Xerin's POV

I scribbled notes ferociously during Professor Vantas’s class. I was still hung over from the night before, and people kept teasing me about my very low alcohol tolerance, so I was determined to show them that I could still function perfectly well. However, my brief bout of studiousness was obviously never meant to be. While the Professor was demonstrating an extremely tricky rune, a chambered nautilus randomly appeared in the middle of the classroom. He quickly abandoned all attempts at teaching in order to chase the suspiciously speedy nautilus, which promptly zoomed out the door. Naturally, Professor Vantas followed it. His screams of “Ffffuck you, suspiciously tentacled snail!” slowly faded in the distance, leaving nothing but an echoing silence in the classroom.
A silence which was quickly broken by Amber’s uncontrollable laughter.
“Ssssuspiciously... HAHAHAtentacled.... SNAIL!!!” Almost everyone else started laughing as well, with the obvious exceptions of Set, Gareth and Lisse, and the surprising exception of Larimar. I frowned. I quite dislike it when my friends are unhappy, and I considered almost all of these people, however tentatively, friends. Chewing on the tip of my pencil, I considered what to write. A sudden flash of inspiration led to a neatly, albeit quickly written note (for I never let my handwriting fall beneath a certain standard, no matter how quickly I write) deftly folded into a paper airplane and tossed towards Larimar. Luckily, my aim wasn’t too far off, and she caught it, a small smile hovering around the corners of her mouth when she unfolded it and read my message. She mouthed ‘Thank you’ across the room, and I winked in reply. Then, mischievously, she gestured towards Briar. My eyes widened. Did she really just- I shook my head violently, trying to rid it of bad thoughts (and hoping my hair would hide my face, which I’m fairly certain was the color of a beet at that point). ‘Bad Xerin. Don’t even go there. You cannot think like that about Briar. He’s a contrary, prickly Irish idiot so stop that’.
It didn’t work, but I’d like to think it did.
At least I tried.