"Hello, Violet."
Violet’s head snapped toward the source, her brows raised in stunned disbelief. Was Alaric Storm, the infamous, aloof lightning prince, talking to her? For a moment she sat still, as if unable to believe it.
Then, in an exaggerated move, Violet turned her head to the left, then the right, pretending to check if he was addressing someone else. Her movements intentional, the sarcasm practically dripping from her expression.
Alaric, unimpressed by her theatrics, leaned slightly forward and said dryly, "You do know you’re the only one named Violet in this class, right?"
Violet’s lips curled into a taunting smile, her golden eyes sparkling with mischief. "Oh, look. The icy prince is finally talking to me. Should I be honored?"
Alaric sighed, clearly regretting his decision to engage. "You’re really being dramatic right now."
But Violet wasn’t about to let it go. If anything, his exasperation showed she was spurred on.
Her voice dripped with faux sweetness. "And hey, he’s all nice today, unlike yesterday when he took credit for all the work I did. How charming."
Alaric’s jaw tightened, his patience visibly thinning. "Alright, enough!" he snapped, reaching out instinctively and grabbing her hand.
The room seemed to still for a second as he realized what he’d done. Alaric let go abruptly but he calmed almost immediately when his gloved hand came into view. The black leather remained firmly in place, meaning he was protected. Or rather, she.
Violet noticed the move, her sharp gaze catching the way his gloved hand twitched slightly before he let it rest on his lap. She said nothing, but the glint in her eye spoke volumes. It seems the icy prince was afraid of his own touch. Perhaps, he couldn’t control it after all.
Satisfied with her silent observation, Violet turned back to the board, pretending to focus on the teacher who had just begun writing the day’s topic with her electronic pen.
But Alaric wasn’t done. His voice softened, almost as if he were trying to disarm her. "I know we started off on the wrong foot, but I want to make things right."
Violet blinked in surprise, thrown off by his sudden change in demeanor. Before she could respond, he stretched out his hand, the black leather glove stark against the color of his pale skin.
"My name is Alaric Storm," he said formally, his blue eyes locked onto hers. "And you are?"
The sincerity in his voice caught her off guard, and for a moment, she wondered what game he was playing.
The lightning prince doesn’t make small talk, let alone with humans, she thought warily.
Her instincts screamed trap.But Violet had learned long ago to play the game when necessary. After all, the best way to deal with an enemy was to keep them close.
"Violet Purple," she said smoothly, reaching out to shake his hand. The moment their hands met, however, a faint crackle of electricity sparked between them.
She gasped softly, pulling her hand back as if burned. Alaric, too, seemed startled, his gaze darting down to his gloves. His brows furrowed in deep scrutiny at once, as if questioning whether the gloves failed him.
Violet rubbed her hand against her leg, masking her unease with a smirk. "Well, Alaric Storm, that was... shocking," she quipped, turning back to the board.
Alaric didn’t reply, his attention still fixed on his gloved hand. Whatever had just happened, it left him as unsettled as it had her.
"Today, we will dive into the concept of limits and their application in understanding derivatives." the teacher, Mrs. Anita had begun her lessons already, underlining the word "Limits" on the board with her electronic pen.
She then displayed a curve on the board. It was a smooth, parabolic graph with two labeled points, A and B, connected by a secant line.
"This," she said, tapping the graph, "represents the position of an object over time. Imagine that point A represents a specific moment, and point B represents another moment close to it. The slope of this secant line gives us the average rate of change between the two points. Does everyone follow?"
Violet was not perfect at Calculus but she was not bad either, hence she needed to concentrate on the lessons. However, it was at that moment that Alaric Storm decided he needed to start a conversation with her.
"I heard that you moaned Asher’s name in your sleep today."
Violet stiffened at once. Of all the questions he could have asked, he had to bring that one up. But of course, that was the reason he decided to talk to her. Alaric Storm was fishing for information. It seems even after that dreadful encounter with him and Griffin, he still doesn’t believe her.
Violet turned with a saccharine smile, "Why? Are you jealous I didn’t moan your name instead?" She added, "Don’t worry, I might say yours one day if you would be a good boy and stop bothering me."
He shook his head. "You are shameless."
"Yep, that’s me. " Violet owned it proudly. He already had an opinion of her, arguing with him was useless.
" I just want to know if that’s true? Have you been dreaming about him? What’s truly the nature of your relationship with you? Was it just an ordinary dream or did he compel you to dream or a product of your own imagination?" He peppered her with questions.
"Alright dude, back off. " Violet was annoyed as hell when he had leaned into her personal space.
Not to mention the lessons were on going. This was really not the time nor place for it. Who knew how many of her gossiping classmates were eavesdropping on their conversation right now.
"Miss Violet," The teacher called her name suddenly, and her head snapped up.
"Y-yes?" she stammered, her cheeks burning as the entire class turned to look at her.
"Since you know so much that you are talking while I’m talking, why don’t you tell us the derivative of \( f(x) = 3x^3 + 2x^2 - x + 5 \) at \( x = 2 \)?"
Oh great.