"WHAT'S YOUR schedule like?" Seren asked as she cut into her meal delicately. Charlie sat across from her and Alice with their own tray of food. She had been hesitantly taking bites out of the different plates and bowls the girls recommended them to try. Nothing beat Godolkins greatest dishes.

     Charlie slowly slurped up a noodle from their bowl as they stared at Seren like a deer in headlights. She raised her hand to wipe her mouth as she spoke up, "Freshmen schedules are out?"

      Alice suddenly began coughing on her food violently as she reached for her throat, and Seren's eyes widened as she watched her best friend beside her. Her eyes watered as she struggled to get the food down, in which she had to pound her fist on her own chest while Seren snaked her arms around her waist to perform a horrible job at a Heimlich Maneuver.

      Charlie, worried by the amount of stares they were receiving by those in the dining hall, side eyed a few students as she would look between the girls and those around them.

      Alice had finally gotten the food down properly and she leaned forward, her hands gripping the edge of the table. "You're a freshman?" she whispered to Charlie. She looked at Seren. "We got roomed with a freshman."

     "Maybe it was a system error," Seren murmured, wanting to move on from the conversation as she didn't see it as a big deal, anyway. "I can ask Shetty about it later. Please swallow before you react next time." She sent Alice a look before facing Charlie again, "You should check your schedule."

     Charlie continued to chew on her food slowly as she stared at Seren in silence. She didn't know exactly how she would be able to—maybe access one of the computers in their library, or something. She didn't have a phone. Red River wasn't very keen on purchasing individual cellphones for the kids while they were there. Phones were often to come post-adoption by the parents or guardians.

     Seren shrugged it off as she pulled out her own, waving it off. "You can use mine," she offered, opening up their schools site. She held her phone out to them to take it.

      Charlie looked down at the screen and back up at Seren. They quickly grabbed a napkin to wipe their mouth before taking the phone, typing out their school log-in into the text bar. It was a little difficult due to their gloves, but they made it work. She gnawed on her lip in anticipation as she clicked the submit button, then waited for her classes to show up.

      Her eyes bulged out of her head. "Crimefighting?" they read out loud.

      "What?" Seren said as she took her phone back quickly, and she looked at Charlie's schedule. Alice leaned in to get a look at it, too. Seren scrolled through the classes. "I don't get it. Brink allowed a freshman to take his Intro class? That's, like . . . one in four million."

      "Numbers are a little off, but," Alice mumbled as she stuck her spoon between her teeth. She tapped the back of the spoon against her lips as she looked to Charlie. "Did you mean to apply to crimefighting? What's your thing?"

      "My thing?"

      "What can you do?" Alice specified. Her gaze followed down to Charlie's gloves, which she noticed had been on since they got here. "Assuming something physical."

      Charlie sheepishly slid her hands underneath the table and shrugged. "You can say that," they answered.

      Seren hummed as she observed Charlie, like she was studying her. "Oh, definitely trauma-tied," she said with a nod, earning a brief 'oh' from Charlie. "Always makes the best heroes."

      Charlie furrowed their eyebrows in confusion. "I'm sorry, what?" they said. "Are you some sort of psychic or something? Is that your thing?"

      "That would be a telepath, if anything, but no, that's not me," Seren informed her. She gathered her food and trash on her tray to throw it out, with Alice doing the same. "I'm surprised. You haven't heard about any of us when you applied to Godolkin?"

Charlie slowly set down her spoon on her tray and grabbed it by the sides. "Well, it's not like you guys were the stars of the show when I applied," she said, hinting that at the time of the application, Charlie didn't see a single mention of any of those she'd met in her time here already. Only Supe alumni, like A-Train or Queen Maeve.

Seren peered over her shoulder to look at Charlie, who had been getting up from the table to join them. Alice had noticed her sudden switch in behavior as she nudged Seren at the shoulder. Seren pursed her lips and continued to the trash cans, dumping out her food and walking out of the dining hall.

a/n: im gna flip smth around rq. trying an idea out

EVAN APPROACHED the building that read 'SCHOOL OF CRIMEFIGHTING'. He forced the door open and headed inside, making a straight route to Brink's office, but it wasn't Professor Brink he was looking for. It was his T.A.

      "You put me in performing arts?" Evan said immediately after spotting his T.A. at their desk right outside Brink's office. He walked up to the table. "I'm ranked fifth. I can't exactly be in the Top Ten unless I'm taking Brink's courses. Why did you bump me down to performing arts? What am I supposed to do with that?"

       Lucian leaned back in his seat, staring at Evan with a small smile. He shrugged. "Maybe you'll be on Dancing with the Stars. Or Love Island."

      "That's not funny," Evan told him. He took a step back and intertwined his fingers behind his neck. "FOX5 is gonna be all over this. My dad is gonna be all over this."

"You're, like, the third person who's come in to complain about their schedule," Lucian said as he leaned forward again to skim through emails on his computer. "And I'm gonna tell you the same thing I told the two other people, alright? The schedules this year were my choice. Brink let me. They're just based on—"

"Crimefighting?"

Evan looked behind him, revealing Charlie who had visited the building to talk to whoever was in charge of schedules. The two of them were surprised to see the other, as Charlie slowed her walking and tilted her head at the sight of the familiar face.

      Lucian leaned to the side in order to get a peek past Evan, and as soon as he spotted Charlie, he sat forward in his seat with another smile on his face, like he was prepared to take shots from both of them this time.

      "I didn't sign up for crimefighting. You have to take me out of it," Charlie said as they walked forward to join the spot beside Evan, who had been watching her in amusement. She looked to him. "Why are you here?"

      Evan sucked on his teeth as he adjusted his stance. "Voss assigned me to the wrong course," he answered. "He put me in fucking performing arts."

      Charlie's eyes widened slightly at his words. "I'm supposed to be taking that."

     "And I'm supposed to be taking crimefighting."

     The two looked to Evan, their expressions a mix of confusion and upset. Evan's frustration reached its peak.

"I don't care about your drama class or your dance lessons," Evan growled, grabbing Lucian by the collar and pulling him out of the chair.

The tension in the room escalated, as Evan raised his hand, the air around his fist crackling with energy. Lucian had grasped onto Evan's wrist immediately, pursing his lips as his eyes seemed to have flashed a stormish color for just a second, threatening to use his own power against him.

The doors to Brink's office suddenly swung open, and his stern gaze immediately caught the three's attention. "What on earth is going on here?" he demanded.

     Evan released Lucian, who fell back into his chair. "Voss screwed up our schedules, and this loser thinks it's a joke."

      Professor Brink sighed, a mix of annoyance and understanding. "Lucian, we've discussed this. You can't make unilateral decisions about students' schedules."

        Lucian tugged his collar into place as he scooted his chair forward, his gaze glued to his laptop. "Just trying to bring a little excitement to their lives," he murmured.

      Before Evan could retort, Charlie stepped forward, "Well, it's not exciting when it messes up our plans."

      "It was a joke," Lucian told them. "I was gonna switch it back before the first day of school. I just wanted to freak some of you guys out."

       Brink rubbed his temples. "Enough, Lucian. Fix their schedules immediately. No more unauthorized changes, please."

      Lucian sighed dramatically but complied, typing away on his computer to reset both Evan and Charlie's courses to their original selections.

      As their schedules were corrected, the tension in the room lifted. Professor Brink eyed them sternly. "Now, get back to your dorms and try to act like responsible students for once."

      Evan shot one last glare at Lucian before storming out of the office, Charlie following closely behind.

      Once they were gone, Professor Brink turned to Lucian. "One more stunt like this, and you won't be a T.A. anymore."

     Lucian's fingers tapped against his lips as he provided a hum of understanding, and Brink returned to his office, shutting the doors behind him. Lucian sat back in his seat and held onto the arms of the chair, his gaze rolling over to the glass windows that decorated the entire wall beside him, displaying the majority of the Godolkin campus.

He could spot Charlie trailing after Evan in desperation, probably about what had just happened, but Evan insisted on cooling off. A small smile played on Lucian's lips as he looked to his laptop and closed it.

"I thought Lucian Voss stays hidden," Charlie spoke up as Evan stopped right beside a Translucent statue. "According to your friend, and all."

"Yeah, he usually does," Evan confirmed, facing the girl. His hands laid on his hips as he stared at the building, and he pointed at it once. "Just in there . . . Fuck, that pissed me off."

Charlie could read the irritation radiating all over his body. She didn't need Compound V to sense that. But it all confused her—from memory, Alice said Evan was the one who didn't particularly care. "Is taking Brink's crimefighting course that important to you?" she asked him.

His eyebrows furrowed, Evan sent her a slow but silent nod like it was obvious. Charlie murmured a small 'oh' as she looked to her feet.

Evan watched her. "Look, I've gotta go find Max. You're hanging in there alright, right?" he said, to which Charlie nodded at. "Cool. Just stop by if you need anything. And don't mention this to Max, Seren, or Al, would you?"

      Charlie nodded once more. Evan's gaze scanned over her before he excused himself, leaving Charlie to stand in front of the building alone. She let out a breath as she watched him for a few moments, then looked around.

"Actually surprised you came in to whine about your schedule," Lucian's voice entered from behind her. Charlie peered over their shoulder. Lucian held his laptop to his side as he exited through the front doors. "Usually freshmen are always too scared to speak up about their schedules."

"I didn't come in to whine," Charlie corrected him.

"That's what you pulled from that?" Lucian puzzled, and the two began to walk aimlessly in the same direction. He looked down. "Lack of control or is it just fear?" he asked.

"What?"

He pointed to their gloves. "Those," he said. "Can you not control your powers? Or can you and people are just scared you can't? It's the sleep inducement, right?"

Charlie raised their eyebrows in surprise. Lack of privacy, much? "Right," they confirmed, through their teeth. "It's just precautionary . . . It's both. The control is kind of complicated."

"Red River didn't give you much help, did they?"

Her blood ran cold as she stopped walking. It was meant to be a secret, but Lucian must've had access to everyone's files or something, which was strange. If he only worked as Brink's T.A., and Brink was a crimefighting professor, then it would've been impossible for Lucian to gain that access on a performing arts student.

"Telepath," Lucian said, extending their arm out to shake Charlie's hand. He caught a few eyes from different students around them, and he grasped his bag tighter. "I knew you looked familiar," he told Charlie, retracting his hand to point to her briefly as he began walking backward. "You'll get the hang of your powers sooner or later. Don't give it a worry. Also, steer clear of those roommates of yours. And don't eat the jell-o in the dining hall! Every Tuesday!"

Charlie watched in confusion as he left her behind, and he headed down toward the library. He seemed to have taken a different path to avoid students as much as possible, and Charlie blinked a few times.

Steer clear of her roommates?

AUTHOR'S NOTE !
THAT WAS SO ASS IM SORRY I FEEL LIKE AOME OF THIS WAS SO OUT OF CHARACTER IM GNA CRY THIS IS SO BAD N I DIDNT KNKW HOW TO END IT HELP
MAKING IT UP NEXT CHAPTER !! 😝😝😭😭😭😭😝😝😝😝

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