home, jaemin

chapter thirty-one

waking up again was just like any other regular day, a pain in the ass.

"why did you agree to come if you were just gonna sleep the entire way?" nayeon giggled, brushing a hand through her loose hair.

jiyoung yawned from the passenger seat, adjusting her right leg into the seat and propping it up onto the side of the car door. her right arm followed suit, her elbow pressing against her knee. "i didn't know you guys started practicing at 5:30 in the morning."

"well, now you do. want a coffee?" nayeon asked, pulling into a 24-hour coffee shop drive-through.

jiyoung shook her head, "no, thanks. coffee's nasty. i'll take a hot chocolate, though."

"doesn't hot chocolate mess with your stomach?"

"yeah and so do milk products but i'm not gonna stop drinking milkshakes any time soon."

nayeon laughed, pulling up to the speaker and giving the worker their drink orders. pulling forward, they took the drinks and began their way to the academy.

when they got there, jiyoung just realized how big the building had actually been.

it was a fourteen-story building, rows of white stained glass placed one after another on each row. it was built of bricks, floors made from concrete.

each row held an element in order. the first and last rows were set with office desks, cafeterias, bathrooms, and a few other things. the second row was earth. third, fire. fourth, air. fifth, water. sixth, earth. seventh, fire. eighth, air. ninth, water. tenth, earth. eleventh, fire. twelfth, air. and thirteenth, water again.

each row had one classroom dedicated to non-benders. an example being for the fire bending rows, non-benders were offered sword training. but since there was such a low population of non-benders in the republic, none of the rooms were ever as full as the others.

every few groups were based on status and how good the trainees were.

elemental group one- the bottom four-element rows- the beginners. usually people of younger age, sometimes teenagers as well. their masters are strong, but still the weakest of all in the academy.

elemental group two- the middle four element rows- the average. most train here. it is the group that withholds the most students. their masters are also the middlemen and women of everyone. better than the first group masters, not quite as well as the third.

elemental group three- the top four elemental rows- the masters. both professors and the students. both are top of the academy. mentioned before, jisung's and nayeon's own parents were masters.

each member of the group was already in their mastering states. each of them recognized the academy as the starter for their original friendships. steadily, the eight of them grew into their elements- and nayeon's sword and combat fighting.

"i'm envious," jiyoung laughed, getting out of the car.

as the two walked inside together to find the other guys she swore she could feel someone's eyes watching her and nayeon. just before reaching for the door, a distant sound of a camera click went off.

seeing nayeon hadn't noticed it, she kept quiet, only sneaking a small glance around before walking inside.

"it isn't as fun as it seems, honestly. on weekdays we have to practice from five-thirty in the afternoon to eleven at night. on weekends we have to practice from six-thirty to five in the afternoon. we practice every other week. one week we have complete rest and then the other we come in and train. i mean, it's a bit fun for the guys but then again i don't have anyone in my classes that i'm actually close with."

"you've trained here practically your whole life and have never made a single friend?" jiyoung asked.

"i mean yeah i made a friend or two but seeing as there aren't many non-benders here i've always been alone or in like a class of three or something. kinda boring so i've just focused on learning what i'm being taught instead of trying to make friends with some random people that probably aren't gonna train here for long anyway."

jiyoung nodded, the two walking up to the table where each of the boys sat. the two went to the empty space at the table, sitting between jeno and jaemin.

nayeon sat closest to jeno, the two catching up. since jeno had been so focused on other things lately, jiyoung had taken the liberty of helping out jaemin with some tutoring.

through this time, they were growing closer. they weren't exactly best friends but they weren't mortal enemies who never even looked at each other.

they could talk comfortably with one another without the presence of soojin hovering over jaemin all the time. luckily she had been away for a while now, apparently spending more time in some other country for an extended vacation.

the group of nine chatted amongst themselves and ate some breakfast before heading to the elevators to begin getting ready for class.

nayeon had been excused from her classes after an hour to show around jiyoung- the instructors hoping to have her as a potential water bending student.

the two girls joined renjun, donghyuck, and jisung in the elevator heading to the fire bending floor- where they would first be examining. they would have joined jaemin and jeno since it was the closest to the bottom floor but the boys had a test today that neither girls wanted to interrupt.

"so you guys just train for like ten hours every weekend? doesn't it get repetitive? and tiring?"

jisung nodded, "of course it does. but in return, we learn a lot and an even bigger plus is i'm in the same classes as renjun donghyuck hyungs- so we're practically at the same level. being the youngest in a master class is a major deal here."

donghyuck scoffed playfully, "being in a master class at all is a big deal, park jisung. and at least my dad isn't hovering over my shoulders to perfect my every move."

nayeon stuffed a laugh, reaching a hand onto jisungs shoulder, "i think it's nice his dad tries to help. it's probably one of the reasons he's so good."

unintentionally long chapter 😁