The Shrink Program

Chapter 32

The three of us ended up sitting in class together.

Neither Vain nor Alex were willing to leave me alone in the other's hands, so they had come to a quick compromise... Or at least caved to each others insistence.

The three of us were going to stick together until this mess was over with.

Even though Vain and Alex trapped in the same room for long periods was an obvious recipe for disaster... when Vain grudgingly agreed to tolerate his presence... Alex looked like the cat that ate the canary.

I couldn't help feeling like Alex saw ruining Vain day as the cherry on top of his own.

The English teacher had almost fainted when Vain walked in with both Alex and I. The two students that had been missing from her class from day one.

She had even checked her laptop for our profile photos to make sure we were the real deal.

Ignoring the stunned silence of the class, Alex had stalked to the back of the room, taking a seat. Vain, with me on his shoulder, had followed the sullen delinquent calmly, taking a seat beside the glaring redhead.

After our arrival, the English class had progressed quietly. Everyone in the room acted carefully, as if afraid of frightening the rare creatures that had wandered into their classroom.... or afraid of drawing their attention.

I had heard rumours about this so-called "English class" and wasn't at all surprised when everyone in the class was given a thick novel.

The teacher began reading to the class, and the students had followed along silently unless one of them was asked to read.

I sat on Vain's shoulder, watching as he quickly flicked through the pages, secretly reading ahead of the class. I rolled my eyes.

Cause reading at a human pace was obviously not good enough for him.

Personally, I didn't bother to try and read along. Even if I could keep up with Vain or had any interest in reading, looking such a long distance to read the words was a strain on my eyes.

At first, I had listened to the story. After a while, the teacher had started getting the students to read.

All the different voices and the stuttering quickly made me lose my focus, and I stopped paying attention to the words.

Instead, I felt myself relaxing on Vain's shoulder, watching his hands turn the pages in a quiet daze. After all the stress of this morning, I couldn't help drifting off to the peaceful atmosphere.

Of course, I wasn't exactly "Enjoying" myself, but for something related to learning, this wasn't so bad.

I glanced to the side, noting that Alex hadn't moved since the beginning of the class. He sat slouched at his desk, book unopened in front of him.

After muttering something about "They all die in the end anyway." Alex hadn't even bothered to touch the thick book.

Maybe it had been made into a movie or something.... because Alex couldn't have actually read the book already.

It was a well-known fact that delinquents were incapable of reading. Even touching a piece of paper with a word count more than two hundred would give a true delinquent a rash.

"Vain? Would you mind reading Pages 214 to 220?" The teacher called hesitantly, giving Alex and me a nervous glance. Startled out of my thoughts, I sent Vain a worried look.

Isn't this reading to the class thing a little bit too close to torture?

Wordlessly, Vain flipped back through the pages until he reached the requested page. Undaunted, he began to read out to the class, his voice flowing smoothly over the words.

I glanced down at the book in his hands, my eyes tracing along the lines with his voice.

This was the closest I had come to actually reading in a long time...It wasn't so bad. I had almost forgotten how nice it was...

I blushed a little.

...doing things with Vain.

When Vain finished his pages, the teacher paused, looking nervously at Alex.

She had been going through the class according to sitting position. After me on Vain's shoulder, there was Alex. Sitting next to him.

Perhaps she could see my tiny expression from all the way over there.

That would explain the way she jerked her gaze away from me without having to ask whether or not I wanted to read.

As she wisely began to skip past Alex to the next person, the delinquent himself calmly opened the novel in front of him, nodding to the teacher.

"U-um, Alex c-could you read page 220 t-to....um." The teacher stuttered, so nervous she couldn't make up her mind. Before the teacher could finally finish her request, Alex began to read.

I wasn't the only one surprised when his voice begun to flow over the words as flawlessly as Vain's had.

Staring over at the redhead in stunned silence, I had to grip Vain's collar tightly to keep from fainting.

A mysterious group conspiring to defeat everyone on the hill... Wasn't that new.

Vain and Alex working together... Might raise an eyebrow.

The fact that Alex was attending class and reading a book... was probably the most shocking thing to happen all day.