Love Poison No Cure Needed

Surprising introductions 4.0

Sorrel arrived at the front of BPA excited for the start of term. He’d be able to attend the opening ceremony this term which was neat. Not to mention he could spend his days with Kayad and there wouldn’t be anyone who’d raise a brow since they were in all the same classes.

Speaking of Sorrel paused in the process of heading into the school as Kayad pulled up. He swung his own bag onto his back before he jogged over to Sorrel. They smiled at each other as the rest of their friends arrived before they headed into the school.

The opening ceremony was surprisingly interesting. Given the way the otter students had bemoaned the whole process Sorrel had expected a series of long speeches about student aspirations and such. However, the principal's speech covered that the rest of the ceremony comprised an artful dance by the performance students as well as an introduction of the student council. Sorrel was surprised he hadn’t realised the school had a student council since he hadn’t encountered them at all the previous term.

The president was a third year while the vice president and secretary were both second years. Lastly the treasurer was a familiar face, no wonder Sorrel rarely saw him since Vale had an actual duty at school besides classes it made sense that he would have less time than his sister. After the student council was introduced so was the disciplinary committee. Their introduction was brief, and Sorrel didn’t recognise any of them. Though he did find it nice to know that the students with the red band on their arms were partially responsible for the enforcement of school rules.

Next in the program was an introduction of the previous term’s top students. Which was based on overall score across their classes. Sorrel clapped politely for the first-year top student after he accepted his commendation and gave a smug speech about how it was a matter of hard work, and that a bit of effort went a long way. Sorrel listened to some of the surrounding students mutter about not letting the smug bastard get top at the end of the year.

At least that explained why the school was making a big deal about top students. They intended to spark the competitive spirit in the hopes that more students would do well. Sorrel was sure that there were a bunch of students who wouldn’t care.

Highlighted by Carla as she sneered and rolled her eyes before leaning over to talk to Sally as the second-year top students were called. Sorrel himself couldn’t work up a real competitive spirit; he'd done his best in the last lot of exams, but it had been awkward with the setups. Still his results had marked him in the top ten percent of the year, so he was satisfied.

This time Sorrel clapped enthusiastically as Jasper stepped on stage. His speech was shorter but, in some ways, sparked a larger response when he said, “well this is a surprise I didn't think I’d put in enough effort to end up here? must have been lucky that the rest of you went easy on me.” Jasper stepped down after speaking. But it still took Dr Creat who was MC for the ceremony a good five minutes to quite the incited students down again. The row of teachers on the side were shaking their heads whether at Jaspers stellar attempt to start a riot or at the incited students Sorrel wasn’t sure.

The third-year top student was more subdued, not really sparking any reaction. After that though Vice Principal Lester stepped forward to introduce some transfer students. While it wasn’t explicitly stated Sorrel got the impression that they had transferred from pure Other schools. A suspicion he confirmed when the first one to walk out was Marvin. He once again wore his benign and petite appearance. He smiled at the crowd, but Sorrel noticed that his eyes were directed towards their section.

Sorrel straightened in his seat and his eyes narrowed. Apparently, a metaphoric beating was not sufficient to keep him from eyeing what Sorrel had booked. “I’ll just have to give him a literal beating. That should sort the problem.” Sorrel muttered.

Marvin smiled again before he stepped aside to let the next transfer in. Sorrel barely noticed the rest, none of them catching his attention as he plotted the best way to deal with the annoying Demonskin.

At the end of the ceremony Sorrel waited outside with Noel. Kayad had been called aside by the disciplinary committee. While Daylen had gone off to catch Jasper and their other friends had been caught by various club presidents and other groups.

“Do you think Kayad’s in trouble?” Noel asked as they stepped further back practically into the garden bed to be out of the way of the flow of people.

“He shouldn’t be? It's only day one so we haven’t done anything untoward yet.” Sorrel tugged at his braid as he spoke. He’d grown a little over the break and had worked hard to condense his power in a less visible way than his flowers. Now it looked like he had a series of black ties along his braid with beads on them. It looked like something that humans could buy and thus unlike if he’d sprouted more flowers the additional magic storage went without comment.

While not entirely Kayad had complimented Sorrel on the look as well as the practicality. Now if only he could deal with the vine, so he no longer needed to wear the vial all the time he’d be right.

In the next moment, a shiver worked its way up Sorrel’s spine as the crush of people quickly faded to a trickle. Sorrel looked around at the slightly growing mist and then opened his nature sight. There was still a crush of people passing by. “Damn.” Sorrel reached out and grabbed Noel as he started to move.