Lost Bird

12

James smiled at Silas and started to unload her backpack, that was filled with all of the materials she had already started to gather. James knew that she was a little OCD when it came to over-preparing for most things, but she had gone above and beyond for this course. She had binders filled with data, spreadsheets, diagrams and outlines done for a few different topics she wanted to explore for her thesis. Silas watched in awe at the shear amount of material James was piling up. He started to chuckle and looked over at her raising his eyebrow in question.

"What? So I may be a little excited. It never hurts to be prepared." James defended. Silas let out his loud brawny laugh. He just shook his head and gestured to her mountain of paperwork and said, "Prepared? This seems a little more than prepared. Oh, mikro poulaki (little bird), you are never boring, that's for sure." He continued to chuckle softly as James blushed red. She looked around, hoping no one was paying attention to them. But this was one wish she should have known was pointless.

Everyone in class was watching them, most trying not to laugh along with her burly giant. She turned to see if she was lucky enough to have Axel miss this embarrassing moment. But no dice, he was staring right at them. Again looking a little surprised and even .. upset? About their little conversation. She frowned and tilted her head to the side in question. Axel blinked and seemed to realise that James was watching him. He coughed and turned away to finish greeting his students as they entered. Okay, that was weird. Right? James figured she would never really understand the male brain, so she should just stop trying.

She turned back to Silas, determined to try and figure out how he and Axel knew each other. If Axel was Academy, she would have to re-think how she interacted with the guys she had met that day. There was no way she could ever get close to any one from The Academy. They would see through the act she put on for everyone else.

If they looked into her identity deep enough, they would realise it was a fake and her and Max's cover could be blown. Great, another thing to try and figure out. I really don't need this right now.

"So, how do you know Prof Toma? You guys seem pretty friendly." She tried to blank her face and smile innocently. Hoping Silas wouldn't catch on to her anxiety behind the question.

"Who Axel? Oh, our families have been close for years now. They're like extended family." Silas said absent mindedly. He had his head down looking through his bag or else he would have caught the look of devastation on James' face. But Axel caught it. He had made his way down to his podium and was trying to watch the interaction between his friend and the girl he had quickly become enamoured with.

He knew Silas loved his bird and that there was nothing romantic between him and James, but it didn't seem to stop him from feeling jealous of the familiarity between the two. Jealous of the smile James gave him and jealous that they seemed to have a closeness Axel wanted with her.

He caught the seemingly innocent conversation happening between them but was shocked to see the look of utter devastation cross James face. He was confused as to what Silas could have said to put such a sad look on her face. James looked up and gave Axel a look he never wanted to see again. It was a mix of sadness and apology. Like she was saying sorry and goodbye at the same time. Axel frowned and shook his head at her. Trying to convey that he wasn't going to accept that look or what she could mean by it. She just shook her head back and before she looked down, Axel could have sworn he saw almost heartbreak in her eyes. I don't know what you're thinking gorgeous, but its not gonna fly.

Axel started to panic a little inside. He had to be wrong. She couldn't be feeling what he thought she was. She wouldn't just ignore the connection between them. He wouldn't let it happen. A sense of determination flowed through him. His team were one of the best and he knew they wouldn't give up without a fight.