Evaline:
The laughter didn't die immediately.
It rolled through the training hall in waves, echoing off stone walls, bouncing from student to student until even those who hadn't seen the flip clearly were laughing simply because everyone else was.
Nadine scrambled to sit up, her face burning red, eyes darting around as if searching for a way to undo the last ten seconds of her life.
There wasn't one.
Oscar didn't even look at her again.
His attention shifted fully to me.
"Good," he said calmly, as if I hadn't just turned the social hierarchy of the second years upside down. "Now that we have established why assumptions are dangerous-"
A few snickers followed.
"-we'll proceed with the actual demonstration."
Nadine opened her mouth, clearly ready to protest, but Oscar lifted one hand.
"You are dismissed," he said flatly.
The words hit her harder than the floor had.
