Page 32 of Nine Inch Nasty
Adam’s thumb makes little swiping motions on my hip, keeping me tethered to him. “That's fair. And it's not like we even need the answers right now or have to have an answer at all. We’re all adults, right? Everybody is capable of figuring out what they want to do when the semester ends. It'll be easier once everybody's graduated of course, and you're right, it's still a ways off.”
I try my best to let that heavy cloud dissipate while we finish our lunch, pecking at what I have because it's hard not to feel responsible for the well-being of so many people. But again, itcould always be worse, right? At least I found all my mates, and we're not trapped in or around clouds anymore. Bright side.
It's started to rain while we've been inside, and while I watch it outside, halfheartedly listening to the conversation around me, I see a flash of a rainbow really quick in the sky before the cloud moves to cover up the sun again.
A pang of sadness crawls through me, because how do I see rainbows and not think of the very fictional Saladriel? How lame is it that I miss a figment of somebody else’s imagination? Except, he wasn’t just a figment, not while we were over there. He had a personality. Which is kind of weird if you think about it, but props to Shelly for being so psychotic that she manifested different personalities for almost everybody in her realm. Sure, they were kind of carbon copies of each other, but still. Pretty impressive work.
I’ve spent some brainpower trying to figure out how Shelly got out of her dungeon. There were cameras down there that Zac watched the footage for, and we were mystified by the weird creatures she had conversations with. Best theory we have is that her magic was fracturing and she was into weird shit. The how doesn’t matter as much as the fact that she’s magically dry now thanks to my parents.
Back in the here and now, August comes to switch places with Jackson, and that lifts my mood a bit to see another one of my mates. I kiss Jackson and tell him I’ll see him later, thank him for offering to get the remnants of the cake and flowers to my dorm, and then August snatches a tomato off my plate and gives me a kiss. “Doing okay, babe?” he whispers in my ear.
I nod and stand to give him a hug. He's quick to just pull me into him completely, spinning me around so my legs fly off thefloor. “We were just talking about things in the future we want to figure out.”
“Let’s just take it one day at a time. People can make their decisions for themselves and for the best of our group, and we'll make it work. Keep it on your mind, but don't be stressed about that when what you need to be focusing on is getting through your school day and getting through school in general. About ready to head to class?”
“Yeah, just need to use the restroom real quick and then we can head out.”
Because they're completely and ridiculously overprotective, August walks me to the bathroom, then an entourage assists me to class, where I get to sit with Wil. He's standing outside of the room anxiously, looking both ways, and his demeanor completely changes when he sees me. His whole body lights up, and he bounces on the balls of his toes and gives me a cute little wave before darting forward to give me a hug.
“Hi there,” I say with a laugh, feeling better again in his presence. Hard not to when he's so happy to see me.
“Come on, come on, let's get in there so we can sit together.”
Leo winks at me as he takes his spot outside the room, ready to watch for nefarious students trying to use the bathroom during class, and August slinks to the back of the room and becomes part of the wall, but I know his ears are perked for conversation around us and I'm sure we'll get an earful later about all the inane things people talked about back there.
It's kind of funny that me and Wil started this project as fake mates, and he's already proven to me how great of a mate he'll make, and now here we are actually mated, and we get to use this class to further deepen our bond and get closer.
The teacher calls us to attention right as I’ve gotten out my notebook and pen. “Okay class, we need to do some restructuring. Shelly will no longer be in this class, so everybody that was with her, please move to Miss Duncan's group.”
Great. I get her slimy cast offs.
I honestly don't remember any of their names, and it doesn't bother me in the slightest. One of the most obnoxious is raising their hand though, looking anxiously at the teacher.
“Yes?”
“I don't think it's fair that Delaney gets to do this with her actual mate. It feels like cheating; nobody else in the class has that advantage.”
The professor looks at me, eyebrow raised.
“It just sort of happened. Surprise! We're fated.” We show off our marks, and thankfully the professor doesn't play into whatever drama this other student is trying to stir up.
“Then they can be an example. They've been doing so well as it is, this is an excellent opportunity for them to put what we learn here into practice. You all have a lot to learn from them, I think. Oh, and congratulations, you two.”
The dude raises his hand again. This time though he doesn't wait for the teacher to call on him before he opens his trap. “Is it true that miss Duncan is responsible for Shelly’s disappearance? I heard she had beef with her and got her locked up on bogus charges. I don't know if I feel safe with somebody like that in class.” He shoots a side eye at me as I roll my eyes.
Maybe I can talk to Zac about giving this teacher a raise. She rubs the bridge of her nose, clearly exasperated. “While it's true there was some involvement between Miss Duncan and MissAspis, I can assure you that Miss Aspis being no longer being a student here is entirely on her own shoulders.”
“But isn't she also mated to the dean? That seems suspicious. What if he's just covering up for her?”
Another student pipes in, not even bothering to raise their hand at all. “And Professor Wilder. Don't you think that's going to give her some preferential treatment? As if she's not already treated extra for being the Princess. She’s not even using her mated name, so she’s clearly trying to hide it.”
“Woah, woah, woah, it’s not like she asked for any of this,” Wil says, jumping in before I can. “She’s just here to get an education, same as you. Cut her a bit of slack, would you? Highly doubt you could deal with everything she has to with the grace she does. And it’s no one’s business but her own what name she chooses to go by.”
“Well said, Mr. Murdock. We all have the privilege of having Miss Duncan in our class, and she will be treated with respect, same as the rest of you. I won’t stand for having any students disparaging other students in here. We are all adults, please act like it. If you don’t feel as if you can handle being in Miss Duncan’s group, you can always take a failing grade,” the teacher says before going to the board to write out our next assignment.
“Better be careful, wouldn’t want to be ended up bonded to her on accident,” somebody snickers as the irritated guys come sit by me.
Yeah, that’s…good advice.
