Argent Eye II

5

"Good, thanks." Peter said. "And you?"

"Good, thank you." I smiled again, before Kate and I went to take our usual seats, about four rows from the front, and immersed our attention into the first lecture of the term.

__________

After the lecture, Kate and I both had a tutorial with Peter and another woman I'd never had before. When we arrived, I noticed the woman standing at the front- she'd arrived earlier than Peter, who was still packing away the lecture stuff. Kate and I were the first to walk in, so we went and sat at the front.

The woman smiled. "Hi, are you here from Peter's lecture?" She asked, seemingly a little nervous- she had a slight Russian accent to her voice. I could only presume that this was her first day.

I nodded. "Yeah, the rest of the class should be here soon."

"My name's Irina." She said. "I'm teaching with Peter this year."

"I'm Millie." I smiled.

"And I'm Kate." Kate said, just as Peter walked in.

"Ah, Irina, I'm glad you're here." Peter began, and paused for a moment when he realised I was in the room. Then, he seemed to brush off whatever he was thinking, and continued. "I need to go to an appointment. I'm sorry, I forgot to tell you earlier, but you know what you're doing? The class are all very nice." He said. I didn't pick up any sarcastic tones from him when he said that.

"Oh, okay." Irina said, perhaps looking even more nervous than before. "Yeah, that's okay."

"Great." Peter said. "You'll be fine, don't worry. They're just students." He chuckled, before leaving.

Kate and I had taken a seat and were logging into our computers when everyone else started arriving. Then, Irina commenced with the lesson, settling into it like she'd done it a thousand times before. I wondered whether she'd been a teacher before, or if she'd come straight from education- after all, she looked quite young. Perhaps in her mid to late twenties. She had a well-defined facial structure, and blonde hair tied back in a single plait. Her eyes were a pale blue.

When she finished, everyone immediately started packing their things away and left, keen to get home.

Irina approached Kate and I, clearly having taken a liking to the two girls sitting at the front of her class. "Was that okay?" She asked.

I chuckled. "It was fine. You sounded like you'd taught before?"

"I did a teaching placement during university, but that is all." She said.

"So have you come straight from uni?" Kate asked.

Irina nodded. "I did my PhD here in the UK after completing my bachelors in Russia. Peter managed to persuade me to try out teaching here for a while."

"Oh, cool." I said. "Do you like it so far?"

"So far, it's okay. It's a little different to teaching in a secondary school, for sure."

"Oh, crap, I need to go." Kate suddenly announced. "I have a dentist appointment. I'll see you guys later."

"Bye, Kate." I said, and Irina waved as Kate left in a hurry.

"I guess I better go start this work." I sighed.

Irina nodded. "I'll let you go. See you next week, Millie. It was nice meeting you."

"And you." I smiled. "Good luck for the rest of the week."

"Thanks." She said, before I left.

__________

I was texting my mum as I walked out the building, my head and eyes focusing on my phone screen, when I walked straight into someone.

I looked up, only to see Ronan staring down at me, not so impressed.

"This is why I don't like mobile phones." He said, a slight twinge of amusement to his voice. "You don't pay attention to your surroundings."

"Um, maybe if you didn't just appear out of nowhere, I probably wouldn't have walked into you." I chuckled, as we walked.

"I didn't. I'd been standing there for about five seconds. Long enough for you to have seen me, had you not been staring at your screen."

I just narrowed my eyes at him, putting my phone into my pocket. "What brings you here anyway?"

"Was just wondering if you'd had anymore unusual episodes?" He asked.

"No, actually." I shook my head. "I'm hoping it was just a one off."

Ronan looked doubtful. "Unfortunately I don't think it was. You've had this mental block for nearly six months without realising it, and now that you do realise it, it will probably only get worse."

I blinked. "I mean, thanks for the optimism. Glad I can count on you to make me feel better."

"Sorry." Ronan smirked. "Just being realistic."

I sighed. "So what do we do now?"

"We keep practicing. Sooner or later, there will come a point where you are able to overcome the wall in your mind. You can knock it down. You know, a bit like last year, when you finally allowed yourself to accept the ice."

"Nothing is ever easy with this stuff, is it?" I moaned, having thought that I'd left the worst of my problems behind last year. Turns out I'd only been carrying them around with me. That they'd been shoved to the bottom of my bag, but now it was time for a new bag and I had to clear out the contents of the old one.

"Nope." Ronan said truthfully. "Being an Argent will always have its challenges, especially in the first few years or so. Although, you're not a normal Argent, so I don't know if that applies to you or not."

I chuckled. "So far it's proving accurate."

"Have you seen David yet?" Ronan asked.

"No, I have him tomorrow. Why?"

Ronan shrugged. "Maybe he has some ideas."

"Maybe." I said, whilst simultaneously wondering whether I'm going to be fucked for life. When I get over this mental block, or whatever it was, then what issues am I going to have to face next? I was sure nothing could be worse than Haydn, but that's not to say things can't be nearly as bad. It's like the world had a way of filling me with relief when I thought everything was over, before laughing and smacking me in the face with something new to deal with.

For now, though, I wanted to try and focus on my studies. Last year it had been very tight with making time for training, defeating Haydn, completing my coursework and revising for exams. I'd done it, but I sure as hell didn't want to be that limited for time this year. I wanted this year to be more relaxed, although so far, that was proving not to be the case.

I just hoped that things got fixed before the real stress of coursework set in.

__________