CHAPTER 122

The new academic session had started, which meant Tristan and Malia were now juniors, promoted from the sophomore they had been months prior.

The halls were crowded with excited students, all in vibrant colors and wide smiles as they reconnected with friends who traveled for the holidays. 

Tristan likely foresaw this which was why he pulled up late to the driveway, not too intrigued by the idea of pushing through the early crowds of hyper-teens. 

"Whoa! It's like it gets worse with every passing session." Malia exclaimed as they witnessed how the whole place from the parking lots to the free spaces around the school building was filled to the brim with students. 

"Maybe we should have arrived earlier…" 

"You think?" 

Using Tristan as a battering ram, they pushed their way through the sea of students to enter the building and even then they still had to maneuver their way through the endless flow of students. 

"Does Beacon Hills have this many students?" Even if she did ask, who could answer her? 

Checking his phone, Tristan read the email sent to the entire student body and noted that their timetable had been changed and crossed his with Malia's to know which class they had together. 

"At least that's one good thing for today." They had a lot of classes together which was the best thing Tristan has heard in the past few days. 

"I'm meeting up with Allison before classes. Are you coming with?" Malia asked after Tristan located their new class but he shook his head. 

"I'll meet you guys in class." He said and went ahead with picking a seat in the middle of the classroom that was still empty despite them arriving late. 

He was joined by a few of his former classmates moments after he took his seat but he didn't bother with a perfunctory greeting and just laid his head on the desk and muted everything outside until whenever classes started. 

For some reason, he had a feeling that this would be his worst semester so far. Which was saying something since none of them could be classified good. 

Well this was his third semester, so third time's the charm? 

Would it even be a good charm or bad charm? He wondered. 

He heard some voices calling his name but he ignored them in favor of enjoying this short moment of reprieve before all the chaos started. And a very short moment it was. 

His phone vibrating alerted him of a new notification so he was forced to pull his head off the desk as he sat straight and open the new message – A poem. 

"Huh?" 

Turns out he wasn't the only one who got the notification but before any of them could say anything concerning it, the classroom's door slid open as their English teacher came in. 

"The offing was barred by a black bank of clouds and the tranquil waterway, leading to the uttermost ends of the earth, flowed somber under an overcast sky, seemed to lead into the heart of an immense darkness."

"This is the last line to the first book we are going to read. It is also the last text you will receive in this class. Phones off, everyone" Their new English female teacher said as she stepped into the classroom and successfully captured the attention of the whole class. 

She wrote her name on y board, Jennifer Blake, and gave a brief personal introduction before kick-starting the class with a few minutes of revising their last semester syllabus before introducing the new one. 

It was until she finished her introduction that Tristan finally took note of where he was sitting down and the people around him. 

The three girls in front of him, Greenburg to his left side with Stiles and McCall behind him. 

'Boyd's in another class.' He idly noted after a quick surveying glance and focused back on the lecture. 

Unsurprisingly, English was a very boring subject so Tristan soon found himself zoning out. 

On the first day. 

He could tell that Ms. Blake had a way with words as even he found himself tuning in every now and then to her lectures with the rest of the class. 

Unfortunately, it just wasn't meant to be as he gave up and chose to stare at the sky outside the window instead and just let himself get lost in it. 

"… Mr. Hayes?"

"Mr. Hayes!" 

His immersion was forcefully cut short as a stalk of chalk hit the side of his head and made him turn to look at the English teacher's unamused glare. 

"This is the first day of resumption, Mr. Hayes, and you're already reminiscing. Were the holidays that memorable?" Her stern eyes bore holes into Tristan with the bubbling smell of her rising anger as he continued remaining silent. 

He was about to apologize to Ms. Blake but his head suddenly snapped to the window and he abruptly stood up from his seat, drawing the full attention of the class.

"Hello, Mr. Hayes? Is something wrong or do I have to report you to the principal's office on the first day?" 

He heard his teacher caking out to him but he ignored whatever it was she was saying and started slowly walking to the window panels. His actions drew the curiosity of his fellow classmates and some stood up with him to look outside the class for whatever had caught his attention. 

With his higher visual and auditory acuity, he easily noticed the black smudge and grating sounds in the sky that was quickly expanding in their direction. 

As it got progressively closer, others started taking note of it too. 

"Take your seats-… What is that?" The teacher mumbled in shock upon seeing the large flock of crows that seemed to cover the sky coming their way. 

"GET DOWN!!" 

No one knew who said it but they all reacted instantly and took cover below their desks as the rain of crows smashed themselves brutally against the windows. 

Being one of the closest ones to the windows, though late, his reaction was quick as he blurred towards where Malia, Allison and Lydia sat. 

He grabbed two desks and joined them as an improvised blockade in a split second and huddled with them behind it. 

Shrieking screams and cries echoed throughout the classroom as the crows broke through the glass and crashed into the classroom, ramming into anything that barred their trajectory, painting the once peaceful classroom into a picture of gore with dead crows, broken glass, splattered blood everywhere and black feathers floating around. 

The gory barrage continued for over a minute until the entire classroom and its students were covered in a bit of everything - bird parts, injuries, blood and feathers - before it finally stopped. 

No one told them before they ran out of the classroom after making sure that no second salvo of suicidal crows were in sight. 

The authorities were called and all the students were subjected to a check up for injuries or any signs of trauma. 

Allison and Lydia were able to pull themselves together quickly so other than a few scratches, they appeared mostly fine. Another casual Monday for them at this point. 

….. 

"What the hell was that back there?" Lydia held herself from shouting but anyone could clearly see from distraught she was from the way her voice quivered as she spoke. 

She looked at Malia and Allison for answers if they had any but the two of them just directed the same look to Tristan who currently held one of the crows and was staring intently at it. 

The crow had broken both of its wings as well as one of its legs, but was still surprisingly alive, but not for long it seemed. 

Tristan was trying to read the crow's emotions but he wasn't getting anything. Not one spiking emotion could be felt, not even the fear he thought the crow would have basked itself in. 

"Urghh~" Lydia grunted with crawling disgust at the sight of the bloody crow in Tristan's hands. "He's not going to eat it or drink its blood, right? Or else I think I might have to throw up."

"Trist?" Malia called out to him upon seeing the creeping frown on his face. 

Tristan sighed in defeat and dumped the crow's corpse inside a nearby bin before turning to his audience. "I couldn't get anything from it. Not one thing. As far as I'm concerned, those crows are as comfortable as can be and there doesn't seem to be anything wrong from its point of view."

"Huh?"

"There's nothing wrong with those crows, emotionally speaking at least." He added. 

"Wait." Lydia held out her hand with a humorless smile on her face. "You mean to say a joint kamikaze attack from a million crows is… what? Normal in crow-speak?"

Tristan shrugged, not knowing what else to think about of the latest wonders of Beacon Hills. 

"That's all I could get from it." He said. 

Allison sighed heavily, finding it hard to settle on the most appropriate mood in the current scenario. "First day of school and this is what we get? I don't even know if I should react scared or shrug it off with nonchalance."

"… Soooo, no one wants to ask why an army of crows decided to attack the school, our class in particular?" Malia asked and they all paused, thought of it, then slumped their shoulders with varying sighs as they couldn't make heads or tails of anything crow-related at all. 

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