Page 37 of Group Studies

Thankfully, the foghorn, starting class, interrupted the rest of my instructions. Abe cleared her throat. We’d spent the last few weeks working with water runes. For the next three classes we were being split into pairs, coming up with a way to change water’s density without changing its temperature or speed of movement.

Once Abe excused us to get started with the planning phase, I turned to Ram. “I’ll do this, you can stay over there and take as much credit as you’d like.”

Ram smiled and hailed Abe.

My heart sank.

“Aphrodite has offered to do the project alone,” Ram repeated, “And let me take credit for it.”

Abe gave me a scathing look. “Aphrodite, I’ve no doubt you could have this designed and half-built by the end of today. But this is not about you!” She grinned. “It’s about teamwork and implementing creative strategies. I want to see your head together with Ram’s. If I don’t feel your design is a balanced representation of both your minds, I will not pass it. Am I clear?”

“Yes,” I said tightly.

My skin crawled.

Ram pulled his stool close to mine.

I moved to the other side of the table and looked at Ram with a pinched face. “You keep your own space.”

“How will we both see if we are on opposite sides of the table?” Ram asked like I’d created the biggest problem in the world.

I gritted my teeth. “I can read upside down just fine.” I slid a piece of paper between us. “Ah, how do you want to do this?”

Ram picked up a pencil and tapped it on the paper. “I don’t know, maybe you should show me how to draw something.”

I took a deep calming breath. “If you don’t want me to design it on my own, then you need to actually add something.”

He smiled. “I am.”

I briefly squeezed my eyes shut, before glancing at the other pairs. I wasn’t the only frustrated person. Saffron scowled at either me or Ram’s back as Yasmine tried to get his attention. Three mages all sat in a circle in the back, keeping their distance as they eyed each other. I thought I recognized Saffron’s not-spiky-haired harem mate, but I couldn’t tell from the side.

Disappointment in myself sagged my shoulders. Not that I wanted to anymore, but if I did want Saffron to be my friend, I had to do more than fuck him in Professor Garnet’s office. He’d even offered to let me train in his Coterie. I’d literally blown him off and never brought it back up. It hadn’t been good timing, but after meeting them a few times, I hadn’t even taken the time to remember his friends’ names.

“Lover,” Ram demanded. “Are you paying attention?”

“No, honestly, I’m not,” I said, not referring to my current situation.

I focused on Ram’s horrible sketch of a lopsided boat.

“What does a boat have to do with water density?” I ground out.

“Things float or sink based on that, right?” Ram asked innocently.

I rubbed my temples. Ram popped up from his stool to try and rub my shoulders. “Relax, we can do this.”

I raced around to the other side of the table and glared at him. “Don’t touch me.”

“My apologies, Lover, but if I see you in pain, I want to help.” He held his hands up.

I tried to pull on my braid but it was gone. “You’re doing this to me.” I hissed.

He gave me a lazy smile, wiggling his eyebrows.

My anxiety was already growing around the missing Gentle Giant, I didn’t need this in addition. I squeezed my eyes shut, but I couldn’t walk away from him this time. “Fine. Density has something to do with it. Let’s focus, please?”

He started spinning the protractor around his pointer finger.

The class dragged on; Ram seemed hell-bent on making everything take as long as possible. We switched sides of the table at least four times as our work slowed to a snail’s crawl.

---