The Exchange Teacher - Welcome to Dyntril Academy

Bent over at her waist with her hands on her knees, Reianna panted from the exertion after finishing Gerenet-Shr's sprint-slows. Sweat rolled down her forehead and off the tip of her nose. Standing up straight, Reianna put her hands behind her head and looked around at the other kids.

Just out of earshot, Braelyne and Zophia stood together, laughing and smiling. The rest of Braelyne's pod stood next to them, listening and smiling at whatever banter the two girls had going on.

Behind Braelyne's pod, Medow's face was intense as she gestured and pointed at the palm of her hand. Standing next to her, Emmah nodded along with her eyes locked onto Medow's hands. Unlike Braelyne's pod, which had somewhat joined in the discussion with the visiting noble, only Medow's pod leader, Kolt, joined in. The other two, Jardon and Taraia, stood back, scowling with their arms folded.

Giving a little smile at Braelyne's pod, Reianna leaned over with her hands on her knees again. She was finally getting her breathing under control.

"What's this?" Jan put his hand on Reianna's back. A squelch sounded, and he pulled his hand back, looking at his palm like there was still sweat stuck to it from Rienanna's back.

"What's what?" Reianna said with more of an edge than she'd intended. As she stood up, she crossed her arms and frowned.

"Our speedy ace is winded after a 1k sprint-slow."

She didn't realize her stomach was knotted until it untied—Jan wasn't referring to her unsightly sweating. "Oh, yeah, well, if I'm not winding myself, I'm not pushing myself."

"Don't push yourself too hard." Jan smiled at her. It wasn't fair how much he'd grown. A month prior, the vivid-burgundy-haired boy had been her height. Now, she had to look up.

"It's not fair," she uttered.

He tilted his head at her. She could see why half the girls in her class had a crush on him. "Everyone is getting taller than me."

"Oh! Ha! I guess so." He put his arm on her shoulder. "Pretty soon, I won't have to raise my arm up to do this."

Reianna's face flushed. She tilted her head down, causing her shoulder-length, silver hair to fall forward and hide her reaction from him. After regaining control over her body, Reianna shrugged his arm off her.

"Come on," she said. "Let's head back."

Around them, the other kids began walking back to the academy building; Braelyne and Medow's pods were directly in front of them, but the two nobles weren't talking to each other; they still spoke with the Class E students.

With her chin, Reianna motioned at the two groups walking in front of them. "What do you think?"

"That you're amazing."

Reianna narrowed her eyes. "What's this got to do with me?"

"You got two nobles to join and like us."

"I've not said two words to them! Don't give me so much credit."

"Okay. Okay. But still, you invited two who seem like they're pretty good people."

Reianna looked at the gentle golden aura that swirled around the two nobles. Gerenet-Shr said only mages could see auras and that she shouldn't tell anyone else about them. But being able to see others' intentions towards her and those around her was like a cheat.

She could see who to invite, who was good, and who wasn't. There wasn't the slightest risk of her inviting someone like Banca or Lavrence. She felt like she was getting too much credit, when all it was was another unfair advantage that she had over her friends.

"Maybe I should go say hey to them."

Jan nodded. "Yeah, go on. I'll just chill with Dmi and Maecy."

Breaking into a trot, Reianna jogged ahead until she was intermixed with Braelyne and Medow's pods. "Hey, guys."

Emmah's eyes went wide. "Miss Reianna! Thank you so much for inviting us!"

Zophiah cut over to walk on the other side of Reianna. "How are you so fast? Are rumors true that you're a mage?"

Before Reianna could say anything, Taraia shoved herself between Reianna and Zophiah. "Ridiculous. Rei's not a mage."

"Yeah…" Reianna agreed.

"But Zophiah's right, you're so fast!" Emmah said. "I mean, I know I fought against you, but you're so…short. I didn't think you'd be able to run so fast, too!"

Reianna shrugged. "I guess. So, you enjoyed this morning?"

Emmah's nodding was enthusiastic. "Yes! And Medow's invited us after classes to come practice on something called a core?"

Leaning forward and sticking her head out so that she could see Medow, Reianna smiled at the mint-haired girl. "You did?"

"Yeah…she said she didn't know what one is. Was that okay?"

"Yeah! I think it's a great idea!"

Medow straightened in her walk slightly and smiled.

"What's a core?" Zophiah asked.

Taraia tsked. "You don't know?"

Reianna cleared her throat. "We didn't either, Taraia. Gerenet-Shr taught it to us."

"But they're knobs! Don't knobs have everything?"

The group fell silent. Both Emmah's and Zophiah's gazes fell to the grass in front of them.

"Taraia." Reianna's voice was firm.

"Why are you sucking up to them so much, Rei? You know what that one did to Avae."

"And Avae invited them to join us."

"Because she felt pressured because you did first!"

Placing her fingertips on Taraia's arm, Reianna stopped walking. She spun the much larger, much more muscular girl around. Once Taraia was facing her, Reianna put her hands on her hips and looked up at the other girl. The rest of the kids stopped with them, and the two nobles kept their eyes on the ground.

"Is this what you want, Taraia?"

"What?"

"You really enjoyed throwing stuff back at them when they attacked us, didn't you?"

"Yes!"

"And that's how you want everything to continue? Us versus them?"

Playing with the hem of her shirt, Taraia shifted her eyes away from Reianna. She didn't say anything.

"You know what Banca did to me. For days and weeks, I fell asleep dreaming of breaking her. Of destroying her. Of crushing her will to live. But I didn't. I won't."

"Fucking Basque," Taraia muttered.

Reianna's hand flew out to Taraia's cheek. The lime-haired girl flinched, but the contact never came. Stopping a breath away from her cheek, Reianna let her hand hover there for a second before balling all but her index finger up. She tapped Taraia's nose and pointed.

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"Yes. Him. Gerenet-Shr. He paints a world I want to live in. One filled with equality. Hate breeds division."

Taraia nodded, but didn't say anything.

Reaching up, Reianna patted Taraia's shoulder twice and walked around her. "Emmah, Zophiah, you guys are welcome to come hang out with us any time you want. If anyone here gives you any crap, just let me know, and Taraia will set them straight."

Emmah's eyes went wide. "Miss Taraia will?"

Spinning on her heels, Taraia stomped off towards the buildings. "Taraia. I don't want a title."

After watching Taraia storm off, the rest of the kids started moving again. The teal-haired Zophiah muttered, "What does she have on that girl?"

Braelyne spoke up, "Nothing. Reianna's word is law."

"And I have no Yani-loving clue why," Reianna said.

"Oh!" Braelyne's eyes went wide, like she was remembering something. "Just in case you guys didn't know, Zo—Miss Zophiah and Miss Emmah weren't in the dining hall that day."

Hearing that the two new girls hadn't attacked half of Class E with food made the other kids perk up, and soon Emmah and Zophiah were surrounded by Reianna's classmates.

Reaching the training grounds, second-years were out practicing with various weapons. From somewhere, eyes bore into Reianna. An uneasy feeling crawled up her spine. It took a second, but she finally found him.

He leaned against one of the columns with one foot on the ground and the other against his backrest, his arms across his chest. Magical golden eyes followed Reianna's trek through the training grounds.

Stunningly beautiful with an aura that threatened to suck Reianna inside it, she wanted to look away from Daymein, but couldn't. His daffodil hair shone in the early morning sun like it was the source of the world's brightness.

She didn't feel her pace slow, but the distance between her and the other kids grew. It wasn't until Jan, who'd lagged behind early, caught up with her and tapped her on the shoulder that she was pulled out of her trance.

"You okay, Reianna?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah. I'm-I'm fine. I was just…"

Jan snort-laughed. "I get it. If there's one boy here more attractive than me…"

Giving her head a shake, Reianna forced her eyes forward, picking up her pace. "I'm thirteen, Jan. Boys are gross."

"I don't think any of us have been that young in our lives, Reianna."

Once she pushed her way through the academy doors, Reianna's gaze fell to the ground. Of course, she'd been joking when she told Jan that boys were gross. Before Daymein popped into her world, she'd not given more than two thoughts to boys. She had other priorities, other things to do.

While she was being treated like a dog by Banca, Reianna heard enough about boy-girl relationships. It was all Banca, and her group seemed to talk about when they weren't abusing her and Fawna.

Reianna shot her head up and looked around for her roommate. Relief spread through Reianna as she watched Fawna talking and laughing with Miya. The smiles and laughter that had once been so frequent from Fawna's lips had slowly dried up as she was increasingly abused by her former best friend. Seeing her give genuine smiles again made Reianna's heart feel at ease.

At last, they reached their dorm. Emmah and Zophiah continued up to the fifth floor while all the others streamed into their dorm hall on the third floor. Goodbyes were said, but they were more of shrugs than hugs. Reianna knew it would take more time before real bonds formed.

The rest of the day flowed by. As he'd promised, Gerenet-Shr began teaching them how to write. In the afternoon, he gave them sticks, and instead of dodging the balls launched at them, they had to deflect the balls the core machines fired.

It was more difficult than Reianna had expected. So used to dodging the balls, her initial reaction was to do just that. To make things more difficult for her, neither Gerenet-Shr nor Miss Cormick demonstrated any techniques, so Reianna had no one to copy. She caught more than one of her classmates gawking at her sudden lack of skills. Neither of her teachers said anything, which Reianna appreciated.

When class ended for the day, Emmah and Zophiah showed up as promised. Braelyne ran over to them. "You guys came!"

"Of course," Zophiah said.

Most of the class continued to practice their new task, and the two newcomers watched. "What are they doing?" Emmah asked.

Reianna walked over to them. "They're supposed to be hitting the balls away."

Emmah frowned.

"We just started learning this today!" Braelyne said. "Up to now, we've just been dodging. You should watch Reianna! She's Yani-good at it!"

The three girls looked at Reianna. Her eyes went wide.

"Come on, Reirei! Show them, please?"

Motioning with her head towards where her core was still laid out, Reianna said, "Come on."

"Can I control them?" Braelyne asked.

Reianna raised an eyebrow. After giving a shrug, she tossed Braelyne the remote from her inventory as she got on her platform. "Knock yourself out."

"This is going to be so cool!" Braelyne told the other two.

"Whenever, Brea."

Six balls shot out from six different directions at six different speeds. Reianna leapt, twisting and twirling, spinning through the air as balls whistled past her. Before she reached the ground, the next volley was already coming at her, again, a multitude of balls at a multitude of speeds from a multitude of distances, but Reianna just smiled. This was something she could do. She'd trained and trained for this.

After one jump, as her head rotated, a blue aura caught the corner of her eye. Even though Reianna wasn't looking at auras, it forced its way into her vision. It tripped her up, and Reianna fell to the platform, her eyes locked on the aura.

Loushee stood in the underclassmen's training ground, yet no one seemed to notice the fifth-year mage, even though she stood in the middle of everything. The other kids continued their training as if she didn't exist. When she saw that Reianna noticed her presence, Loushee grinned, and her aura shifted to a golden-rose color. What does that color even mean?

A ball thunked into Reianna's side as she lay on the platform.

"Reirei!" Braelyne chided.

"Sorry, Braelyne." Reianna's eyes didn't shift away from Loushee. It was as if she were afraid that if she looked away, the enigma of a girl would vanish.

Braelyne looked over in the direction Reianna was staring. "What is it?"

"Loushee is here."

Emmah's face paled. "The fifth-year, Mage Loushee? Is here?" Spinning, Emmah joined Braelyne in searching the training grounds for whoever Reianna was staring at.

Loushee's aura flared black as her eyes narrowed, and she put a finger in front of her lips. Reianna's heart seized. The older girl's aura flickered through a rainbow of colors before settling back on that golden-rose color. The pressure on Reianna's heart eased, but the sweat forming on her brow didn't stop. She'd not been on the core machine nearly long enough to start sweating.

"I…I'm sorry, guys. I gotta go. Thanks for coming, Miss Emmah, Miss Zophiah."

The other three girls looked at Reianna and each other. They shook their heads at each other, and when the two nobles' gaze turned to Braelyne, she shrugged.

"Dmi! Jan! Maecy! Reianna's leaving!" Braelyne yelled.

Reianna's pod dropped what they were doing and started trotting over to her. Loushee's aura started darkening.

Whipping her head around, Reianna locked her eyes onto her pod. "Don't come," she ordered. Considering everything that had just happened with Banca, going off on her own was probably one of the stupidest things she could do, but she needed answers. Loushee had hinted that she had those answers, and now she was clearly telling Reianna she had to come alone.

Reianna had no choice but to put her faith in Loushee that she would protect Reianna.

"Rei?"

After looking at the hand on her arm, Reianna met Fawna's worried gaze. "I'll be okay, Fawna. I won't be in danger, but you guys will."

The corners of Fawna's mouth were pinched, and her eyes glistened with moisture. "You sure?"

Returning her gaze to Loushee, Reianna nodded. "I'm having those extra lessons with Gerenet-Shr tonight, so I won't be back until after dinner."

Fawna nodded, but Reianna's attention was already back on Loushee. As Reianna made her way over to her, the topaz-haired mage backed away. Still, none of the other kids paid the slightest attention to the most famous student in the school.

No matter how far Reianna walked, she never got closer to Loushee. The mage kept her distance, and her smirk seemed more taunting than friendly. Still, Reianna followed her.

Loushee led Reianna into an area of the academy she'd never been to before: the upperclassmen's dorms. Men and women, much, much bigger and taller than her, ignored her as she passed through. Neither did any of them react to Loushee, but still, Reianna couldn't keep her nerves calm, despite not a single person paying attention to either the mage or her.

All their auras were a neutral white, meaning they would do nothing to harm nor aid her. It was like she didn't exist to them, beneath their notice.

At last, Reianna reached the eighth floor of the fifth-years' wing, Class A's dorm hall. Flashbacks of her experiences at the first-year's hall sent a chill down her spine. This was a horrible idea.

Loushee stood and waited for Reianna in front of the door to the hall entrance, and Reianna finally shrank the distance between them.

"Hello," Reianna said.

Loushee vanished through the door. Not as in she walked through it, but that she faded through it like she was a ghost. Reianna blinked at the door. Loushee's head poked through it, and she smiled, then just a hand popped through, the index finger encouraging Reianna to come through the door.

Swallowing the lump in her throat, Reianna opened the door. The spectral Loushee stood in front of a door halfway down the hall. Reianna walked over to it, and the apparition vanished. Is that why no one else saw her?

While she did have the impression that Loushee wanted her to just come in, Reianna knocked twice to be safe.

"Come in," came a sultry voice from the other side of the door.

Reianna opened the door, and her breath caught. With one elbow resting on the back, Loushee lounged on the audience room's sofa in a topaz gown that accentuated her figure—a stark contrast to the school-uniformed specter who'd led Reianna to the room. In her other hand, the mage held a glass of red wine and twirled its contents. Why are both Loushee and Daymein so stunning?

After taking a sip of her wine, Loushee set it on the table. "Come in, Miss Reianna. It's time for us to talk."

Reianna slowly stepped in and closed the door behind her. Her body short-circuited as every emotion from terror to euphoria surged through her. She had no idea what Loushee wanted with her.