14. Aurora
AURORA
For a long moment, there was silence. Then Professor Griven cleared his throat and nodded at me.
“I’m sorry we had to have that unpleasantness, Lysandra,” he said, his voice perfectly cool. “But I had to know if you were allowing Larson to cheat off your test on purpose or not.”
“Sir,” I said, my voice shaking. “Why would I do that? I don’t even know him.”
Well, except for the way he’d nearly beaten me up in the Head Master’s speech the day before, but I didn’t think that was relevant.
“I didn’t think you did, but I had to see your honest reaction to my accusation,” he remarked. “Tell me, Lysandra…” he leaned forward, pinning me with a frown. “Why didn’t you come to me after the test and tell me that Larson was cheating off of you?”
I felt my skin heating with a guilty blush.
To be honest, the thought of reporting the huge upperclassman hadn’t even crossed my mind.
I’d already had trouble with him once—I didn’t need to pin a target on my back by telling Griven what he’d done.
But I couldn’t say that, exactly—it didn’t sound right.
“I didn’t know if you’d believe me or not. And…I didn’t want to make Larson mad at me,” I confessed.
He frowned.
“I’m sorry to hear that you’re lacking in courage, Cadet. Your father would be ashamed.”
I nearly choked at his words. Maybe my father would be ashamed of me. But damn it, I was doing the best I could here!
“Professor, have you seen Chud Larson?” I asked. “He’s three times my size and he’s got a nasty temper. I’ll be lucky if he doesn’t try to pound me to a pulp for exposing him just now!”
Griven waved away my objections with a flick of his hand.
“No, no—student-on-student violence is not allowed here at the Academy. It’s strictly against the rules.”
I felt a surge of frustration. He acted as though the rules were going to stop the upperclassman from coming after me! As though someone like Chud Larson cared anything about rules. He was a bully, through and through—anyone could see that.
Anyone but Professor Griven apparently.
“Well, I’m glad to hear that you stopped the cheating as soon as you noticed it, but sorry that you didn’t report the incident,” he said to me. “Generally when a student scores as highly as you did, we move him into Second-year classes and Second-year accommodations.”
“You mean like a room with only two people in it instead of a dormitory?” I asked hopefully.
“Indeed.” He nodded. “Not everyone chooses to accept the upgrade, of course. Some, like Ryse Skoren, choose to stay with their year. In his case, he wanted to be a Wing Leader—we don’t allow younger boys to take command over their older classmates—it causes resentment, you know. So he stayed with his year.”
“I don’t mind about that—I don’t have to be a Wing Leader,” I said quickly.
Professor Griven looked down his nose at me.
“No, I don’t expect you could be at that—you’re far too small. And given your excellent test score, I think you’d be better served in the Second-year academic track.”
“Oh, good!” I felt the sweet balm of relief…but it was dashed a moment later.
“However, you will still be rooming in the First-year dormitories,” Griven went on.
“What?” My heart sank. “But Sir, I was told if I scored high enough, I would be placed in the Second-year accommodations!”
“And normally, you would be.” He gave me a stern look. “But I can’t reward cowardice, Lysandra. You’ll be in the Second-year classes—except for your time on the Flight Simulator, which you will attend with your First-year class. And you’ll be staying in the First-year dorms.”
“But, Sir—” I began again.
“That is all,” he rapped out. “You are dismissed, Cadet! You may go.”
There was nothing I could do but get up and leave his office with the bitter taste of frustration in my mouth.
What had I gained myself by scoring the highest ranking in seventy years?
Nothing but an angry bully who was sure to come after me and I was still going to have to live in the dorms with the other First-years and do my best to hide my true identity.
My good grade had just made my life here at the Academy exponentially harder and there was nothing I could do about it but keep my head down and hope that Larson never caught me alone.