One hour and fifteen minutes, that's how long I had to endure Hawkins' torturous lesson. A headache formed after his confrontation, and made it impossible to listen to anything else for the remainder of the class. He'd just given our assignments, and students were near sprinting out the door in an attempt to escape the hostile air.
I stayed in my seat, and waited for the guy behind me to leave. He didn't, and I could feel his presence behind me like a thick cloud of smoke.
My mental debate of who to get out of the way first was halted by Hawkins voice.
"Ms. Ellwood, please see me at my desk." He called from his seat.
I grimaced, and slung my bag over my shoulder. Now or never, I guessed. I never liked being scolded by professors, especially ones like Hawkins. I had managed to stay under the radar for the past three years, this wasn't the semester to be messing up like this.
I was halfway to him when a piece of paper was slipped into my hand.
I halted my steps and the person brushed past me without a second glance. Confusion swirled in my mind, but I put the paper in the front of my bag, and continued up to Hawkins' desk. I'd deal with that later, preferably never. Though, the things I desired seemed to evade the fates designs. I cursed them as I waited for Hawkins' attention to fall on me.
When his eyes rose to mine, he stood, and walked around his desk. He halted in front of me before he cleared his throat and spoke.
"Ms. Ellwood, I couldn't help but notice your blatantly distracted state during my lesson today. If I could notice it, other students can. I presume this year is stressful for you, however, do not let yourself fall behind. Nor will I allow you to disturb other students. It will not do good for you to fail so close to graduating. Headmaster Vancejoy has taken in interest in your academic standing lately. You are a smart student, and I need not remind you what graduation means to you."
That was his warning? Don't fall behind? What other time consuming ways could he tell me what I already knew? Frustration bubbled in my chest, and I clenched my fist.
"I apologize, Professor Hawkins. I will make sure that I don't distract other students, or fall behind in my studies. I understand the importance of graduating." I replied tightly, and clenched my jaw.
"I would like to assign you a tutor. I want you to work with them this semester to ensure that. After class on Wednesdays, you will meet them in the library for an hour. That is all. Thank you, Ms. Ellwood."
My ears perked up at the word tutor, and my face contorted in anger. Potions class wasn't my strongest, but that didn't mean I needed help, or a tutor. I had too much on my plate already, and an hour lost was worth more than I could afford.
The look on Hawkins face, however, left no room for argument. I nodded in defeat, and exited the classroom. I didn't have a lot of time before my training session with Ainsley, and I wanted to see if I could catch Hannah by the fountain.
She was reading one of her textbooks, perched on the edge. As I made my way over to her, it was clear she was heavily focused. Her earbuds poked out of her ears. Taking a deep breath, I tapped her on the shoulder.
She jumped slightly and turned to face me, surprise evident on her face.
"Oakley! Hey, have you seen Brandon? He didn't show up to our morning meeting." she questioned, and pulled me into a brief hug.
I shouldn't have been as shocked as I was to find out about Brandon's absence. Though, it made sense that he would wait for things to cool down. Maybe he thought I would say something to Vancejoy?
The note!
I had forgotten about it when I was being scolded by Hawkins. I didn't know if I wanted Hannah to know what had happened just yet, so I quelled my twitching fingers, and averted my attention back to her.
"No, I haven't seen him today. I doubt he'd miss something that important without a reason, Han." I assured her.
"You're right. I guess he'll just have to be brought up to speed at the next one. Anyway, what's up Oaktree?" Hannah asked, pulling us away from the fountain and towards the Courtyard's exit.
"Not much Han. I know Coop is going to invite Alex to his house during lunch, and I thought it would be fun to invite you, too. I know with the project you don't get to see him much. This would be a great opportunity to get some alone time with him." I offered, and nudged her shoulder. My eyebrows waggled suggestively, and a blush crept onto her pale cheeks.
"That actually works! I can't stay too long, because we start prepping for the first round of experiments after. I'm so excited! I'll get to see Alex. It's been like a week and a half." She gushed.
Her happiness was contagious and I found myself smiling along with her as we entered the training grounds. Hannah gave me a quick hug before she sauntered over to the mats. I stayed at the edges of the grounds, scanning the area for Ainsley before I'd join the rest of the class.
My head swiveled in a few directions before a gust of wind to my right startled me. Beautiful blood red wings fluttered in my peripheral, and I turned to see Ainsley sporting a deep frown.
"What's wrong Ainsley?" I questioned, concerned.
"Oh, Oakley, it's terrible. I'm falling so far behind, and its not even halfway through the semester. And now we have this dumb training session once a month, and I feel like I am going insane. It feels like there isn't enough time in the day to get through everything." She choked out.
The stress emanated off of her in waves, and I could only empathize with her. She had said everything I felt, and she didn't even know the half of it. Both of us stood there a few moments, drowning ourselves in the thickness of our stress, before a loud voice boomed throughout the grounds.
"All here for training, line up!"
Here we go. A full hour of getting my ass kicked, what fun.