"So...." Cailin mumbles, after a couple of seconds of walking.

Finley looks over at him with a suspicious look. "What?" He asks hesitantly, the brunette smiling evilly.

"Potential partner? Sidekick? Lover?" Finley sputters, face turning red. He opens his mouth to speak, but Cailin keeps talking. "I mean, I get it! He's a looker after a bath. You seem to have taken a liking to him?"

"You and all these assumptions you make!"

"Hey! Stephen is not an assumption, it's a fact! You're like... constantly all over him."

"I will kick your teeth in."

"Really, Fin? How are you going to do that if your feet aren't touching the ground?" He asks, Finley giving him a confused look.

"My feet are touching the ground— AH!"

Cailin picks him up by his feet, letting Finley's knees bend over his shoulder as the blonde hangs from Cailin upside down. Finley busts into laughter. "Cailin put me down!"

"Fin, I can't risk having you threaten my pretty teeth. If I put you down, it's dangerous to my face."

"Cailin! You just wait—!"

"Whoa there, cowboy. Now I really can't put you down."

Finley cannot stop laughing, screaming when Cailin spins them around, only for them both to start yelping when Julian sprays them with the hose. "En Garde!"

The blonde puts his hands on the ground just when Cailin drops him, the younger boy gracefully catching himself. He laughs when Julian continues to spray the water over them. "It was getting a little heated over here, I had to cool it down."

Finley glares up at his dark-haired friend, picking up his straw hat that fell on the ground. He sets it back on his head, grabbing his wand out of his pocket, and raises it. The tip of the starry wand glows bright gold as he waves it in the correct motion. "Allyvay!"

The hose comes to life, shaking itself out of Julian's hands and spraying the boy itself. Julian yelps, laughing, and running for cover behind Cailin who shouts in surprise. The hose goes after the two of them, Finley busy giggling over the situation. He looks up when a shadow crosses over him. "You're going to get in trouble for using magic out of class!" Sarah tells him as she stands above him, arms crossed. 

Finley chuckles, shrugging. "It's worth it."

"Yeah, except for when the hose starts attacking innocents," Ella chimes in, moving to stand next to the younger girl just when more students begin to scream and duck for cover.

   "Oops," Finley whispers, the girls above him rolling their eyes as a council member rushes outside to try and help out.

***

Ninth grade for the boys is beginning in a couple of days. The boys have turned fourteen, one of the biggest ages of their lives. They are currently getting ready for orientation. It begins with a large get together in the theater, where all the council members will make an appearance, and talk about what is to be expected from the students this year.

Then the handoff will begin, where the scholars will be given their dragon eggs. It is performed in the basement, where they greet the female Universe Dragons for the first time. After greeting, they will then walk over to the holding room, where names will be tagged on the dragon egg they will receive. After the handoff, is the gala, where everybody from Gillian is invited to come if they can afford tickets, to congratulate the new high schoolers.

"Will you please sit still?" Christine snaps, as she tries to pull her son's hair back with gel. 

"I can't! I'm getting my dragon today. Today, mother! I can't sit still!"

"Well, try harder, or you'll be doing the dishes for the whole month."

Cailin stills.

"See? Not so hard. Now stand."

The brunette stands up from his stool that his mother set up in front of the mirror in his room. She hurriedly fixes his tie in front of him, Cailin now almost reaching her height as her son smiles at her. "Are you excited for me, mom?" He asks, and Christine hesitates. Her smile is strained as she steps back to look at her son.

"Very. This is a big step for you," she responds, and Cailin nods.

The smile he wears is nowhere near disappearing. "I know, that's what I’ve been saying. Just wait until Sarah gets to where I’m at, I’m sure things will be a lot crazier."

Christine nods solemnly, not looking forward to that day when she is closer to losing both her babies. Of course, they will be still living here after high school is finished, there are always new things to learn at the KSDL. But something in her mind tells her that both her kids will not be staying long after high school. She does not know what has led her to think this, but she is almost certain. Cailin is a very independent person who makes his own decisions. He will not want to be under rules anymore once he grows up to be an adult. But Christine will gladly let him go to make him happy.

The morning after Christine adopted Cailin, the baby was already awake and seemed to be waiting for her. He did not smile, but his eyes were wide, and Christine got the full, beautiful view of crystal blue eyes. They were unnaturally big, eyelashes long and incredibly innocent. It took a moment for Christine to realize she had been staring at him for a little too long, his little feet kicking out. She knew she would get attached very quickly. She knew that when the day came, she would have to let something she wanted to protect, for as long as possible, go. 

A knock at the door sounds and the nanny quickly blinks away her thoughts. She hurries to grab her son’s wand, tucking it in an outside pocket. She brushes Cailin's suit down one last time, before making her way to the door.

She opens it to a smiling Finley and Penelope. "Good, right on time. Everybody should be heading to the theater in a couple of minutes. Come in, I want to take pictures," Christine states, just when she hears Cailin groan from behind her.

"Do we have too?!"

"Of course you do, don't complain. Stand by the fireplace and smile."

Finley quickly enters the room, following Cailin to the small living room where they both stand next to each other. Christine quickly gets out the camera, setting it up so the pegs stand tall to capture them together. "Closer, come on, act like you like each other," Christine tells them, looking through the camera lens and Cailin shrugs. He effortlessly picks Finley up bridal style, making him shout in surprise.

"Better?" He asks cockily.

The nanny slowly looks up at him to give him a glare. Then, she slowly looks back down with a shrug. "Smile," she demands, before snapping the picture. She raises herself as she watches Cailin set a blushing Finley down. "See? That surprisingly wasn't that hard was it?"

The brunette opens his mouth to protest but hears the roar of the Universe Dragon. Excited voices can be heard, as well as feet running along the floors, down the hall.

Christine hurries to put away the camera, Sarah jumping out of her room to smile at her big brother, and Penelope clapping her hands excitedly. "Okay! It's time, you have to go!"

She takes both the boy's hands and begins to lead them to the door. Once she opens it, they see scholars running down the halls, and towards the stairs. "You two go on ahead, we'll see you at the gala!" Penelope tells them, Sarah coming over to wrap the two boys in a group hug.

"Have fun, guys!" She tells them, earning a smile from her brother and a nod from Finley before they quickly dash out of the dorm.

"Stay together!" They hear Christine yell after them. Cailin takes Finley's wrist so he does not get pulled away by the crowd.

"I didn't know there were so many scholars in our grade!" Finley shouts over the commotion, and Cailin grins.

"It's exciting!"

Finley swallows nervously, nodding. "Yeah…. Exciting."

They begin up the stairs, heading towards the fifth floor that holds gyms and the theater. Magic, wisps of enchantments, and colors fly through the large staircases. Children are chattering loudly, shoving other students to the side to try to get up to the right floor faster.

Once they make it, they turn right, and head down a hallway. Doors are lined on each wall that lead to different gyms set up for different things. The door at the end of the hallway is made just for the theater.

Scholars are beginning to crowd as teachers hold the double doors open. Universe Dragons are flying above all the students, making sure they stay in line. Some teachers lead a portion of the line up the side staircases, where more rows of seats in the theater wait for them above the bottom floor. 

The theater is gigantic. Every year, they keep adding more and more seats. The theater is painted red and gold, wrapping around in a semicircle. This way, everybody can see the stage that sits in the back with the red curtains that are currently drawn, so nobody can see what is happening behind them. Four layers of seats wrap around and above each other, whereas the bottom row is much larger and can hold more people.

Soon enough, Cailin and Finley, with a few other students, get led to the bottom row.  Teachers escort them in an organized fashion to the red plush seats. Luckily, Finley and Cailin catch the last seats of the row with the blonde sitting on the outside.

Cailin cannot seem to sit still. "I see Ella and Julian over there!" He states, pointing ahead. Finley looks up to the second row where he can see the two friends standing, waving at them frantically. 

The younger boy grins, waving back before Ella and Julian sit back down. "Are the nannies here yet?" Finley asks, looking around.

Cailin shakes his head. "No, I don't think so. Even if they were, we wouldn't be able to see them. They leave the highest floor to all the nannies and siblings," he responds, pointing to the upper balcony that holds more seats.

"When is it starting? I'm getting impatient," Finley mumbles, slouching in his chair and Cailin smiles down at him. He glances over to the front doors, where the students seem to fall in lighter clumps now.

"Soon. There aren't many scholars coming in now."

Finley takes his wand out from his jacket pocket, thinking he can get some entertainment from some silly spells he has learned over the last few months. He brings the tip of the wand over to his open palm, tapping it twice. "Artiflame," he mumbles, his hand bursting with a ball of fire in his palm.

"Whoa! When did you learn that?!" Cailin asks, blue eyes shining as his pupils turn orange from the flame fluttering around. 

Finley shrugs his shoulders. "Spell books. This is the first one I memorized from Volume One in the library." He keeps his eyes open as he visualizes a rose in his head, the flames bending and smoking as a rose lifts from his palm. The fire twirls and levitates up towards the ceiling.

This catches many of the scholars’ attention, eyes widening. They tap their friends on their shoulders excitedly, some giving evil glances as they try and put the flame out. Water from wands spit into the air, large gusts of winds attacking, but the flame continues on its way. Finley and Cailin watch silently as the blonde imagines it disappearing, and it puffs like a firework into a range of smoke. This makes all the scholars laugh.

"See? Spell books can be cool," Finley states, turning to glance at his friend, only to blush when he sees Cailin already looking at him.

Finley is dressed in a simple gray tux that Cailin guesses Penelope tailored herself. Finley has his long blonde hair, that seems to be recently cut off by only a couple of inches, curled lightly, and traveling down his shoulders. It is pulled up into a ponytail, bangs resting across his forehead, but pinned back by Cailin's butterfly clip. The brunette grins at him after a moment. "You're so pretty," he suddenly blurts.

Finley's entire face turns red as he slouches into his seat, hands on his face as he groans. "That's like... the fourth time you've told me that this week! I get it!" He lets go of his face to give Cailin a comical look of distress. He opens his mouth to say something, but his friend beats him to it.

"I'm allowed to tell you my opinion." He shrugs. "You're my friend, I’ll tell it like it is. Now shush, the council members are starting."