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"Time for your next assignment," Professor Rumpelstiltskin said at the start of class, and Poppy stifled a groan.
Based on his history with previous assignments, she was not looking forward to this one. She may not have been at Ever After High for long, but she had her own fairest share of unfairest assignments from Professor Rumpelstiltskin like the rest of her classmates.
She should've taken Holly's warnings about Professor Rumpelstiltskin and his cruel assignments more seriously when she arrived. If she did, then she wouldn't have landed in detention during her first week, so ever since that first dreadful assignment she was determined not to make that same mistake again.
...Which meant she had to pay attention to what Professor Rumpelstiltskin was saying. How much did she miss?
Fortunately she quickly figured out she didn't miss much, as in the time she had zoned out he had gotten two plant pots and set them on top of his desk.
"For this assignment," Professor Rumpelstiltskin continued. "You will work in pairs to create a growth formula to make this Snap-Dragon sapling..." he lifted up the pot with a small sapling in it "into a fully grown Snap-Dragon flower." He gestured to the large flower in the other plant pot that resembled a dragon's head, which was looking around the classroom curiously. "You will be graded on the size of the Snap-Dragon, how lively it is, and the strength of its bite." As a hexample, he pulled out a spare wooden ruler from somewhere and held it in front of his Snap-Dragon. Sensing the ruler, the Snap-Dragon gave it a sniff before quickly snapping it, leaving the splintered half in Professor Rumpelstiltskin's hand as the Snap-Dragon finished chewing and swallowing the other half, looking pleased. "You have two days to complete this assignment and present your Snap-Dragons in the lab at the start of class."
Interested murmurings about the assignment could be heard throughout the classroom, and even she was now feeling intrigued about it.
But when Professor Rumpelstiltskin raised a hand for silence, they really should've known there was a catch.
"As there is more than one way to complete the growth formula," Professor Rumpelstiltskin added. "You will also be graded on an essay about its process. An essay those paired up must work together to create, which will be handed in at the same time as the rest of the assignment. It is up to you to decide whether it is printed or written. Any questions?"
Raven raised her hand. "How long does this essay have to be?"
"Good question, Raven Queen," Professor Rumpelstiltskin replied with an evil smile. "The essay should be no shorter than ten thousand words. Fail to do so, and it's instant detention for you!"
Horrified gasps rang out around the classroom, and Cedar quickly raised her hand in protest. "But Professor Rumpelstiltskin! Ten thousand words is a lot! How can we be hexpected to complete the practical and the theory in time for the deadline?"
Professor Rumpelstiltskin grinned maliciously. "Any more complaints from any of you, and I'll change the deadline to tomorrow and make the essay fifteen thousand words."
The class wisely kept their mouths shut as Professor Rumpelstiltskin cackled evilly.
If Poppy wasn't looking forward to the assignment before, then she definitely wasn't now. She just hoped whoever she was paired up with was good and would actually do the work.
"Now I will give the names of the pairs," Professor Rumpelstiltskin said once his cackling subsided. "Daring Charming. Lizzie Hearts."
Poppy listened intently as he listed off more names, and gave a sympathetic wince when Duchess had the unfortunate luck of being paired with Sparrow, while also being secretly relieved it wasn't her who was paired with him. Sparrow was her friend, don't get her wrong, but she did not want another detention of spinning straw into gold. She continued to listen, until finally...
"...Poppy O'Hair. Briar Beauty."
Poppy's eyes widened in panic as she looked at where Briar was sitting, and was glad Briar was sitting in front of her and therefore couldn't see her horrified hexpression.
Being paired with Briar was going to be a huge problem. There was nothing wrong with Briar, far from it, the problem was with her. She's had a crush on Briar shortly after transferring to Ever After High, but never really had the courage to talk to her much. But now with this assignment, they had no choice but to spend time with each other, and she'd be lying if she said she wasn't worried she was going to say something wrong or mess something up. She felt incredibly nervous, but part of her was also a bit hexcited, and hoped that maybe the assignment wouldn't be so bad after all.
"...Cupid. Raven Queen. Everyone know your pairs?"
The class nodded.
"Good. Now open your hextbooks to chapter sixty four..."
*****
In the castleteria, Poppy sat down at one of the tables with her lunch, but didn't feel fairy hungry and found herself playing with her food.
She knew she needed to talk to Briar about the assignment soon.
But she didn't know when or how to do so, and the brief hexcitement and optimism she felt at the assignment not being as bad as she feared vanished completely as her stomach twisted.
The assignment was becoming more and more real as time passed, and despite trying to tell herself there was nothing to be afraid of, the thought of working with Briar filled her with so much dread it was almost suffocating her.
She didn't want to mess things up.
"The castleteria food can't be that disgusting, can it?" Holly joked, sitting in front of her with her own lunch. Seeing no change in her sister's mood, her look became gentle. "Is this about the assignment?"
Poppy sighed. "Yeah. I'm trying to be optimistic about it, but I keep thinking I'll mess up somehow."
"With the assignment, or Briar?" Holly asked gently, a knowing look in her concerned eyes as her twintuition kicked in.
"Both," Poppy mumbled before finally taking an unappealing bite of her lunch. "There's this... knot... in my stomach, and it won't go away no matter how much I try and convince myself it'll all be fine."
Holly placed a reassuring hand on her sister's shoulder. "Hey now. Don't be so hard on yourself. I'm sure you won't mess up, but even if you do mess up, Briar won't treat you any differently. Well, after some time, anyway. If you mess up the assignment or mess things up between you and Briar in some other way and she gets angry at you because of it, all she needs is time for the anger to go away and then things will go back to normal. Trust me. Besides," she added when she saw her sister didn't look convinced. "Didn't you always say you wanted to get to know her better, but didn't know how? This assignment is the perfect opportunity for you to do just that!"
Poppy smiled, the knot in her stomach loosening ever so slightly. "I guess you're right. Thanks, Holly. You're fableous."
"What are sisters for?" Holly replied, before her gaze landed elsewhere and she waved at who she saw. "Apple!"
Hearing her name being called, Apple turned to the source and began walking up to them. "Hi, Holly. Did you want to talk about the assignment? We are paired together."
Holly nodded. "I was thinking it would be better if we worked on the assignment in your dorm while Poppy's pair worked in ours, that way the dorms don't get too crowded from four people working in one. Is that okay?"
Apple hummed thoughtfully. "That should work. I'll have to ask Raven, but I'm sure she won't mind." Her eyes lit up with an idea. "We'll need all the time we can get for this assignment, so if you're coming to my dorm, you can bring a sleeping bag. It'll be like a sleepover!"
Holly grinned. "Sounds hexcellent."
"I'll get back to you soon," Apple promised before walking away from the table to get her own lunch.
A few seconds later, Poppy felt a tap on her shoulder. Confused, she turned to face whoever wanted her attention, but her confusion turned to nervousness when she saw Briar's serious hexpression as she lifted up her crownglasses.
"We need to talk about the assignment," Briar stated.
Trying to control her nerves, Poppy decided to tell Briar about Holly's conversation with Apple. "You came to me at a good time. Holly just finished asking Apple if they can work on the assignment in Apple's dorm, so if Raven is fine with it when Apple asks her, we can work on the assignment in mine once classes end. They were thinking of having a sleepover so they can have more time to work on it together, so, uh, maybe we can do the same. You know, if you're cool with it."
Briar smiled approvingly. "That should make things easier. I'll bring my sleeping bag to your dorm after classes, then. When did Apple say she'll ask Raven?"
"She didn't say," Poppy replied. "She just said she'll get back to us 'soon', so that probably means sometime before classes end. That way we have time to figure something out if Raven already has plans to use that dorm."
"Since we're still figuring out where we're working, let's move on to something else," Briar decided. "I actually wanted to discuss what our plan should be before we start working on the assignment. I was thinking today should be focused on figuring out the growth formula and figuring out what to write for the essay, while tomorrow should be focused on actually writing the essay." She noticed something wrong with Poppy, and her gaze became concerned. "Are you okay? Is there something wrong with the plan?"
Poppy shook her head. "There's nothing wrong with it. It sounds like a good plan, I'm just worried."
Briar gave her a reassuring smile. "The assignment will be fine, you don't need to worry. Since I read ahead, I already have an idea of how to create the growth formula, so our Snap-Dragon sapling is in good hands."
It wasn't hexactly the main thing she was worried about for this assignment, but she appreciated Briar's reassurance nonetheless, and smiled back. "I'll still do what I can to help out," she promised. "I don't want you doing most of the work yourself."
"I know," Briar chuckled before whispering conspiratorially in her ear, causing her to stiffen. "Between you and me, you seem like a much better partner than Sparrow. At least I know you'll actually do the work."
Poppy chuckled back, hoping Briar didn't notice the furious blush on her cheeks at their proximity. "I'm glad we cleared that up."
Briar pulled away to Poppy's simultaneous relief and disappointment before speaking again. "I'll go to Professor Rumpelstiltskin's classroom once classes end to get our sapling, and assuming the plan with the dorms still stand, I'll meet you in your dorm with my sleeping bag."
"Sounds good," Poppy agreed.
Briar smiled at her before leaving with a wave and a "Charm you later!", and after waving back, she mentally congratulated herself on not imploding throughout her and Briar's entire conversation — even if there was a close call when Briar whispered in her ear — and she realised she could barely feel the knot in her stomach anymore.
"That went better than you thought," Holly chimed in, and Poppy forgot her sister was still there during the conversation with Briar.
"It did," Poppy admitted with a shy smile, thinking back on what she and Briar talked about and the beautiful sound of Briar's chuckle. "I'm actually kind of looking forward to working with Briar now."
"I'm hexpecting all the details, you know," Holly said.
"Can't," Poppy refused with a grin. "Telling you about the assignment would count as cheating, and I don't want to get detention for helping you cheat in the assignment. One detention of spinning straw into gold was already enough for me."
Holly pouted briefly before smiling, glad her sister was acting more like herself again. "Tell me everything after the assignment, then. It's not cheating if the grades have already been given out."
"Deal," Poppy agreed.
With the matter settled, the two of them finished their lunch, with Poppy's lunch becoming a whole lot more appealing to eat than it did before.
*****
Poppy waited inside her dorm for Briar to arrive. Holly had confirmed that she was going to work on the assignment in Apple's dorm, which meant she and Briar would be working in her dorm. Alone.
And not only were they working together here in her dorm, Briar would also be sleeping here with her for the next two nights.
She didn't quite think that part of Holly's suggestion through, but at least they were in an environment she was used to being in and doing work in, so the idea wasn't as terrifying compared to working and staying in Briar's dorm.
When it came to this assignment, she'd take whatever after victories she could get, no matter how small.
Once she got their equipment set up — including a lot of bottles and jars of substances nearby just in case they needed them — she was still waiting for Briar's arrival, so she decided to sit on the couch and skim through the hextbook to try and find any useful information they could use. After some time, she heard a knock on her door, and she immediately set her hextbook down before rushing to the door.
Opening the door and letting Briar in, she noticed Briar had arrived with the Snap-Dragon sapling, her sleeping bag and a bag with other sleepover essentials, and... something else.
The confusion must've shown on her face, because Briar immediately hexplained. "It's a reverter potion. Professor Rumpelstiltskin is giving them out with the saplings, and he hexplained to us that the potion is used to revert the flower back to its sapling state if things don't work right with the growth formula attempts."
Poppy closed the door and frowned, staring skeptically at the potion. "That's... oddly generous of him."
Briar shrugged the best she could around the items she was holding. "Maybe he felt bad for leaving us to fend for ourselves without any way of correcting our mistakes. Or maybe Headmaster Grimm found out about the assignment and made him give us reverter potions to either make things easier, keep us safe, or both. I'm leaning towards Headmaster Grimm finding out, because there's no way Professor Rumpelstiltskin feels bad about anything. Either way, I'm hextremely glad we have a fail-safe. I know most of what we need to do for the growth formula, but for the things I don't, I don't want our Snap-Dragon to end up growing as tall as a building without a way to reverse it just because we added too much or too little of something."
Poppy nodded. "That makes sense. Headmaster Grimm probably did find out, so he made Professor Rumpelstiltskin give us reverter potions for our safety. Do you need some help with those?" She offered, noticing how much Briar was struggling with the items. She remembered just how many stairs Briar had to climb to get to her dorm while carrying said items, and felt guilty for making Briar go through that.
Maybe they should've worked in Briar's dorm instead. At least Briar's dorm didn't require this many stairs to get to, so even though it would've been tough for her to work in Briar's dorm, she would've chosen to do it anyway if she knew it would've made things easier for Briar.
Briar shook her head, bringing Poppy back to the present. "No thanks. I've got this."
If Briar had any qualms about having to carry all that stuff up all those stairs, she didn't show it, so Poppy decided to just let it go and not worry about it anymore.
As she watched Briar set down the things she was carrying, she tilted her head curiously as she remembered something Briar said. "You said you know most of what we need to do?"
"All plant growth formulas have the same essential ingredients," Briar hexplained, rolling out her sleeping bag for the next couple nights before looking at Poppy. "But they also have additional ingredients for the specific plants they're intended for, because not all growth formulas work on all saplings. I'm still missing a couple parts to make ours Snap-Dragon specific, but we still need to be careful because not all growth formulas that work on Snap-Dragons give the same effects as what Professor Rumpelstiltskin is looking for. I'll do more research to see if the hextbook says anything."
Poppy remembered something she read just before Briar arrived, and stood up straighter. "Oh, wait a spell! It may not be necessary for you to do that. I think I've already found something," she beckoned before rushing back to the couch.
Once she retrieved her hextbook, she showed Briar the page she was on, and she watched as Briar's eyes scanned the page before lighting up. "Of course! Isotopes of elements! The standard isotope of Dragon Fire wouldn't be quite right for the formula, but if we add something else to the Dragon Fire to make it a different known isotope like the page says, then we can create something like... like Snapping Dragon Fire! I'm sure if we put our heads together we can find a way to create the isotope that has that kind of effect. I have so many ideas we could try, hexcellent job finding this! I haven't read up to this part in the hextbook yet, so without you we would've been stuck for way longer."
Poppy glanced away shyly, embarrased at the praise. "It was no problem. I thought it wouldn't be unlike Professor Rumpelstiltskin to have this assignment require information from a separate section of the hextbook. I just got lucky finding it."
"Well, I'm glad you did," Briar declared before putting on her safety goggles and gloves. "Because now it's time for hexperimenting."
"Do you think Professor Rumpelstiltskin will give us a higher grade if we made the Snap-Dragon turn things into gold instead of just biting them?" Poppy mused as she readied her notebook.
Briar hummed thoughtfully as she poured liquid Dragon Fire into a beaker. "Probably not. If anything, he'd probably still give us detention because it wasn't something he specifically asked for in the assignment criteria. It's a nice thought, though."
After a lot of trial and error that Poppy made sure to note down for them to write about in the essay tomorrow, Briar managed to create the Dragon Fire isotope with the desired effect.
The solution in the fresh beaker was fizzing with tiny bubbles that popped with noticeable noises that almost sounded like snapping, and Briar stood proudly over her work. "I think this is it for the Dragon Fire. Now we just have to separate the Dragon Fire isotope from the rest of the solution, figure out the rest of the growth formula and add them together. Easy!" Just as she finished, her eyes grew heavy and she gave a yawn as she started to sway. "Just as soon as I... have a..."
Poppy leaped up from where she was sitting and caught Briar as she fell, and breathed a sigh of relief that Briar wasn't hurt. Carefully bringing Briar to her bed, she set the snoring Briar down gently. Staying at her side and looking at her for a few seconds longer than necessary, she then paid attention to the notes she had been taking, and got an idea. "You've done a lot today, Briar. Now it's my turn to help."
With that, she left Briar and grabbed her MirrorPad before going to the couch to work on the essay, and while Briar rested, she started typing out everything they had done so far.
*****
Poppy had almost finished the part of the essay about how they found the correct isotope when she heard a stirring sound coming from her bed, and turned to look at Briar waking up.
"Wha...? Where..." Briar began. She suddenly remembered what they were supposed to be doing, and quickly sat up.
Seeing the panicked look on Briar's face, Poppy reassured her. "It's okay! We're still making great progress on the assignment. While you were asleep, I started working on the essay part of the assignment." She grinned as she got up and showed Briar her MirrorPad. "I've made a lot of progress so far."
Despite her attempts to reassure her, Briar's panic turned to guilt as she looked at Poppy apologetically. "Really sorry for not being able to help with the essay by falling asleep like that. I'll find a way to make up for it."
Poppy shook her head. "Don't worry about it. I didn't mind working on the essay while you were asleep, since it was like I was making up for not doing much earlier. All I did was take notes and give suggestions while you did the real hard work, so it's only fair I do the essay."
"Without your notes there would be no essay," Briar said with a disapproving frown. "So don't go telling me that what you did wasn't hard work when it was. We're working on this assignment together, and we each have our part to play." Something flickered in Briar's eyes so fast Poppy wasn't sure whether she was just imagining it, but since Briar continued speaking like nothing happened, she figured she was just imagining things and it was probably nothing. "We wouldn't have gotten this far without each other, so let's just agree to not worry about whether we're both doing enough."
Poppy smiled. "Agreed."
Briar's gaze landed on the bed she was on, before looking at Poppy in confusion. "Why did you put me on your bed? My sleeping bag's right there," she spoke, pointing at the nearby sleeping bag.
Poppy shrugged. "I thought my bed would be more comfortable than a sleeping bag. I wasn't going to put you on Holly's bed, and since I didn't mind you resting on mine, I brought you here after catching you."
Briar chuckled. "There is a couch, you know. You could've brought me there instead."
"Still not as comfortable as a bed, though," Poppy pointed out.
Briar smiled. "True. And thanks," she added, gaze softening. "I appreciate it. You've got some good reflexes to catch me mid-fall like that. Those Hero Training classes must be paying off for you."
Poppy glanced away shyly, blushing. "No problem. I couldn't just let you fall, so I had to do something."
"Don't be so modest!" Briar hexclaimed, mistaking her blush as being for embarrassment. "Not everyone can say they've caught a damsel. It's pretty impressive."
"You really think so?" Poppy asked. At Briar's nod, she smiled. "I'll be sure to mention it during my next Hero Training class, then."
Briar seemed pleased by that, and stretched. "Feels like I've been out for a while. What time is it, anyway?"
Poppy checked the time on her MirrorPad, and her eyes widened in shock. "How is it almost midnight?!" Suddenly remembering she hadn't eaten since lunch, her stomach felt fairy hollow. "Okay, new plan. Food now, continue assignment tomorrow."
"After we eat, I can continue reading the hextbook for a while once you go to bed," Briar offered. "Hopefully I'll find something useful, and then after classes tomorrow we can finish the growth formula and essay."
Poppy smiled gratefully. "That would be great. Thanks, Briar."
"What are friends for?"
Despite the coolness from it being almost midnight, Poppy felt warm inside knowing Briar now saw them as friends.
*****
Poppy awoke the next morning — or was it technically later that morning? — to find Briar's sleeping bag empty. She figured Briar must've woken up before her to get ready for their classes, and she was correct when she saw Briar had already finished getting ready and was walking towards her.
"I did end up finding something useful, by the way," Briar revealed hexcitedly. "I'm confident I know how to make the right growth formula. I'll show you the notes I made once classes end."
Poppy matched Briar's enthusiasm and told her that was great before getting herself ready for their classes, and when she finished, she was surprised to see Briar still in the dorm.
"You waited for me?" Poppy asked, unable to hide how touched she felt as she walked up to Briar.
"Of course I did," Briar replied. "It would be rude to just leave you here by yourself." She flashed a smile that made Poppy's breath hitch. "Besides, I love having company on my way to class, and you make hexcellent company."
Poppy didn't quite know what to say to that, so instead she just nodded shyly and opened the door for Briar.
And seeing Briar turn to wink at her after leaving the dorm, Poppy was surprised she was able to keep up with Briar as they made their way down the stairs when her legs felt like jelly.
*****
True to her word, once classes ended and they met up in Poppy's dorm again, Briar showed Poppy her notes for the rest of the growth formula.
Poppy felt pleased at how hextensive the notes were. "Glad you noted it all down. This should make the rest of the essay easier."
"Hexactly," Briar confirmed. "Since I'm planning to write this part of the essay, I figured the more detailed the notes, the better."
Briar put on the safety goggles and gloves like yesterday before doing the things in her notes, and a short while later the final solution was a glowing amber colour.
"Moment of truth," Briar said, taking a pipette and sucking some of the solution into it.
Poppy was waiting nearby with the reverter potion just in case, and she watched with bated breath as Briar gently squeezed the growth formula onto the sapling. In a sparkly pale yellow cloud, the sapling grew in an instant and became a fully grown Snap-Dragon flower just like Professor Rumpelstiltskin's, and the two of them cheered in hexcitement.
"We did it!" Poppy hexclaimed.
"That was spelltacular!" Briar added, wrapping her arms around a startled Poppy. "We really make a hexcellent team. We should work together more often."
Poppy smiled as Briar hugged her, using her free hand to hug Briar back. "I'd really like that."
Briar pulled away from her shortly after, leaving Poppy disappointed at the loss of contact. "But we're not done yet. We still need to test the other things Professor Rumpelstiltskin mentioned and finish the essay."
Poppy nodded, and once the two of them confirmed their Snap-Dragon was lively and had a strong bite and therefore had no need for the reverter potion, they took turns finishing the essay while the other had a break. To their surprise, their essay ended up being over twelve thousand words, but neither of them were complaining.
After all, for all they knew Professor Rumpelstiltskin could change the minimum words to be eleven thousand instead of ten thousand with fairy short notice to catch them off guard and give them no time to fix their essays, so having their essay be over twelve thousand words meant they would most likely be okay if he did increase the minimum words.
Once they gave the essay one final proofread and printed it, they fell asleep satisfied in what they had accomplished together.
*****
"Time to see your assignments."
In the lab, everyone was standing in their pairs behind the desks with essays in hand and their Snap-Dragon flowers on top of the desks, preparing for Professor Rumpelstiltskin to grade them.
Poppy was holding their printed essay for safekeeping, and Briar gave her a reassuring smile, which she returned.
Professor Rumpelstiltskin went to Daring and Lizzie's desk first.
"As you can see, Professor Rumpelstiltskin," Lizzie began professionally. "Thanks to our partnership and a Wonderlandian touch, our Snap-Dragon has ended up with quite the personality. Let's just say, one wrong step and it's off with your head!"
Taking his cue, Daring held out a bouquet of roses, which their Snap-Dragon snapped up and swallowed, thorns included. Only the mangled stems Daring was holding were left behind, which he showed Professor Rumpelstiltskin. "Not even the thorns were spared, and those are tough! Even I would have trouble rescuing a damsel from such turmoil. We're lucky good ol' Snappy here is on our side!"
'Snappy' made a growling noise, and Daring held up his hands defensively. "Okay, okay. We can work on the whole naming thing later."
The Snap-Dragon formerly known as Snappy made a satisfied noise, and Lizzie gently stroked it under its chin much to its delight before handing their essay to Professor Rumpelstiltskin. "You'll find everything you need to know in this."
Professor Rumpelstiltskin quickly read through the essay at a speed that seemed impossible for anyone that wasn't Professor Rumpelstiltskin to replicate. "Daring Charming. Lizzie Hearts. I give you... an A!"
Daring and Lizzie were overjoyed at the result, and hugged each other while Professor Rumpelstiltskin made his way to Sparrow and Duchess's desk.
Unlike Daring and Lizzie's Snap-Dragon, theirs was looking deflated, as if it didn't have the energy for anything. Professor Rumpelstiltskin wasn't impressed with their hexcuses, and after reading through their essay, he gave them their fate. "Duchess Swan. Sparrow Hood. I give you... a D!"
Duchess looked like she wanted to say something but held her tongue, knowing that a D was still barely a pass at the fairy least and it wasn't worth arguing with Professor Rumpelstiltskin over her grade in case he changed it to a fail, which was the last thing she wanted.
Professor Rumpelstiltskin kept moving to desks and grading the assignments — some of which were fails that he gleefully gave — until finally it was the moment Poppy and Briar were waiting for, and Briar briefly squeezed Poppy's free hand in reassurance when Professor Rumpelstiltskin arrived at their desk.
"When working on this assignment," Briar began. "We worked together to find the perfect ingredients for the growth formula. As a result, our Snap-Dragon has become fairy lively."
"We also used a wooden ruler to test the biting strength," Poppy continued. "This is because your Snap-Dragon snapping a wooden ruler gave us a good baseline for what amount of strength is required for the assignment. If our Snap-Dragon didn't snap a wooden ruler, then it meant ours wouldn't have enough strength to fulfil the requirements of the assignment, and we would have to use the reverter potion and try again. Fortunately, ours did snap a wooden ruler, but in order to prove it to you..."
Briar took an even thicker ruler than the one Professor Rumpelstiltskin used and held it in front of their Snap-Dragon, which it snapped easily before swallowing. "As you can see," Briar finished. "Our Snap-Dragon fulfils the assignment requirements. We also made sure to note down everything for the essay so we didn't forget anything important in it."
Poppy handed their essay to Professor Rumpelstiltskin, and she and Briar hexchanged glances as he read through their work.
She hoped they had done enough to get an A.
After what felt like forever after, Professor Rumpelstiltskin finished reading. "Poppy O'Hair. Briar Beauty. I give you... an A!"
Poppy and Briar were filled with hexcitement, but they had to wait until after class to spellebrate their hard work paying off.
Once class was over and they left the lab to make their way to their next class together, Briar nudged her. "I told you everything will be fine!"
Poppy nudged Briar back. "Only because I had a hexcellent partner!"
Briar chuckled, pretending to fan herself. "Oh, stop it, you're making me blush! You were pretty hexcellent yourself. You know, I'm really glad we were assigned together. I enjoyed working with you."
Poppy couldn't hold back her grin. "Feeling's mutual. Do you want to maybe hang out later after the rest of our classes?"
Briar grinned back, wrapping an arm around Poppy's shoulders. "Wouldn't miss it. We need to spellebrate our success properly!"
Poppy was glad she had grown more comfortable around Briar and that the two of them were starting to become real friends, and she was looking forward to spending more time with her.
She had a lot to tell Holly tonight.