chapter eighteen

latin lesson

Arithmetic was difficult and I almost fell asleep in Social Studies.
            Today there was no Art of War class so it was the last subject. I have to admit I didn't know if I looked forward to Blake's lesson at all. He so intimidation and I don't know what to expect.
            After school my stomach was turned into knots. I even felt sick. He told Sammy to meet him in the library.
            I just hope I am not going to make an idiot of myself and stare the way I did that first day. His beauty was unnatural and guys like that usually make me feel uncomfortable.
            I took a deep breath as I saw him playing with a lighter in thought at one of the tables.   
            Don’t stare Elena.
            I walk up to where he was and contemplate in my mind how I should greet him. Hi Blake in a chirpy voice but then he will know that he has some kind of an effect on me. If I say it in a dull tone he will think of me as depressed.
            When the time came, I was speechless. I couldn’t even say hallo like a civilized person.
            “Io Elena” he started and I squint my eyes. He rambled a couple of words I don't understood and realize that he was speaking in Latin. He asks me something but had no idea what it was so it was silent for a while. He was staring at me with his smoldering blue eyes as if he could see straight into my soul. It made my heart jump off beat. I didn't like it.
            When he spoke again I shake my head softly.
            It was still in Latin and guess it's his way of rebelling against this.
            “What”  it barely came out. He seems irritated by my reply. He rambles a couple of other words and then he got up and left. I don't know what just happened but know that I need his help. "Please Blake" I yell after him and he stopped. "I really need your help. I don't want to fail." He just stood there with his back to mine. "Please"
            It did the trick. He turned around and came back.
            "Fine" he mopes. "But if you are going to cry, I am done." he plunge himself down the chair. We start with the easy stuff. The words that were similar to English. 
             We switch over to conjugation verbs and recite words like confirmare which means to confirm, straight through vocare which is to call. We recap the I's, you's, he, she and it. When he start to use an example by the word give it starts to make sense for the first time, but he wasn't kidding about the crying part. He was mean and made me recite it a million times until I pronounced it correctly. It was as if I was insulting him when I didn't say it right. I sigh, trying really hard not to cry.
            "You struggle with is the verbs the most. For dragons it's easy we are born to speak Latin where humans find it difficult. In Latin the ending of the verb changes every time. The ending is crucial as it tells you tense, person and number" he said by counting with his three fingers to make it easy for me to understand. He explain to me when it change, when singular and plural you always change the verb. I still struggle to understand but at least he was making sense. When my head felt like it was about to explode we call it a day. He hardly said goodbye and grumbles to meet him at the same place next week.
            I went over it until dinner time. My head felt as if it was going to explode with all the Latin words  swirling around. I don’t know how the hell I'm ever going to be able to speak it fluently the way Blake did this afternoon.
            Sammy was right though, her brother is really a dick head and don't know if I am going to show up next week.
            Dinner time we just stared at George at how he was whispering sweet things to Becky who was mildly amuse, but tried to hide it the same time. I tried my best not to burst out laughing. "You are an idiot, go sit with your buddies" Becky sounds pissed off after a whisper we couldn't hear. He grunts but got up and went to sit with Blake again who was making so much fun of it. It was more of a tease than treating him like an outcast.
            "He is like a fly circling a piece of crap" she whines.
            "You know that you just referred to yourself as a piece of crap right" Lucian jokes and I laugh.
            "Oh shut up" she snaps but giggled thinking about her metaphor.
             We got up after our dinner and I was dead tired.
            “See you at five my love” Lucian's voice roars from boys stairs and I really wish I could say something to take that excitement out of his tone. I never met anyone who is such an exercise freak. "I am a poet and don't even know it."
            Sammy and I  laughed and hear how other guys started to tease him.
            “So how has it been?”
            “Becky is right, he is a slave driven demon."
            After my shower I’ve gone over the stuff Blake taught me before I climb into bed.
            I had the same dream again. I really have no idea who the woman is and it was starting to creep me out.
             My alarm clock went off again at four �" forty five and need to get ready for my two mile run with Lucian. My abs hurts like hell from yesterdays training. The walk back was nice though. He wanted to know more about my life.
            “You must really miss your mom, huh” he said softly.
            “I never knew her." I replied without thinking.
            “She died?” and I shake my head.
            “She left when I was a baby.”
            “She just left you."
             I smiled. “It's not that big a deal, plenty moms leave their children" I reply but the look on his face told me that it's not common this side.
            "How could she just left without you."
              "There is all sorts of bad things happening on the other side, mine is hardly one of them.”

            “So your dad is the only one that raised you?"  I nod my head but he still had this huge question mark on his face.
            "Is it so hard to believe?" I started to feel uncomfortable.
            "Yes, it's not common for a male dragon to raise the offspring alone, even if he was Metallic." He replies. The way he said off spring made me feel like I was some sort of specimen. I didn't like it.
            He made me regret that I told him I had no mother. Who knows what he is thinking of me right now. It was making me feel like an outcast.
             We said goodbye with a quick kiss and part ways. I should not have told him about my mom.  
            Friday was always hectic. We finish off the day with Art of war and I was not in time to claim Excalibur. I had to practice again with the heavy sword that made me tipped over like a bowling pin. Collin's blows felt worse than Lucian’s and saw my a*s again a couple of times.
            It was the weekend before the end of the month, which means next weekend everyone that stays in Dragonia is free to go to Elm whenever they want. Lucian didn't stay as the girls said he would and I know why. It's because of what I told him yesterday.
            Sammy and Becky was talking about next Saturday. I felt so insecure as they are making plans and talking about things that involved spending money. Becky's dad left them a great fortune behind while Sammy's dad was seen as very important. I guess it’s having the Rubicon for a son.
            I took a bath.
             Thinking about how Lucian acted when I told him about my life made me start to feel miserable. Maybe it's not a good thing. Culture to them is everything and me not having the most common thing as a parent could break us up, as if I don't have enough s**t stack against us already.
            I start to wonder about my mother and what she looks like. Why did she left? Dad in his dragon form popped up and I wonder if that couldn't be the reason. It could be why she left me behind because she had no idea what I would become.
            Still, her reason was shallow. Dad never hurt me and I am as normal as any human being. She had no reason to fear for her life and flee as if we were some plague.  
            Maybe the Seer is right, she never did loved me. Her absence left a huge whole filled with so many questions that will probably never get answered.