Initiation Year 1: An Academy Reversed Harem Paranormal Why Choose College Bully Romance (Fallen Fae Academy Book 1)

by Rachel Angel

  She wasted little time with niceties and dove straight into her program.

  “If we were want to start by looking at the very smallest things that we know about on this planet… and others actually, what should we be doing?”

  “Looking through a microscope,” one student offered.

  “So we want to study protons and neutrons and electrons, right? And we also want to look at various molecules and atoms, right? And if we want to study them, what is it that we need to know about?”

  “Quantum,” Harley said.

  “So let’s see who is really prepared for this class,” the professor said. “The wave function of an electron is…” And she pointed to a boy.

  “An abstract mathematical wave.”

  “Okay, and we say that velocity equals…”

  “Distance over time.”

  She looked up at the ceiling, looking for her next question. “And if we talk about thermodynamics and waves, you’re thinking…?”

  “And we could take a look at electricity and magnetism.”

  Harley listened with interest and was surprised by how easily she understood everything. While students often raised their hands for clarification or a repetition of an explanation, Harley caught on quick.

  Fifteen minutes before the end of the class, Professor Reed went to her desk and picked up a small pile of paper. “Just to get a feel for you all,” she said as she passed the sheets of paper around to each student. “I’m going to give you a quick quiz.”

  The students whined and complained.

  “Settle down,” Professor Reed said. “While a part of this quiz will be added to your overall average grade, the main purpose of it is to allow me to know where each of you stand with regards to what we’ll be discussing here this semester. I want to know who I can ignore because they easily understand everything and don’t need my help, and I want to know which students I may need to spend more time with.”

  She returned to the head of the class and faced them. “Are we clear?”

  “Yes,” the class muttered.

  “Go ahead.”

  Harley turned the page over and read the first question. Easy, peasy, she thought. On to the second. Got that one too. The third. Hmm. A quick mental calculation, and… okay gotcha. On and on she answered the questions and was not only surprised by her understanding of the subject, but was fascinated to see where the course was going to take her over the semester. She already couldn’t wait until her next class.

  She put a bit more time into the three final questions, then put her pencil down, turned the page over and waited.

  Around her, students hunched over the page, their lips moving as they read the question or tried to figure out the answer.

  At the far end of the class, she noticed Zed and Red seated side by side. Both were frowning, both were holding their pencil to the paper, but neither pencil moved to write and answer.

  When the bell finally rung, Harley realized that they were both still on the first page of the test. Feeling sorry for them, she headed over.

  “Tough class, isn’t it?” she said, smiling and feeling confident.

  Zed sneered.

  “Maybe I could help. I think I have a knack for this stuff.”

  “Yeah,” Red said with a grimace. “Whatever.”

  They both turned and walked away, leaving Harley perplexed.

  Chapter 5

  Harley put aside the cold way Zed and Red treated her and headed to her next class hoping to see April. She needed to see a friendly face.

  Instead, she found herself in the same geology class with Cici, who clung to Kingsley, and Oak.

  Professor Ball, a small thin man with barely a few strands of hair on his head and thick glasses stood at the head of the class with a series of rocks on his desk.

  “Over the course of this class, we’ll learn a lot about what makes this planet tick,” the professor said. “But let us start with the basics.” He pointed to a girl up front. “Name me one of the three types of rock.”

  “Sedimentary,” the girl said.

  He then pointed to another. “And you.”

  “Igneous.”

  Professor Ball nodded and pointed to another student.

  “Metamorphic.”

  “Good. Good,” the professor said with one clap of his hands. “Now. What are the three major types of sedimentary rocks?” He pointed to Kingsley.

  “Organic. Chemical. Clastic.”

  “Good.” He sat a buttock on the edge of Kingsley’s desk. “And now, tell me the particularities of Chemical sedimentary rocks.”

  Kingsley shifted in his seat. “After water evaporates, it leaves behind minerals.”

  Professor Ball, surprised by Kingsley’s answer, stood. “Good enough.”

  He walked among the lined-up rows of desks and stopped beside Harley. “You want to try to list off the more common types of igneous rocks?”

  “Basalt,” she started.

  “That’s an easy one,” the professor said.

  “Gabbro.”

  “Nice.”

  “Peridotite and Nepheline.”

  “Good.”

  “And dacite.”

  The professor nodded. “There are more, but that will do.”

  “How about leaverite?” Oakley called from the back of the room.

  “I beg your pardon,” Professor Ball said.

  “Leaverite.” He smiled mischievously. “As in leave her right there.”

  The professor ignored him and turned his attention back to Harley. “And can you tell me, say, what makes peridotite?”

  Harley hesitated. “I believe it’s olivine and pyroxene. It’s also considered an ultramafic rock since it has less that forty-five percent silica.”

  “We have a winner.”

  Harley blushed as everyone in the class looked to her, including Kingsley who actually smiled.

  Seeing this, Cici shoved her elbow into his ribs, and he quickly looked away.

  The professor returned to the front of the class. “If any of this has gone over any of your heads, I strongly suggest you ask for a course change. If rudimentary understanding of geology is beyond your capacity, I strongly suggest you find something else to find interest in.”

  He snapped his fingers and pointed at the boy beside Harley. “Quickly now, basalt.”

  “Volcanic rock. Mafic extrusive.”

  “You,” the professor said, pointing to another girl. “Nepheline.”

  The girl took a deep breath and looked to the ceiling for the answer. She shrugged. “It’s also known as nephelite,” she offered.

  Disappointed, the professor looked at her. “Well, that doesn’t tell me much, now does it?”

  For the remainder of the course he shot quick questions to all the students, most of them giving adequate answers, but a few had little to say.

  By the end of the class, Harley was eager to get out. Cici hadn’t stopped staring at her since Kingsley had dared to smile at her.

  But once out of the class, the animosity grew. Teaming up with Ashley, they came up behind Harley and walked by on either side of her.

  “Bitch,” Ashley said.

  “You get Zed and Red,” Cici said. “That’s all. Leave Kingsley and Oak to us.”

  Harley stiffened and the hair at the back of her neck rose as a chill traveled down her spine.

  Chapter 6

  “So, how were your classes yesterday?” April said as she sat back on the sofa and munched on a peanut butter toast.”

  She wore the same jeans as the day before, but with a faded orange shirt with a black flower printed on it.

  “Not bad. You came in late last night. I didn’t hear you come in.” She poured a second cup of coffee and leaned against the counter.

  “Well, I wouldn’t exactly say that I came in late as much as you went to bed early. I ended up getting into an interesting conversation with a professor of history and got in around eight o’clock.”

  “Who do
you have for history?”

  “Professor Jenkins,” she nodded and took a sip of coffee. “A really knowledgeable guy.”

  “I have Professor Manning. Haven’t met him yet.”

  “I heard good things about him.”

  “Well, so far I love all of my professors, but…”

  “Those kids, right?” She kicked off her slippers, draped her legs over the arms of the sofa and leaned back further into the cushions. “They ratted on me, too. It’s like they have a scholarship radar. I don’t know. What is it about rich people that they feel the need to ridicule those who don’t have as much? I mean, the kids here did nothing to get rich. It’s all their parents.”

  “That just might be it,” Harley said.

  “What?”

  “These kids probably know that they don’t have all that much going for them other than whatever their parents can buy for them. Cici and Ashley went on and on about their Paris shopping spree, I assume to make me jealous, but really… what do I care? So they bought a bunch of stuff with mommy and daddy’s credit card and they think that makes them special.”

  Harley looked at April and laughed. “Are we bitter?”

  “No. We’re realistic,” April said.

  “But that crop top Cici had on yesterday was really cute.”

  April laughed as she popped her last bite of toast into her mouth, took a gulp of coffee and stood to grab her bag. “Well, we’re here to learn something, so I’m off.” She opened the door but stopped before heading out.

  “What’s wrong?” Harley said looking at April.

  “Those damn kids,” April said.

  Harley set her coffee cup down and joined April at the door. Her heart pounded as she looked at the message that had been scrawled on the door.

  Poor slut! Go home!

  “Well, good morning to you, too,” Harley muttered with a snicker.

  “Don’t let it get to you,” April said. “They’re just being childish.”

  “I know.” She knew it but it was still frustrating. She went back into the room. “I’m gonna finish getting ready. See you later.”

  “You sure you’re okay. I can hang around until you’re ready to go.”

  “No. Go ahead. I’m okay. It takes a bit more than that to break me.”

  “Good to hear. See you later.” April closed the door, leaving Harley alone in the small room.

  But later didn’t go much better. In her first three classes, she found notes on her desk;

  Think you’re smart. You’re just a charity case.

  Hungry skinny isn’t in. Too bad you’re too poor to eat.

  Stay in your own social cast. Ours is closed to people like you.

  By the time she headed to the cafeteria for lunch, she’d hardened herself. She even considered going back to her room to eat but steeled herself and went ahead. Hopefully she’d see April and it wouldn’t go too bad.

  Okay, she told herself as she entered the loud crowded room. I may not be welcomed here, but I have a right to be here.

  She got in line and ended up with a simple sandwich which she brought to long narrow counter that overlooked the school yard. A series of stools were empty and she made her way to them. As she walked through the crowded tables, tables of people chatting and laughing, she wanted to ignore them all and simply get through the day.

  Ultimately, she just wanted to get through her classes, get through the days to come and hopefully get through the semester.

  She unwrapped her sandwich and concentrated on the mountains outside as she ate. It was strange being in a place where she’d grown up, but still didn’t know so well.

  Her parents had brought her to Mount Charleston a few times during those excruciating hot summer days. The temperature was significantly cooler in the mountains and it was always beautiful. With her gaze, she traced a hike she’d once done with her father and noticed a strange spark in the trees.

  The sun was bright, almost blinding, and she shrugged off the strange spark.

  This isn’t so bad, she thought as she continued to gaze outside. At least it was a better view than from her room.

  “Watch out, bitch.”

  Harley heard the words but had no time to react.

  Ashley passed behind her and ‘accidentally’ dropped her plate of spaghetti down her back.

  The hot stickiness clung to her shirt and a few strands of spaghetti were draped over her shoulder. There was a moment of disbelief, then a moment of ‘what do I do now, followed by a simmering rage.

  Calmly, despite the tornado spinning inside her, Harley wrapped the remainder of her sandwich and stood up. Despite her best intentions, she knew that getting through to the end of the semester was going to be near impossible.

  Saying nothing as Ashley snickered and Cici, only a few steps behind her, laughed, Harley silently walked out of the cafeteria and returned to her room to change.

  “Hey,” she said as she entered the room and found April there. “What are you doing here? Why didn’t you have lunch at the cafeteria? Meals are included in our full ride, you know.”

  April grinned as she spooned in soup from a can. “I know. I guess I’m doing the same thing as you. Hiding out from the upturned noses.” She looked at Harley and her soiled clothes. “And judging by the odd colors that now adorn your shirt, I’d say I made the right decision. What the hell happened to you?”

  Harley spun around to give her the full picture. “Let’s just say that someone had her upturned nose turned up a little too much.”

  April laughed. “Shit. Seriously?”

  “What can you do?” Harley said as she pulled off her stained blue t-shirt and pulled on a clean white one. “I also had a series of interesting notes in every class I went.”

  “Yeah, I got a few of those, too.”

  “Really? Like you’re too poor…” Harley offered as she rinsed her shirt off in the kitchen sink.

  “Too thin.” April shot back.

  “Charity case.”

  “Yep.” April said. “We should collect them all and do something with them.”

  “Like what?” Harley wrung out her shirt and hung it on the back of a stool.

  “Don’t know. I’ll think of something. Maybe print them on a t-shirt. You know, that way when someone says something stupid to you, you point to the shirt and say, ‘I know. Go figure. I’m a charity case and they let me in anyway.’” April winked at Harley and grinned.

  “You’re too much,” Harley said with a giggle.

  “You know thing is, you can’t let that crap get to you. I mean, you know you deserve to be here, right?”

  “Yeah, I guess.”

  “Not ‘I guess.’ Yes! I’m talented! And I belong here!”

  Harley laughed. “Were you on the pep squad at school, or what?”

  April chuckled as she scraped the bottom of her tin with her spoon and ate the last bite then got up to toss the can in the sink. She wiped her hands on her shirt, smearing it with traces of the soup. “Oops,” she said with mock surprise. “Well, that ought to give them something to talk about.”

  Harley smiled and shook her head in disbelief.

  “I’ll be back to rinse that can out later. I gotta go. But don’t forget… you belong here.”

  Harley laughed. “Sure. I won’t. Catch you later.”

  April left and Harley let out a satisfied sigh. Her little chat with her had revitalized her. Yeah, she wasn’t going to let a bit of bullying get to her.

  She pulled on a fresh white shirt and grabbed what was left of her sandwich. Grabbing a stool, she brought it to the side of the window, just at the foot of her bed, and sat down. Looking out the large window she ate the rest of her sandwich in peace. Perhaps it was a better idea to just have lunch in her room from now on. Or would that be giving into Cici and Ashley’s ploy?

  Clapping the crumbs off her hands as she finished chewing on the last of her sandwich, she opened the window and poked her head out to get a better view of the mount
ains. Snow already lined the higher peaks, while on the ground it was still comfortably warm.

  But then the view of the mountain flickered in an odd way. Harley shook her head, looked to the nearby Arts Building then back at the mountains. Again, it flickered the way her father’s old television would.

  She looked to the sky, wondering if there was an electric storm coming their way. The sky was clear and bright blue.

  Was it her eyes? She turned to look in her room and all seemed normal, but when she looked outside again, the same flickering occurred again.

  “What the hell…?”

  She gazed back at the mountain.

  “Holy shit!” she cried out as she jumped back inside her room, almost tripping over the stool. No. Wait. That can’t be.

  She poked her head out again and looked at the forest of maples and aspens, their leaves fluttering in the breeze. Butterflies fluttered amidst an explosion of colorful flowers.

  Her heart pounded. What was going on?

  The mountains were gone, and where the large Arts Building had stood was now a small white cabin with pretty blue shutters and flower boxes bursting with blooms. The small arched door was flanked by two flowering bushes and the stone path that led to the door was lined with purple flowering ground cover.

  Then she spotted something grazing on the lawn surrounding the cabin. She shook her head and went back in her room. She hurried to her door and walked out of the dormitory.

  Even the air smelled different. The crisp scent of the maples replaced the cool sensations of the mountain air. She walked around the building to look at the Art Building again… and there it was; a small white cabin surrounded by unicorns who lazily looked at her as they chewed on the grass.

  Unicorns. What sort of dream had she fallen into?

  But it wasn’t a dream. She smelled the air, she felt the ground under her feet and as she walked up to the mythical beast and patted his neck, she felt the softness of his fur.

  Huge butterflies of every color fluttered around her and at the edge of the forest a small band of hares sat nibbling plants.