I had to report my presence to Nuvian's school after the calls made for my parents were ignored. My parents were at work, planting the breed seed Mom made which was why they were not able to take the calls. Miraculously, about hundreds of them in a short month. I was called to the head office and was notified that I needed to go to Nuvian's school any time of the day.
I decided to make it on lunch, I didn't wait for Drev to finish his usual noon talk with Ms. Halia but I did tell him of the appointment, nodding but almost hesitating to let me leave without him. It felt good to be back to my old school, Kraksen level. I couldn't help but smile when I saw the wishing well where I was pushed by Bebim after I told her that her skirt didn't look good. I never saw Bebim again when we moved to Fredran level, I didn't know what school she went, she just disappeared. I missed her so much, she was my closest friend, we fought and made it up by just sharing foods or letting each other borrow crayons, eraser, stylish stickers, hair pins, et cetera.
I went straight to the head office as what I was instructed. Much had changed since the last time I was here, three to two years ago. Stones were painted as the same color of the Kevan flag - white, yellow, and red. The fish pond was now larger and livelier with goldfishes swimming around. The hallway was richly lighted and the old library was down and was replaced by an audio visual room as what the signage above the entrance said.
I was greeted by Mr. Penale. He was now balding, chin sagging, but still authorative to look at in his suit and tie. Though the school environment had changed, his office somehow remained untouched by renovation. The same old wooden furnitures, family photo hang on the wall behind him, stack of folders resting on a paper rack on the corner, his desk nicely polished, I could see my reflection.
He scanned through the paper he was holding, fastened in a blue folder that was labeled: Atruf. The same sport Relis and Nuvian play. He put down the file, and cleared his throat with his hands clasped on the desk. "Good morning, Ms. Erlijan," he paused, hesitating to say the next words. "The...sister?" And his eyes fell to my hair, it happened a lot that all I did was smile and nod, as if not offended. The Erlijan was known, yes, because of the orange farm so everyone knew I was supposed to have blonde hair of either gold shade (mom's) or sandy (dad's) or a mixture like Nuvian's.
Judging his greeting, he didn't recognize me. Of course, I didn't expect that. I was never been called to the office when I was in my Kraksen level, but then I had been here once when Nuvian got into fight. Eyeing the file, pretty sure the matter wasn't Nuvian creating a fuss in school, it was about Atruf.
"Good morning, Mr. Panele. I'm sorry I couldn't make it but on lunch," I lied. I had a vacant period on Women Lifestyle but I was too excited to drive my car without Drev since when he was a passenger, I couldn't go over 60kph because he gets scared or he would tell my parents.
He waved a hand in the air. "No problem. Well, I'm sorry but this matter couldn't wait since when the school finds even a little bit --" he held his thumb and index asymptotically, "problem on our students, we take action right away."
I shrugged, unsure of what to say as he mentioned 'problem'. He went on, "Nuvian's adviser sent me a report of his weekly school performance, you know the boy aces in Atruf so the academic performance must be monitored and it appeared to have declined the past two weeks."
"Yes, but he is making up?" I asked, aware that Nuvian's energy was back since he said thoughts about Lily wasn't much pain anymore. I stole a glance at the file, it was opened on the page of Nuvian's background, with a photo of him smiling widely at the camera and raising a gigantic Atruf trophy.
Mr. Panele looked again at the report and rested back on his seat, swaying in thought. "He is. But my suggestion, we don't want to waste such potential in playing Atruf, do we? It would be great if he aims for more than 8 so he could get into an excellent Fredran school in the next school year. In the future, he would bring glory to Keva in the name of Atruf!"
