“Are they allowed to do that?” Alice asked surprising me. I had almost forgotten about her. “I mean, I heard they could be tough here, but that was… a bit much.”


    I didn’t have an answer. I had also heard that the school had a more hands-on approach to punishing students, but I was just as concerned.


    “Not even a little. In fact, he got off light.” Another boy spoke up. He was scrawny with wild golden hair. “They’re the disciplinary officers, and I heard from my sister that those two are ruthless.”


    “But he didn’t do anything.” Alice protested.


    “What? You mean you didn’t notice he was focusing his will?” the boy asked.


    “I did.” I said, “But was that really enough to justify that?”


    “Maybe not, but that wasn’t the point.”


    “He was made an example of.” Alice said dropping her gaze to the floor, “They wanted to show everyone that they could.”


    “Yep.” The boy confirmed, “and I don’t disagree. Everyone needs to learn that power doesn’t make them powerful.”


    This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.


    We walked in silence down the halls until we reached our destination and we all stopped at the same classroom. Alice looked over her schedule asking, “Are we all in Class J?”


    “Apparently.” The boy walked in. Alice and I followed. The room was a simple setup. It had twenty-eight desks for students in four neat rows with a large desk at the front for the teacher. There was a chalkboard and cabinets along the walls. On the desks were index cards folded to prop themselves up. On them, names were written.


    “Seems like we have assigned seats.” The boy held up one of the cards showing a neat font “09J17 Prince, Abraham” which also I assumed was his own name as he then sat down at the desk it was on.


    I went to the front of the first row and there I was. Just behind “09J01 Bell, Gwendolyn” was my own “09J02 Bittir, Mary” and I sat down. I started to unzip my bag when I heard Alice behind me.


    “Oh no.” Alice was looking at another name card on the last desk in the row. Showing it to have her own name on it. Her eyes showed the disappointment she felt, “I was hoping we could have sat next to each other.”


    “Well… It’s only for this class.” I said, “We can hang out between classes, and maybe we’ll sit together in them?”


    “We don’t switch classes.” Abraham said, getting his own desk set up, “Not for the most part anyway. We’ll cover the main subjects with different teachers as they go between classes, and then maybe electives, but we mostly stay here.”


    “But most high schools have the students go from class to class,” I said.


    “And most high schools aren’t attended and staffed by demihumans.” Abraham countered.


    “I guess that makes sense,” Alice said and seemed to accept the situation as she sat down and stared at her name card.