Chatoyant College Book 2: Initiates

Chapter 16: Classes and More Classes

"Byron," Corrie told Edie excitedly, both of them seated on her bed and giggling. "And he's a junior."

Edie squealed with apparent excitement, making her curls bounce a little. "And he likes you?"

"It sure seems like it," she agreed. "And if not, I'll convince him to before long!" Edie laughed, and she continued, "I haven't told him that I run yet, though. That could be an awkward conversation."

"How so?"

"Well, how can I bring it up without telling him that I saw him running this morning? Then I'll sound like a stalker too."

"Oh yeah." Edie nodded slowly. "Well, you'll just have to wait for it to come up naturally, I guess. It always seems to come up with you."

"I could always bring up the essay assignment Jasmine gave us," Corrie mused. "I decided to write about running for that."

"That's a good idea." Edie looked over at her computer and sighed. "I don't have any ideas yet."

"Well, I've told you about my adventures of the last couple of hours. How did your acting class go?"

Edie brightened up again. "Oh, it was fun! The teacher is this wacky old man--I'd say he looks like an elf, but now I know elves don't look like that."

Corrie laughed. "I assume he doesn't have a fox tail or a face made out of leaves!"

"No, his hair is what looks like leaves--a messy pile of them." Edie was grinning. "We mostly did voice and stretching exercises. He said our abilities as actors won't impact our grades, which is good, because I don't think I'm much of an actress."

"Then why are you taking the class?"

She shrugged. "It was open. It sounded like fun. Besides, how do I know I can't act if I don't try? Anyway, you never told me much about your magic class except that the teacher is a faerie. I want to hear more about that. What's the class like?"

"Crowded," she said, thinking back to the class from yesterday. "It must be a popular class. Professor Lal seemed to think a lot of people would drop, though."

"Why?" Edie frowned a little. "I mean, if people don't think magic is real, I could understand, but you can't come to that conclusion after one class."

Corrie shook her head. She wondered if Edie was talking about herself when she mentioned people who didn't think magic was real. "No, if anyone was unsure, they changed their minds when she closed and locked all the doors while she was standing in the middle of the room."

She was going to go on, but Edie's eyes widened, and she looked like she was about to say something. Corrie expected it to be surprise about the use of magic, but it wasn't: "You know, I wonder if some of the people had the same ideas as me--that magic class isn't really about magic, but the history of beliefs about it, or something like that. They might freak out when they find out it's real." She laughed a little, looking down at her hands. "I mean, I did."

"I did, too," Corrie hastened to assure her. "I believed in magic already, I guess I just didn't think too hard about it, you know?" She shrugged, thinking about what Edie had said. It hadn't occurred to her before that people would take the class without believing in magic, but it made some sense. "You're right, that's probably part of it. But I think the more important thing is that the class is going to be a lot tougher than most people thought. We have a ton of reading, and Professor Lal doesn't seem like the type to tolerate slacking. I'm still really looking forward to the class, though."

"You'll have to tell me how it goes."

They were interrupted by a knock on the door, and Corrie called "Come in" just as Edie said, "It's unlocked."

The door opened hesitantly, revealing Dawn's face. When she saw them, she opened the door more quickly and smiled. "I couldn't hear what you said, but I didn't think you were telling me to go away."

"Hardly," Corrie laughed. She and Edie moved over, making space for Dawn to join them on the bed. "What's up?"

"I'm tired," Dawn moaned dramatically. "I'm starting to think taking five intro classes was a mistake."

"Oh, you poor thing," Corrie said, her tone of voice saying the opposite of her words as she tried not to laugh too much. "You can still drop one of them."

"I might," she sighed. "I was afraid I'd get bored, but if I get the job at the library--and it sounds like I will--I'll have plenty to do, especially since Intro to Magic is a much more reading-intensive class than I expected."

"Corrie was just telling me about that," said Edie.

Dawn nodded. "I like reading, but it still takes time. Anyway, I was mostly wondering if you guys wanted to get some food. I'm starving."

"Sounds good to me," said Corrie. "And I can tell you about the very interesting afternoon I had!"