LEO AUREUM

Chapter 6

What a voice. I barely looked up at him as I nodded towards the hallway, nonverbally urging that he follow me. I could hear him fall in step beside me.

“River!” Marcus' voice broke out. “Where are you going?”

“Cadet Alexander, the tour, ” he said while pointing at me.

“ You couldn't have been actually serious about the cariot showing you around.”

“What makes you think I was joking, Marcus?” River asked, seemingly annoyed by the whole conversation.

“Ri, what Marcus is trying to say is that he doesn't think that Stephanie here is the type of person you want showing you around,” Vern said, while twirling a lock of her strawberry blonde hair.

They were already on a nickname basis. How interesting.

“Yes, River, you know how strange it would look. Someone like you fraternising with the likes of her,” Melanie interjected.

The whole demon squad had assembled.

“What exactly is wrong with the likes of her?”

“We literally call her the cariot, dude. Surely, you realise that someone of your caliber walking around with the cariot is a terrible idea.”

That was Forest.

“Bold of you to assume I care, Forest. ”

I wish I could say I watched the whole scene unfold with nonchalance and disinterest, I didn't and their words stung.

I was about to interject and plead with River to go with them. I had no idea why he was so insistent on me giving him a tour when there were more shiny candidates who were more than willing to give him the tour and other favours, it seemed.

“Please River, follow the demon squad as they initiate you into their cult of social hierarchies and poisonous personalities.” These words were on the tip of my lips when River ushered me out of the classroom completely ignoring the inner circle. I was shook.

The tour proceeded in silence. I would have asked him why he was doing it but I was too tired to care.

I would give him the tour and he and I would go back to existing in the different departments of the worlds that we always had.

I doubled up my walking speed as we approached my rank mates clustered in the hallway.

The looks we were receiving were comical. I am sure we looked like such an odd pair. A towering 6”4 lean, muscled mass of masculine gorgeousness who walked like he owned the place and a dusty, cobwebbed 5”3 dark skin girl whose posture was out of shape due to how she was cowering away from the stares.

We were like a less poetic version of Yin and Yang. The thought made me chuckle.

“What is so funny, Alexander?” River's deep voice cut through my thoughts. “Most people won't laugh when they are being looked at like they just stole the coveted Thanksgiving Turkey.”

“Did you just refer to yourself as a coveted Thanksgiving Turkey?” I asked, nonplussed by the reference.

“If that is what it takes to make you smile again, Cadet Alexander.”

I didn't realise I was smiling. As I remembered where we were and what we were doing, my smile disappeared. My rank mates were already looking at me like I was breaking some sacred rule.

There was probably a rule that was being broken somewhere because there was no reason why such a fine specimen of man with as much power as he had should be trying to make me smile.

I am sure the balance of nature as we know it was being disrupted somewhere.

My rankmates did not approve of this pairing and they did not fail to hide it. If looks could kill, I would have been crucified upside down and my remains burnt at stake. The venomous looks were only directed at me. They still looked at Cadet Solaris as if he was God's greatest gift to the world. I felt the weight of their looks, the man of the moment simply did not care. It was best that I got over with the tour as quickly as possible.

“This is the administration block,” I said as we walked towards the white building. We had been walking in relative silence for 5 minutes. He asked me some questions which I proceeded to ignore. Rude, I know but I was doing him a favour. I grew tired of hearing my voice talk more of someone who was probably listening to me as a form of charity.

The 5 minutes we walked felt like the longest 5 minutes of my life. Each of my steps felt awkward and my sentences felt forced. He asked some questions which I proceeded to ignore. The atmosphere was tense for me,on the other hand, River looked immensely at ease.

I was glad the tour was coming to an end. The last landmark to show River came into my field of view.

I almost sprinted to the building in relief. The flagpole came out of nowhere and I walked straight into it.

One would think that a 30-foot steel flag pole bearing a very visible insignia of the academy would be visible to a human being with normal eyesight but I think we have established that the things that happen to me do not really go the way one would think that they would.

My face throbbed.

“Are you okay?” River asked, finally catching up to me. His face, a mixture of amusement and concern.

“ Glad to know you can find joy in my misery.”

“It's not everyday you see someone walk directly into a flag pole. I know you do not want to be close to me but maiming yourself seems a bit much, don't you think?” River continued.

“The pole was not there before.”

“Yes, Stephanie. The monument that the school was built around just spawned out of nowhere,” River deadpanned.

He. Called. Me. Stephanie.

I did not know you could actually physically feel butterflies in your belly.

He looked at my face once more and cringed.

“Let's get you to the clinic.”