STATUE

Gideon Hall, Bealnora School of Magecraft, Londaria

He stands there, his green eyes flicking over me for a moment before he questions, “Which do you prefer?”

“Huh? What?” He asked me something, but…I was too busy gawking at how pretty he was. 

“The right or the left?”

I just continue to stare at him blankly. 

The obsidian-haired beauty raises a thin, well-defined brow. He clears his throat, then clarifies slowly, “Do you want the right or the left side of the room?” 

Oh…the room. He means the room. “Oh, the right,” I answer quickly.

He nods and silently moves to the left.

I run my hand down my face as I mentally berate myself. For fucks sake, Haru what is wrong with you?

As my new dormmate sets about emptying his trunk, I lung mine over to the right side of the room. With I heavy sigh, I drop the trunk on the worn wooden floor and it hits with a deafeningly loud bang. 

I cringe as I hear him fumble his things. Fuck. I quickly flip open my trunk and start tossing items onto my bed. 

“By the way, I’m Haruki Keen. What’s your name?” I ask conversationally.

Another book joins the others, but my new dormmate still doesn’t answer. 

Fantastic, we’re off to an excellent start.

I turn to look back at him. Maybe he didn’t hear…me…? 

My mystery dormmate is just staring at me with a look of wary suspicion and I bristle instantly. I’ve seen that look before. Usually right before some little bastard throws a rock.

“What? You never seen someone from East Asia before?” I snap defensively as I whirl back to my trunk.

“No…I have,” he counters, his voice soft and almost feminine. 

Yeah, but I bet they didn’t have marmalade-colored hair.

“Well, then I don’t know why you’re staring,” I huff as I start tossing things onto my bed with far less care. “Plenty of mages end up with unusually colored hair like mine.”

I had hoped this year would be different. Guess not. 

“You know, you still haven’t told me your name,” I point out.

“It’s Zalan Astaroth.” He says it without any pride at all. Almost as if he wishes it were anything else in the world.

Wha—?! I turn toward him just as Tegan heaves a trunk onto our dorm floor.

“Haruuu…you took my tru—” Tegan cuts off abruptly when she sees my dormmate. “Oh!”

I gesture stiffly toward him. “Tegan, this is my new dormmate Zalan Astaroth. Astaroth, this is my cousin Tegan Pritchard.”

“‘Ello…” she waves at him awkwardly before darting across the room to me. 

“You have the worst luck with dorm selection,” Tegan comments in a loud whisper as she drops down onto the bed.

“No now, Tegan,” I hiss. “What are you doing here?”

She glares at me. “Last time I checked you didn’t wear a corset,” she points out, snatching it from my hand. 

I cringe, all but shoving it back at her. “Sorry! Sorry! Here! Take it!”

Tegan looks over her shoulder as she starts to shove her belongings back into the trunk with careless abandon. “You know…your dormmate looks like death warmed over,” she comments in a hushed whisper to me.

“I think he resembles a fuckable marble statute,” I mumble under my breath.

“What?” Tegan questions in confusion.

“What?” I yelp in utter embarrassment. 

Did I just say that out loud?

I turn away and busy myself with gathering her remaining school books as heat rushes to my face.

Oh gods, this is going to be the longest term ever.

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“Statue” ExSpelled © 2024 by Kat Vancil

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