The Hidden Princess At All-Boys Alpha Academy Chapter 162

“Cadet Clark, keeping his damn secrets,” Jackson sighs, slipping his hands into his pockets and heading again for the stairs.

“Just for now!” I call after him, smiling.

“Damn well better be for now,” Jackson says, turning to look me sternly up and down for a moment, which just deepens my smile. “Or I’ll…I don’t know, beat you up or something.”

I grin, laughing at the threat. “Oh, come on, Jacks, at least challenge yourself. We all know you could do that with your eyes closed. The secrets are worth the wait, I promise it.”

But he just growls, low in his throat, glaring at me in a way that…

God, but my stomach flips over. Does somersaults, if I’m being honest – or more accurately hurls itself of a cliff in freefall. And then my mate smirks at me, laughing as he shakes his head and makes his way down the stairs, ducking his too-tall head so he doesn’t hit it on the ceiling as he goes. The moment Jackson disappears, I slump back against my door, my knees…a little bit weaker than I’d ever want to admit.

Time passes quickly after this, faster than I’d like to see it go – because there’s just an incredible amount to do and, it seems, not enough hours to do it.

Predictably, the insane workouts that Rafe and Jesse put me through take up the majority of my time and energy. They really do press me to the edges of my abilities, and while the work is grueling I understand that there’s a great deal of love behind it. My brother and my cousin, I know, are rooting for me and are only making me fall into bed every night in a state of complete exhaustion because they want to set me up well for the Examination.

The rest of my time is spent working quite hard on Chemistry and Marksmanship, which quickly outstrip Magic class as my favorites. I don’t make the mistake of going to Alvez alone anymore, always finding a way to casually ask Rafe or Jesse to come with me, which they always oblige. Alvez, I know, sees right through me – and looks at me in a way that promises retribution which I know he will enjoy. But…well, I’ll deal with that when I have to.

None of us make any more particular progress in that class, either because we haven’t yet figured out how to work with our powers or – like Jackson – because we refuse to reveal them. Jesse and Rafe, I know, are disappointed that they haven’t manifested anything yet, especially when they see Tony’s demonstration of being able to breathe under water. We all stood around watching him lay in a bathtub for about half an hour, which really was very impressive.

I haven’t figured out how to melt anything besides a little glass marble yet but…well. Considering that Magic is a class that doesn’t have any threats of expulsion attached to it, it does fall a bit to the wayside, which I think pisses Alvez off.

Instead, the majority of my spare energy and attention goes to Chemistry over the next couple of weeks – the only class that really challenges me. Marksmanship is kind of a delight – I quickly outstrip my classmates as the Captain’s favorite, ensuring that his bet on me at the beginning of term was made in good faith. We’ve mastered the bow and the crossbow and are now moving on to revolvers, because the Captain wants to make sure we can handle every weapon we come across, not just the fancy one with powerful scopes.

But while I am clearly the Captain’s pet, Dr. Neumann…god, I don’t think he likes any of us. Or, at least the punishing way he administers his grades on our quizzes, exams, and projects suggests that we’re all horrible little toads who are deeply undeserving of his time and attention.

I groan as my test comes back about a week before the end of the term, missing about twenty points worth of credit. I put my head in my hands as I stare at my grade – because I worked so hard for this, spent hours studying. What the hell had gone wrong…