Auroras Academy

Chapter 10

In the past two days I’ve been in the infirmary twice. Both times I had no idea how I got there. At this point I should be more concerned I might have permanent brain damage. Though that’s not going to matter if I don’t survive this school. I didn’t consider myself accident prone before this! But now I feel like danger is drawn to me. Or that people are intentionally trying to hurt me? Instead of being the bull in the china shop I feel like a piece of china in a bull pin.

At least Dr. Pelt seemed happy to see me. As the Spell Master he has all authority of spells, tonics, and prescriptions. As well as having to be present before any can be administered. The nurses in the infirmary did a good job of patching me up but when they saw my missing top incisor they traded me off to Dr. Pelt. Today he had students following closely behind him around the infirmary, taking notes as Dr. Pelt talked.

“Now, what would I prescribe her?” Dr. Pelt asked as he came to my bed after explaining my ailments. The students flipped through their notebooks but one boy immediately raised his hand.

“Bone regeneration tonic and a low dosage calcium shot. We should probably check if she has a concussion as well.” The boy recites confidently. The other students freeze waiting to see if he’s right or not. As I look closer there is something in his face that seems familiar.

“Very good.” Dr. Pelt praised, passing the boy the clipboard. The other students groaned, shoulders slumping. “She’s your patient now.” Dr.Pelt nodded toward me and moved onto the next patient.

“So? You were in here yesterday?” The boy asked, flipping open and reading my chart. I sigh, yesterday was the last thing I wanted to think about.

“Yeah,” I mumble. His eyebrows shoot up.

“Wow, falling down a flight of stairs doesn’t seem like fun. Anyways, I’m Alex.” He grabs out a pen from his chest pocket, clicking it on the clipboard. “Lynnon Hayes, what’s your-”

“Lynn,” I interrupt, and Alex glances up before nodding and writing it down.

“It says Species: Unknown. What’s up with that?’ Alex's face twists, confused.

“I’m human.” I state, gesturing to Dr. Pelt. “He just doesn’t seem to think so.”

“Interesting… usually it’s easy to tell if someones human.” He squints his eyes at me, as if that could somehow reveal if I’m human or not. He shrugs, scooting forward on his short rolly stool. He pulls a small flashlight out of the same pocket the pen came from. He lifts my eye lid up with his thumb, shining the flashlight into my eyes, blinding me. After a second the flashlight falls away and his thumb slides down to cup my cheek. He loses focus, staring directly into my eyes.

My breath hitches. Or faces our inches apart. What the hell was this guy doing?

“Is everything alright?” I nervously smiled, causing him to blink. Hard. He stumbles to his feet, flinging his rolly stool back.

“Sorry, I’ll go…” He trails off staring at my face. I frown, feeling uncomfortable. Self-consciously I touch my face, wincing. It was still very bruised. Alex physically shakes his head this time “I’ll get that tonic ready.”

He dashes away bumping into a suture tray, knocking everything off. I laugh watching him scramble to pick everything up. I instantly regret it though, feeling my head throb.

There was no way I could make it through another CTE class. And I had a feeling skipping every CTE class wouldn’t bode well either. I had to find a way to not fight another person until I can get this stupid glamor off.

Despite Alex’s unprofessionalism the tonic works wonders. The spot where my tooth was already has a budding white chip coming in. Along with the aching in my forearms had dulled to a weak throb. Thankfully, I somehow managed not to get a concussion. Though, every part of my body seems to be bruised.

“Man, someone did a number on you.” Max acknowledged, coming down the hallway towards me. I scowl, bee-lining in the other direction but Max jogs to catch up to me.

“Max, I’m really not in the mood.” I grumble, my tooth growing in throbs with each vibration my voice makes. My fingers dig into my backpack straps as I dodge passing bye students.

“I can see that.” Max leans in close, as he covers his mouth with a fist, wincing. Sick of his harassment, I abruptly stop.

“That shoulder is looking a little weak, huh? Did something perhaps fall on it?” I smirk and his eyebrows quirk up in surprise.

“Toché” He emits. But I just shake my head walking away. He grabs my arm and I wench it away. This time he doesn’t fight me and lets me go.

“Sorry,” he apologies. My jaw drops, aghast. “I didn’t mean to hurt you yesterday, I was just trying to warn you. Your blood just smells so good to us-”

“Oh. your a…” he nods.

The boy that has been bullying me since Kindergarten is a Vampire. Wow, even thinking about it sounds insane. So this is what he meant by my blood yesterday. Though, this definitely does not excuse his past offenses, it's going to take a hell of a lot more than an apology for me to forgive that. But I was willing to admit that maybe he’s changed since middle school.

“I didn't realize you didn’t know what you are. Your blood makes my head so foggy I can’t control what I do sometimes. I’ve always thought you knew we were an Aurorian and you were well… doing it on purpose.”

“Well, I’m not Aurorian.” I snap. I didn’t know why everyone was assuming that I was Aurorian.

“But you're here at this school” He questions, his eyes narrowing.

“I’m human, for sure.” I argue, spotting a peak of black ink at his collar. “They made some kind of mistake with the tests. My aunt didn’t mean to sign me up.” I explain, waving my hands. He shakes his head.

“They don’t make mistakes.” He doesn’t bother to argue. Solely believing his statement was fact.

“Well, they obviously did!” I flap my hands but he doesn’t listen to me, his eyes taking on a pitying hue. I spin, stomping away from him.

“Bye Tit-less.” He calls out as I go. I glower holes into the ground. So much for an apology. I guess people really can’t change that much.

My tray slams down on the table in my usual spot and I bury my head into my arms.

“Hmm, does oh famous one have a headache?” I frown glancing up at Madison. She sits back in her lunch chair, arms crossed, smirking. She slides her phone across the table with a grin. My eyes flash.

“You can’t have that here!” I whisper. slowly glancing around to see if any of the staff have noticed, trying to be inconspicuous.

“Thank you for your concern but the Big Ten can have anything they want.” She waves a dismissive hand. I don’t point out that she’s not actually a part of the Big Ten, figuring it wouldn’t end well. She taps the phone starting the video. I groan as I hear the crunch of my nose as Chelsey nails me in the face. I become her literal punching bag.

“Your form could use some work.” Madison giggles, replying to the video. I gap at her. Was she revealing in my beat down? Maybe Lauren was right calling her She-Devil.

“Do you have to show her that?” Clarke insisted, glaring at Madison. She rolls her eyes, however, she doesn’t resist and clicks it off. “But really, how’d you piss Chelsey off so quickly?”

“I don’t know! I didn’t do anything.” I exclaimed, rubbing my temples, hoping it would soothe the burning between them.

“It does seem a bit out of character for her…” Lauren adds, setting her tray down next to me. Even the clatter of her tray hurts my head. She slides a glass of water over to me and I gratefully take it.

“It didn’t seem that out of character when she was knocking my teeth out.” I open my mouth showing her my missing tooth just beginning to grow back.

“Aww, you’re growing it back?” Garret whines, he hands over 20 dollars to Mikey who quickly counts the money pocketing it. I regret even remotely feeling bad for him. I can’t believe he seriously placed bets on me.

“Look, all I said to her was to punch me and I'd fall and not get back up.” I explain, Lauren groans, burying her face in her hands, others slap their foreheads. Clarke shakes his head grimacing.

“Oh, you f****d up new girl.” Madison chuckles, Clarke sends her a disappointed stare. Madison shrugs, throwing her hands out at me as if saying; what else was I supposed to say?

“That is the absolute worst thing you could’ve done.” Lauren pinches her fingers together, taking a deep breath. “Chelsey is a Werewolf that comes from a long line of warriors. Throwing a fight is basically spitting in her face.” Lauren explains, “And I hate to say it but Madison’s right.”

“Oh…” I say, understanding dawning on me. “I didn’t know.” I wish there was some Aurorian handguide. It would have saved me a world of pain.

“I know you didn’t. But this isn’t Kansas anymore. If you want to make it here you’re going to have to start thinking like an Aurorian.” Lauren sighs, spearing a dumpling with her fork.

“What if I don’t want to think like an Aurorian…” I mumble. The entire table's eyes all look up from their trays. I gulp.

“What do you mean?” Clarke asks from across from me. My frustration spills over.

“I’m not meant to be here! It was an accident. I’m not even sure I’m Aurorian.” I blow out a breath, slumping in my seat. I’m too afraid to say I'm not Aurorian at all. I doubt they would take too kindly to the idea with their reactions being so strong just suggesting I didn’t want to be Aurorian.

“Hey, it’s okay” Lauren adds, tapping my shoulder. “With me by your side, no one will mess with you.” I weakly smile. Even as she said it to encourage me it felt like it was instead fueling every jealous eye in the room to hate me more.