Bianca finally gathered some bravery (or rather shamelessness) and took her backpack, stood up and sat herself next to Peyton. The last one was barely accommodating her art supplies on the table, an impressive big box of colors among them.
It reminded Bianca of her carefree, simple days of childhood.
"What?" Peyton spat at her.
"Eh... sorry?" Bianca apologized awkwardly.
"For what?"
"I've been very rude lately, ignoring you guys and..."
"Yes, you've been a b*tch, I already know that. After everything Dereck has done for you, and you dare treat him like that..."
That was what hurts the most; he was the first one who offered kind and honest words since coming here, helped her patiently to study for Fighting Concepts (despite Bianca being a lost cause), was the only one attentive to her missing classes and possibly saved her life at her last depressive episode alerting the teachers, defended her from malicious classmates spreading rumors, constantly motivated her to study and go out of her room, made sure to not leave her alone almost every day, gave her advice and supporting words...
Oh my God, she was a real b*tch.
"... Look, little chicken: I don't really care about your excuses to treat my friend like sh*t, stay away from him and I won't kick your ass in return".
For once, Bianca wasn't scared of her warning. She felt touched at Peyton's protective stance towards her friend, and Dereck pretty much deserved it.
"I won't treat him like that anymore! I was wrong, I was just... frustrated with everyone because I'm forced to be here".
"Here where?"
"At this school. I want to be in America with my grandma, get a job and support her. I think school is useless".
Bianca expected some kind of judgement or opposing argument from Peyton, but she just nodded and kept drawing on her notebook. Wasn't she at least going to ask why she was forced to stay in this 'Hell's Freezer'?
"So that's why you've been skipping classes?" Peyton almost muttered.
"Yes".
"Well, as long as you're not failing any subject..."
"I don't care if I fail, I want the semester to end fast and go back home".
Peyton stopped drawing and looked at her, furrowing her eyebrows.
"You do know that, in case you fail any class, you'll have to spend one month of summer vacation on make-up classes?".
Silence.
"One month of make-up classes?".
"Yeah".
"Here?"
"Yeah" Peyton repeated, looking amusedly at the stupid girl.
"During these vacations?"
"Yeah?"
Sh*t. Her sudden panicked face made Peyton smirk.
"You didn't think this through, didn't you?"
Bianca's horrified face made Peyton let out the biggest laughter ever. What a stupid, little chicken; thanks God for this well-deserved karma. A few other people stopped their paintings and drawings to look at an amused Peyton, but kept working on their own soon after.
From then on, Bianca attended classes more frequently, taking aback everyone. The girl also apologized to Dereck for 'being a b*tch' and he, being a good boy, forgave her; but his guard was up, and it would take some time to warm up to the girl again.
Peyton also treated Bianca warily during club activities, not trusting her yet.
One day, coincidentally she and Alexander met on the cafeteria's line. Bianca was about to ignore him as always, but the boy spoke to her first:
"I'm sorry".
"For?" She replied curtly.
"For thinking you were going to die".
Really!? Did he need to have this conversation right now? Too late, idiot!
"Dad called me and asked me about you".
That damn man; I curse the day I let him convince me to sign in this freaking school, Bianca thought.
"Tell him I'm fine and to screw himself".
Okay, she shouldn't have said that. This comment took Alexander by surprise but he didn't say anything, both standing on the line going back to ignoring each other.
A couple of weeks later, Bianca's grades were starting to get noticeably better for every subject: except for Fighting Concepts. She needed an impossible nine point seven on the final exam to pass the grade, and seeing that her maximum grade until now was eight point one...
She needed a miracle.
During one of the most boring classes ever, 'Magic Theory', Bianca was expecting more useless and boring crap as usual; but the teacher (Mrs. Cathrina) surprised them all that day.
"Dear students, I know last class I told you we'd review the basic laws of..."
Okay, who cares!? She wouldn't use it in real life, like ever.
"... but this semester I'll need an especial favor from you..."
She'd rather have another hour of Mathematics than this.
"... It seems there's not enough eligible candidates to donate blood for the Blood Of The Innocent..."
Uh? What? Bianca thought confusedly. As she missed a ton of classes, she was lost; and if she did attend, she probably wouldn't pay any attention.
"... usually we look for donors in sixth and seventh grade, but the circumstances force me to also ask you to volunteer..."
Everyone else looked at each other, some of them nervously. Bianca, on the other hand, was more confused; what was all this fuss about?
"... of course, I'll reward the eligible donors with one full extra point for the final exam..."
Wow, that really sounds interesting! Bianca thought. That would mean, for example, if she got a seven point one in the final exam, with the extra points the grade would be eight point one! That's a lot, and she needed it desperately.
"... So, who will gladly take this opportunity?"
Silence.
Bianca was about to raise her hand, but at noticing everyone else's reluctant attitude, she kept it down. Why no one wanted to volunteer?
"I'll increase it to one point five full extra points".
Silence again.
Bianca raised her hand, and Mrs. Cathrina sighed, relieved.
"Well! We have one brave student among us…"
"Uh, I just wanted to ask what's this about? Why you need blood?"
Half of the classroom rolled their eyes, while the other half face-palmed. Mrs. Cathrina suppressed the urge to shake her head in disappointment, and explained to Bianca in a strained voice that blood was extracted normally (as in any laboratory or clinic) and was collected as an ingredient for a potion's catalyst; but it was possible that her blood wasn't pure, so it was required to firstly take a purity test by pinching her finger and getting a drop of her blood.
"...so, if my blood isn't pure... I wouldn't get the extra one-five?" Bianca asked.
"I'll give you point five if that's the case".
Desperate situations required desperate measures. Point five was still a lot, why no one was still offering their blood? It's not like everyone succeeded in this class. Then, she had a better idea.
"I want the extra points for 'Fighting Concepts' final exam".
Most students looked at her, between surprised and mockingly, while Mrs. Cathrina frowned at her daring. On her part, Bianca needed more help for Fighting Concepts than Magic Theory, so she took advantage of Mrs. Cathrina's obvious desperation for the blood.
"That's not my subject, and not my decision to make" Mrs. Cathrina stated.
"You can talk to the teacher, no? please, Mrs. Cathrina?".
One thing Bianca has learned at this school was, teachers (magic users' ones) liked submission. If she talked with a sweet voice and pleaded, maybe Mrs. Cathrina would give in.
"Fine. I'll talk to him...".
Yes!
"... But if your blood ends up being impure, I won't reward you anything. I don't like this daring attitude of yours".
Crap. Her blood better be pure.
"I... I'm sorry if I came off as daring or rude, it wasn't my intention. But deal".
Students were already judging her with their looks, some of them smirking in advance for the humiliation the hybrid was about to suffer. No one believed she had pure blood. Only Dereck felt sorry for her, but he couldn't do anything to get her out of this mess.
Was she so desperate for those extra points? Dereck couldn't understand her.
Mrs. Cathrina went out of the classroom, and soon returned with the tools for the purity test in her hands. Bianca took a deep breath at the sight of the needle (sure it was quite pointy) and avoided looking at it while the teacher prickled her finger. She immediately felt slight pain and cringed, but kept her gaze elsewhere.
The snickers from some of her classmates stopped abruptly, astonished looks confusing her even more. The blueish liquid in the teacher's hand emitted a warm, stream of smoke. Bianca turned her gaze slowly towards it, and asked timidly if her blood was pure or not.
"Yes, it is" Mrs. Cathrina stated, causing internal havoc among her students.