Chapter 6

She trudged heavily into the classroom and plopped down on her seat in the corner. Her tired eyes blinked languidly, staring at the opposite wall with vacant gaze. Sanderson's face popped in front of her. Her eyes slowly shifted to him. He waved his hands in front of her. She weakly slapped his hands away and mumbled, "Leave me alone."

He frowned and scribbled, "What's wrong?"

She wearily looked at the words and muttered, "I had to write a report for my history class. Spent the whole night awake, writing that damn paper. Now leave me alone. I want to catch some sleep before class."

She thumbed her mp3 player, zoning off into her own world. Sanderson looked at her with a sigh. He folded his arms on the desk and put his head on it, rolling his eyes with boredom.

She snapped her eyes open when she felt someone pull the earphone out. Mr. Pitchiner looked down at her and smiled, "Feeling tired miss?" He toyed with her earphone in his finger and scoffed, "Though I wouldn't recommend listening to music when the class started." Students in the room looked at her and snickered. She stared coldly back at him and tugged her earphone loose from his grip. A tint of red colored her cheek despite the effort of trying to be calm. He went back to the front of the room. "I presume you are Devin Scarheart, yes?"

She meekly replied yes while putting her player into her backpack.

"Excuse me, I couldn't quite hear you."

"Yes," she seethed through her gritted teeth, and then added quietly, "that's me."

"Thank you, Miss Scarheart." His smooth velvet voice rolled off his tongue. She slightly cocked her head to the side and looked up. She scrutinized Mr. Pitchiner with an arched eyebrow. He noticed her stare and quirked a smile. She gave him a small smile while her canny gaze examined him.

He looked at the class and said, "So, today, you will know what we will discuss if you have done your homework and read the chapter," he said with a cheerful voice.

"That was so embarrassing."

Sandy laughed and poked her on the side. He swiftly wrote, Stop grumbling.

"Well, the least you could have done was to wake me up before the professor himself woke me up! But what were you doing? Oh I don't know, probably enjoying the scenery out the window and just ignore the tall dark British guy coming next to you. Such helpful friend you are."

But how can a gentleman like me disturb a princess in her sleep?

She swatted his hands and tore the paper. He chuckled at her. She grumbled, "You ain't being too much of a gentleman to call me by something I hate."

Their eyes scanned the loud cafeteria as they waited for their friends to come. From the other side, a tall bulky figure came in and caught their eyes. They waved to him and he waved back. He turned around and talked to another figure, a much older figure. Both of them came up to their table.

"Sandy! Devin! Glad to zee you! Meet my profezzor, Dr. Ombric! Well, actually, hiz name iz Ombric Shalazar, but he dozn't want people to call him by his lazt name. "

The old man in clean light blue suit with a cane and respectable hat smiled at them. His wrinkled hands grabbed Sandy's hands and shook it warmly. Sandy beamed at the warm old man. The bushy white eyebrows and white beard crinkled into graceful smile. The brilliant grey eyes sparkled beneath the eyebrows. He then took Devin's hands and shook them. She smiled somewhat hesitantly.

"It is so good to see you all! Nick is my favorite student you see. You can just say he is my son!" His cheerful and sophisticated soft voice spoke. "He can get a bit too adventurous and stubborn sometimes, but I digress. He's a wonderful and passionate young boy!"

Sandy nudged Nick with a smile. Nick slightly blushed at the compliments. Devin smiled and nodded.

"I wasn't able to catch your name the first time. This old brain is collapsing into itself again. If you don't mind, please do this old man a favor and introduce yourself."

Devin smiled warmly. "My name is Devin Scarheart. And this is Sanderson Mansnoozie. We call him Sandy for short. I'm afraid he has a bit of trouble speaking."

"Oh dear," his eyebrows wrinkled into concern, "is it serious?"

Devin traded looks with Nick and Sandy. Sandy merely shrugged and looked at Nick. Nick dry coughed and cautiously spoke, "Sandy lozt hiz voiz when he waz young. A nail impaled hiz throat. He got a surgery, but hiz vocal cord…well…they were lozt forever."

Ombric took Sandy's hand and patted them, "I'm very sorry to hear that Sandy."

Sandy shrugged nonchalantly and smiled at Ombric. Ombric softly smiled at Sandy.

"You have a very brave boy here Nick."

Nick laughed, "Sandy might be zmall, but he iz a fighter."

Ombric looked at Devin and asked, "So Devin, what are you studying?"

Devin gestured to herself and Sandy, "We both study psychology."

"Ah," he nodded in satisfied way, "Psychology, eh? That's a tricky department there, but very fascinating indeed. Who is your professor?"

"Mr. Pitchiner."

He faltered for a second and slowly nodded. "He is the new professor, yes?"

"Yes, I believe he is, unless there are any other new professors I do not know about."

Ombric gave an amused smile at her quirky attitude. He gave a shaky laughter, "No, no there isn't. I taught in this university for more than 30 years." He put his hands on his chin and muttered, "I haven't had the chance to properly speak to him. Something about him is a bit edgy…" He saw Devin's confused look and hastily put his hand down. "Do tell me, how is he in class?"

"I do not mind him," she shrugged. "The fawning girls get into my nerves now and then, but he teaches fine. How about you, Sandy?" Sandy gave a thumbs-up.

"I see," Ombric spoke thoughtfully, "Well, he is the most anticipated professor. An excellent history of achievements he has. Earning a PhD is Oxford University and joining the British Psychological Society's Social Psychology and European Association of Social Psychology and other all sorts of academic organizations, do excuse me for I am not saying that I am uninterested of him but I am not specialized in psychology after all. Anyway, he accomplished all these feats at such a young age! I believe he also wrote a report on phobias and the human behavior that was critically acclaimed by numerous scientists. I don't have enough time to read his report sadly, but if I do have time I would love to talk to him. He seems like an interesting man."

Devin nodded and smiled, "He very much seems so."

I promised I would update sooner, but life gets in the way a lot and I am just starting to write stories afterall. Enough excuses. I'm sorry, but now that I have gained my new vigor, I will try to write faster. Thank you for reading and please review to help me with my mistakes! Thanks! :D