We went up to the boys' dormitories to watch some movies. I ended up falling asleep since I was still tired from the Rank earlier and the events from yesterday. When I woke up, it was nearing eight. Since we had a curfew even on the weekend. I figured I should make my way to my own room.
I woke the boys up and they made their way to their own room. Many students were still up since it was Saturday night. I waved to a few as I walked by. Luckily, nobody had heard about my excursions off campus. It would lead to questions and I didn't want to answer anything. It would all just be lies.
I poked my head in the infirmary. Henri was fast asleep. Instead of going to my own room, I went to go find Byron. He would still be up grading a few papers.
To my surprise, his door was locked. I turned and he was making his way to his office.
"I thought you would be up" he was carrying a box in his hand.
"Yeah, I am" he smiled at me. His eyes were shining brightly. "Did you need something?"
He sounded indifferent towards me. It made me frown. The way he was acting towards me was bothering me.
"I wanted to talk to you" I smiled at him. "I have a few more hours till curfew" he opened his office door.
"Is it about classes? The Rank?" he let me through. He pointed at some papers on his desk. "I got your results, you did great."
"No" I felt confused. "It was about earlier" I wanted to touch him but I stood rooted to my spot. He had left the door wide open.
His strange distant demeanor was making me feel strange.
"What about earlier?" he placed the box down. His office was unusually tidy. It was unlike him.
I blinked in response at him.
The kiss. You Jerk, I wanted to yell at him.
He had forgotten about it. He had forgotten what he had told me.
"Never mind. You are busy" I frowned at him. I cleared my throat and looked around his office. "You cleaned up"
Tears were coming to my eyes. I took a shuddering deep breath.
"Yeah" he lowered his eyes. "Iris, I got offered an Assistant Professor position" he didn't look at me.
"Oh" I felt like if I couldn't move. I had stopped breathing.
"Yeah, Dr. Nan and Dr. Langston were impressed with the way I had handled the situation. They wanted to extend the amount of power I could have over the Guardians." Byron grinned at me.
"That's great" my heart jumped to my throat. "Congratulations. When do you start?"
I knew the answer to that.
"Iris, look I" he got to his feet. "You mean a lot to me."
"No, no when do you start?" I repeated angrily. The tears were no longer threatening to spill. I was angry with him.
He didn't answer me.
"You took the position" I knew him so well. "When. Do. You. Start?"
"Monday" he replied in a small tone. He wasn't even looking at me. He knew he had messed up. "I'm being moved to the Professor's hall."
I held my breath.
There were so many things that were threatening to spill out of my mouth. They weren't good either. My face had to be kept as passive as possible. He wasn't going to know how I felt. He had hurt me, again.
"Congratulations, Byron. Or, should I say Professor Enden" I could barely speak to him.
I couldn't believe it. I let out a disbelieving laugh. Given everything that had happened recently I hoped that-
I was still clinging to him. All this time I had hoped that he would have wanted to be with me.
"Iris" he cleared his throat. He was brilliant and he deserved the position but I was still hoping. I was a stupid foolish girl.
I took a deep breath.
"Good for you" I could barely speak. I had to get out of his office. "You deserve it and I hope you get everything you want." He reached for me but I slapped his hand away. If he touched me, I would throw myself at him. I would beg him to leave his position. I would kiss him.
"Professor Enden, see you in training" I turned and quickly left before he could see how upset I was.
The tears were spilling out and they wouldn't stop. They ran down my face as I tried to make it back to my room.
I had been so hopeful and I had gotten worked up at the idea of him and I. I had been so foolish. He loved to work. It meant everything to him. He would rather be with his books. It didn't matter what he had told me. He would always prefer everything else over me. It was the last time I would fall for him.
"Stop crying" I sobbed angrily. I shouldn't be crying. I should have known better.
I leaned heavily against the door to my room unable to open it.
"Stop crying....stop being ridiculous" I mumbled to myself. I took a few deep breaths hoping to calm myself down. Nothing was working. I fumbled with my door-knob and I sank into my room.
I hated this feeling and it was something that I never wanted to feel again. I would rather face a hundred Guard members than feel hurt because I had been rejected by someone that I liked so much. It was a terrible feeling. The worst part was he wasn't someone I could just push out of my head. It was going to take some time to get over him.
"Are you okay?" Henri put his hand over my head. It was Wednesday and I was spending my time with him. He kept me from thinking about Byron who I had just seen a few hours ago. He was officially an Assistant professor. The youngest Assistant Professor to ever be named in the school. He was delighted and thrilled but I was sulking.
"Fine" I sighed. "So, when is Nurse Gail going to let you out?" I missed spending time with him.
"Missing me" Henri leaned forward.
"You have no idea" I blurted without thinking. Henri's smile widened.
"Well, I should be out by tomorrow afternoon. I won't be back in classes until Monday" Henri searched my eyes. "Did you hear that Enden just got named Assistant Professor. His ego just got bigger"
"I know" I groaned. At least I had someone to talk bad about Byron with. "He is going to get worse."
"Yeah, he came to see me earlier. He was already talking about classes and training schedules" Henri stretched his back.
"What a jerk! You are in the infirmary" I shook my head. "He should lay off for awhile. Let's not talk about him. When do you start punishment" We had started repetitions on Monday. It was going to be a long difficult month. The worst part was that Byron was going to be present at all of them.
"I get half detention and half repetitions."
My jaw fell open.
"That's not fair!" I shook my head. "I mean sorry, you did get hurt but"
"Yeah but Nurse Gail wants me to take it easy since the knife the guy had was poisoned. It is going to take awhile for my arm to heal" his arm was lightly bandaged but it still bled occasionally. "I will join you at the end of the month" He placed his hand over mine. "You'll have me back in action soon enough."
He was right. My time with Byron was cut short since he was now an official Assistant Professor. He was given his own class to teach.
I only saw him during training and during classes. He had to finish his required classes otherwise he had dropped everything else. He was given full responsibility of the Guardians. He would work along with Rima. He was allowed to make decisions without needing approval.
"So" Byron handed me a schedule. I was in his office discussing my classes. I was going to start training with Professor Curt soon. "Here is your new schedule." I barely looked at it. His office was much bigger and there was new furniture. Instead of sitting side by side, he was sitting at his desk with me facing him.
"You will train with me three times a week"
"That's two less than last quarter" I replied. I wouldn't get to see him as often.
"Yes, you will train with Vino and Drake."
"You are the best swordsmen" I tried to keep the plea out of my voice. He wasn't going to be around me as often.
"Yes" Byron cleared his throat. "I have other priorities now"
"We are your priority" I reminded him. "I am your priority, Byron" I finally looked at him. "Are you going to slack on me now?"
"No, I am not. I will be monitoring your progress as closely as possible" Byron looked annoyed with me.
"Without being close to me right?" I snapped at him. I pushed the schedule aside angrily. Papers fell from the table. "Tell me"
"Yes I am" Byron got to his feet. "It will be easier for us, if you and I aren't so close to each other"
"Don't be ridiculous and so full of yourself" I snapped at him, getting to my feet. Byron blinked at me in surprise. "I'm not in love with you" I spat at him. "I just liked you but not so much anymore" I lied to him. "So fix the schedule and you will train me because that is why you became a Keeper otherwise what do I need you for? Anybody can be in charge of scheduling my classes but not training me" I was so angry and upset with him but my training was not going to be messed up. "So fix it" I crossed my arms.
"Iris" he searched my eyes. "It is just precautionary so nobody will think that you and I had anything to do with each other"
"Look, the last couple of days made me realize lots of things" I did not want him to stop spending time with me. I would lie if I had to. "You deserve everything you have received. You will make an amazing Professor. We both know it and we both know that I need you to train me. You are the best at it so whatever feelings we have for each other need to be put aside. Okay"
"I am glad to hear you say that, it wouldn't be great for you to still have such strong feelings for me" My jaw clenched.
"And you for me" I arched an eyebrow. "You should try dating someone, Byron."
"Same goes for you" his eyes snapped up at me. "You need to move on."
I merely shrugged even though I wanted to jump over the desk and strangle him.
"I could set you up with someone if you want" The words tasted like venom in my mouth. I wanted to kick myself. "You know we could be friends"
"Friends, sure. I'll return the favor, I'll set you up with someone."
"Actually, I have a date with Henri" I shrugged with a smile. His eyes narrowed slightly but he composed himself. "There is no need to set me up with someone. So I will see you early for crossfit" I reminded him. I picked up my school bag.
"Yeah, see you in the morning" he sat down with an ugly scowl on his face.
I walked out of his office with a smug smile. He was not going to mess up my training and he was right I had to get over him. I was sick of pining over him like an idiot. It was time to move on.