The Galway School of Dragons book 1: The Death Dragon

Chapter 15

"Please god help us." Tom whispers, letting his chiseled jaw fall slack. I, for once, take a good look at him. His nose is slightly crooked, and his eyes are a dark blue. His jaw is almost square and his hair is bright red and shaggy. His friend, Johnny, has more of a chubby face and long red hair.

"Do I have chocolate on my face?" He asks once he realizes I was staring. I blush intensely, "uh, no." I murmur. My eyes follow down to my hands. Suddenly a sharp elbow jabs into my side. I look over to see Luce grinning at me. "You like him." She mouths. I feel my face get hot and I shake my head, trying not to smile.

She squints her eyes at me and turns to Rebecca. I feel a bubble of something unidentifiable in my chest. My heart pounds. "Albany." Somebody says, I turn my whole body towards the voice.  Tom looks at me from under his shaggy hair. "Yes." I say, my heart flutters helplessly. "Your arm has fallen in your putting." He says, drawing attention to my arm.

With a little squeak I un-stick my arm and whip it off with my napkin. "That was funny." Johnny says, shoving a chicken wing into his mouth. I laugh at him until Tom turns to me. "Meet me at midnight in the West Hall." He whispers before standing up and leaving the dining room. I watch his lean body trot away.

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I go through my day slowly, just waiting for midnight. It's stupid, actually. My whole body buzz's with excitement when I see Tom in the hall. He waves at me and gives me a small smile. My heart pounds. Eventually, the lunch bell rings and I lead Rebby and Luce to the table, to snag a seat beside Tom.

Rebby and Luce stare at us as we have a small, quiet conversation. "Where do you live?" He asks quietly. "The US." I Whisper. He chuckles. "No, the dorm room number." He whispers. "Oh." I saw automatically. "They moved me down to the teachers quarters, my door has my name on it." I Whisper. "Huh." He says, before taking a big bite of cake.

I smirk at him as he chews and gets drums right over his front side. "Shwat?" He asks, chewing. His words send me into a fit of giggles. "Cake... everywhere..." I screech out between giggles. Soon he is laughing along with me until the bell ring to go back to classes. "Midnight. West Hall." He whispers before standing up and sweeping away.

I stand up after him and walk down the hall. I arrive at my class just as the bell rings. I'm a daze, I sit down at scribble down notes. Finally, the bell rings and I stand up, ready to leave. Then some hard sort of wall or something smacks into me and I stumble backwards. "Woah." I say, clutching my head. Once my headache is tamed I look up to what I ran into.

Tom stands at least a foot over me, his face sculpted into a worried look. "Oh my, Albany. I'm so sorry! I thought you saw me." He said, grabbing into my wrist and leading me out of the classroom and sitting me down on a bench. "Jesus, Tom. Have you run into her already?" Johnny says, popping out from behind him.

Tom grins as he takes a fake swing at his friend. Johnny dodges with surprised athleticism. "Now, back to the matter here." Johnny says, pointing Tom towards me. "Are you sure you're okay?" He asks, his face taking on that worries look. "Yes." I say calmly. I hear Luce giggle and glance over to her to see a wide eyed Rebby getting pushed away. Tom doesn't notice.

"Ugh, okay. Skipping class, are you?" He asks. "Uh... yeah." I saw, looking around. I mean, it not like I'm not aloud. Taking an afternoon of would be okay. "Tom! Johnny! And... Albany?" Professor Middlewiddle calls out. "Sorry, Professor." Johnny says, picking up his back and hurrying off to class.

"Albany and I have got the afternoon off, to research in the library." Tom lies cleanly. I gape at him. "Very well, is this true, Albany?" She asks. "Uh, yes, Del-- I mean Professor." I stumble. She gives me a warm smile and turns to go. "Del?" Tom asks once she has left. "Her real name is Delia." I say.

"Huh. Okay, to the... where should we go?" He asks, glancing around. My heart pounds and my cheeks grow warm. "I... uh, don't know." I say. "Okay, my dorm it is." He says before grabbing my hand and pulling me up from my chair and pulling me forward. We jog through the halls and up a couple staircases. We run by Ima's dorm and climb up a latter north of there.

Once we climb at least  twenty feet Tom jumps off of the later into a little alcove. "The boys' dorms are older. From the original build of the castle. They renovated them two years before my oldest brother came." He says, plopping down on a four poster. I carefully perch myself on the edge.

"How olds your brother?" I question. "I have four brothers and a sister. My oldest brother is like us, then my second oldest isn't, he's just a wizard. My older sister is a Anamalist, meaning she can talk and control animals. Then my twin baby brothers are... well, we don't know. They haven't sprout hair yet." He says with a giggle.

"Have any siblings?" He ask. I shake my head. "No, my dad was only in his last summer holiday before his last year when my mom had me. They never got back together." I say slowly. "Cousins?" I shake my head, "grandparents?" I shake my head again. "No family other than your mom?" He asks. "Nope," I reply.

He gives me a weary glance then I notice something sticking from under his bed. "What's this?" I ask, pulling it out. It's a picture of my dragon egg, and a picture of what appears like to be a journal. "What's this?" I repeat. "I-its Ima's plans." He whispers.