Sophie walked through the hallways with Fitz for what seemed like forever until they finally reached the astronomy classroom. The Level 6 astronomy teacher was new this year; his name was Sir Farrius and he was a rather young-looking man, despite having a wispy beard and spectacles, from what Sophie had seen when she glimpsed at him at the teachers' ceremony in the morning.

Sophie walked awkwardly beside Fitz, saying nothing and looking straight ahead. There was a strange silence that had never happened between them before, and Sophie couldn't think of anything to say to fill it. It was a relief to finally be inside the classroom and meet the teacher, which was occurring now.

Sir Farrius had a strange, thin, voice, similar to the wispiness of his beard. "Good morning, Sophie Foster. And good morning to you too, Fitzroy Vacker. I'm so delighted to have you in my class. I see from my records that you, Fitzroy Vacker, have failed this class once before." Fitz blushed and shifted uncomfortably next to Sophie. Sir Farrius continued, "I'm sure that you will work harder in this class than you did last year. Fail a class two years in a row will result in being expelled from Elite classes, as well as certain ability sessions. I do hope that that won't be the end result for you." Sir Farrius smiled at Fitz, though it wasn't as warm as Sophie would have thought.

Sir Farrius turned to Sophie, "And as for you, Sophie, I hear that you are 'amazing' at this class. I heard that you have a photographic memory and it helps you in the Universe. I see lots of potential in you and I truly expect good things from you."

This guy was seriously way too polite. What was with the long speeches? And the formality? And how did he know all of this about them?

As more students started pouring in, Sophie noticed that Sir Farrius was ignoring and barely greeting them, which was odd and quite the opposite of what his reaction was to Sophie and Fitz. Sophie concluded that the teacher had researched up on them two, though she wasn't exactly sure why. Maybe it was the "power and potential" thing that the Council told them about.

As soon as the late bell rang, Sir Farrius slammed the door, shutting up everyone who had been chattering and saying hello to their friends.

"Good morning, class. I am Sir Farrius, as you should know from your schedules. Hopefully, you met me at the morning assembly today, though it may not have been in person. If you have taken a seat, please stand up now. I have assigned seats for everyone. There will be no arguing with my assignations. You have what you have and too bad." He picked up a list from his desk and cleared his throat.

Wasn't 'assignation' the wrong word? Sophie was pretty sure it meant when lovers meet in secret, though she could be wrong. She decided not to say anything.

The room was arranged in pairs. Two desks were stuck together and there were many various pairs around the room in crooked rows. Sir Farrius said, clearing his throat,

"You will sit in pairs of two so that you will always have a partner. If your partner is absent, I will be your replacement partner and trust me, you won't have fun. So I advise you to come to school every day. Also, these are all boy-girl partnerships." Sophie heard various groans around the whole room.

"There are twenty-one students, so we might as well start this off now and get it over with. Oh, and there are no arguments. Your seat is yours and you will not be moved until the end of the term. Over here, we have Jensi Babblos and Marella Redek are partners at Table One." Jensi and Marella walked over to their table, not saying anything. Sophie didn't miss Marella's eye roll though. Jensi, however, was grinning widely at his partner. 

"Table Two. We have Valin Harvey and Dina Hart." So that was Dina. Sophie took in her appearance: red hair, blue eyes, slim figure. Sophie could sort of see what Dex saw in her but she wasn't what Sophie would have picked out of a crowd for Dex.

Sophie stopped listening after Table Two. She didn't hear her name, so she tuned everyone out, until she heard "Stina Heks and Fitzroy Vacker." She looked up, sure she had heard Sir Farrius wrong. She almost felt bad for Fitz. He looked at his list when Stina didn't show up. "Wait, is there no Stina in this class?"

A girl with blond hair and braces who Sophie knew as Cara raised her hand. "Sir, she transferred out after she stole your list and found out who her partner was going to be. Apparently, Fitz did something to her and her family."

"Thank you, Cara."

"You're welcome, Sir Farrius," she said, smiling widely.

"Very well, since there is now an even number of students, we must make do with Sophie Foster and Fitzroy Vacker at Table Eighteen." Sir Farrius looked at Sophie. "Unless you can't control yourselves."

That sounded wrong... Sophie blushed and tried to say something but couldn't.

"Sir, we aren't dating. Not anymore," Fitz jumped in before Sophie could argue.

Wow. That was nice. He said it so firmly like it was final and there wasn't anything that Sophie or anyone else could do about it. Sophie tried not to think about it and what it meant. Sir Farrius waited as Sophie slowly made her way to Fitz's and her desk.

After everybody had found their seats and partners, class was officially started. "Ok, we are going to start with an assessment test to see where each of you stand in this class. You may work as partners on the last question only, seeing as that is the hardest. You all know who your partners are so this shouldn't be an issue." He handed out a seventeen-page packet to the class. SEVENTEEN PAGES.

Sophie sighed as she wrote her name and the date. She got started.

It was relatively easy. She had to name stars and find stars and map stars. She also had to explain how the stars worked in the Universe, which was easy. The last question was also easy; it definitely wasn't as hard as Sir Farrius had made it out to be. It was about naming the Forbidden Stars, which Sophie had a lot of experience about. She was confused as to why Sir Farrius wanted the kids to know since they were supposed to be secret but she guessed it was to educate students.

She was about to turn in her test (she was first) when she felt a tap on her arm. She turned and saw a pencil tapping her.

Fitz looked confused. "I don't get problem 83."

"That's not the last problem. The last problem is 100. So I can't help you," Sophie said coldly. She was still stiff about what he had said about them being a has-been earlier.

"Soph, we're friends. You have to help me. You heard what Sir Farrius said about failing a class twice. I'm in a lot of trouble right now."

"Yeah, and so am I. It's mostly caused by someone sitting next to me," Sophie said.

"Look, I'm sorry, okay? I didn't mean to hurt you. If only you would listen to me sometimes and stop jumping to conclusions. I have a perfectly logical explanation. You just don't care to listen to it."

"Um, when have you ever tried to talk to me about anything during the past three weeks? You have literally been ignoring me like I have the Plague or something," Sophie said. When she saw Fitz's blank look, she said,

"The Plague is a human disease that killed tons of people. It was highly contagious." Sophie shook her head. "Why am I telling you this? You suck, okay?" She winced at the words. They were so blunt and not like her.

"Look, we're stuck together at the same table for the rest of the year, so you might as well talk to me. We're friends. Think about what we've been through together."

"Yeah, think about it. We've been through so many bad things. Not good, Fitz."

"That's not my fault."

"Not your fault?" Sophie's voice was becoming louder and louder.

"No! Can we talk about this later? Just help me with problem 83!"

"SHHH!" Sir Farrius warned. "Not another peep from Table Eighteen if they can't help each other."

"Now see what you did! Look, I know you don't like me and I know I was stupid to ever think I did, okay? All you do is go around and break girls' hearts and it just isn't cool anymore!" Sophie said.

"Is that seriously what you think of me? You think that I, Fitzroy Avery Vacker, am a freaking player?" Fitz said angrily.

Sir Farrius stood up before Sophie could respond. "That's it! Both of you have lunch detention for the next week!" Sophie flipped Fitz off and gave her test to Sir Farrius, who grabbed it stiffly and glared at Sophie.

Sophie walked back to her desk and hissed, "All you do is break girls' hearts and ruin peoples' lives and give people detention! Okay? Also, problem 83 is something you should know. We learned it during Second Year! Lastly, I cannot believe that I was ever a part of the stupid band of girls who love you and only end up getting hurt because of your selfishness. This," Sophie gestured between her and Fitz, "could never work! You wanna know why? Because you're a jerk who only cares about yourself and all you do is try to make things better for you. And I would never marry someone like that. I gave you so many chances to improve, I gave you so many opportunities. But you never changed. And you never will." At that, Sophie stood up, timing it just correctly so that the bell rang right as she grabbed her stuff.

The rest of the class was in awe and they dropped their pencils on their half-finished tests as they mumbled and talked amongst themselves. Sophie knew this would be all around the school within the next ten minutes, but she didn't care. The school, especially the Fitz Fangirls, which had become a new club recently, needed to know that Fitz Vacker was a player, a jerk, and an awful friend and that they shouldn't be so hung up on him anymore.

Sophie felt so much anger that she didn't even think to cry or feel any other emotion. When she caught up with Biana, who was walking to Elementalism, which she had with Sophie, she only greeted her. Biana looked at Sophie funny but said nothing, dropping the subject.

Sophie sat through her next two classes like a robot, not really acknowledging what was going on around her. Finally, it was time for lunch. That was both good and bad. Her friends were sure to have heard what had happened during first period by now, and that would be awkward. On the other hand, they were still her friends and at least some of them would side with her and hopefully ice Fitz out from their conversations and their lunch table. She wasn't sure who, but she hoped against hope that someone would care.