Two students before us got up and headed to the door, their bags in tow. I noticed quite a few were actually leaving, which made me frown as the others noticed me staring at the door.
"Why are they leaving when class isn't done?" Finnick pondered.
"It's not mandatory to stay, remember?" Kaito reminded. "A lot of students remained last semester because attendance counts for points the following semester. Since we're graduating soon, those points don't matter now."
"Makes sense." Connor shrugged as he began playing with my hair. "But stupid all at the same time. What's one hour going to do? We've been here the whole day anyway. Next thing you know there's a test."
"The administration does it on purpose," Jax revealed. "Kaito. Finnick. Go grab your stuff and come sit here then."
"Right," they said in unison before they walked back to the lower row to grab their stuff and moved to the newly empty spots. We'd come right on time for this lecture after lunch so we didn't get the luxury of sitting in one row.
Once they were back and situated, he continued, "When I went to check on my mom earlier this morning, she was saying they do the whole attendance thing on purpose."
"Seriously?" I stated. "Why? I mean, there's no consequence."
"There is." Jax looked a little amused by the ordeal as he ended up moving his arm to wrap around me while resting it on Connor's arm, which was still around me. "Every point lost from attendance takes away one invite given to you from a potential employer."
We all looked at him in shock. "Do students know that?"
"Nope." His voice was purposely low so the conversation would remain within our circle, but it wasn’t like anyone was paying attention to us as they kept to their conversations. "So if someone had five invites, and skipped five classes with no valid reasoning, they'll lose all five invites. Obviously, after a few weeks, you're not going to remember when you missed or skipped a class, so there's no way of getting out of the punishment."
"Wow," I commented. "Harsh."
"Not really," Kaito admitted. "Katsume was telling me that employers are really strict on attendance, especially in the realms of magic users."
"Makes sense," Finnick commented and looked at me. "If your sister just didn't show up for work or randomly left through the day with no excuse but being bored, it would impact not only her team but the entire department, depending on the case she's working on."
"It obviously depends on whatever career they're invited to, but no matter where you work, good attendance is pretty mandatory," Connor added.
"My mom said it's their way of implementing that whatever actions we do have consequences, even if you can't see or know about them. Leaving early or skipping work can cause someone to lose their job, company, or, worst-case scenario, life. Especially in the realms of magic and such. You guys all noticed there are about only fifty present students still here and it's probably because they have an afterschool commitment or something."
"Pretty much." I acknowledged what I was sure we all noticed. Even with the hype, a lot of the seniors were missing.
"At least we're not squeezed into classrooms like sardines," Finnick suggested. "I'm surprised we have this many seniors."
"Actually, that's because some transferred over for their final semester," I voiced and got their attention. "My parents were talking about it when I went to my place this morning to grab some stuff. Over the holidays, two major schools were vandalized to the point that they're having to do some major touches to the entire school property."
"Holy crap, seriously?" Finnick questioned. "Please don't tell me these students are going to be competing later in the semester?"
"Not sure," I admitted and rested my head on Connor's shoulder while my hand was in Jax's. "Professor Phoenix mentioned it."
"When?" Kaito inquired.
"Uh-"
"Alright, class," Professor Phoenix interrupted us as we all turned our attention to the front to notice her and three other professors. "We're about to do a special activity."
That quieted the room as everyone focused on the three additional professors. We didn't recognize them at all, but they each wore the Witchling professor attire and held an object in their hands.
The male next to Professor Phoenix held a cool spell book, one that had amazing symbols which intrigued my interest. The female with red hair next to him held a powerful-looking staff with a floating ruby that thrummed with magic. The last male at the end held a shield with a detailed incantation engraved into the metal.
Professor Phoenix was holding a simple black rose, which gave off delicate energy in conjunction with her black dress and long silver locks. I always liked how she never wore the uniform unless it was exam day, and even then, it was just the cloak on her shoulders and her witch hat. I wondered if she had if it would make a difference with how drawn I was to the simplistic touch.
"The activity is simple. Take a moment to view each item within our grasps. Once you've spent enough time on that, began to make a line in the aisle of whichever professor you wish to follow. Once this is complete, the professor will be taking you to a different room, so please gather your belongings."
I exchanged a look with the others as a commotion boomed through the room; people seemed to rush to gather their stuff and go to where they wished to line up, like some sort of race.
Four pairs of eyes landed on me, and I blinked before acknowledging my boyfriends’ gazes. "What?"
"Chances are we're going to be drawn to the same thing, so we might as well wait for you to make a choice," Kaito concluded.
"Or you guys will just follow me wherever I go," I concluded.
"That too," Finnick admitted with a wink. "But let's pretend we all have the same choice."
I reached for my book and opened it to a blank page. "Draw what you're drawn too. Just a simple shape of it.” We all quickly sketched what we were drawn to - Finnick being last to finish.
Kaito muttered, "Finnick. We didn't ask you to sketch the damn Mona Lisa."
"That's Professor Phoenix," he whined, which made the rest of us snicker as we shook our heads. I decided to review all five drawings and true enough, we were all drawn to the same thing.
"Wow. You guys were right."
"See?” Finnick gave me a playful grin. "We believe in our Red."
"Ya, ya," I brushed away with a wide grin. "Let's get moving. We're almost the last ones."
By the time we gathered our stuff and fell in line, we were the last group of individuals to confirm their choice.
And the only one in the rose aisle.
Professor Phoenix was clearly struggling to hide her amusement as the professors began to encourage their groups to follow them. Once the three lines were gone, only our group was left. Professor Phoenix moved to close the door and then spun around to face us.
"I had a strong suspicion this would be the end result," she admitted with a proud grin.
"Hopefully that's good?" Kaito offered.
"And if it's not, we'll just blame Brianne," Finnick concluded as he hugged me from behind.