The Hidden Princess At All-Boys Alpha Academy

Chapter 0248

Neumann laughs at my inappropriate remark, shaking his head. “I was hard on you to push you,

Clark. You work harder when you’re terrified. Someone has to herd you along towards your potential, after all,” he looks around the room now, glaring a bit at my friends and my family, who all beam at me. “These ones, I suspect, pet you a little too much.”

“Thank you, sir,” Rafe says formally, coming forward, but Neumann just waves a hand at him, turning his attention back to me. I grin, a little pleased to have a professor pay more attention to me than Rafe, who is usually the golden boy.

“Don’t listen to what those other Cadets said at the final test, either,” Neumann says, stern.

“Do you

hear me on that? Half of them failed anyway, so they don’t know what they’re talking about. You’re very promising, and we’re incredibly excited about your future in the department. Not every successful cadet needs to be a bastion of physical force in order to be useful to the nation’s military. Understood?”

I nod eagerly, tucking my hands behind my back and straightening my shoulders, bolstered by the fact that he believes in me. And, quite frankly, the fact that half my classmates failed

out.

Jerks.

matter, you can tell him that I said that. And that

a little as I realize that Neumann… knows. He has perhaps always known.

a happy winter break!” he calls to us, “get it out

shock and

turn to stare around at the group of Alphas standing in the quietly beaming at me, waiting for me to process my

room, all

the air, my

goes up in the room and suddenly I’m swept off my feet. I

then I’m passed from arms to arms as everyone hugs me, and kisses my cheeks, and tells me how wonderful I am and how they’re not at

by the joy of it, when

on my face, to see Jackson standing there, frowning around at

and I can hear in his voice that he’s pleased and proud. “Ariel passed! Top marks in Chemistry

smile spreads over Jackson’s face. “What,” he says, slowly, looking around