My Bothersome Life

Returning Back to School

I stared down at the plate filled with memorizing rich mashed potatoes and seafood mixed with steak. I gulped in anticipation from the appetizing meal.

But before I took a bite, I imagined pouring my mana into my marble while visualizing Alex's angry face. Who knew if Alex was able to use the tracking feature as well since he was supposedly my partner now.

"Rika if it's ok to ask this, can I ask how much mana you have? Normally people at your age wouldn't be able to do what you did, as they don't have that much excess mana." Ben couldn't hide his fascination.

"The teacher said that it appears like I almost don't have a limit on how much excess mana that I have." I took another bite of my steak.

Ben went silent as if it was something unpredicted. He appeared like he was in deliberation on what to do with this newly found information as he stopped eating.

'Did I accidentally reveal too much about myself?' I wondered from Ben's unexpected reaction.

I took a glance outside the window to hide my flustered face. Unfortunately, I found a group of young children asking the people around them if they saw a 'young child with gradient red hair and orange pupil eyes wearing a pink lace dress'. This couldn't be good news, could it?

They were frighteningly close to where I was now as we were only few metres apart from inside the restaurant I looked down from. Ben noticed my slight frown as I gazed outside the window.

"I think it's better you get back to them now. It looks like your partners are quite worried about you since you put the tracking off." He pointed out.

Under Ben's pressuring smile, I walked outside the restaurant after Ben paid for our meal. I sighed as I could already imagine how bad their lectures were going to be. I took Ben's arm as he politely escorted me to the 'frightening young group of children' who instantly spotted me.

Shelly ran to hug me while she abandoned her usual elegance, "We were worried when both Alex and Luke suddenly couldn't track you!"

I almost cried when I instantly noticed hints of Shelly trying to buy me some time before my doom. I didn't even want to look at the eerie smiles on two children behind her while I hugged her back.

"I'll get going now. It was nice meeting you Rika." Ben said his farewells to not disturb our horrible reunion.

I nodded back to let him know he could leave.

'It was nice knowing you too before I get killed at any moment here,' I turned to face my doom.

"Rika!" Two young voices shouted simultaneously.

"Let's remain in a calm manner," I placed each of my hands on their shoulders.

"In a calm manner, you say. At this point, I feel sorry for Luke who has you as his original partner!" Alex almost yelled while raising one of his eyebrows and crossing his arms.

"At this rate, we're going to get the attention of people nearby. Look! They're already starting to stare!" I pointed out to show the people that started to whisper about us.

Alex angrily grabbed onto my hand with no other choice, "We're going back to school. Now!"

I let Alex drag me back to a hidden building while we exchanged no words among us. The barrier rippled on the surface as we entered through its automatic doors. It was like it was spelled to allow only people with mana to notice the tall building in the middle of the city.

I let my eyes wander around the empty building as there was no other people to be seen. It was obvious that Alex and Luke came to the second district through this building rather than falling down the stairs.

A shining teleportation gate full of energy laid in front of me as I was soon pushed in. By the time I blinked, I was in the same school cafe that both Shelly and I were in the beginning of our journey. It was then that Luke gestured me to sit down while I anticipated a long lecture.

However, Daniel, our homeroom teacher, came into the cafe and asked us to come to the dean's office.

All of us sat down on the plushy couches in the stern dean's office. I guessed this really was a serious incident as I observed the solemn atmosphere.

The proud and confident Alex looked ashamed while Luke stayed expressionless. Shelly just grabbed onto my arm while removing all traces of her emotions except a hint of reflection.

The dean opened his mouth after a moment of silence, "As you guys know, this is a very serious incident. We have never had this incident before in the history of Abright middle school because most children are well behaved. However, since there has been an mistake on our part as well, we will give you a warning this time as we promised. However, there will not be an incident like this that will be tolerated again."

"Understood?" He glared in my direction.

"Yes sir." Our voices rang in the room.

"Now go back to your rooms for the rest of the day!" The dean let us go for today.

We silently headed back to our rooms as Alex clenched his hands into fists like he was holding back his anger. I knew it would be wise to head back to bed even though it was only evening to avoid his potential outburst.

I buried myself inside my bed while trying to avoid Alex's gaze. However, Alex tossed my blanket on the floor as he grabbed onto my hand, "Don't you dare think it ends here!"

I started to shrink back from Alex's angry aura while his grip on my hand tightened.

"Do you know how I feel about this? Have you ever tried thinking in your partner's position? Do you know how the name of the Monete family will be sullied now!" Alex finally shook my hand off.

"Well, it is inevitable to not make any mistakes as human beings. But if what you were saying was the case, wouldn't the Monete family be already plastered with mistakes?" I tried to reason with him.

"Oh really! Then how come we never had an incident where a main member of the family got minus points in school before? We also never got called to the dean's office for any negative news as well!" Alex tried to point out.

"You know the minus point situation was your fault! I wouldn't have gotten sick if you didn't keep on hitting me with water. But I do admit that the dean's office thing was kind of my fault, however it wasn't mine completely." I refuted while picking my blanket.

Alex looked stunned like he had no words to say back with my response, but he quickly recovered, "Don't you feel sorry for Luke?"

"I never wanted to become Luke's partner," I honestly told him.

I did try to break our partnership with Luke multiple times, but he never listened to me. Luke would always drag me into his problems together as I got more exhausted with every passing day. Even I knew I wouldn't last longer with my weak mentality that couldn't handle studying intensely without a taking a decent break in between.

"I think that's a bit too harsh considering what Luke has done for you all this time! I'm sure Luke never wanted a partner like you as well, but he's trying his best to compromise with you! So why can't you spare a bit of thought of your actions for Luke?" Alex appeared to be frustrated why I couldn't be like everyone else.

I wasn't willing to change myself to fit in with the rest of the crowd. I understood how he felt sorry for his best friend, but not for me who was dragged into this mess of a school by him.

'Well, it technically wasn't anybody's fault except for the partner system and everyone else were victim, which included Ben, Hubert, Shelly, Luke and the list went on' I had to keep reminding myself of this fact to keep myself sane from slapping Alex in the face.

"I do, or else I wouldn't be in this school." I mumbled back with my fists clenched.

Our fight silently continued for the next few days. Our small class of six people were split into two groups as I hung out with Shelly and Ellen while Alex hung out with only Luke and Allan. We didn't even stay inside our room except for sleeping because we knew we would run into each other.

But strangely, near the end of Sunday, I noticed Shelly and Alex having a serious discussion. However, I soon erased the scene from my head since I was finally rid of Alex tomorrow (not that Luke was much better).

It was when I was about to head towards my bed, Alex blocked my pathway very awkwardly.

"Do you have something to say to me?" I got annoyed.

"I apologize for my misunderstanding of the situation. I thought that you were the one that had the idea of going to the second district, but Michelle told that it was her idea to me earlier today." Alex bowed his head.

"I also apologize for saying bad stuff about your family and your friend," I replied back to his genuine apology.

Both Shelly and I had the idea to go to the second district equally, so it was still half my fault. But, I didn't want to ruin this nice moment so I decided to keep the truth a secret.

It was clear now we had somewhat repaired our relationship, but we weren't that close to each other in the first place. Meaning, we had many assumptions about each other in the past two weeks before even interacting with each other.

But, I still sighed in relief since I was glad we were able to make up before this whole partner switching thing ended.

'It would be awkward to keep on avoiding each other,' I put a positive spin to it.