Light the Way

Chapter Ten

Today was the day.

Where Coriolanus was prepared to make his classmates weep in agony over his absolute brilliance. They'd be embarrassed for even sitting in the same room as him, presenting their weak ideas and having them slapped down by Dr. Gaul for being so stupid. He'd reek of victory after this class, parading down the hall and shoving it down everyone's throats.

Well, he couldn't take all of the credit. Olivia had helped come up with a great deal of the ideas too. But nonetheless, there was a debate portion that he was prepared to win too. Ready to strike down everyone else so that they landed that top mentor spot. He wanted everyone to know they were the front runners in the class.

The class dynamic had shifted a bit since the first assembly. Everyone sat in their respective pairs now, which only changed things slightly for their group. Coriolanus kept his original seat, with Olivia switching with Festus. The smell of vanilla now swirled around him all day. The downside was Livia now sat in their row, on the other side of Festus.

They sat together, making small talk while they waited for Dr. Gaul and her assistant to arrive. With the exclusion of Livia of course, who refused to engage in any form of pleasantries with the trio.

"I don't know about you guys, but we had some pretty good ideas." Festus bragged, jostling Olivia jokingly and earning a narrowed stare from Livia.

"Don't start telling them our gameplan Festus! We talked about this – they're our biggest competition!" Livia screeched out. Festus gave her an apologetic look and turned back to his friends. Coriolanus smiled - of course they were the pair to beat!

"I mean our ideas were... alright." Festus said in a deadpanned tone. "How did you guys make out?" He gestured between the two of them.

Us? Make out? We'd never.

Coriolanus prepared to defend himself.

"Uh... We had some good ideas..." Coriolanus started. Did he know they made out? Had Olivia told him? Maybe he could smell the cologne on her, sitting next to him. He shouldn't have been so friendly when he came into class today, that extra long hello he gave her was giving him away.

"Festus you're going to be heartbroken!" Olivia interrupted and Coriolanus held his breath. "We have such a good plan you're going to be wishing you got paired up with one of us!" She finished off smoothly, almost giving Coriolanus a heart attack in the process. Catching her eye, she shot him a wink.

"I hate you both – really, Dr. Gaul stacked the odds against the rest of us." Festus grumbled. "At least remember your dear friend Festus when she parades you two in front of the rest of the Capitol council." He added on.

"I'm sure second best will get something out of it." Corionalus joked, reaching over to give Festus a half-hearted pat on the shoulder. He purposely brushed his arm against the back of Olivia's chair on the way, touching the back of her sweater. The hair on the back of her neck stood up in response, suddenly hyper aware of his closeness to her. It was getting harder to focus around one another.

The two large doors opened with a loud rattle, the class falling silent in response. Some students even shrank into their seats. Dr. Gaul entered, surveying the class, trying to match the poor faces to the terrible proposals she had read from them the night prior. Coriolanus was radiating confidence today, knowing it wouldn't be their group. Dr. Gaul made a rather dramatic entrance, slapping the papers down onto the podium and glaring at everyone around the room.

"Some of you truly are disappointing." She said to no one in particular. A few students shrunk back even further. "But I'll let your classmates be the ones to poke holes in your proposals and find out how lacking some of you are." She cackled again, finding humour in the idea of the students openly bashing each other in such a public setting. Finding any opportunity to bring out their true natures to fund her own amusement.