“Wow!Thank you!”
“I expected nothing less from the son of a councilman.”She gives me a once-over through her thick glasses, and my smile falls.There it is again, that shadow of Dad’s greatness always shrouding everything I do.
“Um, sure.”
“Great job, Luther!”Necia says.
I smile at her and reply, “Yeah, it’s just the first exam.I doubt I’ll get the highest marks every time.”
“I’m proud of all of you!”Professor Rodante announces.Her voice echoes over the twelve of us teenagers here in the lecture hall.She walks to my left and hands a paper to the dude at the neighboring table with the short haircut.“The mean grade average was eighty-five, and someone got a 101.I guess that means I should make my tests more difficult.”
A smattering of polite laughter fills the room, but I’m silent.I scrutinize my exam.Someone got more than me?
“Thank you, extra credit,” a voice to my left says in a sing-song voice.I glance at the boy?Devries, I think his name is?He’s wearing a baggy shirt over a long thermal, but I can tell he’s as skinny as me.
“I bet he can run fast, faster than you,” a sinister voice in my head whispers.“He looks athletic with his long legs.”
Shut up, voice.Those are gay thoughts, and the world hates gay boys, so that’s not me.
“It was only because of the extra credit that you got that score.”
The boy glances at me, and my throat goes dry.Okay, that was supposed to be a voice in my head.
Where I expected a clapback, he looks me up and down instead.“Didn’t say it wasn’t.But hey, maybe next test you’ll get the highest marks, for real this time.”He leans back and smirks.“That was a bit premature of you to celebrate, wasn’t it, son of the councilman?”
My blood boils.“Big deal.It’s just the first of our exams of the year.”
“First of four years’ worth of exams.”He whistles.“Can’t wait to be an agent of SPELL.It’ll bloody brilliant.”When he glances at me, his blue eyes shine, and my skin runs hot.“And you’ll be there too, I presume.If you make it to graduation.”
I grunt and say, “I will, Devries.And I’m gonna be at the top of the class.Just wait for the next exam.”
He shrugs.“The real test is gonna be the field demo of magical skills.That’s where we’ll prove our worth.”
“Then I’ll best you there, too.”I’m not sure where this competitive instinct is blooming from, but I want so badly to wipe that smug grin off his face.Mom always told me not to resort to violence, lest someone label me a thug and lock me up.But triumphing in academia will prove who the better wizard is.
He looks me up and down again with an amused grin.Why isn’t he threatened or annoyed?It’s infuriating.“Sure thing, Lou.”
“It’s Luther,” I say through gritted teeth.
“That’s lunch!”Professor Rodante announces.“I trust you all know where the Union cafeteria is.”She sits down, and the sounds of everyone picking up their bookbags fill the lecture hall.
Devries is the first to stand up, and I notice his baggy, ripped jeans.Must be a London-style thing, I’m guessing that’s where he’s from based on his accent.Then I wonder what his ass looks like underneath.No, stop it, I’m not gay.
“Whatever you say, Lulu.”His taunting words snap me out of my trance.
“That’s not my name!”I holler as he saunters off.Some kids give me weird looks, but I ignore them.Necia beckons me to come to lunch and walks away, so I stand up and put on my bookbag.Everyone trails out of the wooden double doors, but I stand still, holding the graded exam.
Ninety-nine is good, but 101 is better.Devries thinks he’ll keep doing better than me, I bet.Well, that’s just unacceptable.He’s my academic foe, and I’m going to prove my worth?to him, my father, and the entire wizard community.
(Now)
If I squint my eyes, I can still see fourteen-year-old me sitting at the long desk in front of me.In my memory, little Necia is also sitting there, and I smile.
But alas, that was the past, and I’m standing at the teacher’s desk.When I look behind me, Professor Rodante, old and yet inexplicably unaged after more than a decade, stands by the chalkboard.Necia and Girish are by the double doors, another relic from my sorcery protection school days.After spending every Saturday in this lecture hall for four years, one would think I never wanted to come back.
Well, I didn’t.I’m simply the guest lecturer for the spring.Dad wanted me to do it, and it makes sense to teach the latest batch of fourth-years from the perspective of an active agent of SPELL.
The kids stare at me in silence, and I gulp.Teenagers can smell fear, I bet.I’m not used to giving lectures, but it’s only for today.
