Out of place and forgotten

When you arrived at the mess hall for breakfast, all eyes were on you. Your sling made it ever so evident of your undying clumsiness and well-known characteristics of being a troublemaker.

"Has she had any self-respect? I mean it hasn't even been three days and she's already being a bad influence on the new students." you heard one of the students say. It was probably one of the fangirls of Caelum and Kieran, you thought. You kept walking, dismissing it but when you looked back, Kieran was already gone.

Your eyes widened, he was already standing in front of the person who deliberately mocked you, she feigned innocence and subtly smiled flirtatiously towards Kieran. But he either didn't notice or didn't care, uh-oh. "And did you honestly think that she chose to break her arm?" he said coldly. You immediately went towards them to stop him from saying anything further but Caelum beat you to it.

He said something to Kieran you didn't comprehend but it worked and he backed off, but not before giving one last glare to the girl. You sighed in relief but tensed up when the girl glared at you accusingly before going back to her food. You shook your head and this time waited for Kieran and Caelum to catch up.

"You didn't have to do that," you began, "they were just probably worried you might be influenced by me. And clearly," you motioned towards your arm sling, "I have a reputation for being a troublemaker." you laughed half-heartedly.

Kieran and Caelum were struck by your statement. The book of injuries dedicated to you, being called a magicless witch, a human, the pieces were slowly pieced together in their heads. What you truly stood and were seen as by everyone--nothing but a clumsy, troublemaking witch without powers, studying in a place she didn't belong.

"So please, as a favor, just don't mind them," you said lastly before sitting down next to your roommates at your table. The both of them sat next to you without another word.

"What happened to your arm?" it was Damara who asked, clearly late with the news. Worriedly she scooted closer and inspected the injury. "Gosh Emilia, this is the third time this month, and last week you just had a sprained ankle." she scolded you, and coming from Damara Pluvio, it wasn't much of a threat.

"It's fine, nothing three bottles of healing potions won't fix in a week and I've already had one," you replied jokingly. Then you saw the questioning stares from your other friends towards the two boys silently next to you, eating their breakfast. "Uhh," you cleared your throat, "by the way, these are Kieran Crius and Caelum Delvaux, my classmates, they transferred here recently," you introduced.

The girls said hi's and hello's in response, "And these are my roommates, Sitara Aiden, Briony Cerridwen, Corvina Azura, and you already know Damara." you introduced the girls.

Kieran's usual mask went back on and greeted them like a gentleman, "It's a pleasure you meet you ladies. Emilia, you should've told me you had such pretty roommates." and he grinned at them. Briony being her shy self just blushed her elf ears turning a shade of purple, Damara practically swooned, while Sitara and Corvina just rolled their eyes, unperturbed.

"You call yourself a Knight? You can't even do zilch and prevented her from getting hurt?" another voice chimed in, you turn to see that it was Dorian. He looked slightly disheveled and angry, "You get your arm broken just after I told you to be careful?" he exclaimed, incredulously towards you.

You turned your head down, abashed, "I'm sorry Dorian, it was an accident." you replied.

Kieran was infuriated by this and he stood up, squaring Dorian, "Look at you acting all concerned. Emilia, I didn't realize your father lived on campus." he fumed, glaring at Dorion. If looks could kill.

"It was my fault, I wanted to get the ingredients for a potion. They were just helping me, and you should know me by now, this is nothing to worry about, it happens all the time," you jested to lighten the situation but it somehow made it worse.

Dorion was exasperated, "Getting constantly hurt isn't something to be proud about Em!" his voice echoed across the mess hall, which made the students near you turn their heads. By his statement, you couldn't take it anymore, you felt water in your eyes starting to swell, threatening to fall.

"Well, it's not like I chose to get hurt, Dorian!" you fumed, your voice echoing through the hall, "Do you know how hard it is to be constantly vexed for being a clumsy powerless witch who knows nothing else other than being troublesome and NORMAL? I get it alright, I get it. And I already got that from everyone else and I don't need it from you!" without letting anyone speak further, you stood up and stormed away.

"We don't like you," Damara commented to Dorian, who looked taken aback by your outburst. "Come on girls." and she went out to follow you. The rest of your roommates stood up and left to find you.

"Really sensitive of you mate," Kieran said sarcastically, and they were about to follow when Corvina stopped them.

"No, you've done enough. All of you," she commented. Corvina wasn't much to make conversation but it was one thing to remember--never to infuriate her and if you hurt her friends, she will hex you.

The three boys stood in the mess hall awkwardly, while the girls went on to comfort their friend. While this was happening, you turned to the only place you know to calm you down.

Within the years of studying at the academy, being powerless in a place full of magic and wonder, you felt excluded like you didn't fit in. The first time you found this secret room was during the second week of classes. Everyone was being taught how to use their magic, while you were left out and only had Literature reading in the library. Not that reading was something you didn't like, it was just something that made it evident how out of place you were.

You were blindly caressing your fingers down the spines of the books on the shelves by the wall when you pressed one back, and suddenly, a door made itself known to you. It was just between two shelves so the creases weren't obvious.

It was a dark room, and the only light source was an old witchlight lantern on the wall. It looked like an old reading room, where a desk and a chair were situated to the side, and a bookshelf was placed on the far side of the wall, the books there were heavily covered in dust and cobwebs, and an old wooden lectern was right in the middle.

It reminded you of yourself, it once had a purpose but was then disregarded, but still, it remained in place, all dusty and forgotten. Unable to be used until someone came in and was willing enough to dust its shelves, take a seat on its wobbly chair, and write on its desk. Be of use, and of purpose.

And so you did just that. You made it into a place of your own, where you felt like you belonged. You cleaned it out, brought some of your own things little by little throughout the years, and now it looked lived in. The old books from the shelves were removed and replaced with yours. You've put in laboratory paraphernalia like beakers, a microscope, test tubes, some ingredients, research books, and trinkets. And it became your personal laboratory slash office slash room.

You had just opened the door when someone spoke behind you, "So that's where you disappear to most of the time." you turned, startled by your friends.

"How did you--" you weren't able to finish your sentence when they pushed past you and went inside the room. "Please don't touch anything, it might explode!" and that was all it took for them to back away from your research desk.

"You were out of it, we've called you multiple times but to no avail so we just took it upon ourselves to follow you," Sitara explained, scanning the contents of your research notebook. "Well? Aren't you coming inside?" she offered as if it were her room and not yours. Sighing you went inside and closed the door behind you before anyone else sees you.

You slumped yourself on the comfy chair you've managed to drag there last year, crossing your arms, gazing up at your four friends, "So, do you need anything?" you asked defeated.

It was cramped and only then had it become more evident to you how small the secret room was, what with five of you jammed inside. Corvina took a seat on your chair by the desk, while the other three sat on the floor across from you.

"We just wanted to talk to you," Briony began, "we were really worried about you. Dorian was not right saying that, but I'm sure he only meant well," she added. Briony has had a crush on Dorian since you were in seventh grade, and you accepted her defense.

You shrugged, "I'm sorry for worrying you guys, I just overreacted that's all." you replied, dismissively.

They exchanged looks, "That is not true and you know it," it was Sitara who voiced the thought. "He should at least be sensitive enough to understand the situation." she fumed.

"And those two weren't helping either, retaliating like that." you were all surprised to hear Corvina say, "But the real question is, what really happened Emilia?" she asked, goading at you, to tell the truth, but it was the one truth that was not yours to tell.

"I told you, we were gathering ingredients for a potion. It's for a group project we have in Apothecary, right Damara?" you explained, asking Damara for confirmation.

"Are you talking about the glow mushrooms and the blue mountain flower?" she asked in return, looking confused, "But didn't Kieran and Caelum say the two of them would get it, why tag along? And if you did tag along, why didn't you ask me?" she inquired further, now making things more complicated.

"Alright look, the truth is, they did go to get it but then they went extremely late last night and I just happened to see them through the window. So I followed, I tripped and fell, broke my arm, and now we're here," you explained speedily in one go to stop any further questioning which might result in you giving out too much information than necessary--or was allowed.

"Then why did you take the blame?" Corvina asked once more, "If they were the ones who made the mistake of going out that late at night, and into the woods of all places, why would you take the blame?" it was one more scary thing about Corvina, she was very perceptive.

"Because they still had so much for them here, and I was already known for being incredibly troublesome anyway, so there isn't much damage to my reputation. And it technically is half my fault for asking them to get the ingredients without a specific time in mind." it wasn't at all a lie either. If people thought it was her fault then there would be no difference, but if Kieran and Caelum were blamed, they might delve further into it.

"So what? The Knights get in trouble for far more but you don't see them losing their popularity. You're worried about their reputation and social image, and yet you could care less about yours?!" Sitara snapped, she was angry but what's more, was her evident disappointment.

You felt a pang in your chest by the way she said it, but there was nothing else you could say. Further explanation and things might go south, they can't know that Caelum was the reason for everything. You felt guilty for lying to your friends, but Caelum and Kieran are now your friends too, and their secret matters more right now.

"I'm sorry, but please just this once, just let me be selfish." you took Sitara's hand and gave it a squeeze, "The only opinions I care about are yours, and of course, the professors but that was already a given." and with that, everyone broke out into smiles and started laughing.

"Yeah right, for all I know it's actually, 'The only opinions I care about belong to those who give me the grades I need'" Sitara replied, roughly imitating your voice which made you all laugh more.

"Can you blame me? If I am to be your doctor in the future, shouldn't I set a clear course?" you surmised, and they all shook their heads in agreement.

As you stayed a bit longer in that small secret room, you realized that you no longer felt forgotten. You found it so hard to enter their world of magic so instead, they entered yours. It might have been small, cramped, and messy, but they were ready to push the doors forcibly even if you won't allow it.