The Art of Betrayal

Chapter 7

I mentally groaned at the voice beside me. Turning around, I gave him a small smile. "No."

He raised a brow at me, seeming amused. "No?"

"Yeah, no." I sighed. "Im not having you as my partner."

"Unfortunately I don't think you have much of a choice." He pointed to the rest of the students who were all busy with their own partners. "I'm the only one you got left."

"We can swap with someone." I said. "Im sure anyone would love to work with their honorable king."

He quirked an eyebrow and smirked slightly. "But the honorable king would rather work with you."

"And why is that?" I asked, slightly interested in why he wanted to work with me when several of his friends could be in the room with us. "Should I be honored then?"

"Yes." He stated. Thankfully, our conversation was cut short when the teacher who introduced herself as Esme spoke, giving us our task for the day. "With the help of your partner, you are to determine the rate of reaction between magnesium and hydrochloric acid. Any questions?" She paused, her eyes scanning the room. When no one spoke, she continued. "Very well, get to work." And we did.

"I'll measure out the hydrochloric acid and you prepare the magnesium strips." I said, turning to Cain who shrugged and nodded.

I carefully measured a specific volume of hydrochloric acid into a beaker while Cain retrieved a set of magnesium strips and cut them into uniform pieces using scissors. I watched him, surprised he knew what to do. He cleared his throat, taking my attention away from him. "I'm done. Move aside." He approached me, standing behind. "I have to put them in the acid."

I moved away from him, standing beside him with a good amount of distance between us. "Put them in."

He smirked, placing the strips in the acid and watched as it react with the acid. He handed me a stopwatch and kept one for himself. "On three."

I kept my thumb on the start button just like he did and when he counted till three, we both pressed the start button simultaneously and noted everything from the changed in appearance to the speed. "Looks like we did it before everyone else." He stated, his back turned. He wasn't wrong. We actually finished before the rest of the class.

"You aren't that bad of a partner after all." I said, earning yet another smirk from him. "Neither are you."

Before I could say anything else, the teacher approached us, giving both of us a nod of approval. "Well done."

I gave the teacher a smile before she walked off to the other students who might need help.

"That's two classes we have together." Cain stated. "I wonder how many more."

"Guess we'll just have to wait and find out." I gave him a smile, sighing.

"Okay, class. Listen up." Miss Esme, the teacher, spoke. "Whoever is your partner today shall remain your partner until you leave this school."

I groaned, glancing at Cain who was smirking at me. "You knew she'd do this."

He gave me a shrug. "Maybe."

The screeching sound of the bell almost made me jump. "See you in our next class."

I hoped he wasn't in my next class. I took out my schedule, seeing I had art class yet, same as Penelope. She mentioned she would wait for me in front of the lab and she kept her promise. When I stepped out, I saw her waiting for me and we both went to our art class together. I let out a sigh of relief when I noticed Cain wasn't in my class.

I found it rather odd that Cain wasn't in any of my classes after art class but then again, I did not see him in the hallways either. I assumed he ditched- something common with 'bad boys' like himself. I never ditched school. Although, that was something I really wanted to try at least once before school was over but if my father ever got word of it, I'd be dead. I had to remain a good obedient little student for his reputation to remain perfect and sacred and I hated every second of it. Sometimes, all I wanted to do was scream at the world about how much of a monster he was.

When school ended, Peter came to pick me up in the car. I waved Penelope goodbye and got inside it. Unlike my father, Peter asked me how the first day of school was and I told him, excluding Cain, of course. I did not want my father to take me out of that school just because of his presence. I made a friend there, and I was not going to be friend-less and lonely again. If that meant lying to my father about Cain's presence in the school then be it. I'd deal with the consequences, I always did.