Twisted Wonderland Book 3: The Merchant from the Depths

Chapter 2: Average Question

A week later:

One day in the Exterior Holloway, Ace is chasing Grim, after he decides to perform another one of his food stealing stunts.

Ace chases Grim as he screams, "Hold it right there, Grim! You're not gettin' off easy today, you hear me?!"

Grim stops running and turns to face Ace with a grin, "Myeh heh heh! Maybe you shoulda put your name on it if you wanted it that bad!"

"Why, you...!" Ace angrily says, and about to bring out his pen.

Briar and the others, including Deuce run down the hall and find the two about ready to fight.

"Are they fighting again?" Tanzanite asks.

"What is it this time?" Briar questions.

Deuce sighs, "Seriously, don't they ever get tired of this?"

Ace soon notices Briar, "Hey, Briar! You're the prefect, so do some perfecting! This lousy furball swiped the doughnut I bought and ate it! AGAIN."

"Again?" Briar questions, dumbfounded.

But Grim says, "I didn't steal nothin' I just saw a snack left abandoned on a desk and gave it a home outta the goodness of my heart."

"It's not abandoned if it's on somebody's desk!" Ace angrily says, "If you're gonna keep runnin', I've got some wind magic up my sleeve with your name on it."

"Oh YEAH? Try me! I've got fire magic ready to—" Grim says.

However, the two soon come to a stop, "...Erk!"

Everyone looks confused to see the fight has come to a halt.

Then Ace calmly says, "Y'know what? I think I'll skip the magic today. I don't wanna get sent to wash even MORE windows."

"H-heh. For once, I think you've got the right idea," Grim replies.

And tries to remain calm, "I'd be embarassin' myself if I was the only one usin' magic, so I'll let you off easy this time."

"Huh?" The twins reply, confused.

"That's weird. They stopped fighting," Sereia says.

"...Hm?" Briar replies, thinking.

Deuce agrees, "Wow. It's not every day I see you two de-escalate one of your fights without outside intervention. Normally, you go at it until the classrom's blasted to bits and the headmage comes storming in.

"Hey, what kinda punk would I be if I started fighting with a weasel over one lousy doughnut?" Ace says.

"Why do you always have to get in one last smart remark?!" Grim questions with a frown on his face.

"Come on guys, let's get to class before we're late," Briar says.

Later on in the classroom, Briar and the others enter the room.

Crewel says, "It's time for class to start, whelps. Get to your seats. First, I'll pass back your tests."

Everyone takes their seats soon after.

"This is it—the moment of truth," Deuce says, nervously.

Grim however, is confident, "Myah hah! Gimme! Gimme! I want that test, Prof!" and stands on his desk.

"Settle down, Grim. Stay. STAY!" Crewel commands to Grim.

Then says, "I'll call you by your class number. Number one!"

And with that, all the students have been called by their numbers and Crewel gives them back their exams. Briar, and the others have their exams back and are sharing their scores.

Ace is excited about his test, "SWEET! I got a 92!"

Deuce is relieved to see his, "I got an 88! I never thought I'd see the day I scored over 80."

"That's good Deuce," Briar says.

Deuce is very relieved, "Now I won't get held back a year!"

Grim happily shows his score to the others, "Check it out, guys! I got an 85!".

"You went from falling grades to an 85?!" Jasper says, confused. Then look at his test, "I only got an 81."

"Hey, I don't like what you're implyin'!" Grim replies.

"Good job Grim," Sereia says. And shows her paper, "I only got 89."

"Sounds like you did a good job," Briar says.

"Yeah," Sereia replies.

Then Grim asks, "What about you, Briar?"

"I got a 96 on this exam," Briar says.

"Sounds good," Sereia says.

Then turns to Tanzanite," What about you?"

Tanzanite then shows his exam and shows that he has 100.

"Wow a hundred," Briar says, amazed.

"You must be really smart," Grim says, surprised.

"Thank," Tanzanite says, blushing.

"Yeah. My brother is the more intelligent type," Jasper says.

Tanzanite blushes, "Well, Not that intelligent, I just really like to study.

Just then, they hear Crewel says, "You appear to have studied a great deal for this exam. Yes... A great deal indeed, compared to your quiz scores. In fact, the class average has gone up to a degree one might call...unusual."

"And what's that supposed to mean?" Ace says, confused.

Crewel explains, "The average test scores across every level of potionology are over 90. Professor Trein has remarked upon similarly positive trends in his magic history classes."

"Say what?!" Deuce asks, shocked.

Grim is even more shocked, "Mraaah?!"

Ace is as worried as Deuce and Grim, "Uh-oh. I don't like where this is going..."

Then Crewel says, "The school's fifty highest achievers will be posted in the hall. You can look forward to seeing that shortly. Now, let us begin today's lesson. Open your textbooks."

Everyone takes their seats and begins their class for the day.