Wicked Games Academy

CHAPTER 6

To a great knight, education is essential and a requirement. I lecture one not as a teacher but a fellow student who was one of the best at Graycotts Academy.

Most boys were from well to do families or had a knight as an ancestor and wanted to follow in their footsteps. And there was the poor, who had families scrape up all savings just for them to become a knight.

Samuel Goldings was such one and he did not disappoint. Yet he was unhappy about Clive Vagrant of all to take first place. Samuel Goldings would've been a great knight if not for his failures in teamwork. But that's a story for another day.

Once back Clive and I were only students, passing each other with casual "good morning" or "how was class?" At the cafeteria he sat with his friends and I sat with mine. But now we had a secret we shared and when it was time to move in, Clive couldn't hide his smirk. He was pleased about rooming with me and "learning my habits".

After a few days of rooming with me he finally realized my life consisted of only studying in my free time to rejecting invites for anything. Most of them were boys who were told to befriend the third son of the Rottings house in the first place.

Although Clive had his different friends within each class and went out after class to play, he always returned for dinner in the cafeteria with me and then shower time and lastly, right before we slept.

Clive would always be nodding off while studying before turning to look at me. He would say, "Are you still studying?" to which I would reply "Yes," and then study until he nodded off again.

That day was the same, and I walked over to look at his sleepy face.

"How do you always pass tests if you don't study?" I asked, shaking him awake. He rubbed his eyes. We just had dinner and most boys were showering or getting ready to sleep. "Go sleep on your bed if you're sleepy."

"But there's an exam," he muttered.

"Then stay awake," I said. Clive hummed before responding.

"My verbal memory is better than reading. Why don't you read things out loud as you study? I'll use the basin to wash my face and sleep."

I did as he instructed and went over the lessons on some dangerous rebellion that caused a city to fall and a peace treaty that failed. Clive seemed to take it in and ten minutes later I asked,

"Let's test your verbal memory. What was I talking about?"

"The Golden City that fell and King Hans the seventh's peace treaty, the Treaty of the Big Four."

"You do have a good verbal memory," I said.

I continued studying, but fate would have it that Clive snuggled in and I was forced to read everything out loud.

I thought he'd fall sleep after a while since it was so boring, but Clive was awake for at least thirty minutes. Unable to keep reading it I coughed and grabbed a glass of water I kept by my side. My desk was small, as students were usually encouraged to do studying in the library or study rooms.

I finished all my water and glared at him, obviously irate.

"Go to sleep!" I hissed.

"I like listening to you read, it's adorable." Clive smiled angelically. "You should wash up and sleep, you have dark circles under your eyes."

I sighed and put down my book. Since the first exams were coming up, I was trying to study after class. To Clive who didn't ever study, I must've been boring.

Even when I laid in bed, knowing he was only a few feet away, I worried about the smallest of things.

Would Clive leave me because of my devotion to education? Would I be able to beat Samuel Goldings in our exams? Would Clive stay by my side forever?