22 Trophies Galore

Emma's eyes lit up.

"Science? Oh, I'm so excited," she said happily.

Lily stared at her bestie, a look of not understanding etched across her face.

"Sometimes, I really don't understand you, Em," she said as she watched Emma laugh at her comment.

"I wonder what we're going to do in class," Emma said. "I hope it's not too difficult."

"As if anything's too difficult for THE Emma Grey to do," Lily stated, proud of her best friend.

"Haha, very funny. But seeing as ZALE's classes have the difficulty of college or university classes, I'm pretty sure we'll be far behind compared to our classmates. We haven't even gone to high school. How are we supposed to learn these topics?" Emma asked worriedly.

Lily patted her on the back.

"Em, you'll be fine. If anyone could deal with science class, it's you. You're one of the most intelligent and witty people I know," Lily assured.

Emma pouted.

"That won't be enough. There'll be many other students that are more knowledgeable than I am. We don't have the luxury of going to school as they did," Emma reasoned.

Lily rolled her eyes and laughed heartily.

Of course, Emma had to overthink everything. She had always been that way.

"How about we decide that once we get to class, okay?" She asked as she ushered Emma to the laboratory.

The ZALE laboratory smelt of chemicals, even though the students would describe their laboratory as clean, efficient and organized. What they wouldn't speak off was their oddball of a teacher.

On the chalkboard at the front of the laboratory, was a name messily scribbled onto the board.

"Professor Celine Bailey," Emma read on the chalkboard.

A lady in a white coat turned around. Her spiky grey hair stood out most to the two girls, as they didn't notice her pair of yellow eyes pierce through them.

"Come, sit down," she said as she gestured towards a few seats, returning to her work.

As the two girls sat down, Emma whispered into Lily's ears.

"Is it just me who gets creepy vibes from her?" She asked.

Lily whispered back, her hand covering her mouth as she spoke.

"Yeah, no kidding. She's creepy," she observed, looking back and forth from her science professor and her best friend.

A familiar voice came from behind the two of them, much to their surprise.

"She always has been. She doesn't often speak to other professors or teachers. She always keeps herself cooped up in this laboratory, experimenting, or preparing for lessons," James stated, being loud enough for the girls to hear his words clearly, but also quiet enough for Professor Celine to let their conversation go unnoticed.

Emma's heartbeat went from slow to fast in a matter of seconds. She whipped her head around, turning to face James.

Lily turned around, trying to hide her smirk.

"Really? How'd she manage to keep her job this long if she's so-

Lily cut her off.

"Uh, Emma? Professor creepy is staring at you," Lily whispered, eyes widened and full of fear.

Emma turned only to find Professor Celine's gaze at an experiment she was tinkering with. Even though Professor Celine didn't seem to be looking at her, she still felt a pair of two eyes burning through her after she turned her head around.

"I swear, I saw her staring at you, and she immediately turned away once you looked at her," Lily said uneasily.

"Well, that's a first," James scoffed, clearly jealous.

Emma smirked, regaining her courage and sassy spirit that made her her.

"You're just jealous a professor noticed me but didn't do the same with you," she bragged, taking a page out of James' arrogance.

Lily laughed softly, watching quietly as her best friend conversed with the school's most arrogant nerd, right before their class even started.

This was the start of something new, something that - as of now - Michael and Adam couldn't live up to. From what both Emma and Lily knew, the two princes of Zenovia were still in the palace, and it was unbeknownst to them that the two girls were even going to ZALE. To them, they had just disappeared.

'Those two. They really are quite a match.' she thought to herself, smiling as she did, taking a textbook out of her bag, since Professor Celine had already started her lecture, and begun teaching.

After another few hours of classes that bored almost all students, with the exception of the class' two most competitive students, Emma and James, class finally ended.

This being the first day of ZALE, there weren't as many classes as other days, but this didn't make either Emma, Lily, or James forget that they had to meet up in the library to atone to their wrong doings, which was, in this case, being minutes late to their first class.

As they made their way to the library, they met up James, who, despite doing well in science class, was in a horrible mood.

As the trio reached the ZALE library - which also doubled as a bookstore - James opened the door instinctively, being the gentleman he was.

"After you," he said as he gestured to the inside of the bookstore.

As they climbed the grand stairs up to the library, Emma and Lily wondered why Dean Fleur had asked them to tidy up the library. As far as they knew, the library was already tidy. All they needed to do was just to shine some trophies. But boy, were they wrong.

When they had first arrived, the library had been neatly arranged, but now was not the case. When they had reached their destination, they found the place to be anything but. Books, scrolls and papers were strewn across the room messily.

Emma and Lily gaped, now wondering if they could change punishments, or how'd they be able to do this before dinner.

James cleared his throat.

"Well, let's get a move on here, I'm surrounded by books and trophies galore, and if I'm going to be ZALE's top student," he glared at Emma, before continuing, "I better start my study session as soon as possible."

Emma rolled her eyes, not forgetting the previous, quite enjoyable conversation they had. When James wasn't being a jerk, he was decent enough to talk to. It was when he got cocky and arrogant it wasn't.

"Well, I'm not looking forward to this either," Emma said as noncommittally as she could, despite the sounds of a heart beating at its quickest pace thumping in her chest.

Lily nervously laughed.

"So, who's doing what? What about we split into teams so we can get this done much faster?" Lily suggested.

Emma smiled.

"Great idea. I'll go with you," Emma offered.

This was when James interrupted her.

"As much as how I don't want to be paired up with you again, if you're going to work with her, we'll never be finished," he stated.

He had a point, and both Lily and Emma knew it.

Emma sighed in defeat.

"You're right," she grumbled.

"Of course I am. I always am. So, me and Emma will tidy up the library, and Lily, you'll shine those trophies. Ask the librarian for the tools necessary," James announced, taking initiative.

Lily nodded, exchanging one last look with her best friend before heading off to find the librarian.

"So. We're stuck together. Again," Emma managed.

"Yes. We are," James replied.

"Let's get to work," Emma said, trying to hide the slight tinge of pink on her cheeks.

The two began collecting the messily scattered items off the floor, finishing the task in what seemed like forever. Once they were done with that, James categorized each paper, book and scroll into sections and returned it to where it belonged.

As James and Emma were sorting books into their proper bookshelves, their hands brushed.

Emma bit her lip as she stared at the handsome prince.

'Why does he have to look so charming while arranging these books?' She thought to herself, distracted by his looks.

Regaining her senses, she picked up another book, not noticing James was doing the exact same thing. As their fingers brushed against each other, Emma went a deep crimson. What she didn't notice was the slight tinge of pink on James' cheeks as well.

The two were as oblivious as they were smart.

'Say anything. Anything. Just say something to make this less awkward,' Emma thought to herself as she stared up at James' eyes.

James stared at her in return, taking in her outfit that he previously hadn't noticed.

"Well. Y-you look ravishing today," James managed, trying to avert her staring gaze.

Emma blushed.

"Oh, uh, thanks," she replied.

She turned around to face the pile of books that needed to be returned back to its shelves.

"We better continue. These books aren't going to sort themselves," she suggested.

James nodded, quickly grabbing the book nearest to him.

"Right," he said as he escaped her gaze.

Lily watched from a distance. She was halfway finished with her tasks, and had decided to take a short break.

"Could they be any less oblivious? Just kiss already," she said out loud.

She muttered the next part under her breath, hoping no one else could hear her, "And anyway, you'd make such a cute couple."

At this, she also had to wonder. They both clearly liked each other. What was stopping them?