"Vale Rowan – passed."
Raine's name flickered on the large electrical device hanging on the wall and showing every student's results to everyone in the dining hall, and for a full second, she didn't believe it. She blinked her widened eyes , her hands covering her mouth.
"Holy shit," she whispered, her chest still tight with the kind of anxiety that claws under your ribs and nests there. "I actually passed."
"Correction," Selena said, sidling up beside her and nudging her tray forward. "I helped you pass. You owe me a lot now. What the hell do you mean you wrote nothing on your script? I honestly thought Rowan was gonna be one hell of a smart boy, but I have never been more disappointed. I had to put something down there for you."
Raine huffed a laugh with teary eyes. "How the hell did you know I wrote nothing? Thank you so much."
Selena just grinned. "I helped Camilla to mark our test."
"Thanks to the moon it wasn't those Alphas that marked. I already packed my bags."
Selena scoffed.
"You expect the all-powerful Alphas to mark your script? Tell me a better joke! They were only in class yesterday because they needed to oversee the first lecture and at least show their face. You'd probably never see them again for the rest of the semester except during training."
"I hope to not see them either," Raine grinned.
The line in the cafeteria crawled forward. She watched hungrily at the little portions of food given to everyone.
She could smell burnt protein paste and something that may have once been beans, but had long since given up on that identity. Raine didn't care. She could've eaten a shoe and still called it a victory meal. She was too happy to care about food.
Because she was still here. Still in this academy, no matter how unqualified she was.
Kyle, the girl behind her, wasn't so lucky. She was weeping heavily, meaning she failed, and 'Expelled' was the Academy's polite way of saying 'you were useless to us, so kindly get the fuck out before you embarrass the rest of us.'
And honestly, that was the best-case scenario. If you flunked the trial entrance exam, you didn't get a ride home. You got body-bagged and burnt. That is, if they even found your body.
Raine took her tray—some sort of grey paste with a side of… mush?
It resembled overcooked porridge, mushy peas, served in prisons or old boarding schools.
She squinted her nose.
"Don't worry, the meals get better. Wasn't it better than that of yesterday? This school gives you exactly what you deserve, so the more we level up, the more we are treated like humans."
Raine sighed. Someone like her was only privileged to attend such a prestigious college.
"It should get better. I'm not sure I will survive this kind of breakfast," she said, and Selena gave part of her food up for her. She scooped two spoonfuls to her plate.
"You don't have to, Selena."
"Don't worry. I don't like eating much in the morning, and besides, men eat more than women, so you can have mine."
"Yeah right," Raine blinked, avoiding her gaze.
Having someone like Selena by her side almost made her teary. Friendship was something she had never witnessed in her life, and this was the first time someone that's not her mother was being considerate to her.
At that moment, she felt like opening up to Selena and telling her the truth just to keep their friendship, but then… it was too early to know if she was really by her side.
The worst impact of her father's betrayal was breaking her trust, and she wasn't ready to trust anyone that easily again.
She used her inhaler twice before she was able to eat.
"You have asthma?"
"Yeah."
"Fancy seeing a boy with asthma. Have you had it since you were young? Or it just suddenly started?"
"I grew up like this. It was worse when I was born. I'd only survive on oxygen for months."
Selena paused, mid-bite, her eyes lifting slowly. "Wait. You mean, like… NICU tubes and machines and all that? Ughh, it's good to have rich parents. My parents wouldn't have been able to afford that. Lucky you, being born with a silver spoon."
Raine nodded, scooping up a pathetic amount of grey paste and pretending it wasn't sliding like sludge. "Not really. Well, Mom said the doctors told her not to get attached to me. I was a goner."
"Damn," Selena murmured, her voice lower now, a little more serious. "Guess you've been defying death since day one."
"But that doesn't work here," Raine said. "Do you know if they sell inhalers at the school clinic? It will soon be a year since I started using this one, and I'm scared it would get expired soon."
Selena leaned forward. "I'm not exactly sure about that. You can check that out, but we can sneak out and get one. My mate has a hospital, and I can ask him."
"You have a mate?"
"Practically every she-wolf does. Don't mind Ellie and the rest of them. They all have their mates. I mean, they are all eighteen—they probably want someone more powerful. Those gold motherfucking diggers. What does your mate look like? I guess she must be so insecure having such a pretty boy as a mate."
"I don't have a mate."
"Well, that's not a problem for he-wolves. You are still eighteen, right?"
"Yeah."
"Your mate is probably still a minor. Give it like two years or four, you will definitely see yours."
Raine nodded, dropping her spoon and packing both her plate and that of Selena.
"I wish we were roommates," the words slipped out of her mouth.
"Are you a pervert? Boys and girls don't stay together."
"No no. I meant that having a nice person like you as my roommate would be great. That monster man in my room is still not trying to get along."
"Who's your roommate?"
"Killian," Raine said, pointing at him at the far end of the dining room. He was sitting alone, his food barely touched.
"Ohhh, I see," Selena nodded like she understood.
A low siren groaned somewhere in the building, followed by a hiss of the overhead speaker system kicking on.
"All first-years," a cold female voice rang out, robotic and entirely devoid of emotion. "Report to the first gym room for your training. You have five minutes. Come a minute late and you have yourself to blame."
Selena groaned. "I swear, these people don't believe in digestion."
Raine pushed their stacked plates away.
They both stood, grabbing their bags.
Raine's fingers trembled a bit as she adjusted her vest and used her inhaler again. Whether it was nerves or the cold, she wasn't sure. Probably both—but her lungs already ached a little, the weight of panic tightening her chest.
Selena noticed. "You got your inhaler. Don't worry, you will be fine. You're a man after all."
Raine patted her chest. "Yeah. I guess so."
"Good. Keep it close. Some of those instructors don't give a damn. Just pray you don't get—"
"I'm not worried about anyone."
"They really don't care about your father's past influence. You saw how it was yesterday for you. As if they were all picking on you deliberately. I really felt for you. Getting that noticed on your first day doesn't sound ideal for me."
"Well, I've spent years hiding. I guess I can't deal with being hidden anymore. They should notice, for all I care."
"I like how stubborn and strong-headed you sound. I thought by now you should have asked for my number."
Raine raised her brows. She didn't have a phone and had never had one. She never even had the idea that cell phones were allowed.
"Well, I didn't come to the school with my phone," she lied. Feeling pathetic was what she didn't want in her life anymore, so it's best that way. Who would even believe that an eighteen-year-old never even had a phone—not even once?
"They would have confiscated it if you did come with a phone. The school provides phones to everyone during the orientation, but you were busy getting your uniform and probably didn't bother to return to class for orientation."
"They do?" Raine asked, holding on to every degree of self-control she could gather so as not to jump up in excitement there.
"I guess your roommate is really an asshole. He was given your own to give to you."
"He didn't give anything to me."
"Oh shit! We are going to be late."
Selena hurried up, almost sprinting down the corridor, but Raine took her time. She wanted now to be noticed. Her past eighteen years were lonely, and being alone felt horrible.
Now she's going to start living like the main character in Apex Academy.