Chapter 8

Nel sighed. “Is this really necessary?” She asked.

“Excuse me?” she seemed frustrated by the fact that Nel was bold enough to question her.

All the while, Nel stood there, thinking about how sensitive all of these females seemed to be when it came to their position in the school’s hierarchy. Fortunately, the bell rang for the end of class.

“Come on, babe. You don’t want to be late for class,” said Colsin Stone, wrapping his arm around her neck.

The young alpha’s interference seemed to make Sara Slate back off but the tension between the two of them was still quite visible.

“You were just saved by your alpha, outcast,” she said to Nel as Manari approached as well. “Remember that. Next time you may not be so lucky.”

Nel didn’t bother to say anything and instead let Sara walk away with her beau. If this was the type of female that Colsin Stone found favor with, he wasn’t as interesting as Nel thought he was.

Everyone dispersed from class, Manari walking alongside Nel. “Don’t worry about Sara,” Manari said, wrapping her arm around Nel’s. “She’s your typical bully. She’d die if she couldn’t assert authority over others.”

Nel paused and regarded her friend. “Does she bully you?”

Manari swallowed and then shrugged. There was obviously something that she was telling Nel; something that happened between she and Sara. And probably her terrible friends to boot.

“Manari?” Nel touched her friend’s arm in a subtle yet reassuring gesture. “You can tell me.”

Manari seemed to have to consider confiding in Nel-something that she’d never had to do before. Whatever Sara had done to her was something that she was too ashamed to talk about. This only upset Nel, making her dislike Sara Slate even more.

“Manari, what happened?” there was slightly more aggression in her voice this time around. At this point Nel was desperate to know what had been done to her friend so that she could exact revenge. She’d deal with the consequences of her mother later.

Manari reluctantly moved to part her lips. Maybe she was about to tell Nel or maybe she was about to shove the subject to the side. Whatever she was about to say, Nel would never find out because they were suddenly interrupted.

“Miss Larken?”

Professor Wilde was on approach following his request for a moment of Nel’s time. She glanced at her teacher impatiently, obviously irritated by the interruption but it seemed that where Nel was annoyed, Manari was visibly relieved.

“Looks like the Mr. Wilde has something he wants to talk to you about,” she said and started to head off. “Talk later?”

“Sure,” said Nel although PA was Nel’s last class of the day. And Manari knew Nel as well as Nel knew Manari. Nel would not let up until Manari told her what she was hiding, and Manari would refuse to discuss it until she was ready. Nel had already mentally prepared herself for a few days of radio silence from her best friend.

She watched Nari walk away. Fighting not to go after her and at least try and press her further. “Neliyah, I think we need to talk,”

Upon hearing her name, Nel turned her attention to the teacher with a fake smile on her face. “What about, Professor Wilde?” She already knew what he wanted to talk about before he could even mention it.

“We need to talk about your lack of participation in my class,” said Mr. Wilde.

Nel stressfully cut her eyes away from the teacher. She wasn’t frustrated with him because he was just doing his job but that didn’t make this conversation any less hard to have.

“I’m sorry, Professor Wilde, I-”

“I know, Nel. I get that you’re afraid but-”

“Oh, I’m not afraid, Professor Wilde, I-”

“Then what is it?” he asked impatiently. “I know that you have power so why are you not displaying it? Are you embarrassed?”

“No, no, I’m not embarrassed at all, Professor. I just…” her sentence veered off its path as Nel struggled to find the right words to finish her sentence. She couldn’t. Not without blaming it all on her mother and potentially exposing something that she shouldn’t have.

“Nel, these excuses…they have to stop,” said Professor Wilde, deciding that he didn’t need the rest of Nel’s sentence to say what he had to say next. “Your excuses are doing nothing but digging a deeper hole for you, Nel, because there is according to you there is no justifiable reason why you cannot perform in my,” he took a step closer. “I can sense that there is exceptional power within you. You might even be a Peculiar. Why not display such power? It would certainly shut those arrogant little pricks up.”

“It…it’s just not that simple for me, Mr. Wilde,”

“And I’m going to presume that you can’t simplify it, for me.”

“If I could, I’d have displayed whatever power it is that you think you sense from me.”

“Think?” He chuckled. “I’m afraid my readings are more than just simple presumptions, Miss Larken,” he said.

“I know,” she murmured in resignation. “It’s just…unfortunately, I can’t give you an answer that you’ll be satisfied with, Mr. Wilde.”

“Well,” the PA teacher exhaled frustratedly. “I can’t say that I am pleased with this, Nel. You’re holding yourself back by holding back.” To this, Nel had no response either. There was literally nothing else that could be said on her part that would make this situation better for either of them. This only made Professor Wilde more aggravated. “Next class, you will be sparring with Sara Slate, Miss Larken. Maybe an active challenge will bring the best out of you,”

Nel was surprised at the risk that the professor was willing to take just force her out of the shell that she has no other choice but to stay in. “That’s a big maybe, Professor Wilde, and very dangerous…don’t you think?”

“I’ve been doing this for years, miss Larken,” said the professor. “If anyone gets out of hand, I know how to intercede. So, you don’t have to worry about that. The only thing that you need to worry about, miss Larken is whether you’ll be able to take this class following the sparring match.”

His choice of words confused Nel. “What do you mean, professor?”

Professor Larken sighed. “I mean that if you cannot participate in this class, then there is no use in you taking it.” He seemed to realize how upsetting this information was to Nel. Professor Wilde sympathetically squeezed her shoulder. “I’m sorry, Nel,” he said. “I don’t want to drop you from this class, but in order to progress you have to be willing to show some sort of initiation. You’ve done neither.”

He was right, Nel knew that. There was no need to argue the point because in the end the decision to continue ultimately was up to Nel, and her mother.

“Have a good day, miss Larken.” He smiled. It was obvious that he wasn’t happy having to deliver this news to her. He knew that it would be impossible to have a good day after the news that she had received.

Nel walked out of the gymnasium with even more on her mind than when she came in and she also started to feel a sting of resentment for her mother. Whether she realized it or not, Leana was beginning to inadvertently hold her back from life. She had to confront her about this later at home. She had to know why her mother wouldn’t let her flourish.