Chapter Fourteen

Wilford

"There's no way. You seriously want me to believe you went over to the princess's dorm, and then hung out with her? Wilford, you don't hang out with girls. Especially girls like that. I don't know why you're making it up, but it's pathetic."

Shame washes through me, and I resist the urge to pull my phone out and prove that I got Delaney"s number. It wouldn't change their opinion of me, and it's not their business anyway. So like always, instead of confrontation, I shrug my shoulders and hunch into myself.

"Hey everybody, Wilford claims he's friends with Delaney Duncan!"

The class erupts in laughter; it's like being back in high school all over again.

"If you're such good friends with her, then call her and prove it," somebody taunts.

"She's probably in class. You know, the whole reason I"m forced to sit in here and listen to all of you titter like birds?"

The classmate I refuse to look at continues. Being picked on is nothing new. "Whatever. You're pathetic. No matter how obsessed you are with conduits, you're never going to get with one." Literally don"t even know this person"s name. They are completely inconsequential to me.

These aren"t things I"ve never heard before, so I keep my eyes on my book and keep studying, even though we"re only a few weeks in and I already know all the material.

The teacher calls everybody to order, right as the door opens, letting in somebody that's tardy. I don't look though; I always make it my mission to just sit in the front row and stare straight ahead the entire duration of class because I've learned that making eye contact with anybody else in the room never ends well.

I might be an adult, and I might be over six feet tall, but I'm skinny and nerdy. Awkward too because what use is being a nerd if you're not awkward? I have a highly cultivated skill set.

I thought this class was going to be kind of fun, but I didn't take into account the kind of students that take a class that"s centered around healthy conduit relationships. I'm drawn to conduits and I know that when I graduate I want to work with them, because it fascinates me how the goddess uses them to collect mates and I find the connections that they share intriguing. Their family units are inspiring, and even if it's true I'll never be a part of one of those bond groups, there're plenty of careers I can take part of that will allow me to work with conduits and support them.

Most people in this class just think I'm a joke though, but that's okay. They"re all peasants, so it doesn't even matter.

The teacher's voice got quieter so it takes me a minute to pay attention to what she"s saying; hopefully I didn"t miss much. "…and so for this project, I want all the conduits in here to collect one or more other students to simulate the conduit bond. You"ll all spend time together, eat some meals together, and practice what a healthy conduit bond would look like.

"This is merely an exercise, and if you're in this class, that means you're still searching for mates if you're a conduit or are in some way interested in meeting a conduit if you're not. I'm going to give groups different scenarios each week to explore, situations to work through, and challenges to overcome, and this will give you tools to use with your future mates. Even if you don't end up as part of a conduit bond, you'll gain a deeper respect for how these bonds work and have more empathy towards them because most of us at one point of our lives will interact with conduits.

"So please take a few minutes and group up. This is a good way to get to know people in this class you might not have spoken to yet, and a good way to make some new friends. Please move near your conduit once you"ve agreed to work together, and then send one person from your group up here to collect your first assignment."

Okay, so this is my literal worst nightmare—group work in which I have to find my own group.

"And as a reminder, we are going to cap the number in a group to four. There are enough conduits in this class that we don't need a ton of people per group. In fact, these exercises will work better in smaller, more intimate groups. So conduits, once you have three people that want to work with you, you're full."

I have to tell myself to breathe, because the anxiety inside of me is so high that I'm practically shaking.

I honestly don't even know who's all in this class, because like I said, I always make it a point to face forward and ignore people. I tend to get bullied less that way. If you're thinking this is college and bullying shouldn't be happening, it's a nice thought. Unfortunately, low-intelligence people will always find a way to be mean.

My dedication to the goddess, and the way I was raised seem to make me targets for mean people, because they don't understand anything about me.

Students all around me are talking and laughing. I hear several comments that make me feel small, people daring others to invite me to their group, but ultimately I stay there by myself and slowly turn around to see if there's anybody who might be sympathetic to me.

People are already gathering their assignments which means groups are filling up, and I already know I'm going to have to apologize to whatever conduit gets stuck with me, but I'm going to pull my weight and be the best fake bonded they'll ever have.

There're a few conduits who still have space in their groups, but they studiously ignore me. Being picked last is one of my pastimes, but it never gets any less embarrassing.

Movement in the back of the room catches my eye, and I watch as the student sitting in the back corner, nearest the door, stands up slowly and walks to the front to gather a paper. She's wearing a hood over her head so I can't see her face too well, and baggy sweats so I can't tell much about her at all other than she likes to be comfortable, but people are quiet as she walks by them. Her hood falls off as she walks and I realize why everybody's so quiet. It"s Delaney pancake-flipping Duncan.

I suppose if I had paid attention to who was in my classes this would be less of a shock for me, and even though I know my story about her is true, I'm still waiting for her to laugh at me and tell me I'm dumb as well. But while she calmly puts her hands up to avoid being touched by other students who are trying to grab onto her and talk to her, I can't keep my eyes off of her.

She has a kind smile as she collects the assignment, then she turns around and walks straight towards me.

Delaney drops her bag next to the empty desk that always seems to be next to me, and then turns her body so she's facing me. "You want to be my mate?"

"Delaney!" somebody else calls. "Take me! We'll have the best imaginary sex ever!"

The conduit this person is already grouped up with gives a sound of affront, irritated one of her ‘mates' is already wandering, no doubt.

"Pass," she says immediately, barely sparing them a glance. "I've already found my true love in this class; I"m good with Willy-boy here."

"You don't have to," I mumble quietly.

"I think you'll find as you get to know me Wilford, I don't do much of anything I don't want to do. Here," she says, handing me one of the papers she collected.

She starts reading over it and then smirks, her lavender eyes flicking back up to me when I can"t stop looking at her.

"Are you going to read it?"

I have to startle myself back into attention. "S-sorry."

"I have a feeling you use that word a lot. Please don't use it with me unless I actually deserve it. In fact, I kind of feel like I owe you an apology."

"Me?" I ask a little too loudly. "Whatever for?"

She gives a small one shoulder shrug. "My behavior when you stopped by my place. That wasn't a good night for me. You never texted me, but I kind of don"t blame you. I"m pretty embarrassed."

"I didn't think you actually wanted me to text you," I admit. "Sometimes women give me their number and then laugh at me when I use it. Thought it was better to be safe than sorry."

She shakes her head, looking a little bit amused, though her hand is clenching the desk like she"s angered by my words. "Don't play dumb."

I'm leaning towards her; somehow I"ve put myself closer to her without meaning to.

"First thing we have to do," she says, biting on her pen which somehow makes my body feel things that confuse me, "is decide our origin story. I'm a fan of the truth, what about you?"

I just stare at her because everything about her is dang near hypnotizing.

"What?" She laughs. "The assignment, Will. Look at the assignment!" Her hand, nails painted in rainbow colors, lands on my page and taps it.

"Oh. Right. The assignment. Yeah, that's fine I guess."

Now I can feel her staring at me as I read through the questions. "Is there something on my face? Is my hair sticking up again?"

Her hand rises and sweeps my messy, curly hair back a little. "Not at all. Just admiring the view."

I freeze. "We should get to work. Really—"

"Wow. Are your eyes turquoise?"

I fidget with my thick glasses. "Lots of people have blue eyes."

"Not like that, they don"t. So, out of curiosity, what made you take this class? What are you studying? When I was signing up for classes, my mom said she would have fought anybody that made her take a class like this—no offense, Ms. K!"

"What"s your mom like?" another conduit in the class asks, dreamy eyed as she pops up next to Delaney.

Delaney freezes and looks to the girl without moving her head. "She's uh…mom-ish? But like, extra cringey because of how obsessed she is with all my dads…"

The conduit sticks her hand out for a shake. "Shelly. Look, I know you're new here, so you should come over to my place sometime. I have some of the other girls over every Thursday night for a conduit support circle— we can give you the low down on the school and who to avoid if you want to attract high value mates. You can bring those sexy guards of yours if you want, we"re always open to a little eye candy."

Guards?

I look around the room and see someone that clearly isn"t a student here, so intent on Delaney that I think I get secondhand feelings for the guy. There is another shadow across the hall, outside the door, looking up and down the hall for threats. Or maybe he"s just neck dancing.

Delaney sinks back into her chair, taking up a relaxed posture while she thinks the offer over. "High value mate? That seems a bit subjective."

Delaney"s foot lands right next to mine, comforting me as I get snubbed by this conduit. I don"t dare talk—never interrupt conduits unless asked for your opinion. I've learned that lesson way too many times.

"You should have taken Brad up on his offer to pull him into your group for this project. At least then you"d have one viable option to do these activities with. Wilford doesn"t know what to do with boobs or the people attached to them. Brad though?" She fans herself and leans closer, cupping her mouth with her hand so her voice doesn"t carry too far. Unfortunately, it carries far enough for me to hear, forcing visuals on me I'd rather not have. "He's got this tongue technique he invented that does wonders for stress relief. He"s always up for a little fun."

Delaney looks across the room to this Brad fellow, mortified. "That"s disgusting."

"Don"t be a prude. We"ve got to sow our wild oats before we choose our forever bonds. Men like him will do anything to court us. You should be enjoying the perks your station offers. We can lay it all out for you at our meeting this week. I have a five-step plan for testing out interested parties, and it"s fool-proof. That"s how I met my Joseph. He graduated already and is busy launching his career so we can have our bonding ceremony."

Wow this girl likes to overshare.

"Tempting, but I"m actually busy that night," Delaney says with a contrite smile.

Shelly narrows her eyes. "I didn"t tell you when the next one is. How could you possibly know you"re busy?"

I can actually feel the brain cells de-activating in my head as this conduit talks. "You literally just told her you met every Thursday," I interject. I"m starting to get irritated that this conduit is stealing my little bit of class time to talk to Delaney.

"Ew, it smells up here. You should come sit it in the back, Delaney. We don"t have walls that interrupt conversations and all the people you need to know are there."

I sink into my seat, then start making notes on the assignment. Delaney doesn"t seem like the type to sell out and join bullies, but I guess I don"t really know her yet.

"Don"t talk about Wilford like that. He"s a human being and deserves respect."

"Don"t, Delaney. It"s not worth it. I"m fine. I shouldn"t have interrupted. I"ll just get started on our assignment while you go hang out. I"ll have it ready for you by tonight, if you want? You can look over it before we turn it in."

"See? He knows what"s good for you. He"s got you covered. Come on."

"No thank you. Wilford is my friend, and we"re trying to get our work done. I don"t think you're the type of friend I need here, but thanks for the offer."

Shelly sneers at her, and I look around wondering where the heck the teacher is. Why do teachers never care when conduits start being pushy like this and socialize instead of doing the work assigned?

"You need me. Let"s go."

The bodyguard from across the room is next to Delaney without me having heard him move, massive hands peeling Shelly's hands off Delaney. "You don"t touch her."

"Ow! You scratched me, you psycho! How dare you touch me! Ms. K., this man assaulted me!"

"Good goddess! He barely touched you. Maybe next time you"ll listen when I tell you no. Now move your spoiled-ass self back to your group so I can give my neglected partner the attention he needs. You can just fuck all the way off."

"You have no idea who I am. You do not want me as your enemy."

"Who the fuck said anything about an enemy, you psycho bitch? I"m literally just trying to mind my own business."

"Ms. K., may I please be excused from class? I need to go visit the nurse and have my hand looked at. Her guard dog might have rabies!"

The teacher looks exasperated, but unfortunately used to such an outbreak. She waves off the terribly distressed Shelly, with an escort of course so her group can pretend to be supportive of their fake mate, and then the room is silent. I do note that one of the guys in Shelly's group keeps looking back at Delaney, trying to catch her eye, but she never notices before the guy is forced to keep following and disappear. That feels like an apt metaphor for what would happen to someone that mated a woman like Shelly.

"What the fuck just happened?" Delaney asks. "Was that like a hidden camera prank or something? Why is she so crazy? Please tell me that wasn't normal conduit behavior, because yikes."

I"m nearly done with the first side of the assignment by now, so I pass it to her to check over. "Have you not been around a lot of conduits? Because that was par for the course. It's why a lot of folks think I"m crazy to want to work with them, but I feel called by the goddess to."

"I…have actually been incredibly sheltered, Wilford. I cannot apologize enough for everything she just said to you and about you. I would never and I mean never, willingly sit with her, or purposely show up to her conduit suite and cross the threshold, especially if hanging out with you is the alternative. Seriously. Fuck that bitch."

Now I"m blushing again. "Could you not speak of the conduit with such crass language? It makes me uncomfortable. I know she is unpleasant and incredibly difficult to be around, but she is still one of the goddess' chosen ones."

Her mouth opens and closes a few times before she just nods and starts reading over what I did, adding in a few notes. "I didn"t mean to make you uncomfortable," she says softly.

"Just be careful, Delaney. I know you're the princess and are a conduit yourself, but her brother is the headmaster and he dotes on her. She could very easily get you into a lot of trouble. This is her domain, and she"s well protected."

"I"m not scared of her," Delaney says, dismissing the threat I know is there. "Now. What do you think about having dinner together on Friday? I"m unavailable Saturday."