Wren couldn’t concentrate through the entirety of the morning lesson. Luckily it was only monster studies so he was able to drift off into space at the back of the class without being penalised too heavily for his lack of interest. It wasn’t like he didn’t want to pay attention, he knew how important this class was; they would be taking a trip out to a neighbouring island in a few weeks to hunt some monsters and he didn’t want to be left not knowing what to do when faced with one. But for all his efforts he just couldn’t focus.

He couldn’t get the image of what he saw at the sky docks out of his head. Anastasia wrapped up in that boys embrace.

Who was he? How did they know each other? Were they dating? What was he like? Was he strong?

He couldn’t stop the questions running through his mind. Once they started they didn’t stop and he could hardly think of anything else. He didn’t know why he was so jealous, he hardly knew Anastasia. They’d only met a week ago and it wasn’t like they were all that close. Sure she’d saved him from Chadwick’s wind slice, and sure she’d helped him out with a few tips during the testing process, but that was all because she was an instructor. It was her job to look out for him and guide him. But despite all this he couldn’t help but feel that they had some sort of connection.

It was probably a passing crush. Give it a few weeks and he would completely forget about it. He would laugh at himself for feeling the way he did now.

But that was at least a few weeks away and he couldn’t help how he was feeling now. He knew that Carlos and Liam had clocked it. He hadn’t been particularly subtle over his reaction to seeing Anastasia hug that boy, and he knew that he would receive a grilling over it later this evening. They would tell him how pathetic he was being. That it was just a hug, or that she was his instructor and he shouldn’t be feeling the way he was. They would be right of course. He was acting in a completely irrational manner. Anastasia was his instructor, only his instructor and she would never be anything more.

“Mr Spectre,” Lops called out at the front of the class, startling Wren and pulling his attention from the window. “I’ll repeat my question since you seem to be hard of hearing this morning, what is the weak point of a Tremor Worm?”

A series of chuckles and giggles rose up from the class at Lops’ words. They all knew that Wren had been flat out ignoring the class and to see him caught out provided a lot of amusement to the rest of the class. Snakes, the lot of them.

“Um, the eyes sir?” Wren answered, flustered beyond belief.

“That certainly would be a weak point Mr Spectre, but only if Tremor Worms actually had eyes.” The instructor responded. “Is anyone able to help out Mr Spectre?”

~

“Well that wasn’t embarrassing at all.” Wren said to Liam and Carlos as they made their way to the cafeteria.

“It wasn’t that bad.” Liam consoled him.

“I made up a monster body part. It’s one thing to get the wrong weak point. It’s a whole other thing to completely make one up.”

“Hey, its not that big of a deal. Lops knew you weren’t paying attention, he just wanted to teach you a lesson.” Carlos told him.

“Well consider the lesson taught.” Wren said sarcastically.

“How come you were so spaced out anyway?” Carlos asked.

“He was probably thinking about a certain white-haired instructor.” Liam teased nudging Wren with his elbow.

Wren chose not to respond. Liam didn’t know how true his joke actually was and he didn’t want to give the other two boys any more fuel to tease him with.

When they got to the cafeteria, they grabbed their trays and lined up in the queue for food. On the lunch menu were the sweet and sticky Dusk Vulture wings again, one of Wren’s all time favourites. He couldn’t wait to get his food and eat it in peace. Unfortunately the queue today was extra long, probably to do with the influx of all the second year students. He really hoped that there would be enough left by the time he got to the front of the queue.

By the time that Wren got to the front of the queue and received his food, both Carlos and Liam had gone outside and found a place to sit. They all agreed that it was better eating outside, they could enjoy the sunshine and they were away from the majority of people in the cafeteria. None of them were really social people so they were happy to sit within their little group and enjoy each other’s company.

Picking up his tray Wren turned to head towards the doors but was quickly halted in place by a wall of muscle as someone stepped back into his path. His tray went crashing into the person in front of him and was sent to the floor, creating a loud smash that drew a lot of attention their way.

“Hey, watch where you’re going!” Wren complained, looking at his spoiled food on the floor. The wings had gone everywhere and had already passed the five second rule, they were unrecoverable.

“Oh I’m so sorry about that.” The wall of muscle said.

Wren looked up and was shocked at who he saw. It was the second year from that morning, the one that had been hugging Anastasia.

“Here, take mine, I haven’t even touched it yet.” The boy said, holding out his tray of food.

“Um, thanks I guess.” Wren said reluctantly taking the food. He didn’t want to take anything from the boy, but food was food at the end of the day and he really wanted those Dusk Vulture wings.

The older boy studied him for a little while, cocking his head to the side.

“You’re Wren Spectre aren’t you?” The boy said.

Wren’s eyes widened and he took a step back. How did he know who he was?

“I am.” Wren replied slowly. “How’d you know that?”

The older boy decided to ignore his question, instead holding a hand out for a shake.

“I’m Max Pound. Nice to meet you.”