There were few students up and the noise was at a minimum. The field was empty: The same field which was littered with stalls and whatnot, even last night was now empty. It still had garbage lying around though and boy was there garbage. No one was picking anything up and I could guess why. 

Why? Cause no one was up yet, duh!

The students must have partied till morning. The few that were out weren’t nearly enough. The cleaning committee would have a hell of a time cleaning this mess up.

There was a cleaning committee though, right?

I felt much better once I got out and let the sunlight blind me and make me question my existence. My eyes still felt pretty baggy if nothing else. 

Yawn!

I started my jog. The field was big and I had plenty of time. My jersey and sweatshirt felt awfully tight. Maybe I should have bought new ones.

‘What should I do about breakfast?’

‘Maybe I should wear the same uniform? Why didn’t I wash it last night?’

I’d worn the uniform all day yesterday, so the little fight at night really made the dress go a little bad. Of course, I didn’t see its condition, but I could guess it wouldn’t smell wonderful.

‘I’ll just spray some deodorant.’

It probably wasn’t the best idea, but I didn’t have a choice.

My head was in the clouds, thinking things, I shouldn’t have. And a second later, the obvious happened.

“Look where you’re going!” Someone shouted and I was brought back to reality, as I crashed into a nearby palm tree. It happened so fast, I didn’t have time to respond.

“What the hell is a palm tree doing in the middle of the road!?” More importantly, my head hurt: my nose did too. “Aahhh!” Not the manliest scream, but I couldn’t help myself.

A chuckle came from behind me. “Well, you certainly know how to make an entrance playboy.” And it also happened to be that one woman I did not want to meet. “Last night was quite fun. It’s been a while since somebody could turn up my temperature like that.” Her voice took a seductive turn towards the end.

Way to lead the misleading- whatever that meant. 

Just who did this redhead think she was? Just because she had a pretty face, anything went? It certainly didn’t, not with me.

If my head wasn’t throbbing with pain I would have left a long while ago. I didn’t like this girl, not one bit. “Good for you. This hurts, so I might head to the nurse’s office. Bye?” I rubbed my head and took a running pose.

“What, you hate me or something?” She giggled.

“Yes. Are you a psychic or something?” Of course, I was just being sarcastic.

But I was probably a bit too obvious in my approach. 

“No…yes…” She fidgeted a little. “I can only sense the color of one’s emotion.” And why would she need to tell me that?

“How amazing.” There was no enthusiasm from me. “Sorry but last night, you tried to hurt me if not kill me. So I don’t really know what to think of you trying to even talk to me now.”

Besides, it just felt weird to be around her. And not to mention she called me a playboy when I didn’t even have a girlfriend. It really stung. 

“Oh no worries, it’s cool.” She lifted her hands up and took a step back. “You see, it was just a family issue, so don’t concern yourself with it. At least that’s what I would have said, but you already plan on to, don’t you? And that’s why I kind of got mad. So sorry.” She wasn’t sorry at all. I couldn’t tell if she was mad, sad, or just playing around. Maybe a mix of all three? 

“No, not really. And yeah, no apologies necessary.” That came out blunter than I thought. “It just felt wrong to hear a random stranger say bad things about someone I knew.”

“And how do you know her? Lovers?”

“That’s none of your business and no.”

She burst out laughing waving her hands around. “Amusing thing to say. You really are a playboy.”

“I’m no playboy. Anyway, you’re eating up my time, so bye.”

If she called me a playboy one more time, I was literally going to lash out at her, there was no doubt about it. 

It took her a minute to stop laughing. “You should really focus on things in front. Who knows what might happen if you let your guard down.” She gave me a smirk. This girl was bad news. No doubt about it. But seeing no response from me she sighed. “I suppose that’ll have to wait. I’m looking forward to seeing you in the tournament. And by the way, Ariel often creates trees in her sleep. So do try to keep your eyes open.” She left laughing.

“Who the hell is Ariel?” I cursed under my breath. And I sure hell wasn’t going to enter a tournament for someone else’s pleasure either. I had better things to worry about.

‘But why palm trees?’

Just when I thought the nuisance left me, on the other side of the field she started yelling. “The name’s Evengeline Rodwich. You may call me EVE.” She winked and sent a floating kiss towards my direction.

Frankly, I didn’t give a damn. So I turned around and just ran.

  ***

Still, there weren’t many students out. The ones that were out, seemed like the athlete type. 

This time, I kept my eyes on the road: peeled! My head still throbbed, so I didn’t want another dose of pain. 

I jogged to the other side of the school and made a U-turn. I had plenty of time, but I couldn’t waste time just because of that either. Today was special and so I had to prepare for that specialty.

Yesterday, was just a trial run, but from today on, I’d focus on my goals and hopefully if I persevered long enough, I’d be able to change and perhaps even achieve my goals. 

***

On my way back to the dorm, I had to make an abrupt stop. There was a forest in front of me. A literal, forest of palm trees. Some coconut and date trees were mixed in but most were just palm trees. It was just as dense as a tropical forest. 

“What the hell happened here?” I couldn’t stop my mouth. Things just weren’t believable anymore.

“Probably some moron misusing their powers. Ariel maybe?” A reply came from my left side. The guy was pretty skinny and wore black. He had bags under his eyes and looked like he could sleep a decade with all the tired energy he was letting out.

“Well, I suppose you are right.” That dreadful woman had said the same thing anyway.

I actually wanted to meet this Ariel and pound some sense in her. 

“Hmm.” He didn’t yawn, he didn’t complain and he just stood there watching me.

“What?” I asked.

“Freshman?”

“Yes?” I didn’t know why all of a sudden I was being interrogated, but something about this guy felt odd. Mysterious might have been the word.

“Well, consider it a favor.” He lifted one of his hands and waved horizontally. 

All the trees got slashed in half the next second and all that was left were the trunks. Now, that was a useful ability.

I wasn’t in favor of doing this to actual trees but maybe this wasn’t so bad. This probably wasn’t saving the environment but at least I wouldn’t have to run through a forest right now. But then again, maybe jumping on top of tree trunks wasn’t that great either.

“Thanks, I guess?”

The guy nodded. “Good night.” He yawned, turned around, and left without a word.

‘Night?’

There were all sorts of people in this world, and what I just witnessed was a prime example of weird.

But with that, I made it back to the dorm. It was seven-thirty and people were now everywhere.