"Are you trying to die--wait. Don't the Chinese students have to pass an exam to get in?"

"That's my understanding too."

"I'm going to go make a couple social calls and if a piece of paper appears in front of you I'll trade you candy for it."

"...does it have to be a paper that has the words on it like everyone else has?"

"Yes, it does."

Xue Yang stands up and walks out.

Lily follows.

"You already have a paper! You don't need another paper!"

"It's important to me for bullshit reasons you don't care about. I'm not going to insult you by explaining a bunch of things that you don't want to know. Just get me your paper and I'll give you candy, that simple."

"Has he got math in Mandarin, I kind of want math in Mandarin," Bella asks.

"I don't know yet, but if he does I'll happily give you it."

Destiny peruses her schedule. It's not awful? It's about what she was hoping for. Lots of language time, lots of writing classes, some history, the bare minimum of math (and what is 'Abacus Studies' anyway...)

M, 8:45-10:45 AM

     Language lab 

MF, 10:45-12:45 AM

     History of Magical Conflicts

MWF, 2:15-3:15 PM

     Abacus Skills

MWF, 3:15-4:15 PM

     Intro incantations

T, 8:45-10:45 AM

     Language Lab

T, 10:45-12:45 AM

     Western European History through 1500          

TTH, 2:15-3:15 PM

     Freshman comp

TTH, 3:15-4:15 PM

     Milton's Poetry

WF, 8:45-10:45 AM

     Freshman Maleficaria Studies

W, 10:45-12:45 AM

     Intro to Lab

TH, 8:45-10:45 AM

     Intro to Shop

TH, 10:45-12:45 AM

     Beyond the Quixote: Short Stories of Cervantes

She's happy to show her schedule to others in the class for comparison and trading, but she's probably not going to swap any herself. Too much of a risk to run over to Morty's homeroom and check with him; either the school will give them classes together or it won't. 

(She is definitely thinking, quietly, pretty please Scholomance put me in classes with the love of my life, I'll be SO grateful and tell everyone that you're wonderful...) 

Shannon has no idea whether her schedule is any good or not! She starts going through it. 

M, 8:45-10:45 AM

     Malice and Maleficaria in 18th-century French poetry

M, 10:45-12:45 AM

     Intro to Lab

MWF, 2:15-3:15 PM

     Russian Literature Before Pushkin

MWF, 3:15-4:15 PM

     History of Alchemy

TTH, 8:45-9:45 AM

     Principles of Chemistry

TTH, 9:45-10:45

     Language lab

TTH, 10:45-11:45 AM

     Mathematics in Music        

TTH, 11:45-12:45

     Language lab

TTH, 2:15-3:15 PM

     Number Theory

TTH, 3:15-4:15 PM

     Milton's Poetry

WF, 8:45-10:45 AM

     Freshman Maleficaria Studies

W, 10:45-12:45 AM

     Intro to Shop

F, 10:45-12:45 AM

     Welsh Mythology

....Shavri looks around helpfully. "Uh? I - have a class about Russian literature? I don't speak–"

She stops. Gulps. "Oh goddamnit are you kidding me? I talked to him for, like, twenty minutes!" 

"It might be a translation? You shouldn't have it thinking you already know Russian, though it might want you to study it."

Shannon groans. "I bet it does want me to learn Russian. And it's my fault, for hanging out with that Vanya kid from Sacramento and letting him sing songs for me. I was trying not to listen to the words too much, but..." 

"That wouldn't usually have it chucking Russian spells at your head but it might have cued the school that it should set you up to learn Russian, yeah. Did you want to do a different language?"

Shrug. "I didn't have specific plans. And I'm pretty decent at picking up languages. ...Huh, I wonder if the Scholomance just wants me to be friends with Vanya?" 

"I don't think it does that but it seems like he could use it."

Xue Yang returns with his paper and puts it on Lily's desk.

It says:

M, 8:45-10:45 AM

     Introduction to Arithmetic

MF, 10:45AM -12:30 PM

     Functional Literacy

MWF, 2:15-3:15 PM

     Language Lab

MWF, 3:15-4:15 PM

     Functional Literacy

TTH, 8:45-10:45 AM

     World History

TTH, 10:45-12:45 AM

     Introduction to Arithmetic          

TTH, 2:15-4:15 PM

     Introduction to Arithmetic

WF, 8:45-10:45 AM

     Freshman Maleficaria Studies

W, 10:45-12:45 AM

     Intro to Lab

TH, 8:45-10:45 AM

     Intro to Shop

Bella peeks. No Mandarin math. She will head to breakfast to see if she can get a good Mandarin math.

He glances over his schedule.

M, 8:45-10:30 Advanced Geometry 

MWF, 10:45-11:30 Accelerated Algebra 

MWF, 11:45-12:30 Green Knights & Questing Beasts: Magic and Maleficaria in Medieval Literature

MWF, 14:15-15:00 Magical Pigments & Dyes 

MWF, 15:15-16:00 Poetry 

T, 8:45-10:30 Intro Shop

TTh, 10:45-11:30 Language Lab

TTh, 11:45-12:30 Calamities and their Consequences

TTh, 14:15-15:00 Number Theory

TTh, 15:15-16:00 Applied Electromechanics

Th, 8:45-10:30 Intro to Lab

WF, 8:35-10:30 Freshman Maleficaria Studies

He tches slightly, but smiles a little at the relatively reasonable hours, and the focus on at least adjacent interests of his. 

Quite workable indeed.

"What does my paper say?" he says to Lily threateningly.

Nothing she could actually try to swap into, if this guy can't even read.

"It says the school wants you to learn how to read, do math, learn about world history, and learn how to make potions and artifacts, along with learning how to kill mals really good." 

She fishes in her backpack, takes out a small snickers bar she got from Kevin, and passes it over. "Your candy, as promised."

He devours it instantly. "I thought this was a magic school. Why would I need to learn math?"

"It's useful for some kinds of artificing and alchemy. And for knowing when someone's cheating you."