Both teenage boys had been prepared to just tune out on their way back to the academy, yet ending up together on the ride was a welcome surprise. There wasn’t much to catch up on, as the two of them hadn’t really missed much. Gary had left the day before yesterday, whereas Numba had left yesterday.
The Werewolf had mixed feelings about returning. Part of him was looking forward to it, because the AFA was a dream of his. However, another part of him regretted leaving so soon. After visiting his group of friends, he couldn’t stop worrying about them, his gang and also Slough as a whole. Truly, being a gang leader, even one mostly in name, there was a lot on his plate.
Since they were alone in the bus, and the bus driver wasn’t paying attention, Gary and Numba started discussing their special lessons, though just to be sure they kept it vague. Time passed as they discussed strategies and planned what they would do until the next lesson.
By the time they arrived the lessons were already over so the two students headed straight for their dormitories. On the floor they could already hear noises coming from a particular room.
“You’re the same as always! You invite yourself over and decide to watch whatever you want! This is my room, so at least let me pick the film!� A male voice complained loudly.
“It’s not my fault that your taste is garbage! Besides, shouldn't you be studying!� A female voice shouted back.
Since they were both passing by anyway, Gary and Numba decided to inform their friends about their return. The room went silent before the sounds of someone coming over could be heard. Opening it was a messy looking Ian.
“Hey, Izzy, get over here!The two of them are already back!� Ian shouted into the room.
Hearing this, the sound of a door slamming was heard, which Ian thought was strange, but he shrugged his shoulders and let the two of them in.
“She probalay just went for sh*t or something.� Ian murmured.
“No, I didn't! I'm just freshening up.'' Izzy shouted from behind the bathroom door.
As the two of them entered, they could see that Ian’s room was a complete mess. Numba just shook his head and started tidying up the place. Seeing this Gary realised that this wasn’t the first time he had seen the Goat Altered clean up behind the two and from his practiced technique, Numba might have grown used to cleaning up behind the two.
While his‘guest’ was making the room more presentable, Izzy came out as well, her face a little flustered. She brushed some crumbs off the seat she had been in earlier and sat down. Unlike before, his childhood’s friend hair was no longer a ball of mess, rather it was nicely braided. She was clearly making an effort for a certain someone that had returned.
Once Numba was also happy enough about the state of the room, the group spent some time to catch up. The two left behind naturally wanted to learn more about the other two’s trip, yet both just brushed it off as nothing but a boring trip, with mostly some family things.
At the same time, neither Izzy nor Ian could contribute much, apart from the fact that they had attended all of their lessons and continued to train with each other, hoping to get stronger and catch up with the two of them. Naturally, just three days was too short a time to do that.
“I’m happy that you’re both still training so hard, but we only got into the main academy. Don’t you want rest a little?� Gary asked. At least that was what he planned to do until their next special lesson. Of course, the Werewolf could get stronger from eating the beasts, so training the old-fashioned way wasn’t of much help to him.
“We need to excel, especially in our physical lessons.� Izzy shook her head. “You know they have quarterly assessments for all the students here, right? The AFA isn’t like other academies where you study for a year and then move up a grade. This is THE place to train the next generation of Altered, so they don’t care about making us book smart.
“Do you remember those students we fought with when we first entered?�
To be honest Gary didn’t remember much of what any of them looked like apart from Xin. Then again, his mind had been muddled to say the least, but not wanting to explain any of this, he just nodded.
“Well, that's what should be our goal. As long as you can prove that you’re ready for a debut match in the AFC, then the teachers will personally take you in and assign you to a coach. After that, you fight your debut match and then, you’re pretty much on your own.
“At that point, you technically no longer need to attend the academy, since you pretty much just graduated from the AFA to the AFC. If you want, you can still attend lessons and the academy might ask you to come back once in a while and help them with things, but you’re no longer technically a part of the student body.
“That is why you have to show promise in the assessments! No one is expecting you to pass on your first go, but if we perform well the teachers will keep an eye on us, especially if we’re showing spectacular growth!�
Thinking about this, Gary realised that Xin was one of those students. Her debut match in the AFC could be any day now. Did that mean that soon she would no longer be in the academy and there would be no way for him to see her again?
‘Is there even much of a point for me to stay in the AFA other than the special lessons? With the way I am right now, I should be able to enter the AFC and have a debut match. If I show off at the assessment then I can get out of the AFA as quickly as possible.
‘In that case, I can use my new status as an AFC fighter and then we can turn Kai’s plans of turning me into some tycoon into reality. As long as I show up to my matches, I can just live in Slough with my sister and help the Howlers without having to worry.’
Gary knew that he should put some more thought into it, but he was pretty sure he had just made his decision. After everyone had run out of things to say to each other, they had decided it was best to have an early night.
The two childhood friends assumed Gary and Numba to be tired from the travelling and liked to have some time to themselves, before tomorrow’s lesson. Waving goodbye to Numba, Gary entered his room, yet stopped when he noticed that he had spent on something.
‘What’s this?’ Gary wondered, as he picked up an envelope from the floor, clearly a letter.
“Meet me in the octagon room level 4 at midnight tonight. I want to talk about what happened last time.�
‘A letter left behind in my room... could this be from Xin?!’
*****
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