Serene’s POV

The nurse in the infirmary inspected my wound which was about 80 per cent healed, thanks to Ayrden. She gave me some antibiotics and put on fresh bandages. The bloodied half-torn black shirt was lying on the table with bandages and medicine. I picked it up, folded it and placed it in my backpack.

I stepped out of the infirmary and found Zeph waiting for me. He was wearing another black shirt now. I was curious about why he mostly wore black. "How are you feeling?" his voice was soft.

"Much better but starving." My stomach was growling.

"Let’s get something to eat before we prepare for the next exam." We headed towards the dining hall. It had been almost six months now that we had known each other. We had cried and laughed, together shared meals, fought a lot, and cared for each other. He wasn’t good at expressing his feelings but his actions spoke louder than words. He needed time to heal from the Lourden fiasco so I never pushed him. He never kissed me again although I felt like he wanted to on so many occasions but his shyness got the better of him.

" You think we are going to pass?" His question jolted me back. " I hope so because I want to go home after the exams, I am homesick." It was the truth, I was dying to meet my family and friends. "But you got injured today, I guess Lavaria Sensei is going to fail you for that. So, the 3 weeks break we will get after the exams won’t apply to you. Artins Sensei said whoever fails will spend that time here, for extra classes." His tone was dead serious as he glanced sideways at me.

" What? Who told you that? You are joking, right?" I was exasperated. "I heard him when I was passing outside the teacher’s common room, earlier. I was going to my dorm to put on a shirt." There was no hint of a joke on his face and in his eyes. Oh no, I started to freak out. FAIL. I had never failed any exam, throughout my life. What was I going to do? My hands and feet seemed to be going numb. I was so lost in my thoughts that I hadn’t realised we had reached our table in the dining hall. The whole gang was there, even Mikasim had started to sit with us again.

Ralph saw my unhappy face and got concerned: "What’s wrong, Serene? Are you in pain due to injury?"

"Lavaria Sensei is going to fail her in the exam because she got injured. I heard him talking about it with other Senseis." Zeph shrugged. "What, how can he do that? What has getting injured anything to do with passing and failing?" Ralph exclaimed. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

I had lost my appetite. Ayrden tried to cheer me up and offered me my favourite chocolate cake but my mind was swirling around the fact that I had let my team down and was going to fail. "I am sorry guys, I let everyone down."

"You should be," Zeph burst out laughing. "You should see your face right now, you thought I was telling the truth." He continued laughing. "Zephhhh, you are so dead." I got up and punched him in the arm but he didn’t budge. My face had gotten red with embarrassment as everyone began to laugh. I crossed my arms in front of my chest and scowled. "Unbelievable, you people are unbelievable." I began to storm out in rage but Zeph caught my left hand and pulled me and I ended up on his lap. "Where are you going? We are not done yet teasing you." He whispered in my ear.

Ralph clasped his hands together and placed them under his chin and with a twinkle in his eyes teased us: "Oiii, my lovestruck chummy chums." Zeph glared at him while my whole face turned red with embarrassment. Ralph pulled our cheeks like we were little kids sending everyone into fits of laughter while earning tons of curses from Zeph.

In the last few months, we had become even closer to each other. Zeph had opened up to us so much, that he enjoyed teasing us, especially me. Mikasim had started spending more time with us no matter what Tanzil would say. Ralph and Alvene had fallen head over heels in love with each other and were practically inseparable. Ayrden was still too afraid to express her feelings for Cainos but she had mustered up enough courage to talk to him every once in a while. And then there was Arlo who hardly ever spoke to us. We would rarely see him outside of class. Sometimes I had seen him hanging out with Dria but other than that he always made himself scarce.

"Are you listening?" Ayrden waved her hand in front of me. " Yes, I was just thinking how lucky I am to be surrounded by friends." I smiled at them.

"Well, you are awesome yourself, Serene and we all love you, especially Zeph." Ralph winked at me. Zeph gently pulled me up and sat me on the chair and rushed toward Ralph with a deadly look in his eyes. Ralph sensing danger was already sprinting towards the dining hall’s door with Zeph at his heels. "Well no matter what happens one thing is for sure, Ralph is never going to grow up." Alvene shook her head in amusement and we all nodded in agreement.

"Serene, eat something then we have to prepare for tomorrow’s exam," Ayrden instructed me. I grabbed the chocolate cake she had saved for me and began to gulp it down.

Later, Ayrden and I made our way to the library to start preparing for the " Concoctions and Elixirs " exam. Mariela Sensei was tough so we were expecting a difficult exam from her. We sat down and opened every book we could find on the subject.

Suddenly, I felt like something had hit my head. I turned around to find Dria had elbowed me while passing. I glared at her but she acted like nothing had happened and headed for the table in the far corner. " What’s her problem now?" Ayrden asked. "She had ignored us for the past four months, seems like she is looking for trouble." I had zero patience for bullies now.

I got up and walked towards her but I was stopped in my tracks by Arlo who seemed to have appeared from nowhere or maybe he was sitting somewhere nearby. "Serene, I will deal with her. Don’t go near her." He pleaded with his eyes.

I looked at him momentarily: "Alright, because I don’t want trouble. But, if she will push me I won’t hold back this time."

"I know, that’s why let me handle her. She won’t bother you anymore." With these words, he turned and made his way toward Dria. He got hold of her arm and whispered something in her ear. She got up and followed him, he still holding her arm while she glared at me all the way to the door until she disappeared from my view.