PINK DRINK

“That's a nice goal!” The boy to Tana's right said after taking a sip from his pink drink. “I wish I could be one too! But sadly I can’t.” “Why not?” Tana asked. The boy simply smiled and said “you'll see why later”.

“Well?” a voice cut through from my right. “Are you going to introduce yourself or not?”

“Oops! My bad, I forgot. I'm Eric.” “Now, will you introduce yourself as well?” Eric asked politely with a big smile. He had that child-like energy surrounding him. And his big blue eyes with the messy blonde hair sure didn't help him, it only enhanced his child-like looks. He seemed like the type who is more comfortable being passive aggressive and giving backhanded compliments rather than direct confrontation, but he didn't seem mean rather he seemed kind- like every indirectly rude or mean comment hurts him just as much as it’s supposed to hurt the person it's aimed at.

I passed the fries to Sera as she wanted some.

”Sure I’ll introduce myself.”This time I turned towards the voice. Sitting on my far right was a girl, she had pin straight black hair in a side part with 2 thick side bangs. The right bang was thicker and longer than the left, due to the side part. She seemed to like it that way. “My name is Val. I aim to become the arch angel of fire.” Her goal is indeed a tough one. Becoming an arch angel is no joke. I’ve met the current arch angel of fire, Fera Seraphin, and she was one tough lady.She and my dad are friends, as blacksmiths and fire go hand in hand.I’m not sure why, but Val makes me think she could do it. She seems like the type of person who doesn't stop until they achieve their goal. I served myself a bit of the white pasta. It was truly delicious. The pasta was extremely creamy and rich. I especially loved the olives in it.

From Val’s voice and attitude I can tell she is not an early bird. She seems to be the type who's grumpy in the morning and fine by the afternoon or mid day. “What a rude angel,” Sera mumbled as she shoved a bunch of fries in her mouth. Nina gave her a disappointed look. That told me all I needed to know, nobody seemed to have noticed why Val’s grumpy.

“Well allow me to introduce myself next, I’m Erina Voss.” Erina was sitting to the far left of me. She seemed extremely confident, and clearly came from an elite background like Nina and me. She had these sharp brown eyes which seemed to be able to notice and see through everything. Looking in her eyes made me feel nervous, like she could read my thoughts. I took a sip from my drink to avoid looking her in the eyes. Her uniform was immaculate, there were no creases or wrinkles despite us sitting. She was also bald. But her last name, Voss, I feel like I have heard it somewhere before.

“My goal is simple. I will become a goddess just like my father.” Erina continued, after which she took a bite from her sandwich.

At that moment I remembered, from where I remembered the last name Voss. Erina is the daughter of Nereos Voss — the god of Water. Mom often works with him to bring about weather changes. If I remember correctly, the reason Erina is bald just like the rest of her family is due to their beliefs. They believe one should be free like water,and that hair is a chain that binds them, so one should be bald to be free. “Why is she bald?” Sera whispered.

“I’ll explain to you later.” I whispered back. “Can you give me some more fries?” Sera asked. “Sure,here” I replied.

“Well I suppose it’s my turn now.” Nina took a final sip from her drink and stood up and curtseyed to the class. “My name is Nina Everveil.”The table fell silent,forks stopped midway.You could hear a pin drop. Only Sera seemed unaffected by the news as she kept chowing down on her pasta and shoving fries into her mouth. It's only natural that everyone, including me, was shocked.

Everyone knows the Everveil family afterall, not only are they a direct descendant of the second generation of gods, they own the Everveils trading corporation,the largest company in all of heaven. They help fund and develop all of heaven and sometimes even the mortal world. “And for my goal…well I don't have one yet, I hope to be inspired by all of you” and with that Nina did one final curtsy and sat back down.

Everyone was still frozen, but Tana seemed to have recovered. He clapped his hand and asked Sera to introduce herself. “Well, my name is Sera, I love eating and my goal is…. to graduate.”and with that she continued to chow down her fries. I guess she helped as an ice breaker as suddenly everyone laughed and began eating, the shock l must have worn off as the table became lively again.

Finally I stood up

“Nice to meet all of you. My name is Elara and I hope to follow in my parents footsteps and become a goddess, just like my mom.” With that, I sat back down and took a sip of my drink. I hope I didn't come off as a show off or anything.

“Well that seems to be all of us, so can we leave now?” asked Val.

“Please wait one more minute, there is still someone who hasn't introduced themselves yet.” Tana replied smiling. He then pointed at a girl I hadn't noticed. She was small,almost childlike in size. But something felt off about her, like she was suspicious of every one of us. Her eyes were as black as the night,like they had seen too much, too quickly. Her hair was dark and fell in these straight yet wavy locks as if it hadn't decided what it wanted to be yet.

“My name is Zara.” She said in a low voice. She didn't seem shy, rather it felt like she didn't want to be seen. I realised she had been observing each and everyone of us, her plate remained untouched, she hadn't eaten anything either

“Well? What's your goal Zara?” Tana asked.

“I’d rather not share it.” Zara replied

“Ok, well that's everyone you all can leave if you’d like” Tana announced.

Val immediately stood up and left. Erina and Eric followed.

“Shall we leave as well?” Nina asked.

“Sure” Sera replied with food shoved inside her mouth. “Let me just take some fries for the road.” Sera grabbed a handful. “You really need to learn manners” Nina said, giving sera a look that was a mix of disgust and disappointment. “You coming?” Sera asked me.

“Yep!” and I quickly ran up to them. Together, we walked into the hallways and to the class.

When we reached, the rest were already there, even Tana and Zera. The room was full of chatter. Soon the bell rang, and we all sat down in our respective places. I wonder what our class teacher is like. Soon the door opened, and we all looked eagerly to see our new teacher, but instead we saw something brown. "Is that a beaver?" Sera exclaimed loudly. The beaver didn't seem to show any signs of care, and instead walked up to the desk.

"I didn't know the school had a beaver infestation," Sera remarked. Nina gave her a look that was definitely telling Sera to be quiet. Sera took the hint. The beaver mumbled something under its breath, which was strange. It sounded like it was saying "every year with these students." And that was even more strange. Soon, it reached the teacher's table and we could no longer see it. Suddenly, a bright flash was seen and a human angel appeared. We were all shocked into silence. Eric's jaw quite literally dropped open. Tana had to close it. The human angel had crisp black hair. He was fairly tall as well, and his wings — they were beautiful. "Good morning class, I'm your class teacher. My name is Mr. Castor and I'll be teaching you Angel Basics 101." "Why were you a beaver?" We all asked in perfect unison.

Mr.Castor sighed and said “Im an animal angel, back in the mortal world I was a beaver, Now, may I begin with my lesson?” He was certainly done with explaining this. I guess every year he has to explain the same thing and that would be exhausting for anybody.”I’ll take the silence as a yes, so since today's your first day, I want each and every one of you to tell me a basic quality or skill an angel needs to have.”

“Elara, you start.” I paused and thought for a moment. “An angel needs to be kind and understanding.” I answered. I hope I didn't sound too “show-offy".

“Very good, next is Eric.” Eric didn't even hesitate for a moment and said "Divine abilities.”

I wish I could be as confident as him.

Mr.Castor wore an unreadable expression.I’m not sure why.

“Good, next is Erina.”

Erina thought and said “confidence”.

Mr.Castor replied back with “Are you sure?”

I wonder why he is questioning her. Her answer seemed solid to me.

Erina paused for a second and answered “Yes I am sure, if one is not confident then one will find it difficult to be taken seriously and to be seen as a protector.”

“Very good Erina. Next is Nina.”

Nina replied “Grace”. A safe answer.

“Good, next is Sera.” I wonder why he questioned Erina but not the others?

Sera did not respond. “Ms.Sera do you need a moment to think?”

asked Mr. Castor. Sera still did not respond. Finally Nina poked Sera and she jumped up clearly startled.

“Huh? Where am I? Where is the castle made of pizza?” Sera said. Both Mr.Castor and Nina gave Sera a disappointed look. I heard someone laugh. “As I was saying Sera, what is one quality or skill you think an angel should have? And please, do NOT sleep or daydream in my class again.”

“Sorry, teach.” Sera said. “One quality would be hmmm the ability to stay positive even when things get hard.” That was an answer I did not expect from Sera. I feel bad for judging her. I feel… stupid for thinking that way.

“Very good, but do not call me “teach” again. I'm Mr.Castor or simply sir.”

Mr.Castor seemed to have been taken aback by Sera’s answer,but he managed to hide it pretty well.

“Got it, teach”

“I just said- forget it, it's not worth it. Next is Tana.”