“What does that mean?” Shar’s voice was flat and Vice Principal Roster was clearly unnerved.

“Er, well, we typically suspend students for fighting, but with three F’s, one D, and one B, we thought some alternative discipline might be in order. To encourage . . . improvement.”

Shar stared at Mr. Roster blankly for a moment and Tamani tried not to smirk. For all his training at the manor, Shar had never had reason to learn the intricacies of the human grading system. But he was unfazed.

“What can be done?” Tamani noticed for the first time just how anachronistic Shar sounded, especially compared to the teenagers Tamani conversed with every day. It really was a good thing their English was accented—a good accent seemed to cover all kinds of quirks in grammar.

“Well, if he wants to graduate with his classmates, he’s got to pull his grades up.” The vice principal folded his hands on top of the desk in front of him. “I thought perhaps some tutoring?”

“Of course. If that’s what it takes.” He clapped Tamani on the shoulder in a move that Tamani knew looked friendly to the untrained eye—but he’d have a bruise there later. “We want Tam to graduate, naturally.” The vice principal would hear earnestness in those words, but only because Shar had grown weary of this meeting; a light warmth in Tamani’s chest told him Enticement was at work. Shar and Tamani had agreed there were too many anonymous witnesses to effectively erase the fight, so in order to maintain perfect cover, no memory potions would be administered and Tamani would accept whatever punishment the school assigned him—assuming it didn’t compromise his mission. But Shar had also allowed that, as long as Yuki wasn’t close enough to potentially sense it, Enticement could be used to ease the process.

It would be Shar’s job rather than Tamani’s, though. Shar was extremely talented and could work his Enticement without physical contact—something Tamani had always been jealous of.

“Naturally,” Vice Principal Roster said, smiling now. “Now, David Lawson—that’s the boy Tam was fighting—is one of our finest students. We’re giving both David and Tam three days in-school suspension and we thought perhaps David could spend those days tutoring your nephew. I think you’ll agree this is very lenient, and will hopefully give the boys an opportunity to work through their differences.”

Tamani bit back a sigh. What a colossal waste of time.

“They will be supervised, of course,” the vice principal continued, as if Shar cared. “Now if I can have you sign some paperwork,” he said, sliding a piece of paper forward.

Tamani shot a look at Shar, but Shar either didn’t see or chose to ignore it. “That’s fine,” he said. He took the pen and managed an illegible scrawl across the signature line.

“Excellent,” Vice Principal Roster said, rising from his chair and shaking hands with Shar. “We want nothing more than for our students to succeed, and parents, or uncles in your case, are the biggest factor in that.”

“We will make sure things improve,” Shar said. “I’ll take Tam out to the parking lot and chat for a while before I send him back into class.”

“Good, good,” the vice principal said proudly, surely assuming Tamani was about to receive further discipline. He opened the door and gestured to the hallway.

Tamani felt the human’s eyes on them all the way down the hallway and out the front doors. They walked silently to Tamani’s convertible, where Shar stopped and leaned against it, turning to face Tamani.

“Well, young man,” he said, his face serious, “what do you have to say for yourself?”

They stared at each other for a moment longer. Tamani broke first, a quick chuckle escaping his lips, and then both faeries burst out laughing.

Chapter Twenty-Five

SPEECH CLASS WAS PAINFUL.

Laurel could feel the tension in the room and knew there was no way anyone else missed it. Especially with the way everyone kept glancing at David and Tamani, who very carefully avoided even looking at each other. She’d overheard Tamani telling Yuki that he had to serve three days of in-school suspension with David, but she hadn’t had a chance to talk to either of them about it. David had spent his lunch hour in the office with his mom and the vice principal, and Tamani had spent his lunch hour with Yuki. Chelsea was away at a cross-country meet, so Laurel had spent her lunch hour fretting. Alone.

“Okay,” Mr. Petersen said, finally starting the class about a minute after the bell rang. Longest minute of Laurel’s life. “You’ve all had a chance to present your own speeches. But giving a speech sometimes has very little to do with the words you are actually saying. Today you will all be giving someone else’s speech.”

He waited, as if expecting a reaction. What he got was silence.

“Each of you will be handed a personal ad; you will have sixty seconds to read it over, and thirty seconds to present it.”

Now the murmurs started.

“Your goal,” Mr. Petersen said above the buzz, “as a persuasive speaker, is to convince the members of this class that they should meet you. Over nonalcoholic drinks, of course,” he added, chuckling at his own lame joke. After another moment of silence, he cleared his throat and continued. “I spent a long time preparing these materials. I think I’ll make it ten percent of your presentation grade this month,” he declared. “Don’t take it lightly!” The class groaned and Mr. Petersen raised both hands in the air. “The assignments will be random. Just give it a chance! You might be surprised how fun this can be.”