Teeth »ᴄɵᴍᴘᴌᴇтᴇ«

TWO

TWO

Archie stuck with me, even after P.E. He was chatty, and kept the conversation going for both of us. I didn't speak except for a few umm's which somehow managed to make him talk even more. He was nothing like an actual leopard. None of the shield nïeten actually were their animal, I'd realised that we just had the tail and ears, and the predator, prey instinct. Basically, Humans with ears and a tail.

"...going the wrong way."

I stopped to look at him. "What?"

"You can speak?!" He asked, sounding so surprised, I would have taken it as an insult if I had talked before. When I just looked at him, his cheeks turned a tomato red, and answered my question. "We have an assembly to today, I think. I mean, I saw loads of the students head for the main hall."

Following Archie, we found that he was right. There was an assembly. We were the last two to enter, but we weren't late. The headmaster, an averaged height man with long black hair and sea blue eyes, stood at the front of the raised stage, waiting for everyone to settle. I looked around for his shield who was – from what I'd seen earlier, when I'd been greeted by the headmaster – very protective of his blade, the headmaster. I saw he was standing towards the back of the stage to the left. Remembering him from earlier, I knew he was over six-foot, and was a grey wolf. Snow white ears, silver hair, pale blue-grey eyes, and a white bushy tail. Watchful. Feared because he did his job well.

"I have called this assembly due to the fact that this Friday, the blade's will be arriving."

The headmaster waited while the students whispered in excitement. I frowned, and Archie must have seen it.

"What's wrong?"

"What's all the excitement about?"

He blinked at me, then suddenly remembered that I'd only joined the nīeten culture today. "If we find our blade, we can leave here and go to a place where the bonded go. That, and the bonded pairs are allowed to fight."

I mentally rolled my eyes. Fighting, of course that would excite them. Thankfully the headmaster had had enough of waiting.

"Silence!" he commanded the room which immediately complied. "They will be arriving midday. Therefore their will be no classes this Friday, since we will all be having lunch at midday.

"Now, onto less exciting news. You will all be having tests. Yes, you must all take them. There will be a test for all your subjects, except P.E. You will be having a maths test tomorrow. Science test on Wednesday. And a Sociology test on Thursday. During the days for the tests, you will spend your lesson time revising. Your time after lunch will be spent on the English paper due in on Thursday. We will give out the results on Monday during the assembly.

"Any questions? No? Good. Then you may leave."

The next couple of days passed in a blur. I was getting used to the way everything worked. Getting used to Archie walking with me, talking about nothing and everything. And I'd learnt something, don't tell Archie anything extremely important, the wrong people might find out. When I'd told him he shouldn't listen in on other people's conversations, he'd said that it wasn't his fault they were practically shouting it out for all to hear. It made me wonder how good his hearing was.

The maths test on Tuesday had been easy. I'd found the science test I'd had yesterday hard. Science wasn't my favourite subject and Mrs. Evanton hadn't really cared whether I passed or failed. Sociology hadn't been too bad since Archie had actually been helping me during the time we were supposed to be doing our English, but it didn't matter since we'd both finished it at the start of the week. Now, all we had to do was wait for the results.

Currently, everyone was back in the main hall for another assembly about the blade's turning up tomorrow. I saw the headmaster up on the stage, but his shield slid into the seat next to me.

"Wait afterwards." Then he stood and went to the stage to stand where he had before on Monday.

Archie voiced my question. "What was that about? I know you haven't done anything."

"Probably my mum." She was out of jail today. And with that thought, I felt my shoulders relax, felt relief that she was no longer in there. She shouldn't have been put in there to start with.

"Good afternoon," the headmaster started. "I want to go over what will happen tomorrow so we are all aware. Anyone who is not in this assembly, will be told later. Yes, we have their names.

"In the morning, Prey, you may do as you wish, you may sleep in if you desire. However, everybody should be up and ready at eleven. At twelve, the blade's will arrive, and will be shown to the grand hall for lunch. Everybody will stay in the grand hall and welcome the blades to our school."

This room was the main hall, used for assemblies, and entertainment. The grand hall was the canteen. It was large enough to hold two thousand people, and this school had seven hundred students, and around seventy staff, so I knew the blade's school would probably hold the same amount. Everyone would fit in the hall. It was keeping the predators away from the prey that would be the hardest part.

"Classes shall be a little different since the blade's will be being taught with us. Hence the tests. The results will allow us to move you all in to appropriate groups. Another thing, before we leave, you will all have to share a room with a friend, since one of you are going to have to give up your room for the blade's, of course, they will have to share a room also."

That started the talking again. But the headmaster allowed it.

"We are finished here. You may leave when you are ready."

As the students and member's of staff that had attended left, I – with Archie following – pushed through to the front.

"Ah, Valerie–" the headmaster started.

I cut him off. "Val... sir. I prefer Val."

He looked at me as though he wasn't used to being interrupted, but he continued. "Val, then. Thank you for waiting."

I nodded once, a your welcome nod.

"Mr. Halond, please go and wait outside."

"Yes, sir." Archie left, taking his nervous-vibe with him.

"Right, let's get down to business. I hope you don't mind if we talk here?"

I shook my head and sat on one of the chairs once he had.

"This is about your mother. She is able to leave prison today, unless you wish for her to stay in longer..."

I felt my ears flatten against my head, and my lip curl into a snarl. I couldn't stop the snarling growl that slipped through.

"But I'm guessing you don't want her in jail?"

I relaxed. He wasn't forcing me to put my mum in jail. I shook my head.

"Would you like to see her?" he asked, the tone he used suggested he was speaking to a wild animal he was trying to calm.

I felt my ears perk back up a the mention of seeing her again. I nodded.

"Since we have the blade's coming tomorrow, and the change in class's. And your mother has only just got out of jail... How about next week today?"

I nodded. Next week was better than next month.

He nodded. "I'll get transportation sorted for her then. But, I'm only allowing her to come in for the day. No longer."

I nodded reluctantly. I didn't want to upset him so that he changed his mind.

"Good. You may leave now, Val."

 "Thank you." Then I left.

  

  

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