Chapter Text
"Class, this is our newest student from Silvergrove High, please be nice and make her feel at home."
Callum looks up from his sketching to peek over the shoulder of one of his classmates to see a girl around his age with silvery pale hair standing in the front of the classroom with Ms. Opeli, a bored look on her face.
“Rayla, take the empty seat next to Callum, I’ll be handing you the class syllabus once you take your seat.”
The girl, Rayla, nods quietly before walking forward and squeezed between the desks of the other students before dropping her backpack on the floor next to the desk across from Callum and seating herself.
“What you starin’ at?”
It took Callum a moment to realize he was staring at the new girl, and she did not look too happy about it.
"Umm, nothing?" He manages to squeak and quickly turned his attention back to the front of the classroom where Ms. Opeli was now discussing their latest assignment for the week, a partner book report and apparently she had already chosen the pairings who'd be working together.
"Now I hope you all put as much effort into this assignment as you did with the art assignment you did last semester, you and your partner are to discuss which book you wish to do the report on from the list I'll pass around in a few moments after I announce who I'm pairing you with." She states before grabbing a single sheet of paper from her desk and began to read off of it.
Please not a slacker, please not a slacker, please not a slacker . Callum prays silently. Last time he was stuck in a group project everyone in the group but he and Claudia contributed to the assignment, and they probably would have failed if Claudia's father hadn't alerted their teacher that they had done everything themselves.
"Callum Prince and...Rayla Lunaria."
He hears the new girl groan and takes the chance to glance over at her to see her muttering something under her breath as their classmates start switching seats around to sit with their partners. Guess it wouldn't hurt to get to knowing her, right?
"Uh hi, I'm Callum-"
"I know, I heard the first time." Rayla cuts him off in annoyance as a student in front of her hands her back a sheet containing the list of books for the report. "So, what are we even supposed to choose?"
"Uh...well we're supposed to discuss and expand on the theme of a book from the list." Callum says as he is handed his sheet and passes the rest of the pile of papers to whoever was behind him and glances at the list. "Wait Tarzan actually has a book?"
"You seriously didn't know that?" Rayla asks with a snort. " Tarzan of the Apes is an old classic, I remember my godfather trying to read it to me during my obsession phase with the film."
"Half of these I've never heard of before until my babysitter would come to my house with these for her English class, I tried listening to them but they kind of bored me." Callum admits as he reexamines the list before the bell suddenly rang, announcing it was time to head to their next class.
"Here, text me at least five books from the list and we can decide off which ones would be better to do a presentation on." Rayla says as she grabs Callum's notebook to flip it to an empty page and scribbles something on it before handing the book back to him and hurrying to the door.
"Umm...thanks?" He says to her retreating back. Well, at least he wasn't paired with a slacker classmate.
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"Hey, who's Rayla?"
Callum's head snaps up from his math textbook to see his stepfather Harrow peering down at his phone before handing it to him.
"His new girlfriend." His younger brother, Ezran, says jokingly and Callum shoots him a look.
"She's just a classmate, nothing more." He snaps as he takes his phone back to look at the message Rayla had sent.
[Rayla]
I think out of the five books you chose, we should go with that Mockingbird book. My godfather has a friend who owns a bookstore so I can ask him if he can get two copies for us. Better to have a personal copy to scribble and highlight than a library rental we keep having to renew every few days
[Callum]
Sure thing. I'll pay you for my copy and get started on making the Google doc for project and the Google Slides presentation. Can you send me your school email so you can have access to the files?
"I'm guessing you got partnered for another one of Opeli's assignments?" Harrow asks as Callum sent the message and places his phone back on the table to pick up his textbook. "You hardly give your number out to any classmates unless it was strictly for class related things, and that's still quite rare."
"Technically she gave me her number first so we could talk. I'm sure after sharing school emails and finishing the assignment she'll delete it." Callum responds dismissively. "When are mom and aunt Amaya coming off of work?"
"Their last dinner performance is at...9 PM, so they're going to probably miss dinner." Harrow says as Ezran hands him a sheet of paper. "No you're supposed to move the decimal point to the right to turn it into a whole number so you can easily divide it with this number."
"Why is math so hard?" Ezran asks as he takes his sheet back to fix his work. "And why is it even that important?"
"Oh wait until you have to do high school algebra, then you won't be complaining about division." Callum laughs and taps his text book. "Oh and Soren says in chemistry you also have to do math too or you'll blow something up when you put the wrong amount of chemicals together."
"What kind of chemistry class was that boy taking?" Harrow mutters. "I'm very much surprised he passed it."
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"You're smiling at your phone again, find something amusing on whatever social media feed you're scrolling through?" Lain asks his daughter as he catches her cracking a grin.
"Nah, just chatting with a classmate over our project." Rayla says and looks up from her phone. "Does Runaan's friend still run that bookstore? I was hoping we could get some books for the assignment, specifically To Kill A Mockingbird , and he did say his friend mostly sold some good classic literature."
“Of course he does, why don’t you give your godfather a call?”
“Oh you finally chose something for your class project?” Tiadrin asks as she enters the kitchen. “Who’s your partner?”
“Probably a boy.” Lain says with a chuckle as their daughter sends them a scowl. “Oh and by the looks of it, I may be right.”
“Lain dear, don’t tease her.” His wife scolds and walks over to the table to gently ruffle her daughter’s hair. “It’s alright dear, no need to be embarrassed about having a boy for a partner for projects, just as long as the texting is strictly about school.”
“Thank you!” Rayla groans and her father laughs. “He’s just a classmate, I hardly know him!”
“I know, I know. By the way, has your mark changed at all yet?” Lain asks and Rayla rolls up the sleeve of her hoodie to reveal the same set of words she’s had since she turned thirteen going up from her wrist. “Ah, still the same. Don’t worry love, it’ll change eventually.”
“I don’t really care honestly, but I’d like to know what will happen to spur whoever my soulmate is to say this.” Rayla says as she looks at the words before rolling down the sleeve to hide them. “I guess it’ll have to wait for now.”