- Gabriella -

"Crap!" I shouted from Vesna's room. Jumping up, I winced as my muscles contracted painfully. The soreness has faded slightly over the two days but it's still there much to my annoyance.

They told me that it takes around one week to fully recover from a burnout but I don't see the point in staying here.

I heard from Damien that a burnout refers to the emptying of your magical reserves.

But that sure as hell doesn't explains why I can't return to Claudia's dorm. I mean not that I'm not grateful but I still prefer to sleep at Claud's.

The thing is they are really nice to me. Way too nice. It makes it harder for me to refuse them. Vesna has given up her room for me so now she has to sleep on the couch in the living room. Damien refused to have her sleep there and tried to offer his room, to which she declined much to his irritation.

So he told Raziel to offer his since he's usually out in the late nights doing his part-time bartending, much to Vesna's amusement.

It's been two days and life with my demi-fae counterparts has been relatively exciting and entertaining. Okay, maybe more entertaining than exciting.

"What's wrong? Gabriella?" Vesna knocked on her door before she opened, which I think must have felt weird. Who knocks on your own bedroom door? This just adds onto the pile of reasons I should leave this place.

She saw me sitting on her bedroom floor staring at my phone and let out a breath of relief. "Shit girl. You scared the living lights out of me shouting in the morning. I thought you had a lapse of iron drain or something but damn it. It was just your text message..." She trailed off as I stared at her in horror. She looks like she had just woken up, her hair is tousled and mussed up in a bedroom kind of look. I would have snorted if not for the text message I just received from Claudia.

"Hey what's wrong?" She folded her arms, leaning against the door.

"I... shit... My graded assignment is due tomorrow." I said as I read the text message again.

From Claudia: Hey r u ok? We heard what happened from Res. He said u were with a guy from the party and staying in his dorm room.

OMG. U NEED TO TELL ME EVERYTHING.

Btw not that I want to interrupt whatever hot stuff is going on btwn the two of you, but just in case u forgot, Prof Kelly's assignment is due tmr. Love, Claud.

P.S. pls don't forget me after your elope.

I rubbed my temple with two fingers. In between my lucid periods I vaguely recalled Res entering and demanding to speak to me yesterday. He barged into Vesna's room when I sat up to ask them what the commotion was about. One look at my groggy state, he swung his fist against Damien who was standing behind when he followed him to the room. He's lucky Damien reacted in time else the consequences, I don't want to think about it.

Vesna's eyebrows sketched upwards. "It's this art thing... err artwork that I have to submit and all my materials are in Claud's room. So...uh I should go. Like now." I explained lamely. And hopefully you guys would let me go in peace?

She looked at me for one full minute before she sighed. "Ugh. Fine. Damien never said anything about not allowing you to go back to your friend's place for a while. Let me clean up and then we'll go there together to take your art stuff." I tried to hide my disappointment but she saw it anyway. "I'm sorry but you have to understand that we have to take precautions since you're no longer a normal human girl. What if that sidhe came back?"

I nodded to show I understood and she left after she said "I will be back."

Ten minutes later, she enters the room freshly showered with her make-up on. Do demi-fae have special agility or something? How did she do all of that in such a short time? She dumped some jeans and a red peplum top onto my lap. "Here these are mine. You can change into them, they should be able to fit you." I stared down at my borrowed sweatshirt and track pants. Right my clothes are still at Claud's.

Padding into the communal toilet in the living room, I quickly took a shower and washed my face before changing. When I walked out, Jonathan was there lifting weights.

"Morning." I say and he grunted in response. I watched in fascination as his face scrunched in concentration. His arms moved up and down rhythmically. He made it look pretty easy.

"Hey." Vesna said softly as she walked past and pushed a duffle bag into my arms. "For your clothes and other stuff." She said by way of explanation and shot me an apologetic grin. Guess she does feel bad for earlier.

She pulled a pair of designer cream sandals from the shoe rack and slipped them on. Staring at the rack I spotted my worned strappy heels in the middle of all the designer brands. What sort of pay do these people receive? From everything I've seen and the clothes I've borrowed, everything is branded.

"So where's your friend's dorm?" Vesna asks me as she unlocks the door. "Uhm." I said as I studied the place. The rooms here are definitely much spacious and luxurious than the average student dormitories. Even the hallways are air-conditioned as I followed Vesna to an elevator made of transparent glass.

If I were to make comparisons, the S.P.A.D. members are living in hotels while we commoners are living in hostels.

"Let me get out of this place first." I said as the elevator pings and Vesna punches the basement floor. "Welcome to the University of Soren. We hope the accommodations are to your tastes and we wish you a pleasant stay here." The mechanic voice of the elevator says through its speakers as it descended down. Vesna rolled her eyes and muttered darkly about wanting to talk to the school about their horrible tastes in announcements. It was then I realised that this building is reserved for the rich. For people like the ministers and their children, not for someone like me.

Suddenly, I feel out of place here. It's funny how a building can make me feel like this. Mum may be a renowned artist, but we are not considered rich people.

Walking out, the harsh glow of the sun shone down on us. I squinted my eyes and placed my hands to shade them. Is it me or is the weather getting hotter? I recognized the plain outline of the normal student dorm not too far away and I headed towards it.

***

"Coming!" Claudia's voice called after I pressed the doorbell for the third time. For good measure, I spammed the button which quickened her footsteps. "Yes yes. I'm coming already. Who the heck is this rude ass..." She stopped short as she opened the door. "Ohmygod. Gabriellaisthatyou?" She's speaking so quickly that words are coming out one after another. "Come inside now. Tell Me Everything." She pulled me into her room quickly.

"Jesus. You!" She glared at me and folded her arms. "While I was here worrying my ass off when I couldn't find you at the party, you were off hanging out with some hot guy?!" I blinked and tried to cook up an excuse right at the spot. "Right, the text you sent me. The thing is- "

"Oh my gosh. So what exactly did you do? Did you both have sex? Why was there a girl here with you anyway? Wait is she his ex or something?" Her eyes widened as she reached some sort of strange understanding and her worry was instantly replaced by anger. "Did she kick you out? That bitch. See how I will teach her a lesson." She marched towards the door and flung it wide open.

Only to see Vesna doubled over and laughing.

"Oh fuck me. This is the most embarrassing moment in my life." I muttered under my breath. Before Claudia decided to spew more words to damage my already ruined reputation, I clamped her mouth and dragged her back. I glared over her head at Vesna. Don't you dare breathe a word to the rest later. It only earned me a snort as the door closes between us.

"What was that for?" Claudia stared at me petulantly. She winced and rubbed her left arm which I dragged her by. When did I have the strength to drag someone? I'm sure that even though I'm taller than Claud by a head that doesn't give me the strength to drag her easily.

"Listen and don't you interrupt me." I said irritated. "The boy that I'm hanging out with, he stays with a bunch of his friends. His dorm room is the apartment kind so they are sharing the rent together. So before you go about spouting nonsense, please listen to me first." I bet even if I told her to lower her volume, the demi-fae standing outside would have overheard anyway.

"So... so that girl standing outside she's part of his circle of friends?" Claudia asked me as understanding dawns her. "Yes."

"Wait. Your boyfriend's bunch of friends don't consist of guys right? Else she would be the only girl- " How the heck did Damien become my boyfriend? Someone knocked on the door stopping Claudia mid-sentence. She opens the door and Vesna saunters in. I can see she's trying to hold back her grin. Her lips are curled at the corners.

"Hello, I've heard so much about you. I'm Daniel's friend, Vesna." Claudia stares at her outstretched hand debating whether to accept it but in the end manners won and she took it. "Claudia. Who's Daniel?"

"Oh Daniel is the guy Gabriella is currently hanging out." Vesna says smiling towards my friend but behind her back she points a finger upwards only visible for me to see. Her one. Me zero. Oh wow.

"His name is Daniel? Oh that's a nice name! A lot of Daniels are hot men." Claudia says excitedly. "Tell me about him and the rest of his circle. I've been wanting to know about Gabriella's boyfriend." I said nothing as Vesna launched into expaining that Daniel is a transfer student from another country. It was a cover story the S.P.A.D. has been using and the more reasons to make full use of it in such situations. What was I expecting? For them to reveal their true identities to my best friend who knew nothing?

I bit my lip and tried to ignore the feelings of betrayal and went to pack my clothes into the duffel bag. While grabbing the art materials I needed, I felt the soft brush tip of my paint brushes and I'm suddenly seized by a strong wave of homesickness. Today is Sunday. Mum must be sitting on her favourite stool wearing her paint-splattered apron mulling over an empty canvas. I could picture her frowning as she tapped the back of her paintbrush on her chin. A speckle of yellow paint unknowingly landing on her cheek. I miss her so much.

"Really? He did that?" Claudia squeals.

"Yes and can you believe what your best friend said?" I heard Vesna say and I frowned. She is having way too much fun. "What? Tell me!' Quickly tucking my paint brushes together, I slotted them into the duffle bag before grabbing my canvas stand and board. Making my way towards the two of them, I glanced meaningfully at Vesna.

"Claudia. I need to tell you something important regarding your best friend." Vesna says as she sees me from above Claudia's head, her tone turning serious.

"Er yeah? What about Gabriella?" Claud was taken aback by the shift in the mood but she never suspected anything.

"I'm sure you've heard of Gabriella's condition. She needs to be in constant contact with plants?"

Claud nodded. "She mentioned it once to me before. Something she has been experiencing since she was young."

"Yes. It's getting worse recently, causing her to suffer a lot. So she needs to stay with us for the moment until she recovers. We have a way to help her."

"Oh...I see." I can hear the disappointment in Claudia's voice even with her back faced towards me. I bit my lip harder. "I was hoping that she would come back today. I guess not. If there's a way for her to recover, I think its best if she stays with you guys for the moment."

"Yes. I'll miss you Claud." I say and she turned to smile at me.

"Don't worry it's not like we won't be seeing each other. I'll see you in class then. And remember to send me the scoop." She waggled her brows and grinned impishly. I shook my head. "There's no scoop. But I'll text you regularly. Take care, Claud." With that, me and Vesna left with Claudia waving goodbye.