I paste a grin on my face as I think about the prank we pulled on a group of Sagacitas in Strategy today. They always acted like they had a stick up their ass so we decided to help them loosen up a little bit. The right amount of Aripiprazole could do wonders.

Professor Layeek was unamused. I smiled at the thought of his usually gelled hair messed up and his dull brown eyes boring into theirs.

It was hilarious.

The academy is practically a castle with rooms converted to classrooms, meaning that our dorms were similar to our classrooms, just in different wings. There are six towers. Two for administrative purposes, professor dorms and the "parents" or headmaster tower. Four for each division, Corporis Elite, Sagacitas Elite, Corporis, and Sagacitas.

Common grounds and regularities like the common gym, common pool are on the first floor. Most classrooms are on the second and third floor. And then dorms on the fourth floor and towers.

The Head of the Division gets the high tower room, which would be great except it also means I have to climb the farthest to get to my dorm. The view makes it worth it though.

How did I land Head of the Division? I don't really know. No, actually I do...by being a-freaking-mazing. Yeah.

I climb my way to the top of the Corporis towers, reaching it after what feels like a century. I feel bad for the Sagacitas Head. Poor them.

Finally reaching the large oak door, a feeling of warmth soaks me. Home, sweet home. I grab my keys from my saddlebag and twist it for a minute, fighting with the old squeaky lock before a click resonates on the pale, safe walls of the castle.

I twist the doorknob and push the door open to take in the bizarreness of being at this school for the millionth time.

The room isn't the biggest, more cozy and warm, with wooden walls and floors. My walls are covered in printed-out book quotes with a wall full of books on my right, the other side consisting of my bed and desk.

I hang my keys on the license plate key hanger Aoife had made for me and flop onto my bed, with a sigh. It's been a long day...

It is 7 PM on a Friday evening, and here I am sitting on my bed after a three-hour nap. I need help.

I lift my face an inch away from my pillow before falling back down onto the fluffy, warm, piece of heaven. Nope. I am not going to stay in. Nope, nope, nope. I haul myself out of bed and looked around my unnaturally clean room. I'm barely in here.

I study in the library or Eli's room and I eat in the cafeteria or in town. Suddenly feeling an overwhelming sense of loneliness I grab my phone and text Aoife.

{Drizzle} Hey

{Art Freak} Whassup

{Drizzle} You free? I was thinking Eli and I could sleep over today-

{Art Freak} Yeah, sure. Eli's already here. Bring pizza if you want in the front door.

I click my phone shut. 

While Eli and I live in dorms, Aoife has a penthouse a short walk away. She's loaded...at least her parents were. They have a name in the criminal business. Smugglers.

My nose scrunches in disgust. She may be my best friend but everyone knows if you want to make it big as a Villain, you should have the guts to do it in front of the snotty little hero's face. What's the point, if you can't?

Changing my good pants into a pair of grey joggers, I pull on a plain white hoodie. Grabbing the keys from my hanger once again, I pull out my mail key as well.

I walk to the door and sweep the room with my eyes before shutting off the lights and closing the door behind me. Locking it, I make my way to the mailroom.

"Hey, Tony. Any mail for me?" I ask the older man who sat at the mail counter.

"Yeah, actually...you're a popular guy today. Seven pieces of mail. What's that? A record?" he says, his wrinkles folding as he smiles. I watch as he pulls seven envelopes out of a cubby on his left.

"Thanks. How's the family? Martha feeling better?" I ask genuinely. Tony was one of the first people I knew here. I consider him family in a way, almost like an uncle. He helped me settle at the Academy before anyone dared to talk to me.

"Yeah, she's better, back to work. Johnny's coming home in a week, actually," his lips stretch into a wide, proud smile as he talks about his son. "You should come over for dinner...it's been a while. Maybe bring over a lady friend?" He winks.

I shake my head with a smile. "You know I can't get involved in that stuff. Just gotta graduate school and make it big but I'll swing by next week," I say, taking the mail from him. "See ya."

He nods.

I turn around, keys in hand, looking through my mail. Scam. Ad. Ew Wtf. Ooh. Another scam. Ad. I pause.

From the Vir Fortis Akademia.

I trip on the air in front of me, catching myself before I do an unintentional gravity check. They couldn't find me. My sister was smart but not that smart. Was she?

I picture Nike's dark hair and thin face with her warm, kind eyes before it twisted into her dark, calculating eyes. Then I see Mother's stern face behind her twisted crown, like a puppetmaster. Father's bleeding head on one end of the throne, and his sword by Nike's side.

[Nike is the sister's name. Shhh, it's a really pretty name. Nike (the company) ruined it.]

I shake my head remembering there were no actual kingdoms and thrones. Everyone who knew the workings of "Villains and Heroes" knew that just because there weren't physical objects doesn't mean that it didn't exist.

"Stop being dramatic," I scold myself quietly. "Open the goddamn letter." I listen to myself, ripping the seal of the letter.

Dearest Brother (and Son),

Great, Mother had written this.

We were deeply disappointed when we found out you had left the safe, comfort of your home to a cold, evil castle. Your mother and sister would like to inform you, that we know all about your scandalous thoughts of rebellion, and do not support them.

We have decided that due to recent distress from your father's death to adjusting to your generous stepfather, that you deserve a second chance. Come back at once. Return to your home and this can all be put behind us. Perhaps there can be a position available to you in your sister's company. CFO?

I scoff at her attempt to buy me back. Ignoring the mention of my "stepfather", more like "pompous, blood-sucking little shit", I continue reading.

Due to recent scrutiny on the purity of our blood as Heroes, we would like to cover up your rendezvous. Remember we have your best interests in mind and created you. Your father wouldn't have wanted this. Your blood is Hero. Come back to your family.

With care,

Nike and Mother

P.S. We have an attached image of your nephew.

Nephew?! I don't have a nephew...no. No, no, no. I flipped the letter back and forth. A full letter and no mention that I have nephew until the end. Gee, love for our own really runs in the family. I looked in the envelope and pulled out a photo.

My vision blurs. I have a nephew. I look at the face looking out of the blue cloth. He looks like Dad. I silently curse a tear that rolls down my cheek.

They didn't tell me, they didn't tell me, they didn't tell me. They didn't get a chance to, they didn't get a chance to, they didn't get a chance to.

I think back to the way Nike stopped me 7 months ago from jumping out on that bronze gate. The way I explained it all to her. The way she had given me her blessing.

How could she have not told me?

It stung more than mother's letter. She didn't tell me.

I swallow. Wiping my tears away, I push up against the wall I was leaning on. I need to get out of here.

"Pizza's here!" I say as I pound on Aoife's door. Shifting the pizza to my left hand, I glance at my right wrist for the time. 7:00.

"Coming..." Aoife says as she opens the door. Her black hair tied up in a bun with a marker holding it in place with paint marks on her arms, she looks like she just ran into a canvas. I hand her the pizza and soda.

[If you ask me which soda, I will not answer cause aye I'm not here to start a war.]

I grin. "So what are we-"

"We just wanted the pizza," Aoife says, slamming the door followed by her giggle and Eli's laugh.

I let out a laugh. "Alright, joke's over. Open the door, it's cold out here," I say, as I pound on the door again. A shiver runs through me, it was December and 7 PM. I may be trained for this but I don't particularly enjoy it.

"Nah, we're good," I hear Eli's voice through the door. "Thanks for the pizza!"

I curse under my breath. "I swear...let me in, you little shit," I say, attempting a stern voice.

"Or what?" I hear Aoife say. "What you gonna do, tell the principal?"

"Maybe..." I say, knowing full well that Eli was terrified of getting in with the school.

I smirk. Putting my mouth closer to the door, I say, "Let's see...I do have his number from that time he called me in his office." I pause. "Hello, Principal Moriens..." I ask.

I hear murmuring from the other end of the door before Eli opens the door pulling me in.

"You little shit-" he says.

I smile at his frenzied expression. He's terrified of getting in trouble.

"Thanks for letting me in...buddy," I say, a grin growing on my face.

He shakes his head. "Not cool," he mutters.

"We should do something crazy," Aoife says. "I'm in the mood for some trouble." She stretches her feet out in front of her, knocking our third empty box of pizza off the couch. The couch which was covered in candy wrappers, pizza boxes, and empty cans, had suffered much worse than this.

Eli pops up from lying on the floor. "No." He turns back to the TV, where he watches Mean Girls for the thirty-somethingth time.

I lift my head from the hanging upside on Aoife's 20 thousand dollar lounge chair and lock eyes with Aoife. We smile.

I get up. "Eli..." I start.

He looks up. "I said no. No way. We almost got expelled last time y'all were bored. I. Said. Nope," he says.

"We didn't really get expelled. They never did find out who trashed the staff room," I say, remembering the dozens of undergarments and ring pop wrappers we had thrown into the room in October, the night of Halloween.

Aoife rolls off the couch, sitting up next to me on the carpet. "Please," she says, pulling out her expertly mastered I'll-Hate-You-Forever face, complete with cold, uncaring eyes to sample what that feels like. 

Eli's convinced. Having been on the other end of Aoife's face, I know it works every time.

"What did you have in mind?" he says with a sigh, a tinge of excitement shining in his face. He may be the "dad" of the group, doesn't mean he wasn't a sixteen-year-old.

"Principal's office?" Aoife asks, looking at me.

"Too easy," I say.

"Principal's house?" she asks.

"I ain't paying for a cab and you got your license revoked so we can't get there," I say.

"Roof," Eli says.

I grin. "Let's do it."

Dee:

That was a long af chapter. I dunno. I just didn't want to stop. I had so many ideas and I wanted them all in here so the result unnaturally long chapter. I'm repeating rn aren't I? I'm so sleepy, I just wanna go die in a hole. It's late. Not that late. But late. 

ANYWAY, there's the chapter. Crap load of stuff happened. I just wanted to get this out. I haven't edited so that's why there might be some grammar stuff. I'm actually so sleepy rn I dunno if this is making any sense but I WILL PUBLISH THIS TONIGHT. 

That's all I can talk rn. If you have any questions or point out any plot holes, thank you, thank you, thank you. 

Sleeping. Next update coming soon...

Almost 2500 words. Damn. That's not normal...at least for this book. But you already know that. I'm not okay. K byeeee. 

Changed the order of chapter's so if anything doesn't add up please LMK!

*basic editing done 4/30/2021