Friends are Such a Hassle

Blue-white lightning crackled in the air as it traveled along the edge of the arena barrier in front of me, causing my fluffy brown hair to frizz and tickle my cheeks. I looked up wistfully at the delicious-looking puffy clouds passing above in the soft blue sky, wondering how the roar of magical battle had become a daily occurrence. Was it too much to ask for peace and quiet, to relax and enjoy a simple life instead of the chaos created by the two idiots I called friends?

"A tier one lightning bolt? Are you even trying?" a haughty girl's mature voice cried over an explosion. "What a joke."

The bellowing roar echoed in the air as a spiraling gout of fire raced across the magically encased dueling arena, warming my legs just enough to make me feel like I was tucked underneath my favorite cozy grey blanket in front of my dorm room's hearth. It was a tier six spell, a tier higher than most of the universities faculty could cast, but I had witnessed it so many times that it didn't even draw my attention away from the calm sky.

"If anyone is a joke around here, it's the greedy sow in front of me who thinks she can monopolize Alva!" Yssa roared as loud as her flame spell. "You had her all to yourself yesterday. Even at dinner!"

The spite and envy in Yssa's usually melodic voice sent a shiver across my skin, drawing my attention as the sound of crackling flames died down, leaving only the smell of scorched ground behind. Generally, students weren't allowed to use spells higher than tier three during a duel, but the faculty had given up a year ago on trying to stop Yssa and Remmi. Being the geniuses slash poster girls of the school, excelling at both magic and martial weapons, they were untouchable, literally and metaphorically. Only the headmistress was powerful enough to bring them to heel, but for one reason or another she had left Yssa and Remmi to their own devices.

"Maybe she'd want to have dinner with you more often if you weren't such a people pleasing putz," Remmi retorted with a smug grin. "You know that Alva despises attention yet you do nothing about the swarm of underlings that follow you around like starving dogs."

Yssa growled, baring her pristine teeth and tensing her body so much that her golden hair looked like it was about to stand on end like an angry cat's. "People like me because I can actually show empathy! Just because you're as cold as your spells doesn't mean I have to be. Besides," Yssa scoffed, "you've got almost as many admirers as I do."

"Listen here you piss-haired, self-righteous…"

I closed my eyes as Yssa and Remmi bickered more, throwing increasingly higher tier spells at one another until the loud crack of the magical barrier pulled me from my rest. As usual, they were taking their fight too far and though I knew neither of them would get seriously injured, the same couldn't be said for the school grounds and any innocent bystanders if the barrier fell.

"Enough!" I screamed over a rumbling torrent of water colliding with a tornado of flames. "Keep this up and I'll ignore both of you for the next week!"

I sat up, rubbing the bridge of my nose, supporting my body with my arm and letting my head flop back lazily. The arena was a ruined battlefield riddled with smoking craters and half-melted smoldering boulders. Dust and smoke lingered in the air, but through the haze, I could make out Yssa and Remmi, both leaning over panting in singed dark crimson robes, ready to collapse.

Exhausted as they were, the girls continued to glare at one another, Remmi with her perpetually scrutinizing emerald green eyes and Yssa with her sharp, sapphire blue eyes. But even with their uniforms and hair were a mess from fighting, they still looked like picture perfect beauties. If looks could kill, the duo would be the only ones left on the planet, probably arguing over who got to bury my body. Both had tall athletic bodies, though that was the only trait they had in common. Yssa was slightly shorter than Remmi, with long, curly golden hair that extended down the middle of her back. Her skin was like glowing porcelain, that miraculously still shined through the dusty dirt caking her face..

In contrast, Remmi sported deep olive skin and long straight black hair long enough to reach her lower back, but given that she was several inches taller than Yssa and a whole half-foot taller than me, it was longer than it seemed. I had always been jealous of how shiny and soft it was, the complete opposite of my fluffy, dusty brown hair that never seemed to grow past my shoulders.

"Stop glaring at each other and clean up already. You both have class in ten minutes."

Without breaking eye contact, the two returned their battleground to its original unblemished state, even going so far as to edge the grass around it. Normally it would have taken the better part of a day of constant transmutation magic to fix the amount of damage they had caused, but practice makes perfect and they'd gotten so much of it that they could reshape entire farm fields of land with a couple waves of their wands.

"So who's it going to be, Alva?" the two geniuses of the Royal Academy of Humonon Knights and Mages asked eagerly running up to me.

"You two…" I rolled my eyes, pulling my gnarled grey wooden wand from my sleeve and waving it lazily in the air in front of them. The air around them glittered in gold and white light before making subtle poof sound that cleaned and mended their crimson, gold-embroidered uniforms. "They're having steak pie tonight so I planned on eating with both of you in the fancy dining hall. So quit acting like toddlers and get to class already."

Yssa's shoulders sank as she put her wide-brimmed pointed red hat on. Remmi followed suit, though the tip of her red hat was less pointed upward more sagged over. It was the small differences that stood out the most to me when they were side by side. To the other students, they were like the sun and moon. Yssa's golden curly hair and optimistic attitude energized those nearby while Remmi's apathetic demeanor and long dark hair made gave her the air of a mysterious woman who was miles away even when you sat right next to her.

"It isn't fair though," Yssa grumbled, waving her polished ivory wand in the air in front of her in a large oval pattern. A faint thrumming noise followed and with a whoosh a portal opened in front of her. "I was busy helping Professor Rodrich in his lab yesterday while you two went on a date."

"And what a great time we had," Remmi smirked, her normally somber demeanor nowhere to be seen.

"It wasn't a date," I sighed. "We went shopping for some ingredients I needed for my new project."

"She's just saying that to make you feel better," Remmi said, putting her arm around me and pulling me close. "But she's right. You shouldn't keep your minions waiting for you."

Tears welled up in Yssa's eyes, her bottom lip out pouting as she stepped through the portal. Remmi followed, taking a deep breath to stow away the grin she'd been wearing. As she disappeared through the magical hole, she pointed her pinky at me and wiggled it, a silly gesture that we had come up with as kids to say goodbye.

Remmi and I had grown up together, becoming inseparable after my parents departed for the spirit plane. I had played with Remmi before their deaths, but it wasn't until after we grew close. For the next ten years we were glued to one another and when I told Remmi about my dream to open a magic shop, she immediately began studying and training to get into the kingdom of Humon's most prestigious university: The Royal Academy of Humonon Knights and Mages.

"I still don't know why we couldn't have just chosen one of the easier universities. All that studying to get in and we're not even in the same classes." I shake my head to myself. "And all their fussing draws the attention of their worshippers to me."

When we'd gotten our acceptance letters, Remmi was placed in the top-ranked S-tier classes while I was placed in the C-tier classes… the lowest possible rank. The difference in rank meant that we rarely got to see one another during class hours, but we were both happy to still be near one another, and being able to keep my head low when we weren't together was preferable to standing out.

"Things were so much calmer back then," I groaned, pulling my hair. "I love Yssa but her feud with Remmi is making people hate me."

It was at the beginning of our first year that I met Yssa. Remmi had complained non-stop about how annoying Yssa was since she was loud and outgoing, so when I finally bumped into her while meeting Remmi for lunch (in what I call the fancy dining hall since it's reserved for A and S tier students), I was surprised by how polite and charming she was. It was true that she was as loud and outgoing as Remmi had said, but I could tell that it was only because she was so friendly and assertive; nothing like Remmi and me. I was as lazy as could be and only did the bare minimum. Remmi was ambitious enough for both of us and during our first year, we had kept to ourselves before meeting Yssa.

"Next class is weapons training," I muttered to myself, tilting my head to the side trying to remember what we were supposed to be doing. "I think it was swordsmanship. Gross."

Since the university was for both knights and mages, the curriculum often intermingled both paths, only diverging in the students' final third years. That meant that slackers like myself who just wanted to lounge about reading and working on personal projects were forced to spend time outside, under the hot sun, swinging blunted swords and shooting bows. I hated it.

"I've already skipped twice this week, damn it." I sighed in defeat, cursing past Alva. "I should really negotiate with the headmistress Venna for another self-study period. She owes me for babysitting those two."

My shoulders sagging with annoyance, I waved my wand over myself like I had with Yssa and Remmi. Unlike them, my robes were a bland blue and lacked the gold embroidered trim of their crimson robes. I also lacked a hat, but I always found them too flamboyant for my tastes anyways. There were few expectations for C students. Show up with clean, well-maintained uniforms — a task that many of my peers failed to meet. Mediocrity at its best.