CHAPTER 41: CHAPTER 41: SIT DOWN, FROST, YOU’VE MADE YOUR POINT.

The remainder of the lesson dragged on, though no one could say they remembered much of it. The teacher carried on professionally, his pen darting across the board, diagrams of acids and bases scrawled neatly beside lists of color indicators. Red to blue, blue to red. Phenolphthalein turning bright pink in a base, colorless in acid. Litmus showing its truth in the simplest, clearest way.

But while his voice explained, the class wasn’t listening. They were watching. Watching the way the teacher’s shoulders were just a fraction stiffer than before. Watching how Theodore, sitting back in his chair like a king who owned the air itself, barely blinked. And Athena, who took notes with steady precision, refusing to acknowledge the storm sitting side of her.

By the time the bell rang, the classroom felt strangled with relief.

Finally.

But then, the teacher’s voice cut clean through the noise.

"Athena," he said, adjusting the stack of papers on his desk without looking up. "I’d like to see you in my office after this."

The air snapped back to silence.

Athena froze mid-motion, her fingers tightening around her pen that she thought it might snap. For a second, she wasn’t sure she’d heard him right. Her lips parted, a protest already forming. She was about to ask him why, when she heard...

"Why?"

The voice was smooth, sharp, and carried across the room like the crack of a whip.

Theodore.

He hadn’t spoken the entire lesson. Hadn’t needed to. But now, every head turned toward him, eyes wide, waiting patiently for what’s about to happen.

Students who already stood up before when the bell rang, say down back, not willing to miss the drama.

Athena too. Her head snapped to the side, her pulse jumping as she looked at him. His posture was unchanged, still relaxed, but his gaze, his gaze was locked on the teacher, colder, unreadable, daring him to explain.

The teacher finally lifted his head. His expression was composed, professional, though there was the faintest twitch at the corner of his mouth, a crack in the mask.

"It’s not your place to interfere, Frost," he said. His tone was measured, clipped, as though he were standing in front of colleagues instead of students. "This is between myself and Miss Athena. You would do well to remember that."

The classroom stilled.

Not a single breath dared to rise too loud.

The audacity. That was the only thought running through the minds of every student present. The audacity to say those words to Frost of all people. No one dare to speak to the phantom fours in that manner, but it looked like the teacher had developed some guts to look into Theo’s eyes and spit nonsense.

Really

Theodore didn’t move at first. The edge of his lips just curled into a smirk, which made him look more dangerous than he already were.

It was a silence that promised the teacher had just stepped into dangerous territory.

Athena’s stomach coiled tight. She hadn’t even answered yet, and already the room felt like it was sitting on a blade’s edge, every second stretching thinner and thinner.

Finally the scrape of Theodore’s chair was loud enough to silence every whisper in the room.

He rose, slow and deliberate, one hand sliding into his pocket, the other adjusting his blazer like he had all the time in the world. His presence alone changed the air. Students shrank in their seats waiting, anticipating.

The teacher didn’t flinch at first. He straightened his spine, lips pressing into what was meant to be a confident line. But his fingers twitched against the desk before he clasped them behind his back.

"You’re asking her to your office," Theodore’s voice was calm, quiet, and dangerous. "And you expect me not to question it?"

The students stiffened. A ripple of murmurs started then cut short when Theodore’s icy gaze swept the room. Silence dropped like a blade.

Athena couldn’t speak. Her pulse drummed against her throat as she stared at Theodore’s back, at the unshakable calm rolling off him like a storm barely leashed.

What the fuck is this guy doing, creating a scene.

The teacher chuckled lightly. His attempt at confidence cracked at the edges. "Why so defensive, Frost?" he asked, tilting his head. "Unless..." His eyes flicked to Athena, then back to Theodore. "...she’s your girlfriend. Is that it?"

The room erupted in hushed gasps and muffled laughter, the kind that came from disbelief more than amusement. Eyes shot between Theodore and Athena like a tennis match, waiting for someone to combust.

Felicia rolled her eyes so hard at the teacher, if she wasn’t careful, it might practically roll out of its sockets." Such a shameless asshole, justifying his stupidity." She hissed under her breath.

Athena’s face went hot. Not from embarrassment, no, this heat was something else entirely. Her jaw clenched as her mind screamed ’what the fuck is he doing? Why was he suddenly taking her side?’

He stepped forward once, closer, the sound of his shoe against the floor echoing in the still room. His eyes were locked on the teacher, cold and unblinking.

"Careful," he said softly, like a warning dressed as advice. "You’re playing a game you’re not built to survive."

The teacher’s throat bobbed as he swallowed, but he forced his smile wider. "Then why don’t you sit back down, Frost," he said, voice dipping low. "Unless you’re confirming it for all of us right now."

Gasps again. Someone dropped their pen.

Felicia eyes landed on Athena, and both the girls eyes connected, before drifting back to the scene in front of them.

Athena was frozen, she didn’t know what to do, how to stop this shit, her chest rising and falling too fast, her eyes locked on Theodore.

And Theodore? He didn’t even glance at her. His entire focus stayed on the man who dared to talk back at him like he was an equal. He might as well show him his place.

Theo moved forward again instead, His shoes clicked on the floor with a steady rhythm that made every breath in the room tighten.

The teacher’s smirk faltered, but he forced it back in place, though sweat was already beading at his temple. He gripped the edge of his desk like it might anchor him.

"Sit down, Frost," he said, voice thinning.

Theodore tilted his head, eyes glittering like shards of ice. "You sound nervous, sir. Did I hit too close?"

The words were quiet, too quiet and yet they carried like a roar.

The students were frozen. Some tried to duck behind their desks, others were holding their breath so hard their faces turned red.

Athena’s pulse thundered in her ears. She could feel it, the shift in the room, the edge of violence creeping in like a shadow. Theodore’s aura pressed down, suffocating, his presence like a blade kissing the teacher’s throat.

Theodore looks like he was feel seconds away from hitting the man and what terrified Athena most was his calmness.

The teacher tried again, his voice cracking this time. "You don’t intimidate me, boy. Don’t forget your place."

That earned a laugh from Theodore, low, sharp, humorless. "My place?" He leaned forward, palms pressing against the teacher’s desk, looming over him with a wolfish calm. "Funny. Looks to me like you’re the one forgetting yours."

The teacher’s eyes darted, his bravado slipping for the first time. The students saw it. Everyone saw it.

And just as Theodore leaned closer, lips parting like he was about to say something that would end the man...

"Enough!"

Athena’s voice cut the air like lightning. Strong. Sharp. Clear. Unshaken.

Every head snapped to her. Even Theodore froze, his smirk faltering for a fraction of a second as his cold eyes slid sideways to meet hers.

Athena’s chest heaved, but her glare was steady. "Sit down, Frost," she said, her tone firm, unyielding. "You’ve made your point."

As much as she appreciates whatever he was doing for her right now, she still doesn’t want violence. She could take care of herself, speak for herself and he’s in no position to speak for her or tell her what to do.

The silence in the classroom was deafening.

Theodore’s jaw ticked. For a moment, he didn’t move. The weight of his stare pinned her, icy and burning all at once. The whole room held its breath, waiting because no one ever told Theodore Argentis what to do.

Then, slowly, his smirk curved back, smaller this time. Dangerous.

He straightened, dragged his chair back with a loud scrape, and dropped into it without breaking eye contact with Athena. The tension didn’t vanish, but it shifted.

And just like that, the room exhaled.

The teacher tried to salvage his composure, adjusting his tie, but his hand shook. "Class dismissed," he muttered stiffly, retreating to his desk.

Athena’s heart was still racing, her hands trembling beneath the desk. She wanted to scream at Theo’s face or slap that smirk off of his face.

The last thing she wanted was rumors flying around about her dating anyone and here he was making her life a living hell.