Chapter 43: Alone

"I'm impressed with all of you," Instructor Victoria said after a while, making them collectively sigh in relief. "But..."

'Ah, the but,' Kyle curled his lips after hearing her.

Instructor Victoria continued. "... I'm only impressed because of your perseverance and dedication, not the results. I don't get how drawing a simple symbol could be difficult for you.

So, from now onwards till you've mastered it, we'll practice drawing Runes, soon it'll be so easy for you that you can do it like me."

She took less than 30 seconds to draw the four basic runes(fire, air, earth, water), taking her time in showing them the way she handled the marker.

Kyle looked in awe at the sight of her artistic skill, feeling motivated to achieve such heights.

'I must conquer this,' he calmly decided within him.

"Lora dear, practice on your speed and accuracy in drawing the Fire rune before you can move on to the next, okay?" Instructor Victoria said after drawing the runes.

Lora nodded sheepishly.

Instructor Victoria turned to face the rest of the class. "Now, get to work!"

Kyle nodded along with the rest of the students, and focused on drawing.

Creak!

The sound of the door opening made him pause his drawing and look up.

The Instructor has left the class!

He was surprised, but eventually shrugged it off and went back to drawing.

Even as she left the whole class remained as silent as a graveyard, nobody dared to do anything other than her instructions. After all, who knew if she was observing them?

***

[3:31 PM]

The bell had long gone, and the students didn't hesitate to swarm out of the class immediately. S~eaʀᴄh the nôvel_Fire.ηet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

Kyle stayed in the class as others left, he felt he was experiencing a breakthrough.

He looked at his Runic paper, beaming with pride over his success. He observed the perfectly drawn Fire Rune, which he had drawn not just once, not twice, but three times!

Turns out that his success rate improves after getting it right, as he could now draw it correctly on three out of five attempts!

"That should do for now," Kyle said, his voice echoing in the silent hall. "I wonder how many people managed to draw it.

The hall was very quiet as no one said a word when the class lasted. Though the atmosphere experienced a complete change immediately after the bell went, everyone discussed and lamented about their struggles.

Kyle wasn't paying attention to the noise, as at that time he was having a breakthrough in his drawing.

Now, the class was most likely empty. He turned around to confirm his thoughts.

He was wrong.

At his back sat the first girl to have drawn the rune— Lora Ings.

He never truly observed her as he couldn't always turn back now and then.

Looking at her figure, puberty had been kind to her, to say the least. Though shorter than most of the other girls in their year, her figure was unmistakable.

Her uniform hugged her ample curves in ways that made it difficult not to notice.

Her chestnut hair fell in soft waves around her face, and even though her expression was serious, there was something undeniably cute about her.

Kyle's throat tightened. His heart began to race from the sudden realization that they were alone.

She seemed to be done with what she was doing as she raised her head upwards, her brown eyes meeting Kyle's blue.

There was an awkward silence between the two, before she immediately averted her gaze, her face blushing in embarrassment that Kyle didn't notice.

'Damnit, what was I doing?' Kyle thought in embarrassment. 'She must have seen me looking at her weirdly.'

He hesitated for a moment, wondering if to leave the class immediately.

'No. That'll just leave a bad impression on her,' Kyle thought, 'Maybe I should say something. Yes, I'll say something.'

Taking a breath, he gathered his courage, pushing down the anxiety in his chest. He stood slowly, the scrape of his chair against the floor betraying his nervousness.

Lora glanced over her shoulder as Kyle's figure stood before her desk, wondering what he wanted to say.

"Uh… Lora," he managed to say with a cracking voice. "You're… still here?"

She managed to say softly, "Yes... I had some extra work to finish."

"Same here. Had a breakthrough and, uh… couldn't really leave." He realized his hands were still shaking slightly from the rush of adrenaline and tried to shove them into his pockets.

Kyle cleared his throat, hoping to break the awkward tension between them.

"You were amazing, you know. I couldn't believe someone would have drawn that rune over a night.

Her eyes met his for a split second before darting away again, a blush appearing on her cheeks.

"It... wasn't that good," she whispered, clearly uncomfortable with the praise. "I... just got lucky."

"Pfft!" Kyle laughed. "No way, that wasn't luck."

He glanced at her Runic papers, she looked so close to perfecting the Water Rune.

"You're just good, I have to admit," Kyle said with a smile.

"You're almost done with a second rune, while most of us are still drawing our first. You make it look so easy," he managed to say in embarrassment.

For a moment, she hesitated, her gaze slowly lifting back to meet his. Her lips moved slightly, and she murmured, "Thanks."

There was a brief silence between them, the air around them feeling almost peaceful, and Lora feeling less tense.

"You know," Kyle said after taking a deep breath, "I'm planning to stay after class more often to practice. Maybe… if you ever wanted to stay too, we could... you know, work together?"

Her eyes widened with surprise. She seemed to be weighing his offer, as her fingers fidgeting with the sleeve of her uniform.

For a long moment, she didn't respond, making Kyle wonder if he had overstepped. But then, she gave a small nod.

"I'd be happy to do so."

"Great," Kyle said, trying to sound casual.

He clicked his comm, before saying with a nervous chuckle.

"Uh, let's exchange IDs, for communication."

Lora nodded her head, before saving his number and giving him her's.

For a moment, neither of them said anything. Kyle could sense that the conversation had reached its natural end, and as much as he wanted to keep talking to her, he didn't want to push her too far.

"Alright, well... I'll see you around, Lora," he said, flashing her a friendly smile.

She glanced up at him briefly, her lips parting just enough for a quiet, "Bye."

With that, Kyle turned and made his way out of the hall, feeling strangely excited and fulfilled.