"Well… that happened."
I scratched the back of my head, still a little dazed, my gaze drifting blankly into nothing. Mentally, emotionally, spiritually—I was lagging. My system hadn't quite finished buffering.
Aurhea Aurel, the Student Council President, had just casually waltzed into my life like a hurricane dipped in silk, and then vanished again—leaving me to process the wreckage alone. The image of her white coat fluttering behind her, cadets parting respectfully as she passed, lingered in my vision like a stubborn afterimage.
It felt burned into my retina.
Probably because it had literally just happened.
Twenty minutes ago, give or take.
And yet, the buzz from the open-air cafeteria still hadn't died down. The energy lingered in the air—alive, electric, contagious. Not that I knew firsthand. I had dipped as soon as Aurhea had been 'dragged' off by Caitlin, her unofficial handler-slash-chaperone-slash-absolutely-exasperated-best-friend.
