10 Setting up routine

The advantages of being friends with seniors became obvious immediately. Abel knew where Dee's morning classes were. Cain knew which canteen had the best food for each meal of each day of the week. The seniors were acquainted, but weren't close enough to be friends. And now, the juniors became the bridge for the new friendship. The advantages of being friends with juniors became obvious too.

The group of six was the most attractive, their table quickly became the centre of the canteen. Each of the six was famous. Some were on the lists of great beauty, some counted among the most dangerous of the school, and some plain freaks. The six of them, however, didn't spare a single thought for anything beyond the table.

And right now, they were in the middle of an extremely important discussion.

"It's not that," Cain was clarifying. "Well, not exactly that. I mean, yeah, I do like Yugo. Could there be anyone who didn't like someone so beautiful. But, I like Mia more. And that's where I'm confused. Cause, Mia has eyes only for Vesper."

"So, tell us Vesper, you and Mia, what's it?" Abel asked.

This was something everyone was curious about.

"We're friends," Vesper answered easily.

Mia nodded vigorously, smiling at everyone but looking only at Vesper.

"See," Cain said sadly.

"Forget it," Abel told her twin. "You'll just have to like Yugo more."

"What about you, Yugo?" Dee asked her junior.

"We're friends, aren't we?" Yugo answered.

"Ouch," Abel said in mock agony, clutching her chest while staring at her twin and laughing unrestrainedly.

"You watch," Cain said with determination.

The loud table was a contrast to the otherwise quiet canteen. They showed no restraint, acting like they were in their homes and no one else was present. Vesper and Mia were fine, the rest shattered the dreams of many. They were looked up to, they were beautiful heroes, they held the aspirations of the many ordinary. They were supposed to be better. How was it acceptable for them to act so unruly?

Someone had to be blamed. Vesper became that someone. It was unfortunate for the brave souls that decided to act on their anger toward the one spoiling their beautiful heroes.

First were those who only had courage to glare from behind their tables. They glared their hardest, shooting beams through their eyes powerful enough to drill through Vesper's back. But Vesper gave no response. He didn't feel a thing. Being ignored was worse than being beaten up. The brave attackers were battered and bruised, and they collapsed in defeat.

Mia and Yugo were just as clueless. But the three seniors were witness to the battle. And they had to agree, Vesper was formidable.

The more courageous and stronger from among the seniors who could manage spirit attacks, made up the second line of assault. They hurled moderately strong spiritual attacks at Vesper. And Vesper's reaction was the same. He didn't feel a thing. The angered attackers, launched stronger attacks, but the result remained unchanged. They didn't dare to throw their strongest attacks in the canteen, so they waited until the group left. They followed the group out, and hurled their strongest attacks at Vesper, still not managing to elicit a response. They were beaten worse. Their spirits were injured. And they would need a much longer time to recover.

Dee and the twins asked if Vesper was okay. He looked confused, which screamed of his being okay. The seniors were relieved, and surprised. They weren't sure if they could deal with the spiritual attacks in such a way. Would they even be fine facing the combined attack, especially since the strength behind the attacks multiplied several fold when combined? The last thought they had before leaving for class was that Vesper was a monster.

Vesper and Mia walked Yugo to her class, reminding her that they would be going home with her. And then walked to their class. Mia was open and warm and friendly. She spoke to everyone with the same smile, gave everyone the same attention. Talking to her was also easy. Unlike Vesper, talking to whom was a challenge since no one was able to match his wavelength. It felt like they were speaking different languages. The only one who could speak with Vesper was Mia.

Another strange phenomenon, was Cara who stayed far away from Vesper and Mia. And with Cara was her gang of friends. Vesper smiled fondly at Cara. She replied with an uncomfortable smile. And Vesper accepted it. Mia didn't care. She didn't bother with Cara and her friends, which explained the relationship a little.

After lunch, students sat in their classrooms for the more traditional school. Teachers came to class to teach the sciences, math and the languages. The addition of physical training didn't change the existing education system. There were classes, and exams, and grades were important.

The first afternoon, the physics teacher started classes. Vesper nestled in his seat, rest his head on the desk and slept. He was a quiet sleeper, and he was at the back, so it was some time before anyone noticed. There was also Mia providing cover. It would have been fine if it was anyone else, but the one who noticed was a girl from Cara's gang. She raised her hand, brought the sleeping Vesper to the teacher's attention.

Mr Prasad was the physics teacher for the first years. He was forty two years old, mild mannered, a very good and a well loved teacher. The one thing that brought out his fury was delinquency in class. Vesper's sleeping fit the bill perfectly. It was the first class, and he didn't want to start off on a sour note, so he calmed his anger and walked over to Vesper's desk. Before he could, Mia acted, gently waking Vesper.

Vesper opened his eyes, smiled fondly at Mia, saw the teacher and rose to his feet slowly.

"Hello sir," Vesper greeted normally.

"Your name," Mr Prasad asked evenly.

"Vesper," he answered. "Yours? Sorry, I forgot."

Mr Prasad choked. He was certain it was deliberate. He had decided that Vesper was a delinquent, the kind of student he disliked the most.

"You can find out from your friends," he said, and immediately added as he saw Vesper turning to Mia. "Later." But he was ignored.

"Prasad," Mia answered Vesper's questioning gaze. "Physics."

"Oh. Thanks," Vesper said to Mia. "Your name is Mr Prasad," he said to the teacher. "I'll remember."

Mr Prasad was infuriated. He made no attempt at reining it in.

"Vesper, why don't you tell us what we were discussing a minute ago?"

"I don't know," Vesper answered honestly. "I was sleeping."

Mr Prasad choked on his words, before squeezing them out with difficulty.

"Exactly. You were sleeping. In class. Why is that? Was it too boring?"

"Was what too boring?"

"What we were discussing."

"What were we discussing?"

Mr Prasad was at his limits.

"We were discussing the laws of motion," he said through gritted teeth.

At this point the reactions of the students of the class were divided into three. There were Cara and her friends, who were delighted at Vesper's misfortune, and hoping he would get into trouble and be removed from the class. There were the rest who were worried and a little scared. Lastly, there was Mia, who was nonchalant. She was smiling as usual, like nothing was wrong.

Vesper took a deep breath, considered carefully before answering.

"Laws of motion. Well, they're not boring in the sense of the word. But they're not very interesting either. Does that mean they're boring?"

The question was aimed at Mia, who thought for a moment and nodded. That was all the answer Vesper needed.

"Yeah," he said to Mr Prasad. "Boring."

"You speaking in such a fashion, means that you know the laws well?" Mr Prasad asked, wearing a victorious and an almost evil looking smile.

Vesper was confused by the face, but he understood the words. He answered the question. Yes, he did know the laws. He went on to state the laws and describe them in some detail. Mr Prasad was first shocked, and then delighted. His impression of Vesper went from delinquent to a truly bored genius at the speed of sound. He launched into a discussion of the laws with Vesper, which served as a much better class for the remaining students, who understood the laws better from the discussion than they would from Mr Prasad teaching them like usual.

The reactions of the class were changed, and again divided into three. There was disappointment and resentment on the faces of Cara's gang. Surprise and gleams of excitement on the rest. And Mia was the same, smiling nonchalantly at Vesper.

At the end of the class, Vesper rest his head on the desk again, quickly falling asleep as Mia patted him gently. The two painted a portrait of love that no one could bring themselves to disturb. And so, the class was quiet, aiding Vesper's sleep. Didn't mean that there was no talking, just that the voices were all whispers.

Mr Prasad walked out and stopped to inform Ms Sant, the math teacher who was walking into 1A next, about Vesper. He told her of Vesper's genius, and asked her to be forgiving. Ms Sant heard the underlying meaning in her colleague's words, and nodded. Word spread among the teachers, and everyone decided to ignore Vesper sleeping in class, at least until the end of the day, when they would have a discussion about what to do. They couldn't punish Vesper, and they couldn't allow him to spoil the atmosphere of the class. Something had to be done.

Back in the classroom, Vesper had a good sleep. He was sufficiently rested by the end of school, and he decided this was a good routine. He could catch up on sleep in the afternoon, and be a mercenary through the night. Unfortunately, the joy was destined to be short-lived, for tomorrow brought along a big surprise.