Kurt and Trevor began to rush out of the academy in order to find Gaby since she disappeared after the combat lesson.

As they went through the hallways to reach the exit, plenty of students would pass by them and tried to start a conversation with Kurt for some reason.

"Oh! Hey, new kid! You were the one that fought Gaby, right?" most of them would ask.

"Ah... Yes... That's me..." he would briefly reply, trying to make it clear he did not wish to chat with anyone right now, but none of them seemed to get the message.

"Hey, man! Just want to say you were awesome out there! The way you stood up to her and all! That was really cool!"

"Ah... T- Thanks..."

Kurt assumed they were going to mock him for getting defeated by her even though he claimed he was going to take her down. To his surprise, all the kids were actually trying to lift his mood.

"Man, you really made her sweat! Good job!"

"You were on fire, man!! Keep at it!"

"You will get her next time! I'm sure of it!!"

Kurt continued to walk his path while receiving more and more words of encouragement to try and take down Gaby for good next time.

"Trevor... What's happening...?" he asked after being greeted by more than twenty students, "Why is everyone being so supportive...?"

Trevor just shrugged, "There aren't a lot of lunatics like you that try to challenge Gaby like that. And there are even fewer who managed to land a hit on her. You're kind of their hero right now."

"Their hero...? I made her cry!"

"That probably just made them like you even more."

Kurt began to shake his fist, "What is wrong with these people?? Are they blind?? I was clearly the one in the wrong in that situation! Why aren't they trying to cheer HER up??"

Trevor looked away, as if trying to answer that was like admitting a truth he didn't want to face, "You really don't know...?"

"I... Well..."

"She's one of the top fighters among our classes, man... You know how many people she already defeated? You know how many people were just dying to finally see her fall from her high riding dragon? And then you show up and get closer than anyone before? You're like the undercrawl dragon trying to reach to someone on top! If you do get to beat her, they all will feel like they can beat her as well..."

Kurt just assumed that riding dragon and crawl dragon were terms to describe high horse and underdog, since the dragon empire doesn't really have animals. Although he did hear someone call Gaby a bookworm before, so maybe worms are still a thing in this world?

"Wait... So the entire school hates her...?" Kurt assumed.

"Some people are indifferent, some people also tried to befriend her... But she's so used to no one being on her side that any person that tries to get close she just treats as an enemy."

Kurt took this moment to give a long look at Trevor, "What about you? Do you also not like her?"

"Well, she did steal my seat, just like you when I first came here... But all things considered, she never really did anything that bad besides ignoring me. It kinda feels like we just live in different worlds."

"I see..." Kurt mumbled.

Suddenly, the sound of something moving through the wind at a high speed began to reach his ears, and before he noticed, a small bird of prey appeared in front of his eyes just as he was about to turn his head around and smacked its talons on his head.

"AAArghhh!! Get off!! Get off!!!" he cried as the owl continued to flap its wings while pecking his skin.

Kurt finally managed to pull the thing away from him after receiving plenty of new scars around his eyes.

"What the- Dory!!?" he yelled while holding his pet as she continued to glare at him, "Where did you come from!?"

'I escaped from that crazy gym teacher of yours!!!' she murmured while using their telepathic link, 'You stupid little brat! You forgot about me, didn't you!?? That woman was touching and grabbing me all this time while you were hanging out with your boyfriend!! And now you were even planning to leave me here??? Do you have a death wish????'

She began to peck his skull repeatedly while continuing to spout her complaints at him.

"Ouch! Ouch! I'm sorry! I forgot!!"

"What's wrong...?" Trevor asked while watching the scene.

"Agh! She's mad because I forgot to pick her up..." Kurt explained while trying to get her away from him.

"Oh... I see... She really likes staying close to you, doesn't she?"

"Too close sometimes..." Kurt added, "She acts like the world is gonna end if we stay too far away from each other... Honestly, it can get a bit annoying..."

'Oho!?' Dorothy began to glare at the boy as if he was a small rodent she wanted to hunt, sending chills down his spine, 'Go on! What else would you like to say? What more would you like to add to my list of reasons to bite your head off?'

"I- I mean... It does feel a little suffocating... But that's just her way of showing how close we are... So, in the end, I don't mind it too much! Haha... Ha..." the boy commented, praying that this would be enough to calm her down.

'Good choice of words... Keep it up...'

After calming down for a moment, Dorothy returned to her usual spot on top of Kurt's head while waiting for him to heal his injuries caused by her beak and claws.

'By the way, where are you going? Your house isn't this way...' she wondered.

[We're not going home yet... I'm gonna find Gaby and talk to her... Trevor is taking me to her house] Kurt explained using the dialect from his old world, making Trevor think he was just spouting gibberish one more time.

Dorothy then took a deep sigh and started to peck his head in several spots as if she was a hammer.

"Ouch! Ouch! Ouch!!! Dory!! What the heck??"

'Are you a moron??? Why in the world would you do that??'

[What do you mean, why?? I hurt her feelings, I need to apologize!]

'Why?? So you can feel better about yourself? To put away the weight on your consciousness?'

[Well...]

'Kurt, I know that this is what you want, and that you have good intentions... But have you stopped to ask yourself if that's what she needs right now?'

[I...]

'Yes, you messed up! And yes, you should apologize! But right now, that girl is hurt and alone! What she needs isn't just some shallow apology, what she needs is a friend. A real friend that will stay by her side in her moment of pain!

If you just go to her house, invading her personal privacy, possibly seeing something she doesn't want to show to others without her consent... Not to mention to you of all people, the guy that caused this whole situation, without carefully thinking about what you are going to say or what you can do for her, you might just end up hurting her even more!'

[Ah... I... I did not think of that...] he admitted.

While the two continued their secret chat, Trevor found himself trying to grasp what his friend was saying by watching his expression. It kinda looked to him like Kurt was getting an earful from Dorothy as if they were mother and son.

'Yeah. Imagine someone attacked you at school and villainized you in front of all the students. You think if that person just showed up all of sudden and went 'My bad!' you would feel any better?'

Kurt began to look at the sky as he allowed her words to sink in, [Not really, no...]

'Exactly. You're not the victim that needs to be consoled right now. She is. Think about what would be best for her in this situation! She should be with her friends right now.'

Dorothy's words stabbed Kurt in the chest, since she wasn't here to hear the previous conversation and wasn't aware of the small hole in her comment.

Gaby didn't have friends.

[Dory... I...]

"Oh, there she is!" Trevor interrupted while pointing at a girl walking out of the doors of the academy while carrying a series of books in her arms.

"Ah!! Gaby!" Kurt gasped before starting to rush towards her.

'Kurt! Wait!' Dorothy shouted. The boy had started to run so fast all of sudden that the bird ended up getting left behind in midair.

[I'm not doing this for me! I swear!! Please trust me, Dory!!] he stated while continuing to jolt at the lass with glasses and purple hair.

Gaby heard the sound of his voice and lifted her face to stare at a red-haired boy running like a madman in her direction.

"Gaby!!"

"Oh, joy..." she groaned.

The girl did not stop and just continued to walk past him trying to pretend he wasn't there.

"Gaby, wait!! I just want to say something!"

"What makes you think I want to hear anything you have to say??"

Kurt looked at her expression. There were bags under her eyes.

"Gaby, please!! I just want to say-"

"I don't care! I don't want to see your face anymore! You already got your stupid seat back! Now leave me alone!"

"I don't care about the seat!! I just want to apologize!!" he finally stated.

Gaby suddenly stopped on her track and glared at him, "Excuse me...?"

"I'm sorry!" he finally said it, "I... I'm sorry... I shouldn't have done that! I shouldn't have done any of that!"

"Yeah, right..." Gaby just rolled her eyes and began to walk away again.

"I'm serious!! I want to make up for what I did!"

"F*ck off..."

"Gaby!!" Kurt tried to hold her by grabbing her wrist but was suddenly blasted by a bolt of electricity and sent rolling in the ground.

"Iiiiaaouch!!" the boy shrieked.

"Stay away from me! Understood?" the girl asked while sparks started to appear around her lenses.

"Gaby, I know you're mad at me! But I just want-"

"Read my lips. Stay. Away. From me! Un. Ders. Tood!?"

Kurt looked at Dorothy for a moment and once again realized he was trying to force her into doing what he wanted instead of respecting her feelings.

He ended up just sighing and lowering his head in defeat, "Okay... I understand... Sorry... For everything."

Gaby then turned off her talent and all the energy around her began to disappear. As she turned around to continue her path, she took the moment to send some final words to him before leaving.

"Trying to apologize after seeing that you can't beat me and get on my good side... Pathetic..." she groaned, "In the end, you are all the same..."

Trevor and Dorothy approached the boy on the ground once Gaby was long gone and tried to help him stand up.

Kurt was filled with anger while trying to come to terms with the fact he couldn't fix his mistake so easily, leading him to regret even more ever making that mistake in the first place.

"Ugh..." he groaned while lightly shaking his fists.

Trevor didn't know what to say so he tried to ease the mood by doing some small talk.

"So... What did you think of our first day at the academy?"

Kurt and Dorothy glared at him.

"You're right, that was a stupid thing to say... Sorry..."