Chapter 2: Mia's Cousin
I anxiously waited at the entrance of Vale for my cousin and my aunt to arrive by car. The car was Alex's 18th birthday present from his mom. Truthfully, I don't know how she could have afforded it. Finally, I saw a car coming toward Vale from a distance. I leaped up to see if it was my relatives. It was. The car had very few boxes on the roof of the car, driven by none other than Alex. His mother was sitting next to him in the shotgun seat. The car stopped when it reached the gate and my relatives stepped out.
"Alex! Aunty! It's so great to see you again!" I cried. I hugged Alex and kissed my aunt on the cheek.
"Mia! Look at you! You look so grown up!" My aunt exclaimed as she began looking me over. I could not help noticing the faint, dark circles under her eyes and how skinny she was. She was slightly hunched over, as if the area around her chest and stomach was in pain. "You've grown into a beautiful young lady."
"Thank you Aunty." I answered with gratitude.
"Mother, I told you Mia has changed." Alex replied.
"Well, of course she has. It has been…what?"
"Eleven years, Mother." My cousin reminded.
"Oh, yes. Eleven years. Pardon my loss of memory, Mia, dear. I am getting old." My aunt said.
I raised my eyebrow. She was beginning to experience loss of memory? And she's beginning to get old? Aunty was only thirty-nine. (My father is only forty-one.) I gave this skeptical look to Alex, but he did not notice it. "Getting old, Aunty? I doubt it. I think you're still young." I said.
"That may be," she laughed, "but I am a year away from being over the hill. It is amazing what the years can do to a person."
I said nothing else. "Come on, Mia. The little house we're occupying is not far from here. At least I don't think so." Alex responded, getting back into the car. I got into the car, and my cousin gave me the address to where the house was. We didn't have to drive far though. Just above the plaza were several houses. The first house you would come across was it. It was a small house, but it would do for just Alex and his mother. I helped unload the boxes from the car and into the newly acquired house.
"So…Alex, I'm just curious. How are you going to afford Vale's Academy, the cost of this house, and food?" I asked.
"I told you before, Mia. Mother and I have always managed to get by on life easily." My cousin answered as he began opening boxes. "Imil's University gave me a scholarship to cover the cost of my books and supplies here. I just have to pay tuition. The cost of the house is affordable each month too. I've gotten a job helping in the hardware store, and Mother will soon be working as a maid at the inn."
"Listen to my boy. He's done all the math and calculations needed already." My aunt commented with a smile.
"But Alex, if you ever--" I began.
"No." Alex said firmly. "Even if you offer me any food or money, I won't accept it. You know that, Mia."
I frowned at his stubbornness and pride. Alex has always been like this. I always offered to help with his family's financial problems, but he refused. He called it "charity".
"Then is there anything else you want or need me to do for you? I'm still a little worried about you." I pressed on.
"Mia," Alex growled to me in a low voice, "we're fine. We've survived for eighteen years on our own like this, we can do well without help."
I sighed helplessly. How they managed to go on with life is what I want to know.
--+--
The weekend ended and it was back to school to begin the same usual routine once again. On this sunny Monday ("evil days" as Jenna likes to call them), I was talking with my friends about the regular nonsense we talk about. Only I noticed that Garet was not present with us.
"Uh…where's Garet?" I asked.
"Library. He's trying to finish his homework from last night." Isaac answered.
Jenna scoffed and said rudely, "As if he's actually going to finish his homework in time for class. He never pays attention to what we're learning anyway."
"Neither do you, Jenna," Sheba commented severely, "so I wouldn't be talking either."
The Mars and Jupiter Adept shared a menacing glare, but they did not say anything else. I brushed off their conversation and turned to Piers and Felix. "Whatever. Anyway, Felix, Piers, today is Alex's first day. Please don't do anything bad to him on his first day. He may be much more even tempered than I am, but he is not a person to mess around with." I pleaded with them.
(Isaac hid behind Felix and Piers at this point because Feizhi was calling his name from afar.)
"Oh, come on. We're not going to give him a hard time." Felix retorted.
"Yeah. It's not like we're going to steal his lunch money, or anything." Piers joked. Him and Felix laughed. "And what's the worst thing he could do to us?"
"I could freeze you into an ice cube and ship you off to the northern reaches where it is freezing cold there." Alex voice countered calmly as he appeared beside me. "Now what were you saying about me?"
"Alex!" I cried. "How did? When did you?"
"Never mind that, dear cousin. Aren't you going to introduce me to your friends?"
"Oh! How rude of me!" I exclaimed. "Alex, these are my friends. This is Piers, Felix, Jenna, Sheba, Ivan, and Isaac is the one hiding behind Piers and Felix. And Garet is in the library doing homework, but you'll meet him later." I introduced all of my friends to my cousin.
Being polite and cool as typical, Alex shook their hands with a well-mannered tone and said, "Nice to meet you all. Mia has told me a lot about all of you."
"Likewise." Ivan replied.
(Feizhi came by shouting Isaac's name.)
"Uh, Alex, Piers and Felix will be in several of your classes with you." I replied.
"Really? Well, that's nice."
"So, how do you like Vale so far?" Sheba asked.
"Even though Vale is a town, it seems more like those bustling cities such as Tolbi, compared to Imil." My cousin answered pleasantly. "I like it here so far."
"That's good to know. Will you be here for good, or at least until you're graduated?" The intelligent Wind Adept pursued.
"Well, it depends. I am very fascinated with Alchemy and its past life. I've read tons of books on the ruins of old civilizations that I would like to research them. Perhaps it could lead to more answers of Alchemy's past." Alex explained. This was just like him. My cousin enjoyed learning about Alchemy and how it was used. Once gotten on the subject, he could talk for hours.
"Mia, you're cousin might be the only one who can sit through Professor Kraden's boring talks of matter." Piers whispered to me. I shrugged.
RING, RING!
The bell rang to symbolize that all students had to be in class within the next five minutes. "We should all go now." I suggested. "See you later, guys!"
--+--
I sat down at my usual lunch table where Garet, Felix, Piers, and Sheba were already eating. "Okay, okay. Spill the beans. How was Alex during morning classes?" I insisted to Felix and Piers.
"Well," Felix began, "Alex practically impressed all our professors."
"Didn't you say that your cousin was the best in all of his classes in Imil's University?" Sheba inquired.
I nodded. "Yeah. He is the best back in Imil."
Piers shook his head. "Yikes. Alex can probably make me run after my money for the "Best Water Adept" title among the thirteenth years." He said.
"Even so, you will still be one of the top fifty students among your grade." Garet pointed out dully. "I can't even make it past Rank 4."
Allow me to explain how Vale's Academy and all Psynergy Academies work. There is only a maximum of 250 students in each year and 5 ranks in total. These ranks correspond to the five letter grades: A, B, C, D, and F. Garet said he couldn't make it past Rank 4, meaning his overall grade is a D. (How embarrassing…) There is supposed to be a maximum of 50 students in each rank. At the end of each year, the teachers decide the four winners of the "Best Adept" award in each year.
"Maybe you could get past Rank 4 if you actually did your homework and studied for the exams." Sheba answered scathingly.
"Says you. You're one of the top students in Rank 1."
"I'm number two in Rank 1, thank you very much." The Wind Adept said proudly.
"It doesn't matter if I'm in the top fifty students. Only being in the top ten and being number one is all that matters." Piers replied.
"You sure are a high achiever, Piers." Felix commented.
"Hmph. You are too, Felix. Only, you barely try and yet you're still number one among Rank 1." The Water Adept retorted to his best friend.
"I do try my best! That's why I'm always studying!" Felix countered.
"How odd!" Sheba cried angrily all of a sudden.
I turned to her with confusion. "What's up, Sheba?"
"My necklace! The one that Ivan gave to me for my birthday isn't around my neck anymore! You know! The one that had amethysts embedded in it?"
"You mean the one that looked like jewelry of a princess?"
"Yes!"
"Maybe the clasp just broke." Garet suggested.
"Perhaps…I know I had it around my neck when I went into Kraden's class for fourth period…" Sheba began retracing. "Possibly it could have come off when that tenth year crashed into me…"
I stood up and tugged at my friend's sleeve. "Come on. I'll help you find it."
--+--
Sheba and I searched for the necklace during lunch and after school, but no avail came to us. My friend was so angry with herself for losing such an important item. "Stupid, stupid, stupid! I can't believe I lost it!" Sheba yelled through her gritted teeth. She began slamming her fists on the flowerbed wall in the courtyard as if she was a small baby having a temper tantrum.
"It's not your fault! Blame the tenth year that crashed into you." I advised.
"That's right! Where is that little, snot nose brat! I'll murder him!" The girl demanded.
"You're not alone, Sheba." Piers replied coming up to us. "Apparently, someone plucked the chopsticks from Feizhi's hair and ran off with them."
Sheba's face screwed up into a scowl. "Are you just sure that Jenna didn't steal them?" She asked.
"Feizhi's chopsticks were made out of real diamonds." Piers pointed out.
"When did it happen?" I asked.
"About thirty minutes ago. Several of the other thirteenth years were playing basketball when the ball was hit away and smacked Feizhi on the head. I guess it was powerful enough to knock her out." He explained.
Ouch.
"Nothing much happened afterwards, except that she revived after the school nurse tended to her. When she woke up, she began fixing her hair and saw that her chopsticks were replaced with wooden sticks."
"Feizhi probably accused Jenna of stealing them then." I brought to mind.
"That's true, but Feizhi's friend, Hsu, said that the diamond chopsticks were in her hair when he talked to her right before she got smacked with the basketball. And Jenna was serving detention at the time."
"How peculiar! Someone really must have stolen them! You just don't have something so expensive in your hair and then find it has been replaced with wooden ones in its place!" I exclaimed.
A/N: Yay, another chapter! I revised the summary a bit because I thought that it revealed a little too much. Ack! I won't say anymore! You see? I have a tendency to do this: babble on and on and spoil a lot of the good stuff yet to come! Okay, here is a small spoiler for the next chapter. I will finally introduce my newest and original character into this awesome story with the next chapter. The character really plays an important role in the story so you'll just have to stick around a little longer to see what happens!