Nova glared at Xavier, who was sitting opposite her in the canteen, but he seemed not to notice. The Academy's students, all in their late teens or early twenties, were some of the brightest minds of their generation, but out of all of them, Xavier was universally considered the best. Unfortunately, he was well aware. Tall, attractive, intelligent, charismatic, and incredibly pleased about all of it. Every time she saw her classmate’s smug grin, she wanted to punch him in the face.
Sable, one of the popular girls in class, was sitting next to him at the lunch table, batting her eyelashes as she asked him to explain one of his theories one more time. Nova felt like puking.
"Is it Monday you're starting your wilderness test? Or Tuesday?" Sable asked him at one point.
"Tonight, actually – not the way I would have preferred to spend my Friday, but at least I'll get it over with." The wilderness test was one of the Academy's more interesting trials. You were dropped at some seemingly random point in the nearby woods with a few supplies and had to find your way back. Navigation was the tricky part, and there was a competition to see who would make it back in the shortest time. Obviously, while the drop-off points were somewhat randomized, the distances were always the same, and the terrain not noticeably more difficult from one student to the next.
"Who's got the best time so far?" said Hartley, one of Xavier's friends. A handsome man, and far from stupid, but without Xavier's drive to excellence. "Does anyone know?"
"Me," Nova replied. The others looked at her as if suddenly noticing she was there. She could feel herself beginning to blush at the unaccustomed attention, and she did her best to fight it back.
"Well done… Nova," Xavier said, pausing as if trying to remember her name. She knew he had an excellent memory, so he was just being a jerk as usual. "How long?"
"34 hours," she replied, trying to sound like she didn’t think it was a big deal.
"Very good." Somehow, his grin grew smugger. "Let's see if I can do better." It was clear that he had no doubt he could – and everyone else would agree.
Having lost her appetite, Nova left the canteen. No one seemed to notice.
As Nova wandered down the hallways, an impish idea came to her. Xavier was not the kind of person who made his preparations last-minute – he had definitely packed his supplies already, and he had checked and double-checked that everything was there. But he probably wouldn't triple-check, would he? Not even Xavier was that obsessive. So, if some of his things were to mysteriously disappear from his pack, he'd probably have to try a little bit harder than usual.
Nova knew how to open the lock on his door – she'd messed with his notes before, on occasions when she’d been particularly annoyed with him. She made her way to his rooms, quickly picking the lock before anyone saw her. As she entered, she was once again irked by just how clean and tidy his quarters were. No one could live like that, could they?
She found his supplies. As expected, everything was packed and ready, stowed away in its right place in the backpack. She wondered what she should remove. Losing his knife could certainly be annoying. Should she take one of the food packs, forcing him to either forage or go hungry? She definitely wouldn't mess with the water – that was a bridge too far. There were probably some matchsticks that –
"Looking for something?" a cold voice said. She spun around and saw Xavier standing in the doorway, glaring at her. "I came to pick up a book that Sable wanted to borrow. I wasn't expecting to find a saboteur."
Nova tried to think of something to say, but she came up empty. She wondered if she could run past him, but he was probably too quick for her to manage that. He must have guessed what she was pondering, for he looked the door behind him, placing the key in his pocket. Her heart beat faster as she realized that there was no way out. She was locked in a small room with a very stern-looking man who was a head taller than her, and twice as strong. "I was just – " What? What should see say she was doing here? Looking for the bathroom? In his backpack?
"You were just stealing my supplies, hoping I wouldn't beat your score." He shook his head. "I knew you didn't like me – I've noticed you staring daggers – but I didn't think you'd stoop this low."
For some silly reason, her heart skipped a beat. He'd noticed her? "That's not – I wasn't –"
"Breaking into my quarters and stealing my notes is one thing," he scolded. "I don't really care – that's just cute." She blushed, both because he'd known about her pettiness and because he'd called her 'cute'. Or at least her actions, but that was close enough. "But this is serious, Nova."
"Oh? Suddenly you remember my name?" she snapped. She knew that riling him up right now was a terrible idea, but she couldn't help herself.
For a second, Xavier just stared, shocked at her audacity. He looked so silly standing there with his mouth open that she couldn't suppress a giggle. Collecting himself, he shook his head in disappointment. "This is not a laughing matter, Nova. You're about to face some consequences for your actions." He moved toward her, the look on his face making her step backwards to keep her distance, until she stood with her back to the wall, trapped and defenceless. He grabbed her upper arm and pulled her forwards.
In her mind's eye, she could see herself being dragged to the office, where he'd tell the administration about what she'd done. Breaking into another student's quarters was bad enough, but messing with his supplies before the wilderness trial? She'd be expelled, for sure. She pictured her entire career collapsing before her eyes, and she had to hold back a tear. She'd been so stupid!
She was so wrapped up in her thoughts, she didn't notice him moving her towards the couch and sitting down. She only woke from her stupor when he jerked her forward, pulling her over his lap. As she stared down at the stylish, recently-cleaned carpet, she felt his right arm circling her slim waist and his left hand gently patting the seat of her uniform trousers. Her eyes widened as she suddenly realized what was happening.
Xavier was going to spank her.