"Attention students, we will have our first class today. Please report to your assigned classroom in 5 minutes," The speaker in Aelin's dorm room blared.

Aelin groaned into her pillow. Wait! 5 minutes! Aelin's eyelids burst open as she leaped from her bed. She looked around for Lysandra and couldn't find her. Aelin, feeling suspicious thought that she already left without telling her.

Aelin burst into her classroom slamming the door against the wall. The whole class seemed to settle down except her. Luckily, the teacher hadn't come yet. She quickly sat down next to this boy with dark hair. He seemed to be reading something. Aelin peered over his shoulder and smiled. He was reading the, "A Court of Thorns and Roses" series. He seemed to be reading the second book.

Aelin, feeling a bit evil whispered in the boy's ear, "Rhysand and Feyre are mates."

At that, the boy's head snapped up, "WHAT! I-how-but. Do you ship them?"

So, he talked like a fanboy, "No duh! Rhysand is awesome! And Feyre's so brave and selfless. They're a match made by the cauldron!"

The boy smiled, "My name is Dorian Havilliard. What's yours?"

"Aelin Ashryver Galathynius."

Dorian looked like he was going to say something but just then, the teacher came in. He was wearing shorts and a tank top, despite the fact that it was winter.

"Alright class, I want you all to get into a circle and bring your chairs."

We all obliged.

The teacher looked very pleased with us as he said, "you will all get a long piece of string, and you must wind it around your finger once, for every sentence. Tell us about yourself. Once you run out of string. You are done. He handed us all a piece of string, about half a foot long and the first person began and said, "Um... well, my name is Chaol Westfall. I like reading. I scowl a lot. My girlfriend's name is Nesryn. And my best friend is Dorian."

The next person, a goth-like girl with white hair and burnt gold eyes said, "My name is Manon Blackbeak, heir of the 'Blackbeak clan industries.' I hate school. I don't care about you all. My boyfriend is Dorian and he's a pain."

The next one, looked like a stereotypical mean girl, "My name is Kaitlin. My boyfriend is Dorian..." Aelin could see Dorian rolling his eyes. So she was the clingy type.

Aelin just realized that Lysandra was in her class as she got up and said,

"My name is Lysandra. I have a niece named Evangeline, who is like my own daughter. And I've already made a great friend." She gave me a pointed smile and I returned it.

"Sorry, I'm late!" Aedion rushed in.

Aedion was in my class?! Oh boy.

"That's alright Mr. Ashryver, please bring a chair into the circle and tell us about yourself," The teacher calmly replied. Aedion went and babbled stuff Aelin already knew.

Aelin went next, "My name is Aelin Ashryver Galathynius. My cousin is Aedion and he wears girl lipstick to make him look 'hot'. I love chocolate. Don't mess with me or I will destroy you."

She got some strange looks, but Aelin didn't really care.

Some other, random people went but it was rather boring and classic.

The last one to go really caught Aelin's appeal. He had long, silver hair and pine-green eyes. He was rather handsome. "My name is Rowan Whitethorn. I love eating meat on a stick. My favorite color is green. And all of you can burn in hell for all I care."

Well, geez. A little harsh. Aelin thought that he was hiding many things. He didn't seem basic and boring. He seemed mysterious. His eyes looked almost dead-emotionless. What had made him so "dead?"

"Alright, now that we've all met each other before the competition starts, let's learn about each other's backgrounds and origins. Part of the competition will be partnered and it's important to know your partner inside out. You must build a sense of trust. Is that understood?"

They all nodded and he continued, "I'll be partnering you up:

Nesryn Faliq and Chaol Westfall

Dorian Havilliard and Manon Blackbeak

Aedion Ashryver and Lysandra (no clue what the last name is)

Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah

And finally, Aelin Ashryver Galathynius and Rowan Whitethorn!

Aelin was partners with that rude, arrogant guy! How would she ever get along with him? Nevertheless, trust him!

"Your assignment will be to write an essay on their personality and their story. This will be your only not-athletic assignment and will not count as a grade. This will be your only period to work in class, the rest you must do in your own time. It's due in two weeks so get to it!"

The class quickly dispatched into partners and Aelin looked around to find her silver-haired partner looking expectantly at her from his desk. Almost saying, well, come over here! Aelin stayed put seeming to say, I'm not coming over there, you're coming over here! Rowan rolled his eyes like she was not worth bickering to and strode his way over and snatched a chair next to him.

Since Rowan seemed like a stubborn guy, Aelin made the first move, "First question, why do you have all those tattoos?"

"It seemed cool," Rowan dismissed, but Aelin could tell that there was more.

"Next question, do you play any sports?"

"Yeah, I play baseball, soccer, football, and rugby."

He still wasn't saying much and Aelin knew that there was much more to his story.

"What was the highlight of your day?"

"Well, I beat up some bullies that were making fun of this nerd."

Rowan was confusing Aelin. He seemed careless but he defended those that couldn't. Aelin didn't really care about the assignment but she found Rowan intriguing.

She wanted a real story, so she asked, "do you have a girlfriend? What was your childhood like?"

Aelin knew she hit something when he snapped, "That's none of your business."

Alright, he had a dark side. Aelin really wanted to know more about him. He seemed careless and rude, but Aelin could see that under that mask.

"Meet me at this location right after class tomorrow," Rowan surprisingly handed her a post-it. Didn't he want nothing to do with Aelin?

She could already tell that Rowan would cause her a whole lot of trouble. And chaos. And he would drive her crazy. But she was so ready for it.

The bell rung and Aelin wanted to stride after Rowan but she could see that Aedion was walking towards her, and if she walked away from him she would owe him an explanation. So she followed the latter, though her mind was on a certain green-eyed boy.

Author's note: Don't worry. You'll see our characters come together. I love them all so much! I liked Kaltain in Queen of Shadows, but someone has to play the mean character. Review! All suggestions are welcome!