Everlance Academy

Chapter 10

"I can't believe that they chose Victorian London over Masquerade as a theme for the ball. Who wouldn't want to run around with a cool animal mask covering their eyes?", Noah pouts, looking at the huge flyer on the wall that announces the result of the theme election.

"Uh, me?", Thalia responds, "these masks are fucking ugly."

No, they're not! And it would have been such a fun guessing game, not knowing who you're dancing with!"

"Yeah. Until your dance partner lifts their masks and it turns out you've been swinging around the dance floor with Mr. Fölle de Nies and not that crush of yours from your self-defense class."

Noah's face turns red like a tomato, and I inhale dramatically. "What crush from your self-defense class? And why have I never heard of them?"

"There's no one. Thalia is just stupid."

"Maybe. But I'm also not blind.", Thalia grins and pats his back, saying, "Don't worry, Noah. You're a ball of sunshine. It's impossible for anyone not to like you. And if they do anything—I mean anything—to hurt you, I will be your personal executor, defending your honor."

Noah's face lights up with a smile. Aw, Thalia, you're such a softie!", he exclaims and ruffles her dark hair while she looks up at him with a whatever the opposite of softie is expression.

However, Noah ignores her obvious disapproval and continues, "You know, my aunt from Belgium always says-"

He gets interrupted by the ringing of the bell, and we all grab our backpacks. "See you guys at lunch!", I yell over my shoulder and hurry to my politics class.

The only other people in there I know are Olivia and Inez from athletics. Olivia sits somewhere in the back, but Inez is my seat neighbor.

"Hey.", I greet her and let my backpack fall to the floor while sitting down. Inez' head is lying on the table, and she barely opens her eyes to acknowledge me.

"Hey June," she croaks back, closing her eyes again.

"Didn't sleep well?"

"No. At midnight, I remembered that the shit essay is due today, and I was awake the whole night to finish it."

I shake my head at her. "Poor thing. But same," I say sympathetically.

"If I could interrupt your conversation with my lesson, June Lockwood? Or should I wait for you to finish?", Mr. Smith's loud voice makes everyone in the room go dead silent.

Under the table, I clench my fists hard, probably leaving marks on my palms. I was by far not the only one talking, the whole class had been chatting. Also, he had only just entered the room, giving no sign that he wanted to start the lesson. But of course he picks on me and only me.

"No, of course not. Excuse me."

"You cannot excuse yourself, only ask for excusion. Didn't they teach you that at home?"

I exchange an annoyed look with Inez.

"Excusion is not a word," she whispers, and I chuckle softly.

"Anyhow, your essays were due today. I expect them all to be on my desk by the end of the lesson. However, I'd like someone to read their work out loud for us to talk about in class. Any volunteers?"

I raise my hand, along with two other girls from the class. Mr. Smith looks around the room.

"Anyone?", he asks again, even though there's clearly already offers. Me and the girls exchange confused looks.

"Alright then," the teacher looks at me, "I'm sure we're all more than excited to hear what our overarching student has to say, am I right?", he laughs.