Lunch went as well as it could go, I suppose, aside from some odd looks for devouring an entire large pepperoni in a single sitting. Sue me, I’m still a growing boy. If there was one good thing my father gave me, it was a sturdy body that needs its calories. 

On my way back to my dorm, I didn’t see Erik anywhere and assumed he moved on with his patrol. Once I was back, I stared at my desk and sighed as I fought the urge to play League or scroll mindlessly on my phone. 

But, after staring my textbooks down for a solid minute, let’s just say the textbooks won. The last thing I needed right now was to get back to class and have nothing to show for it. It was in my best interest to somewhat stay on track. Besides, I could blow some steam off by hitting the bag later tonight. If I recall correctly, then the practice rooms were open until midnight. 

“Alright, let’s give this a go,” I said in an attempt to psych myself up. And I’ll be damned, a few hours later I managed to complete nearly everything, I was just stuck on one final proof for math but hey things were done. 

Whether I did most of my work correctly was an entirely different matter. Regardless, I was proud of myself. Putting my work away, I went to grab a snack from my kitchen to fuel up for my boxing session when I heard my phone vibrate on my desk. As I chomped down on a banana, I picked up my phone and saw that Joel had texted. He was asking if I wanted to hang out again this weekend. Thinking that I could use some normalcy for a change, I agreed, but absolutely no clubs.  

Sorry, Astrid. 

Before I hit ‘send’, however, I thought back to Erik and an idea formed in my head. I asked Joel if it was cool to invite someone else and he replied in the most Joel way possible. 

Bitch, I do not care. As long as they can help me finish a case of beer, we’re good!  

Never change Joel. 

Laughing to myself, I finished my banana, got my gear, my earbuds, a freaking hat, and jogged over to the gym to warm up. Once I arrived at my destination, I saw that all of the rooms were closed and the earliest time one would open would be in about thirty minutes. Bummed at this turn of events, I decided to sit in the lobby area after signing up for a time slot. 

To kill time, I mumbled along to the music that I was listening to and played solitaire on my phone. I was never that great at it, but whenever I won, it was fun to see the cards bounce around on the screen. And just when I had finally managed to witness such an awesome display, a hand suddenly slapped my phone to the ground. 

Instinctively, I darted away from my bench and took stock of my surroundings with my hands up to protect my head. 

“Oh, you gotta be fucking kidding me.” Staring me down was Mr. Roid monster himself, and who I believed to be the other two guys Freyja laid out. “The hell do you guys want? I’m surprised you’re still allowed on campus.” Other students who saw the brewing altercation fled the scene or watched from afar, not sure who they were going to root for though if things went south.  

“We got suspended you asshole, and because of you, I’ve still got to pay tuition while everyone else doesn’t! And to make it even harder, I lost my academic scholarship!” His face was crimson, and his jacked arms were twitching as he slowly approached me. The other two said nothing but started to move to my left and right. 

“Boo-hoo moron, you did that to yourself. Shit, you’re lucky they didn’t send your ass to prison! Attacking a Bevu in broad daylight, congrats stupid, you won first prize.” I laughed, making him snort indignantly like the bull he was.  

“Fuck you!” He lunged in an attempt to grab me; I swatted his arms away and followed up with a low hook to his ribs. Unfortunately, he recovered faster than I thought so I only managed to get to his hip bone as he turned, hurting my knuckles. Tweedle dee on my right, sent a straight hook my face. Weaving under it, I jabbed his diaphragm and his sternum before following up with an uppercut to the chin, and down he fell like a tree. Good ol’ 1-2-3 combo. 

“Stop fighting!” A random girl shouted. 

“Do you think I want to do this!?” I shouted as I turned to look at her. 

Big mistake.  

A massive fist caught me in the ear, disorienting me instantly. I turned toward the source of my pain, narrowly avoiding a few errant blows. It was for nothing since the next thing I knew Tweedle Dumbass tackled me to the ground and started punching at my face. 

I managed to block most of them until Roid guy started kicking me from the side. 

“Fuck off motherfucker!” I shouted as I allowed myself to take a few hits to the face so I could grab the throat of the guy on top of me, slammed my fist into the side of his head, and rolled him into Roid guy in one swift motion. 

Stumbling to my feet, I put my guard up once again. 

“You wanna come at me motherfuckers? We’re playing for keeps now!” Going on the offensive now, I feinted a left hook at Roid guy and followed up with a hook to his face. Tweedle Dumbass tried to tackle me again, but I bent down low, caught his head, and kneed his nose as hard as I could.  

Freaking out as blood oozed out of his nose, he called me a prick and dashed towards the door. Exhausted at this point, I couldn’t react fast enough to stop Roid guy from putting me in a headlock as he punched my head.  

As fate would have it, he was a clumsy grappler and left his thumb exposed next to my face and I did the only thing I could do. 

I grabbed that motherfucker and made it bend in a way that most certainly wasn’t normal. With a yelp, he let me go and clutched his hand. In the middle of screaming obscenities at me, I put all my weight into a haymaker reminiscent of the one he tried on me, only, mine connected with his chin, and down he went. 

Falling to my knees, I gasped for air and felt iron and sweat in my mouth, mentally screaming as to why nobody intervened. Did the other students hate me that much? 

“Mr. Reyez, why am I not surprised?” Looking to the side, I saw Hilda and a mortified Erik looking at the carnage I was a part of.  

Fuck. 

*** 

Imagine my surprise, instead of taking me to get interrogated, Hilda had Erik, and some other officers carry the guys who attacked me away for questioning. As for me, Ms. Coordinator herself helped me to one of the practice rooms and told me to sit down. I did as I was told, I knew better than to act out against her. 

She gave me the creeps. 

Instead of saying anything, she stood there in her fancy blouse and pencil skirt, staring at me with probing eyes. I expected to get chewed out and sent packing or get screamed at. I got nothing at all, the silence was overbearing. After a few minutes of getting my soul analyzed, she mercifully spoke. 

“You fight well for a man; I dare say you would give Erik a run for his money.” Upset at realizing what she said, I spoke up a bit louder than I wanted. 

“You fucking saw me? Why didn’t you do something?” She hissed, silencing me instantly, her horns piercing through her skin. Once she was satisfied that I had calmed down, they retreated. 

“It has not been a single week, and you are already getting into trouble again.” I looked down at the floor, not sure how to respond since I had nothing to say in defense of myself. Sure, those jerks attacked me, but I was put on a zero-tolerance policy. “Nonetheless, you are lucky I watched the situation as I was making my rounds with the staff here. Rest assured; you will not be punished severely for this incident.” A tidal wave of relief washed over me. Thank God. 

“Ms. Hilda, thank you so much. Whew, had me going there for a second.”  

“Oh, you will be punished, just not severely. You’ve earned yourself an extra week of suspension.” I groaned, how the hell was I going to pass my classes if I couldn’t go to them? “Trouble seems to follow you, Mr. Reyez. You would face more consequences than this if you had not caught the eye of Princess Freyja.” I looked up at her. 

“You knew?” She laughed. 

“Richardson was correct, you are a ‘riot’ as he put it. Yes, I was aware of her status and her growing infatuation with you. I was her private tutor on Bevu Prime. Why do you think she calls me her elder? I’m not exactly pleased with it...a human and royal, bah.” She crossed her arms and sat down next to me. “It’s also for that reason that I wanted to see you defend yourself, if you somehow become her mate, she’d need a strong man. And you did...okay.”  

“Gee, thanks.”  

“Still, it appears to be destined. And frankly, I do not have the authority to tell her not to pursue you. I’ll leave that up to her parents. She’s their only daughter you know?” She said that last part with a bit of warning on her lips, a warning I understand very clearly. “I won’t be informing them of this, I’d hate to ruin Freyja’s time on Earth so soon. She practically begged me to become a part of the exchange program. And with no one knowing who she was, it was an easy affair to sort out.” she said proudly. 

“Why is she like, um, kept a secret?” I asked. 

“Not my place. And if I knew I wouldn’t tell you.” She responded curtly, just as Erik did. Well screw me, I guess. Saying what she had to say, she patted me on the shoulder and got up to leave. “Take care going home, Mr. Reyez. And if you truly want to know more about Freyja, ask her.” She smiled in a way to reveal her dagger-like teeth and sauntered out of the room, leaving me to my thoughts.  

“Hmph, maybe I will,” I said aloud to the empty room. “Couldn’t be that bad, yeah?” Shaking my head, I went to the almighty training console and scrolled through the training programs. After the beatdown I received, I wasn’t too keen on going as hard as I planned. But, seeing as my body was still in good shape, I felt a light workout would be fine. 

Besides, the undeniable fact of the matter is that I’ve got a target painted on my back now and I’ll have to get stronger to deal with that. Knowing my dad, he’d probably be excited about this turn of events. Little Dean finally embraced violence, willing to ‘Do what was necessary’ as he put it. I stopped that line of thought right then and there, no way was I going to let him become proud of me in the way that he wanted.  

I was better than that. 

As I was scrolling around on the training device, I saw a setting I had overlooked. It looked like I could select who my sparring partner would be, guess it wasn't limited to humans. Intrigued, I typed ‘Bevusian’ into the console and grinned when I saw I could spar against a construct of one. 

“My body isn’t that broken; I think I could hang with one. I just fought three losers and won; I got this.” Grinning, I tossed my jacket to the side and booted up the training module.