BLEEDING SILVER

Chapter 2

Upon setting foot on the parking lot of the school grounds, Atlas offered, "I'll walk you to your first subject if you want."

"No, thank you. It'll be a bother." Then Alina continued on her thoughts, 'For me, at least'.

Atlas's left eyebrow raised for a moment, as if able to read Alina's mind. "Main gate is just up front. I'll see you whenever then," he said as he waived off.

Alina sighed in relief. She never distinctly classified races before but something triggered her to think that Atlas might be other than Helios for reasons unclear to her mind. As she realized this, she just shook it off. "Too much already for day one."

Luckily for her, the information desk gave clear specific instructions to her first subject, Financial Markets. Her building can be easily spotted as it was mounted just on the back of the main building, right before a very wide oval field surrounded by sturdy acacia trees with pergolas underneath them.

She entered the first room to the left on the fourth floor. Seeing that it is an audio visual room, the chairs are slightly elevated at the back. As it is the setting, the tables are reasonably attached to one another forming a long rectangular manner. A projector is readily standing on a case attached by the ceiling and in front of it is a rolled up white screen. On both sides are clean white boards, also just below two gigantic air-conditioning units.

Alina strategically chose her seat at the back right corner of the room, just beside the window. Patiently, she watches the students fill in the AVR. As she has expected, the Helios will occupy the seats in front and as they are almost always in groups, they instantaneously filled in half of the seats until the middle. Meanwhile, humans either sit alone or with a very few companions on the remaining chairs.

What caught her attention was a gloomy male approaching her position. He has sharp jet black eyes partially covered with straight deep brown bangs. He was wearing turtleneck Prussian blue inside his charcoal cardigan with just as a bit lighter shade as his pants and boots.

For reasons uncalled for, Alina felt a rather an intimidating glare from the guy as he slowly walks towards her. 'This must be his supposed spot,' Alina thought. She was about to stand but was immediately frozen as hair on her nape stood instead. For a moment, she knew that she was in danger but was instantly relieved of it when she saw the guy sitting on the chair after the vacant one beside her. Meanwhile, the guy took a quick glance at Alina, never saying any word worthy of his time.

The professor then entered the room and introduced himself to the class as Mr. Reginald Cruz. He is a blonde early-40s dressed with a semi-formal attire. He then laid out the topics to be discussed for the semester. He also started off with the introduction of the first subtopic then later discussed the final project. "As for the last requirement, you are required to pair up with your seatmate. As partners, you will choose a financial market to invest the supposed savings that you must accumulate by whatever means at the end of prelims. The growth on that investment will determine your final grade." He then took the names of each pair as per the seating arrangement and dismissed the class afterwards. He intentionally left the class 30 minutes earlier to let the students discuss about their project.

Alina visually gulped at the professor's idea but later discarded the thought. She deeply inhales as she gradually stands up. However, her momentum was interrupted by an unwavering presence beside her. "Ideas?"

Bewildered, Alina shook off her head. "Ah, yes. As for the profit-generating activity, how about an online business?"

The guy sitting closely to Alina replied, "What are you planning to sell?"

"Ideas that will come to reality."

Then long awkward pause.

"I was expecting you to ask but—" Alina sighed shortly and continued, "I am not into boasting but I am above an average digital designer. I can also paint and draw realistic, futuristic or abstract arts. We are going to sell my skills depending on their demands."

"I see. I will present the papers during lunchtime." The gent stood up and walked away.

Alina repeated his statement and concluded, "I guess I won't be eating lunch alone today then."

Right after his absence, Alina was about to pack her things up but was halted by a group of ladies. One of them, an auburn-haired lady wearing lavender crop top paired with black high-waist jeans who seemed to be the leader of the pack, emphasized, "'The' ever-and-mysterious Lucian Pryor let you on his usual seat 'and' approached you first?" With amusement, her sky blue eyes glued towards Alina. "Just what is your relationship with him, exactly?"

"As a matter of fact, we just met. I didn't even know that he has a name," Alina spoke as she continued her chore. Sensing that this group of Helios is something undeserving to mess with, she longed to get out of the situation as soon as possible.

"The girl seems to be in a hurry, Audrey," the lady beside the group's alpha whispered.

"We're not yet done talking yet, missy," Audrey remarked as she barricaded her hand against Alina's table.

"Yep, we are," Alina hastily responded as she dashed off.

"What a brat," Audrey scoffed.

Just quietly spectating far behind the group is an ash brown haired guy wearing sleeveless black hoodie, displaying a well-toned set of muscles, paired with black trousers and coyote brown military boots. His emerald green eyes pinned towards the rushing Alina. With a shrewd smirk on his face, he whispered, "An interesting female, indeed."