THE APPLE OF SNAKES

xliii. cheaters

Like the two years prior, winter came before Nerluce was prepared for it. And this winter came with the looming threat of midterms.

The classroom was silent save for the sound of brush strokes against paper. Nerluce furrowed his brows as he tried to keep the ink from his fingers. His messy script didn't grant him any allies in the form of the teachers and around this time most just seemed to be itching for a reason to expel anyone they could.

The teacher - their history of magick teacher whose class Nerluce was admittedly the worst at - stopped in front of his desk. Nerluce's entire body went rigid as he sucked in a breath, terrified of what the old man's eyes saw. At any second he could choose to pluck up Nerluce's brush and paper and send him packing. Nerluce could be waist-deep in the snow by this evening. Gods, why was the old man still standing there, didn't he know that he freaked Nerluce out-

"You," the history of magick teacher said, voice coming out as slowly as it always did as he bent over the girl sitting next to Nerluce. "Let me... see this..."

The girl squeaked, her face red with embarrassment as the teacher plucked up her paper. He wasn't fast but it wasn't like she could stop him. Nerluce wondered what she had done wrong but he didn't have time to dwell on it for long. The bell would chime any minute now and Nerluce had yet to iterate his point to his fullest potential. He wasn't done yet.

Not with Ethera, not with the Seraphs, and certainly not with this test.

What happened to the girl next, Nerluce was never sure. He just knew that the next time he glanced over, the teacher had moved on and she was no longer in her seat. Expelled? Perhaps. She might've been cheating, though Nerluce hadn't seen how she'd been doing it. Not that he would have done anything if he had known how.

While Nerluce hadn't cheated on any exam, homework, or anything else since coming to Ethera - mainly because it was too damn hard to get away with - to all of his tutors back home he was a renowned cheat. So... honor among thieves. Besides, it was a hassle to report someone and Nerluce hated to make a fuss. Besides, Nerluce never could get used to the idea that he was the one people were cheating off of.

Eko wouldn't let anyone get close to their paper. Corbett would throw a fit - not that anyone would want to cheat off of Corbett. Lyana would probably start writing down the wrong answers on purpose if she wasn't doing that already. Hamelin... well it was a bit hard to say what Hamelin would do. Probably ignore it. He'd probably know it was happening, though, unlike Nerluce.

Momentarily, Nerluce wondered what Aristide would do if he noticed someone was cheating off of his paper. What he had done. Surely someone had done it before, right? Then again, it was hard to imagine anyone stupid enough to try and cross Aristide's frigid glare.

Nerluce shook his head and turned his attention back to the paper. Focus. He needed to focus. He couldn't have Aristide or his friends or anyone else getting into his head and distracting him at the most crucial point in his life. 

Well, maybe not his life but it still felt pretty crucial. Academic life? No, no, he still had finals this year and that would probably take the place as the most crucial point in his academic life. So maybe... second most crucial point in his academic life. But... that didn't have the same weight to it, did it?

Shit. Shit! Nerluce was losing focus again. He squinted and tried to focus on the characters. He'd completely forgotten what he'd been saying. He started to chew on the inside of his cheek, rereading what he'd already written. Right... the reason that magickal Affinities sometimes appeared in large clusters in certain parts of the world - particularly isolated villages - was not only related to the fact that magick was a genetic force, but also an adaptive one.