If only I had a say, the magical hierarchy would be long gone.

Sitting outside on the street during lunchtime is a daily recurrence, since most of the spellcasters I go to school with think that by hanging out with me and my dirty blood, they'll lose their magic, as well. And it's not like I can sit inside, under the dry, fanned air anyways, since during lunch when everyone is out of class, the small southeastern campus can't hold all of us, so I just had to get the short end of the stick. Apparently, making money off of students is more important to our headmistress than our comfort.

I live in a land of classism and materialism, that's the sum of it.

"Can you pass me a cigarette, Griffin?" I ask my spellcaster boyfriend, the only reminder that not all of them have a superiority complex. He reaches into his backpack to take out the cigarette pack then passes me one.

"Finally decided to indulge in the pleasures of life, huh Ms. Freya?" He replies while flashing me his award-winning crooked grin, the one that made him feel approachable from the start.

"Watch it, kid. I promise you no one knows how to indulge in these simple pleasures more than noncasters such as yours truly do," I playfully roll my eyes, "it's not like I can manifest fucking fireballs for fun," I continue while watching him light the cigarette he gave me with a spark that ignites from his own brown fingers after he murmurs a short spell.

"Hm... yeah, I am superior in a sense," his joke makes me lightly slap his arm, but I finally give in and put the cigarette in my mouth, inhaling the smoke for the first time in my life. Immediately, the irritation goes down my throat, leading me into a coughing fit that makes me feel like a yapping puppy, while he goes into a laughing fit.

"For Ester's sake, how do you handle this shit?" I grunt, throwing the coughing stick on the ground, and wincing at the remaining itch in my chest.

"Aye, no littering," Griffin commands as he gets up off of the sidewalk we were sitting on to grab the cigarette and throw it into a bin.

"Well okay, Mr. Soon-to-be-government-official," I mock while sticking my tongue at the smiley boy, even though he knows how proud I am of him for already having decided on his path.

"Or soon-to-be Chief of Esterden if my dreams decide to come true tomorrow," he replies while poking my pale nose, then rests his head on my shoulder and starts running his fingers through my curly black hair, "imagine if I actually do get the role though, and you become a famous artist, we're gonna be a power couple I just know it." I snort as soon as he brings up my role in his future plan.

"Depends on what major accepts me, for all you know I might just end up being the Chief's trophy wife," I smirk looking into his amber eyes, but he shakes his head.

"If I know anything about Freya Moon, it's that she won't just sit back while someone does all the work for her. I've seen your paintings, I know how talented you are, if I have hope that I'll get appointed as the oh-so-powerful Chief, how do you not have hope that you'll get accepted into art school?" As soon as he's done with his motivational speech he plants a kiss on my lips so soft it feels like I'm kissing a feather, yet still full of all the affection this angel of a spellcaster has to offer.

As much as I want to figure out my own path, having him by my side has been my source of light these past few months, so I can't help but smile into the kiss.

RING

The sound of the school bell breaks us apart, ordering us to return to class. Ian gets up first and offers me his hand to help me stand.

"You'll come to the Appointment Ceremony tomorrow right?" He asks as we cross the gate into our high school's campus and we walk to our respective classes.

"I will," as if it's a choice, but I choose not to complain. "I do want to be there to cheer you on if the Crystal chooses you or pick up your broken pieces if it doesn't." He laughs softly while faking a wince as I bring up the latter.

Part of me hopes that I didn't hurt his feelings with my pessimism, but I'd rather call it realism. Just because I'm personally a noncaster doesn't mean that Griffin is the only young spellcaster in Esterden. It's too bad I can't actually tell how he's feeling since he feels the need to flash a smile at me no matter what I do or say. I must've saved someone in my past life to get so lucky as to be with someone so kind-hearted, and he might've killed someone considering how he just had to end up with me out of every female ever.

"Can't wait to see you all dressed up, then," he says before leaving me with a kiss on the cheek as soon as we get to my history class and he heads off to his own.

"Ms. Moon, what did we say was my rule about PDA?" Mrs. Andelline, my absolute favorite teacher in the world, warns as soon as I walk in.

"Then I guess it's good for the both of us that I didn't do anything inside your classroom, Mrs. Deli," I retort, flashing the fakest smile I could possibly muster at the middle-aged grouch, to which she rolls her eyes as I head to the middle of the room to take a seat.

"Well since your dear classmate thinks her impudence is so hilarious, we're now going to have an oral pop quiz, and you can thank Ms. Moon for that," she announces to the entirety of the classroom, resulting in the grunts and groans of most my classmates, with the exception of a couple of students who I notice are trying to hide their laughter. Looks like my impudence is indeed hilarious, Deli! "Freya Moon, the first question is for you. What role does the Mortal Council play in Esterden's politics?" Wow, I've never heard that one before!

"It's an organization here that connects our government with the human governments for security and peace purposes," her eyes widen at my response.

"Well," Mrs. Andelline stutters, not wanting to praise me, "I see you've been paying attention. Shocking." No, Deli. It's that we've literally been studying the same shit since elementary school, and I'm a senior in high school now so you should be more shocked if I didn't know the answer.

"And in return, they get to take notes of our political and technological advancements so they can implement our brilliant growth plans in their own lands!" Emrys Jaistal, our resident asskisser, blurts from the front of the classroom.

"No one asked you, Mr. Jaistal," our teacher mumbles to him with a glare. Sheesh, even sucking up doesn't save you from her crankiness. Oh well, at least now my question is over with and I can block out whatever else Deli has to say until class is over.

I'm glad we'll have a day off school tomorrow, but the reason I'm actually excited is so I can see Griffin, he'll look so good in the suit I just know it. I mean, getting to see the combination of his platinum hair, his dark skin, and the lamé suit? Sometimes not being the hot one in the relationship has its perks.

I hope he'll be in a good enough mood to come home with me tomorrow after the ceremony is done so I can use him as a drawing reference, and I also hope that I'll suddenly get artistic enough to know how to get the texture of the fabric down on paper.

I wonder if the Chief is going to be someone I know, that'll sure give my school committee an ego boost. Whatever the criteria are, I sure hope it ends up being Griffin, he truly deserves the world. No wonder I'm falling even more and more for him.

Am I brave enough to tell him that, though? Absolutely not.

"Too bad for Ms. Moon, of course," I snap out of my thoughts and look up as soon as I hear Mrs. Andelline say my name, to which I furrow my eyebrows in confusion. "Oh right, I probably jinxed her when I said that she paid attention at some point," she rolls her eyes, "we were talking about how the Appointment Ceremony is tomorrow, and how it is so unfortunate for you and Daphne Styre that you're going to be the only students from our school who'll go even though you already know you won't get the role," she fakes a sympathetic scowl.

"Not having to be responsible for a whole kingdom?" I snort with a smirk, "Count me in." At least that shut her up, I really don't know why making fun of noncasters is this grouch's only form of entertainment.

By the time class ends and I can finally go home, I feel like I have a pile of bricks on my back. For a country full of spellcasters, I would've thought that the people making these chairs would at least enchant them to make them more comfortable.

Ah yes, it's time for our resident asskisser to turn into our resident showoff.

Emrys honey, showing off that you mastered the flying spell isn't as interesting after you've done it every single day for almost an entire school year. The younger kids do find it top-quality entertainment for some reason, though, and I briefly glance over at them as they all gather to watch the way he begins to levitate before fully floating in the air and flying towards his house like a moth. Is he aware that there really should be more to a person than memorizing spells and constitutions?

Take Griffin Hearva for example.

A shame he can't walk home with us today while he's at the afterschool dueling club, but then again it's less embarrassing for me. Every single time my dad sees Griffin he starts telling him embarrassing childhood stories or he makes the poor man spend an entire evening with him and my brother watching hoverball matches.

"Freya!" I hear a shout coming from the back, and when I look back I'm met with the enthusiastic faces of my siblings running towards me, Kaia probably got a full mark on a test or assignment. "Guess whose history teacher told her that she's ready for liberal arts academies already, even though she's a freshman," Kaia beams at me with her violet eyes. Imagine getting praised by your history teacher. Over Deli's dead body.

"How is it that we're sisters yet your favorite subject is my most despised one?" I tease while we begin our daily walk home through the thick humid air of our lovely Esterden, "How was your day, Oliver?" I turn to my brother and Kaia's twin.

"The day just kept going on and on and on," that's my boy, "everyone's talking about the Appointment Ceremony tomorrow—"

"Yes! I'm so excited for you to go, Freya! you're going to a once-in-a-lifetime event," Kaia cuts off Oliver, "I really hope the next Chief is going to be better than Chief Delwyn, though," she murmurs with a glance at the high monument a block away that was built in honor of Chief Delwyn's victims.

"I don't even care about who actually gets picked," Oliver tries to lighten our empathetic sister's mood, "I'm just excited that Freya is gonna see the heir to the throne in person, the real once-in-a-lifetime event here is a noncaster coming face to face with royalty. Oh and Frey, from what I've heard the prince is actually pretty young so be a doll and get me his number," he gushes to me with an exaggerated wink, leading me to let out a loud laugh at the fanatical boy and ruffling his black hair, but Kaia just rolls her eyes.

Once the conversation quiets, I glance to my right at the beach that's on our path home. The waves of the Pacific look so serene and silent today, if I didn't have two fourteen-year-olds with me, I could've sat there to sketch out the beautiful waters for what would probably be the hundredth time. But while I'm caught up analyzing the view, we reach our bungalow.

"Mom, dad! We're home!" I announce once we set foot in and take off our shoes at the doorway.

"Hey kids," our dad greets us from the curtained living room where the only source of light is the muted television. "What, is Griffin not with you guys today?"

"Unfortunately not," Oliver replies with a pout which my grown father mimics.

"Oh no! How will you two ever survive without Griffin to shriek your way-too-loud sports commentary to!" I tease faking a gasp before I head over to the much-brighter kitchen to see my mom tending the stove. "Hey mom," I give her a kiss on the cheek.

"Hey Frey," she responds without looking up, "the mailman brought your dress for tomorrow, it's in the box on the dining table." This should be good.

I go over to the table to find a box with a large purple stamp on it labeled 'Esterden Cultural Authority' and I tear through the box's taping with my long black nail. Inside, I find the same mid-length purple lamé dress pictured in history textbooks. There are a lot of aspects of Esterdenese culture I don't care about whatsoever, but I'll be damned if our ceremonial clothes aren't beautiful. Running my hands over the fabric, I note how rough yet stylish it is.

"They're really wasting a perfectly good dress on someone who literally has no point in going," I say to no one in particular as I put the box on a nearby counter.

"Just enjoy it while it's happening, it's not every day you get to go to national ceremonies," she scoffs, finally looking up at me with the same violet eyes that Kaia inherited but unfortunately I didn't, except that hers are duller with age than my sister's. I just sit back and wait for mom to call my dad and siblings for lunch.