jamie and eric-29-classroom discussion

The boy said something to Professor Turntable (and yes it is a goofy name, but coming up with a bilzillion names is hard so I’ll change it in the final version) in a soft voice that didn’t carry.
“This is Novice Daniel (…don’t remember Eric’s last name…),” her professor announced to the class.
So it was Eric’s brother! Dahlia swept her papers into a neat pile before her, so that the unoccupied space next to her would look more available.
“Ah, it looks like Dahlia would like you to join her table.” Professor Turntable said pointing towards her. Dahlia turned bright red. Someone giggled. Nat, who sat across from Dahlia, shrugged when she looked at him.
The administrator gave Professor Turntable some papers and rushed off. Daniel, Eric’s brother, shouldered his book back and headed to the back of the room, to the empty spot that Dahlia had cleared for him.
Sitting down Daniel flashed Dahlia a winning smile, before extending his hand, “Dahlia, was it?” He kept his voice down as the class had generally quieted down again.
Dahlia blinked. Was this Eric-copy hitting on her. He cocked his head at her trying to reestablish the handshake.
“Oh.” Dahlia shook his hand, “Yeah. Yeah, Dahlia.”
Daniel pulled a notebook and pencil from his book bag. The notebook looked old and tattered. Dahlia watched out of the corner of her eye, pretending to turn back to her essay, as Daniel opened his notebook and flipped through a couple of pages to find an empty one. The thing had more doodles in it than words. Daniel began coping the prompt from the board.
Nat looked incredulous, “Have you even read the book?”
“Yeah, actually, I read it at my last school. I guess they mixed the curriculum up a bit.” Daniel replied.
“Where are you from?” Alex asked eagerly.
Dahlia realized she was watching the speakers, so she began writing non-sense words on her paper to disassociate herself, “Book, book, title, written written and now for the main topic. Blah blah topic book.”
“Back east. It was a small town. There were like two hundred people,” Daniel responded. His body was turned as if he was talking to all three of his table mates. And Dahlia kept catching his gaze out of the corner of her eye.
“The main character’s struggle was exemplified by her inability to leave the situation,” Dahlia wrote furiously.
“So what, did your family move out here?” Nat prompted the conversation.
“No… actually I ran away from home. I’m staying in the orphanage right now, but they’re going to move me into the dorms when something opens up.” Daniel was almost bragging. Nothing like Eric, Dahlia told herself. True, she had been annoyed by Eric’s cold shoulder behavior as of late, but he had always been modest. Always shrugged off his accomplishments. Always able to laugh at himself.
“Intense.” Alex mused.
“Are you really Eric’s brother?” Dahlia demanded. Demanded perhaps a little too loud because Professor Turntable spoke up, “Settle down class.”
Daniel didn’t miss a beat. He pulled Dahlia notebook away from her grasp and scribbled into the margin, “You know Eric?”
Dahlia grimaced and wrote back, “Well ofc I know Eric! Y else would I ask??” Daniel shrugged.
“How do you know him?”
“We live together.” Dahlia scribbled authoritatively and Daniel looked surprised this time. Dahlia shot him a dirty look. “Not like that. We have the same Master.”
“What???” Daniel made each consecutive question mark bigger than the last.
“explain later.” Dahlia wrote and pulled her notebook away from Daniel and resumed work on her essay. Reluctantly he turned back to his paper and finished coping the prompt.