When the Stratega shouted for the five-minute countdown to begin, the boys rushed excitedly forward, each one trying to be the first to the targets. But most of them had no idea who their targets were, and so the charge soon petered out. It turned into something closer to an inquisitive stroll through a marketplace.
The boys threaded between the desk and benches, some of them pausing to look a girl over, say a word or two, or ask a question.
Some boys pushed past the first few rows, barely glancing at the girls. They had their eyes fixed on the far side of the room. Perhaps they were looking for one girl in particular, or maybe they thought that the best girls were seated, hidden away, at the desks furthest from the entranceway.
Evren plodded along behind the initial rush, noting that many of these girls were familiar to him. Not all of them, but at least half of them had been casters in his freshman class last year.
There were many who hadn’t made it to their junior year. Subconsciously, he tried to recall names for all these faces, and for many he could.
“Lyric… Elsyn… Nerith… Aster…”
It was like reciting the names off a list of missing persons. Memories of girls who have departed, but are somehow still here. He didn't even realize that he was saying the names out loud, until he saw the girls' reactions.
They seemed both shocked and overjoyed.
“Who are you?…” Lyric called after him in amazement.
He called his name back to her and she went crazy with excitement.
“He knows me, Evren Veylor knows me!”
Cutting across rows, he had a clear view of the girls’ profile. They were all in such good shape. Freshman girls, in the prime of their lives. They all looked so healthy and energetic with beautiful hair and youthful faces.
His eyes were drawn to their hips and thighs, which spread pleasantly across the bench built for two. Some girls were still thin and child-like, while others were fully developed. His heart was racing just looking at the bodies surrounding him.
Some girls drew tightly to the end of their bench, smiling and leaving plenty of room for a boy to sit down. But none of the girls stood up, and it soon became apparent to Evren why they didn't.
Each girl had her elbows and hands firmly planted on the desk in front of them. Their wrists were securely held by a pair of heavy metal manacles. They were chained to the desks!
Though this kind of treatment was clearly inhumane, the girls didn’t seem to mind. They appeared to have accepted their confinement as part of the process.
“Doesn’t it hurt?” he asked a small dark-haired girl with a big smile.
“What, these?” she asked back, using her head to point to the metal bindings around her wrists. “I’m no wimp! They don’t bother me in the slightest. The only thing that can hurt me is if you walk away.”
Evren’s eyes widened. What a brazen little girl! Without saying another word, he moved on to the next row.
“Four minutes remaining,” the Stratega’s voice, magically amplified, boomed across the room, cutting through the din.
The boys had spread out by now. Evren noticed some of them were already sitting down. How had they made such an important decision so quickly?
He looked at the girls who had already been chosen and didn’t see a pattern. They weren’t any prettier, taller, or more exciting than the other girls.
He tried to clear his head and focus on the search. Who was he looking for? What kind of girl?
Passing by a few bunches of boys who were traveling in groups, he found one neatly arranged row with no one else in it. He strode purposefully to the head of the row and turned back to look down the entire length of the row. A dozen pairs of eyes were looking back at him with curiosity. Most were smiling in a friendly manner, but some looked like hungry wolves ready to take a bite out of him.
Was one of these his perfect partner?
He looked at a girl sitting right next to him in the front row. She was a friendly-looking redhead with two long braids. He took a deep breath and mentally prepared himself. He would have to question these girls to find out more about them, but he really didn't know what to expect.
“What do you look for in a support partner?”
“Ummm… soft hands and a firm ass?” she answered, before she had a chance to think. “Wait, no! I want a boy who I can take care of and keep safe!”
Too late, Evren’s cheeks were burning and he moved on to the next. A full-bodied girl wearing glasses. Her shirt could barely contain her huge boobs.
“How about you… What do you look for in a support partner?”
“I want a partner that I can grow strong with,” she said with a serious tone. Her eyes pierced him like laser beams. “I want a boy who is tall and big, with dark hair and a strong jaw.”
“Ooohh…”
This answer somehow embarrassed him even more than the first. She was definitely describing him when she said that.
He continued down the row. He didn't stop at every girl. Instead, he followed his heart.
“Three minutes remaining.”
Time was passing too quickly. There was no way he would get around the whole room at this rate. What if his perfect partner was sitting just one row over and he missed her?
He was nearing the end of the row, when a disturbance from nearby reached his ears. It sounded like a girl was arguing with the boys. It wasn't a charming voice, trying to convince boys to sit down. No, this girl was bitching at them, peppering them with loud insults and dirty words.
Evren looked around at the senior casters who were still stationed around the desks. They were ignoring the vocal disturbance.
He spotted the source of the commotion. There was a group of three boys gathered around a desk, one row over, who he immediately recognized.
Stanley, Frederick, and Lyle.
All three of them were strong casters, and they seemed to be harassing the girl that was sitting at the desk at the back of the room.
Was that possible? It seemed like all these girls craved attention. How could these three Top Ranked boys be bothering one of them?
Forgetting about his search, Evren approached the group. He wasn’t sure what he would do yet, but if there was trouble brewing, maybe he could help resolve it. He was right there, standing behind Frederick, before he could see the face of the girl who was sitting at this desk.
His jaw dropped. It all made sense now. A loud, brash voice. A girl yelling at boys.
It was Veronica.
Setting aside her lack of manners, she was even more gorgeous than he remembered her. Her body was all soft roundness and curves. Her skirt looked even shorter than the other girls and her arms and legs were toned. She still had the body of a dancer.
Strangely enough, her hands weren’t secured to the desk. Instead, they were clasped behind her head. The manacles seemed to be holding them back there. She was the only girl he’d seen whose hands weren’t bound to the desk, and it appeared that that was the problem.
She was staring at the boys in displeasure, but when she noticed Evren standing there, her harsh expression turned into a wide-eyed appeal.
“Help me! These dicks are trying to get me in trouble,” she exclaimed.
“Dicks?” Stanley raved. “This bitch just called us dicks.”
He looked over at Evren without any sign of recognizing him, and offered a charming smile. He was a very handsome guy, and Evren was sure that smile worked to help Stanley get his way nearly 100% of the time.
“This girl here was just about to attack us when you arrived. See? She broke her shackles and she’s going to jump on us at any second.”
Evren watched as Veronica’s body seemed to be pulled upwards. It looked to Evren like she was being magically lifted by one of these boys. Her thighs flexed and held her tight to the heavy bench on which she sat.
“That’s not true,” Veronica said through clenched teeth. Her core muscles were straining. “He's pissed off at me and him and his goons are trying to get me kicked out.”
“Of course, I’m pissed off. You asked me to touch your thing down there,” Stanley argued back. He was so upset that his face was turning red. “What do you take me for, a whore?”
“C’mon big boy,” Frederick told Evren. He seemed equally upset about the matter. “Help us get her up off of the bench and we’ll get her perverted butt kicked out of the caster class.”
“Don’t do it!” she pleaded, reaching out to him with her manacles dangling from her wrists. “They were the ones who broke my bindings. They’re trying to frame me.”
“Yeah, cause you’re a danger to all boys!”
The boys were moving in on Veronica from every direction. It looked like they were going to physically lift her up. Each of them were bigger than her. They would have no problem overpowering her.
“You dicks!” she cursed, bracing herself for the attack.
He knew that this was Veronica, a girl that had given him grief on more than one occasion. He should be happy to see her kicked out of the Nexus. All he had to do was sit back and let it happen. But he hated to see her getting kicked out for something she wasn't really guilty of. At the same time, he couldn’t help but wonder if she had changed, just as Lyra had changed. The sound of her voice pleading to him for help came back to him.
Evren made up his mind.
Without a word, he reached past Stanley, shoving Frederick to the side, and grabbed both of Veronica’s wrists. Her mouth opened in an angry snarl. Her eyes conveyed the betrayal she was feeling.
“Let me go! I’ll mess you up.”
Her hands twisted in his, trying to cast a spell, but he was holding on to her too tightly. A fizzle was all she got.
“Hold still,” he ordered sternly.
He forced the other boys back with his broad shoulders then pressed the girl’s wrist to the surface of the desk. Her long feminine arms looked tiny in his great meaty grasp. Still she struggled, though it was clear there was no chance of breaking free.
“Two minutes remaining.”
The Stratega’s voice piled tension onto the moment.
“Hold still!” he ordered. This time anger entered his voice, and Veronica stopped moving.
She clammed up, subduing her usual caustic remarks. But she was watching him closely. He could feel her eyes on him.
Evren cast as quickly as he could. His hands moved deftly through the basic gesture he’d practiced a thousand times before. It was one of the Basic 10. A simple spell called: Bind.
The boys leaned over, unsure of what he was doing. Lyle who stood across from them had a clear view.
“His casting form is flawless!” he said in awe.
It took only a second, and the manacles were once again bound to the table.
“There,” Evren said, pulling his hands away. “No more trouble.”
He looked over at Stanley and saw that the boy was seething with outrage.
“You helped her? She’s a dangerous girl. A molester!”
“...”
"You're a woman-lover aren't you? You probably want to be molested by her!"
Evren could not deny that kissing Veronica would be a thrill, but he knew better than to admit that to these boys.
"... There's less than two minutes left. Shouldn't you be choosing a partner?"
Stanley looked to his friends for support.
"Can you believe this kid?"
Evren looked over at Frederick, who was looking at him like he was a disappointment to all boys.
“What’s your name, kid?” he asked coldly.
“Evren Veylor.”
“Ugghh… You’re a Veylor? I guess I can’t afford to have you as an enemy. Just don’t cross us again!”
"Weirdo!" Stanley added.
The boy, still fuming, walked away with Frederick following close behind. Frederick didn’t know this, but they were already enemies in Evren’s mind. He would not let this bratty boy steal Lyra away from him again.
“Uhh, Veylor?” a third voice said timidly. It was Lyle. “I just want to say, no hard feelings…”
“Sure, Lyle.”
“H-How’d you know my name?”
Evren couldn't explain it again.
“It's just... we've met before.”
“Oh. Uhhh, actually I was going to ask you if you could introduce me to your sister. You’re Dia Veylor’s brother, aren’t you?”
Evren’s brain stalled. What the hell was going on here? Before he could form a proper scathing response, the Stratega called again.
“One minute remaining. Choose your partners now.”
“Oops, I’ve gotta go,” Lyle said with an apologetic smile. “Let me know later, okay?”
He escaped, dashing away in a frantic last-minute search. Which was probably something Evren should do too, except that he found himself gazing down at Veronica’s beautiful face. She was smiling up at him and looked radiant!
He noticed, not for the first time, that the top two buttons of her shirt were undone. Her neckline plunged low, showing a great deal of cleavage between those amazing boobs. His eyes lingered, until her voice brought him back to his senses.
“You saved me!”
“..."
"Thank you."
"I just did what was right, Veronica.”
“Huh, you know my name, too? Do I know you?"
“We met before,” Evren said sadly. No one here knew him anymore.
Deep inside, he still held onto the hope that one of his classmates was going through the same derangement he was feeling. The sudden change in customs and everyone's personalities being modified. It was making his head spin. He felt more alone than ever.
Her blue eyes squinted as she looked deep in thought. Finally, she responded, “Y'know… I think I remember you. Yes, I do remember us meeting before! It’s like a dream… a faraway memory.”
“What? For real?” he asked excitedly, “Do you remember asking me to watch you dance?"
“Thirty seconds remaining.” The urgent call rang out.
He looked once more at her beautiful face. Her eyes were dancing gleefully.
"I do remember that, Veylor."
"Call me Evren."
"Okay... Evren..."
He could see she wanted to say more but was holding back. He wished that they had more time to talk. In that moment, he did something that he very seldom did.
Evren made a sudden decision.
“Do you mind if I sit here?” he asked, gesturing to the bench beside her.
Veronica smiled that gorgeous smile once more. This time it was so radiant it seemed to light up the room. She slid over, leaving just enough space for him to squeeze in next to her.
“Of course, I was just about to ask you myself.”