The rest of swordplay went alright. Once Lady Duncan came back, they focused on reviewing some of what they learned the previous semester. They went over what they would be learning the next lesson. After class ended was lunch, which Rosalie was extremely happy to go to; the students were given an hour and a half for lunch, since their classes went for most of the day.
"Ro, do you feel like joining me for lunch?" Corvin asked as they walked away from the arena.
She shrugged. "Sure. It's not like I have anyone else to eat with," she answered. "Where's the lunchroom or cafeteria or whatever you call it?"
He smirked. "Well, most of us go back to the ranker dorm to eat."
"Us?"
"The top eight."
Ro sighed once she realized what they would be doing. "So I'm gonna be meeting all the rankers in one go?" He nodded. "Might as well get it over with," she conceded.
ε
He led the way to the dorms. Since they were the top students, the rankers had their own building. It reminded Rosalie of a fraternity or sorority, just mixed genders. Their building, Corvin had explained, had five floors. The first was a kitchen, living area, and dining room. The rest of the floors were divided according to rank, two ranks for each floor. Since he was ranked number two, he had the top floor with Diedra Blakely, who was the leader of them all.
Walking in, Ro noticed how lavish the place was. I guess being the best has its perks, she thought idly. Corvin led her to the dining room, where five people already sat around a table. "Hey! Ice queen!" shouted Elwood. He jumped up and wrapped Rosalie in a bear hug.
"Can't...breathe..." she gasped. Elwood dropped her as abruptly as he had picked her up.
"Sorry," he said. What a goofball, Ro thought with a smile. The other rankers present looked at her expectantly.
"Uh, hi," she started awkwardly. Her glamour was still up, luckily. "I'm Rosalie Monroe, Corvin's friend." She looked at Corvin, who had already sat down near the head of the table.
"Where's Will?" he asked.
A girl with pastel purple hair sitting at the head of the table was staring at Ro. "He's probably off trying to impress girls in the lunchroom," she said, not taking her eyes off Ro. "I'm Diedra Blakely, first ranker. Nice to meet you, your highness." Ro tensed. "You are the princess, are you not?"
Corvin and Ro answered at the same time. "No!" she said, while Corvin said "yes." Their eyes met and they switched answers. "Yes," she said, defeated, while Corvin let out a confused "no."
The table erupted into laughter. Diedra was still staring at Rosalie. She hasn't blinked at all, thought Ro, uncomfortable with the attention she was being given. "Yes, I am." She let her glamour drop. Alicia let out a dramatic gasp.
"I KNEW IT," she shouted. "I had a feeling you were hiding something! I even found a few books that I knew only the palace library had copies of!"
"You still shouldn't go through people's bags," Ro grumbled.
Corvin laughed. "Come on," he said, patting the seat next to him. "Since Will isn't here, you can take his normal spot." Ro sat down awkwardly. That's becoming the word of the day.
"So, what're all your names?" she said. It felt weird that she knew she was possibly going to replace one of the people sitting at the table at that moment.
"I'm Alicia! I'm fifth rank," she said.
Elwood mumbled something that vaguely sounded like his name and rank, but had too much food in his mouth.
A man with dark brown skin and hair with hazel eyes leaned across the table and took Rosalie's hands. "Thaddeus Braun, sixth. You've probably heard of me," he said, giving her a charming smile. Ugh, these people and charming smiles. "As I have heard of you, your highness."
"Uh, no, I really haven't. I've only been here for a day," she replied, yanking her hand back from his tight grip. "And please don't call me that. I was trying to be incognito, at least long enough for me to get my bearings, but I guess my cover was blown. Please keep it in this room, if you can," Ro asked.
"So that's why you lied to me," Elwood said, deciding to swallow his food this time. "And I'm ranked eighth. That's Byron, but he probably didn't even notice you come in." Elwood pointed at a boy sitting at the end of the table by himself. His plate was empty, and a book was shoved in his face. Hearing his name, he looked up.
"What didn't I do?" Byron asked. Nearly white eyes? He gasped once he saw Rosalie. Jumping up, he saluted her, then bowed, then bowed and saluted. "Your highness!"
"You can stop that now," said an exasperated Ro. "And don't tell anyone who I am."
"Okay. Alright. I can do that, your highness," he said quickly. "Byron Campos, rank seven, at your service, your highness."
Ro sighed and put her face in her hands. "Please don't do that." He looked confused.
"Uh, pardon, your highness?"
"That!" she exclaimed. "The 'your highness' business! I'm sick of it." She looked over at Corvin with a pleading expression. "Was it so much to ask that I be left to study in peace?"
Corvin laughed. "There's no such thing as peace in Equites."
"Thanks for the warning," she replied, her voice laced with enough sarcasm to kill an elephant. She hadn't been able to take a bite the entire time. "I came to lunch with you; can I run away to my dorm now?" she groaned.
"You need to eat," he answered. "Your uncle would kill me if he knew you weren't eating." She picked up the sandwich and made a show of taking a bite and chewing.
"There, I ate," she said with her mouth full.
Diedra, who had been watching all of this unfold, decided to speak up. "I don't know how you're able to get him to act like this." Ro, who had taken another bite, raised an eyebrow. "Corvin. He's always cold, at worst, and indifferent at best. You can get him to respond."
"I'm right here, Diedra." She ignored him.
Rosalie shrugged. "It's my warm and inviting nature," she stated. Elwood and Alicia laughed at that. "Hey! You guys provoked my response!" She waved a finger threateningly, making it glow dark purple.
"Simmer down, ice queen," said Alicia, clutching her sides. "I'd say cool off, but you're already the best at that." They fell into another fit of laughter. Diedra gave a knowing smile.
"Come on, Ro," said Corvin, helping her out of her chair. "I've got some books I want to show you."
"Leave it to Corvin to take a girl up to his room just to show her books," joked Alicia. "There's a lot more he could show," she said coyly.
"What else would he show her?" Elwood asked.
"He could- you know what? Never mind," said Thaddeus.
Ro and Corvin could hear the conversation as they left; Alicia and Elwood couldn't be described as quiet or discreet. Rosalie blushed, glad Corvin was ahead of her. He had taken her hand and was guiding her up the stairs. Why does he need to hold my hand for this? she thought. I could just as easily follow him up the stairs. Ugh, I'm just letting Alicia get to me. But what if he tries to- no. Corvin isn't like that.
Too busy having an argument with herself, she didn't notice they had stopped in front of a door. "Ro? Are you okay?"
"Huh? Oh, yea, I just zoned out for a minute," she answered. "So this is your room? I guess it's only fair since we spent a lot of time in my room at the castle." Wait, that sounded bad.
"Welcome to my humble home," he said, opening the door. Humble wasn't a word Rosalie would use.
It was set up like her rooms at the castle, just not as widespread. It had a combined sitting room and study about two thirds the size of Ro's. Farther back, she could see a bedroom a little little larger than the room they were standing in. She assumed there was a bathroom back there, as well.
"Nice place," she commented. "Not as big as I'm used to, but it'll work."
He rolled his eyes. "You act as though you're going to take my room for yourself."
She winked and sprawled out on the couch in front of them. "We can always share. This couch seems comfortable enough for you to sleep on."
"You act as though I'd be willing to give up my bed."
"You're a grade A gentleman," she explained. "You'd probably chop off your arm to give me a hand. Literally."
Corvin laughed. "You know me so well."
"Do I?" she took on a questioning look. "Yes. Yes, I do." Her smugness showed. He sat down next to her and threw his arm on the back of the couch, lifting her head onto his lap. Her legs were thrown over the arm of the couch so her shoes didn't get any dirt on it. "Wow, feeling a strange sense of deja vu. I've seen this all before," she waggled her fingers dramatically in the air. "The only thing we need are books."
Her hand glowed, making the book she had been reading earlier float out of her bag. "You didn't even have to look," he commented. "I don't think you've realized this yet, but you're a master of levitating." She cocked an eyebrow, urging him to continue. He laughed. "Most people can only lift as much weight in their cast as they could with their physical body, so it's limited to what strength they have. You act as though it weighs nothing at all."
Ro took on a thoughtful expression. "Well, does feel heavy, but I only need to put in a quarter of the effort to lift stuff," she explained. "Fausta mentioned something about it being my gift, but didn't comment more other than to make me lift progressively heavier stuff in my cast for longer. One day, I passed out and had to be carried back to my room."
"Ah, reminds me of the good old days, when I fought you to the brink of exhaustion and had to carry you to bed," he said, taking on a fake wistful expression.
She elbowed him in the stomach. "Be quiet, nerd," she joked. "I don't need a reminder of my former weakness."
"Did Fausta work you so hard that you're no longer an abnormally skilled swordswoman with zero endurance?" She laughed and nodded.
"You could put it that way. What time is it, anyway," she asked.
Corvin sighed. "Time for us to go back to class."
"Already? I thought we had an hour and a half for lunch?"
"We do, but we've been here for nearly an hour and it'll take you fifteen minutes to get to your next class."
She sighed. "Curse you, large school grounds!" She raised a fist in the air and shook it dramatically. "Really, though. I wanted to spend some more time with you," she admitted, disappointed.
"It's not like you won't be joining me in the ranks soon," he shrugged.
"But I like my roommate, Lilith," Ro explained. "She spent three years on earth, so she has this huge collection of stuff. She's really cool."
"Lilith? As in, the Lilith who parades around school wearing shoes higher than my grades?" he said.
"Probably the same Lilith. How many people do you know named Lilith?"
Corvin laughed. "That's true," he said. "It's somewhat terrifying to see her in those. She never wears anything else, even during training. She used to finish three laps to my one, all in heels."
"Have you ever asked her why?"
"'Aesthetic.'"
Rosalie laughed at that. "I need to learn a few things from her, it seems," she said, sitting up, "if she terrifies you, Mr. Second Ranker."
"Enough of that," he said, a light blush covering his cheeks. "We need to get to class, and it wouldn't do good for you to be late your first day."
"Yea, yea, I hear ya," she grumbled, picking up her bag.
ε
The rest of her day was uneventful. It seemed like everyone was talking about the fight with Lucila, but no one could pinpoint where or who Rosalie was. Ro found it unnerving that people were twisting the story so much where 'the princess', as everyone was saying, got angry at losing and punched Lucila in the face. Gossip never changes, Ro thought sardonically.
Getting back to her dorm felt amazing. Realizing she would miss dinner wasn't as amazing, but she felt that she could live without a meal for one night. Maybe Lilith has some snacks stashed around the room. She seems like that kind of person, Ro thought. She stood up right as the door opened. Speak of the devil, she thought.
"Hey, Ro," Lilith said. "Why weren't you at lunch? Or dinner, for that matter?"
"Oh, well I was with Corvin for lunch, and I'm not really hungry," she explained. Lilith's eyebrows shot up, giving Rosalie a coy look. "What's that face for?"
Lilith walked into their room, kicking off her heels and losing five inches of height. She threw her bag in the corner and flopped onto the edge of Ro's bed, propping herself up on her elbows. "If we're gonna be roommates, you're gonna tell me all about yourself," she said. "Starting with this mysterious Corvin guy you mumble about in your sleep."
"What? He's my friend," Ro said, being very uncomfortable with what the girl was implying. "And I didn't know I mumbled in my sleep."
"You don't sound too sure about that, hun," Lilith teased. "Before we go any farther in this line of conversation, you need to know that I think you're drop dead gorgeous." Ro started stammering a reply, but was cut off with a finger on her lips. "No, I am not interested in you romantically. I would've hit on you more by now, but last night you kept me up muttering about this Corvin guy and saying 'don't go! Don't go!' There was also my personal favorite, 'don't let that monkey steal my toothpaste.'"
"Why are you telling me all this?"
"Girl, we're gonna have to learn to get past this fear you have. You need to know that monkeys aren't gonna steal your toothpaste. Just me." Ro rolled her eyes. "And with you calling out for him so much, I thought maybe he was some guy back on earth or maybe a friend you lost, ya know, stuff like that, so I decided to go easy on the flirting in case you were taken."
Ro looked completely bewildered. "Uh, no, I'm not taken, but please don't flirt with me. At all." Lilith winked.
"No promises on that front," she said. "But really, you obviously like this Corvin and waaaaaiiiiiiiit a minute. You said you ate lunch with him today. And not in the lunchroom. The only person named Corvin who doesn't eat in the lunchroom is OHHHHH MYYYYYYY GOOOOODDDSSSS!"
Rosalie panicked at her friends yelling, trying her best to shoosh her. "Shh shh shhhh! Geez, Lilith! You're gonna break a window if you keep going on like that!"
Lilith stared slack-jawed at her roommate. "You're dating a ranker!" she whispered excitedly. "Oh my gods, I thought you were just an innocent little cinnamon bun, but no! You sneak off during lunch to do the hanky panky with your ranker boyfriend!"
Ro glared at her friend. "First off, NO. Just, no. never say hanky panky like that ever again or I will cast you to the moon and forget you're there," she threatened. "And second, Corvin is not my boyfriend!"
"Sureeeee he isn't," Lilith said smugly. "You're just upset I uncovered the truth after only one day of us knowing each other." Ro sighed and buried her face in a pillow, idly wishing it was Corvin's chest instead.Ugh, his chest way more comfy than any pillow. I wonder what it would be like to sleep on his OH MY GODS STOP.
Ro shot up from her pillow, her face flushed red. Lilith laughed. "If you aren't dating, then you're at least infatuated. It's looooveee," she sang. A pillow in a dark purple glow was flung full speed at her face.
"I'm done with you for tonight," Ro said, taking her pajamas into the small bathroom they shared to get changed.
"Then I guess you're alright with me bringing over a guy tomorrow night? You know, to do the hanky panky?" Lilith was lifted up in a dark purple glow. "NO I'M SORRY I WON'T SAY IT AGAIN PUT ME DOwn thank you. "