Steel: The Transformation

Chapter 7

~*~

I was rushing down the corridor to the stupid history lecture. I had spent far too much time with Rose this morning, trying to cheer her up and keep her mind off the fact that I soon would go through a bonding ceremony with Cleo. It wasn't the easiest task to make her happy because as soon as I cheered her up I would have to go and spend time with Cleo. But if I didn't do my job as a mentor she would be unhappy about that too. I felt trapped, whatever I did it didn't feel like anything could give her any lasting happiness. I brushed those thoughts out of my mind and started looking at the room numbers of the lecture halls, I had clearly rushed down the wrong corridor of the campus. I turned the corner and found that I was not as lost as I had first thought. Cleo was rushing down the corridor from the opposite end. We both reached the door at the same time, the mascara has slightly smudged underneath one of her blue eyes and her checks were flushed from running.

"So you're late for the lecture too?"

"I overslept," she pushed out between her panting and holding her hand to her side, "and now I've got a stich from running."

I gave her a small smile, "You could have used your abilities and that wouldn't have happened." 

She looked quizzical.

"I mean, you might still have overslept but you wouldn't get a stich from running."

"Oh."

"I'll show you some time."

She nodded and opened the door. 

The tiny European history lecturer looked like he was a piece of red dynamite and our late entrance was the spark that set the fuse off. He sat off in a tirade about time keeping and respect. A small rain of spittle spraying from his mouth on each hard consonant.

"...and to round it off, you two," he waved his chubby finger in our direction, "will be responsible for painting the European history themed mural at the end of the corridor by the lecturers' lounge." 

He smacked a small batch of paper cards in my hand, "Here's your excuse notes, so that you can spend some time in the library researching seeing as you seem to have so little interest in attending lectures." 

He stomped back to his usual position at the front of the class. Cleo and I slid quietly into two seats close to the front. As I handed her some of the excuse notes, I could see her looking at that brown haired guy. Was his name, Jackson? He gave her an empathetic smile and she smiled back, giving her shoulders a small shrug. I looked back to Jackson, he was now throwing me an angry glance. His eyes remained controlled but I could sense that he was not happy about the situation.

~*~

We followed the stream of students out to the courtyard after the lecture. She naturally slowed down her pace close to a little apple tree.

"So I guess we have a project to work on together now," as I spoke I studied her face, I could tell that she was cautious around me.

But then again, I had been taking the backseat approach and I had let Rose establish the first contact. I had to step up, if I was going to be a good mentor to her.

"Yes, it looks like it," her voice was neutral but there was a touch of caution to it.

"So I can teach you if you like?" 

Her eyes looked more interested, but still that note of caution lingered, "Teach me what?"

"How to use your abilities, for example your strength and speed without having to fully shift," I kept my voice low and stepped closer to her when I spoke. I didn't need any unwanted ears listening in to our conversation.