I wanted to punch the wall out of anger. “Just leave it. It doesn't matter.”
Both girls sat down on my bed, clearly interested, but neither wanted to be the first to start the conversation.
“She's such a snob.” I sniffed, sick of all the silence.
“I told you she was vain.” Sammy's upper lip twitched in disgust.
“Look, nobody likes her very much, except those that she knows are destined to do great things,” Becky said. “She treats their sessions like they're the highlights of her day.”
“What did she say?” Sammy handed me a hanky.
“She said that I don't matter, because my dad was a dragon, and dragon children are not destined to wear the mark. I still don't know what that means.” I sighed and wiped off a tear that had escaped onto my cheek.
“The truth?” Becky said.
I nodded, ready to hear what she had to say.
“You're the first human that bares the mark whose father was a dragon. It has never happened before, and some of the professors here at Dragonia feel that Master Longwei is wasting his time.”
“Becky!” Sammy yelled, clearly stunned at her confession.
“I didn't say I felt that way! I'm just telling her how it is.”
“I still don't understand.”
“Dragonians have human parents, Elena.”
“Let me try.” Sammy touched Becky's hand softly. “Having a dragon for a father means that you have his DNA. Although you don't have a dragon form, you still carry the gene. A part of you is dragon, and that's the reason you can't become a Dragonian.”
As I let their words sink in, it was all slowly starting to make sense.
“There are a lot of dragon offspring, Elena. When a dragon falls in love with a human, their children are human and never bear the mark.”
“There are others here who aren't born with the mark, and nobody tells them they don't belong,” I said stubbornly.
“Their daddies paid a crap load of money for them to be here. Only the students with the mark are able to attend Dragonia Academy free of charge,” Becky said.
“That's why they don't think I belong here, because my father didn't pay?”
“No, Elena, it's because your father was a dragon. They feel that Master Longwei is taking a chance he shouldn't. I even overheard that some of the parents with non-gifted children, who have been on the waitlist, got really pissed when he let you in. They had this huge discussion arguing the fact you'll never ascend and that your mark it's just a birth defect,” Becky said.
“It's what she said too.”
“Did her eyes glow when she said it?” Sammy asked.
I shook my head, lied and pretended I had no idea what she was talking about. “Her eyes glow?”I wasn’t ready to share that part with them just yet. I was still trying to figure out what she’d meant.
“Yes, if not, you don't pay any attention. She talks a lot of shit.”
Becky raised her eyes at Sammy's remark and I giggled, remembering our conversation about how much Sammy liked the Viden.
“Do you guys think I'm wasting my time being here?”
“Hell no!” both shouted in unison.
“Sammy's right.” Becky put her hand on my shoulder. “Only pay attention to what she says when her eyes light up and when her hair blows.”
I sighed. I was lucky to have roommates who understood. Both were incredibly jealous when I told them that she didn't want to see me again.
“I would give my left boob for her to say those words to me,” Sammy said, “but I guess being the Rubicon's sister, she expects great things from me too.”
Shaking off the stress of the whole encounter we went to lunch and found a table inside the cafeteria. It wasn't long before Lucian plunged himself down on the remaining pillow. “So how was your first time with the Viden?”
“Shhh, we don't mention her,” Sammy whispered.
His smile disappeared. “That bad?”
“It's fine, I just didn't like the way she treated me.”
“Elena, if her hair didn't blow and her eyes didn't shine, then you don't pay attention to the witch,” he said, echoing Sammy’s words from before.
I gave him a soft smile.
When the bell rang for class, I felt better.
Before I knew it, the first week was over. I went through a schedule change around Tuesday, and some of my classes got swopped around. To make matters worse, not all the classes were like Professor Gregory's and Sir Edward's. They were extremely difficult, and each one could have been taught in Latin, because I had no idea what they were talking about half the time.
Enchantment was a nightmare. We had a Professor named Longchester who lectured the entire class period. My head ached by the time his lectures finished, and he made us recite foreign words over and over again. My stuttering made the spells backfire more times than they worked. So instead of protecting myself with a stupid shield nobody can see, I got hit with tiny stings that made me look like a crazy person hitting myself. It stopped the minute Professor Longchester snapped his fingers, but not before the entire class stopped to watch the show. The students always sniggered, and Becky would chuck a pencil or eraser at whoever laughed the hardest.
She was fairly accurate at hitting her targets, which I appreciated.
I hoped things would get better by the end of the week, but they didn't.
When the bell rang I wanted to jump for joy because it was finally Friday.
I soon learned that Fridays were going to be the worst day of my week, because I ended up with a double period of Arithmetic instead of Anatomy. When the bell rang, I dashed out of the classroom and bumped straight into Brian.
“Hello, Elena, excited to see Brian?” His jolly personality made it difficult to be rude to him. I knew he was only after my virtue, and I began to understand why Sammy said they were obsessed with hunting virgins.
“No, I—”
“Oh, c'mon, Elena, Brian isn't that bad once you get to know him.” Brian laughed when I blushed. “Just hang out with Brian, and if you don't like what Brian has to offer, Brian promises he'll back off.”
“Is it really making you that crazy?” I said, referring to my virtue.
He chuckled. “Brian has no idea what Elena is talking about.”
I laughed. “Nice try, Brian, but you forget that I was raised by a dragon. He warned me about the Sun-Blasts,” I lied.
“Elena's father would have loved Brian,” he said confidently.
“Oh, you think so,” I said, rolling my eyes at his candour.
“C'mon, Elena, Brian just wants one date.”
“Elena will think about it,” I said. We went our separate ways. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw him fist pump into the air.
“Elena saw that, Brian!” I yelled.
“Brian doesn't care what Elena sees, all Brian wants is that date.”
If that wasn't making it clear what his intentions were, I’d have to be blind and deaf.
I felt better once I reached the room and saw Becky and Sammy already inside.
“So, Elena, are you coming with us tonight?” Becky asked, as I threw my backpack on my bed.
“Where to?”
“The lake.”
“Is it safe?”
“Of course! And it's fun,” Sammy chirped.
I thought about it for a minute. "You know what? I'm in." I was going to regret it later, but I needed a break.
They clapped their hands, sounding very excited.
“So, what's at the lake?”
“A lake,” they said in unison, and laughed.
“You mean we're going to swim?”
“Unless you know of something else we could do at a lake during the night,” Becky said in a sarcastic tone.
"I don't have a swim suit.”