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Aylia snorted. “Agreed.”
We both giggled for a moment.
“Next time she talks about your dad, I’ll punch her for you.” Aylia let me go and hit her fist against the palm of her other hand. “Maybe then, she’ll take a hint and learn to keep her mouth shut. Frankly, if she were here, I’d do it right now for you.”
I sat up slowly, my back numb enough to allow that much movement. “Where is Coral anyway? I’d figure she’d be here.”
“You definitely got her good.” Aylia shrugged. “There are a couple of other medical wards throughout the academy. She probably went to a different one.”
“Good.”
“Yeah.” Aylia grinned. “She’s lucky. I didn’t do a good job of it this time, but next time, I promise to have your back. I don’t know why Coral has it out for you like that, but it’s disgusting. I won’t let her go after you again. Bullies tend to back down when they realize they can’t get away with it as easily as they’d like.”
“Same. If she tries to do shit to you, I’ll just punch her again,” I said.
That got us both giggling once more. Who would have thought that giggling was such good medicine, making me feel better already?
Chapter Fourteen
Somehow I managed to make it through the rest of the day. As more time passed, my back ached less, and movements became easier. Aylia was in all my classes. In fact, all the students stayed with the same people, and from what I could tell, our “class” was split into two groups. The bad news was that Coral was constantly in my group too.
“Rayna?”
“Huh?” I blinked out of the daze I’d been in all day and grimaced at the pulse in my head.
While my back was doing better, the rest of me wasn’t doing so good. Everything just felt off, like the balance of my entire existence had been shifting around. My thoughts were sluggish, my spine ached even more, and my head pounded, like something was knocking against it. Moving around was hard, and Aylia had to break me from my focus more times than I could count on my fingers and toes throughout the day.
“Classes are finally over today.” She frowned at me, the worry lines making her look a little older, which I hated. Aylia had a baby face with round cheeks, bright eyes, and a dusting of freckles over her nose. If her hair hadn’t been white, I’d have guessed that it would have been red. She was cute, and it didn’t look right when she gazed at me with so much worry. “Let’s get you back to our room so you can sleep. You don’t look too good.”
“I don’t feel too good,” I said.
Aylia helped me stand, making sure I stayed steady on my feet. The hike back to our room sucked. I focused hard on my feet, my vision blurring every once in a while. I was surprised I was able to get up the stairs without toppling over.
“Rayna.”
I grimaced as I finally registered Coral’s voice. Aylia stiffened next to me as Coral came sauntering toward us with another girl at her side.
“You haven’t gotten kicked out yet?” she asked, her voice like a snake as she practically hissed at me. “You don’t belong here.”
“What is your problem?” Aylia asked, her voice harder than I had ever heard before.
I blinked at her in surprise, wondering where all that spunk came from.
Coral glared at her. “Who the fuck are you?”
“Another rider. Like you.”
Coral snorted. “A nobody. No wonder you’re hanging out with this whore.”
She tried to focus back on me, but Aylia wasn’t done. “At the Opening Ceremony, Instructor Corniz said that our rankings no longer matter. We are all riders who have same footing. So you need to get off your high horse and accept that you aren’t as special as you think you are.”
Unable to stop myself, I turned my head and snorted as I bit back my laughter.
“Shut the fuck up. If you truly believed that then tell me why is Rayna the one who got whipped like a bitch dog while I received no repercussions.”
That quickly silenced me. I had no answer for that, and she knew it. Coral’s sly smile stretched across her face, making me want to punch her again. I curled my hands at my side.
“Rayna, I suggest you stay away from everyone, not just me but all the dragons too. Those dragons of yours aren’t yours anymore, so get over it and just leave.”
