Botany Class

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"Zzzzz," Hothead goes as he adjusts his sleeping head on his pillow hand. I watch as the snot bubble coming out of his nose shrinks and glows.

"Sulien Bokamoso," Professor Purdue yells. "Sulien Bokamoso. Sulien Bokamoso, are you in this class?"

I turn my head toward Hothead as he exhales, the snot bubble also shrinking. I roll my eyes and kick Hothead in the leg. His eyes snap open and his head shoots up.

"Here," Hothead yells, standing up. "I am right here! Here I stand!"

As Hothead yells, he spreads out his arms like their wings.

"I am here," he shouts one last time. Smiling as he looks around, his smile disappears when, from the looks of it, he realizes he's in class.

"Uhh," he says in a much lower voice. He looks down at me and I nudge my head at Professor Purdue. The Professor meanwhile is looking right at Hothead. "I'm here."

"Yes," Professor Purdue says, checking on Hothead's name on his holo-display. "I can see that. Please sit down."

Hothead coughs as he awkwardly sits back down.

While Professor Purdue goes on with checking attendance, Hothead leans in close to me.

"Thanks for the save," Hothead says with downward-pointing eyebrows.

"You're welcome," I answer with a grin.

Hothead's head turns a little red and I think I see some steam shooting out of his ears.

"Alodia Darreth," Professor Purdue says. As soon as she hears her name, Alodia stands up with a smile.

"Here," she shouts proudly with a big smile and her hands on her hips. "Thank you for having me in class."

Alodia bows her head before sitting back down.

"Darreth," Professor Purdue says while rubbing his chin. "Darreth. Darreth. I've heard that name before. Wait, is your sister Gwen? Gwen Darreth?"

I can't be sure but it seems as soon as Alodia hears the name, she sinks a little deeper into her chair. Also, her once proud smile is turned upside down.

"What's that about," I ask myself. I don't have much time to think about it as I hear my name begin called next.

"Eimear Avita," the Professor shouts. "Eimear Avita?"

"Here," I say. Unlike Hothead or Alodia, I don't make much of a scene. However, a lot like Alodia, it seems my name triggers something in the Professor's mind.

"Avita," he repeats. "Avita. That's funny. I recognize that last name as well."

"Oh no," I think. "Please no. Please no."

"Is your father Soren Avita?"

I nod my head when I hear my father's name.

"Ha," the Professor shouts, his laugh echoing throughout the classroom. "There's a name I haven't heard in a while."

I shake my head at the thought.

"There's a name I'm glad I haven't heard in a while."

Once the teacher finishes with the class attendance, he starts the class's introduction.

"Hello future fighters of the world," he yells, his voice thundering as it carries throughout the class. "And welcome to botany, or in less fancy terms, the study of plants. Haha. Believe me when I say this. In the wild, there are no such things as hospitals, and only the luckiest of us have a doctor with us. That is why we must learn to rely on the land herself, and everything she had to offer us."

Professor Purdue stops talking and walks behind his desk. He ducks down for a few seconds before coming back up with some sort of red flower in a glass display.

"This is gotu koloe," Professor Purdue starts again. He steps aside and swings his arm, showing all of us the plant. "A simple flower it may seem, it can be found in many places. Even in colder regions, though in colder regions, it appears to be purple, not red. Can anyone take a guess as to what this flower can do?"

Most of the students, including Hothead and myself, all look around at each other. We look around but didn't see a hand go up. At least, not at first.

Professor Purdue asks for a hand again and this time, a few hands actually raise. Professor Purdue examines the raised hands before picking on one of the students.

"You," he says, pointing. "Ms. Darreth?"

Alodia lowers her hand and answers.

"The gotu koloe flower can be used for healing wounds and bruises," she starts. "Either by turning it into a paste or boiling it in water."

"Excellent job," Professor Purdue says. He gives Alodia a nod of his head.

"Smarty-pants," a student in the seats above us whispers. He and his teammates laugh after mocking Alodia. Well, most of them anyway.

I think I recognize the girl sitting with them but before I could ask, Hothead cuts me off.

"That just means she's smarter than you," he whispers after leaning back. "Hey, quick question. Are you taller than your IQ?"

I couldn't believe it. I have to shake my head just to make sure I'm not seeing things but no, what I'm seeing is real. Alodia is laughing. She laughs when she hears this. The student on the other hand, a large boy with short brown hair and fancy iron armor, looks a little red.

"Say that again," the large boy says. "Say that again. I dare you."

Hothead looks at the large boy and shrugs his shoulders.

"Okay. Hey, quick question. Are you taller than your IQ?"

When the large boy hears this again, steam shoots out of his ears. He looks ready to hit Hothead with the giant mace beside him but he doesn't. I imagine it's solely because we're in class.

Professor Purdue goes on to ask the students a series of questions about more plants he keeps under glass displays.

"Those are called fiddlehead beans," Alodia answers after the Professor puts on his desk a bunch of small green and brown beans. "They tasted bitter and are hard to chew but are an excellent source of energy."

"Right again," Professor Purdue says with a laugh. "Thought you did forget something important. A lot like the gotu koleo plant, the fiddlehead beans are better when boiled in water."

"Ahh," Alodia says. She slaps herself in the face before falling back into her seat. "Damnit. How could I forget?"

"Hey," Hothead says, bumping her with his elbow. "You got 1 small detail out of 20. I think you're okay."

"No," Alodia snaps back. "Maybe it's okay for you but not for me! Ahh, what would you understand about it?"

Alodia shakes her head as she crosses her arms and turns away. Hothead shakes his own head and crosses his own arms. He doesn't turn away but he does just stare forward. He's not looking at the Professor. He's just staring at the wall.

"Quite a team," the big guy behind us says. "Ha! You all be lucky if the government even looks at your lousy applications! Any of you!"

"Hey," Renee says, turning back toward the big guy. "Come on, man. Knock it off. We're just trying to learn here."

"Shove it, Stickman," the student yells back. He slams his hand down as he laughs. It seems the laughter is contagious. It spreads to his other teammates and they start laughing as well. Everyone except the girl. The girl, seeing this, just sighs and lowers her head. She then hides behind her hand. It looks like she's trying to hide.

"Hey," Hothead shouts. He turns around and slams his hand against the big student's desk. As he slams down his hand, Hothead accidentally triggers his gift and a little bit of fire comes off. "Knock it off! Now."

"Or what," the big student shouts back. He reaches for his mace and gets up. Hothead pulls back his own hand and grabs his sword from its sheath on his back.

"Get back," Renee shouts. He gets up and screams into the air. "Everyone, get back!"

Almost immediately, all the other students get back. Everyone except me. I choose to stay by Hothead's side. In fact, I raise my hand and aim my crossbow at the student.

"Easy there," I say, only lightly squeezing the trigger. "Put it down. Now!"

"I'm not going to listen to you," the student says.

"No, but you really should listen to me."

Hothead, I, and the mace-welding student all turn to see Professor Purdue standing behind us. Despite his eyes being hidden behind thick, gray eyebrows, I can still sense his gaze, and I imagine Hothead and the other guy can too.

"Put down your weapons," he told us, "And step out into the hallway. After class, I will talk with every one of you. Understood?"

"Understood," I say, lowering my hand.

"Understood," Hothead repeats, lowering his sword.

"Understood," the student answers, lowering his mace. The three of us head for the door but before we can leave, Professor Purdue stops us.

"Not just you three," he shouts, stopping us in our tracks. "Your teammates as well. All of you outside. Now."