Picking up her bag, Ayumi headed out the door. Winking to the frog left on her desk, she giggled, "Syonara, kareu-san. You made it out semi-unscathed; consider yourself lucky!"

Jogging a bit, she caught up with Dylan. "Say! I'm still a bit lost here, mind if I tag along yet again while we head to our next class?" Ayumi smiled. "Anyhow, what is next? I thought I heard someone mention something about a Divination class......" She rolled up her sleeve and looked fired up. "Yatta! I hope so; Divination is one of my favourites!"

"It's History o' Magic," Dylan replied, his hands stuffed moodily in his pockets. "This has started out t' be a miserable day s' far. Bloody frogs." He kept his eyes trained on the ground in front of his shoes, occasionally look up to ensure he knew where he was going.

Madison smiled, coming up behind Ayumi and Dylan. "Oh, the day'll get better...I hope..." She grinned. "Besides, it's History of Magic next." The other two looked at her as if she were an alien. "Oh, right, you don't know...History of Magic usually means nap time for me...Professor Binns is the only ghost professor here. He didn't even know he died...anyway, I always space out in that class. He never notices."

Things were going from bad to worse in Nimue's day. Now Arcadia and Achel were being held back together by the Professor and likely would get detention and then... and ... they'd walk to History of Magic together and sit together again...and ....

This was just too much. As Nimue left the room with the other students she said quietly to Andy. "Andy, I don't think I can cope with all that's happening today. Could you tell Professor Binns - if he even notices - that I have a headache and won't be in class today."

Andy nods to Nimue's request. He rushes to catch her. "Nimue, wait up!" he yells. He hurriedly runs to meet her. Are you okay?" he asks. "I mean...you know with Achel and everything."

He pauses, "Just don't do anything I wouldn't do. Okay?"

He looked at her waiting for a reply. He got out his books for History of Magic, and wasn't that happy about having to go to Professor Binns' class.

Niki runs into Nimue on her way to History of Magic. "Nimue, are you okay?" She notes the telltale red-rimmed eyes, but doesn't say anything. "Don't go out by yourself," she warns. "I know it's all over, but..."

"I'm not OK ....Niki didn't you see how Achel was behaving with that Arcadia. You'd think that we'd never even been friends or liked each other and it's just so cruel of him. I know I shouldn't go out alone but I have to do something and I don't want Achel to see how upset I am by this. I can't change what my parents have done. He knows that. I've told him already but he doesn't even care to talk to me before 'moving on'."

She looked ready for a full-on cry at this point. "Don't worry about me. I have this." She shows Niki her new pendant, a clear quartz crystal held in the talons of a gold and silver hawk, "Marcus is always close by. I was hoping to talk to him about it. At least he never led me on."

Niki sighs. "Sometimes boys can be jerks. I know it's cruel of him, but do you want to give him the satisfaction of upsetting you? He'll know if you aren't in class." She fumbles in her pocket for a handkerchief, which she offers to Nimue. "Lunch is next, but if you don't go to class, please be careful?"

"It's not a matter of giving him the satisfaction. He knows exactly how much he's upset me. I doubt he'll even notice that I'm not there!"

This was something of a contradiction but it was obvious Nimue was determined to not go to the class and after all just the day before Marvo was dragged off by the WIBs!

Niki sighs. "I hope Arcadia is pleased with herself," she mutters, then shrugs. "I'll tell Prof. Binns you're not coming, then, but I hope you feel better," she says, and continues down the hall.

Niki, catching up with Dylan and Ayumi "I've got Arithmancy after lunch," she explains, "and I've been looking forward to it for a long time! Is History of Magic interesting? At l'École de Magie à Rabat, where I used to go to school, it was very interesting, but I've only heard bad things so far."

"Dull as toast," he told her. "Taught by a ghost an' e'erythin'." Dylan actually glanced up when he realised he was talking to someone new, and tried his best to smile at Niki, his blue-grey gaze half-hidden behind his hair.

Niki smiled back... she assumed that the contortions on Dylan's face were meant as a smile... and sighed. "I was hoping it would be okay, but I suppose I'll snooze. He doesn't give pop quizzes, does he?"

Reaching into her bag for her textbook, she pulled out a strange piece of paper. "What's this?" she said, looking at it. It was a clipping from a newspaper, with a picture of an attractive smiling woman who waved. The caption read 'Maryam Pheidippides,' and Niki said something *extremely* rude in Arabic before ripping the paper in two and dropping it into her pocket.

Dylan's gaze narrowed a little at the Arabic. "Bit o' trouble wi' tha' newsclippin', then?" he asked, a brow arched in curiosity. "An' wha' language was tha'?" There were times he felt very much out of his element, and this just so happened to be one of them.

"It's arabic," Niki explains, "a very good language for cursing in. Also, fewer people here speak it. As for the newspaper clipping," she glowers at her pocket, "yes, I do have a problem with it. Someone has been putting clipping about my mother all over! There was one on my bed last night, another in the mail this morning, and this is the third in less than 24 hours! I want to know who's doing this, and why."

Ayumi had also noted the sudden burst of anger. "My my.......someone y' don't like?" she questioned Niki.

As they turned another corner, the old door to History of Magic could be seen. "Oye..." Ayumi sighed... "No Divination after all...." She dragged her feet as the group approached the classroom.

Niki sighed. "No, it's my Mother."