The Food Sage 8 The Ceremony Begins 2/2

Remembering the ceremony, Jacob struggles to get up, "I have to get to the ceremony before it's too late."

Eyes a little watery from waking up, Jacob rattles the bed with vigor, rousing the girl from her slumber.

Rubbing her eyes, the girl gives Jacob a half-smile, "Looks like you had a pretty good sleep."

Not allowing her to gain any ground, Jacob retorts, "You must have had a pretty good sleep as well, I saw you drooling on the bed."

Startled, she looks at the bed and sees a small amount of drool next to where her head was. Flus.h.i.+ng red with embarra.s.sment; the beautiful girl avoids eye contact with Jacob.

"You're such a bully."

Chuckling, Jacob smiles and secretly takes a few more glances at her. Curious about her ident.i.ty, he cuts to the chase and asks, "Hey, we have never formally introduced ourselves yet, I think this would be a good time to do it."

Sneaking a peek at Jacob, the girl says with her head lowered, "My name is Amelia and I'm a new student of the Sage Sect, just like you."

Nodding his head, Jacob says, "That's great that you are new, just like me. You can call me Jacob; I hope that you can help me out when I need it the most." With a smile on Jacobs' face, he continues, "In exchange, I will help you with whatever you need too, just like what real friends do."

"That's awesome. I have no friends. You would be my first friend." Getting up, Amelia extends her arms upwards, stretching, "Okay, Jacob let's get going now. We are ten minutes late. The ceremony started already, without us."

Startled, Jacob rolls up his sleeve to look at the time. Slipping out of bed, Jacob looks back at Amelia with a wry smile on his face, "I hope we don't get into trouble or at least more than we already have been."

Knowing what he meant by that, Amelia comforts him. Putting her hand on Jacobs' shoulder, she says, "I knew something like this would happen, so just like what any smart person would do, I lied. Don't worry; it was only a white lie."

Startled by what she said, Jacob gives her an in-depth look before walking to the door, "I'm curious, what excuse did you use?"

Walking behind him, Amelia reiterates what had happened, occasionally giving instructions to go toward the auditorium, "...And then the guy asked what had happened to you. Wait, we have to make a left. You are going the wrong way."

Finally making it to the auditorium, they meet two teachers standing guard outside, scrutinizing them, one of the teachers question them, "Who are you guys?" Noticing their uniforms, the teachers chuckle a little, "Oh, it's just some late-comers. Why are you both so late?"

Answering their inquiry, Jacob scratches the back of his head while trying to explain the situation, before getting cut off by Amelia.

A moment later...

Finally understanding the situation, the teachers pat their uniform symbols in unison, and the door behind them slowly opens. "Get in there quickly, luckily you only missed the less important stuff, like the systematic ruling for grades and some speeches."

Entering the auditorium, they are greeted by an attendant, taking them to their respective seats. Luckily enough, there are right next to each other in the middle row, respectively among thousands of fellow students.

Puzzled by their seat arrangements, the duo both look at the attendant. Understanding their gaze, the attendant quickly explains, "The seats are not selected based upon academic scores, sign-up time or any other system. The main lecturer of each ceremony has the power to pick whichever seats suit you guys the best; however, sometimes the main lecturer decides that seating is a privilege granted to those that are worthy and only have seats for a chosen few or not even any at all."

Politely backing away, the attendant bows slightly before walking back toward the entrance of the auditorium.

Looking around the auditorium Jacobs' eyes start turning into dollar signs.

"Jacob, stop looking around so much. We have to pay attention to—what is wrong with your eyes." Annoyed, Amelia starts to berate Jacob, knowing that he wasn't listening to her, she turns to look at him, only to find out that his pupils have turned into dollar signs, vivid and life-like.

Still looking around, he mumbles some weird gibberish, "Money, money, money, money, money..."

Embarra.s.sed to sit next to him, Amelia lightly pinches the side of his waist, rousing Jacob from his unsightly actions earlier. Noticing all of the weird stares from his fellow peers, Jacob looks toward Amelia and quickly explains, "You see, I'm not that well-off financially. Not to say that my entire family is poor but my dad and mom aren't well-off right now, due to some issues with their jobs and...are you listening to me?"

Ignoring Jacob, Amelia stares straight at the podium at the very back of the auditorium, listening to the lecture.

Noticing that her gaze is lingering on something that's at the back of the room, Jacob turns to look and listen to whoever is talking.

Noticing a familiar face, Jacob looks behind the guy on the podium and shock appears all over his face.

"Is that my grandfather?!?"

Curious, Amelia no longer ignores Jacob and looks at him with a weird look, chuckling, she asks, "What's wrong, cats got your tongue?"

Returning to reality from his shock, Jacob points at his grandfather and looks at Amelia, "That's my grandfather."

Looking at where he was pointing, Amelia asks in doubt, "Are you sure that he's your grandfather? Unless you are lying about your family's financial situation, then I don't believe that someone as famous and as rich as Grandmaster Galen could be your grandfather."

Reeling in from his initial shock, Jacob sighs but explains no further.

At that moment, the guy on the podium offers the microphone to the head lecturer, switching spots with him.

"I would like the head lecturer for this year's ceremony, Grandmaster Galen, to come on up and deliver a speech to you all."