Demund restrained himself from biking faster, afraid that he might sweat. He had just taken a shower and was heading over to Enariss’s house to study. The meeting was scheduled at 9, but the time was already passing 9:12. He really shouldn’t have run home, but he couldn’t help it. If he gave up running while carrying his bike, he had no idea how else he would catch up to Enariss’s superior physical ability.

He arrived at the Zarke residence just before 9:15 and entered the gates. It had already been a month since he had visited the inside of the giant house, and he was looking forward to it once more. This time, he would be studying with his friends. Enariss had messaged the group to come in whenever, so Demund took off his shoes and went into the house. The door was unlocked.

Once again, he was dazzled by all the vases and expensive-looking furniture that decorated the room. For Demund, who had grown up in a humble household, the place was like a museum. A single piece of decoration in the room probably costed more than all the stuff he owned combined. Or maybe even everything in his house.

As he glanced through the house once more, he noticed something peculiar. There were plenty of pictures of Enariss and her father. But where was her mother?

It was definitely insensible to ask about these things. He decided to keep quiet and headed towards the living room.

The three rich kids were sitting around the low rectangular table, chewing on piles of macarons while sipping drinks. It was mostly Enariss doing the chewing. Riley and Rhyne were bent over on the table, looking through the pages of study books.

Riley calmly plopped a macaron in his mouth as he took notes from his book. He sipped a drink and spotted Demund entering the room. Rhyne was already dying, his eyes heavy like barbells.

“Hey, Demund! You’re pretty late,” he said and swallowed the macaron.

“I was taking a shower,” Demund replied as he eyed the various snacks in the room. “Was I supposed to bring anything?”

“Don’t worry about it,” Enariss said with the shake of her hand. She was in comfy clothes. Demund genuinely believed that an angel was in the room but quickly returned to reality.

“Yeah. It’s my treat. And Riley’s. I brought the macarons. Him, the drinks.”

“It’s really nothing,” Riley stated. “We’re used to this.”

Demund went into a sort of culture shock. Since he only saw Riley and Rhyne at school, he didn’t have any chances to see them in casual clothes. For him, this was the first time he saw them in their natural wear, in their natural environment. He had expected them to be rich somewhat. But not to this degree. This was just slightly below Enariss.

At a glance, Riley and Rhyne’s clothing looked simple enough. Riley wore a simple brown t-shirt with black pants while Rhyne wore a long-sleeved oversized hoodie with shorts. Demund tried his very best not to look at the logos on their clothing. It made him feel left out.

He took a seat next to Enariss of the rectangular table, facing Riley and Rhyne. Now he started to get a little nervous. How smart was Enariss? Would he embarrass himself?

“First, take this quiz I made,” said Enariss as she handed Demund a sheet of paper. When had she made this?

“Your friends here didn’t have anything prepared, just like I expected,” scolded Enariss. “What were you guys going to do? Eat snacks all night?”

“I did bring some books,” defended Riley.

“And I brought macarons!” added Rhyne.

“I told you to bring—you know, never mind. I’ll lead the group now.”

“Yes ma’am,” replied Riley and Rhyne simultaneously. They knew not to go against the Enariss’s orders. Plenty of members of the MMA club had gotten their noses flattened when they hadn’t listened. Literally. On the cold, hard floor.

Demund looked over at the quiz he received. It even had a backside. Yuck. But not wanting to disappoint Enariss, he completed the quiz relatively easily and handed it over to her. Enariss graded the quiz with her red pen and nodded in satisfaction.

“At least Demund got everything correct,” she said. “This is how it should be. It’s a multiple-choice quiz! How can you get things wrong on it?!”

“The material was too hard! We never learned this before!” complained Rhyne.

“It was on the latest test the normal classes took. I checked them after school,” stated Enariss.

“Oh…………”

“I did choose the hardest problems, but really? Half wrong?”

“It was less than—”

Rhyne stopped as Riley placed his hand on his shoulder and waved his head sideways. Riley understood that this was not the point of the study. Their goal was to improve, not complain. His ability always allowed to keep a cool head during tense situations.

“Sorry, captain. I’ll try my best now,” promised Rhyne.

“That’s the spirit. Now, turn to this book and read…”

The study finally began with all of its members present.

〄 〄 〄

“Ahhhh! It’s finally over!” cried Rhyne in joy as the clock struck eleven. He fell down on his back with his arms stretched out, but quickly got up again under Enariss’s hard stare.

“Ah-ahem. I meant. I’m disappointed it ended so fast,” Rhyne corrected.

Riley organized his papers in an orderly manner and slid them into his bag with his books. He looked at Demund, who still didn’t seem to have noticed that the time was already over. In fact, he looked like he was having fun while studying.

“Demund, we have to go now,” Riley said while waving his hand in front of Demund.

“Hmm? Is it over?” said Demund.

“It’s eleven,” stated Riley.

Demund took a look at the antique clock that was ticking at the side of the room. It was indeed eleven. He paused taking notes from the book and also began to pack his things. Enariss stretched her arms up, causing Demund to momentarily freeze as her fresh smell of shampoo washed over him. His heart thumped for a second—but he shook his head and finished packing.

Rhyne was the first one to get up.

“I guess we’ll meet again on Wednesday?” he said.

“Yeah. Where should we meet next?” asked Riley.

“I think my parents will be free then,” said Rhyne. “You can come over to my house. I’ll post the address on the group chat.”

“Alright,” said Demund. He turned towards Enariss who had plopped another macaron in her mouth. “Will you be coming too, Enariss?”

Enariss swallowed and raised her hands in an okay sign. “Sure! Studying alone is boring anyway. I’ll prepare some quizzes again, so you better be ready.”

She glared at Riley and Rhyne who put up nervous smiles and scratched their heads.

Enariss escorted the guys out of her house as a driverless vehicle drove to the front.

“Woah!” exclaimed Demund.

“They’re pretty common,” stated Rhyne. “No need to be so surprised.”

“Yeah, but this is my first time actually seeing one. Does your family own this?”

“It’s Riley’s family’s. We live pretty close to each other, so we share rides.”

“I see.”

Demund watched as Riley and Rhyne got into the back seats of the car with their bags. To him, they seemed to live in a different world. Perhaps he was right. Their status differences were very glaring in the situation. He waved at them as the car drove off silently into the night. He kept his eyes on the vehicle until its lights disappeared behind the street walls.

He turned towards Enariss.

“I’ll be going now too. It was fun studying today.”

“Mmhm. Don’t get run over by a car on the way.”

Demund manned his cheap bike and headed off home. He looked back to see Enariss's crimson hair vanish behind the large, wooden doors as the gates automatically slid shut.

He really had fun today. He never knew studying with friends could be so exciting.

He realized that he hadn’t touched any macarons and regretted it. But at the moment, it seemed inappropriate for him to snack on such expensive things. He had put his thoughts away from it, and by the time he realized, he was already out of the house. Time passed so quickly in the real world.

On the way, he spotted a cat lazing around and stopped by to pet its white-orange-brown spotted fur. It purred as Demund stroked over its favorite spots. Out of curiosity, Demund maneuvered his hands over the cat’s back like he had done in the other world. The cat meowed, but its tail didn’t split apart in two. Of course it wouldn’t. That cat had been weird. Like the bird he had healed. It was a fantasy world. Maybe all the animals in that world were like that?

He just hoped the cat would behave itself. He got up and left the fat cat on the ground and headed back home.

His parents always went up to bed at 10, so he entered a dimly-lit house after he pressed the buttons on the door to make it open. He pushed through the threshold and closed the door silently behind him. It locked itself with a dull *beep-beep-beep*.

It was a fun day today. He lay down his bag on the floor and went to the bathroom to brush his teeth. After rinsing his mouth, he took the bag upstairs to his room. The old stairs creaked as Demund tried his best to keep quiet. The house was small, and he didn’t want to wake his parents up.

He closed the door to his bedroom as silently as possible and set his bag down next to his desk. After changing into his pajamas, he turned off the lights and slumped on his bed.

He stared at his low, lifeless ceiling. Soon, it would transform into a colorful, other-worldly one. The moments he had spent with his friends felt so distant already. Time went by so quickly.

He closed his eyes as the darkness embraced him into a deep sleep.