Theology

Amanda and Eydis walked down the hall of the Aletheia Building on the way to their next class. They’d been roommates since freshman year and even though they had different majors, they tried to take at least one elective together every semester. They watched in amusement as new students scrambled to find their classrooms without looking lost. One boy in particular caught Amanda’s eye.

“Check out that fresh meat,” she said. “Rawr.”

Eydis followed her friend’s gaze and stifled a grin. “He’s a little buff for you, isn’t he?”

“Please. He’s got tall, dark and handsome on lockdown and you think I’m going to complain about his muscles?”

“You do usually prefer them thin and brooding…”

Ligossa popped up out of nowhere, as she often did, her wings brushing against Amanda’s arm. “I hear he’s a transfer,” she said. “Scholarship boy. From community college.” Her tone put that on the same level as someone with a horrible, disfiguring disease.

“Smart, too, eh?” Eydis patted her friend on the back. “Guess you’d better pick the wedding venue.”

Amanda rolled her eyes.  “What’s his name, Oss?”

“I think someone said it was Joe.” She ruffled her feathers and sneered. “Have fun slumming it, Mandy.”

“Don’t worry, I will.” She hated snobs who cared more about genealogy than ability. Squeezing Eydis’ arm, she sauntered off toward the boy and flashed him a smile that nearly made him stagger.

“Need help finding your class?” she asked, tucking a strand of curly auburn hair behind her ear. “I’m Amanda.”

“Kojo,” he said with a polite bow. “My friends call me Joe. I believe I have found the room, but I thank you for the kind offer.”

Amanda looked up at the number over the door. “Oh, you’re taking Basic Shapeshifting? So am I! What’s your major?”

She sensed his blush even though his coffee-black skin barely showed it. “Finance. I would have preferred to take something else but my parents are rather old-fashioned.”

“Don’t worry, it will be fun.” Batting her eyelashes, she leaned closer. “You’d be surprised how invigorating it can be to… fully experience different forms.”

Eydis arrived then and Amanda introduced her. “Eydis is majoring in hydrology with a minor in luck. She’s taking the class, too.”

As tall as Joe was, Eydis could almost look him right in his big brown eyes. She decided after a handful of seconds that she liked what she saw and held out an arm for him to grasp.

“Come on, we don’t want to be late.” Amanda tucked her arm into Joe’s and steered him toward the door.

“And what are you majoring in?” Joe asked.

Joe smelled absolutely divine, like a mix of coffee, lemon and cayenne pepper. “I’m still undeclared,” she lied. For some reason, these young sweet things always tensed up when they found out she was studying to be a love goddess. And did she ever love to study.

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13 Responses to “Theology”

  1. Crystal says:

    I like that school. Where can I sign up?

  2. Vandamir says:

    What a fun story. A refreshing read after the darkness of my own. Can I audit a class or two?

  3. Gracie says:

    Love goddess! How delightful! The last line made me laugh out loud.

    Great story. Where was this institution when I was in school? I would totally have gone there.

    Love it!

  4. Fun story with delightful school conversation. Nice descriptions; scents visuals.

  5. Kari Fay says:

    Lovely piece, great fun. I wonder what other classes they teach?

  6. John Wiswell says:

    It was cute to watch a magic student hit on the new boy. Love Goddess? If only that was a more respected profession.

  7. ganymeder says:

    This made me grin.

    And she’s wondering why a guy might be intimidated by a love goddess? Seriously, a guy ‘tensing up’ would be a good thing for that profession; wouldn’t it? 😀

    Nicely done.

  8. Tony Noland says:

    I’d be a little concerned if a beautiful woman suddenly came up and wanted to be such good friends. Great descriptions.

  9. Travis King says:

    Valerie,

    This is the first time I’ve read one of your stories, and what a great introduction it was to your style! I enjoyed it, and I’ll be back for more.

  10. Steve Green says:

    Light, fresh, and airy, and easy to read.

    It sounds like a brilliant school. 🙂

  11. Valerie says:

    Hah, glad you all enjoyed it. Alas, I don’t know where you can send your applications, or I’d probably be there myself.

    Kari, not sure about the curriculum but there’s probably something about answering prayers and throwing lightning bolts and stopping upstart renegades from stealing fire for humans.

    John, those poor love goddesses get no respect. Where would the human race be without them? Much smaller, for sure.

    Catherine, I’m not saying a word but you’re too right. 😉

    Travis, welcome and come back whenever you like, I’ll leave the light on for you. Drinks are in the fridge.

  12. That was a lot of fun to read. It’d be interesting to see you develop this school further. I’m sure there are quite a few adventures happening there.

  13. Valerie says:

    Thanks, Eric, but I don’t know if I want to go down that road… I once developed an entire magic school curriculum for a novel, and I can see myself diving into this with gusto and emerging a month later with no actual writing done. 😛

    I may revisit it another day, though! Could be fun.

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