"Your emotions are the slaves to your thoughts, and you are the slave to your emotions."

― Elizabeth Gilbert

The sirens were still going off as Rian switched the light on, revealing that we were standing inside a Janitor's closet. Rian sighed before sitting down on an overturned bucket. If it were under different circumstances, I would have laughed at the sight of Rian and his large body sitting on a small bucket, but instead I flipped a crate over and plopped down onto it.

"Do you know what's going on?" I whispered when the sirens had stopped going off.

The violet-eyed boy shook his head. "No idea."

I groaned as I put my head into my hands and closed my eyes. I didn't know whether it was from my previous heartache at seeing the place I missed so much, or from the stress at not knowing what the hell was going on, or both, but all of a sudden emotions welled up inside me as teardrops started to fall down my cheeks.

"Hey, Iris, are you- what's wrong?"

"I-it's nothing," I shook my head, begging the tears to stop. Why was I crying? I rarely cried, even as a baby. "I'm fine."

I could sense Rian standing up and walking over to stand in front of me. "You're obviously not." I wiped my eyes and looked up to see Rian staring at me with confusion and concern. He crouched down in front of me and his eyes pleaded for me to tell him what was going on. The energy between us went back and forth and soon the cramped Janitor's closet became too hot. My heartbeat sped up, as the overwhelming feeling grew and I tilted my head back against the wall, finding slight comfort in the coolness of the tiles.

"I just m-miss my home," I started. "I miss drinking clear water and one-headed dogs; going to New York on w-weekends and old Ms. Smith next door who always remembered my birthday." I took a deep breath. "I miss the birds outside my window t-that insisted on chirping every morning before I woke up and the awful shade of y-yellow of my room that I chose when I was four. I miss playing. . ." My breath hitched and I shook my head. "I miss playing my violin. But most of all. . . I miss my mom."

I started to cry again - damn it! - and tried to shrug out of Rian's embrace when he wrapped his arms around my shoulders. But I soon leant into it when my sobs became too hard to control. He brushed my chestnut hair away from my face before he rubbed his hands soothingly down my back and made shushing sounds. I was again reminded of how gentle the Izaldian could be.

Our nice moment was interrupted though, when the P.A. system came on minutes later.

"Attention staff and students, the code red is over. All students, please go back to your family units. School has been cancelled for the rest of the day."

"Hey, are you okay to leave?"

I nodded before leaning away from Rian and wiping my eyes. I stood up from the crate and before Rian could exit the closet, I stopped.

"Rian? I just wanted to - um, thank you. For you know, um-"

"Anytime, Iris."

I blushed and nodded before following Rian through the door.

We found Janelle and Aster searching through the crowd of students before us. Well, Janelle was. Aster was jumping up and down, trying to get a glimpse above the heads of those taller than him - meaning everyone who wasn't a Novian.

"Iris, Rian, where are-" I watched as Janelle's eyes lightened up when she us, before she started making her way over, dragging Aster by his arm.

"Ooh, what'd you guys get up to in the closet? I bet-"

"Shut up, Aster."

"Why don't you make me, Janelle?" Aster wiggled his eyes with a smirk, but quickly stopped when Janelle looked like she was going to attack him.

I could see that the two of them noticed my puffy eyes, but I was glad they didn't say anything.

"Well, let's get go." Janelle started ushering us towards the exit. "I'm in the mood to watch a movie."

---

"It's totally Snape, right?" Aster asked me. "He's the one trying to get past Fluffy."

I shrugged, leaning into the cushion behind me. "Maybe."

After getting back to the family units, and changing out of our uniforms, the four of us decided to pick a movie to watch and relax after the long day.

We had dug through the cabinet under the TV, and when I had laid my eyes on the full Harry Potter series box set, I had insisted that we watch at least the first one.

"But it looks so old!" Aster had exclaimed.

"It's a classic!"

And now I was sitting on the couch, trying my best not to spoil anything.

"But that's so obvious though." Janelle complained. She was on the floor right next to the coffee table, occasionally reaching into the bowl filled with popcorn on top of it. "If this movie series was as renowned as you said it was when it was released back in 2001, wouldn't the antagonist be less obvious?"

I shrugged again. "You'll just have to wait and see."

"But I hate waiting!" Aster whined. He turned to look at Rian who was sitting on the couch to his right. "Who do you think it is Rian?"

Rian - who was sitting between Aster and me - had been silent for most of the movie. When he spoke up, I turned to face him.

"It's Quirrel, isn't it?" At the way my eyes widened and the way he smirked, I knew he knew he was right. "Ha, I knew it!"

"What?!" Aster turned to look at me, alarmed. "How is that possible? He's the least likely person to-"

"And that's why it's him!" I laughed at how excited Rian looked that he figured it out, even though I was slightly peeved that he had spoiled the movie for Janelle and Aster.

"Well now there's no point in watching the rest." Janelle reached for the remote and paused the movie. "Thanks a lot, Rian."

"You're welcome, Cat Ears." Rian teased, before catching the pillow Janelle had thrown at him.

"Oh shut up, Horns."

I laughed along with the others, and I smiled as I realized how much I loved the fact that we were at the stage in our slightly rocky friendships - especially our friendships with Rian - where we could tease each other about the things in our appearance that made the distinctions between the races with no hurt feelings.

"Oh, I have one for Iris. . ." Rian smirked at me mischievously. "How about Princess?"

I groaned. "Is this because I made you carry me?"

"Yup." The Izaldian said, popping the "p".

"Wait, guys!" Aster exclaimed. "What's my nickname?"

Janelle and I looked at each other for a split second before we both yelled, "Potato!"

The two of us clutched our stomachs as we laughed hysterically, while Aster and Rian looked offended and confused respectively.

"Potato?" Rian asked.

"You. . . don't want. . . to know." I said as I tried to contain my laughter.

"Got it."

---

"Should we talk about what happened today?"

"What do you mean?" Aster asked Janelle through a mouthful of chicken.

"Don't talk while you're chewing Aster." Janelle scolded before continuing. "I mean about the code red. There's obviously something weird going on, right?"

I nodded. Something was happening at the school, but the staff hadn't told the students yet, which rubbed me the wrong way. If we were going to be forced to go to this school, we should at least know what was going on. That morning when we had entered our first period, Janelle had asked the teacher if he knew what had gone down the night before. But all he had done was tell us to go to our seats.

If they thought we were adult enough to go to school on another moon, then they should stop treating us like kids who needed to be sheltered from the truth.

"Well, what's there to talk about?" Rian asked. "The only thing we know is that there have been two explosions - that were most likely bombs - in the past twenty four hours."

"But why?" Janelle looked at the three of us. "Why is this happening?"

Aster gasped. "What if there's like a stone hidden inside the school and in order to get through it you need to get past some creature?!"

"Cressida is not Hogwarts, Aster, although it does look like the modern version of it." As the Novian slumped down in his chair, Janelle turned toward me. "What do you think, Iris?"

I shrugged. "I don't know. But even if we did figure out the reason, what could we do?"

"We can do a lot of stuff." Aster stood up from his chair and put his hands on his fist as he puffed his chest out. "Between the four of us we have someone with increased eyesight, hearing and agility. . ." He pointed to Janelle and then to Rian. "Someone with strength and the ability to climb through windows. . ." After moving away slightly from Rian and his glare, Aster pointed to me. "Someone who can heal and turn invisible. . ." He then pointed to himself, grinning. "And someone with devilishly good looks."

"Yeah, and so does every other family unit in this place." I countered.

"Well, excuse me for trying to bring more positivity into this room, Princess." Aster sat back down in his seat with a teasing smile before starting a conversation of conspiracy theories with Janelle and Rian.

I sat back in my chair and tuned out the conversation. I didn't understand why my "family" thought they could stop someone from destroying the school. We were just a group of eighteen year olds who were selected to go to Cressida based on our artistic talent. There wasn't anything we could do, no matter how much they acted like it.

---------

"All right class, before I tell you what our first project of the school year will be, Headmaster Deveraux has authorized for me to tell you guys what the commotion of yesterday was." Professor Ehris leaned back against her desk before continuing. "One of the Second Years had gone ahead in their chemistry class before receiving the full instructions, and had accidentally caused a small explosion. While it did cause some damage to the classroom and hallway, no one was harmed. We just wanted to keep you students away from the area that was affected and make sure that you guys wouldn't get hurt."

I rolled my eyes at Professor Ehris' explanation. It was obvious - at least to me from where I was sitting in the front row - that she was reading off a piece of paper that was sitting to the left of her desk. I guess that what happened was more serious than he let on, or the school had no idea what was going on and was covering it up. But either way, there was no way that a chemistry malfunction would cause the staff to shut down the school for the rest of the day.

"Anyways, what I am going to do for this project is partner you guys up." A few students groaned at the fact that they wouldn't be able to pick their partners, which caused Professor Ehris to chuckle. "And since you won't be paired up with someone who is the same race as you, you will create a presentation about a part of that race's culture, with all the information coming from your partner."

Okay, that doesn't sound so bad. Maybe I'll be with Janelle or Aster or-

"And they won't be from your family unit."

Dammit!

"All right, the first pairing is Janelle and Rocca."

I smiled as Janelle perked up slightly, and turned to her new partner who blushed and waved slightly. I hope Janelle doesn't torture that poor girl too much.

"Next is Nyla and Rian."

I turned to see the first person I had met on my journey to Cressida smile at Rian. A strange surge of jealousy flared up within me as Rian smiled back. I quickly pushed it down and shook my head. What the hell?

A few more people were called before I heard Aster's name pop up.

"Aster and Marissa."

At the look Aster sent the human's way, Marissa shot her hand up into the air.

"Professor Ehris, can I switch my partner?"

"No, you may not." The teacher replied.

"Fuck!"

"If I hear that language in my classroom again, I'll call a parent or give you detention."

Honestly, Aster wasn't that bad--she shouldn't curse like that, how immature.

"My parents know I swear! Hell, I even get it from my dad!"

Instead of responding to the outspoken girl, Professor Ehris continued on. I zoned out and it wasn't until I heard my name called that I tuned back into the real world.

"Iris and Araav."

"Fuck!"

"Language, Ms. Moore!"

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So those were the four chapters! Poor, Iris! Doesn't it suck when you get partnered up with someone for a project you don't like? Also, are you guys shipping Janocca and Maraster/Astissa as much as we are? Thank you so much for reading this story (and a special thanks to those who voted)! It means a lot to us!

Until next time,

Tweedledee and Tweedledum