted, that was the last straw. She pushed herself off the wall and jumped on one of the beams. She dropped right on Jonathan's surprised face, he fell on the ground with a smack. Lisa landed on top of him and hit him in the face, as hard as she could. He looked perplexed for a moment, then rolled on top of her and pinned her to the ground, without crushing her under his weight. He had a red spot on his cheek, his lip was slightly bleeding, and he was breathing very shallowly. She knew she couldn't move so she stopped struggling and relaxed.
"Don't call me a half-blood," she snapped. His smiling face still towered over her.
"I know, but you managed to hit me nicely, didn't you?" Only now she realised he had said it on purpose so she would get angry.
"Sorry," she said, "for your lip." He opened his mouth to say something, but suddenly she heard someone laugh.
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Was someone eavesdropping on Jonathan and Lisa?
Next chapter will be online tomorrow! -->
And remember: Don't trust anyone