"So, Hows class going for you in the "genius" class?" Andrew said, taking a seat directly across from Zach.
Upon talking a little bit, Andrew began to understand what he was really missing out on, being much more substantial information and supervision.
Apparently, they had already began to receive special medicine reserved for body tempering martial artists, causing Andrew to be stunned upon hearing this.
"Bruh what, its literally the first day of class... This shits not fair." Andrew said with a sigh, slightly wondering if he should just go to the principal at this moment and reveal everything.
"Yea I was shocked as well, not gonna lie, ill take what i can get though, i got no complaints." Zachary said with a slightly smug expression, as if to tease Andrew.
After about 10 minutes, they began to sense something was going on in the cafeteria, as everyone had begun to get quiet.
Looking around, Andrew and Zach noticed that everyone was looking in the same direction towards the buffet area.
They were curious what caused them to all get so quiet, and then they realized what was going on.
"Of course... What did I even expect..." Andrew thought, not even a little bit surprised at what had caused this, or rather "who" had caused this.
"Look Zach, its your girl." Andrew leaned over and whispered.
Zachary began to choke on his food upon hearing this.
"M-My girl? what nonsense are you on about? Ive never even talked to her before..."
"Yea i guess your right... well see how long that lasts though!" Andrew said through a stifled laugh.
"You cant say she ain't bad to the bone though bro."
"I mean obviously, but she wouldn't be interested in someone like me... Im as poor as they come." Zachary said as he slightly softened his grip on his fork and sighed.
Jus then, before Zachary could feel too sorry for himself,
"Look bro, she's already walking over here..." Andrew whispered, using his heightened senses to spot this without it looking obvious.
Zacharys eyes subtly flicker in the direction Andrews head subtly nodded too, and sure enough there she was, making her way down the aisle staring directly at him.
Zachary began to feel a sense of tension in his chest, "Theres no way she's not just gonna walk past us, its gotta be a coincidence..."
Thinking this, he struck the same position as Andrew, hands collapsed in front of his mouth as if they were apart of some shady business dealing.
After a few seconds, Andrew, who was sitting on the other side of Zachary, saw the new girl stand directly next to where Zachary was sitting.
She just looked at him for a little bit, paying little mind to Andrew who was right there, just delivering a casual head nod before taking a seat.
From Zacharys perspective, he saw a shadow looming over him for a couple seconds, his heart began to race, sweat began building on his face.
Just then, the shadow became smaller in size before he heard the chair next to him getting pulled out, and from his peripheral he saw a pair of white legs slightly come into view on his right side.
"...You gotta be kidding me!" Zachary thought to himself, not ready for any type of interaction with this beauty, especially after Andrews teasings.
"Haha, kid your really just like your Master! When i was your age, I also had countless beauties approaching me. It must all be according to destiny!"
Zachary heard this voice in his head, mechanically craning he neck to the right with a forced smile on his face.
Upon seeing her face though, he immediately felt a desire to look the other way, he felt like he almost couldn't handle it.
Before anything happened though, she took the initiative to speak herself.
"Hello, i'm Maria Collander, whats your name?" She asked simply, a slight mechanical coldness in her voice, although her eyes seemed to speak with "curiosity".
Zachary quickly introduced himself, but Andrew just sat there with his head down eating his food, not wanting to interrupt this new beginning for Zachary.
Secretly, he felt as if he holding back a couple tears, but who wouldn't be in this situation?
He wasnt gonna waste this opportunity, of course, as he very sneakily panned his eyes up just long enough to think "status".
[Status - Maria Collander
Stats - Unavailable
Talent(s) - High Grade Level 7 Elemental Lord (5 Basic Element Utilization, 7X in all stats)
]
Seeing this, Andrews jaw almost fell to the floor.
"System... are you sure you didn't scan this wrongly? This has to be a mistake!"
[The system is never wrong... This what happens when your impatient, you miss out on the real treasure.]
"Fuck You!" Andrew thought, as he began to ignore the systems mocking notifications.
"This is definitely absolutely insane though.... where exactly is this girl from?! She has to be the descendant of some immortal or something..."
It now began to become obvious to Andrew why exactly this girl had quickly taken an interest in Zachary.
In his head, she was either sent here with a purpose or this was all according to destiny.
He was honestly leaning towards both possibilities though, as he began to get a inexplicable feeling in his chest.
.....
Before he even knew it, the bells were ringing signaling the end of lunch time.
Students began funneling out of the cafeteria, hurriedly going to their next classes.
The last people to walk out were Zachary and the new girl Maria, however right behind them seemed to be a dark shadow of despair.
This was currently Andrew, as he looked upon this somewhat romantic scene in front of him of chatter and felt disgruntled and a tad envious.
Not of the sparks of young romance flying in the air, but of his inability to be patient.
"Goddamn it... if only i had waited a few days extra!"
"it is what is is I guess, I cant let hindsight bias effect my next moves... there will always be more opportunities to get her talent in the future."
Thinking this to himself, he collected his bearings, and decided that his next move was gonna be to just use the cards he's already got in his hands to focus on getting stronger.
There was no need to fret, a temporary loss was only temporary if he let it be so...
Zachary Andrew and Maria quickly began their walks towards their next classes, reaching a hallway that branched out in 2 directions.
"Alright y'all, ill catch you guys later, I gotta go down this hallway to go to my next class." Andrew said, dapping up Zachary before he also said his farewell.
Maria looked slightly surprised, finally speaking to him for the first time.
"Which level classes do you take?" she said, with a slight amount of curiosity.
"Basic and Middle tier classes, with one academic mandated by the school... I didn't awaken a talent so this was the best I could do..." Andrew sighed slightly saying this, shaking his head in resignation.
There was a slight change in Marias facial expressions, going from curiosity to surprised before going back to neutral.
"thats definitely odd..." She muttered to herself, before quickly bidding farewell before her and Zachary made their way down the hallway to the right.
"Hmmm, that girls definitely quite perceptive, I wonder what truly is her origin?" Andrew thought, before turning away from their departing figures and heading down the hall.