The Path of an Elite

The next week Roman made a few appearances. When their eyes met he passed by with a wink and that sexy smirk of his. His bruises were starting to fade but still looked awfully grizzly. Arlet wanted to ask if he had gotten into a fight but she guessed it was from his training sessions. She couldn’t help but think about him all day, especially in algebra. Did he sit in the same seat as her? Did he find it easier since their lesson together? Should she invite him again? When she went off on tangents in her head Zircon Bell would call on her to solve an equation on the board. She hardly ever struggled to solve them.
A few months passed with neither of them making a move to get closer. Roman was sitting on his bed one lazy evening. Zircon Bell hadn’t called him out for any extra lessons and so Roman opened up his favorite book “The Leaf Prince” and read the beginning before Qwuarin came back from seeing his girlfriend. Their other two roommates had dropped out already. They hadn’t been able to keep up with their studies and training and so left after the first month; now it was just Roman and Qwuarin.
“Ahhh Mel has the sweetest personality. Today she said–”
Roman cut him off with a sickly sweet voice as he imitated a female, “Ohh Qwuarin you’re sooo strong and sweet! You’re the best!” He made a heart with his hands. “You guys need to just get a room.”
“Why? We’ve already gone all the way.”
“And again I’m still not interested in hearing or knowing where it is you ‘went all the way’ too. I’m perfectly fine living in my own world, away from that.” He smiled at his best friend.
“Wow someone is low on fiber today.”
Roman threw his pillow at him, “Will you quit with the fiber thing! You say that every time I stop you from speaking!”
Qwuarin caught Roman’s pillow, “Yeah you only stop me from talking so you can talk about Arlet. Oh la la.” He chuckled.
Roman blushed a slight, almost unnoticeable red. If it was anyone but Qwuarin they wouldn’t have noticed. “Lay off man.”
“Why don’t you just ask her out already?” Qwuarin scratched behind one of his ears before running his hand through his short curly sun-dried hair.
“Hmmm, well unlike you I get nervous in front of the girl and like, and secondly she’s not interested. Every time we pass each other in the hall she just smiles and looks away. It’s like she’s trying to avoid me.” He set his book down. Qwuarin came and sat next to him.
“She’s shy! Why won’t you listen to me!”
“But when I went over for the math lesson, like forever ago, she didn’t get nervous, she invited me in to her room when it was just the two of us. Just the two of us! It was like she couldn’t even think that I could ravish her at any moment.” He groaned and hung his head in anguish.
“Look how about I go with you during lunch to talk to her?”
“Why? To make sure I’m eating enough fiber?” Roman grinned.
“Yes that, and because Arlet and I are both from the country. I know those kinds of girls really well.”
Roman made a face but couldn’t find a proper excuse to deny his friend and it might even work out. They went to sleep plotting for tomorrow. The weekend rolled around where there were no classes and the students were allowed free roam of the campus and its facilities. The teachers alternated weekend shifts and this weekend Zircon Bell was out of town on a quick errand. Roman had asked permission to stay behind and was granted it but was given homework to do while Bell was away. The noon tolling of the church bell signaled Roman and Qwuarin to meet up.
“Is your heart ready for this?” Qwuarin asked placing a solid hand on Roman’s chest.
Roman grabbed his friends hand and with tearful eyes looked across to his friend. “I don’t know if I’m ready for this kind of commitment.”
Qwuarin swung Roman around so that he was holding him in a dip. “Don’t worry baby, I’ll be here for you.”
“Oh Qwuarin.”
“Oh Roman.” He placed a hand on his shoulder and stood up straight, “I think I’m ready now.”
“Glad to know we were starting to get an audience.” He glanced around at the onlookers and waved. “If only they knew it wasn’t real. I bet a few are gonna write stories about that.”
Roman punched him in the shoulder. “I’m just saying that they make some really good stories. Have you ever read any?”
Roman turned and grabbed his friend’s collar. He bent him over and held up his fist.
“Roman?” The fist came down immediately as he turned and faced Arlet at the dining hall entrance.
Roman dropped Qwuarin because of the surprise of Arlet actually being there in front of him. Roman smiled down at her as Qwuarin wiped himself off of non-existent dust.
"Arlet." He pushed his hair back trying to recompose himself in the moment.
"Roman...why the hell did you drop me?" Qwuarin said but Roman was too busy staring at Arlet's blushed face. He didn't even notice her blonde friend standing beside her.
"Ummm I think your friend is talking to you." The blonde said laughing at Roman's frazzled face.
"Oh yeah sorry Qwuarin...this is Arlet and her friend...." He was trying to remember if the girl beside Arlet ever told him her name. He was so sure that he would remember if she did.
"I'm Everleigh, call me Ever." She smiled at the both of them.
"Arlet....Ever. This is Qwuarin. He is supposedly my best friend." Roman rolled his eyes and at his friend.
"Nice to meet you Qwuarin." Both the girls said basically at the same time.
"We were about to get some food, care to join us?" Ever motioned for the rest of them to follow in which they obediently fell in line.
In the dining hall Anora introduced herself to the two boys and they all sit down to eat. Ever and Qwuarin were talking nonstop but that was just their way of getting out of the tense atmosphere that Roman and Arlet were creating by not talking to each other. That was until Qwuarin broke the silence between the two.
"So Arlet I heard that you are extremely smart in math...well as Roman says." He winked over to his friend. Roman wanted to hit him but decided against it when he saw Arlet gracefully smile ever so slightly. But then she stopped when she saw him looking.
"Ah I'm okay. I just enjoy math quite a lot. My brothers always told me that I needed to study it in order to impress the Zircons. So I studied my heart out." She said.
"You have brothers?" Roman asked.
"Yeah...I do." She replied. "They're Knights...."
She stopped before saying anymore, her amber eyes looked like they glowed. Roman followed her gaze as she was now looking over his shoulder at something; The Elite students.
"Aren't they just the best?" She said like a little girl watching her hero for the first time.
"They are douche bags..." Qwuarin said basically slamming his fist down on the table. He knew Roman was always being compared to the Elite students by Zircon Bell.
"What? Why?" Arlet said taken aback.
"Because Bell always..." Roman stopped him from speaking any further.
"Qwuarin I think you need to stop talking now." Roman went from being the spunky kid from earlier to the serious guy that only Zircon Bell got to see most of the time. He really only was like this with him or during any type of training.
"But..." Qwuarin began but stopped when he saw how serious his friend was being.
"They aren't bad people, just a couple of them are too arrogant for their own good." Roman said laughing now. "So what are you guys doing today?"
"We aren't doing anything worth mentioning." Arlet said sighing.
Anora was too immersed in her book to pay attention to anyone at the moment. Roman looked at the little girl thinking that she didn't look her age but something about her made her seem older than the rest. Maybe it was because she was reading or it was the sophisticated aura around her. Something just seemed wiser.
In the midst of talking with one another about how dumb some of the Zircons were Arlet looked at Roman with a harsh glare. It wasn't like she was angry with him, it seemed as if she was thinking of something to say.
"I would have never thought that you had friends...no, that isn't what I meant. I mean you look like the type that would be alone in his life....wait..." Ever covered Arlet's mouth and Roman just started laughing.
"She meant you seem like a person who likes to be a lone wolf." Ever recovered for Arlet. Qwuarin joined in the laughter with Roman.
"He so is, right? I think he just keeps me around because he needs someone to hold onto at night." Qwuarin made lovey dovey eyes at Roman while sighing. "Isn't he just dreamy?"
"Plus he just gives me comic relief during the day." Roman drew Qwuarin into his chest caressing his playful curls.
"Whatever man, you know you love me." Qwuarin pushes Roman away from him and lightheartedly smiles over to Ever. She ducks her eyes and blushes.
After eating everyone went their separate ways even though Roman wanted to stay a little longer to hang out with Arlet but he didn't want her to know how extremely awkward she was making him. He was usually calm and collected but she did something to him that no other girl did...ever.