Chapter 97: Comeback

"So I’m guessing this is the smoothie time you promised me, right? Honestly, I can’t wait to load up on a few of those. It’s genuinely been forever since I had one, not since elementary school. Me and my sister used to split one all the time, except she never finished more than a quarter of it, so I’d end up polishing off most of the rest myself. You know how it is, girls fill up pretty quick," Mark said with a smile, walking alongside Hermione down one of the school corridors.

The corridor buzzed with considerably more life during break. Students moved in every direction, some heading straight for the cafeteria while others clustered in open spaces, comparing notes on the test they’d just finished. Footsteps, overlapping conversations, bursts of laughter, and the occasional complaint about some brutally difficult question all blended together into the familiar roar of a proper school break.

Mark, though, seemed far more focused on the promised smoothie than anything related to the test or the noise swirling around them. His whole expression had already brightened at the mere thought of another Gammy smoothie, his steps carrying a noticeable, eager spring.

Hermione glanced sideways at him, caught somewhere between amusement and mild disbelief.

"Get a little self control over your cravings, seriously."

She gave him a light nudge, which pulled a small chuckle out of him in response.

"Girls don’t fill up that easily, for the record. Well, I don’t, at least, because I happen to be a ravenous glutton myself. Just wait until you see that firsthand on our actual first date."

Mark glanced at her, shrugging lightly.

"Guess that makes two of us, then. Honestly, now I can’t wait to challenge you to a real eating contest."

The idea seemed to delight him instantly. He pictured the two of them seated across from one another, plates stacked high between them, neither one willing to tap out first. Considering how competitive things had already gotten during their last workout session together, the idea didn’t feel remotely far fetched.

Hermione shot him a knowing look.

"That’s just going to end up as another loss added to your growing list, probably. You didn’t stand a chance during the free weight challenges at the gym, dumbbells, barbells, kettlebells, none of it. Same story with the cardio machine duration challenges too, treadmill, elliptical, stationary bike. And let’s not even bring up that jog we did earlier."

She rattled it off with calm, unwavering confidence, almost like reading evidence straight off a prepared list. Every single example dragged Mark’s memory right back to another moment from their session where she’d clearly outlasted or flat out outperformed him.

"Okay, but I definitely had the edge in strength training, especially on the chest press, leg press, shoulder press, and lat pulldown. That part was genuinely my strongest category by far. You just happened to cheat your way through it somehow," Mark said, tossing the words out casually.

He hadn’t quite managed to shake the memory of how that particular gym session had actually gone.

Every time his mind replayed Hermione moving through those different machines, it kept circling back to the sight of her muscles working steadily beneath her flexing frame as she handled the press machines, working through set after set of controlled squats. The sheer strength and precision she’d displayed had genuinely caught his attention more than once throughout the session. A few times, the sight alone had been enough to leave his thoughts momentarily stalled, before he’d caught himself and remembered he was actually supposed to be competing against her.

To Mark’s mind, that practically counted as another form of cheating on her part, whether completely unintentional, or maybe not so unintentional at all.

He knew, logically, she hadn’t actually cheated. Still, he’d somehow convinced himself her distracting presence and effortless confidence had worked quietly against him the entire time.

"Oh, please. This is literally what you always say whenever you lose, and you genuinely seem to believe it too, the more you repeat it to yourself. It really wouldn’t cost you anything just to admit you lost fair and square. I’d even be happy to help you actually improve at these challenges," Hermione offered.

Mark only scoffed, letting out a light chuckle as he shrugged the comment off entirely.

Hermione already knew exactly what that reaction meant.

She’d learned by now that whenever Mark got cornered in an argument he couldn’t easily win, he’d usually fall back on stubborn silence or some dismissive, noncommittal response instead. Almost as though refusing to formally acknowledge defeat somehow kept it from becoming officially real.

She’d watched the pattern play out enough times by now to recognize it instantly.

Just as they were about to round the corner leading toward the cafeteria, Mark slightly ahead of Hermione, Roman stepped into view from the opposite direction.

Mark’s pace slowed instantly.

Roman stopped as well.

Neither said a word for a long, tense beat.

The lively noise of the corridor seemed to fade around them as their full attention locked onto one another. Students nearby who noticed the sudden shift in atmosphere began quietly drifting away. Some pretended complete disinterest, continuing on as though nothing were happening, while others deliberately repositioned themselves at a safer distance, close enough to watch without risking getting pulled into it.

Roman wore a hard, satisfied smile the instant he spotted Mark.

His eyes practically blazed at the visible shift in Mark’s expression the moment he registered Roman’s presence.

Unlike before, Roman’s neck no longer sat locked inside that rigid cervical brace. Whatever injury had previously restricted his movement had apparently healed enough to let him move freely again. His posture looked noticeably healthier, and the confidence he’d temporarily lost during recovery had clearly returned, along with his usual brazen audacity.

He rolled his shoulders loosely before taking another step forward.

"Miss me while I was stuck like that? Newsflash, I’m not that cone collared dog you turned me into these past few days anymore. Genuinely rough experience, that one. So how about I trade you something considerably worse, and we settle this right here, right now?"

Both of Roman’s hands began shifting shape.

His fingers tightened and warped into the hardened, club like fists tied directly to his MantisShrimp summon. The transformation carried an unmistakable, faintly unnatural quality, the muscles along his arms visibly tensing as the summoned power settled fully into place.

Several nearby students immediately backed further away.

Nobody wanted to get caught anywhere near the middle if this actually broke into a real fight.

Mark’s expression hardened noticeably.

He understood exactly what Roman was trying to provoke here.

Before either of them could escalate things further, though, Roman’s gaze suddenly shifted, landing squarely on Hermione.

He froze mid motion.

The confidence drained slightly from his expression the instant his eyes settled on her. His lips twitched visibly the moment he registered she was still standing right beside his intended target.

Hermione met his stare with a flat, resigned, thoroughly hardened expression.

She’d clearly grown tired of running into Roman, or any of the other guys who kept causing trouble for Mark, over and over again. There wasn’t a trace of fear in her eyes, only the quiet, simmering irritation of someone who’d already dealt with more than enough unnecessary conflict for one week.

Roman’s club like fists reverted smoothly back to their normal shape.

He scoffed.

"Oh, so you’re still hiding behind some girl’s skirt, huh, coward? Wouldn’t want to ruin your little princess’s day. Fine, I’ll let this slide for now, but don’t think I’ll keep tolerating this skirt shield act of yours forever."

Mark’s eyes narrowed slightly.

Part of him genuinely wanted to fire back, to tell Roman exactly what he thought of that particular insult.

Still, he forced himself to remember his already precarious detention status, and exactly what kind of consequences would follow if he let his temper take the wheel here.

Hermione gently steered Mark toward the opposite side of the corridor, a quiet, wordless signal that they should simply keep moving rather than waste their limited break dealing with Roman any further.

Mark followed her lead.

Roman’s eyes tracked them the entire way as they walked off.

Once they’d put several steps of distance between themselves and him, Hermione glanced toward Mark, her expression earnest.

"Don’t let them get under your skin, okay? None of that’s worth your energy."

Mark shrugged lightly.

"Wasn’t about to start anything with him anyway. That would’ve cost me extra detention, and honestly, that’s the last thing I need right now."

Hermione nodded.

She understood the reasoning instantly. Mark already carried enough disciplinary baggage as it stood, and piling on another incident would only make everything considerably worse for him. Whatever pride he might have wanted to defend in that moment, avoiding another round of detention clearly made more sense in the long run.

Mark’s expression brightened suddenly.

"So, does that mean it’s extra smoothie time for me, to help me cool down properly?"

He said it half jokingly, though he’d genuinely be thrilled if she actually agreed.

Hermione smiled faintly, nodding.

"Yeah, it does. You won this round."

Mark blinked.

His eyes lit up with sudden, genuine excitement.

"Wait, seriously?"

Hermione nodded again, clearly amused by how quickly his mood had flipped.

Whatever lingering disappointment had settled in from the confrontation with Roman seemed to vanish from Mark’s face almost instantly. His focus snapped right back to the promised smoothie, and he continued walking beside Hermione with renewed, obvious enthusiasm.

For him, apparently, victory came in plenty of different shapes.

Sometimes it meant actually winning a competition outright.

Sometimes it just meant surviving a particularly brutal workout session.

And sometimes, apparently, it simply meant earning another Gammy smoothie.

***

Once break ended, students filed back into their seats to resume the test period, once again under their homeroom teacher’s close supervision.

The relaxed, easy mood from break evaporated almost instantly the moment everyone settled back into their desks. The classroom slipped right back into that familiar, tense silence that had hung over the earlier examination. Papers sat arranged neatly across every desk, writing materials ready, attention fully redirected back toward the waiting questions.

Mark stared down at the National Economy section of his notebook, eyes narrowed in concentration.

The subject had never exactly been his strong suit.

He reread the question once more before glancing briefly toward Hermione.

She was already fully absorbed in her own paper.

Just like before, she’d carefully angled herself so no one could catch even a glimpse of her answers. Her posture stayed locked in focus, attention never once drifting from the questions directly in front of her.

Mark studied her for a moment longer.

He could only let out a quiet, disbelieving sigh.

He thought, a little too late now, that he probably should have asked her about the National Economy material sometime during break. Had he known exactly what he’d be up against once the test resumed, he might have pressed her for a quick explanation beforehand.

But that window had already closed.

The test was already well underway.

Mark redirected his focus back to his own paper, working carefully back through the questions once more.

Across the room, Olivia made her way toward the fourth column of seats, movements slow, steady, deliberate.

Amanda shot a quick, furtive glance down at the report book resting in her lap, doing her best to maintain the appearance of a focused, diligent student.

Her friend played along with the charade, quietly feeding her pieces of information while keeping half an eye trained on the supervising teacher’s movements. Every time Olivia drew close, Amanda would instantly redirect her attention toward her actual exam paper, pretending to work through it normally.

The stolen report book stayed hidden well enough to avoid any immediate suspicion, though the real risk of discovery never fully went away.

Amanda understood perfectly well that one careless slip could expose the whole thing instantly.

Her friend understood that too.

Neither of them wanted to become the center of unwanted attention right now.

The magical inscriptions glowing softly across the examination papers continued shimmering as students worked, lending the room an almost unnaturally still quality. Every student seemed completely absorbed in their own private world of questions, answers, doubts, and quiet calculation.

Olivia kept moving steadily between the rows.

Her watchful presence alone made it genuinely difficult for anyone to fully relax.

Amanda tightened her grip around her pen.

She waited until Olivia had drifted far enough away before cautiously glancing back down at the hidden book.

The whole thing carried real risk.

Still, the answers sitting right there proved far too tempting to simply ignore.

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A/N: If you’ve reached this stage without a support, please do so to help this book’s progress. I hope you had a great read.