"Academy Days" Snippets

Hello, I am bringing you 3 snippets today. As I was writing them I realized I am incapable of writing anything shorter than half a page, so technically, I didn't deliver what I promised, sorry about that. 

Nonetheless, I hope you enjoy the shorts. The setting is "Academy Days". 

###1

Through the close to a decade you spent at the Academy, there were numerous times when you were driven to swallowing your words. Most notably, about the company that stuck to you like a piece of chewing gum to the back of one's trainers.

Alcide - the one person stubborn enough to endure your every attempt at pushing him away - from a hazardous annoyance slowly transformed into a reliable friend, whose presence was and is a well-needed anchor in the years of uncertainty and fear.

Even his scent, which he masks with either smuggled suppressants or other strong-smelling items like cologne or his favorite cinnamon gum, is easy to get used to. The artificial aromas make it effortless to be around him when your senses are overwhelmed with the persistent odor of emotions coming from all directions.

Perhaps, you could say that a disruption to the order of things is what caused your sour mood.  After all, you can’t tell Alcide that his idiotic stunt worried you, or he might inadvertently repeat his blunder.

As you’re shaving whatever remains from his well-kept locks, you breathe in lungfuls of the lingering fetor of burnt hair that for someone without your gift would be untraceable, but for Allurers is more than pungent.

“Stop wiggling, or I’ll cut off your ear.” After shooting him a glare that quickly withers when you notice the tears in his eyes, you can’t do anything else but sigh. “You should be glad the flame didn’t catch your scalp.”

“Stop it,” Alcide whines in turn, looking positively miserable seated on the small stool, wrenching his hands. “I already heard enough from Flavio.”

Not nearly enough, if you say so yourself. Though, you have to agree that the scolding you witnessed was both epic and surprising. You always took Flavio for a lenient brother, but it seems it was no fault of Flavio’s that his little brother turned out like *that*.

“How was I supposed to know it would spread so fast?!” Alcide sniffs, unable to actually *not* complain despite his own insistence that you should end the conversation.

“I don’t know, Alcide, because it’s fire? Did you think it follows the ‘five seconds’ rule?”

“Don’t you have any conscience?!” Alcide’s previously dejected slouch straightens so rapidly you almost do slash his ear. “I’m sufferin’ right now and you’re bullyin’ me!”

“You deserve it! Sit still.”

And sit he does. Still? Not so much. But he manages to contain his grousing for another fifteen minutes which is more than enough for your inexperienced hands to give him a clean-ish and even-ish buzzcut.

He gives you all but a second to turn off the electric clipper before whirling around and staring at you with imploring eyes. “How is it?”

“It’s-” The fight is fierce and one-sided, so it’s not surprising that you lose, squeezing your eyes shut and choking out a laugh.

You hear a groan and the dip of the mattress as Alcide throws himself face-first on your bed. His voice is muffled but full of genuine grief. “I want to die.”

Making a sound that you hope is sympathetic, you try to console him, but all you can manage is a breathless, “it’s not- it’s not-” quickly drowned out by the continuous wailing.

It takes three months for him to regrow his hair to a somewhat *respectable* length. Despite his initial reaction, the mishap does not teach him any humility.

###2

The monthly visitation day is the most depressing one by far. You should be glad for your Academy’s leniency, for letting the examined pupils meet their families... Except it means nothing to you. You’re not examined, nor do you have anyone willing to pay you a visit.

The pitying looks you and the handful of people who are left behind inside the building receive from other children, never fails to bring a flush to your face. From anger or embarrassment, or the injustice of it all. You wonder, every time if it’s better if they think you’re an orphan, or that your family renounced you for being afflicted. It’s a rare case these days, but it does happen. Just as the reverse is true.

The building empties in record speed, and you’re soon left by the window overlooking the courtyard, feeling like a peeping Tom, watching the families gather together in the spacious parking lot in front of the building.

Nobody pays your sorry figure any attention. Honestly, nobody cares, and even if they did, they are all too taken with the appearance of Flavio’s run-down jeep that has just parked by the gates. You can see some of the teenagers salivating at the sight, and for a good reason. The green vehicle not only has an expensive looking custom paint job, but also a honest-to-fuck bullet hole in one of the windows. Though arguably, the most noticeable enhancements are the garish lime-green colored rims.

The monstrosity *is* kind of cool, at least according to the majority of the Academy, if not to the parents. The owner of the car, however, makes a much better impression. Dressed in a red leather jacket with his slick hair held back over his forehead with a pair of large sunglasses and a smile that melts the hearts of not only the teachers but the principal, who lets Flavio sneak in some goodies for his brother without all that much sweet-taking.

Well, you can’t complain about the show, since you’re one of the people who reaps the benefits. That and anyone who can steal the attention of the crowd from it being potentially turned on you is all right in your book.

* Flavio’s getting only cheap used car parts because he’s broke and people are like ‘oh wow” about it.

###3

Is it funny or just annoying that in a building complex so large the actual corridors can fit only three people horizontally? Your vote is on the latter, seeing as you can’t even walk without brushing against one of the pupils gathered in the vicinity.

Chewing harder on the cinnamon gum you stole from Alcide earlier, you make sure to focus on the taste and the slight burn of the tip of your tongue, trying to ignore the smell of the mess of emotions that encompasses you. Still, by the time you enter the hall, you can feel the headache coming.

On the other side of the room, you notice Alcide and his clique, talking animatedly about whatever has their fancy currently. You can swear that his group consists of different people each time you see them, but then again, you have other things to worry about than Alcide’s friends.

“Hey!” Your attendance doesn’t escape Alcide’s attention - hardly anything does - and he shouts a greeting from across the hall, making other pupils turn their heads to look at him for a moment, at his dazzling grin and dancing eyes before they return to their own business. “Over here!”

You make your way slowly, trying not to gag as you approach the group. You know Reed wouldn’t take it to heart, but you don’t want to have to explain your reaction to the others. After all, other Allurers on the grounds are well past the age of being negatively affected by the scent of their peers.

“Took you long enough, huh? I was startin’ to think you didn’t want to come.”

Smartass. He knows you didn’t.

A chorus of more or less excited ‘heys’ welcomes you, then a shy smile from a lanky boy standing closest to Reed, that causes Reed to roll his eyes and fake-gag. He starts to say something, but a loud shout interrupts him.

“Alcide! ”

“Shit, people, can’t you live without me for five minutes?!”

Apparently not, if the pleading is anything to go by. Seriously, despite trying to seem annoyed, there’s no disguising the pleasure the attention brings Alcide. Even if he does look remorseful to be tugged away.

“Be right back,” he promises, patting your shoulder as he brushes past you. Leaving behind just a hint of his cologne in his stead, hardly distinguishable above the scent of cinnamon clogging all your senses.