448 Introduce
“Did you hear Clara?” A girl with short bob cut hair slid into a seat by Clara in the medium sized lecture hall. It only held about 100 students at max capacity, but only truly ever housed 50 at a time. “What am I saying, of course you heard, he’s your father after all.”
“Oh? Is he coming today?” Clara looked out of the window, her grey eyes as cold as usual.
The President doing talks for your university was a big deal. And usually, it was only for the end of year graduation. But, President Gallagher was most known during his tenure as an education reformist. So, he often made monthly appointments with various schools around the country, promoting higher learning, but also, smarter learning. It was because of him that America had begun to rank higher in education in recent years.
“You’re too cold,” the girl pouted. “Look, Jason is looking over here again. What’s not to like!”
Seeing Clara not reacting, she could only give up. Well, that was until she noticed blond hair and blue eyed Jason walking over.
Seeing that, she smoothed her hair but also poked at Clara. But, could only give up seeing that she was still being ignored.
“Clara.” Jason smiled politely, speaking with a clear British accent. “Penelope. It’s nice to see you two looking beautiful, as usual.”
Penelope smiled while Clara looked up, nodding in acknowledgement.
Jason leaned in and whispered, making sure only the three of them heard. “Penelope. I finally got Clara to agree to go on a date with me.”
He looked excited, like a little boy on Christmas morning. It was also clear that he wasn’t here to brag about it, or else he would have spoken out loud for more than them to hear. That made Penelope nod with approval before she registered what had just been said.
“Wait, what?!”
“Sh, sh, sh.” Jason brought his finger to his lips. “I’m only here so that you can make sure she doesn’t back out.”
Penelope looked over at Clara, but all she found was her friend looking out of the window again. It was clear that Jason wasn’t lying.
“That’s so cute.” Penelope giggled. “Okay. Let me know when it’s happening so I can make sure she’s ready. I won’t let her escape!”
Suddenly, the door of the classroom opened, causing everyone to turn their gaze over. They were supposed to have the president as a lecturer today, but they found it odd that they didn’t see any of the usual press and security detail. Not to mention he was late.
But, when they saw a young man walk in wearing a crisp white t shirt and sweat pants rolled to his calves, many were confused. Well, the men were confused. Many of the women were in a daze. They had simply never seen someone so attractive.
Penelope gripped Clara’s forearm, unwilling to take her eyes off of the young man. “You already have Jason, right? You can let me have this one?”
Clara looked up in confusion, but when she saw who it was, she froze.
Jason, who was still facing the two of them, didn’t take too kindly to Clara’s reaction. She had never seen her emotions shift much from their baseline coldness. Even when she accepted his invite this morning, it had been with the faintest of nods. Jason had to strain and even double check before he confirmed that that was her way of saying yes.
“Wait, isn’t that?”
The chatter in the class began to rise as they analyzed who this young man was. The only person who seemed confused was Jason. But, he couldn’t be blamed. After all, he had come here for school and was originally from Europe. He wasn’t as aware of Dyon’s fame as the far West world was.
In addition to this, Dyon’s passing to enter the martial world was a country secret. Something even the American students here didn’t know. After all, the mortal realm wasn’t united. The idea of a citizen of a country becoming a martial expert could drastically tip the balance of power, and as such, results were kept secret.
The only reason Clara knew and understood was not only because she was the president’s daughter. That wasn’t enough to justify her knowing a military grade secret. The reason was because President Gallagher knew his daughter cared for Dyon and didn’t want her to think he just upped and disappeared. So, he broke the rules.
Jason looked around to hear the chatter, but he was confused. He had to admit that this boy was attractive, but this was Princeton. Since when did how you looked dictate anything?
Dyon looked around, quickly scanning over the class. But, before he could finish, he noticed Jason making his way over.
“Hi. Sorry, do you need help getting to the right classroom?” Jason asked with a smile. He didn’t make the assumption that Dyon wasn’t meant to be in Princeton. After all, no matter how lost someone was, they would know what this institution was. But, this was a small class of only about 50 and Jason had never seen him before despite it being near the end of a semester. So, he thought he’d help. Especially since Dyon looked a bit young. ‘He’s likely a first year…’
Dyon smiled politely. “No, I think I’m in the right place. This is where G m – I mean President Gallagher’s lecture was meant to take place, right?”
Hearing his accent, Dyon immediately understood why Jason didn’t recognize him.
“That’s right.” Jason nodded, “Are you a new transfer student?”
“Uh, actually, I’m here to replace President Gallagher as today’s lecturer.”
Hearing Dyon’s words, whispers filled the room. Those words confirmed a lot of their thoughts and excitement began to color their faces. Who here didn’t know of Dyon Sacharro? He was practically a legend!
Jason blinked with surprise. Who here wasn’t a genius among geniuses? This was not only Princeton, but this class had some people who stood out even among that crowd. Clara for example was only nineteen, and yet was in multiple Masters level classes. Jason was a transfer from Cambridge who was completing a dual diploma. And even Penelope, who acted like a typical teenage girl a large portion of the time, was still a biochem savant. But someone their age was going to lecture them?
Jason was fairly mild tempered and didn’t react too harshly to this, but he was still inwardly off put.
“Do you mind if I ask what you will lecture us on?”
Dyon pondered for a bit. “Actually, I hadn’t thought that far. Why don’t you guys decide?”
Jason didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. If he ever got the opportunity to replace the president, how many tireless weeks would he spend preparing? But this guy didn’t even have a lecture idea?
“Ah. First. I should probably introduce myself. I haven’t been in the public eye for a while, but many of you likely know my father, General Sacharro. Obviously, that makes me his son. Dyon Sacharro.”
Jason froze. Whether he knew what Dyon looked like was one thing. But that name… That was a name the entire mortal realm knew.