Chapter Text
Boredom is the biggest enemy of studying. The root that poisons all progress, feeding procrastination. Stress piled on top was even worse, it pushed you to set goals you could never actually focus on. But both of them working together, reinforcing each other’s weaknesses, that was every student’s nightmare.
“The collective handling of aether expurgation requires…” Bree rubbed her eyes with the same hand holding a pink pom-pom pen. “Ugh, forget it. I can’t focus.”
“Maybe you don’t read enough, huh?” Alice suggested.
Bree stared at her like her best friend had just committed blasphemy in front of a priest.
“Please tell me you’re joking. You know I read all the time. Half the time I outsource studying just so I can read instead.” Her voice came out sharper than she meant, but she couldn’t help it, defending her sacred reading habits always made her sound rude.
Alice’s jaw dropped, shocked at the flames of irritation sparking from her friend, even under the prim white button-up uniform shirt.
“Yikes.” Valec’s voice cut in, pulling all three girls’ attention, Alice, Bree, and Mariah.
“You were listening?!” Mariah nearly spat the words out in horror.
“Only the good parts.” He leaned against the heavy wooden desk stacked with books of every size. His fingers drifted across thick spines, pausing at a highlighted passage marked up with pencil notes. He pulled his hand back with a smirk. “Don’t look at me like that, cousin.”
“What do you want, Valec? You’re sticking your nose into my private business, and I’d like to keep it private, with people I actually trust.” Bree’s voice dropped into a low warning, the edges of a threat hidden in it.
“You, my dear powerhouse, are just tense.” He rolled his eyes dramatically when he saw the girls’ confused faces. “Sexual tension.”
“Out of all your pickup lines, Valec, that one was the nastiest.” Alice muttered, lips pressed thin.
“But it’s the truth.” He waved off her insult like it was nothing. “Even nerdy little Alice Chen gets laid more often than you’d think.” He finished with a muttered grumble, unwilling to admit it outright.
“Hey! Don’t talk about my friend like that,” Bree snapped, cutting Mariah off before she could explode. “Say rude, idiotic crap about me all you want, but leave my friends out of it, Valec.”
His jaw tightened.
“Assumptions are half-truths, half-lies. And me, my dear powerhouse, I only use the truth as ammo. If you don’t like it, that’s not my problem.” He let out a long sigh, like he was already bored of defending himself.
“And how exactly do you know that?” Chen asked, not surprised that someone knew, but irritated that someone had told.
“Just because I’m shameless about crushing on Bree doesn’t mean I can’t have pretty friends around. And honestly, I’m nauseated that you forgot Emma’s my best friend.”
A streak of explosive light shot across the desk. Bree raised a shield, redirecting the energy’s path and bending it away from them.
Everyone froze, eyes darting toward the source. Valec shot upright, while the surrounding students stared, wide-eyed.
“Our bad.” Russ was the first to speak up. His girlfriend, Felicity, stood and walked over with a stiff smile.
“Hey, guys,” she said, tucking her hair behind her ear. “That was on me. I was testing a variation and lost control.”
Bree frowned, her golden eyes flicking toward the table where Flick had been sitting. The half-blood from the Lower Realm was staring straight at her, making her nose tingle with unease.
“No worries.” Alice’s sunny smile smoothed the tension between the groups.
Flick gave a quick nod, but instead of going back, she moved closer, planting her hands on their books. Her hip brushed Valec’s, though she didn’t seem to notice or didn’t care. Bree looked away, catching Flick’s eyes locked on hers.
“What?” Bree shot back, short and blunt, her patience was reserved only for her friends.
“HOW?!” Flick practically screamed. The library answered with a chorus of shushing, and Flick shrank into herself.
“Can you be a little more specific?”
“How did you manage to cast a barrier that not only bent around the magical trace, but also conditioned it to override the original intention and reroute it?” Flick’s wide eyes glowed with disbelief.
A pale hand landed on her shoulder, tugging her gently back.
“Sorry about that,” Russ said again, this time with the weary tone of someone used to cleaning up this mess. “She’s obsessed with rare bloodlines. Can’t help it.”
“Because they can be studied! Imagine if everyone could be from just one lineage?” Flick’s brows nearly touched as she leaned in. “And what she did wasn’t just bloodline magic. Man, it´s tricky, butr other wizards pull it off too. Still, someone doing it before fourth year, and without effort, like it’s instinct, that’s extraordinary. Not even Sel can manage it that smoothly.”
Bree’s cheeks burned at the praise.
“Bree’s amazing. Like Valec always says, she’s a powerhouse.” Alice chimed in proudly.
“But she only teaches in her exclusive study group,” Mariah added, like it was a sold-out show everyone wanted tickets for.
“Can I join?” Flick asked without missing a beat.
“Flick!” Russ groaned.
“Russ, don’t you get it? They’re incredible.”
Russ looked over each of them, his gaze lingering a little longer on some.
“Sorry again.”
“Well, if she really wants in, let her.” Alice said, ignoring Mariah’s not-so-subtle elbow.
They discussed study plans and schedules for a while. Bree enjoyed it, loved talking about customized routines and memorization tricks. But Valec’s midnight-black eyes pulled her focus. He raised a hand in a mocking little wave, a crooked smirk on his lips, the same hungry expression cutting through the conversation before the interruption.
A shiver ran down Bree’s spine.
Sexual tension.