10th chapter- enjoy!

Wow. We're already on the tenth chapter... And it feels like I've just started. By the way, I'm making this and the chapters to come into Third Person's POV but I won't go back and change the POVs of the previous chapters.

Thanks to Ashmir, xXSamurai-98Xx, and Carmel March for reviewing. Stay loving and keep on reading!

Tnx for the Favorites and Alerts! :3


Monday Evening

Eria flopped down on her bed, trying to smoothen her sweaty mess of a hair. Even though the air con was on full blast, sweat was slowly making its way down from her forehead and her clothes were stuck to her body.

She had been fixing her school things for the past hour, and was suddenly regretting her decision of preparing in the last minute. Procrastination seemed to be one of her worst habits.

But as they say: "Out of sight, out of mind." The less she was able to get ready for school, the more she was able to get rid of the thoughts about it.

With a sigh, she fingered the straps of her backpack. All she needed to do now was fix her school uniform and she was set. Eria took her time to get up from the position she was in; there was just something about beds and their comfortableness that she couldn't quite put her finger on. Heaving yet another sigh, she managed to pull her butt out of the bed.

Eria lumbered over to the bathroom, opening the door. The atmosphere was slightly damp, since Joy recently took a bath. She brushed past the sink and the shower area to enter walk-in closet. She turned to her side of the closet and started looking for something she could wear for tomorrow. The school offered its students different options for their school uniform, but Eria decided to settle for the typical boarding school uniform: a standard issue white oxford under a dark blue blazer with the Mage Academy logo stitched above the left breast, a pleated dark grey skirt, a black necktie, and a pair of socks and school shoes.

She hung the clothes on the cabinet's door handles before staring blankly at them. Well, that's it, she thought, yawning slightly. I just have to sleep now then... it's school.

It was 8:00 PM and an hour earlier, she had eaten dinner with the rest of her housemates, minus Etoile. Etoile had apparently requested for her food to be brought to her room, but Maria didn't comply since she made a rule that you couldn't eat in the second floor unless it was only a light snack.

And even if Eria didn't make any sort of contact with Etoile for today she was still beat. School was all she could think of.

What if she hated her classmates? What if her classmates hated her back? What if her teachers sucked an in turn, she sucked at the subject? Would they treat her differently because she only arrived now and her aunt was the current headmistress?

She seriously wished her friends were here right now.

Her eyes widened at the thought. She had her phone and she still hasn't called or texted her friends. Duh!

Eria quickly scrambled for her Samsung, knowing she had placed it on her bedside table. Minutes later, her phone was starting to power on and she impatiently tapped the screen. Sure, Eria liked some of her housemates and even Ari, but she she just had met them. She wasn't familiar with the inside jokes and their favorites and pet peeves; she was still lightly uncomfortable with them.

Oops. That was the first thing that popped in her head after typing in her password.

14 new messages and 7 miscalls.

Cringing, Eria double tapped the screen to see who had sent her all those texts and calls, even if she already had the feeling who they were.

Two texts were alerts from her SIM provider, three were from Marie, five were spams from Ria demanding her to answer the messages and a string of random capitalized letters and exclamation points, one was from her dad telling her to call them if she had the time, and the rest were from her mom.

She then moved on to the miscalls. Two from her dad, one from an unknown number (probably Karen, who she kept forgetting to add the girl's landline number to her contacts), and the last four were from her mom.

Eria inwardly groaned. Thanks to the excitement and tension that had built up ever since she arrived, she totally forgot to call her parents!

After making herself comfortable on the floor, she started to compose a group message to her friends.

Eria: So srry for the late reply! _ I was totally tired from all the things that happened. Anyway, yeah, school starts tom. I'll tell more when I have the time (hopefully after dismissal). Need to get my zzzs. Pls show this to Ms Phoneless Kara, okay? *hugs and hershey kisses

And... send!

After the Message sent! confirmation disappeared, she quickly started to enter her mom's number, ignoring the Ping! that came out from her phone. I'll reply once I'm done with this, she promised to herself as she pressed the green phone icon.

Martha picked up after the third ring.

"Hello?" She asked, sounding breathless. "Finally! Eria, you called."

"Hi, Mom! Sorry for—"

"What happened? I thought something... Why didn't you call last night? Your father and I tried to reach you, of course, but you wouldn't pick up."

"Yeah, um, sorry about that." She replied, cringing once more. "I turned off my phone and, well, stuff happened."

"Stuff? What do you mean by stuff?"

"Oh, you know... things."

"Eria," Martha sighed, "please don't tell me you're already having problems there." Already having problems... did that mean she was expecting me to encounter one? "Your housemates, are they giving you a hard time?"

"Actually, I like most of them. It's just that..." Should she tell her what took place last night? "...one girl made stuff happen last night." Eria nervously finished with a gulp.

"Eria, you're really worrying me! Come on, honey, it's alright to tell me. I may not be there with you, but I'm here for you. I'm your mother."

At those last words, Eria found herself choking. Gosh, she really missed her family. And before she could even stop herself, she spilled the whole thing to her mom. Honestly, she really didn't want to. There was a big chance that she could complain to Aunt Abby, but she really couldn't help herself. She needed to talk to a person who actually understood the position she was in, aside from her housemates. After she was done, the other line was silent. "M-Mom?" Eria sputtered out. "Mom?"

"What was the girl's name?" was all that came out from Martha's mouth a heartbeat later.

Eria was hesitant to respond. "...Etoile Molyneux. Mom, why are you asking?"

"And the boy's, the shape shifter?"

"Vega, I think. I don't remember his first name, though."

"And you're aunt... did she do anything?"

Eria nodded her head, even though Martha wasn't there in the room. She pulled her legs to her chest, before saying, "She arrived by coincidence. Aunt Abby wanted to check on us when she saw what had happened. She gave us all a sermon, and I think she suspended Etoile, but I'm not sure about Vega."

Another beat of silence. Then, "Oh, Eria. I am so so so sorry. I wish I could be there but—"

"Mom, it's alright now. No need to worry," Eria assured her. "I'm a big girl, I could handle myself here, just as you said." She lied.

"Well, are you feeling better now?"

"Yeah. No major wounds or anything,"

"Good, good," Martha said in relief. There was a small pause and then, "But even so, I will have to speak to Abby about the actions of those two people. It is not acceptable for anyone to act that way and I'm not just saying that because I'm your mother. I am saying that as a person!"

Eria inhaled and exhaled through her nose. She wanted to protest, but bit her lips to keep the words from coming out. Secretly, she was happy that her mom was going to do it. She had been upset when Aunt Abby didn't bother to really comfort her or try to talk about the incident in a aunty way and it was nice for her to know Martha would confront Aunt Abby about the whole thing.

"So," Eria mumbled awkwardly, "where's Dad? Is he there?" She didn't want to dwell on the previous subject any longer.

"Unfortunately, he's not. His meeting ended late and it's traffic. I'll let him know you called, though,"

"Great! Thanks, Mom."

"No problem, honey. It's what I do," she chuckled.

Eria side-glanced at her alarm clock. A few more minutes till nine. Suddenly, a tired feeling overcame her and her eyes felt heavy. As much as she wanted to continue talking to her mom (and possibly even her dad) she knew it was time for her to hit the hay. "Hey, Mom? I really want to talk to you some more but I have to go. I really feel sleepy now..."

"Oh, of course!" Eria could almost see her mom blink in surprise. "Yes. I'm sorry for keeping you up late."

"It's not late at all," she yawned. "I'm just tired from everything that has happened so far."

"You better prepare for the days to come, then!" Eria knew her mom was joking but it only increased her paranoia, which last she checked, already went away. "Anyway, I guess I'll be saying good bye now. Good bye, Eria! Keep your head up and don't let them get to you, alright? You're going to do fine. I just know it."

Eria smiled. Her mom always knew what to say to say when she was feeling down. "Thanks, Mom! Can't wait to see you, good night. I love you."

"I love you too, honey. I always do. I hope to see you soon!"

After Eria heard a click, the grip on her phone loosened. She closed her eyes and repeated her mom's words out loud: "Keep your head up and don't let them get to you." It was going to be her mantra now. And hopefully, it would work the most when she needed it.

Eria placed the phone one her bedside table before padding over the the light switch. The muffled voices of her housemates rose from downstairs, and she thought how they were having fun without her. Rolling her eyes at the pathetic-sounding thought, she flipped the switch off, the bright light quickly fading into darkness.


I wrote half of this while I was in my brother's basketball game! Because honestly, if the sport doesn't include a racket and a shuttlecock or a small ball, then I'm usually not interested. XD And now we're finally done with the Day Before chapters, it's now on to the first day of school! Who's excited?

Any comments, suggestions, or violent reactions? If so, you know what to do.