I Hate School

Lyla Helliwell growled as her pair of blue iris eyes stared into the locker. Two stinky-dead rats and sewage sludge were in there covered her books. She knew exactly who had done such a nasty thing; Maddy and her cheerleaders gang.

Her palms clenched when she heard chuckling from behind her back. Of course Lyla knew Maddy and her friends were behind.

"Your locker's dirty, huh?" ridiculed the blonde haired girl with too much make-up she put on her face. The blonde's words were met with laughter from the others.

"Look at this wierdo, her look just disgusts me, I don't know why?"

"Yes, that's right. Why does she have to wear black every day? Does any other color burn her skin?" The sound of laughter was getting louder and louder that it made Lyla furious.

"I think she's just looking for attention." The mocking continued.

"Yeah, exactly."

Lyla decided to turn around. Four girls had surrounded her. She looked at them with a defiant gaze. She wasn't scared at all of Maddy and her friends. If she wanted to, Lyla could easily harm them. However, according to family and group rules, she's not allowed to use powers on ordinary humans.

They were not a worthy opponent. They could die easily. But, if they continued to bully her like this and didn't mind their own business, Lyla must do something.

"Leave me alone." Lyla warned. This was serious. She actually warned the horde of girls because this time she was going to act. She would no longer care about any rules.

"Oh, are you threatening us, Wierdo? Well, I wanna see what you can actually do," chuckled Maddy as she walked closer to Lyla. Her hands grabbed Lyla's long hair and pulled it hard. Two other girls held her hands and another pushed her back against the row of lockers.

Lyla glanced around the deserted school corridor. No one was there except the five of them. She pulled up the corners of her lips and her expression was flat. Moments later, the girls were thrown a few meters far from Lyla.

Her hand streched out to Maddy who was trying to get up. Lyla moved her fingers towards the pretty cheerleader and distantly grabbed her neck. Maddy's face flushed with pain as she was out of breath. Her hands were trying to free her neck from something that she could not see. Her lips moved to ask for help, but all that came out was a muffled moan.

The other three girls couldn't believe what they were seeing. It was a demon power that was attacking their cheerleader captain, they thought.

These girls tried to help Maddy who was half dying. "Hey! you're gonna kill her! Stop it!" shouted one of the girls to Lyla.

Crack

Maddy fell to the floor with a broken neck. Her  three friends screamed and rushed towards the wide-eyed girl with her tongues sticking out a little.

***

"Your daughter almost killed Madeline Reyes, Mrs Helliwell."

"The girl is in a coma with a severe broken neck."

"We can no longer accept your daughter in this school, Madame."

Behind the slightly opened door, Lyla tugged at the corners of her lips when she heard Anastasia---her mother--- talking with the principal. But she knew her mother would obviously be furious with her.

Evidently, when Lyla and the woman whose face was almost identical to hers were now in the car heading home, Anastasia could not contain her outburst of anger.

"What did I tell you about our ancestral rule? Did you forget about it, Lyla?"

"Maddy Reyes had bullied me since my first day of school!" Lyla said defensively.

"You don't have to put up with it."

"It's easy for you to say that, Mama. You have no idea how annoying that girl can be."

"I know, Lyla, I know. But you almost killed a helpless human. If the Witch Council finds out about this, it's gonna be bad."

Lyla took a deep breath and looked out the window. The incident with Maddy Reyes was the worst. Five times she moved from one school to another, she had been facing the same things, being bullied because of her witchy-look.

"I don't wanna go to school anymore. School doesn't suit me. I don't like being surrounded by lots of people," said Lyla when she and her mother got home. "I can learn all lessons by my self."

"Listen, Lyla ... our world is now side by side with the normal human world. We have to blend in, and we don't hurt each other."

"They are the one who don't wanna blend in.  They always think we're weird. Do you think I don't know how our neighbor, Mrs. Smith, see us, Mama? She hates us!"

Anastasia took a deep breath hearing of her daughter's words. What Lyla said was true.  The next-door neighbor was always looking for ways to piss her off. It seemed that this talkative middle-aged woman---Mrs. Smith---knew that she was a witch and wanted to prove it.

"Have you ever seen me respond to Mrs. Smith?" Lyla shook her head to answer Anastasia's question.

"Why can't you do just like me?"

"Because I have pride, Mama."

Anastasia shook her head. "Listen, Lyla. The ancestral rules are very clear. If you break them, the consequences will be dire."

"Screw the ancestral rule! I won't allowed anybody to treat me like shit anymore!"

"Lyla ..." Anastasia said desperately. She didn't know how to explain everything to her teenage daughter anymore. She just didn't want the Council of Witches to take Lyla from her and throw her in the terrible camp Hell, where bad witches resided. Lyla would be there for quite long time.

"I don't like school, Mama," Lyla said again.  "Waste of time."

"I want you to blend in, Lyla. Like normal kids."

"I'm not a normal kid, Mama."

"I know!" rebuked Anastasia. Her voice was quite loud, causing things in the living room to vibrate.

Lyla was a bit surprised by that. However, the girl tried to act like nothing happened. She didn't want to show her mother that she was quite intimidated.

"Lyla, I've decided on something."

Lyla frowned at her mother. Oh, no---looked like this wasn't going to be fun.

"If you can't mingle with normal kids, then you have to mingle with the other Freaky kids."

"Mama, I don't wanna mingle with anyone!"

Anastasia raised one hand, motioning for Lyla to be quiet. She looked at his daughter fixedly.  "The Witch Council will hear of this. I'm not taking any chances. I should admit you to Gothic Academy, mingle with the Freaky kids there. You'll be safe there."

"What?" Lyla jumped from her seat.

"You heard me clearly, Lyla Helliwell."

Lyla shook her head vigorously. "No, Mama, I don't want to. I hate school and I don't wanna go to any of it!"

"The decision has been made!" Anastasia insisted.

***