January 16th. Tuesday, 8:27 AM.
"Why did Will already go?" Malakai tiredly mumbled, rubbing his eyes and opening the door to his dorm. "He could've waited for me at least", he said, stepping out.
"I thought I would hate lectures, but after yesterday, I think I like them".
"Yeah, but in lectures you can lose focus easily".
Malakai heard voices to his left as soon as he stepped out. He turned his head and saw Maria and Ray walking side by side. The corridor was empty, and only those two were walking down it. Malakai's lips curled into a light smile seeing them together. He turned around and quietly went back into his dorm,
"I've got time. I can chill for a bit".
9:12 AM.
"Fam, I swear the walk wasn't this long before".
Yep. Malakai chilled for a bit too long. Malakai underestimated the walk to the academy… despite doing it for a couple of months now. The walk took around 15-20 minutes, so you can do the maths and calculate when Malakai left his dorm.
Now, Malakai was walking with a bit of spring in his step to reduce his lateness. To be fair, it didn't matter how late he was. As long as he wasn't half an hour late, if he was present before, it would still count as his attendance. He just didn't want the awkward stares from everyone when entering the lecture hall. He stood in front of the year group multiple times before, but walking in late to a lecture was a different level of awkward. Malakai saw multiple videos about it, so he knew how awkward it was.
When he reached the heavy double doors of the hall, he could hear the lecturer's voice booming inside. It sounded like he was deep into the lecture.
"Tch, this is gonna be awkward", he said, closing his eyes and mentally preparing himself. "They're gonna think I came late for attention. Fuck sake, man".
And of course, the entrance was right at the front. No sneaking into the back. The moment the doors opened, every eye would swing to him.
Malakai took a deep breath and pushed.
The doors creaked, and like clockwork, faces turned. Malakai dipped his head, letting his hair fall forward, and only lifted it halfway as he walked in. He flicked one glance left at the lecturer, who didn't give him a look and continued as if nothing had happened. Then he glanced right at a sea of faces. Too many faces.
"I can't be arsed tryna find them", he thought, scanning faces, trying to find his friends.
With that, he gave up. He slid into the front row, took off his bag, and sat. He looked down the line, and the front row was relatively empty with a few seats taken up, probably from other students who were also late. Malakai sat back and stared at the screen.
"What do I even do in a lecture? Take notes?" he thought, trying to catch up with whatever was on the screen.
Yet again, Malakai tried subtly peeking down the line at what other people were doing. Some were tapping laptops and writing on tablets, and others were scribbling in notebooks.
"I'm finished", he thought. "Fuck it. Imma just listen. I can't be arsed taking my stuff out.
Malakai sat back and watched the screen like a movie. All the words that were being said were going through one ear and leaving the other. It was nine in the morning. Malakai wasn't going to pay attention.
"Damn, I might go sleep-".
"Malakai".
"Huh?"
The call of his name sent a mini electric shock to his brain. His head snapped right to see who called his name.
Sitting a seat over was a girl with silky, long, black hair and pale white skin with a slight tan. Her eyes were nicely shaped with long eyelashes and sparkly grey-coloured eyes, making her gaze almost like glitter.
"Do you want to take a look at my notes?" she quietly asked.
Malakai blinked and took a good look at her face. One, because she was stunning, but the main reason was to try to recall if they'd met before.
"Nah, I'm aryt", he replied, being cautious.
"Are you sure. I don't mind", she gently insisted.
"Yeah, it's fine", Malakai said, still on guard. "Have we talked before?".
"No, this is our first time. My name is Sabrina".
Malakai's eyelids raised, "Oh shit yeah", that name clicked. He remembered her ID photo when she was on the leaderboard. Then all the times he remembered her being mentioned during the fifth challenge came back to his head. "You're in 1-D, innit?".
"Yeah", Sabrina nodded.
"Aryt. Are you friends with Delilah?" he asked, recalling Delilah mentioning her.
"I'd hope we're friends", Sabrina said with a small smile. "We had a nice conversation during the fourth challenge".
"Heh, when did she get so many friends?" Malakai smirked at how unexpected it was.
Sabrina glanced at Malakai's empty desk, "Didn't you bring anything to take notes?".
"I've got my notebook in my bag, but I can't arsed to write anything", Malakai replied, honestly.
Sabrina tilted her head, amused. "How are you going to learn the content?".
"I'll ask my friends to send me their notes or something", Malakai shrugged.
"Are you sure you don't want my notes?" Sabrina asked again. "I know I'm in 1-D, but I think my notes are good".
Malakai looked at her eyes, and it seemed like she genuinely wanted to help, "What notes do you have?".
"I've got notes for everything we've done so far for each subject", Sabrina replied, showing Malakai different folders on her laptop.
Malakai paused and thought about this. Having notes for all the content they've already done would be nice, especially after hearing yesterday that they had to pass the exams at the end of the year to progress to the second year. Having these notes would help a lot. Malakai had notes he had made and from his friends, but having more wouldn't hurt. Plus, they would probably look better than the ones he got.
"Aryt. Just send it to my email innit".
"Okay", Sabrina cheerfully smiled.
Malakai looked at her sideways, "Why are you doing this though? Are you gonna use this against me in the future?" he couldn't help but be a little paranoid.
"No. Nothing like that", Sabrina shook her head. "You're Delilah's friend, so I just wanted to do something nice".
"Nice?" Malakai smirked faintly, not fully convinced. In England, doing something nice for someone else wasn't common. "We're good, but don't expect anything from me in challenges".
"I won't. I don't need your help", Sabrina confidently said. "I wanted to talk with you, and this was the perfect chance".
"Aryt then", Malakai replied, not expecting her confidence.
"Why do all the pretty girls wanna talk to me?" he thought. "Maybe I am sexy".
While those two continued to quietly converse at the front of the lecture hall, the back of the lecture hall was quiet. The last row only had two students sitting there.
"Destiny".
Destiny slightly turned her head and side-eyed who called her.
A guy leaned back in his chair. A guy with messy hair on top with red highlights. A sharp jawline with reddish brown eyes and a dangling red earring.
"What are your plans for this semester?" he asked casually.
"Get first place", Destiny simply replied, her chin propped lazily on her palm. "What else am I supposed to have planned?".
"I thought you'd say something better".
"I don't know what else you want me to say", Destiny replied. "What do you have planned?".
"Not much. I just wanna mess with people", he said. "I didn't get to do it that much last semester. Last semester was boring".
"Why not climb the leaderboard. You're tenth. You've got a chance", Destiny replied. "I was surprised to see your name. You've got a cool name. Ace Star".
"So cool..." Ace sarcastically said, not taking it as a compliment. "I don't care about the challenges. They don't excite me", he continued, moving on.
"You don't care about the challenges, but you're in the top ten", Destiny replied.
"Every challenge we've done, I've done fuck all or barely anything", Ace said. "The success is following me".
"Are you saying that because you know you're not going to win?" Destiny slyly asked.
Ace furrowed his brows, "You're not going to win either. I don't know what you're tryna say".
"That's what you think", Destiny said, still trying to ragebait him.
"Whatever, I don't give a shit", Ace waved it off. "I just wanna fuck with people".
"If that's what you wanna do, then do me a favour and fuck with Alexander in the next challenge. Please and thank you", Destiny replied, giving him a look.
"I don't do favours", Ace said. "If I wanna do something, I'll do it".
"Oooh, I get it. You're scared of Alexander", Destiny teased, pushing his buttons.
Ace gave Destiny a look and smirked like he finally understood something, "Are you always like this?".
"Like what?" Destiny innocently said, acting clueless.
"Annoying".
Destiny grinned, "You act like this too", she shrugged.
"Anyway", Ace said, looking away. "I'll mess with who I wanna mess with. Last challenge I had fun throwing books at some randoms in 1-D".
"Sounds like bullying".
"It was fun", Ace said without remorse. "No one got hurt, so it's not bullying".
"Hmmm... Why don't you mess with people right now?" Destiny asked.
"What?" Ace looked at her, confused.
"You've got the back of everyone's head to aim at. If you wanna throw something, this is the perfect time", Destiny said, pointing ahead.
Ace wasn't sure if she was serious and trying to egg him on to do it.
"It's 9 AM. Even I have my limits", Ace said. "I'm too tired for this".
"Surely there's someone you want to throw something at", Destiny said, feeling like Ace needed a little more convincing.
Ace scanned the view below. Trying to identify people from the back of their heads.
"Nah. I can't see them", Ace replied. He had a few people in mind he wanted to snipe at.
Destiny also scanned the view below and saw that most of the 'important' people were either too far or on the other side.
"Aww. Do you need your friends with you?" Destiny said, teasing him again. "You can't do anything without them, right?".
"How do you have this much energy?" Ace asked, ignoring her jab.
"Pfft, I don't know", Destiny said, resting her chin on her hand again. "I need something to keep me awake. 9 AM lectures are not it".
9:48 AM.
"Finally", Malakai said, stretching his arms.
"You know we've got another lecture now", Sabrina told him, putting her laptop in her bag.
"Do we? Shit", Malakai said, not knowing the timetable. Usually, he would go with the flow and let his friends tell him. "Actually, I'm just gonna sit at the back with my friends".
All of a sudden, he didn't mind having another lecture now. He could chill on his phone or go to sleep if he wanted.
"I knew you were unserious, but not this unserious", Sabrina smiled.
"What do you mean. I'm so serious", Malakai said, standing up. "I'm just getting used to the academy again".
"Don't take too long. We got a challenge next week", Sabrina replied, also getting up.
Malakai smirked and started walking,
"Don't worry. I'll deffo be ready for that".