Good I found out in advance then.
The class was going to be fun because I liked Professor Pillay, but pretty basic after learning so much about gardening and agriculture from the hobgoblins. It was another instinct to fairies, and from glancing at journals, it seemed almost impossible for a fairy to kill a plant under their care.
So really, I was simply there to enjoy playing in the dirt and the plants and walk out with an easy grade. Nice.
It was the first class I had with outside students from the exchange program though. I didn’t notice it at first, taking a station at one of the ends near the other exit and going over the syllabus that was handed to me as I walked in. But moments later, I had a guy join me and was chatting me up.
And that had yet to happen since I’d arrived at Artemis.
Like at all. I was the non-elite unknown that everyone looked down on until I made friends. At first, I assumed the guy was talking to anyone else other than me.
But then I realized no one else was around.
I blinked up from the syllabus and glanced at him before checking I was right.
“So your ears do work,” he chuckled as if cracking a seriously funny joke instead of insulting me.
I smiled brightly at him. “Yes, but so do my manners, and talking to someone while they’re reading and preparing for class and expecting them to entertain you because you want it is considered rude to most people. You know, those ones whose brains work.” I looked back down at the syllabus and it took everything I had not to smile when I saw him flinch out of the corner of my gaze.
Wow, he was slow on the uptake there. It took him a few beats to catch that insult?
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to bother you,” he tried again, completely ignoring what I’d just said. “I was saying that your necklace is really pretty and I wanted to know what it was to get it for my girlfriend. Can I see it?”
I didn’t even look at him as I flipped on my telepathy. My suspicions were confirmed in under five seconds and I snorted. “Wow, you’re so super clever, and no one else would have thought of that plot to get me to take off my essence charm to figure out what species I am. I mean, it’s not like you’re subtle or anything. It took you five seconds to go right for that with the lamest excuse ever.”
“I don’t know what you mean,” he argued. “How was I supposed to know that was an essence charm? I don’t even know your name or—”
“Or that I’m a telepath apparently,” I drawled. I flinched when several guys across the aisle burst out laughing, focused on the guy.
“What a douche,” one of them said, elbowing his buddies. “The idiot from one of the lowest ranked schools thought he could walk in here and just do what none of us could. Hey, why don’t you try to rip it off of her in sparring? That worked well for the last guy who tried too.”
The exchange student glanced between us before focusing on me, clearly dropping the act. “What did you do?”
“I worked on his flexibility by folding him into a pretzel and breaking more bones then he could count on the hand he used to try and steal my charm.” I waggled my eyebrows at him. “I’ve had council aides come after me, and they’ve run screaming. I’ve had Underground come after me, and they’re in supe prison. But yeah, sure, you’ve got this. You go on with your bad self, dude.”
He had enough good sense to admit defeat, tucking his tail and hurrying off to anywhere other than the spot near me.
I glanced over to the guy who had interjected and saw him watching me with amusement in his eyes. There wasn’t a hint of hostility or the desire to find out himself. After a few moments, it hit me why.
He was a dragon. I recognized him from the gathering of dragons the day I saved the Diazes and came back to campus. He was one of those who knelt before me in thanks.
I dipped my head to the guy, letting him know I had pieced it together. He shot me a wink and turned back to his friends. I was cool with that. We didn’t need to be friends or pretend our goals would magically converge because I’d done his people a solid… But it was nice to see they had stopped seeing me as an enemy, instead as an ally to speak out for if I needed it.
That was some nice fucking progress in a year.
But not too much, as the spot next to me stayed empty after I scared off that guy. Fine by me.
Once class was over, I met up with everyone for lunch, noting that energy danced over my skin when Hudson went to sit by Juan and Lucca… And Lucca wouldn’t stop staring at me as if I was on the menu. The cafeteria was abuzz moments after Darby leaned down and gave me a kiss. I heard whispers about us being back together from at least a dozen people when I went to get more food.
It was better they got it out of their systems and moved on.
Right, like they would ever just move on from me. Stalkers.
My last class of the day was Shifter Culture I, taught by Professor Puth. He was a wolf shifter, a very Beta
