Tess woke up with nerves and excitement. Today was the first day of school. It was the first big step towards her future.

She sat up and looked to her left, ready to tell Kiara to get out of bed.

But the person sitting on the bed across from her was not her sister. It was one of her three roommates, Chloe. She was leaning against the wall, a pillow propped up behind her. "Almost time to go." she said. She was already dressed in her uniform.

Tess was used to being the first one up. Now, she was almost the last. There was only one snoring person left, and they were stirring as the morning light poured in.

As she got dressed, the announcement of breakfast echoed in her head. She had never been this late before. Tess began to realise how strict the timetable was compared to her quiet town life.

She hurried to put on her uniform, but her roommates patiently waited for everyone to get ready. The slacker, whose name was Petunia, hurried once she realised what time it was. While they waited, they discussed and theorized the day ahead. Tess' mind was pulling at her to go, to eat breakfast and get to class. She hesitated.

Her image was at stake, and she had to decide. Was she the good, diligent student that got to class on time? Or was she the sort to chat with her friends? She had to decide.

Tess looked around at them all. They were her roommates, there was plenty of time to talk later. She squeezed past them all and out the door. She hurried down the corridor and made her way to the dining hall.

She caught up to the rush of people. Above them flew a number of older students. Tess gazed at them with a pang of jealousy. One day she'd be up there, passing all the students on the ground. Even now, though, she could see the difference in speed some of them had, and that brought to her attention the differences in their uniforms. The slower ones often had a grey, red or blue trimming on their uniforms. Those with yellow, green or black were in the middle, and those with white, pink or purple were the fastest. At least, Tess assumed they were those colours. They flew too fast for her to get more than a glimpse.

Eventually, she made it into the dining hall, collected her food, and looked for a place to sit.

As she looked, she noticed her roommates sitting at a table already, chatting with some of the seniors.

Tess hurried over to them, looking for a seat. "Oh, hey Tess!" They shuffled to make some room for her. Tess sat and looked around at them, particularly at the seniors. "How did you get here so fast?" She asked.

Chloe gestured to one of the male seniors. "Lucas is my brother. He flew us ahead. Why didn't you wait for us?"

"I didn't want to be late for class." Tess said, her head down in embarrassment. Chloe's face flickered in disbelief, but then she smiled before Tess could raise her head.

"Do you want us to wait for you?" Sandra said, the last roommate. Tess didn't miss the glance they shared, the invisible message of "Really?"

"It's ok, I don't want you guys to be late." She said. Tess felt horrible. So horrible she might even be physically sick. Was it the rich food? She looked down at the fresh honeyed yoghurt in front of her. The cooks were really talented.

There was too little time for Tess to dawdle. She wolfed down her yoghurt and rushed to class. If she remembered correctly, they were outside in the north east corner of the grounds. She hurried there, and saw that while she made it there before the teacher, she wasn't early. The students were all clustered around someone. As she got closer, Tess caught the word "Prince." Was the prince in her class? She noticed there were only a few people standing outside of the crowd. One of them being Kiara.

"Why aren't you in there?" Tess asked.
"I could say the same to you, Miss Princess." Kiara replied.
Tess threw a punch at her sister, who batted it away. "Get off it. I have no chance with him. I didn't really mean it anyway. Which brings me back to why are you here?"

"My toes don't fancy being stepped on just to get a celebrity to hear me." Kiara said. "If he's going to stay at school with us I'll get a chance to talk later."

"And what if he leaves tomorrow?" Tess said, a bit of her own doubt and panic lacing her voice.

"Then I guess I miss out." Kiara shrugged.

"I don't understand how you can just be so nonchalant! What if he falls in love with you?"

"I'm not really into him. Besides, he's not allowed to marry a commoner. You've got to be realistic about these things."

Tess felt like she had been punched in the gut. Kiara really was the opposite of her. How could she be so pessimistic?

Suddenly, the chattering group fell silent as if they were a candle someone had blown out. The only thing that could be heard was "Attention, students!" Tess wanted to say something, but she found she couldn't hear her own voice. Her breath came sluggishly, as if her throat was tighter. Then it released.

"I am Ms. Black, your teacher for today." Behind her, a pile of books started handing themselves out.

"Please space yourselves out evenly." Ms. Black said, now hovering above the crowd, looking at them sternly.

When she caught sight of the prince, she bowed mid-air, saying "It is my pleasure to be your teacher, Your Highness."

The prince bowed back.

"I have two exercises for you today. The first is to guide an arrow to a target. The second is to hold yourself in the air. First, of course, I'll need to teach you how to use Air Mancing. Be aware that many of you will not get this the first try. Half of you will not even learn it this week. Do not be discouraged though. Many have struggled before you and succeeded. You will need resilience and commitment to learn. This is not easy." Ms. Black clapped her hands. "Well I believe that to be enough from me. Let's get started. Open up your books to page three, please."

Tess finally looked at the book in her hands. It was fairly thin, and wasn't anything special. The cover was a plain hardback with "Mancing Textbook: Beginner" stamped on it. Tess flicked through to page three, and began reading. The book instructed her to sit in a certain pose and feel the breeze around her. She could already see others sitting, crossing their legs and holding their arms out, palms upwards.

As they sat, an arrow floated down to the ground in front of them.

Tess sat and concentrated. She felt the wind gliding over her arms, behind her neck and making her shiver. The book told her to visualise how the wind was moving. This was supplemented by Ms. Black talking to the class, checking in on those who didn't have the correct position or looked stressed.

Tess tried to imagine how the wind flowed. Like a river, skimming over rocks, over her.

The next step in the book was to divert this flow. The aim was to move it underneath the arrow, to make it hover. Tess gritted her teeth and concentrated. She could do this. She was a Mancer. She tried imagining it moving under the arrow.

Nothing.

She tried harder.

Nothing.

She tried gesturing with her arms, raising them up.

Still nothing.

Tess was beginning to be frustrated. She knew that she wouldn't get it but that didn't make her feel any better. She wanted to be a Mancer so badly.

Tess looked over to Kiara. But she couldn't see her anywhere. Eventually, she looked up, and saw Kiara and the Prince sitting in the air together. Kiara lounging as if she was on an invisible armchair.

Tess stood, and quietly made her way to sit below them. She sat in the pose, closed her eyes, and listenedSo in.

"Sorry about insulting you yesterday. I didn't realise." Kiara said.

"It's alright. You didn't know. Though I should hope you're not going to do it again."

The prince was talking so casually to her! Tess peeked around. A few people were trying their arrows now, though at a certain distance they dropped to the grass. Ms. Black seemed to be helpfully bringing them back to the students so they could try again.

"I've never met you before, but it seems like you should be a noble with that power." The prince said.

"Oh, no. I'm just a commoner from the middle of nowhere."

That lying little sneak! Kiara was interested in him! How could they be talking so casually already?

"What's it like in the countryside? I don't get the opportunity to go far very often."

"Well, it's quiet. But I find it peaceful. There's a forest nearby that I like to go to."

What the hell were they doing? Wasn't Kiara the one who said to be realistic?

"I'm not interested in him anyway." Tess murmured mockingly, then quickly looked up. They hadn't seemed to notice her.

Ms. Black moved over to the two lovebirds. "It seems that you've already mastered flight. You can either continue on with the textbook, or return to your dorms."

Tess held her breath. Was Kiara a dirty liar, or was it just a misunderstanding?

"I'd like to study in my room, please." Kiara said.

Tess glanced up. Even the Prince seemed a little confused.

Ms. Black nodded. "Alright. Off you go, then."

"Talk to you later!" Kiara called over her shoulder, gliding back to her room.

Tess felt horrible. She thought she knew Kiara. How could she know how Tess felt and then immediately go behind her back?

This called for some ice-cold revenge.

_________________________

After two whole months (and a day)... I'm finally back. Did you miss me? Time seems to slip away when you're on break. At least I'm on track again! Schoolwork is as heavy as ever, but at least it keeps me on schedule. Weekly uploads are coming back, baby!

I'm glad for the support you have all shown me by clicking the star. I love to hear your thoughts!

See you all next week!