By the time Rex finally strolled into class, the clock was nudging one in the afternoon. Which was, of course, absurdly late. But he was relieved to see no lecture in progress. The room had that light chaos of downtime… clusters of students joking, tossing pens, trading memes and gossip. A few guys were cracking lame jokes in the back, others laughing louder than the punchline deserved. So when the door creaked and he slipped in, the ripple of attention was instant. A few heads turned, as they always did. Nothing dramatic, just that subtle awareness of his presence.
"Wow," someone at the back called out, "look who remembered he's enrolled!"
Someone at the back called out, "Look who finally decided to grace us with his royal presence!" Another chimed in, "Careful, Rex, your throne's been gathering dust."
