from the kick, but to give him credit, he didn’t fall. It didn’t matter as he was still off balance and when she stepped into him, pulled down on his right arm, slipped her own right under his left armpit, and swiveled one hip into his pelvis, the physics were all on her side.
Up and over her hip, big feet to the sky, landing on his neck and shoulder. Stunned, he still managed to start to roll his legs over somersault fashion. She helped him along with a snap kick to his exposed groin and when he finished his roll, he leaned forward, clutching his bruised guy parts. She took his back and started to lock in a rear naked choke, but again he surprised me. He leaned forward fast, reaching up and pulling her forward. She simply went with it, rolling over his head and bounding up before he could react, turning and wrapping her right arm under his neck, his head under her armpit and her bladed hand pressed against his throat in a guillotine choke. This time he stood, lifting her entire weight straight off the ground, removing her leverage.
Like a gymnast on a pommel horse, she let go with her arm and spun around his neck, wrapping her legs around his throat and letting her body weight fall down his back, which along with his own upward standing motion was enough to pull him over backward. They both crashed to the ground, but whereas Delwood’s head bounced off the concrete, Caeco executed a classic breakfall and avoided most of the impact. She tightened her legs into a triangle choke and this time, his struggles lasted only a few moments before he slumped into unconsciousness.
“Break,” Jenks said.
Caeco unlocked her legs and back rolled to a standing position. On the floor, Delwood lay unmoving for a few moments, but then his eyes fluttered open and he started to flop a bit as he tried to sit up.
“And that, class, is why Miss Jensen will be my assistant,” Jenks said.
“Yeah but how good is she with witchcraft?” Erika asked, her fingers twisting and her lips twitching out a spell.
I reacted from a reflex my aunt had pounded into me as a child. Everything slowed as my Sight perceived her spell flaring across the room, headed directly for Caeco.
My own fingers flexed, just a bit, and her spell was slapped from its path, instead slamming into Delwood, whose eyes rolled back up in his head as his support arm slipped out from under him. His head bounced off the concrete again.
“That’s strike one, Miss Boklund. The next strike, you will be expelled from this school,” Jenks said, glaring at her. “Nobody, but nobody, throws spells or power around this room without my express permission—got it? And it’s a two strike limit.”
Erika had a slightly horrified expression on her face, which I felt was due mainly to her missing Caeco and not so much that Delwood had taken the sleep spell center of mass. Her sister looked at her disgustedly and the Native American witch, who Ashley said was named Tami Keoni, looked thoughtfully from Caeco to Delwood. A moment later, Tami turned her eyes, catching me watching her before I could look away. She nodded once then looked back at Delwood, who was being examined by Mr. Jenks. “Undo it—now,” was all he said to Erika.
The rest of the day was anticlimactic. It turned out that college courses were different and yet not so different from high school. I had Programming and Calc, both before lunch, and then the rest of the afternoon was free. Except for homework, which both teachers had assigned in spades. It seems that in college, you don’t have class everyday, but you do a butt load more homework. Caeco had two bio classes in the morning and their respective labs in the afternoon, so I didn’t see her till dinner.
Our table was the same crew, with two additions. A big, burly black kid who was some kind of were, named Justin Williams, and his roommate, a dark-haired, dark-eyed boy named T.J. Alverez. The two boys had approached the table, plates and drinks in hand, and T. J. had asked if they could sit there, watching Caeco for her reaction. No one objected and so they sat: T.J. next to Mack, who was next to me, and Justin beside him, which put him next to Ashley. We introduced ourselves and what we were, supernatural wise.
T.J. seemed