Yellow Sun Academy

Chapter 8: Partners

Hothead:

"You must stay six feet back," Alodia orders, putting up a third finger. "That is rule number 3. Rule number 4. You must address me as Ms. Darreth. Do you understand?"

"Yup," I say with a nod of my head.

"Rule 5. Do not say yup. We are not friends. I am not your 'bro' or whatever. It is either a yes or a no. Do you understand?"

"Yup," I say with a nod of my head.

"Are you even listening to me?"

"Yup," I say with a nod of my head.

"You're going to fall if you don't stop."

"Yup," I say with a nod of my head. "Wait, what did you say?"

Before Ms. Darreth can answer, my foot lands on nothing and I fall over a cliff.

"Hothead," Ms. Darreth shouts, running and peeking over the ledge. Looking down, she sees me hanging to the side of the cliff. As I was falling, I pulled out my sword and stabbed the cliff with it.

"Are you okay," Ms. Darreth asks. "Here. Give me your hand."

Ms. Darreth reaches down and offers me her hand. Having to swing around for a bit, I finally grab her hand and she pulls me up.

"Thanks," I say as I climb back up.

"Don't thank me," Ms. Darreth says as she pushes herself up and dusts herself off. "You're an idiot, you know that. If you pay even a little attention to your surroundings, you would have noticed that giant cliff. What would have happened if I wasn't here to pull you up?"

"Chances are," I say, getting up and dusting myself off. As I do, I look down and see a lot of sharp rocks at the bottom. "I would have a few holes in me. Thanks again for the save."

Ms. Darreth rolls her eyes. She looks past the cliff to the other side.

"North is that way," she says, pointing to the other side.

"Yes," I say, "North is that way, but that's in our way."

I kick some sand over the side and watch as it falls.

"I don't suppose your gift is flight. Otherwise, we'll need to find a way around."

Ms. Darreth and I look left and right. As far as our eyes can see, there seems to be no end to the cliff. It's like one giant, crooked, black line and unfortunately, we're on the wrong side of the line.

"Come on," I say with a nudge of my head. "Let's head this way. Maybe we can find something that will help us get across."

"Like what," Ms. Darreth asks. "Are you hoping the academy built a bridge all the way out here?"

"Not exactly a bridge," I answer, "But more like just two cliffs closer together."

Ms. Darreth runs up and grabs me by the shoulder. She turns me around and gazes at me.

"Are you telling me you're hoping to find two cliffs close enough for us to jump!"

"Well, yeah. That's my plan. Do you have a better one?"

Ms. Darreth lowers her head and sighs.

"That's a no, isn't it?"

Ms. Darreth sighs once more and pushes me out of the way. Together, we walk alongside the cliffside.

"Six feet," she yells.

"Yup," I say with a nod of my head.

Shocker: