Riley bastard

After setting Tristen down by Rose, I looked back at Arthur and Bridgette and noticed my attack on Bridgette was getting to her now. I started to concentrate fire and air mana into my hands to make lighting. I saw Arthur making a move, but he was too late. I had enough mana built up, and Boom, I felt my hands burn up as I built up too much mana, and I went flying into a wall.

When I came to, I saw Rose hovering over me,

"You are finally up. The others all went to class, but I stayed to tend to your injuries and make sure you are ok." Rose said

"What happened exactly?" I asked

"Well, as you probably remember, you had started to make lighting go all over your body, and Arthur had started to move, and when it looked like you were going to fire whatever you had planned, but then it exploded in your face, and you slammed back into the wall, and at the same time Arthur had sent a block of ice right at you at it slammed into your face. Rose said

"I see how long I was out for. Actually, it doesn't matter. We should get to class." I said

"Well, class is over. you were out for a few hours." Rose said

"You sat here for that long to watch over me. Why didn't you just take me to the nurse?" I asked

"Traning, I used all sorts of tricks to try to make you heal faster and tried to wake you up. In fact, if you didn't wake up right now, I was going to send a massive burst of nature mana into you," she said,

"That doesn't seem like a good idea. Good thing you didn't have to." I said

"Well, that was the nicest thing I was going to try. If only you knew the other things, you would have rather I done that." She said with a smile 

"Right, and what were those things, if you do not mind telling me?" I asked 

"Your time for the training room is up. It's our turn now. Get out," A rough voice said

I looked over at the door to see five guys. There were two lanky guys in the back and two others in front of them. The one on the left had a scar on his lip, while the one on the right had massive round Windsor glasses. The guy who looked to be the squad leader looked like a dwarf. He was really short, had some hair on his face, and had a massive battle axe on his back. 

"Oh, it is getting late. We should get going." Rose said

"Wait, but I want to know what you tried," I said 

She smiled back at me and said, "It's unimportant. Let's get going. These guys look tough."

I tried to say something again, but she just kept walking. As we approached the door, the dwarf-looking guy grabbed Rose's arm and said, "Well, maybe you could stay a little longer and learn how a real squad works. The bastard can stay too if you'd like." 

Rose jerked away from him and said, "Thank you for the offer, but the bastard here owes me dinner, and you wouldn't want to see me when I'm hungry." 

He looked away and muttered, "Whatever."

We walked out of the training room

"What do you mean I owe you dinner?" I asked 

"Well, I did sit there waiting a few hours for you to wake up. The least you could do is buy me dinner." She said

"I didn't ask you to. This is extortion, and besides, I don't even know where to eat." I said

"Don't worry, I'll pick the place." She said

She took me to a place near the school called The Vanilla Peasant. It looked like a cozy place, almost like from an old children's book. It was weird to see a place like this nowadays, especially in a city like this, with skyscrapers and helicopters flying around all the time. But here it is,

"This is my grandparent's restaurant. It might look a little old, but the food is great." Rose said

We walked inside to a loud greeting: "Is that you, Rose? What a pleasant surprise."

"Hi grandma, is it too late to get some dinner?" Rose asked

"Never too late for you. I'll tell Greg to get today's specials for you two." Her grandma said

We made our way to a booth in the corner of the restaurant,

"So this is a nice place," I said

"Yeah, it's been in my family for 50 years. It is always super busy, so I don't come here very often," Rose said

"By the way, what is today special?" I asked

"Oh, it's fried gushers with fries and a side of cherry pie," Rose said

"Gushers?" I asked 

"They are kinda like rabbits but bigger and well kind of mushy, but they taste super good," Rose said

We chatted for a bit before our food arrived,

"I meant to ask, but why were you selected for this team? I know why Arthur and I were picked, and Tristen is here because of Bridgette, but you are the only one I don't get." I asked

She paused for a second before responding, "Well, I was told it was because of my mom that she didn't want me to fall into a bad squad, so she asked the director to put me in one."

"I see. Well, not like it matters anyway." I said

"Well, since you asked me a question, it's my turn; why did you transfer to this school so late? With your and your brother's skills, you could be in the ten easily, bastard or not, so why not start here?" Rose asked

I hesitated to answer, with bad memories resurfacing. "We never got the chance to come here before our stepmother wanted us as far away as possible, so this school was never an option," I said

"Ok, well, why start now?" she asked

"There was an accident at our old school, and our father got worried and wanted us closer to home," I said

"What accident?" she asked

'It doesn't matter, ' I said, trying to change the subject. I added, "This cherry pie is delicious."

She just stared at me before saying, "Whenever you want to tell me, I'll be here." 

"So what squad was that anyway?" I asked

"Oh, I don't know all of them, but the short one is Sky Jumperman. His dad is on the high council of the school." She said

At the same time, two guys walked in.

"I'm sorry, folks, we are closing up for the night. You have to come by some other time." The granny said

"Oh, no need to worry. We don't want any food. We want whatever money you have in the register right now." one of the guys said, holding a knife roses grandma opened the register, and one of the guys jumped over the counter, pushing her out of the way. I noticed the commotion after Rose, who had already got up, yelled. "Hey, what do you think you are doing." 

The guy on this side of the counter told her to fuck off. She didn't take that too kindly, and pieces of stone rose out of the ground. I tried to reach for my sword when I realized I left them at the school. She sent them flying at the guy with wind magic. He was also a mage and pushed water out at her, slowing the rocks. I made my move and rushed from the side doging multiple blast of water at me but before i could cast anything the guy behind the counter shouted. "Anyone else move, and the old lady will get it." He had Rose's grandma with a knife to her throat.

I was going to make a move when Rose said, "Riley, wait, don't move, please." I froze, unsure of what to do, but when I looked at her, I saw a look of hopelessness in her eyes.

"That's more like it now. We were going to do this the easy way until you interrupted us." the guy behind the counter said as he drew the knife back and forth against Rose's grandma's neck.

"Barney, grab the money so we can go." The guy behind the counter said. Barney jumped over the counter, grabbed what was in the register, and made his way into the back, where Greg was. We heard the sound of a pan hitting the floor, and then Greg got thrown out to the front.

"This fucker hit me with a pan," Barney said 

When he said that, the guy with the knife loosed his grip for a second, giving me time to shoot a wind dart right at his eye.

"Arg, you mother fucker." He said, dropping the knife and reaching for his eye. A wave of water hit me a second later, and I hit a booth hard, but I saw Rose reach her grandma, and the two other guys ran off. The one still cussing with his hand over his eye, saying he would get me for this.

I got up and tried to chase them, but they drove off, so I walked over to Rose, who was helping her grandma up. When she got to her feet, her grandma hugged me and then went to check on Greg.

"I'm sorry I couldn't get your money back," I said

"That's quite alright, dear. You saved me. You did more than Greg did." She said, looking at the man,

"What did you want me to do? I hit him in the head with a frying pan, a frying pan, for crying out loud, and he just took it. Greg said

We helped tidy things up when the police arrived and questioned us about what had happened. I finally got  a chance to sit down, and Rose sat next to me. "we should probably get back to the school it's almost curfew." I said

"I think I'm going to stay here for the night," she said 

"That's fine, but I'll head back. I'll tell them what happened and where you are staying." As I got up to leave, Rose said, "Hey, Riley, thanks for helping my grandma. I owe you one."

"No need for that. I just did what any guy who owed a girl dinner would do." She laughed when I said that. She went back inside, and I started walking to where I thought the school was. After a few turns, I realized I was lost.