*Chapter 5*

~Rhys~

》Bald 80 year olds are Greek God looking Bad boys?《

"Rhys Alberona. Could you please explain the use of Ether, and how it is stored?" I jolted as I heard my name called, and stood up. Trying hard not my rub my sleepy eyes, I looked at the board.

"Yeah, um. One sec..." I couldn't come over my temptation, and rubbed my eyes. I squinted at the board, wondering what unicorn had vomited all over the place.

Correction: Even a unicorn's vomit was prettier than this guy's handwriting. Even a doctors handwriting was more readable. All he had done was squiggly lines all over. And they blame kids for scribbling.

"Yeah. Ether right? The uses of Ether are in many different fields. In vehicles, they are used to provide the energy for it to run. In medicine, they provide the necessary nutrients to heal. In the military, weapons are created from Ether. The reason why Ether is used, is because it is abundant, can be found all over Etheran, and can be reused and replenished easily.

It is stored in the form of a lacrima. A small spherical orb, which contains the Ether in a certain energy form. It is activated on the user's will. They can either be of a one type lacrima, like metal lacrimas, or they can be of a multiple purpose type, like the electricity and light lacrima.

I think that's it?" I looked at the professor, and he narrowed his eyes at me.

"Hmph. Correct. The next I catch you sleeping in class, you're out. Is that understood?" I nodded at him, but as soon as he turned, I stuck my tongue out at him.

A hand reached out, grabbing my arm and pulling me back to sitting on the bench. I fell, and narrowed my eyes at him.

Flyn. The sweetest boy to exist. He was not quite your typical golden boy, coming from downtown, and not the most popular person. But he was far too smart, always getting straight As. He played basketball for the team. He was the most adorable person to exist.

Most importantly, he was my boy.

"Rhys, you really need to stop sleeping all the time." He said in a soft voice, and held my hand. I shook my head at him.

"That can't happen." I stated, and his eyebrows furrowed.

"You realize that you lose brain cells when you sleep too much, right?" He said it in a sing song tone, and I smiled at him. He was just too precious.

"What brain cells did I have in the first place? Anyway, I value sleep above all else." I smirked at him, and he shook his head at me. His fingers squeezed my hand tighter, and he looked at them.

"And me?" His innocent brown eyes looked up at me, and I felt like someone made my heart explode. This guy was far too much to handle.

"You come first. Or maybe second, because chocolate!" I squealed, and he rolled his eyes at me. His hand ruffled my hair, and he began packing his bag. I already had mine packed up and ready for the day.

The bell rang, and everyone ran out. Finally! Winter break!

I held Flyn's hand as we went out of the class, waiting in the corridor for a certain someone. He leaned against the wall as he looked towards the direction of her classroom, before smirking.

There she was. The insane girl who wore an extra short school skirt, and an untucked shirt. Her blazer was tied around her waist, and her torn leggings were under her famous cowboy boots.

She had flowing red hair, which was always left open. Her eyes were a very deep brown, with a slight hint of red. Her skin was very light in color.

I often wondered if she was a vampire. But that theory never worked out because of how many times I saw her clearly winking at herself in a mirror.

"Maylin!" I exclaimed as I ran to hug her, almost tackling her to the ground. She was ready for my rugby tackle, holding herself so she wouldn't fall.

"Hey Ri." She replied as she ruffled my hair. I pursed my lips at her, and then opened the long ebony hair from its tight ponytail.

"Why are you both always trying to mess my hair up?" I questioned as we made our way to Flyn. They both smirked and fist bumped.

We three were complete opposites of each other. Like, completely. Entirely. Even in a photograph, we looked like the three corners of the Illuminati triangle.

Flyn was the straight A boy, amazing at sports, and incredibly good looking. He had deep brown hair, which was always slightly messed up from its original neat combing. His eyes were light brown, the color of coffee with a lot of milk. With tan skin, he seemed to glow under the sunlight. He had a calm presence, but was aggressive when he needed to be.

Maylin was the crazy girl, incredibly flexible cheerleader, and so pretty. She was a complete rebel, whether it be school rules or general politics, she was the first to stand up against injustice. She dressed just like her personality, crazy but beautiful. Always outspoken, and bold, she was a people favorite.

And then there was me. Rhys. My nickname? Ri. I wasn't anything out of the ordinary, just a girl with a clean uniform, hair always tied up in a high ponytail, and non decorated bag. I had long black hair, which almost never came out of it's ponytail. My eyes were the same color, which some people called blue black. My skin tone was in between May's and Flyn's.

I liked running, playing the guitar, dancing, and singing. But I loved chocolate and reading. If reading was a job, I'd be the richest person in the universe.

"Because it's fun. And you look beautiful with open hair." Flyn leaned in and tucked a strand of my hair behind my ear. My face heated up immediately, and my cheeks flushed. He smiled, and began walking with Maylin.

"Practice today?" She asked him, and he nodded. I looked between the two before I remembered. They had after-school sports.

"I guess I'll just head to the library then." I said, skipping between the two. They both were quite tall, Flyn being 5'11, and May at 5'9. I was 5'5. Not that tall, not that short.

"The library is more of your home than your actual home is." Flyn looked at me with a raised eyebrow, and I stuck my tongue out at him. We began walking down the stairs.

"Of course it should be. Man, have you seen the librarian? He looks like a Greek God. No, a bad boy. Both of them!" May threw her hands up at the frustration that she couldn't find the perfect word for it. I only stared at her with an incredulous expression.

"The librarian? But he's a bald 80 year old..." Flyn snorted as I said that, and May looked at me in horror. I tried not to laugh at her expression, and nodded.

"But he has hair! Gorgeously messed up black hair! And oh so dark piercing black gold eyes!" She was practically squealing, and I blinked for a few moments before I realized who she was talking about.

"You mean Mahvrick?" I said his name, and both Flyn and May looked down at me. I shrunk in on myself, wondering why their expressions were like that.

"Bad boy's name is Mahvrick?" May's eyes were practically sparkling. I laughed at her, and shook my head.

"He's the assistant librarian there, but he's not a bad boy. He's a sweet person, who loves reading." May smirked at me, and Flyn froze. I looked at him, but he only put an arm around me.

"Are you two close?" He asked, and May raised an eyebrow at him. I shrugged, wondering why he asked that question out of nowhere.

"Not that much. He helps me around with the books I need, and the upcoming series. We're just friends." I said with a smile, and he nodded. We reached the bottom of the stairs now, and they looked at the ground.

"Good." May laughed and punched his arm, while he shook his head. I smiled at them, wondering how I managed to get my best friend and my boyfriend to be so close, without being lovers.

"See you later. Take care." Flyn said with a smile, and pressed a kiss on my forehead. I grinned at him, and pulled him in for a last hug. Me and May shared a hug before they left.

I skipped out the school gates, and walked on the snow-covered sidewalk. The sky was covered with clouds, and I rubbed my palms together. I forgot to wear my gloves. Again. This was the 100th time this month.

The library was nearby, just a 5 minute walk from school. My home was 15 minutes more from there. Flyn was right, the library was more of my home than my own was. Mostly because, books.

I reached there pretty quickly, and smiled. I tucked my wavy hair behind my ear behind my ear, and was about to lean against the door backwards when it swung inwards.

"Whoa!" I yelled as I fell down, my head hitting the floor. I brushed the hair out of my face, and looked into deep black eyes.

"What a graceful entry." His voice was deep, and I could almost hear his smirk. Maybe if I wasn't looking at it right now. He raised an eyebrow at me, and I smiled and waved from the ground.

"Hey Rick!" He scoffed, and walked over to my side, offering his hand. I sat up and took it, jumping up, almost bumping my nose against his neck.

"Easy there. What's up with you today?" He looked at me, and then let go. I blushed, and scratched at my head.

"Holidays. Yay!" I waved my hands in front of my torso, and he shook his head at me. I skipped in behind him, and spun around. This was my heaven. My safe place. I breathed in, and sighed.

"Help me out with those books, and then you can take the two you requested." I skipped behind him, looking at the huge piles of books on the counter. I set my bad down, and set out to help him.

We took the different genres, and sorted them out. Often, we would just call put to the other, to make sure they weren't sleeping.

"Hey, Rick?" I called out to him as I set the last book in it's place. He picked his bag up, holding up the two books I wanted.

"Yeah?" His voice was soft and gentle, which completely didn't suit May's description of him. But he honestly did look like the type of guy who was in a gang.

"There's so many stories out there... right? Do you ever wonder if any of them are true?" I stood up, and turned to him. He looked at me, and then at the library.

"Rhys..." He said my name as I picked my bag up, and took the books in my hands. I looked up into his eyes.

"All the tales are true." His voice was low, and deep. I blinked a few times before I was able to react.

I smiled at him, and he smiled back, ruffling my hair. We packed up, and left the library. Saying our farewells, we parted.

How naive I was then.

How little we really knew.

All the tales really were true.