KAPPA
I explained to him that William and I made a great team. But he needed to give us time to finish the project we were working on and use them as replacement for both the midterms and the finals. He was very skeptical and reluctant, but William told him about how much he had learned about physics thanks to me.
"You can test me on any subject in front of the whole class, but it has to wait until the end." William offered.
Mr. Robinette glanced between us, suspicion in his eyes, and refused. He talked about changing partners. He even mentioned possibly pairing me up with Toby next, at his request. He was using the leverage of being his best student.
I couldn't help but widen my eyes at the prospect.
"Toby wants you!" Was all Elle could say. Gabe and Brie were glowing with a warm feeling of satisfaction and conquest. It was probably obvious that this idea pleased me.
"Would you excuse us...?" William said to Mr. Robinette, and signaled with his fingers to follow him outside. I followed behind him, throwing an apologetic smile toward our teacher.
"Look, Gabrielle," He said once we were outside the classroom. "I know how you feel about Toby and I promised to help you. If you want to take this opportunity to be around him, then we can work something out after hours..."
"Wow. That's very kind of you." I said surprised by his generosity. William's eyes narrowed.
"Don't be that surprised," He told me. "I thought at this point you knew I was one of the good guys."
I couldn't help but laugh at the phrase good guys given what he just told me.
The idea of taking more time off to be with Toby was tempting. But with the world in danger and my Nobel Prize hanging like a carrot in front of my face I decided against it.
"Priorities.." Brie said proud of me thinking logically and not with my...heart.
William was still staring at me. His mouth opening in exasperation before snapping it shut again right away. I interrupted him.
"This is not a romance novel... I'm not the type to leave my goals behind because of a man. I want Toby, but I need the Nobel. There is also the small matter of saving the world from a vampire wizard...Regardless of how good you actually are, your generosity is not needed..." I just couldn't let go of that comment.
"I will have a talk with you some other time." He pulled something from the front pocket of his jeans: a small envelope. Inside, there were a couple of tiny bottles,
"Like samples of perfume."
The liquid was all sorts of strange colors. Some looked like mercury, another one like sea water, and a few of the rest moved like they were alive.
"I already used this with him to get him to make you my partner," He said. I stared at the bottles with awe and not a little bit of trepidation.
"How did you do it?"
He simply took a red bottle and, with the tips of his fingers, took just a drop of what he needed. He rubbed it between his index finger and thumb while murmuring some words.
"You might not see it, but this potion is ultra-concentrated. It will travel from the tip of my fingers, looking for the person I'm doing the charm on. Once it reaches him, the spell will start working."
"How far away can it travel?"
"Depends on how strong I am." William shrugged. "I once managed to charm a person over fifty thousand miles away. But I was younger and full of Panacea back then."
"Panacea?" Yet another word to make a mental note of.
"I will show you one of these days...wait-" He moved his finger to his mouth. The teacher opened the door, he looked different. Happy, if I had to pick a word.
"Sorry, we were discussing if there was a way to change our plans. It doesn't seem possible," William said