Alright..." Ariana said reluctantly. She had serious doubts that Lucius wanted to talk to her but who was she to judge. They stayed silent for a few more minutes and it was absolute torture. Ariana couldn"t stand the silence anymore. Lucius had been quietly staring at her for far too long and it was making her self conscious. With a deep breath, she calmed herself down. She looked at Lucius with a friendly smile causing Lucius to slightly flex his muscles."Can I ask you something?" Ariana asked as she closed the gap between Lucius and herself. Hoping it was the distance that was creating the awkwardly tense silence but she seriously doubted it when she saw his reaction. Lucius swallowed hard before he nodded his head yes. "Why won"t our cla.s.smates talk to me? Am I that scary or is it something else entirely? I don"t think I"m a hard person to approach but I guess I could be wrong. I"m cheerful enough right? Helpful to anyone who needs a hand, so why am I practically shunned by almost the entire cla.s.s?"
Lucius was dumbstruck. He couldn"t believe that Ariana had no clue to why no one would talk to her. He started to become more tense, the fabric of his uniform hugged his muscles threatening to make the seams burst. "You"re too beautiful..." He said quietly under his breath. Ariana felt her blood run but she did her best to keep the friendly smile on her face. However Lucius"s eyes had gone wide in horror, his mouth had gone dry and his palms became coated in a layer of sweat.
His anxiety levels were on the rise as he stared at Ariana hoping that she hadn"t heard him or at least if she did she would take the compliment. "So do you know the reason?" Ariana asked as she blinked her eyes. Lucius let out a sigh of relief then coughed to mask his relief. "You are perfection when it comes to the Academy." Lucius said proudly but his cheek started to flush with a touch of pink when he told her.
Ariana looked confused. "I"m sorry I don"t seem to understand." Ariana said as she crossed her arms over her chest. "You got perfect on your entrance exam." Lucius started. "Ya so? With the hard work I put in studying I should do well. I surprised myself with a perfect score but that"s not a reason to say I"m perfect." Ariana reb.u.t.ted.
"There"s a rumor going around that the new Academy was your project and you even funded it."
"....." Ariana refused to comment and justed settled on staring. Lucius started to feel inferior, he never heard of someone being able to plan, execute and fund a new Academy but Ariana refused to admit or deny it. So he thought he would try and push her. "An Academy is one thing, anyone can provide money even buy plans off of someone else but who comes up with lesson plans?" Lucius asked as he tapped the countertop with his index finger. "What proof do you have that I did that or am even capable of doing that?" Ariana asked in a flat tone.
"You teach an extra curricular cla.s.s!" Lucius shouted. "It"s not extra curricular cla.s.s. It"s more of a club that people asked me to do." Ariana replied indifferently. Lucius stopped tapping the countertop and glared at Ariana instead. "You are on friendly terms with the members of the board." He growled.
"Now that"s a lie! I"m pretty sure the Headmaster hates me now!" Ariana replied with a loud laugh. "I"m pretty sure anyone can go up to the board members and shake their hands. I mean they are teachers here." Ariana said with a bright smile but it infuriated Lucius further. "You kicked my a** then the teachers?!"
"I had an unfare advantage! You were obviously distracted and Pascal-I-mean-cough, Mr. Dabney was cutting me some slack so I could build up my confidence. Besides do you know who my grandmother is?! If I didn"t win and she found out I would be doing drills until I bled tears!" Ariana shouted back but Lucius looked at her with a deadpan face, his rage boiling under his skin but he refused to show anymore rage then he already had. With a deep breath he cleared his mind then looked at Ariana with complete indifference.
"There"s other rumors too. Your STEM project is highly antic.i.p.ated by the faculty, you delivered a baby, there was also the incident at the first family day, honestly we all thought you were superhuman until we all heard about the vitamin deficiencies and how it was because of your childhood environment." He wanted to see how far he could keep pushing her before she pushed back. So far it was all friendly denials but he could see it, something was very different about her.
"Now hold on! My STEM project is just in the theory stages! How in the world can the faculty antic.i.p.ate anything?! That"s not fair! Two, yes the baby thing is true but I wasn"t by myself! I was walked through it and there was another adult in the room. It was all be coincidence, it"s not like I planned to be there! Three, you all better be talking about my childhood environment before I was adopted by the Drakes! I"m not perfect I"m just really hard working!" Ariana ranted as she waved an accusing finger in the air. She then turned incredibly pale. She blew it, in her sleep deprived state she let it slip even after her family went through the trouble of making it seem like she was biologically their"s.
Lucius seemed to notice the change. He watched as she turned pale then pink with embarra.s.sment. He then thought about what she said then it hit him like lighting. She was adopted. He knew something that no one else knew. He gave her a bright smile, he pushed her and got something. "You"re more human then you seem."
Ariana rolled her eyes and crossed her arms, she looked arrogant but inside her heart she was screaming at her own stupidity. "Have you never heard of the saying to err is human, to forgive divine. All people commit sins and make mistakes. The G.o.ddess forgives them, and people are acting in a divine like way when they forgive? Well I have forgiven my mother for abandoning me and I have moved on. Just like they will forgive me for talking about our circ.u.mstances." Ariana explained.