Frost

XXVII.

(this is a huge picture but)  j a y c i n a  A l m o n d    as   d e s i r e e  N i e l s s o n 

At the end of the day, I sat in the compound on the floor, waiting for Alfred to arrive. He was always late and I figured that this was  the norm for us; he had a class last period on the second floor and I was currently in the basement.

 I wondered if he still taught biology, or if magical beings still had to learn about Charles Darwin and his finches. 

Professor Cyrus seemed like he was everywhere today, he practically killed us in self-defence with defence-blocks and then shot Dakota strange looks for the entire duration of our Literature class. He was a strange man, and yet again, Dakota seems to be even stranger. I have never met any of his friends, or seen him interact with anyone but Hazel Fleming. Why I was worried about this? I would never know, but lately I've had too much time on my hands to sit down and contemplate my life. 

Alfred came busting in soon after, I was currently sitting down fiddling with my thumbs. He was out of breath and wiped a bead of sweat from his forehead before setting down his briefcase on the ground. 

"Did you run here?"

"I had a test, some students ran late" He breathes. 

"You don't need to rush-"

"I hate being late" He mutters, opening up his briefcase and taking out a stack of unmarked papers. "Now go run around the track so I can mark a few of these and then we'll work on mind blocks" He orders. I huff and stand up from where I was sitting. 

"Alfred, about yesterday-"

"It's okay Aspen. I understand that I may have been a little hard on you, this is a lot to take in and I don't want to overwhelm you. You're strong Aspen, I know you are. I'm sorry that you had to grow up not knowing about this world, but I think you're fitting in quite nicely" He gives me a reassuring smile. 

"I wanted to say that you were right, I just don't want to accept the fact that I might have to rule an empire I know nothing about" I say. 

"You know more than you think you do" He told me, "Now run around the track please. I turn around, suppressing a groan and enter out into the cold to run a few laps around the track. 

There was no one on the track today, I would often see the cross country team running laps or a few soccer players playing around with a ball. Thornhill didn't have cheerleaders, much to Blythe's dismay. She had never admitted it but I think she secretly wishes she could wear a short mini-skirt and regally wave a bunch of pom-poms in my face. The sport teams at this academy was lacking, and the students really show their pride for soccer or basketball rather than football, which was the exact opposite from when I was living in Chicago. Football seemed to be much more popular in America than it did up in the goonies- northern British Columbia.