Cartethene Academy

"Jason! The man of the hour!" A freckled student with an excited expression approached me as I stumbled into the dinner hall, still dazed from the conversation I had had with Bishop Simos earlier. "I was wondering when you'd arrive."

"Rayne! What...what do you mean, exactly?" A surge of confidence flooded into my body once more as I stepped into the room full of cheering students.

Ah, yesterday's exercise. The Annual.

"Come now, you can't possibly expect us to simply forget the hero of the battle, Jason Thame now, can we?" A pair of students came out from the rest of the crowd as Rayne stood aside. "Come now. We should celebrate your heroics."

"Your highnesses!" I straightened my back, trying to look as confident as possible before realizing my manners and giving them a bow.

"Now now Jason." The girl said. "Just because we're graduating doesn't mean we have to be all formal with one another once more."

"Right, right! Thank you, Calli. And you too, Alex."

"Our pleasure." Calli said. "We couldn't have won the tourney without you Jason. About time we had a victory on our own home turf."

"Oh, you guys..." I scratched the back of my head sheepishly. It was true, I was pretty decisive in winning the school's annual melee, one we hadn't quite won in several years. "I...well, I certainly did perform well, I will admit." I put my hand on my chest and puffed it out proudly, which got a chuckle out of the two of them.

"Spirits are up Jason." Calli said. "It's nice knowing that we'll be able to graduate with at least one Galerian victory under our belt. I'm sure the other houses are fuming, however. Alex?"

"Right." Alex, the boy, looked over at Calli, who gave her a nod. Alex cleared his throat, stiffened his back, and gave me a smile. "Jason, as the head boy and head girl of House Galeria, as well as the seniormost members of the royal family in the Academy, we invite you to give the opening speech during our graduation."

"Me?" I shouted, before realizing that far from being lively, the atmosphere of celebratory cheers had faded, and now, all eyes were on me. "Wha, well..."

"Congratulations Jason! I suppose we'll be able to see one last moment of Jason madness before we leave this accursed academy." Rayne snorted, as he slapped me on the back.

"Me? Your highnesses, am...am I really qualified for that?" I mean, what qualifications did I have anyways besides being good in battle? Well, I supposed I was quite good at making people laugh. That had to count for something.

"Oh, please!" Alex shook his head. "You're more popular than you think, Jason. I think you'd make a wonderful first speaker."

"Well, we do consider you our mascot, after all." Calli interjected, which got a few laughs out of the crowd.

"Mascot?" I looked around at the throng of students that were now looking at us, a few chuckles and even scoffs being thrown in my general direction. I merely laughed back. "Well, I would be honored!" I gave them a cross-mix of a salute and a bow, not entirely being able to choose between each one. "I uh, Jason Thame, of House Galeria, of House...Thame...? Uh, accept!"

Several other students burst into laughter as I sheepishly scratched the back of my head, trying not to smile too wide.

"Well, this will certainly be something." Someone mentioned from the back, and I gave them a nod and a grin, to which they gave one back.

"I uh, thank you, Alex, Calli. I'll do my best." As I bowed and left, I could hear some sniggers from the crowd, to which I quietly blotted out of my mind.

***

Perhaps I had forgotten I required lunch. I had left classes quite early today, and figured I had a lot of time to get food, but in my rush to be congratulated by the crowd, I had neglected to eat. I now opened the door to the cafeteria, which still had a small crowd inside of it.

The school food, as usual, is decent.

After quickly wolfing down most of my meal - which I am told, is not according to etiquette - I headed back for seconds when I noticed a swish of light blonde. A breathtakingly beautiful girl in a rather daring low cut dress with puffed sleeves walked down the room, looking rather lost in thought.

Phoebe.

Something about her almost seemed as if she was avoiding me. Ignoring this, I decided to wave her over anyway.

"Hey, Phoebe!" I gave her my best smile and wave, despite my apprehensions. Should I have let her be? But the relief on her face answered that question before I could ponder over it more, like I always did.

"Jason! How did your lunch go?"

"Amazing, amazing. Have you had anything yet.?"

"I...I'm not really that hungry..."

"O-oh. I see."

I sat there for what seemed like an eternity. Despite having grown closer throughout the course of the years, there was something distant about her ever since the conversation. Almost similar to when I had first met her at the academy.

"So..." I trailed off. "What exactly were you talking about?"

"Nothing really. It's not important for you to know." A smile hid an absolutely miserable expression under her face. "About our promise, to see each other afterwards...uh, actually, no. Nevermind."

At some point, it's almost impossible not to notice things, but you ignore them anyways. Why Jason, why? It's the part I hate most about myself.

"I see." I stopped for a moment, looking around the room. "Uh, Phoebe, did you know I'll be giving a speech at graduation?" Phoebe perked up.

"You're giving the graduation speech?"

"No, no. Only the opening segment. The introduction."

"Oh wow!" Phoebe clapped her hands, gently. "That's amazing!"

Another awkward silence befell us before we picked up our conversation once more.

"I...won't pry, but if you're feeling down, I can walk you around the gardens, maybe." I said, breaking the silence. "You have a free period, don't you?"

"What about your classes?"

"It'll be fine, we're barely studying anyways." I said, puffing my chest out. "And it's not like Jason to leave when his w-"

"You should get going." Phoebe replied. "It's not a good idea to miss out, even if we only have three days left. I'm fine, so please don't worry about me." Another smile, but I know it's fake.

She's not fine.

"That's true." I finally responded, after some deliberation. "After all, I'm sure I don't want to miss the pre-celebration celebrations."

"That's a thing?" Phoebe asked with a more genuine laugh. "Pre-celebration celebrations..."

"Every class has practically turned into one. And a party isn't a party without me, right?"

"You can be such a kid sometimes..." Phoebe sighed, but there was a hint of happiness in her eyes.

Phoebe says that to be constantly, despite being a year younger than me. It's just her way of showing me affection, I suppose. I leaned in a little to peer down at the bashful expression she always has after saying that line, but today, there was a strange hint of sorrow in her smile.

"Phoebe?" I leaned over, trying to get some kind of reaction out of her, but as I did, Phoebe suddenly clutched my hand in hers, and held it to her chest. I almost instinctively jolted my hand back, before I figured, I actually liked it here - and by the looks of things, Phoebe needed this, somehow. "Uh, Phoebe?" I asked, slightly flustered. "I think this is-" I sat back as I noticed her trembling in fear. "Phoebe, are you...?"

"Jason. Can...can you come talk to me on graduation day? There's...something I need to come tell you. Please." She let go of my hand, her eyes pleading.

"What...what do you want to talk about?" I asked, as Phoebe looked away.

"There's something I haven't been honest with you all these years, to be honest. I want to tell you before...well..."

"It's not about how you secretly hated all the books we read together, right?" I asked nervously, trying to lighten the mood. Phoebe laughed.

"No, it's something...more serious I suppose." Phoebe looked up. "Is...serious okay?"

"It's okay." I gave her a reassuring smile. "You can trust me with anything."

She smiled back.