• Of course she’d be there.
    I was sitting on a chair at the table Lenschi brought me to. He was sitting to my left, laughing, talking to the others. Mich was at the chair across the table and El was to his left, so he was right in front of me. Then there was Mal. Oh, sweet little Mal. She was also sitting next to Lenschi, laughing, talking, her emerald hair flipped behind her shoulders, her hand playfully nudging at Lenschi.
    What a flirt. She’s so into him, so of course she’d be here. But what I really wonder is if Lenschi likes her, too. It wouldn’t be weird if he did though because she’s really cute. Her shoulder length hair was shining under the light. She had lioness gold eyes that shimmered like a queen. Her smooth light skin is like a new born baby’s.
    And I hate her. She’s so mean. Her attitude makes me want to puke.
    “Haha, why don’t you try some of these?” Mal fed Lenschi a piece of chocolate cake, and giggled.
    “Sweet” Lenschi says. I couldn’t tell if he meant to say the cake was sweet, or Mal was sweet.
    Ugh, please, make these two stop! I screamed in my mind. My stomach grumbled—another bad thing added to this day. It’s not like I’m suffering already. If only my arms could move, at least I could be able to stop this begging stomach.
    “Here, try this next” Mal scooped up a mini cupcake with her hand, but as she brought it up, Lenschi turned and looked at me.
    “Hungry, munchkin?” he smiled big.
    “Why would I be? I’m perfectly fine” I stuck up my nose and turned the other direction. I heard El chuckle, but ignored him.
    “So stubborn” Lenschi turned back to Mal and yelped, finally seeing the mini cupcake she held out to him. It was right in front of his face.
    “For you” Mal says through gritted teeth, angry that he ignored her.
    “Oh—thanks” he takes the cupcake and it made Mal smile again. Then he turns and feeds it to me. That made Mal angry again.
    “Mmph” I mumbled. The blue frosting was smeared on my lips and some on my cheeks. It was tasty, though.
    Everyone laughed except for Mal, of course. Mich grabbed a cupcake himself and tried it. El did the same. I tried licking off all the frosting on my face.
    “You missed a spot” Lenschi lifted my chin, staring. “Right…there” he kissed my cheek, taking off the last frosting.
    Everyone started oooing. “How could you!” Mich snorted. “I didn’t know you were cheesy like that”
    My cheeks blushed for a second. Of embarrassment, I’m guessing. “Don’t do that ever again” I growled.
    Lenschi just laughed it off, patting my head. “Hey, kid, welcome to Luna” his smile was bright and warm. Somehow it reminded me of the sun.
    Mal got jealous. She fumbled for a cupcake and pushed it against her face so that the frosting was smeared everywhere. I choked back a laugh. Mich was shaking, trying his hardest not to laugh out loud. El shoved food in his mouth to distract himself from Mal’s weird behavior. I could hear other people giggle quietly to themselves. Lenschi didn’t see what Mal did—until he turned to her because he was confused on why everyone looked like they were going to die of laughter.
    “Whoa!” his eyes widened. “What—”
    “Lenschi” Mal’s voice shook up, either desperate or excited. “I got frosting all over me. Will you help clean it up?”
    We couldn’t hold in our laughter anymore. It came out as a soft giggle, our shoulders shaking. She didn’t seem to notice though.
    Lenschi chuckled. “Yea, here”
    I gawked when he said that, the amusement dieing out of me. He’s going to kiss it all OFF? That’s what I thought until he grabbed a napkin and wiped the frosting off her face.
    Mal frowned, her plan not working out. When Lenschi was finished, he put the napkin down on the table and said, “You should go wash the stickiness off your face”
    Mal was silent for a moment. “Y—yea, right, okay” she got up and left quickly.
    Once she was out of sight, everyone blurted out laughing. Hard. Mich pounded the table with his fist. El’s eyes got watery. Lenschi didn’t know what was going on so he didn’t say anything. I was laughing in the beginning too—that is, until I saw the expression on Mal’s fleeting face. She looked so embarrassed and, well, disappointed, sad. It wasn’t something I was glad to see at all which made no sense because I don’t like her. So if I don’t like her, why do I want to help her?
    It doesn’t matter anyway. I sighed. I can’t move, so there’s nothing I can do.
    “Attention everyone, attention please” a voice boomed, its echo was mighty.
    Everyone turned to face the man that talked. It was Daishaw. He was by a podium wearing the same thing from last time. His long beard still awes me.
    “Weirers, shohns, welcome to LunDa…” he continues talking but I ignored that part.
    “What’s LunDa?” I whispered to Lenschi. All the others were quiet so I felt out of place to start talking.
    “It’s the name of this school” he replied without looking away from Daishaw. I turned back and listened again.
    “…this day is a special day indeed, where one and one becomes two. Together you’ll work for the better good of humanity” Daishaw takes a good, slow look at everyone. “Two hundred years ago was the first war. That man that started it all was a formal sheir. He was strong both physically and mentally. Everyone looked up to him and trusted him. There was no living being that despised him—until he betrayed us. That night was just like this one. It was in the middle of dinner that we realized he left us to the other side. A war broke out in Chencha, bringing terrible misery and destruction”
    People started mumbling about the war, telling each other what they know about it. I was thinking about asking Lenschi about the war, but he looked lost in his own world so I decided to hold it off for now.
    Daishaw continued on despite the oncoming noise. “But no matter how much pain they gave us, we never gave up. Our strength and hope was greater than theirs, and that’s what got us to win the war!”
    People cheered. I didn’t understand since I knew nothing about the war. His speech seemed short too. Not much words. I guess everyone else didn’t need many words to understand where he’s getting at.
    “The world has been calm ever since. But now it’s different. The other side has been stirring up some trouble and we think a war is going to start again. This year will be tough for you, for all of you, but there’s no need to worry. We won once so we’ll win again!”
    More cheering.
    “Today will be celebrated as if we already won and tomorrow will be calm like the day after war” he smiled. “Now, enjoy your food. The ceremony will be held in the courtyard in two days at ten. Be there” and he leaves the podium. I saw him give Lenschi a look before disappearing.
    “Come on” Lenschi grabbed my arm. “We have to go”
    “Ouch—where? Why? I didn’t even get to eat—” my voice croaked.
    “He wants us. Now” Lenschi got up and turned to get the wheelchair, but it wasn’t anywhere in sight. “Where…” he shook his head. “Forget it. Come on” he carried me towards the exit.
    “Hey…hey! Where are we going? I wanted to stay for dinner a bit longer—hey, let me go!” I tried to thrash my arms and legs around but, like always, I forgot that I was still paralyzed.
    We went through the door. It wasn’t the same one that I entered. This one still had the same red doubled door but it came to a different place. We were somewhere outside the school. I knew because to the right was grass and I could see the night sky. Lenschi walked across stoned flooring that led to the other side. There was a dark door in the wall, and I could tell that’s where we’re headed.
    “Lenschi, hey, hey! Will you listen to me for once? Lenschi!” I screamed.
    He didnt say anything for a bit. “Daishaw wants us” then slower, “Daishaw wants us”
    part 8