Cale woke up the next morning to a bright light murdering his eyes soon identified to be the sun. 

Some things just never changed.

He groaned and rolled over in the bed. It was the weekend, finally, which meant no classes and spending the entire day in the library. He'd never liked studying but when the subjects were so fascinating and different, even history got interesting. He was fully prepared to not be leaving the library for the entire weekend, but unfortunately, it closed during the night.

It was a shame too because Cale was rarely this motivated to do just about anything.

Eventually, he managed to muster up enough strength to leave the bed and get dressed. He needed to go get breakfast now if he didn't want to eat with everybody else — something which may require him to share a table and act like he knew what they were talking about. No, eating alone was the best solution.

Dressed in his uniform with his hair once again braided, he pulled on the heeled boots unwillingly. At least he had gotten more used to them and no longer tripped over thin air. Still, he didn't get why the school didn't issue shoes with the uniform, that way he could have left them behind. Sadly, he had had no choice but to take them with him and after all this practice, he was actually getting kind of comfortable in them. A scary thought if ever there was one, because this wasn't his body nor world. 

He didn't want to get comfortable. That would be like admitting that he hadn't been happy with his life before.

It would feel like a betrayal.

The cafeteria was empty when he entered. There were no cooks for breakfast; everything was left all out in the open on a long table and you just picked what you wanted to eat onto a tray. Cale was well used to the routine by now and knew what he liked.

He filled his tray with his breakfast and picked a table in the corner of the large open room with the high ceiling.

Just as he was about to eat, he became aware of the sound of the chair in front of him being pulled out and as he watched, the same young boy that had mentioned Sayer the night before sat down with his own tray. The boy had short light blond hair and a pair of bright green eyes and even Cale could tell he was probably going to grow up handsome. Rather than Calla, who was more along the lines of beautiful.

The boy scowled at him and avoided his eyes. "Sorry," he muttered mulishly.

Cale snorted before he could help it. "Sorry about what? You didn't say anything I haven't thought of before."

The boy just looked down at his own tray. "I didn't mean... of course you can be close with Sayer, you're his cousin while I'm just... that annoying kid that keeps on following him around everywhere. It's just, he said that you were feeling better this year and might actually graduate and I got mad and I lashed out at you. I'm sorry. You didn't deserve it."

Involuntarily, Cale's eyebrows rose in surprise. It was the last thing that he expected to hear. He figured that he should probably repay the honesty with some of his own. "That reminds me, who are you again?"

The boy's eyes widened before he scowled at him fiercely. "Julius Claymore. I'm Julius Claymore and don't you forget it."

Cale smiled. "I won't."

The boy spent the rest of the meal giving him suspicious looks and Cale worried that he might have taken it too far. But there was nothing to be done about it now so he would just have to hope for the best.

Once he finished his breakfast, he left the tray on the table as he left. It took a few steps for him to notice that the boy, Julius, was following him. He gave him a look, but the boy just stared stubbornly back at him. Cale sighed and continued walking. 

Other students were starting to enter the cafeteria for their own breakfast and he didn't want to spend another moment there with them. If the boy wanted to follow him then he was welcome to. All he was going to do was study until his eyes crossed, the same as every other day.

Studying was pretty much the only thing that he did nowadays.

Maybe he should fix that.

Regardless, he made his way to the library, by now having figured out the perfect timing for it to just be opening when he arrived.

Cale walked through the doors unhesitant, amused at the weird look the librarian gave him when she saw him. Doubtlessly, she wondered why he was spending all his time around books. He was the only one that spent all available time there. But it wasn't like he had a choice, he was working on a limited time schedule.

If things went according to plan, he'd be dead within a year.

On the other hand, if things went according to his plan, he'd be long gone this time next year.

He ventured in between the many shelves of the library until he reached the table that he'd claimed as his. It was hidden behind a whole ton of books and impossible to be seen from anywhere else, the perfect place to study in peace. For some reason though, Julius was still following him.

As Cale sat and started to unpack his books from the bag, he glanced unsurely at the boy and tried to work up the courage to say something again, still reeling from the last epic failure. He needed to stop trying to be nice, he just seemed insensitive in hindsight.

Seriously, who asked someone who they were after what was probably a dozen meetings? 

Him, that was who.

He had the absurd urge to hide his face in his hands and hope that nobody could see him.

Cale watched as the boy sat down across him again and started to look through the books Cale had unloaded. "You're reading this?" Julius asked him. He couldn't tell if it was incredulous or condescending.

Maybe both.

"Yes," he answered flatly and took back the book from the kid's hands.

The boy hummed. "You know, if you keep this up, you could graduate. I was serious about that. You have an actual chance this year."

"I plan to," Cale stated.

Still, could he actually keep up this pace of studying for a whole year? He liked reading and the material was hardly boring, but perhaps he could do with some variation in his schedule. A hobby or something like that, something to distract him from his possible death.

Julius stared at him as he cracked open books and notebooks and started up where he had left off the day before. "I've never seen you study this much before. Are you really that desperate to graduate now? There are still four years left before the age restriction stops you from coming back."

Cale looked up from the books and caught sight of the boy leaning his head on his hands and staring at him with bright eyes. He swallowed nervously. "I want to see the world. I don't want to be here any longer than I absolutely have to."

"I suppose you're right. You only just got healthy. Who knows when you relapse?" Julius commented lightly.

Cale grimaced, but it was the truth. Calla had a sick body rife with illnesses. A change in the soul shouldn't affect that. Eventually, it was probable that he would get sick, maybe even bedridden as Calla was so often in the novel. It was only further motivation to do well in his studies and graduate as fast as possible.

Just being in this school made him nervous.

This was an entirely different world, with different laws, traditions, and societies. For someone like him, it was a treasure drove. He wanted to go everywhere, see everything and learn everything there was to know. He wanted to do experiments, see how science and magic interacted and crack open every single book that existed. He missed his home and his family, of course he did, but this was his life now. If he couldn't accept that, sooner or later he'd go insane.

And maybe, just maybe, if he learned it all, maybe he could find a way home, to his own body?

It was a thought that bore considering.

He turned back to his books and resolved to not worry about it anymore. It only brought grief that he could really do without. Maybe this wasn't what he had imagined in his future, but it would have to do. Life rarely panned out as planned anyway.