My Prince, My mate

3. Uninvited Classmate

“POR FAVOR, let me learn from you. (Please, let me learn from you.)” Carmelita was hopeful. This would be her ticket to being recognized as an unofficial student. She would do anything for him to agree to her request.

It piqued the professor’s interest. It was not every day that he stumbled upon a student with such dedication to learning. Especially about the law. Usually, women would stop trying after being rejected by the school. “Let me think about it. For now, you must go. This building is exclusively for male students. I would need to get permission to let you in.” The professor smiled at her. There was a hint of hope after all.

“No, you can’t allow her. She is making an excuse. Women have no use for such courses. Their place has always been managing the home and teaching children. She is just here because of me.” The young man fought for what he thought was right.

Carmelita scrunched her forehead in anger. This man was judging her based on her gender. She clenched her fist, ready to punch his face. He was really getting on her nerves. She didn’t care if he was sad. It did not give him a free pass to judge people based on his own beliefs alone.

“Silencio. Sebastián, your opinion on such a delicate matter is not needed. We have laws for such things. In this case, my hands are tied. I am afraid I cannot allow you in my class. It is the law. Women are not allowed to study laws. That is why women are banned from the Law Building. I am sorry, but my work is at stake if I allow you to come to my class. However, I know you will find ways to attend to them. I hope you won’t get caught by other professors. That is all the help I can do.”

All Carmelita found from the professor was regret and helplessness as she searched his eyes for hope. There goes my chance to be acknowledged as a student of law, even if it is farfetched.

“Thank you, Professor, for seeing the reasons.” Sebastián tapped the elder man’s shoulders, but the professor shrugged it off.

“I didn’t do it for you. Now go, before somebody else finds you, señora...” The professor tried to address her formally.

Carmelita gave Sebastián a death stare and let out her tongue at him before smiling back at the professor. “Thank you. My name is Carmelita Jiménez,” she said to the professor.

She inched closer to Sebastián and slapped his face. “Never judge people by their gender or appearance. Arrogant!” She stomped on his feet, then went down the stairs hurriedly. She was glad to know that not all teachers side with the law. Maybe someday things will change, but for now she must be creative.

“Carmelita!” she heard him shout, and she just chuckled. Good for him. He had ruined her chance of sitting in class. An aching foot was a small price to pay for it.

After stepping out of the building, she felt as if a boulder had been lifted off her shoulders. She was too close to being expelled, yet it wouldn’t deter her from studying what she wanted. There would always be a million ways to do it.

“Come here, Miss Troublemaker!” There he was again. That authoritative voice that belongs to no one other than Nosy Guy

Carmelita turned around only to find Sebastián. His face was red as his eyebrows merged together. He was even clenching his fist as he walked towards her.

“Where do you think you are going?” he asked her. The words seemed to resonate on the walls of the building.

“Back to my dorm?” she squeaked. She had the guts to slap him earlier, but this time, she wanted to hide underneath the ground.

“Oh no, you don’t get to walk away after humiliating me. You will pay for what you have done. Here, carry my bag for me. My feet are sore.” He pointed to his long and large feet, then he threw the bag at her.

She wimped at the heaviness of it, yet she didn’t protest. No man had reached out to defend her from the dozens of students going out of the building.

“Let’s go.” Sebastián moved forward merrily, whistling a tune.

“You seemed fine. Why don’t you carry your bag?” Carmelita argued. The bag seemed to weigh more than the first time she held it. Her muscles began to ache, like they would tear one by one.

He stopped in the middle of the pathway. Not caring for those behind him. “You. Owe. Me.” He stressed each syllable as he spoke.

“Fine.” She stomped her feet as she followed. Nevertheless, her mind wandered to how she would take revenge on him.

CARMELITA HAD BEEN PREPARING all morning for her classes in literature. She had placed three books inside a leather bag, which would come in handy during the discussion. She neatly organized all of her other books and papers on the wooden desk. It was a standard desk given to everyone who lived in the dormitory.

Her arms were still strained from carrying a heavy bag yesterday. Now, she could feel her muscles growing larger. “Ugh, I hate you, Sebastián!” she murmured to herself, not wanting to draw Natalia’s attention.

Seeing the sun was high already, she knew she better move.

“Natalia, are you ready to go? I am going to be late because of your untied dress once again.” She clamored under her breath. If she was honest, it was quite early for literature students, but she had been attending another class.

“You know it is hard to reach that part. Could you do it for me? Besides, I still have time, unlike you.” Natalia pouted her lips and placed her perfectly braided auburn hair over her shoulders.

“Ugh, why do you keep buying them if you can’t do it yourself? Such nonsense.” Carmelita didn’t like the fashion style in Madrid; it was far too complicated for her taste.

There was a corset on top of a thin dress as an inner layer. Then, the actual dress had two to three layers of fabric. It seemed she had to carry five more kilos of garbage just to make herself look decent. She didn’t even tackle the one they would wear during the winter. Just the thought of it made her cringe and crawl back to her bed. Back in La Punta, they only wore a camisole that reached underneath her knees and then topped it with a baro’t saya (blouse and skirt). The dresses here are such aristocracies, she didn’t like them one bit.

“This nonsense you say makes us stand out as ladies and not just girls. You know, you could use some color on that pale face of yours. Oh my, your dress is so last season. Aren’t you feeling cold in that one? The cloth is so thin. Do you even wear a corset underneath?” Natalie clicked her tongue in dismay.

In fact, Carmelita did wear a summer dress. It was much lighter than the ones the shops sold. Less puffy on the shoulders as well. It helped her look taller.

Carmelita fiddled with the dress’ lace patterns beside the holes. The linen threads kept messing with her nails. “Oh, don’t worry, I never feel cold.” She tied the top part so the dress would stay in place. “There it is done. Now can we go? I still need to be on time for my first class.” She patted Natalia’s shoulder before going back to her desk.

She took her bag after fixing up her friend. Then she turned the knob open and stepped outside of their room.

“You mean to say you will see the handsome guy in Políticas class?” Natalia spoke at a higher pitch, full of admiration for the guy. Her eyes sparkled at the thought.

For once, Carmelita regretted telling Natalia about the guy who had busted her in the Law Building.

“I should come with you,” Natalia insisted. Suddenly, she was ready to go out as well.

“Yes, I want to learn about law and how to govern the people, not admire some handsome guy, and no, you can’t come.” Carmelita stressed that she had no concern for her friend’s safety. If the other teachers knew what she was doing, she might get expelled.

“Go on, fix your hair. I need to go.” She could not drag Natalia into that mess. She hurriedly went downstairs. Leaving her friend alone and safe.

The building was three blocks away from her dormitory. Everything was against her. She was shorter than an average Spanish girl, and, on top of that, she wasn’t used to carrying a ton of clothes. She pushed through the horde of girls going into their respective classes. “Excuse me,” she said repetitively as she cut through a couple of them.

She walked briskly as the bell rang in the nearby building where her class was. It alerted her that classes were about to start.

Time was not on her side. She was banned from entering the law building. If she tried going up with her invisibility, she would miss the first few minutes of the lecture and risk getting caught. She tried to find a way to make it to class on time.

The brick wall was hard to climb on without using her claws. The columns had spiral carvings, and the ledges had moldings that didn’t help either because they were slippery. Some columns had large cracks, while some parts of the ledges were chipped. The building screamed for restoration. Not that she had a say in it. It also meant a death trap for her.

As she searched her surroundings, she saw a couple of trees nearby that grew next to the classroom. “Perfect,” she whispered to herself. She wanted to pat herself on the back for solving her problem so quickly.

The tree wasn’t so high, but it was enough for her to watch the lecture from a window and hide from the professor’s line of sight. She walked towards it and looked around for anyone who might see her.

When it was clear that nobody was looking, she took her pen and notebook. She bit them as she began reaching for the branches to climb. It was hard, as she could not raise her feet high enough in a straight-cut dress.

She stood back up on the ground. She removed her shoes and ripped the back of her dress up to her knees.Then she went back to reaching for the branches with her hands. This time, she climbed with the help of her feet.

The professor had just entered the room. The students were quiet. As she glanced towards the back of the room, the nosy guy, Sebastián, was throwing stares at her. He had almost identical facial features to Professor Emilio, but they were polar opposites in terms of attitude. It was irking her, as she had done nothing to him. Well, at least nothing that would demand her to take such action.

She stared back at him and pointed her fingers towards the blackboard. As the professor talked, she turned her attention to the front of the classroom, where the teacher was scribbling some names.

She used her werewolf hearing to listen. Yeah, werewolves had heightened senses of hearing, smelling, and seeing. However, they were terrible at controlling their emotions.

“Does anyone know who this guy is?” The professor asked the students.

No one raised their hand. Even the nosy guy just lowered his head without breaking eye contact with her. She preferred calling him a nosy guy rather than his name. It suited him since he liked sticking his nose in her business.

She shook her head and focused on the blackboard. “He is the father of revolution,” she whispered to herself. She read about his name in a book in the library. Just then, the nosy guy raised his hand and answered the professor. He repeated her words like a puppet would.

“Good one, Sebastián.” The professor acknowledged his answer. He continued to talk about how the French established a constitutional monarchy that gave way to various types of leadership styles.

This did not sit well with her. She couldn’t focus on the words the professor said because she was drawn to the strange young man. Sebastián kept staring at her, like her existence pissed him off.

Yet, all she wanted to do was hug him. She wanted to replace that sadness within him with happiness. If only she knew how.

Stop; we are here for the class, her wolf reminded her.

After the class, she immediately climbed down the tree before everyone came out of the building.

To her surprise, Sebastián was already at the foot of the tree, waiting for her. He was holding the bag she left near the tree while waiting for her.

“Enjoying the view, nosy guy?” she smirked as she went down the last branch. She wanted to jump as much as possible, but the idea of him seeing her feet would be scandalous.

“Quite the opposite. Are you stalking me again?” He crossed his arms as he spoke.

“You wish. You’re not that handsome, and besides, I am in love with someone else,” she replied to him, dismissing his claim. However, a small tinge of hurt pinched her heart. She was growing fond of him.

Stalker. She wasn’t ever accused of such a thing. Her mama would kill her if she acted like that. Well, given that she had ripped her dress and climbed the tree, she acted like an uneducated person. She immediately refrained from scowling at him.

“Well then, care to tell me why you were in a tree and watching me the whole time?” Sebastián was full of himself. His back was straight, and his chest was puffing out. He even grinned at her.

“Watching you?” Carmelita scoffed. “You were the one staring at me the whole time. As I have said, I am none of your business. Now, can I get my bag back? I have another class to attend to.” She tried to reach for her bag, but he sidestepped. She lost her bearings and stumbled to her feet.

“What the?” She was kissing the dirt when she heard a loud laugh. Her eyes bulged, and her eyebrows scrunched together. Nobody messed with her, and yet Sebastián has managed it twice already.

Sebastián couldn’t breathe so much at her expense. “You are one crazy chica. Here is your bag. Don’t show your face to me again, stalker. Consider this a warning.” He leaned closer to her as he bent to give her the bag.

She wanted to shout at him for disrespecting her when she was interrupted.

“There he is. Let’s go!” a woman shrieked as they found Sebastián.

They both turned to the woman, who shouted, and turned to each other. “You did this!” they both said in unison.

Without wasting time, she hurriedly took the bag and hid herself. Those vicious women would skin her to death if they caught her with him.

“Whew!” she sighed as she sat on the trunk of the tree.

“Shhh!” She heard someone shushing her from the top of the tree.

This time, Sebastián was the one on top of the tree. She laughed at herself for their situation.

She fixed herself up and dusted off the remaining dirt from her face and body. “See you never, chico.” She let her tongue out at him and moved.

She smirked as she faced the women. “He is up there,” she said, and then pointed at him before walking away.

Who has the last laugh now? She thought to herself.

“Meirda! You will regret this, Ms. Jiménez ,” he warned Carmelita as he ran away from the horde of women.