𝔅𝔢𝔞𝔲𝔱𝔦𝔣𝔲𝔩 𝔓𝔞𝔦𝔫

ℭ𝔥𝔞𝔭𝔱𝔢𝔯 𝔉𝔬𝔯𝔱𝔶-𝔰𝔦𝔵

𝔎𝔯𝔦𝔱𝔞𝔫𝔞'𝔰 𝔭𝔬𝔳

"That is a complete waste of time," I tell Tom, who walks down the large spiral staircase with me.

"Making you exercise is not a waste of time. You can't lift anything over five pounds without struggling, you couldn't do a pushup if your life depended on it, and you have the overall body strength of a first year," Tom Riddle says simply.

I glare at him. "I can run."

"Miraculously," he drawls, and my lips curl into a sneer at his casual rudeness.

"What makes you think I'm going to need to lift anything or do pushups to do what I need to do?" I ask, wanting to do whatever I can to get out of this. I need to spend my time training with magic, not lifting logs and doing squats.

"Can you say without a doubt that you will never need to move rubble out of the way? Never have to lift yourself over an obstacle such as a wall or fence?" he asks, casting his gaze on me. His expression is stoic, but I just know that he is feeling pride at this moment because he knows he is right.

Rolling my eyes, I look away from him and down at the staircase we are descending. "Fine."

"Wonderful," he says, "meet me at our usual place. Same time."

I shake my head. "I'm not doing this outside. We can do this in the room of requirement."

Tom glances at me and opens his mouth to say no, but I step off the staircase and turn right before he can.

And I can feel his glare burning a hole into the back of my head as I walk further and further away.

I head to my next class, defense against the dark arts, as I check the watch on my wrist, the one Rhysand bought me for my seventeenth birthday.

Once I make sure that I have enough time to get to my next class without having to rush, I drop my arm back to my side and continue making my way to DADA.

But when I spot a familiar head of fluffy, brown hair, I quickly halt my movements and turn my head so I can make sure that it's Avery.

"Avery!" I call, a bit too loudly.

Avery turns around and meets my gaze before raising a questioning brow. "Yes?"

I go to say something but close my mouth when I realize I have no idea what I should say or even why I called his name to get his attention.

But as he continues looking at me with those slightly confused eyes, I find the tension in the air growing awkward. So I clear my throat and ask, "how have you been?"

Avery's mouth goes slightly ajar as if he is going to say something but closes again in less than a second.

Now, I'm the one to raise a brow.