fan against the flame } fey

[я𝑜𝓈𝑒]

REY ECKHART --

There's a pretty girl in Rey's class. She has always been one of the more academic students, but for the first time in her student career, she finds herself distracted. Faline Varley — peaches and cream skin, copper hair, eyes green as ferns. Her mother, one of her adoptive ones, said that when you like someone, it'll feel like there's butterflies in your stomach. That's how she feels when she looks at Faline, like she's swallowed a swarm of butterflies and their wings are pounding against her belly.

The teacher passes out math tests to the class; for the first several minutes, Rey blazes through the test, checking her answers as she goes. But she's sure of her calculations; math has always been her strong suit.

It doesn't seem to be for Faline Varley.

She's still staring at her paper on the first few questions and it's been fifteen minutes. Rey is a third of the way finished, now on the second page. She must have not been paying attention during class, or perhaps she just didn't have time to study. Some kids in Six are unfortunate enough to have to work, which must take a huge chunk of their time away from studying, Rey considers.

Instead of letting the pretty girl struggle, Rey tears a piece off of her scratch paper, but does so little by little and from under her desk so that the teacher won't notice. She begins to write out her work and answers, along with tips on how to do the problems on the test. Rey is careful to disguise her handwriting; although she wants to help Faline, she doesn't intend to screw herself over in the process.

Her heart skips a beat as she crumples up the note and passes it under the table to Faline.