Page 139 of Mistaken Magic

"Nota cult,"Iassured her. "It'sjust math."

Shelooked at me desperately asIsteered us both into class.Webroke off to walk down our respective rows, but she kept pace with me.Herface was a little more pale than usual, making it clear shewasreallyworried about this.Themoment she sat down,Iheld out bothPixyStixto her.

"Youneed them.Onefor now, and one for halfway through,"Isaid.

Shelooked at the offering, then up at me. "Hawkewanted you to have one."

"AndI'mgiving it to you.Re-gifting,Aspen.Doesn'tmake me appreciate his gift any less, but you clearly need it more."Itipped my head at the bird on my shoulder. "Besides,Jackhas a good feeling about this."

Heshook his head violently, making a lie of whatI'djust said.

SoIturned to glare at him. "Well, start!Havea little faith in us,Jack.Westudied hard for this."

Sohe nodded. "Jack.Rain!"Caw!

Finally, a smile cracked acrossAspen'sface and she took bothPixyStix. "I'llmake it up to you,Rain."

"There'sno debt,"Iassured her. "I'mjust taking care of my best friend."

Thatturned her smile sweet, and a hint of color touched her cheeks.Yeah,Ifinally understood why guys said they liked it whenIblushed.Therewas something so beautiful about that look on her.Sovulnerable, and it hit me right in the heart.Howcould this girl be so sweet, so gentle, and yet so strong at the same time?

Shewas amazing, and she wasmine.

Myteeth found my lower lip andIflicked through my tablet, looking over my notes one last time as the teacher walked in.Everyonestilled, all eyes moved to the front, and she simply tapped her own tablet.Likea wave, the notification sounds began going off across the room.Ilooked down to seeIhad one file ready to open.

"Youhave the entire class time to finish.Beginwhen ready.Theanswers are multiple choice, and your grades will be posted on your tablet at the end of the week."

Takinga deep breath,Itapped to open it.Ihad this.Ihad to, because failing wasn't an optionIcould live with.

Chapter Fifty-Five

Imade it through math, surprised at how many answersIactually knew.Afterthat came biology.Thenext day,IhadLiteratureandHistoryofFaerie.Oddly, the first test felt a lot harder than the second.Then, onWednesday,Iwas stuck with making a resin mold forWeapons-Crafting.

Whenthe bell rang to end fifth period,Istill wasn't done.So, withTag'sapproval,IsentJackout to fly and went back to keep working.Ifinished halfway through what was supposed to be mySelf-Defensecourse, but it came out so much better than expected.Tagtold me to put the whole thing at the back of the room, and she'd handle it from there.

SowhenIdragged myself intoSelf-Defense, everyone noticed.Brackenstopped mid-sentence and turned, his worried eyes looking me over.I'dknown this was merely an explanation of what we should expect for our exam in here, soIhoped he wasn't too angry.

"Havingtrouble?" he asked.

"Um, my last test took longer thanIexpected.Sorry,Bracken."

Hejust nodded then sent me to my spot on the mats.Forthe rest of class, he discussed his scoring method, how we would bejudged, and if we wanted to pair up early, then we should let him know by the start of class tomorrow.Fifteenminutes before the end of class, he released everyone to study, head to their next class, or relax with friends.

Thenhe walked right over to me. "Iseverything ok?Jackshowed up early, but he said not to look for you."

Igroaned. "No,Ihad to make a mold inWeapons-Crafting, andIwanted to get it perfect soIwouldn't fail."

"It'sonly the midterms," he assured me.

"Inclasses that are nothing like the onesIhad at my old school,"Ireminded him. "Halfthe time,Ifeel likeIbarely know what's going on, and what happens ifIfail?Weboth knowI'monly here on a technicality!Ihave to pass, andI'mso far behind, andIfeel likeIknow all this stuff, but it's a jumble in my head, and - "

Hecaught my shoulder, clasping it hard enough to make me take a breath. "You'refine," he promised. "Isaw you studying all weekend.Ivysaid you were in the study hall almost every evening.There'sno way you put that much effort in and won't at least pass,Rain."

"Butwhat ifIdon't?"Iasked him.

"Thenwe'll get you some tutors and catch you up."

Iswallowed. "Whatif they kick me out?Idon't want to go back to the real world.I..."

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