The Hidden Princess At All-Boys Alpha Academy novel Chapter 484

When I walk into class, I grin to see that everyone else is here. Rafe and Jesse joke casually with Jacks while Tony lounges at his desk, his long legs sticking out from under it as he flicks through a book.

Of course, my smile fades as soon as I hear Alvez’s voice to my left.

“Very nearly late…Clark.”

My head turns sharply to see him grinning at me, as he so often does now, like he holds all my secrets in the palm of his hand. And I frown at him because, I mean, he’s not holding those secrets over my head anymore, is he?

So why is he still grinning at me like a cat? What on earth does he have up his sleeve?

“Sorry,” I say as the room falls silent, everyone looking towards me. I pushing the door shut. “Lost track of time.”

Alvez waves a magnanimous hand towards the desks and I hurry in, sitting in an open spot between Rafe and Jackson that they very obviously saved for me.

“Good,” Alvez says, folding his arms over his chest and looking around at us. “I must say – it is rare for a professor to come back over winter break at the Academy to find his class still entirely intact. I might have the singular claim to that this semester.”

I raise my eyebrows at this, realizing that it’s probably true, and I lean around Jackson to glance at Tony – the only one who I thought may actually have been at risk of not coming back. As I do, I find him already looking for me, and I grin as I realize that we simultaneously had the same thought about each other. His own face breaks into a smile as he nods to me, letting me know he’s glad I’m still here. I do the same.

“So,” Alvez says, drawing my attention back to him. “In such an impressive group, I have to admit that I’m a little…displeased. There should have been more progress in the development of your gifts this past semester.”

“Perhaps,” Tony drawls, a little bored, “If you gave us more instruction than ‘hold hands’ and ‘try,’ we’d be making more progress.”

My eyebrows raise at the gall of him for a moment and I fight a smile. When I glance at Rafe, I’m pleased to see that he’s doing the same.