Charity (2)

"The counsel is a group that governs the first district made up by the eldest members coming from the most powerful and wealthiest families," Luke explained.

Didn't this mean the counsel were the ones that came up with the harsh school and point system? And if they were the one that came up with the partner system, they were probably also responsible for my engagement with Luke. I flopped onto my bed as I processed the new information inside my head.

"Is your family also part of the counsel?" I asked Luke.

"My great great grandparents are a part of it," he admitted.

It was four generations above Luke when I counted on my fingers. How long did people in the first district live? They had to have a longer lifespan than other districts for his great grandparents to be alive in a state they were able to govern.

"People in the first district live for a long time," I commented.

"They did celebrate their six hundredth wedding anniversary this year," Luke agreed.

Six hundredth?!? My jaw dropped from the large number. They couldn't possibly be human beings when they lived for such a long time. I was starting to think they were almost immortal. Could this be the difference between the world with mana and without?

I nodded my head while comprehending the new information. I didn't need to fill my brain with more worrisome stuff when it was already dead from too much school. I slapped my cheeks to fill me with determination to get through the next few days.

"I think we can visit the places tomorrow," I planned.

"But that is after we finish everything," Luke reminded me.

"I know…" I groaned.

This was how my face was placed on the cold desk to cool off my brain. Luke had overdone himself in the study session today. It was hours longer than usual, like he was purposely trying to exhaust me from having any thoughts about going anywhere. Honestly, it wasn't a bad plan if he didn't know how motivated I was to get out of the school.

When he was about to leave the study room to head back to our room, I grabbed the edge of his shirt. He needed to stay so we could take the hover car instead to visit those charities today. Once I entered the dorm room, I knew I would just flop onto my bed to get more sleep.

"We need to go to the places I mentioned yesterday," I reminded him of his promise.

"Let me contact Alex and Shelly as well," Luke briefly pondered if his study session today was too short.

I nodded my head as I tried to rest while I could. If Luke saw me too tired, he would likely force me to go to sleep so I wouldn't daze during tomorrow's class. While he sent messages to his cousin, I pinched myself to stay awake. I sighed as this would be much easier if I had canned coffee. Another thing I have never seen in the first district.

"Are they coming?" I asked when he finished.

"We decided to meet in the courtyard where the hover car I called will come," he explained.

"But are you sure you're not tired?"

"What do you mean?" I laughed.

This was bad. Pinching myself wasn't working as well as I thought it would. I always wondered how Luke never got tired when we went through the same things together. I pinched my arm a little harder as I got up from my chair.

"Let's just go to the courtyard," I took the lead.

Luke continued to study me on our way to try to find any weaknesses while I forced myself to take lighter steps to appear like I had more energy. I waved my hand when I found both Alex and Shelly waiting for us. When I looked around, the courtyard was almost empty as everyone else had retired to their dorms.

"Let's go to Happy Smiles first," I asked Shelly to set the destination once we settled in.

While Shelly inputted the destination, Alex stared at me as he crossed his arms. I knew Alex never liked me but stuck with us since we were all 'family'. He seemed to disapprove we were going out of campus on a school day for a trivial mission.

I ignored him as I pulled up a map on my marble to study the surrounding area. This was a chance to properly explore the first district! But expectedly, the charity was inside a residential area full of houses and some typical grocery and convenience stores. Even though this was not what I wanted, I wanted to at least go inside the grocery store.

I wondered how different the grocery store would be from the other districts. Even the convenience store had to have some unique items! My face that slipped into a scheming smile caught the attention of both Luke and Alex.

"What are you planning now?" Alex's face stiffened even further.

"Nothing, we're just visiting the charity," I shrugged.

I looked outside the window to take in the lovely scenery. Although, it was the typical patches of mansions and wonderfully maintained gardens in the route we took like usual. I did wonder why the hover car never took any other route like the middle-class area with the apartments which was where my hideout was located. But it was better than being cooped up at school.