The Dragon Stone ↣ Riven ↢

08: Girls Aren't Really My Thing

''Another human cloud to bring you down''

As soon as Rose stepped out of her dorm, she was met with a crowded hallway. Students were rushing off into various directions, some chatting fervently while others had their nose buried in books. It was the end of the trimester and today, the exams were taking place which resulted in a chaotic and tense atmosphere in the school.

'Don't let it affect you.', Rose whispered to herself as she took a deep breath.

She made her way over to the cafeteria to start her day off with breakfast, like she normally would. Just as she expected, the cafeteria was quite empty, as most students were either at the library, at their dorm or running around nervously trying to prepare themselves for the exams.

To her surprise, Rose spotted Aisha at one of the tables. She decided to first make her way over to the breakfast buffet before taking a seat next to her. 

'Good morning!', Rose greeted as she sat down. 'You don't look stressed at all.', she observed as she took in Aisha's appearance.

Aisha let out a chuckle in return. 'That's because I didn't start preparing last minute.', she began, 'I've been preparing for three weeks now and I feel ready.'

Rose wished she shared Aisha's confidence, but between exploring the school grounds, having fun with her friends and the extra control lessons, she hadn't spent as much time on studying as she normally would have done. 'I wish that applied to me as well, but unfortunately, I belong in the first category of students.', she said as she let out a sigh.

'Don't worry, you'll be fine. You've attended all classes and your weird interest in the history of fire magic should come in handy too.', Aisha stated reassuringly as she nudged Rose's shoulder with her own.

Aisha's encouraging words had slightly calmed her nerves and she chuckled in return. Even though Rose disagreed with her interest being weird, she was glad for Aisha's presence. It made her think of the other girls she was sharing a dorm with. At the moment, they were all getting along and to Rose, they were a real support. Her time at Alfea wouldn't be the same without them. As she was thinking about this, an idea popped into her head.

'You know what, I think we deserve a little fun after taking the exams.', Rose remarked as she took out her phone. 'I'm going to text the others.'

The other girls seemed to agree, and they decided to go out for dinner as a celebration to making it through their first trimester at Alfea. Planning something fun with her friends had taken her mind off the task at hand but now it was time for Rose to ace that exam.

-

Rose put her pen down after answering the last question and quietly made her way out of the classroom as to not disturb the students who were still going at it. As she closed the door behind her, she let out a sigh of relief and she wasn't the only one who was glad it was over. The students around her  seemed more relaxed too and the atmosphere in the school had turned back to normal. She decided to go back to her dorm but on her way over, someone called her name.

'Hey Rose, wait up!', he shouted.

Rose turned around to see that it was Dane. 'Hi!', she greeted him happily as he reached her. 'How did your exam go?'

'Fine, I guess, and if not, I'll worry about it when we get the results back.', Dane said while shrugging. 'Yours?'

'Better than expected, but you're right, there's no point in worrying about it now.', Rose replied.

'Right?', Dane chuckled.

Rose didn't mind the friendly chat but she had a feeling there was more to this conversation. Her suspicions were confirmed when she noticed a change in Dane's body language as he opened his mouth again.