We devoured the sandwiches and licked the plates clean. I helped Pratt wash the plates and the kitchen. When we returned, there were two glasses waiting for us. Wine for Pratt. Cola for me. Jerry was staring at the glass in his hand thirstily. And Dia was glaring at him, which was the only reason Jerry was waiting. I silently admonished the old man, as I picked up my glass of cola.
The glasses clinked. Cheers, we said out loud. And drank.
And they truly drank. An entire bottle of wine had gone dry before I could finish my glass of cola.
"Thank heavens the wine is done," Jerry exclaimed. "It is a stupid celebratory drink that serves no purpose and isn't fun at all. Bring out the real stuff Dia."
Dia smiled only too readily. And out came a large bottle of whiskey. With it, were dredged out wicked smiles on the three drunkards' faces. I refilled my glass, enjoying the show.
They drank too fast. And got drunk just as fast. That wasn't the best part, however. With the defences down, their true personalities came out. Surprisingly, they were no different from their usual selves, except that the only thing they talked about was the Faery civilisation.
Dia was a proponent of drawing upon the long arc character set to decipher the newly discovered runes of a whole new family. Pratt was against it because the long arc character set wasn't yet deciphered entirely, so they would be more prone to err. Jerry wasn't a proper judge because he leaned too much toward Pratt. Simple democracy ended the discussion in favour of Pratt's argument.
Before they could accept the conclusion, they were asleep. Jerry laid out on the couch. Pratt and Dia were leaning into each other for warmth on the carpet that was actually quite comfortable. I understood that this was how it was going to be living here with them.
I brought down blankets from their bedrooms and spread them over the sleeping trio. I was torn between heading up to sleep in my bedroom and lying on the all too inviting carpet. The carpet won out in the end.
When I woke, I was in between the twins. They stunk and they were still asleep. Jerry was leering from the couch.
"Slept well?"
I nodded reflexively and shot him a dirty look. He froze in surprise.
"Yes, I hate you," I answered the unspoken question in his head.
"Because I destroyed you dream of an average life?"
It was my turn to be surprised. I nodded. He sighed sadly.
"Just go to class," he said brokenheartedly.
The twinkle in his eyes gave him away though. He was teasing me. My anger flared. Snorting at him, I left.
I got ready and was leaving, but the twins were still asleep. I swallowed the question as I looked at Jerry still leering. I would ask the twins directly in the evening. Were they not afraid of missing classes?
Morgan was waiting outside just for me.
"Good morning," she greeted cheerfully. "I wasn't sure about knocking. Prof Gerard is supposed to be very scary. Did he return last night? What is he like? And what are the two seniors like? They are supposed by the smartest in all of the the department. Could you introduce me?"
She was a rapid barrage of questions. Didn't give respite for me to answer. I gave up without even trying.
Morgan was clearly pretty from the gazes headed her way. I sighed. I should probably hate the academy. The academy itself seemed set on destroying my dream.
We walked back to the same building as yesterday. The first year's class was on the first floor. Morgan and I were among the last to arrive. The classroom was filled by the 47 of us. There was talking all around, and for some reason I felt like a lot of it was directed at me.
Damn Jerry. Damn Morgan. I cursed quietly.
A beautiful woman in her thirties walked in and the class fell silent.
"I'm professor Iowen," she introduced herself. "I'll be introducing you the subject of runic archaeology. Let us start with introducing ourselves."
And that was how it began. 47 of us shouting out our names like we were in the military. I felt foolish. The feeling deepened as professor Iowen asked us to open the textbooks to page 10 of chapter 1.
The Pruscian character set was printed on the page. The Pruscian's runes were the earliest discovered and among the simplest. They were credited to have opened the doors to the study of runic archaeology. The Pruscian runes laid bare the knowledge of the ancient civilisation, some of which was quite startling and had a defining role in shaping modern science and medicine.
It wasn't surprising that the study of runic archaeology started with the Pruscian character set. It was surprising, however, that we were studying it now. Hadn't we already mastered the Pruscian runes in elementary school? Were we deliberately wasting time? But for what purpose?
I felt like I wasn't in on some joke. Everyone was studying so seriously. Professor Iowen too looked the same serious. After ten minutes, I was starting to lose it. Acting was much too tiring.
I looked out and saw Jerry grinning from outside the door. He seemed to be waiting, for me to look at him. He put up an exaggerated act of clearing his throat and walking in grandly like the dean should. I hated to admit it, but Jerry could act really well.
"Excuse me professor Iowen," he said just loudly enough to be audible over the silence.
"Professor Gerard, good morning," professor Iowen greeted calmly.
She seemed to already know what Jerry was going to say.
"Can I borrow Dean, please?"
She smiled and nodded. Looked at me as if giving permission. Jerry was smiling at me like a dignified dean should. Amidst mouths hung open and wide open eyes, I followed Jerry out.
We walked some distance from the class before Jerry was grinning like himself. I could see that he wasn't going to explain himself. I quietly followed him to his office on the third floor.
He sat in his overly large chair behind the unnecessarily large table. I sat in the plain but comparably large chair on the other side.
Clearing his throat like he was going to say something of utmost importance, he began.
"There's something you have to understand Dean. You're not like the rest of your class."