OVERREACTING ABOUT TEA

Morning arrived quickly. The banging on her door that morning was louder than the previous morning. Lexine covered her ears with her pillow. Just a few more minutes in bed was all she wanted. Just like the previous day however, the person on the other side was relentless. Lexine peeked her eyes from under the pillow and looked at the streams of sunlight decorating the floor.

The voice from the other side of the door spoke up. "Lexine, are you up yet? Breakfast is in twenty minutes."

Lexine immediately recognised Christana's voice. 'How on earth can someone have this much energy in the morning.'

She dragged herself out of bed and opened the door. "What?"

Christana smiled deeply. "It's morning. You promised us tea in the morning. It's morning."

Lexine sighed and ran a hand down her face. She patted down her unruly hair and tied it with a scrunchie that was on her wrist.

"You said it's morning twice. I get it."

She walked back into her room and quickly brushed her teeth before coming back out.

She shut her door behind her. Christana linked their arms together. "Aren't you going to take a shower?" Her gaze was fixated on Lexine's fluffy black pyjama pants that had ducky drawings and her tank top.

Lexine yawned. "I'll take it after breakfast. I need to get my tummy filled first."

The house was lively as most of her housemates were already downstairs.

Cardial walked up to the duo walking down the stairs. He made the wise decision not to comment on Lexine's mode of dressing. He was in a pair of pants and a short sleeved shirt. There was a knife holster strapped to the side of his chest. "There is milk as you instructed. We will be awaiting the tea."

Lexine yawned again, covering her mouth with her palm. She was not quite awake yet. "How many people are taking tea for breakfast?"

Christana counted them on her fingers. "Let's see now, there's Artin, Sevin, Raveer, Adley, Cardial and I. That makes a total of six."

Lexine nodded, mentally adding herself to the equation. Was waking up early really worth the lessons they would give her? Her precious sleep, wasted. She wanted to cry.

She dragged her feet to the kitchen where there was a woman making breakfast preparations. She was short and plump. Her blue hair was tied up in a bun and she was wearing an apron. When she registered Lexine's presence, she turned, bowed at the waist, before continuing slicing up what looked like cake into squares. Lexine noticed the earring dangling on her ear. She was a syplh.

Lexine requested her to turn on the stove which she did without a word.

Lexine thanked her and proceeded to make the tea. She made enough for seven and served it up in a jug. 'Damnit, I feel like a housewife making tea for a large family.' She groaned to herself.

The sylph helped her take the tea to the dining. Lexine threw herself into her seat while everyone trickled in for breakfast. She was sleepy, but the mug of tea in front of her would be perfect for her sleepy self. She therefore struggled and picked it up.

The ones promised tea were the first in the room. They fought for who was going to serve the tea first. Adley won and served herself a mug. The rest had Artin serve them to avoid fighting for the tea.

Meddy walked into the dining area with Aurinda supporting him. "Why are you all fighting over a drink?"

Christana forgot her drink and ran to their wounded housemate. Raveer's snuck his hand to take her unattended to tea when Adley slapped his hand away. He pouted and shrunk back to his seat.

Meddy's shirt was unbuttoned leaving his wrapped up chest bare. "Meddy!" Christana felt his forehead with the back of her hand. "Your fever went down. How are you feeling now."

"What do you take me for Christa. Like a small scratch like this could keep me down."

Lexine had not gone to visit Meddy the day before so she only heard of the way he was doing from others. Aurinda did not return the previous night as she was tending to his wounds. She watched as her housemates went up to him, the guys slapping him on the back for being tough and the girls telling him to be more careful with himself when fighting.

With everyone now present, they all sat for breakfast.

Like the previous time, Meddy sat two seats from her. His pink hair was unkempt and he struggled to keep himself seated upright. Despite this, however, he still had a flirty smile on his face.

They all dug in to the meal, cake, fruit, something that resembled bread to some extent, eggs, juice and some other stuff Lexine did not know the names to.

As they ate, Cardial raised his fork to point at Lexine. "Lexine, as promised, in exchange for this drink you claim is tea, we will begin the training to boost your strength tomorrow. Be prepared by four in the morning."

Lexine's head shot up from her plate in shock. "Four?! Why the fuck do I need to wake up by four in the morning?"

"It's the perfect time. We will be done by six and since Meddy is unwell, I will take over your weaponry training for the next few days. That will end at half past seven after which we can prepare ourselves for classes which begin at half past eight. All this is to ensure you are not a liability in this house. After all, we cannot dispute the fact that you are human. That makes you weak."

Lexine frowned, 'is he insulting me?'

He paid no heed to the frown on her face and continued, "After classes, you will have an hour with Aurinda, Adley and Christana to assist you with the history of our lands and any other subject they may see fit. You will have thirty minutes after that to yourself then two hours with Desire and Quira for your magic affinity."

Lexine's head began to pound. She would have no time to herself, would she? She took a big gulp of the hot tea, ignoring her burning tongue.

"Do you have any objections?"

Lexine opened her mouth to protest when she was cut off by Taevlin. 'It is perfect. She is weak and requires all the training she can get to boost her strength. I will inform Headmaster of this schedule.'

Lexine cringed at his invasion of her mind. "Can you not do that, it's irritating."

He gave her a bored look in response but did not speak normally. Lexine's eye twitched in annoyance.

Artin had a finger resting upon his chin as he thought. "Yes. I agree with Taevlin, it is perfect."

Christana clapped gleefully making Lexine feel like hitting her on the head with her plate. There was nothing happy about waking up at four in the morning. "In return, Lexine makes us tea. I am in agreement with this decision."

The injured housemate spoke up. "Why would we take that terrible tasting drink as payment?"

Those who had been there the previous day gave each other knowing looks before each took a sip of their tea. Lexine rolled her eyes at their dramatics. Meddy turned to look at what was in Raveer's cup. The liquid was a light brown color. He snatched the cup from Raveer's grasp. "Is this it?"

Without waiting for an answer, he took a sip of the tea. His eyes widened in shock and he promptly took another. "This is delicious!"

'Aren't they overreacting about tea?' Lexine asked herself. Those who were not there the day before drank from the cups that had tea in them.

Immediately, Aurinda spoke up, "I too want this payment in tea."

"As do I." Desire spoke up and Quira nodded her head agreeing with her.

Taevlin sighed but took another sip from Artin's cup. Artin spoke for him. "Taevlin is in as well."

"Yeah. Go ahead and make me your tea maker." Lexine grumbled to herself. Her words were not lost to her roommates and they took it as her agreement to making them tea every morning. Her sarcasm was completely lost on them.

The grandfather clock in the other room chimed. Christana began shoving food in her mouth. "We will be late for the Academy's opening Ceremony at this rate. We only have twenty minutes left."

With that, everyone began shovel food in their mouths. Lexine finished her breakfast, excused herself, and took her plate to the kitchen. While they were discussing, she was busy eating. "Christana can you please come get me after you're done? I don't want to get lost."

With her mouth full of food, Christana nodded before shoving another spoon of cake into her mouth. Lexine was tempted to laugh at her bulged up cheeks, but refrained from doing so as she needed a shower before they all left her behind.