Chapter 9

I swear I could feel the walls caving in on me.

'why?' I asked myself 'Why is the drama which is my life suddnenly flipping on all sides'.

Although I had never believed in fate, I began cursing her even as he walked to my desk. With each step he took, the walls looked to shrink in size, but it wasn't enough. By my calculations, my body would still be quite visible before the walls could prevent any conversation, but I was nothing if not hopeful

I couldnt take it anymore, seeing him close in with every step made me feel so uneasy to the point where I stood up to leave mere inches before he reached where I sat.

"Wait" he said "I'd like to apologise"

I haulted with my back turned to his face, greatful he couldn't see the expression on my face.

As a child I always excelled at hiding my expressions, but now, here in this new world; I was bejeweled by everything I came across and I just couldn't help it. Hopefully the longer I spent turned to him, the sooner my blank face would come back.

For some reason, the genuinty of his voice echoed in my head forcing me to accept it as true

"For what exactly?" I asked, hoping to have another justifiable reason to be angry with him when he replied -'i don't really know' or maybe 'everything'

"For calling you black, it was discriminatory and rude and I promise it won't happen again" he insteazd said

Now, let's be serious for a second, I want you to try and imagine what I must have been going through at that moment. Standing there in a room full of people, no not people- teens. A fresher or what ever they called new students at GOC, getting a public apology from her 'senior'

I couldn't help but think of the embarrassment which was to follow or even worse, the nicknames. Surely, by the morrow, everyone would either call her 'black baby' or 'black void' if they were less creative.

With that in mind I turned to show my disapproval of his theatrics, but thats when I saw him standing there doing a small apologetic bow

Feeling stupid for my sometimes overbearing cynicism, I gently nodded to him before taking my seat. The awkwardness was finally averted or so I thought, until I heard the sound of a chair being pulled by my side. And there he was, all goth

'-wait a minute?' my mind couldn't make heads or tails of what was going on.

My earlier deduction of him was one of a handsome Frenchman with the most adorable grin, sky blues eyes and the palest skin I had ever seen. But now seated beside me, was him. Althought I wouldn't have ever guessed it.

Contrary to what I thought, he was nothing of the sort; he had jet black hair which he let grow wild and loose, darkbrown eyes and a toned skin. Even his physique had somewhat changed, but I could tell it was still him. His initial lean build was now replaced with a more athletic one, his height had also increased by about three inches. It was shocking to say, but it felt like i was lookinga at a completely different person

With my brows furrowed in an arc, I was about to ask him for an explanation. But before I could make out the words, he seemingly understanding the confusion i facied, turned to me and said

"Hex Magic"

To him, he had answered my question as he broke our gaze glancing round the class. But to me, more questions were already pilling up. Like for starters, what the hell was Hex Magic

Inquisitive as I was I pressed for more details, but he raised a finger to his lips before pointing at the door. From it emerged Professor Andrea our Herbalogy teacher

And once again, I had found another reason to dislike her

✨✨✨

"Alright everyone, settle down and take your seats" she walked in, quickly making her way to her table as she was already a few minutes late.

Seeing her, the entire class went silent while she fussed with her bag, trying to collect materials for the day's lesson.

"Today we are going to be learning the basics of Poisons and Potions. I know some of you already have enough knowledge on this subject matter to fill text books, being that most, if not all of you are second years and this is a first year elective. But nonetheless we're gonna take a crack at it. Why?, You may ask, well it's simply due to the gross failure you all suffered from".

"When I learnt that only Mark here, Mark my boy stand up" she gesture for him and he obliged, then she went on "was the only one admist you lot of raving disappointments to get an A in this specialization, I was told by the Highmaster to repeat last semester's curriculum. And until the foreseeable future, I'm going to repeat it until your thick skulls align with the simply conundrum of identifying and using herbs, even in the most basic of fashions".

I was fully expecting a blow back of groans and scoffs from those seated beside me, but surprisingly the pin drop silence was maintained even as Mark took his seat.

Professor Andrea Killian was a true hell epithany. Everywhere I turned, it looked like the joy was literally sucked out from their souls with their faces shriveled up in what would have nearly been a constipated expression, if not for the lack of stress lines above their brows.

I stole a glance at Xavier and just as I imagined, he wasn't fazed by what she said and simply crossed his legs with his head bent backwards as he tried to find the perfect resting position.

"Well, maybe that's because he was the only who got pointers before the tests" Xavier said.

The entire class held their breath while simultaneously turning to see who had said it.

Although it was on everyone's mind, they didn't have the courage to say it. Herbology was one of the requirements for promotion into the next class and they all subconsciously knew that they had to be overly nice to the Professor lest they risk being stuck with her for their entire academic journey. Their thoughts were flaring up.

If only Xavier knew how many insults had been directed at him at that moment, some even in languages that were deemed lost to the world, he would probably bury himself alive; but then again, maybe he did know but just didn't care

"Mr. Morningstar, I see you need another round in detention to soften you up. I'd be happy to grant your wish; one more word-"

"-word" he snarked

"A week detention for Mr. Morningstsr and the dark haired girl next to him, simply because she failed to realise that sitting next to him calls for such penalty anytime his vulgarity exceeds the safe space of his feeble mind" she didn't even raise her head from the materials she was looking through. Clearly, it was a regular occurrence

Wait a minute, who? to the what now?, I stared blankly at her. I felt the need to take a few seconds to grasp that I had been given detention for simply being next to the person who was in the wrong. Both angry and pissed off, I stood up and for once I didn't care about who she was and where I was. I simply put my foot down

"Excuse me Professor, but what logic is there in punishing somone based on whether or not they seat close to the perpetrator, doesn't the tag accomplice justify such a thing, but even you said it your self, I am not an accomplice rather ignorant so how is it fair?"

"Yeah!" Stella who sat beside me chimmrd in, a bit surprised by my outburst as she had told me much later that she had always imagined me to be a meek personality, one who would always take the high road or some other way to avoid problem.

Oh, if she wasn't so far from the truth. In reality, I was indeed meek and docile like she thought, but that was limited to when there was a need for it. I see no need in being rude and demeaning to someone who I didn't know anything about or who i only just met, but my goodwill ended when someone poked me in an attempt to humiliate or demean me. Like with all rational people, I snapped because of the injustice and I was glad to have her support

"It seems Mr. Morningstsr, that you've found yourself some supporters, better not destroy these toys too-"

"-thats enough" Xavier stood up, the air around him began vibrating with visible dark aura surrounding him

"Don't force my hand Mr. Morningstar, otherwise the consequences would be a milestone away from just failing my class" she too finally got serious as she dropped the textbook in her hands before staring dead into his eyes

The aura around him quietly withdrew into its source as he took his seat with a grave look on his face

I was still stunned by the uneasy feeling that had clogged my throat, that I failed to notice my perspiration increase by a hundred with each passing breath. Luckily Stella steadied me to keep my knees from buckling

Professor Andrea had gotten back to her books, but then she remembered

"It seems Ms. Maxwell that although you have stayed in this institution for the better part of a month, you remain oblivious to the socio-cultural standpoint you now find yourself, I leave you to muse over it at detention, of course accompanied by your cohort Ms. Stella, I presume. Well if that is all, then we can get back to teaching"

✨✨✨

The class continued on with Professor Andrea explaining some superficial knowledge on the workings on novice herbs, accompanied with a mind numbing dive into their uses, disadvantages and advantages, and their rarity. Overall, I had to hold myself very tight each time she 'deviated from the subject matter', or used 'an example' to cultivaye meaning.

Death glares kept reaching me regardless of how long I kept my head down. If not for Stella's continuous nudges to raise my head back up, i would have most certainly hid throughout the lecture.

Everywhere I turned people either shrugged me off or looked elsewhere, and for a while I was okay with it.

'At least they wouldn't see my shame' I told myself, but not too long after I felt shunned and revolting as their glares focused oncemore.

Back home there wasn't much practice on how to deal with being embarrassed by a magical authority for sitting next to a boy, and even if there was, I doubt it would work because, for one, not only am I a black girl in a magical world. I'm also a black girl in a magical world who never knew love talk more of fending off bullies.

As though understanding my pain, Xavier turned to me with that boyish grin on his face and whispered " I'll save you a seat"

His eyes gave no notion of mockery, but rather of simple happiness which soon spread as I found myself chuckling. He slid his hand under his seat and soon after I felt a soft prickle from a paper surface. Getting his intentions, I reacted accordingly and stealthily reached under my table to receive his note. He smiled even more before turning away in an overly dramatic fashion, destroying the very clandestinely behaviour I was trying to keep, but I didn't mind. I just undid the light folding to see what he had written me.

Having read it, I had to steel myself to not burst out with laughter, but I too failed at keeping things obscured as Stella reached out and took it from my hands. After reading it , she gave me a stern look before shedding it away with a playful smile followed by a gentle nod before throwing the note on the table.

The words it read -"Detention buddies".