Page 72 of Darkness Defined

I caught a faint hint of teasing and glanced at him hopefully. “Since we have an actual test coming up.”

“After class today, do you want to go to the dining hall and compare notes?”

I smiled. He was actually acting like his usual self. “Is that when you’ll point out that I’ve been taking notes on all the wrong things?”

“Probably.” He gave me a crooked grin.

The tension coiled inside of my chest loosened ever so slightly.

“Of course, this assumes that there are actual notes in your workbook and not just a bunch of doodles.”

My grin faltered. It had been stupid to hope he hadn’t seen the bookmark. I wasn’t even sure why I’d started sketching him, and now he knew. I scrambled to come up with some kind of explanation that wouldn’t dig me in any deeper than I already was.

“I didn’t realize you were such an artist. It’s a Shadow Demon, right? Self-portrait?”

My feet froze. He didn’t know. He must not have seen the whole thing. Sure, it was nowhere near being done, but I’d thought for sure he’d seen both sides of the folded page. “Um, yeah…” He could assume whatever he liked.

“Have you always been a drawer?”

“I don’t know, maybe? I’ve scribbled forever, though all it’s ever done is get me into trouble.”

“I can imagine, especially after you’ve tricked your friend into doing all the hard work.” He bumped me with his elbow.

He’d made it a point not to touch me at all for days and my entire body was viscerally aware of the contact. My heart beat a little faster and my palms instantly started to sweat. I scanned him for any sign that the touch was anything more than a friendly nudge, but there was nothing. He was the same Alex he always was. The bitter taste of disappointment filled my mouth. I swallowed it down and forced a laugh.

“I’ll try to be a little more focused.” Which would be a lot easier after I could figure out what was going on with me. I was even getting sloppy at the fight club. Neese didn’t appreciate that his golden goose suddenly couldn’t perform as advertised.

“It might also help if you weren’t holding the book hostage. I could use it for those translations, you know.”

“Right.” Of course, the book. That was why he was looking at me funny. Not because I was acting weird. “I’m almost done.” There was no way I was letting him get his hands on that book with the bookmark still inside.

The day’s lessons were a blur. Most of the classes focused on review since the most weighted exams were coming up. Alex said that was normal, but I thought he was fibbing. Granted, I didn’t exactly have stellar attendance where school was concerned, so maybe it was? It didn’t really seem possible to have already gone through an entire semester. Though I supposed summer semesters were a little shorter. At any rate, it was more difficult to focus than usual since all I could think about was studying with Alex afterwards.

“Do you know what classes you’ll sign up for in the fall?” Alex asked when we settled in the cafeteria. Unsurprisingly, the oval building was bustling with students.

I shrugged. I hadn’t really thought about it. Honestly, I’d assumed we’d just take all the same again.

He gave me a considering look. “You should sign up for Advanced Spells.”

“Why?” I asked, pulling out my notes, which mercifully were without too many sketches.

“I think you have a knack for it. And it’s one of the few classes where you didn’t really need any help.”

“Yeah, but intro is basic and advanced…”

“Is not?” he finished for me.

I rolled my shoulders. I supposed it was a little excessive to take all the same classes together.

“I can’t believe Vera is making everyone continue taking Battle Tactics,” Alex continued in the wake of my silence. “She didn’t even make it optional.”

I let out a sigh, grateful for the topic change. I didn’t want to take different classes than Alex. While it was nice that he’d be able to tutor me if we had the same course load, I knew the real reason had nothing to do with school and everything to do with the dreams keeping me up half the night. I pushed that line of thought away and cleared my throat. “I’m pretty sure she knows you don’t like her. Maybe if you weren’t so focused on that, you’d like the class more.”

“I told you, it’s not that I don’t like her or that I don’t like the class. I just don’t see the point. The Rebellion is over. Why do we need battle training?”

I plucked at the frayed edge of a notebook and thought about all the ways a class like Battle Tactics could have helped me over the years. “Battle Tactics is more than training. It teaches you to trust your instincts. You never know when you might need to defend yourself, and if you do, you need to have confidence in your powers and your reactions.” Which I currently did not.

“Wow, Matt, that was really enlightened.” He stared at me for a minute that felt like an hour, his green eyes looking into me as if they could see every wayward thought I’d had over the last few weeks. When he finally blinked, it was as though a tether had been snapped. “Fine, I guess I can try to be a little more open-minded about it. Besides, it’s not like I can do anything about it, anyway. Now show me what you’ve got.”