Chapter Three - First Class
CHAPTER THREE
First Class
“OPEN UP!”
I jolted awake and wiped sleep from my eyes, grateful to be woken so suddenly after having nightmares all night. They were similar to the ones I had before. I thought I grew out of them, but being here and having the feelings of the past surface again must have brought them back. This time, a pair of eyes fixed on me, like I could be measured. Flames reflected within their otherwise cold gaze. Hooded figures surrounded me through glass, watching as a fire lapped in the corners of my vision. The sound of distant screams had me yelling, but no sound came out, nothing worked to get free.
That eerie feeling the nightmare left me with had me concerned with who was banging on my door. I stared at my phone, which apparently was pre-programmed with staff and student numbers, then realized I was nearly late for class. I tossed clothes on quickly while the banging continued.
“Come on, I know you’re in there,” an unfamiliar voice called out.
Who did this guy think he was? It was demanding and strangely chipper. There was no peephole, no way to know who exactly was yelling outside my door. I cracked it open and craned my head up to see a face with bright green eyes and short, dark auburn hair, smiling down at me.
He laughed, placing his hand behind his neck. “Oh, sorry. That’s awkward. I was looking for Blythe. Is she in there? I thought she’d still be asleep.” His thin, lanky frame stood tall enough it made it easy for him to peer over my head into my dorm room, to my mostly unpacked bag still sitting on the floor. He looked truly apologetic but not at all embarrassed about knocking on what was clearly the wrong room.
The door beside mine opened abruptly.
The woman, looking around my age, glared at him with dark brown eyes through her pink-rimmed glasses that matched her shoulder-length bubblegum-pink hair. As she threw on a bright blue scarf, I wasn’t going to say anything about how it clashed with the giant pink glasses and the dark plaid skirt. It didn’t look like she cared one bit, obviously going for the more eclectic style. I had no idea we were allowed to accessorize like that with things that weren’t provided.
“I wasn’t sleeping in,” she snapped at him. “It’s the first day, I’ve been ready. You know why I’m not going to show up early.” A soft blush formed over her light brown cheeks at the admission, which had me slightly confused. She continued, “And you had the wrong room number. Sorry, hey neighbor! I’m Blythe, and the crazy person banging on your door is Levi.”
“Harper,” I said to them and turned to grab my blazer off the chair, tugging it on.
“Hey, there,” Levi said to me before turning back to Blythe. “You were totally sleeping in, you didn’t text me back.” He sounded exasperated but not entirely surprised.
She scoffed at him and slipped her blazer on.
Levi sighed, doing a goofy, really terrible impression of her as he rolled his eyes.
“Well, class starts in fifteen minutes, so we need to get going. I don’t know how relaxed the famous new Basic Magic professor is. You ready?” he asked.
“I’ve been ready, just waiting on you. Hey, Harper, what classes do you have?”
I pulled out my crumpled schedule from the blazer.
“May I?” she asked. I handed her the paper. “Yup, you’re with me in all my classes. Probably why they put our dorms next to each other.”
We hurried through student services. Our steps on the marble floor didn’t make sound over the students murmuring and rushing to their first class. Curiosity had me watching the people behind desks. Papers caught in gusts of wind magic floated gracefully through the air while they stared at their phones, barely looking up. Down the room were many shelves and doors. A medical sign told me a nurse or health office was in here.
Levi pulled open the door, leading us to the courtyard and into the pouring rain. A still very gloomy sky loomed above. Luckily, the sprawling branches of the tall trees in the courtyard, between the buildings, blocked most of it.
I recognized Trevor cutting through the courtyard toward us. An impressive shield of air magic over his head prevented the raindrops from falling on his pristine uniform.
My hand almost rose, about to wave to one of the only people I’d met here, thinking maybe the pressure of the first day was why he seemed stressed and not wanting to show a new student around. I was quickly cut off when I saw the glare he wore was directly glued to Levi, standing beside Blythe.
Trevor murmured to Levi as he passed, “Can’t believe the academy let you back here again. I thought for sure they would have realized their mistake after registering you a second time. I suppose they do have to give out a certain number of free passes each year—charity and all.”
My mouth dropped open, then snapped shut. I didn’t realize I got off easy by him leaving so soon yesterday.
That thought only reminded me of how my night did end up going, feeling Caleb’s body pressed into mine. His cocky attitude had me smiling all night in a new place I dreaded coming to.
“Don’t act like seeing me didn’t just brighten your whole day.” Levi winked and fluttered his eyelashes. He didn’t seem fazed at all by Trevor’s attitude, so maybe it was a regular way he acted toward most people .
Trevor scowled and kept walking, increasing his stride into student services.
Inside the building filled with classrooms, Levi took off up the steps to another floor.
“What did Trevor mean by free passes?” I asked Blythe.
“Levi got in with a paid scholarship. It’s not at all a free pass. He’s been at the top of his class in every grade before coming here. He’s a second-year now, same as Trevor, and he’s still one of the best performing students.” She waved an annoyed hand in the air. “He’s just so distracted sometimes you wouldn’t know, but he’s one of the good ones.”
“He’s a little odd.” I laughed.
She sighed. “Yeah, but I’m stuck with him.”
“You’re together?”
“No.” She laughed. “Nothing like that. We’ve been best friends since second grade, he was the new kid in town and kind of glued himself to me with questions.”
While we walked, I mentioned where I was from, that the Realm was new to me in a way. We both got silent when we neared the door to our first class. Blythe hugged her bookbag to her chest, looking as nervous as I was. I exhaled slowly. It was slightly reassuring that I wasn’t the only one.
Students poured in through the open door, scattering across the classroom to find seats with their friends. Some looked to have been seated for a while, with books already opened.
I walked past the rows of high tables with black granite surfaces, noting the two tall barstools behind each one. Rain pelted loudly against the tall windows, completely lining one side of the room, revealing the dark clouds through the mist gathering around the corners.
Instinctively, I headed for the very back of the room, past the chalkboard and rows of desks, and was happy to see Blythe followed me. Basic Magic had my nerves on edge, my palms were slick with sweat while clutching the strap of my bag.
My black boots rested on the bar at the bottom of the barstool. The room didn’t look like it was used regularly for magic. There were a few bookshelves behind me. The shelves lined with semi-melted candles, a few cauldrons, and empty vials was not something I was used to seeing on display.
Blythe started whispering through the murmurs of students in the room. “It’s a new professor this year, from a powerful family. He—”
She was cut off, as was most of the room, when a man walked in. This had to have been the professor, judging by everyone’s reactions.
He wore a unique shade of blond hair, bright white, almost silver, as if it held moonlight within it. His eyebrows were already furrowed in deep thought.
A rather large metal tumbler was firmly gripped in one hand, with a black blazer hung over his arm. He wore a white button-up like many of the students, pairing it with a thin black tie, when most of the students wore a bronze one. I didn’t miss how his broad shoulders pulled at the fabric of his shirt.
I didn’t know how they all knew he was the professor if this class was for first-years and he was also new, and by my count, just barely late to class.
My eyes trailed unapologetically down him, as if I had no control. He had a golden bronze tan and wasn’t particularly tall. Levi had him by about four to five inches, and Levi had to have been about 6’3. His height wasn’t why he had such a presence, why he drew my attention. His lean frame fit snuggly against his dress clothes, hidden muscles obvious underneath. I chewed my lip.Clearly, something was wrong with me to be checking out the professor on my first day. I desperately needed to get out after my sucky breakup.
A few steps after walking through the doorway, he stopped and scanned over the class as if searching for something. For a moment, I could have sworn his gaze lingered on me with an intensity, as if he already knew I didn’t belong here, that my magic had been mostly unused and I barely had any control over it.
For that one quick moment, it felt like he knew exactly how I was feeling, assessing me with the darkest, forest-green eyes I had ever seen before.
I hated how bare I felt. His gaze continued over the silent class as if it never paused on me, his angular jaw tightly clenched.
It was obvious that I wasn’t the only one that was completely gaping at him. The two women in front of us giggled to themselves when he walked in. It was hard to focus on the comments they made with the new rush of anxiety that one look gave me.
The woman with bright blonde hair at the desk directly in front of Blythe whispered to the woman beside her. “I was told we’d have a new Basic Magic professor.”
The other one with dark brunette hair pulled into a tight bun, responded, “My parents had me taking extra tutoring just because he’d be here this year. I didn’t know he looked like this in person. ”
“Right?” the blonde one said, flipping her hair over her shoulder and staring back at him.
I let out a low breath, clutching the bottom of my plaid skirt. It had to have been a mixture of me being self-conscious and nerves on the first day. He didn’t notice me.
The professor walked over to the board without saying a word, setting his tumbler on the polished wood desk and draping the blazer over his chair.
“He looks kind of young to be a professor,” I murmured low to Blythe.
“He’s 25,” she responded instantly.
“How do you know?”
She nodded to the board.
The words appeared on the black chalkboard before my eyes as he adjusted his tie. I imagined the professors at this academy would be tough, but he looked already fed up with the students here. I wondered if he just woke up angry or he already hated his job.
The board now read: Nickolas Ares. Basic Magic, Year 1.
“ That’s Mr. Ares, ” he announced to the class, his tone tight, deep and slightly annoyed.
“Ares? Like in the academy?” I whispered.
“Yeah, he’s from an old family—and owns half the school. Most people in the Realm already know who he is,” she said shyly, glancing down at the book she buried her face in.