novelraw Chapter 84: Glove
Chapter 84: Glove
[Arthurr's POV]
It seems that the classroom wasn't just going to be silent the entire time while the teacher spoke.
After the last person introduced themselves, which was me, she handed out everyone an assignment.
"Alright class, in front of you is your first assignment of the semester. I want you guys to form small groups of four, move your desks if you have to, then grab one textbook in the back of the class for the entire group."
People waited for what else she had to say.
"Go. What are you guys waiting around for?"
She stepped out of the classroom, presumably to talk to the student who had purposely tripped me earlier.
Although he did intend to embarrass me, I hoped that he didn't get punished too badly because, at the end of the day, we're all young teenagers making mistakes as we live.
We just have to learn from our mistakes.
"I guess we're a group then," said Grace who had returned with a textbook.
She was referring to herself, me, and the two girls in front of us who had turned their desks and chairs around to face us.
I hadn't been focused on how they looked when I was walking to my seat but now that I got a good look at them...
Oh... wow. She's also really beautiful. Woah. Her too.
This was my first time seeing this many beautiful people in one place.
I had heard their introductions so I knew their names. I knew the names of everyone in the classroom except for those who had introduced themselves before I came.
Zuri Foster was the person sitting in front of me.
Her white hair flowed all the way down her back like a cascading waterfall of silk. I wanted to run my hands through them because of how soft they looked.
Her light brown eyes were like rich, warm mahogany.
Her skin was a flawless bronzed brown color.
I've never seen someone make brown eyes look so... beautiful before. She looks like a... like a statue that came to life.
What was also striking was her height. She was taller than me.
She has to be at least six feet tall.
Then it was the fourth and final member of our group. The girl who sat diagonally from my seat, Persephone Langley.
Her creamy complexion was rich like the finest French vanilla you could find.
Her hair was not exactly curly but at the same time, it was too curly to be considered just wavy; it was pastel purple, and although it didn't have the same length as Zuri's, the width of it was impressive as it flowed past where her arms were.
Her eyes were both blue but the one on the right was a rich blue while the one on the left was diluted and was almost grey.
Her cheeks were slightly red and I could tell that it wasn't just makeup. It was naturally just reddish there. As she was sitting down, she looked at the other members of the small group with a gorgeous smile.
She looks really kind. I want to be her friend.
I wanted to be friends with all three of my small group members.
They all looked beautiful and cool, and had their own unique elegance that I couldn't capture with words; they were definitely people that I wanted to show my childhood friend and brag I was friends with them.
"Should we go around and introduce ourselves real quick just in case the others forgot our name?" asked Grace who had sort of taken charge of the group immediately. "I'm Grace Hartley. I'm a First Class student."
"The name's Zuri. Also First Class."
"Hi, nice to meet you guys. I'm Persophone, a First Class student. This is my second semester at the school. By the way, didn't I have a course with you last semester Grace?"
"That's right. We took Intro to Large-Scale Defense together."
The conversation between the two was short and it was wrapped up quickly.
The three girls turned to me, letting me know that it was my turn to go.
"Hello. I'm—"
"Arthurr Dragonpen," said Zuri, already starting to laugh.
"Yep... that's me."
"Sorry," she said, covering her mouth. "I was just thinking about how you came into class and then the somersault that you did."
Is this going to be how everyone remembers me? The student who did a somersault?
"Hope I don't offend you. I just think it's really funny that you performed one of the cleanest somersaults ever because someone tried to trip you."
"That's what I said. I told him that if I had one, I'd give him a gold medal," Grace chimed in.
I looked at Persophone to see if she was going to chime in as well but other than the humerous smirk on her face, she kept her mouth shut. She even gestured zipping off her lips to reassure me.
...Angel.
"Don't worry. I'm not offended. I was just hoping that it wasn't going to be the last thing that people think of me. That'd be scary," I said, physically shivering at the thought of it.
"Don't worry Arthurr," said Persophone. "I think a week from now, everyone will have forgotten about it."
Zuri and Grace nodded their heads in agreement.
"Especially once the weekly articles come out," said Grace.
"Weekly articles, what's that?" I asked.
"You don't know what weekly articles are?" asked Zuri.
She tilted her head up slightly, raised an eyebrow, and looked at me like someone who had been living under a rock.
Why do I feel the need to ask her to step on me? What is this intrusive thought I'm having? Stop it. Stop it Arthurr. Bad. Bad bad bad.
"This is my first semester here," I explained.
"Oh. Are you a transfer? I didn't know that people could transfer midway through a school year," said Grace, looking confused.
Really? I didn't hear about that. He said that everything would work out fine and that it wasn't that big of a deal for him to get me into the academy.
I wanted to tell them about the teacher who helped me get into the academy but he asked me to keep it a secret so I had no choice but to keep my mouth shut about it.
I shrugged and said, "I guess I got lucky?"
"Luck... or talent?" asked Zuri, resting her head on the back of her hands that were stacked together.
"Hmm..." I began thinking about it.
Was it my talent?
Was I really talented enough to the point that the teacher was able to sponsor my admission into the academy, pay off my parents' debt, and help move them into a better home?
Was I just lucky and he was mistaken about the potential he saw in me?
"I was just joking Arthurr," said Zuri with a gentler smile than the teasing ones from before. "It doesn't matter how you got in. All that matters is that you did. Congratulations on your admission to the academy."
"...Thank you," I said. "Oh, that's right. My introduction. I'm Arthurr Dragonpen and I'm a—"
I was about to tell them which class tier I was in when the door opened and Ms. Morgan returned with Dominick.
"Sit down. And you better not cause trouble again or I'm telling your mother."
"Yes, Ms. Morgan."
Not holding a grudge against him, even if he did cause me to become a laughingstock on my first day at the academy, I was about to resume what I was about to say but Ms. Morgan began explaining the assignment.
"In your small groups, I don't care how you decide the reader or readers but read the first two chapters of the textbook and use them to fill out the paper. When you're done, have one person bring all your assignment sheets to the front of the class on this desk," said Ms. Morgan, slapping on the table where she wanted it.
"How should we do this?" asked Persephone.
"There's twenty pages we need to read in total so why don't we just read five pages each then rotate?" suggested Grace.
"We can do that," said Zuri.
I nodded my head in agreement.
"Okay. Then I can go first," said Grace.
As she was reading the pages and we were filling out the answers to the questions, I felt a gaze on my face.
I lived in a village where danger surrounded us and I had to often go deal with it with the adults so I was particularly sensitive to it.
I looked at him and instead of turning away, he kept staring.
Clicking his tongue, he grabbed something in his backpack and began walking towards me.
What is he doing?
Grace, in the middle of reading, looked up and saw Dominick standing next to her.
"Dom, what are you doing here? Go back to your group," she said.
It seemed that the two of them knew each other and probably had class together the previous semester.
Dominick had a glove in his hand.
I saw it and so did Grace because she said, "Dom, you better not think of it. No. Put that glove away."
Think of what? Why does it matter that he has a glove?
I was confused.
"Dominick, what are you doing? Get back in your seat," said Ms. Morgan, tapping her feet on the floor.
She was starting to walk towards us when Dominick threw the glove onto the desk.
Zuri said to me, "Arthurr, don't pick it... up."
"Hmm?" I asked with the glove in my hand halfway through her sentence. "Why?"
Is it poisoned or something? It doesn't smell like it.
Ms. Morgan had arrived and she let out a heavy sigh. She looked like she didn't even have the energy to be angry anymore. Just disappointed and ready to get the day over with.
"Do the two of you really want to do this?" asked Ms. Morgan.
"Yes," said Dominick.
"...Do what?" I asked, still confused about why everyone was reacting so strangely.
"Arthurr, do you not know what it means to pick up someone's glove when they threw it in front of you?" asked Persephone.
I shook my head.
"Right. It's only your first day at the academy."
"Too late now," said Ms. Morgan. "We either do this or Arthurr gets suspended for a week."
"...Sus-suspended? Wh-what? What did I do just do?" I asked, looking at Grace, Zuri, and then Persephone for an explanation.
"Arthurr, picking up the glove means that you accept his duel. If you win or lose, nothing happens, but if you back out on the duel before the duel even begins, you get suspended," Grace explained to me.
Why in the world would an academy need a rule like that!?