Chapter Nine

Monday

It was early Monday morning when Yoomi finally managed to track Sehun down; funnily enough, it turned out that Sehun had been looking for her as well. Sumin, Jinwoo, and her had just gotten to Physical Training and were just chatting while waiting for the trainer to show up, when just the person Yoomi had been trying to discreetly scan the field for showed up in front of her.

“Sehun!” She exclaimed with a wide smile upon seeing his face. Before he could say anything, she was already bending down to grab something by her side, the sound of shifting paper bags filling the air. “I didn’t get the chance to properly thank you the other day. Thank you for saving my life! You know, even though you act like you don’t care I know you’re actually a pretty good person! Oh, and I finally got around to replacing that shirt I promised you!” She raised the rather large bag that could be easily recognized as one from one of the oncampus shops at the mall, shaking it in front of his face excitedly. “I didn’t know what size you were, so I just bought one of each. Well, besides the really small ones and stuff, because clearly you’re really tall and-” Yoomi’s babbling and sheepish chuckles were cut off abruptly.

“I-I don’t need that many shirts!” Sehun snapped at her, but there was something different from this time and every other time he had yelled at her. Now, he couldn’t seem to meet her eyes and was that a blush on his face? “E-especially if they won’t fit me. Tch, it’d be better if you just stopped causing so many problems in the first place, Latte girl.” Yoomi blinked in confusion, excitement fading away as he turned to glare at her coldly. However, the second their eyes met, the pink on his cheeks darkened to a light red and he roughly shoved a paper into her already full hands before whipping his head away from her again. “A-anyway, Suho hyung asked me to pass this to you. Turn it in at the Student Union office by the end of today.” He disappeared after telling her all of that in a rush, leaving her there stunned and wondering what just happened.

“Lover’s quarrel? Isn’t it too early to be fighting already? And what’s that?” Sumin asked curiously, peeking at the paper he had left in Yoomi’s hands. Yoomi wisely chose to ignore her first statement, but that didn’t prevent her from hearing it, causing her to awkwardly clear before examining the piece of paper.

“Looks like it’s the list of our academy’s clubs. All students here are required to join at least one club as extracurricular credit.” Jinwoo explained, reading over her shoulder. “You can join as many as you like, as long as you can manage it and it doesn’t interfere with your studies.”

“Ahh.” Yoomi gave both of her friends a slightly awkward smile as she dropped the rejected bag of clothing back to the floor and tried to subtly nudge it against the wall with her foot. She was desperate for the change in topic after whatever the hell that weirdness with Sehun was; she was attempting to just brush it off, but it had definitely left her feeling disappointed and oddly nervous. “What clubs are you guys in?”

“I’m in baking club,” Sumin told her, one brow raised and amusement dancing in her eyes that let Yoomi know she wasn’t nearly as inconspicuous in kicking the bag away and changing the subject as she thought she was. Thankfully, it looked like her friend was going to let it go for once, but that was only because it looked like she preferred to tease Jinwoo at the moment instead. “And Jinwoo’s in art club with his Suho-sunbaenim.” Sumin winked at Jinwoo who immediately glared back at her.

Yoomi took the opportunity their bickering provided and browsed through the list of the clubs, searching for something she’d find interesting. She had been in lots of clubs back at her old school, so she wanted to try something new, and since this was a magical school, there must be something different that would catch her eye, right?

At that moment, her gaze drifted down the page and landed on a club called Enhanced First-Aid Training. Her eyes lit up right away. She had never done anything like that before, and it did say enhanced, so it must be something out of the ordinary. Luckily, club days for this particular club were Friday afternoons from 3:00-4:00, which didn’t seem to interfere with anything else in her schedule. She circled it right away, and turned to look at her friends’ reactions, presenting them proudly with her choice.

“Enhanced first aid training?” They muttered, reading off her paper. “Good choice. I heard they teach some useful skills.” Jinwoo complimented, while Sumin gave her two thumbs up, and she grinned at them both. Not to brag or anything, but Yoomi thought that she may finally be getting the hang of this whole magical school thing.

***

Physical training was over in no time, and Yoomi waited in front of the locker rooms for Sumin and Jinwoo to change back into their regular uniforms.

“Guys, I think I’m ready to get to class on my own now,” she told her friends when they came out of the locker rooms. Despite her failure in the whole Sehun situation, she was feeling extremely confident today and wanted to run with it while it lasted. “I’ve been here for a whole week already,” she assured when she saw them both open their mouths to protest or contradict her. “I’d be dumb if I still couldn’t get around the academy.”

“You said it, Yoomi-ah,” Sumin laughed lightly, playfully throwing her arm over the other girl’s shoulders, “because you couldn’t even get back to our own dorm room the other day after coming back from your swim! I heard from some girls that you showed up dripping wet in a bathrobe in front of their room, asking to be let in.” Yoomi’s cheeks pinked from the realization that Sumin found out about her going to the wrong room that day- she had even begged those girls not to tell Sumin!

“I-it was just a little mistake, okay! I was just tired from my swim and went to the wrong floor. I swear I won’t get lost this time!” She protested a little too defensively, trying to convince her overprotective friends that she can take care of herself. She couldn’t be that bad with directions, could she?

“Alright, but if you do get lost, don’t hesitate to call us for help, okay?” Jinwoo finally agreed with a heavy sigh, and she cheered.

“I promise. I’ll get going now! See you guys at lunch!” Yoomi waved goodbye to her two friends happily and headed off to combat/sparring class. On her way to class though, she did get a little lost- despite what she had so confidently promised her friends against doing- and had to pull out her school map for reference.

“Okay,” she whispered to herself, head bent over the map and a frown of concentration on her face. “If this is where I am, then that building must be this way.” However, when she looked up to make a sharp turn around the next corner, she found herself running into someone else once again. Instantly, she tried to gather up all her things and apologize, frustrated with herself and face red. This is so embarrassing! Seriously, why does this keep happening? What is wrong with me?! Yoomi decided she really needed to start paying attention to where she was going because she has already lost count of how many times she has ran into somebody since she’s gotten to the academy, and it’s only been one week. Her luck was the worst.

“I’m so sorry!” She apologized with a grimace.

Looking up at whoever she had crashed into this time, she was shocked to see two girls glaring down at her hatefully and fussing over someone else laying on the ground like her. In front of Yoomi was another girl dressed in a black uniform with her dark hair pulled back in a bun and a flat look on her face. Even sprawled out like that from Yoomi knocking her over, she still managed to look dignified and intimidating. Her expression was cold and even after Yoomi’s apologies, it didn’t change. Her friends helped her up and Yoomi quickly followed, scrambling to her feet as well, books and map clutched tightly in her hands.

“I really am sorry,” Yoomi said, bowing a little with a small frown. While her head was down, she sneaked a glance at the girl’s blazer and hastened to correct herself once she caught sight of the four stars pinned there. The black and gold, striped bow tied around her shirt collar meant that she was in A-Class too, like Sumin, so Yoomi should probably be more respectful to her, lest she angered another A-rank. Flashbacks to the incident with Jihoon made Yoomi force herself to be extra polite. “Are you alright, sunbaenim?”

“Sorry doesn’t change the fact that you’ve managed to mess up my books and uniform,” she snapped coldly, completely ignoring Yoomi’s concern. She was very pretty, but she didn’t look like she smiled much. That coupled with her attitude, reminded Yoomi of one of those classic, rich mean girls from the stereotypical high school dramas she used to watch on the weekends because of Sohee. She was instantly offended too, all determination to be polite gone. She had already said sorry, and her books and things were messed up as well, so what was her problem? “You should respect your seniors and watch where you’re going next time,” she glared at the younger girl.

“Hey wait,” one of her friends suddenly exclaimed while Yoomi’s frown became more pronounced. “You’re that new transfer student everyone’s been talking about, right? The one with no rank or power, and can’t even fly.” Yoomi involuntarily winced at the harsh, yet bluntly accurate, description.

“I guess that explains it,” the girl she had run into scoffed. “It must be because you were raised by poor talamhis that you have no manners. A weakling like you should learn to know your place.”

“Excuse me?” Yoomi’s eyes narrowed as she felt irritation bubble up in her chest, as well as anger as, once again, someone tried to drag her parents into their insults. Who did this girl think she was? And why did everyone keep bringing Yoomi’s family into it?! She understood that she didn’t grow up the way most normal vaeli did, but she still was raised in a loving family, and the fact that these people just didn’t seem to understand that and kept insulting them was really pissing her off. She had never been one to just sit back and take like that lightly.

“Are you deaf too? Or just blind? Since you apparently couldn’t see me walking here.”

“I already apologized, though I realize now that I shouldn’t have.” Yoomi glared back at the older girl, voice becoming cold and hard. “What right do you have to-”

“Are you talking back to me, huh, talamhi?” She took a step forward, raising one of her manicured hands menacingly. A faint dark purple mist began to swirl around her fingers and the threat was clear. Yoomi’s eyes went wide as something inside warned her about the danger, but despite being wary of the girl’s unknown powers, she felt her anger mounting higher. Was this girl, her senior who was supposed to know better and be more mature, really trying to threaten her with her power just because she had accidentally run into her and had the decency to apologize? Yoomi’s rare temper was now flaring.

“The real question is, what right do you have to mouth off to an A-rank three years your senior?” the girl sneered, the mist gathering around her hand darkening in color and becoming thicker.

“I’m pretty sure the academy’s handbook states that students are prohibited from using their powers to inflict harm on another,” Yoomi glared, “but as my respected senior, you probably already know all of that, don’t you, sunbae?” Taking a couple steps away from the older girl whose own glare had intensified at Yoomi’s clever remark. Suddenly, in the time it took Yoomi to blink, there was something dark shooting through the air. Acting purely on instinct alone -and extremely thankful to her new and improved, enhanced vaeli reflexes-, Yoomi jumped back, dodging whatever it was the older girl had thrown at her. Unfortunately, that move led to her backing right up into the firm chest of someone else, this time definitely a male.

“You’re blocking the way,” a soft, annoyed voice said by her ear.

“L-luhan!” the girl’s eyes widened and her hand fell back to her side, the strange shadowy mist disappearing. “Hi!” she grinned, voice and demeanor completely different from a few seconds ago. Her personality had made a complete 180 in the span of only a millisecond, like someone had flipped a switch. The abruptness of it all threw Yoomi off, her anger very much still there but now it was muddled by confusion and the shock of being attacked. It took her a minute to realize that the other girl must have recognized whoever was behind her and that was what caused her to put on the innocent act. “Sorry for being in the way, I was just teaching this newbie a lesson. Are you heading to class now? Should we go there together?”

“I don’t have class with you,” the voice answered flatly. Her expression immediately fell, looking more like a disappointed school girl rejected by her crush than the dominant bully who had lost her temper and used her powers from before.

“Well, uh…”

“Move.” A hand tapped Yoomi’s shoulder lightly and she startled; the entire scene happening in front of her was so surreal it felt a little like an out-of-body experience and she had zoned out a little while trying to process both it and her jumbled thoughts and emotions. The hand gently pushed her stunned form to the side and she found herself coming face to face with a really cute boy that had vaguely messy silver-grey hair that appeared almost a slightly more hazel-grey in the sunlight -Yoomi wasn’t entirely sure how to describe his hair color, but it was breathtaking and she was jealous of it- and big brown eyes that reminded her of a doe. His face made him look incredibly young, his skin impossibly smooth, but the stars on his jacket told her that he was a fourth year as well. His blue uniform also let her know that he was in S-class; she didn’t remember him from the battles the other day, but then again, she still didn’t know all of the famous S-class boys, so that didn’t surprise her.

For a split second when their gazes met, his eyes flashed a soft violet color, a purple just a shade darker than lavender, and Yoomi wondered if he was very annoyed at the moment for his eyes to flash their vaeli color. In spite of his blank expression, his eyes were gentle and she felt more at ease now that he was here, safer for some reason. “You shouldn’t let people bully you like that.”

Yoomi blinked, but said nothing, trying to shake herself out of her daze and quit staring at the attractive upperclassman.

“Be more careful next time,” he told her flatly. Then he turned to go, continuing on his way to class. He cast a quick glance at the other girl, but left without another word to her or any real form of acknowledgement. Both of them stared at his retreating figure, the girl’s friends complaining to each other about him.

Luhan…

Yoomi jumped a little, surprised to hear a voice sounding in her head. That hadn’t happened to her since the day of her eighteenth birthday when she first found out she wasn’t human and, with all the other exciting things happening in her life, she had completely forgotten about it. Wondering if it was some side effect or ability vaeli possessed that she just hadn’t learned about yet, she listened closely in case the voice came again. It had sounded a little like the A-rank girl, but she couldn’t tell if the girl was talking or not because her back was facing her. That changed when she spun around to glare at her, fists clenched tightly by her sides.

Luhan never speaks to anyone like that. He’s always so quiet. He never even looks at me! What’s so special about her, huh? Luhan is mine!

Yoomi’s eyes widened at her angry voice. The main reason she was so shocked was not because of what she was saying, though her possessiveness was a bit off putting, but because wasn’t moving at all. Instead, it was pulled down into a deep frown, her eyebrows drawn together in fury. “This isn’t over, talamhi,” she hissed, this time outloud. She stormed past the shocked younger girl, purposely bumping her shoulder harshly with Yoomi’s. Her two friends followed, trying to keep up with her.

“Mina, wait for us!” they called.

Yoomi was a little too overwhelmed to process everything properly though. What was that? How did I hear her? Remembering the strange things that had happened on her birthday once again, she made a mental note to ask Sumin and Jinwoo about it later, certain that it was some weird vaeli thing. She shook herself from her thoughts and forced herself to head to class before she was marked late. She would definitely ask her friends about it later, as well as ask them about Mina and what exactly her problem was.

***

Class passed quickly, and by the time Yoomi was finally dismissed, she had already forgotten the question she meant to ask her friends. That’s not to say that she had forgotten about the encounter entirely, but just that the small detail of the voice had been lost in a sea of her other thoughts and feelings- things like the bad taste talking with Mina had left in , her lingering anger that still grew and flared randomly the more she thought about the terrible fourth year female, and her curiosity about that boy with the beautiful hair that, now that her brain was working properly and processing everything, sh