Atlas had rented an apartment outside of town. It was an old apartment that had a relatively cheap monthly payment. Atlas used it to avoid the media or used it as his home away from school as he disliked the boy’s dormitories, for being too loud and dirty. By the time we reached the building complex, both of us were completely drenched and I wanted to get changed for obvious reasons. Just to paint you a picture, we have to wear white uniforms. Both of us are drenched and I didn’t feel comfortable with Atlas checking out my underwear, and I’m sure he could return the feelings. Once again, very cliché, but life is life.

We quickly entered his apartment. As Atlas said, the apartment was nothing grand. It was a three-room apartment, from the looks of it. The living space was the kitchen and living room merged together. I assumed that the other two remaining rooms were the bedroom and washroom.

“Washroom, now,” I said urgently as soon as we got in.

Atlas, everting his gaze pointed to the nearest room.

“It’s right over there.” He stammered.

I rushed over to the washroom, quickly closing the door behind me. I removed my damp, soaking wet uniform in the hamper that was available and rummaged through the drawers and cabinets looking for a towel so I could dry off. I eventually found the cabinets that held the towels. I took two out. I wiped myself down with one of them and then proceeded to rub it on my hair vigorously to dry my hair. My hair became a mess as a result, but it was worth it if it meant I was dry.

“I let some of Nova’s clothing by the door. I’ll be in the other room changing.” Atlas said, knocking on the door to get my attention.

I opened the door and sure enough, there was a pair of Nova’s clothing. I picked them up, closed the door and put them on. It was a snug fit, to say the least.

I exited the washroom after cleaning myself up and three the other towel to Atlas so he could dry his hair.

“Thanks.” He said. “How is Nova’s clothing? I assume you guys share similar measurements.”

“They’re fine, but it’s a fit tight around the chest. Clearly, we don’t share the same sizes in that department.” I joked.

“Is that so?” he stammered to which I laughed.

I checked outside the window, where unfortunately it portrayed the heavy rain outside. It didn’t seem like it was going to let up.

“Get comfortable on the couch or something; I think we’ll be here for a while.”

I sat on the couch, staring outside, while Atlas went in the kitchen to make us lunch(as we did not have lunch) and call Eve to explain our situation so the school doesn’t panic. He came back with a plate full of sandwiches filled with different stuff from eggs, to ham to PB and J. He also had two cups of coffee, which he gave me, one. I took a sip of the coffee just to warm myself up inside.

“I just got off the phone with Eve; we’ve been excused for the rest of the day,” Atlas told me.

“That’s nice.”

“Yeah just don’t expect Eve to always be like this, she still has to show discipline after all. She can be pretty strict, trust me, I’ve seen it first-hand.”

‘Oh really?” I raised an eyebrow.

He laughed. “My first year at Golden Sierra, so last year, before I participated in the Magi Magic Games and the Zone Games, Eve and I were in the same class. Elections for the Student Council also started that year, as the previous student president had graduated. Eve shocked the school, by getting an overwhelming amount of the votes. Let’s just say that a first year with new found power is not a recipe for success. Eve and I had a heated rivalry as we clashed during school and outside of school. It came to a peak, in the tryouts of the MMG, where my team beat hers.” He explained.

“So she calmed down after?” I asked.

“She left her high school personality behind her and became an entirely new person after the tryouts. We became friends if you will. I was quite surprised at the sudden shift in personality myself.”

“What about Nova?”

“What about her?”

“Well, how is she like? Cause frankly she doesn’t seem to like me all that much.”

Atlas nodded and chuckled at my statement in agreement. He explained that Nova was someone that was all about getting results. She was a closed off gal, that showed certain emotions to specific people.

“Truth be told, her being somewhat rude to people is annoying along with her ‘switch’ when she acts like a child around me sometimes.”

“Thank you!” I exclaimed, startling Atlas a little bit. “I knew I wasn’t the only one who noticed that!”

Atlas and I talked for hours, jabbing jokes at each other, talking about anything we could think of, overall just enjoying ourselves. The rain dragged on for the majority of the day, so we were practically trapped in his apartment for the rest of the day. I called Celestia to explain the situation so she and Tangela wouldn’t panic.

“So I’ll only be home tomorrow. I’m staying at Atlas’ place till this rain passes.” I told her.

I immediately regret telling her with whom I was with.

“With Atlas huh? Well, I won’t take up any more of your guy’s time. You two enjoy yourselves.” She kid.

“Shut up!” I yelled. “You know full well, that we aren’t doing anything of the sort!”

“But you may later though. Just admit it El! Atlas is a good looking guy, and you’re a good looking girl I guess (I was gonna kill her, in a friendly way of course and not literally, duh). And when two people love each other very much-”

“Go to hell!” I told her, pressing the end button on my phone. I could almost imagine her and Tan laughing their butts off at my discomfort. I was totally gonna get back at them.

“Hey, Atlas.”

“What is it, Magnus?” He answered as he took a sip of coffee.

“Tell me about yourself.”

Atlas spat out his coffee, coughing as he recovered. “Excuse me?” He asked.

“It’s like I said. Tell me about yourself. I barely know anything about you, apart from your name, appearance, and magic art.”

“Isn’t that enough?” he followed up.

I shook my head. “Not for me. I want to know how you met my mother. I want to know more about mom. She didn’t say much of her work to anyone in the family. So I want to know about you and my mom.”

Atlas fidgeted with his cup of coffee. “I’ve never really told anyone about my past. Only a very select few know of my history. But I assume you won’t take a simple ‘no’ for an answer?”

“Not unless you want me to continuously pester you about it. Trust me; I will be persistent Mr. Ryder.”

He sighed. “Very well I might as well tell you. But this does not leave this room. Capisce?”

I nodded. “Capisce?”

“It means do you understand, back on Nebula.”

“Ohhhh, getting all fancy on me now aren’t you?”

Atlas facepalmed. “I think I understand why Nova finds you slightly annoying.”

“Hey!”