"What about the invites?"
"Invitations only expire if you're someone they simply want as a fill-in, meaning there are extra positions that would fit the invited individual. If a company or place of employment is anxious enough to invite you at the beginning of the new year, there is no expiration date. You can travel and decide when you return. With your extremely popular reputation, you won't have trouble, and neither will your boyfriends. Hopefully, that will give you some peace of mind."
It really did, especially with the idea that there was no expiration date for the invites. It would take days to go through all those envelopes, before narrowing it down, and with school just starting, I'd surely get more.
Including international invites.
"Did you dye Elijah's hair?" she inquired randomly.
"Ah, no," I replied. "His hair has been growing out to a silver lately. I ended up trimming it short because it was too tangled and just not salvageable. The silver roots were coming out. I just made sure everything was pretty even and styled in a way that's easier to maintain when I'm not around and the nurses do a quick comb through."
"At least it will aid in identifying him and his twin."
"Ya," I whispered.
We stood there in silence for a few minutes before I finally smiled and walked over to Elijah's side and picked up his hand.
"Hey, Elijah. It's Brianne. I'm here with Aurora. That's Professor Phoenix's first name, by the way. It's about four in the morning and we have classes today, so I have to go and have a power nap. It sucks that you can't come with me, but I'll take notes for you, almost like old times. I'll continue to visit when I can, and we'll talk later. Promise. Keep getting better. I'm proud of you for fighting through this. You'll wake up, and if you want, we can go for ice cream. Don't have to, obviously, but just as a congrats at succeeding. Anyway, I'm rambling since I'm tired. We're leaving. Keep resting. Dream good dreams and leave your bro to us. We'll get you justice. See ya."
I squeezed his hand and lifted it to press against my forehead. I would have kissed the back of his hand back in the day, but I decided to limit my affection for my own sake.
After lowering his hand and patting his shoulder, I made sure the picture on the desk was still there and then looked to Professor Phoenix.
"Alright. I'm ready to go."
She nodded while carrying a prideful smile. "You're one of the best students I've ever had," she praised. "Your kindness will repay you, Brianne."
"Thanks, Aurora." I smiled brightly, even with my tiredness.
Walking to the door, I turned the dimmed lights off and took a final look at Elijah as Aurora left the room.
"See ya, Elijah. Wish me luck."
One day, all of this will be behind us. Nothing but a distant memory.
"Five-minute break until the next exercise," Professor Phoenix announced.
I paused the doodle I was drawing as everyone in the class began to chatter. Jax was still sleeping on my shoulder while Connor was spinning his pen between the tips of his fingers.
"That substitute was boring as hell," Connor concluded.
"At least Professor Phoenix is back," I reminded.
"Hmm. She did look exhausted in morning class sessions. I guess she needed a break or something," Connor concluded.
I was trying not to feel bad about borrowing Aurora's time to visit Elijah, but it was hard when she needed a sub for our afternoon class to give her some downtime. It could have also been because of how busy today was, being the first day back in class.
We wouldn't be allowed to enter the student council room until this afternoon after classes were over, so we'd used the staff room to keep our belongings and headed to our first set of classes.
Everyone was hyped, like any other first day of class, but we'd been attempting to keep on the down-low in terms of our interaction until we had an official update on instilling policy changes and security updates.
Obviously, we were in charge of all of that, so we'd have to stay long after school ended to get those documents done and sent to the head council immediately so that by the end of the week, things could run smoothly.
I don't think any of us liked the idea of being "behind" but there was nothing we could do about it.
"Is Jax still asleep?"
"Ya," I replied and moved my left hand to gently stroke his head. "Jax? It's break time."
"No," he mumbled the single word before he was right back to sleep like he couldn’t care less that we were in class. I smirked as Finnick and Kaito walked over to our row with their books.
"Was Jax sleeping the entire lecture?" Kaito questioned and reached out to lightly karate chop the top of his head. "Wake up, Jax. Set a good example."
That didn't even make him stir and Finnick laughed.
"Nice try, but we all know he ain't waking up unless Brianne tells him to or the school’s on fire."
Connor reached out to knock on the wooden surface of our row desk. "Please don't jinx us this semester," Connor pleaded. "But you have a valid point."
"When do your afterschool sessions start?" I inquired.
"Kendo is next week," Kaito answered. "Master ZenSu is organizing a few training sessions with other kendo clubs to help us. We may do some of our training off campus since we're using various magic techniques to test it all out."
"We have a team meeting this week, but we're not starting until two weeks from now with the cheer squad," Connor admitted. "The boys did say they want to party this weekend."
"Oh, can the cheer squad come?" I inquired.
"Sure," he replied and moved his arm to rest on my shoulders while ruffling Jax's hair. "And wake the fuck up, Jax. We're discussing stuff."
"No," he grumbled again and snuggled closer to me "Five minutes."
"The break is gonna be done in three, silly," I teased. "If we go to this party, I'll give you first dibs for dancing on the dance floor."
He opened his eyes then to lift his head slightly as he stared at me with those sleepy eyes. "Promise?"
"Promise," I winked.
"Fine."
"Wow," the others stated.
Kaito looked over to Finnick. "Do you have to start doing your project for the festival?"
"Ya. I'm waiting on the final materials and paints, so I have loads of spare time. I got my idea sketched out so it's just concentrating on doing it once everything arrives."
Jax yawned and began rubbing his eyes.
"And I have a shit-ton of work to do on council stuff."
"I can help you out," Finnick reasoned. "Aside from studying, I won't be doing anything else. I know Red and the twins are going to be doing more cheer practice sessions, so if you need backup throughout the semester, don't hesitate to ask. I just need the final week before the festival to be focused on my stuff," he admitted.
"I'd appreciate it," Jax said with a sleepy smile. "That lecture was boring."
"We said that," Connor voiced with a smirk. "At least Professor Phoenix is about to start the last segment."