Dragon Conjurer 3, page 5
I loved America.
I told the ladies behind the counter to give me one of everything, which included pork chops, chicken strips, steak fajitas with the onions and peppers still sizzling in the pan, and so much more. The workers loaded up my plate with a healthy sampling of the different vegetables, breads, and all the meat I could ever possibly eat.
Once we got our cups and desserts, we moved toward our usual table in the middle of the room and sat down to our meal.
“How does this compare to the Japanese food over there?” Steffi asked as she speared some of her green beans on her fork and lifted them to her mouth.
“I love Japanese food,” I began, “but I love this better. It was great to eat mostly fish and stuff like that, but I missed my red meat.”
“I agree with Dylan,” Nick added while he shoved a piece of garlic bread into his piehole. “I’m all for trying new cultures, and the food there was amazing, but AIMM’s meals simply cannot be topped. The amount of food we’re allowed to get is more than enough reason for me to say we’re better.”
“Eh, I kind of liked the way they did meals,” Nala piped up after she took a sip from her water. “Made it harder to overeat, so I never went back to the dorm room to lie down after a meal.”
“Fair point.” I pointed my fork at the dark-haired beauty and smirked at her. “But we should definitely go back with Steffi one day so she can try the food for herself.”
“Do you think they’d let us see the sights if we went back?” The fairy-girl cocked her head to one side as she stirred her roasted carrots around on her plate. “I’d love to stay at MAJK the whole time, but I’ve always wanted to visit Tokyo. I want to go shopping there and all that good stuff, you know? It just sounds like so much fun.”
“Yeah, I want to go back and get a tour, too.” I reached over to lay a hand on Steffi’s arm. “I think it’ll be fun to see the sights, especially with my friends. I don’t know how I’d navigate the city by myself.”
“But you went to UC Berkeley,” Nala interjected and raised one eyebrow. “I thought you would’ve been used to the city life after you moved into the dorms there.”
“But the city I lived in has nothing on Tokyo.” I looked around the table at my friends and set my fork down so I could focus on talking. “See, even though I was at UC for almost three years, I didn’t really get out of the dorms too much. I’d rather stay in my room where it was quiet. I studied a lot because I had a huge workload, but mostly, I genuinely like to read and learn.”
“Yeah, sounds like you made the most of your time there,” Nick teased. “I’m sorry, man. I never went to college, but I expected to be a party animal there if I ever did go. It’s not that I think you wasted your time there. I just thought you’d live it up a little more while you were there. I mean, you’re young and mildly attractive--”
“No homo, right?” I joked.
“Yeah, no, man. No homo.” The blond smirked and picked up his fork again. “Anyway, maybe we need to go back to Japan so we can all go to the big cities together and live it up there.”
“Did you ever go into big cities, Nick?” Nala asked and tilted her head to one side. “You just said you loved camping, so I thought you’d prefer wide open spaces.”
“Oh, I do, but I feel totally fine living near a city.” The nymph took a swig of his water before he went back to shoveling bites of food into his mouth. “Anyway, I guess I just thought Dylan was more of the outgoing type, but maybe it’s just that we bring it out in him.”
“You guys do, for sure,” I chuckled and shoved my empty plate aside. I’d eaten way too much, but it was so worth it. Everything was so delicious, and if I wasn’t so full, I would’ve gone back up for some more of that fajita meat.
Before we could continue our conversation, though, everyone’s favorite bully strolled up to our table and slammed his fist into it right next to my hand.
“Well, it’s been a long time, Red,” Bruce growled as Johnny and the rest of his team flanked behind him. “Had to hide in Japan because you were scared?”
“Why would I be scared of you?” I turned my neck to glare at the bully. “You interrupted our meal. If anything, you should be scared of me right now. I don’t want to kick your ass again, but I will if I have to.”
“I think you’re just talking shit,” Johnny taunted with a curled lip. “We all know you wouldn’t stand a chance in a fair fight against Bruce.”
“Hey, buddy,” Nick spoke up. “If you got your head out of Bruce’s ass for just one second, you might realize the last fight Bruce and Dylan had was more than fair. They used their powers against each other, enough said.”
“If it’s unfair because Dylan has dragons, then maybe that’s not on him,” Nala added without looking up from her plate.
I didn’t think she kept her head down because she was scared to look them in the eye. I just figured she was staring at her empty plate so she wouldn’t lose her cool on these clowns.
“Please, Bruce,” Steffi murmured without looking at the bully standing right behind her. “We just want to have a peaceful meal for a change. Is that so much to ask for?”
“Just don’t try to run off to Japan and escape me again, coward,” Point Break sneered. “You can’t hide forever.”
“For the love of--” I started to say before the bullies stalked off like they had sticks up their asses. “Fucking hell, what is their problem?”
“Maybe that’s how they see it, so they don’t have to admit they’re scared of fighting you,” Nick suggested with a shrug. “It kind of makes sense, right?”
“Thanks, man, but I’ve had it with bullies.” I folded my arms on top of the table and shook my head. “I’m tired of fighting people to prove I’m bigger and badder than they are. It’s so fucking pointless. If I got anything out of it, I might not hate it so badly, but it’s just a waste of my time.”
“You don’t have to fight him.” The fairy-girl placed her hand on my shoulder and started to rub it gently. “Don’t give him what he wants just because he thinks he’s entitled to it. Everyone here knows who you are and how good you are. You don’t have to fight Bruce again to prove it.”
“You’ve got three dragons now,” Nick added. “You’re quickly approaching Lia’s numbers. Who knows? Maybe in the next few weeks, you’ll become even stronger than she is.”
“That would be pretty cool,” I chuckled and stood up. “Come on, guys. Let’s get down to Mr. Goldberg’s class.”
We packed up our trays and took them over to the drop-off window, and then we headed out of the cafeteria to go to our next class.
“You think Mr. Goldberg is still on Japanese history?” Nala asked as we got into the elevator and took it to the floor with all the classrooms. “Because I think it’d be cool to learn more about what we missed while we were there.”
Saving the world took precedence over going to class sometimes, but I was grateful our professors and classes were more informal in regards to attendance.
“Hey, I think we saw some pretty cool shit,” I said and crossed my arms over my chest. “Those monsters in South Korea were awesome, even though they were tough to beat.”
“You act like the Magumau Ingu was a walk in the fucking park,” Nick laughed and shook his head. “I know we made it look easy, but that doesn’t mean it actually was easy.”
“Was it harder than the thunderbird?” Steffi asked while we stepped off the elevator and headed down the hall toward our class. “I’m guessing it was, but I want to know for sure.”
“Oh, yeah, it was tougher.” I dropped my arms to my sides and snaked my fingers around each of the girls’ hands. “We had to worry about a volcano in addition to the lava bird, and we didn’t have Nick’s tranq gun with us this time.”
“Yeah, if I’d had my gun and a lethal dose of ketamine, it would’ve been over.” The blond dude put his hands on his hips and puffed his chest out like a superhero on the cover of a comic book. “We all know I’m just built different.”
Nick’s confidence was one of my favorite things about him. I didn’t know anyone else who was so self-assured, but he wasn’t obnoxious about it. When the nymph put on a show like this, he was only doing it to be funny. He wasn’t trying to get attention or make people like him. I’d never seen Nick act like this around other people. When we were around different cadets, the green-eyed forest sprite always acted more subdued. He was still funny, but he kept it contained a little more around other people.
It was almost like Nick didn’t want anyone else to see this side of him because he wanted to save it for us, like we were special enough to see this side of his humor.
We sat down at our place in the class, and I took time to look around at the handful of other students who’d arrived.
Some of the kids were also in our class with Mr. Gray, and they were all cadets who’d been promoted since we were gone. I didn’t know if it was just me, but the kids who’d gone up a rank seemed to have more confidence than before. I couldn’t blame them for being a little cockier, though. They’d probably been waiting on a promotion for weeks or even months.
More students started to trickle in, and I watched the clock as it ticked by until the start of the class period. Even though it was time to start, and the teacher had already taken his place behind his desk, a couple stragglers arrived at the very last second.
Just like normal class.
“Alright, let’s get started,” the pudgy man in the front of the room boomed to get our attention. “We’ve got a lot to cover and only a short time to do it. I know some of you are just returning to us, so some of this information will be a little confusing, but if you need to catch up, I have the notes from last week’s classes already printed out for you.”
“This is why I love Mr. Goldberg,” I whispered to my friends. “He always has the material we miss so we can get caught up.”
Like the teacher said at the beginning, I was a little confused by the material for today, but I still tried to grasp what I could.
Mr. Goldberg was lecturing about some legendary principles of some obscure Indonesian folklore, and since we missed the last several lectures, I had a feeling everyone on my team was struggling to grasp the concept like I was. I just did my best to keep up with what he was saying so I could go up to him after class ended and get the notes to read later.
When the class period ended, my team peeled out while I walked to the front of the class to collect the notes for everyone. Since the other cadets were trying to leave, it would’ve been hard for our group to come down to the front all at once, so I volunteered to get the stuff for everyone.
“Mr. Cooper, wonderful to see you again,” Mr. Goldberg said as he turned to get the stacks of paper for us. “How was the trip?”
“Pretty awesome,” I admitted with a shrug. “We didn’t see anything you’d talked about before we left, but we still got to see some badass monsters.”
“Like what?” The pudgy man turned around and handed me the sheets of paper stapled together into helpful packets. “I heard about the Magumau Ingu, of course. Everyone is talking about it. It’s a wonderful and fascinating creature, isn’t it?”
“Oh, yeah.” I nodded my head like I was trying to use a Shake Weight for my neck. “Pretty hard to defeat, but still a cool monster to see. Well, it was scorching hot, but you know what I mean.”
“Ah, Mr. Cooper,” he laughed and linked his fingers over his rounded belly. “Such wit. Now, what else did you see?”
“A couple of Dokkaebi in South Korea, and about half a dozen different holographic monsters I can’t remember at the moment.” I shrugged again and adjusted my grip on the piles of notes in my hands. “I’ll have to tell you more later, but we need to get to class.”
“I understand.” Mr. Goldberg waved his hand toward the door and offered me a friendly smile. “Once again, we’re glad to have you back, Mr. Cooper. Enjoy the rest of the day.”
“Thanks, Mr. Goldberg.” I nodded my head one last time before I turned on my heels and walked out of the classroom to meet with my teammates.
“I’ll help you carry those,” Nick said as he leaned forward to take half the stacks of notes out of my hands. “Damn, did he cut down a forest to print all these?”
“You know how he is,” I muttered and headed toward our last class of the day. “Mr. Goldberg is long winded, and I don’t mind that when he’s teaching. He just thinks all his information is worth knowing.”
“And it is,” Steffi added while she walked in the lead. “He has a lot of knowledge to offer, and I think he’s just glad to have a job like this one.”
“I love it when teachers care about their material,” I said and jumped ahead of Steffi to push the door open for us.
“Absolutely,” Nala agreed on her way to our table. She sat on the far end, and I took my seat next to her. “Let me see my pile of notes, Dyl.”
“Sure thing.” I slid her stapled pieces of paper down to her, and then I set my own set in front of me while Steffi got to her seat on my other side.
“Reading them already?” the fairy-girl teased while she looked over my shoulder to glance over the notes herself. “I didn’t think you’d want to distract yourself from Dr. Crawford up there.”
“Huh?” All I had to hear was ‘Dr. Crawford,’ and I was ready to find her. I jerked my head up and zeroed in on the desk in the front of the class, but I didn’t see anyone standing there yet. “Aww. Why would you tease me like that?”
“Because it’s funny,” Steffi giggled and rubbed my arm gently. “I just wanted to see what you would do before she came in.”
“She has to know she’s hot.” I set my hand on top of Steffi’s and grasped her fingers. “I haven’t seen her in a week, so I’m just glad to be back in class.”
“You’re not like most guys, though.” My golden-eyed lover looked down at our hands, and then she gripped my forearm just a little tighter. “I know you like looking at Dr. Crawford, everyone does, but you also want to learn more in this class. I appreciate that, you know.”
“Thanks, Steff.” I grinned at her just as I heard the telltale sound of stilettos on tile, and I turned my head in time to see our hot teacher glide into the room like she was being carried by a cloud.
Dr. Crawford had her mocha-colored hair down today, and the gorgeous thick locks framed her face to make her cheekbones look even sharper, and her jaw even more tapered. She’d gone with a different colored lipstick today, and instead of a dark-red stain, she’d applied a more natural color that still made her luscious lips look full and tasty. The major-league attractive woman wore a tight maroon sweater which had to have titty pockets in it for it to encase her breasts so well, and her gray pencil skirt hugged her hips like a second skin. She wasn’t wearing her lab coat, and the lack of the white jacket over her body let everyone get the perfect view of her tight ass and narrow waist as she sashayed to the front of the room.
I whipped my head over to Nick and mouthed a silent “hot damn” to him, and he returned my look with a shocked expression of his own.
Just when I thought Dr. Crawford couldn’t possibly get any hotter, she fucking did. I didn’t know how she wasn’t mobbed by people all day, she was just so fucking attractive.
“Damn, she’s so sexy,” Steffi whispered in my ear. “How about you take all those fantasies I know you have about Dr. Crawford and use them on me later?”
“W-What?” I stuttered and dropped my jaw at her. “Are you serious?”
“Yeah, right after classes are over.” My golden-eyed lover fixed me with a flirty grin. “We need to make up for lost time anyway, and if you have some energy left over after this class, I think you should concentrate all of it on me…”
“This class better be over real soon,” I muttered at once.
I already wished I was back in our dorm room.
Chapter Four
I squirmed my way through Dr. Crawford’s class while I tried to keep my mind on what the hot woman at the front of the room was teaching instead of what I wanted to do with Steffi later. I was here to learn, not think about what positions I wanted to take my golden-eyed lover in after we got out of class.
But I couldn’t stop thinking about it. The possibilities were just endless.
When the class finished, and Dr. Crawford dismissed us, I fumbled to think about something disgusting so I could kill my boner before I stood up. My uniform was well-fitting, but not enough to hide the very apparent arousal between my legs.
Thankfully, I’d seen plenty of horrible images of monsters in my textbooks back at UC, so it didn’t take much before I was able to stand up without bumping my dick against the table.
Then the four of us left our classroom, and I held onto Steffi’s and Nala’s hands while we walked toward the line of cadets waiting for the elevator.
“So, what are we going to do with the rest of our evening?” Nick asked as he rolled his shoulders. “Normally, I think I’d be jetlagged, but I guess the excitement of being back here is keeping me up. I think I’ll play some video games if no one else opposes.”
“Well, I’m pretty tired after all of the classes and the flight back over here,” Nala admitted and leaned into my shoulder. “I’m probably just going to go to bed until dinnertime, so wake me up before you guys go down for food, okay?”
“You don’t want to join us, Nala?” Steffi asked in a super-sweet tone. “Dylan and I are going to do some more catching up, but if you want to come along with us, you’re welcome to.”
“Thanks, but I’ll let you two get your alone time.” The dark-haired beauty gave me a knowing wink and a squeeze to my fingers. “You two deserve it after being away from each other for so long.”
“Aww, maybe next time?” The fairy goddess cocked her head to one side and smiled at Nala.
