Page 30 of Vayn

Damn. Vayn and I had just been staring at each other for a good two minutes, neither of us saying anything. I felt my cheeks heat in embarrassment. Get it together, Destiny. I noticed Mr. Eldritch at the front of the room, his thin frame hunched over, staring at us above the rim of his glasses.

His graying hair clung to his scalp, giving the appearance of a damp mop. The room smelt of stale air and old parchment, and the only sound came from the rhythmic ticking of an ancient clock.

"Ahem," Mr. Eldritch began, clearing his throat again as he stared around the room. "Today, we continue our study of Structuring Spells."

He adjusted his spectacles and began to read aloud in his familiar monotone voice, each word blending into the next as he droned on and on. Most of the class usually fell asleep before he finished reading the first paragraph. Since everyone knew I was a dud, I never slept in class. I didn't want to add sleeping during lessons to my already tainted resume.

"Consider the elements that give rise to the spell's potency... focus on the magic within... channel your intent with precision..." the professor droned.

I tried to concentrate on his words, but my mind couldn't help but drift to Vayn standing in the back, watching me intently. And I knew he was watching me because I could feel his eyes on me. I wondered if his shadows would hear me if I called out to them. Usually, they reached out to me, and I responded.

I didn't even know how or why we could communicate telepathically. But I was bored enough to see if I could reach out to them first. Would it make Vayn mad if I did so? Probably. Oh, well. Here I go.

"Charm, Bliss, Rage, Dread, can you hear me?" I thought.

Before I finished my sentence, swirls of darkness whirled in front of me. My shadows! Vayn's low growl from the back of the room let me know he didn't approve of this. I ignored him. The dark clouds dispersed, and Rage, Dread, Bliss, and Charm stood before me.

"You called, beautiful?" Charm spoke through our connection, making me blush.

"Sorry. I was bored and needed help staying awake," I thought.

My gaze jerked to Dread when I heard him growl. Oops. Was I wasting their time?

"Sorry," I thought, feeling guilty for bothering them simply because I was bored. "You don't have to..."

Dread's words cut me off. He glared behind him. "What kind of professor is this male?" Dread snarled. "He's not engaging enough to keep her awake. Why is he even a teacher? Should we kill him?"

"We should," Rage agreed.

"No!" I thought as loudly as I could. But I couldn't deny that I was happy they were mad at Professor Eldritch and not me. "He's just boring. He's always been like this. But he's innocent. The thing is," I thought, once they were all facing me and no longer growling. "This is a class we don't have to pay attention in. We just need to read the book because all he does is read the book to us."

"Do you want us to take you out of here?" Bliss asked. "We can go do something fun. What do you like to do?”

From the back of the room, Vayn growled.

"Ignore him," Bliss told me. "We only need your permission."

I smiled. Then, I realized a student was looking at me like I was strange. Wiping my smile off my face, I thought, "That's sweet of you, Bliss. But I can't skip class. I need to keep my record as clean as possible since I want to teach here when I graduate."

Bliss nodded. "I understand. We'll stay with you and help you stay awake. Okay?"

I nodded, then caught a student looking at me like I'd lost my mind. I needed to play this off better. My shadows went to work, trying to help me stay awake. I had Charm seated on my desk, reading the book to me in his sexiest voice, occasionally throwing in accents that made it hard for me to keep a straight face. I had Bliss massaging my shoulders, the warmth of his touch making me tingle in places that shouldn't be tingling while I was in the classroom.

Every now and then, he'd lean down and whisper in my ear, "Do you like this?"

Of course, that got us a growl from Vayn. And so did my response of, "You know I like it."

I was flirting with my shadows, which I'd told myself I wouldn't do. But it was too fun not to. This was definitely the most relaxing and interesting lecture I'd ever had. Rage and Dread stood on either side of me, staring around the room, discussing who could be possible threats to me. My guardians. They were so destructively cute.

"Hey, Destiny," a familiar voice said, breaking through my tranquil bubble.

My eyes shifted from Charm to find Jasied, a popular football player with black hair and dreamy blue eyes, leaning against the edge of my desk. A warm smile adorned his handsome face, causing a blush to creep into my cheeks.

Charm looked him up and down. "How dare he lean against our desk?"

"Hi, Jasied," I replied, struggling to maintain eye contact with him and not look at Charm, who was now standing next to him, growling.

Jasied had shown interest in me in the past, inviting me to after-game parties, but I always declined. A lot of guys on campus looked my way because I was a curvy girl, and they wanted to touch these curves. But because I was a dud, none of them truly wanted anything more than an intimate relationship.