Chapter Text
As soon as the bell had rung, Callum rushed out of the classroom, heading straight to Claudia’s locker. He gripped his books as he sped through the hallway full of teenagers, having to apologize now and then.
He slowed down as he reached her locker, until he finally stopped and took a moment to breathe. Why does her locker need to be on the other side of the freaking school he thought.
“Hey Callum,” Claudia said, a bit startled by his sudden appearance. “Whatcha doing here?”
“I need your help, like right now.” His breathing was finally going back to normal.
“Alright, with what exactly?” Claudia said, observing how he gripped his books, he seemed tense.
“Well, I have a Xadian History test tomorrow and I know absolutely nothing. Not nothing but I’m having difficulty understanding some things because the teacher does not know how to teach,”
“Ooh, I see. Well, can’t help you there, buddy, I have a test I need to study for as well,” she said with a chuckle, “But I do know someone who might be able to help you,”
As soon as Claudia said that, Callum's head perked up from looking at his books and stared at her with hope in his eyes.
“You remember Rayla, right? Well, she's a good friend of mine, and I think she can help you since she's Xadian. Scratch that, she can help you, she’s super smart.”
Callum’s face immediately dropped after hearing the name.
“Oh, Rayla, right, I remember her. Listen, Clauds, does it have to be her?”
“What, why? Do you not like her or something?”
“No, it’s not that exactly, it’s just because our last encounter was rather… awkward. I think she kind of hates me now,” he explained. Claudia could tell he felt a bit uncomfortable.
“Ohh, you’re talking about that day?” Claudia said as she chuckled to herself, watching the annoyed look on Callum’s face.
“I know, I know, that was back in middle school, I was kinda stupid back then, I regret that day so much…”
“Well, since it’s been like what, three years, why are you still so hung up about it? I’m sure she forgives you, the whole school knows what an idiot you were back then.”
“Claudia, could you not-”
“I’m just kidding, sorry!” She was having way too much fun with this conversation. “Look my point is, I’m almost certain she forgives, and if you want to pass this test, you will have to ask for her help, she's like the perfect person, she know all about Xadia, she’s an elf for fucks sake!”
Callum sighed, knowing this was the only way, “Ugh, fine, I guess.”
Claudia smiled, “Great! I’ll text her to meet you at the library tomorrow after school.”
Claudia began walking away to her next class while texting Rayla on her phone. While Callum walked to his next lesson, he couldn't stop thinking about how he would approach Rayla, and whether she would even agree to tutoring.
As if on cue, he felt his phone buzz in his pocket. He grabbed his phone and saw the text was from Claudia.
Claudia: heyy callum
Claudia: updates: Rayla agreed, she’s going to meet you in the school library tomorrow at 16:00
Claudia: She said she’ll be waiting at a table near the entrance.
Claudia: have funn ;)
Callum: Thanks, Clauds, see you at lunch
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~☾~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Rayla was working on her English homework, quietly humming along to the music on her headphones. Hmm, he’s 10 minutes late, Rayla thought, while looking at her phone, which glowed 16:10 .
Rayla decides she doesn’t care; it’s not like she came here on her own free will. She thought about the message Claudia sent her yesterday and rolled her eyes.
Rayla: I have better things to do tomorrow, Claudia, I’m not gonna waste my time tutoring some guy I don’t even know.
Clauds <3: pleaseeeeee Rayla I promise you won’t regret it :’(
Rayla: And what makes you think that??
Clauds <3: Well, he’s a really nice guy, hehe
Rayla: THEN AT LEAST TELL ME WHO IT IS
Clauds <3: NO BUT I’LL PAY YOU K$20
Rayla: Fine, fuck you.
Clauds <3: heh love you too :D
Rayla was snapped back into reality when somebody knocked on her table.
“Hey, uh, is this Rayla?” a strange yet familiar voice called out.
She looked up from her computer while taking her headphones off, letting them rest on her neck. Her eyes widened a bit when she saw who it was.
“Yeah, this is her. You must be…”
“Callum, sorry for being late, I might have gotten distracted and lost track of time.” He gave a slight nervous chuckle, hoping she wouldn’t hate him more.
“Oh right, I remember you, but hey, it’s no problem, I get it,”
Rayla was trying her best not to sound rude, while she didn’t necessarily hate the guy, things had been awkward between the two ever since 7th grade. But they were now sophomores in high school, maybe he has changed, who knows?
He looked nice enough; he wore dark blue jeans, a gray shirt, and a red scarf that she always saw him wearing. His hair was slightly ruffled, but overall nice.
Now that she thought about it, she probably looked like the messier and meaner one. Her white hair was up in a messy ponytail, hair all over her horns, she had eye bags under her eyes, indicating she doesn’t sleep much, and she was wearing an oversized hoodie.
Ahh, who cares, it’s not like I like the guy enough to get dressed up for him.
Rayla cleared the table of her English material and gestured for Callum to sit down.
“So I hear you need help with Xadian history, correct?” Rayla said, taking out her other notebook from her backpack.
“Yes, correct. I specifically need help understanding the great battle against the evil Startouch Elf.”
“Oh, that’s no problem. Could you tell me what teacher you have?”
“Well, for Xadian History, I have Mr. Aaravos. He’s not the best teacher, all he does is ramble about how much he misses his daughter instead of teaching,” Callum rolled his eyes.
Rayla laughed, “I have heard some people complain about his classes, I’m not sure how he’s not fired yet.”
Callum chuckled in response. He had his book in front of him, opened up to the page about the great battle, ready to study.
“Alright, let’s begin,” Rayla said.
They spent the next half hour reviewing the basics of the battle. Humans, elves, and dragons were joined to try and defeat a powerful startouch elf. During the heat of battle, three archdragons passed away, sacrificing themselves to save the people of Xadia.
The elf died, and everyone else lived on, including a dark mage who worked for him. The humans and elves went on to build a new city, uniting the two species and beginning an era of peace.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~☾~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Callum had finally finished his notes.
“Wow, I understand it so much better when you explain it, it felt like I was there!” Callum now had 2 full pages of notes and an enthusiastic smile on his face.
“I’m glad you understand it better now. Do you have any questions?”
“Well, actually yes, just one. You didn’t state any names. Why is that?”
Rayla answered his question in a sad tone. She looks up to the brave people who fought in that war.
“This great battle happened thousands of years ago, while we have evidence it happened, we don’t have information on the people who participated. It's kind of upsetting, but not something we can control.”
“Oh, I understand. Well, thank you anyway for helping me with this, I wouldn’t have been able to do it if it weren’t for you.” His smile was as evident as ever.
Rayla gave a light smile back.
He isn’t as bad as I thought.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~☾~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Around two minutes of complete silence went by. Callum was fidgeting with his thumb, not knowing what to say to Rayla.
He took this silence as an opportunity to finally look at who was in front of him. She has dark purple elven markings, going from her eyes to the center of her cheek, she has little details on her horns, some kind of swirly pattern? Somehow, he never really noticed them; to be fair, he doesn’t talk to her much. She has lilac eyes that were currently scanning her computer, and wait-
She has only four fingers??!
Callum should probably feel ashamed for not knowing this, but there are few elves in this school, so he tried not to think about his ignorance.
He continued innocently staring at her when he noticed a small scar running through Rayla’s right cheek. This piqued his interest.
“How did you get that scar?” Callum blurted out. Upon noticing Rayla’s reaction to the question, he immediately began apologizing.
“I’m so sorry! I don’t mean to come out rude, I was just curious, that’s all!”
“Hey, it’s alright, I was just a bit startled,”
The truth is, Rayla never really enjoyed talking about her scar; it wasn’t even a bad memory. She just doesn’t like talking about it, but since it’s pretty visible, people always end up asking.
“You don’t have to answer the question if you don’t want to. I’m sorry for even asking,” Callum said. He felt pretty bad for asking the question, knowing it can be a sensitive topic for some.
“No, it's fine. Uh, ever since I was a kid, my uncles have always trained me in sword fighting. Apparently, in the old times, Moonshadow elves were trained in sword fighting to become assassins, but nowadays it’s just a hobby. We would duel almost every day; in fact, we still do sometimes. We were fighting one day, and one of my uncles hit me accidentally…”
Callum was fascinated, but also slightly worried, to learn that Rayla practices sword fighting. That’s one of the coolest hobbies you can have. Callum was never big on sports, so to see someone be trained in this kind of sport is amazing.
Rayla continued explaining that while it wasn’t super bad, she was a child and quit for a few years because of it. One of her uncles, whom Callum learned is called Runaan, swore to never swordfight with real swords again.
“Now I have this scar as a memory, but it isn’t so bad anymore,”
“I think the scar makes you look quite badass, honestly.”
Rayla laughed hard, “You think so?”
“Yep, you have to show me your sword fighting skills one day.”
“Hmm, maybe I will,”
Both Rayla and Callum had big grins on their faces. All the memories of what happened on that one fateful day in the 7th grade faded away as they continued chatting.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~☾~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Their laughter slowly died down after Callum told a stupid, unfunny, yet funny joke. He went to look at the time on his phone and saw 18:17
“Shoot, I’m so sorry, Rayla, but I have to get home now, my mom might get mad if I don’t make dinner haha,” He quickly stashed his notebook and pencil case inside his backpack and stood up from his seat.
Most people had already left the library, and only about 5 people could be seen still here. It was starting to get dark and chilly outside; he’d better go.
“Ah, it’s alright, I had fun today,” Rayla got up from her seat as well to say goodbye.
“Me too, and thanks for helping me study, I’m feeling more confident for the test tomorrow,”
“Aye, it’s no biggie, if you ever need a tutor, I’m here,”
Callum nodded with a smile and said goodbye. He felt quite content after today.
His walk home was calm and peaceful; he kept replaying some funny moments with Rayla in his head. He eventually decided to text Claudia.
Callum: You were right, Clauds, she’s nice.
Claudia: I KNEW IT. >:)
Claudia: So, how was it???
Callum: It actually went pretty well, I’m definitely more prepared.
Callum: Anyway, just arrived home and I need to make dinner, I’ll text you later.
Claudia: of course, byee :)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~☾~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A few hours later, as Rayla was settling into bed, she kept thinking about that afternoon.
Claudia was right. I guess I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt.
That night, Rayla fell asleep pretty quickly. She received a text at around 22:15, but by then she was already snoozing.