The Mating School

Chapter 12

Lily was halfway through her salad when Anne caught up with her.

"You'll never guess the most amazing rumor I heard!" She said by way of hello.

"Are they going to have a sledding day?" Lily guessed.. a bit wildly. A chocolate fondue party was her next guess.

"More amazing than that!" said Anne. Her eyes were alight with excitement. She leaned closer to Lily and whispered confidentially, "It's about how you and the Lycan are ...mates!"

"Ryan?!" I said. I couldn't help but laugh. 

"Holy ..goodness," said Anne. "You're on first-name terms too?"

"I ..well," Lily said, not knowing she wasn't supposed to refer to him by his first name. These kinds of things weren't exactly listed in the printed code of conduct. "No. We're not really."

"Denial," said Anne, perhaps to herself. 

"It's not!" said Lily. "Honestly it's nothing. We looked at each other once. That's all it was. This school has a gossip problem if that was morphed into such a grandiose mate rumor."

"I guess there is a bit of a gossip problem," said Anne. "I guess that means Barbara doesn't actually turn into a mealworm on the full moon."

Lily laughed, "It's not likely."

"So you're not mates?"

"I don't think so," said Lily.

"You sure you're not mates? There wasn't a warm tingling all over?"

Lily paused. There was a connection. Could they be mates? Since she doesn't shift, maybe connections and sensations are different for her. And yet... maybe not. "Um, I don't think so," said Lily at last.

"I heard he wouldn't stop looking at you all lesson," said Anne. 

"I think that's exaggerated. It wasn't more than a glance." 

"Well yeah," said Anne. "Maybe. But even so, it seems he's never 'glanced' at anyone else."

Before more could be said the pre-bell rang. And the remaining students started packing up and heading to class.

Lily thought about asking Anne about the Class Markers. If anyone knew about them, she would, but she was already getting up, and taking her food tray to return it to the roundabout conveyer near the exit. So she instead looked at her schedule to see where she needed to go next. Fighting Defense.. room S592. 

She'd forgotten how stressful the first days, in a new place, can be.

'Exciting too,' said a small voice in the back of her mind.

"I guess so," she said absentmindedly heading towards the staircase that would take her down to the third lever. She wondered what Fighting Defense would be like. She wondered if she should tell the teacher that she couldn't fight to save her life. She wondered if she should mention that she wasn't able to shift... And yet, it seemed like the school had more information on her than she would like. The Ahjuta Alpha might have told them about her not shifting... and yet, she couldn't be sure if he knew. 

She couldn't be sure why, but she was reluctant to be forthcoming about it. What if they kicked her out of something... How would she help her orphaned family then? 

No, she'd better keep things like that to herself. Better safe than sorry.

"Are you going to breakfast Lily," said Sophie, Lily's roommate, the next morning.

Lily winced as she finished combing her hair in the bathroom. Her muscles ached with every breath. "I think I hurt too much to go to my classes today." 

"Nonsense!" said Sophie. "Did you read the code of conduct? Skipping class isn't allowed unless you've been admitted into the infirmary."

"I'm guessing I'd have to walk to the infirmary to be admitted?" said Lily, opening the bathroom door.

"Yep, and I'm not sure if they accept patients just for muscle soreness."

"Well, that's messed up," said Lily. "I guess I might as well go to breakfast then."

"Are you hurting that much?" asked Sophie a few minutes later on their way to the dining hall.

"You were in the fighting class. You must have seen what a fiasco it was."

"Well," said Sophie, trying to think of a way to put it nicely. "I suppose it'll be easier if you start winning your matches."

"Maybe," said Lily. "Assuming they don't kick me out for my fighting inadequacies. I still don't understand why they would assign me all these hard physical classes. It just doesn't make sense."

"Maybe they see something in you that you don't," said Sophie as they turned in the dining hall corridor. 

"Or maybe they made a mistake," said Lily with a sad sigh. She couldn't help but think about all the years she'd worked as a servant. She thought about how when she dried the dishes she would dream of an opportunity to be seen as an equal, and to have the opportunity to grow. And yet, now here it was, and ... it wasn't that she wasn't grateful... it's just that it turned out to be a lot more challenging than she could have expected.

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