Dragon Rider in the Modern World.

A new friend and the UN

Valerie POV:

I didn't even think and I spilled the whole story.

"Politicians! That's what's wrong! We reveal ourselves thinking it will be better, that we can help, but we haven't had time to do any of that because we've been focusing on solving the problem of the countries trying to control us! Then, we go and make a statement so that they listen, hopefully, but no! They don't! They believe that because we are teenagers that we can't make our own decisions!" I had been on the verge of tears before, but now I let everything out. How I was stressed because the political situation had made my grades slip, how I always had to be strong and a good leader for the rest of the Riders because I had been the first, everything.

"I don't know how fictional characters do it. How they keep people's expectations up and appear strong all the time. How they seem to be strong and perfect leaders all the time, even if they have their insecurities."

I don't even know how the green eyed boy in front of me hadn't left or done something to calm me down already. I admired him. I wouldn't have been able to watch a complete stranger go into a complete breakdown. Now that I'd let everything out, I was able to stabilize my emotions again, and I stopped crying. I took a few deep breaths, and I stopped crying and breathed. Deep breaths Valerie. Deep breaths. We stood there in silence for a while. This is what I'd needed. Someone to listen to me, to be there.

"Are you ok now?" he asked me.

"Yes. Thank you for listening. I can't believe that you just calmly stood there watching me go into a complete breakdown," I said, a little embarrassed.

"Don't worry. It looked like you needed someone to listen. I'm Callum by the way. Callum Hayes."

"Nice to meet you, I'm Valerie Jackson."

"Nice to meet you too," I now noticed that he had several freckles, although they weren't exactly easy to see because of his tanned skin. "Your dragon is the bronze and blue one right?"

"Yes. That's Isaldrí."

"I like the name. Where did you get it?"

"Honestly, I don't know. Just popped up, and she liked it. Anyway, all this conversation has been about me, and I don't know much about you except your name and that you're a good listener. What do you like to do? Tell me a little bit about yourself."

"Well, I like free diving in my free time, and I love science. I want to be a CSI when I grow up."

"Cool."

We talked for a while, and learned about each other. It felt good to have someone who I could talk to freely without having to worry about appearing to be a good leader, or anything of the sort. Even in the short time I'd known him, Callum seemed like a good friend.

Now that I was back to normal, with the added bonus of having none of the stress I'd had previously, I decided that I was ready to discuss this with everyone else. We needed to find a solution to this problem as soon as possible. I called Isaldrí mentally, and while she arrived to take me back to the Academy, I thanked Callum once more. He really had been a huge help for me, and I was really grateful that he had been there to listen to me and provide that support that none of the Riders could have in that moment.

I said goodbye as I mounted Isaldrí. We'd see each other soon anyway, because he was at my school, although I had never really noticed him before.

Arriving at the Academy felt a little weird, and even if I knew my friends wouldn't judge me for leaving to take some time alone, I felt like I had when I was younger and I had an oral presentation. Back when I didn't have any of the experience I had today, and I tended to end up talking too fast out of nerves of being up there with everyone looking at me.

When I went into the room, I don't know what I had expected, but immediately Raven and Anne, closely followed by everyone else rushed up to me.

"Are you ok?"

"You know, we're all furious about the response they gave us."

"Don't worry," I answered. It made me genuinely happy that they'd worried for me. It proved that they were true friends. They hadn't gone after me, because they knew that I had needed to be alone, but they still wanted to know if I had been ok. "Isaldrí flew me to the library, and between the books and a new friend who just happened to be there I am better."

"New friend?"  Raven asked skeptically.

"Callum Hayes. He's a year above us."

"You sure that there couldn't potentially be anything else?" Anne questioned teasingly.

"Of course I'm sure! He's just a friend, like Eric, Jin and Hans are."

Changing the topic I said "so, what are we going to do about our political problem?"

"It's clear they won't listen to us, which means that we need to find somebody that they will listen to." suggested Diana, with a tone of annoyance in the first part.

"Diana is right," Padma agreed. "any ideas as to who that could be?"

Suddenly, Adele looked as if she had remembered something. "Natalia, you said something about a model of the UN when we were planning the statement right?"

"Yes," She confirmed "what does this have to do anyway?"

"What about if we ask the UN to help us with our case?" The looks on everyone's faces told me that they agreed. Personally, I thought it was a really good idea. It was solid, and would most likely solve the problem in the best way. What I was thinking was exactly what Adele gave as her explanation. In different words, but that didn't matter.

"Ok then, let's vote. Who is in favor of Adele's idea?"

We all raised our hands, and Trixie declared that it was unanimous. Then, we set down to planning how the logistics for that were going to work. 

Hi guys, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Only two more until the end of Modern Rider. I will be rewriting it, to fix a few things that have been mentioned to me in comments and critiques, although that rewrite will be on a separate document, and I won't post it until I'm finished. When I finish Modern Rider, I'll take a break a couple of weeks so I can work on the first few chapters of Legacy, since they are poorly written because I did them for NaNoWriMo last year, and it was a lot about the word count. That's it for announcements. I do have a question though. What do you think about Callum?

~Valerie.