A great gust of wind disturbed the whole bunk as she reflexively flapped with her wings, trying to push herself away from the unexpected bedfellow. In the constrained space offerred by the bottom bunk, her efforts mostly resulted in her wings slapping painfully against the wall and bunk above her. It was probably lucky that she couldn't seem to breathe fire, or at least, hadn't figured out how to do so yet - otherwise the yelp of surprise that left her mouth would've resulted in the entire room being set ablaze.
It also would've left her awkward love life in a bit of a shambles, if she had been able to let out a gut of flame. Wide-eyed terror slowly died down as she caught a pair of familiar eyes staring back at her, May's face decorated with bemusement at the shock she'd given the latina. For just a moment, she wondered if her pursuit of the scientifically-minded witch might have gone much farther and she'd just forgotten, but she seemed to be fully clothed. No such luck.
"Finally awake, Sleeping Beauty?" The blonde asked jokingly, grabbing a uniform shirt off the floor and tossing it to Rhonda. "You were sleeping the sleep of the dead and Sofia had to run off to her first class, so she asked me to try and wake you. Looks like it worked. Cool hair, by the way."
She blushed. "Uh... thanks..." Suddenly Rhonda's golden eyes flew wide open. "Ohhhhhh shit I'm gonna be laaaaaaaate!" May was barely able to get out of the way in time as Rhonda rolled out of the bunk, her wings and tail flailing around like mad as she scrambled to throw on her uniform. A quick glance at the clock confirmed that she had not a moment to spare - though as she rushed to get dressed, she couldn't help but fire off a question. "Why uh... why'd you crawl in bed with me? Not uh... I'm not complaining, just... seems odd."
"Oh, I just sort of ran out of ideas after loud noise and shoving you didn't work." May shruggedly slightly, a smile still on her face. "Plus, uh... I hope this isn't too weird, but... I was wondering how the scales felt.... so I might've... touched your wings a bit..."
The thought of May's rough, calloused hands running up and down the spine of her draconic appendages sent a shiver down Rhonda's spine, one that she tried to play off as just more flailing. "No need to apologize! They do feel pretty cool." She bit back the urge to ask if May wanted to give them another feel, mainly because her hormone-addled brain was too distracted with trying to get semi-presentable before her first class started.
"Yeah, they do," she agreed, "And I was wondered too if maybe later..." She trailed off, looking up for a moment, then shook her head. "Well, I'll tell you after class." She stood up, just as Rhonda had finished throwing clothes on and stuffing books into her bag, and immediately grabbed the draconic teenager's hand. "C'mon, I think we have the same class first period. We can just make it!"
She offered no protest to May's touch, letting herself gladly be dragged along as the other girl set off in a sprint for their destination. It surprised her just how quick May was when she got going - it almost seemed like she had sped up a little bit since PE yesterday. Maybe she'd resorted to a little magic to get herself into better shape... or maybe she was just a morning person, her apparent energy amplified by how groggy Rhonda still was.
True to the blonde's word, they arrived at the classroom with barely a minute to spare, rushing to take up a pair of open seats near the back of the room. There were quite a few glances from the other girls already seated, along with some double-takes and murmurs about the draconic girl desperately trying to finish putting her hair in order (she'd have to cut it later - it kept swinging into her wings) and her goggles-toting friend. A quick glance around the surprisingly spartan room confirmed that nobody else she was familiar with was here - just her and May toughing it out through...
Ah, right. History of Witchcraft in America. She sighed a little in relief - that would be positively easy, compared to some of the other courses she was in for. Her nerves were further put at ease as the teacher entered the room; of average height and build, with a simple black dress and admittedly rather old-fashioned pointy hat, the blonde woman who marched up to the podium was the single most normal professor she'd seen yet. If not for the hat, and the whole 'I am literally half dragon' thing, Rhonda could've sworn she was back in a regular mortal school again.
"Goooooood morning, y'all!" the teacher announced cheerfully, setting down a bag of books and pulling one to place on the podium in front of her. The accent was unmistakable - this was a woman from way down south. Better put together, though, than some of the other Deep South witches she and Sofia had run across. Those girls had more or less been trailer trash with wands, and about as fun to deal with as that description would imply. "I'm Miss Carmichael, but y'all can feel free to call me Carmi. Together, we're gonna be goin' on an excitin' ride through some of the most important events in the history of this fine young nation - why, it's gonna be fun on a bun!"
There were a few stifled laughs, undoubtedly directed at Carmichael's... rather unique speech pattern. The laughs quickly died down as the teacher began waving her wand back and forth, and in a dazzling display of colors wrapping around the room, their surroundings began to fade and twist and reshape. Every girl in class was forced to stand up as the sparsely-decorated classroom gave way to a field, overgrown with dried grass, and cut through with fences and boulders. May scooted closer to Rhonda, bumping right up against her, as they looked around in confusion.
Moments later, they were both yelping at the sound of cannon fire.
"I believe in a lil' ol' fashioned learnin' through experience!" Carmi began to shout, just barely audible over the din of cannons and small arms firing. Over a nearby ridge emerged a wave of men in grey uniforms, armed with long wood-finish firearms with bayonets mounted; on the opposite side of the field, the girls turned to find that what appeared to be a line of women in garb straight from the nineteenth century were lined up at a makeshift trench, wands drawn and being used to hurl a flurry of mystical and elemental assaults onto the advancing wave of men. Bodies quickly piled up, but the assault did not waver, the solders on both sides merely screaming ever louder.
Worringly, the cannon fire and magical artillery was starting to land near the class - and it was quite difficult to tell if it was an illusion, or actual deadly battlefield fire. "Now, I know some of y'all might've heard about the Union's 1st Witch Batallion and their last stand against Stonewall Jackson’s forces at Gregsbergville, but it's worth seein' in person!" She ducked slightly to avoid a cannonball blazing past. "Though admittedly y'all should probably take cover - now if ya do get shot, don't worry, the Necromancy professors can always use some practice!"