Chapter 20: The opening ceremony

***Third-person P.O.V.

" 100 students per class seemed a little too much to me," I told Liam as we walked to the auditorium no. 4.

" Well, the classrooms are big enough, plus everyone will have a hologram screen on the desk in case they can't see the blackboard. " He shrugged before continuing," I'm more focused on the fact that we are in the same classroom. "

" I guess ", I just thought it would be tough for the teachers to teach such a large class without discriminating against students but if he had no problems with it then what can I say.

" Since when did Cynthia learn to sit on your shoulder? " He looked at Cynthia who climbed on my shoulder from the pocket.

" You have no idea what else she learned!!" I rolled my eyes at him.

" Screaming bloody murder at 3 in the morning?" He laughed as he patted my back.

" That too but apparently she is not as dependent on me as we first thought. " I told him what happened after the screaming part.

" So, what did you do with the bat?" He asked as we entered the auditorium.

" Buried him in the garden in front of dorms." We took seats in the middle.

Usually, In the novels, everyone looked better and more beautiful than every girl was a jade beauty and every boy was a Greek god but as I observed my fellow first years, I found a lot of normal people.

While there were no obese people since everyone trained in some arts. But as I looked around, I saw people that had pimples, some people had below-average looks too while some had above average in the crowd of average-looking people.

Sadly I couldn't find a jade beauty in the crowd, there were certainly some really beautiful girls in the crowd but no one of them was capable of creating an effect where everyone else looked black and white once you looked at her.

" Done staring at girls? " Liam asked in a quiet voice.

" Yeah, I guess. Why are you whispering?" I asked him as I leaned down like him while turning to look at him.

" Because one of the girls noticed you checking them out and currently looking at us." He sighed before sitting straight and looking at the front.

" Really?" I too sat straight but unlike him, I started to search for this girl.

" Do you have no fear?" He didn't look at me as he asked.

" I didn't know that you were the shy type. What is to fear, man? Just face them instead of avoiding them otherwise you will never learn the art of socializing. " I found the girl in a few moments, black hair and brown eyes.

She raised an eyebrow as our eyes met. She elbowed the girl beside her before pointing at me with her eyes.

***Isabel P.O.V.

" What did you think? " I asked daisy as I had a staring contest with the boy.

" Either he is good at controlling his emotions or he really just find this whole scenario interesting " She replied as she observed the little animal on his shoulders.

" Well, at least he has manners considering his eyes stayed on the face, especially eyes instead of some other parts. " I remarked as he finally turned his attention away from me and bowed to daisy before turning around.

" Not bad for a first impression" She casually remarked before turning to look on the other side.

" So, found any of our usual acquaintances? " I asked as I followed her eyes.

" Yeah, Sabrina is sitting with Clark like always while Ash is sitting alone but it must be because Charles would be giving a speech. " She drank some water from her bottle after replying. She brought the bottle with her even though no one did.

" Does she not care that Clark is trying to show that there is something between them by following her around?" I looked at the silver-haired girl whom I envied once.

" To her, the pros outweigh the cons. She doesn't have to deal with people that just want to interact with her because of her looks or her lineage and if the person is deserving of her attention then he would be capable of crossing Clark anyway so she doesn't lose much." Daisy rolled her finger in her hair as she put her point of view.

" Hmm. I guess, her lineage plays a part in it too. Since her lineage was greater than his, she could show him reality anytime when needed. but the question is, is Clark not aware not it? " The dean finally climbed on the stage and stood in front of the speaker.

He liked to use old instruments instead of the latest device whenever he could.

" Good morning to all, I'm sure you had waited enough now so let us begin. My name is Bill Maher and I am the dean of this Academy. I'm sure many of you are not really a fan of speeches so I like to keep it short. " He took a breath before continuing, " If everything goes well, you would be graduating from this institution and I hope that it happens. You will experience many changes while studying here, some good while some not so good but we will try our best to help you adapt to those changes and help you grow as a better person. Now I will be ending my speech to give room for the Student President to say some words. "

The student President, the serious-faced heir of Canadian royalty.

" Good morning, fellow students. I believe you will be experiencing a positive change in a week from now on as your control improves over your mana. I would like to remind you that with great powers, comes responsibilities but sadly more often than not, instead of responsibility students develops a superiority complex. " He observed the whole auditorium before continuing," Council will be working with the disciplinary committee to maintain order among students but we would prefer if things didn't come to that. I wish you all a wonderful year "

*** Steve P.O.V.

" I expected this to go a little differently. " I turned to Liam as the President left the stage.

" Yeah, It ended pretty quickly, I thought the dean would take at least 10 mins to finish his speech but this is not bad too. " He shrugged his shoulders before getting up from the chair once the teachers started to guide the students.

" So, do you wanna wait for a minute or get into the line right now? " I asked him as we both observe the students leaving in bulk.

" Let's wait, it's not like a minute or two would change anything, and since this is the first day, I don't think there would be important classes happening today. " I nodded to that.

Cynthia jumped from the shoulder and stretched her body before sitting on the floor and grooming her fur.

"Now that I think about it, let's leave. I want a seat by the window and it won't be saved if we didn't go right now. " I started to walk but Liam stopped me.

" My brother told me that seats are assigned randomly by the academy but yeah I think, it's okay to move now. " He took the lead while signaling me to follow me.

'Why stop me then?' I exclaimed to myself before I shook my head and followed him.