“Dora, hi…I thought you would be joining us..” Noami started, when I fully faced her, my hand still clasped with Diana’s. “Don’t worry about the strictness of their faces, they are quite cool, especially the boys. I have seen how you catch their attention, and I think they will be pleased to see you, and know you…your mask..” I watched her stutter, like she hadn’t seen the mask that covered my face, like she was just seeing it now. “It’s something I have to wear.” I answered stiffly, probably because I didn’t want a conversation about the mask, or most probable because I hated that she had classified that crowd as cool. Yes sure I didn't know the queen’s children upfront, but from the tales of Laura, and I know she couldn’t lie to me, I was sure that they weren’t any good either. Just a bunch of entitled assholes and egocentric jerks. The triplets and Claire were entirely on a next level. Those were bastards, wicked bastards. Why was Naomi with them? Why did she find them a good
“This girl is just so full of herself..” Claire stated. She must have noticed that I was appealing to Adam. Took a second. “What else would I be full of, Claire, shit? Apologies my dear, but not everyone is like you. I, specifically, refuse to be full of that.” I said, without waiting a beat. Naomi cackled first, then the rest joined, including Adam. I rested back on the pillar, feeling a bit content, after that. Diana jabbed me lightly, but I knew she was happy that I was getting along, or rather pretending to get along. Claire was red in the face. She stood up sharply, attempting to walk toward me, and maybe, I don’t know, throw out a slap or something, but Adam held her back. “It was just a joke, Claire. You don’t need to get worked up about it.” I watched her deflate and sink back to her position on the pavement. Her anger wasn’t totally out, but it was diffused now. The power of Adam. Sickening. To think I had been under the influence. By this time, Duke has taken advan
“Dora, wait!” Noami. She was the one speaking, and I wondered why. Shouldn’t she be with her friends? I mused, turning around to glance at her, my hands still fitted in with a Diana whose lips haven’t yet gotten rid of the smile. She had been so proud of my comeback to Duke. Yes, it had been an empty threat, but she believed it was a sign of growth on my part. Diana thought I should keep up the act, perhaps become a bully to the bullies, since my identity to them was unknown. I stayed silent, till Noami got to me. She was breathing deeply, and exhaling the same, like she had run a marathon, despite the fact that it hadn’t been up to three minutes since we had left the shade. I waited for her to speak, pretending to be aloof to her ploys that we be friends. Partly because it would suit my new persona, and partly because I wasn’t sure if her loyalty had really laid with me when I was still the bullied Maya. What if all her friendly gestures had all been part of a big plan? To des
This must be a new one. I thought, as I looked at the sign that was placed on the restaurant’s top. “Do they cook as nice as they look?” Diana asked, and I held back a chuckle. Naomi couldn't though. “Of course,” She managed to say whilst chuckling. She held the free hand of Diana—typical Noami—to the surprise of the little one, and led us into the restaurant. It was bustling already, the bustle easing when they took note of us. There were a few from the mage community, but most were of the werewolf’s clan and they couldn’t understand what a masked girl was doing in their eatery. The party was over for god sake. They must be thinking. “Don’t mind their stares. It’s not everyday that a masked beauty pays them a visit.” Naomi said, and I nodded, willing myself not to smile sheepishly at the title. Masked beauty? I might get used to that. We found a table that was close to the door. Diana had picked that one. I was not sure if it was because of its closeness to the door. “Let me
When had he gotten here? I wondered, not bothering to turn aside to look at the human that had come to stand beside me. Why was he here? Obviously he had heard the content of my mock speech to Raul, but who said he could join the discussion? Well, what do I know, this place was his territory. “What are you doing here?” Nice question, Raul. I thought, making taps on the table with my finger, as if a question hadn’t been directed to me earlier. “I don't remember passing a remark to you, wizard..” Okay, that was a low, Adam. What the hell was he doing? Was he that petty to pick a fight with Raul just because I had mentioned that Raul was more handsome than he and his brothers. How right could the word bastard be at this point? I watch a server advance towards us, with our order I presume, her eyebrows furrowed, probably wondering why Adam was at our table. My eyes found Claire and Rachel too. They seemed to be conniving wordlessly on how to throw me to hell. This wasn’t good. It
Diana broke the silence first, with her laughter. Raul followed next. “Raul!” His twin shouted, but dude couldn’t be bothered enough to stop. “Little Adams? God, Dora, you are so funny.” He said, not stopping to catch a breath. I liked his addition, so I pretended not to see that he was close to Diana now. I hope the dude wasn’t planning on following through on his mother’s plan though, else this camaraderie would be lost soon. “How dare you? Who do you think you are? Since last night, you have been…” Noah was saying, when Adam stretched his hand in front of his face, probably telling him to match a brake, because the red faced dude stopped speaking. However, I decided to finish it, in my own way, with my own ingredients. “Since last night I have been what? Dodging your sexual advances? I don’t get it. You trio haven't taken rejections before?” “Okay, that’s it, young woman. I think it's time you left this place.” That was Timothy. Nice of him to join the party. “And who are yo
“What the…” Diana’s unfinished sentence, the sequential clucking of her tongue by the roof of her mouth, had me looking in the same line of her eyesight; Raul had just stepped out of the eatery with the hall, but he was not alone. He was with Adam and Noami. What the hell! I completed the sentence in my head. What does this mean? I sighed wearily. I wasn’t in the mood to grapple with Adam again. Wasn’t he tired? Hadn’t his ego been bruised enough? I rested my hands on my thighs, waiting for them to reach my stand, devoid of any expectations. It was better that way. “Why is the shameless scumbag with you?”’ I asked Raul, immediately they stepped into my confines. Raul shrugged his shoulders in reply, before dropping the tray of assorted dishes on the pavement. I and Diana picked up the buns first and started munching. I didn’t bother to ask Adam why he was here, rather I turned to Naomi, and she shrugged her shoulders too, just before she picked a bun, and took a sitting position
I shook my head. Adam was about to talk more, seeing that he had grasped the attention of a Diana, who had perhaps never seen a waterfall before, except in books, when I shook my head vehemently. That suggestion wasn’t going to fly. “I can't, Adam. I am not interested in seeing your waterfall.” I voiced my thoughts—when he started talking about a secret cave in a garden.Adam was taken aback at my resistance. He had obviously thought that the new girl would be excited at the idea. Well, I was sure that all the girls, who he had taken there, had been; I had been, when he had talked about the secrecy of the cave. I felt like laughing at myself, at my goofiness and naivety then. “But Dora, why?” Diana asked, pouting her lips. “I really want to see the secret cave with the waterfall. I ..” “You can go then, Diana. But I can not. You know the way home.” I stated mordantly, before looking ahead, and walking away from them. However, I hadn't moved five steps further when Diana grabbed
Daniel balled his fists in anger at the question thrown to him by Raul. He darted glances between I and Raul as if we were both joining hands to attack him. Gabriella left his side, as if she was afraid that he might get insane, and walked to my side. Daniel, noticing this, gritted his teeth, before freeing his hands. “Good boy. Good that you noticed that this is not your living room, or your pack, or the school where students lived for drama. Now what do you want?” Raul asked, causing my eyes to widen in surprise. Was the boy courting death? I wondered, folding my arms across my chest. As much as I believe Raul’s words, I liked the drama. Gabriella mirrored my actions. We watched as Daniel opened his mouth, and then shut it. I wasn’t sure if it was because of nerves seeing that Raul had displaced him before he even started, or because whatever he wanted to say was embarrassing. Looking at him now, it was hard to believe that he was the same Daniel with the most running mouth amo
“Dora, do you think we will be done with this today?” Levina asked me as we slotted goods into their specific positions on a shelf. True to her word she had turned in her application to the store owner, who had hired her on the spot. But why not? Mr Lethon was a popular figure, and also a good person. I still remembered his last words to me the last time I had been in his office. He was good just like Peter. Peter had dropped me here before heading back home with Laura and a wide eyed Diana. My little sister had heard the news of my loss of control. It amazed her, rather than terrified her. But then, Diana was Diana, rarely terrified. “Yes, I believe we will. Gabriella mentioned that she will be here to help us after her work with Raul.” Levina snorted. “Raul can easily do that by himself. He should just release Gabriella to us. He knows that we need her more than he does.” Yes, he probably does. I thought, picking up another item and shelving it correctly. Incorrect shelving m
Can't I have a moment of rest in my little life? I mused, watching Adam and his brothers watch me. Skepticism shrouded their eyes thickly. But would my unpredictability stop them from disturbing my already chaotic life? I don't think so. I sighed wearily. There must be some other way to get them off my back. Unless I might really have a fit here. I was already fed up with the up and downs of this week.First, it was the bullying episode on my first day. On my second day, I had gotten involved with another bullying episode in my workplace. My fourth and fifth days were uneventful-thank god. That's apart from the meeting with the Queen. But today was the worst of all.Today, I lost control over my magic powers, and burnt more than four classrooms. I just escaped from Raul and his enthralling eyes and love. I just escaped from expulsion from a school I have barely spent a week in. I just landed my ass into the Queen's trap. And now, just when I had tried inhaling deeply to calm myself,
"She must be expelled from our school! Did you see the amount of damage she had done in the school? She hasn't even been in the school for a week, and already she is courting trouble left, right and center. What's next on her agenda?!" Maybe burn your nose. I thought meekly, staring at the woman who hadn't stopped hissing and clamoring for my expulsion since I had stepped into the boardroom that was big enough to house more than a hundred students. So, this was the worst that could happen? Expulsion from school? It didn't hit hard as I thought it would, but I didn't want to be expelled though. I wanted to finish high school. I already dropped out in the pack, I can't drop out here again. I wasn't sure when Laura and Peter had been called, but the two had been around when I had stepped into the room. Laura had immediately left her seat, and had started fussing over me, asking if I was okay, and all that. She had found it confusing that I had not a smell of smoke on my body. I hadn'
I can't believe myself. I can't believe what I had done, when I had opened my eyes and saw the classroom free of smoke, free from the flames I had conjured mere minutes ago. I had jumped on Raul. It was supposed to be a thank you hug, you know, coming from a place of excitement, of happiness that I had finally mastered how to control my magic to some extent, but the hug ended up being the ones couple shared after being apart for probably a year. I had hugged him quite alright, but my legs had moved, of their accord. They had jumped and plastered themselves around his waist. They were still there. Around his waist. My mind was in shambles, especially since Raul had managed to catch me with all precision, still held me now, and showed no signs of letting go. Don't I weigh anything? I retrieved my head from the crook of his neck which scented of masculinity. This contact needed to end now. "Ehmm.." I muttered now, looking into his face, which although wasn't red as mine, showed the
Raul and I stayed cocooned in a comfortable silence for a long while, a privy truce already happening between us. I didn’t see him as the enemy anymore. However, I was still working on separating him from the Queen in my equation of retribution. “How long are we going to stay here? Aren’t we returning to class?” I asked after sometime, my back already yelling in pain for reclining against the hard wall for a long period of time. Raul shrugged his shoulders at my question. “It’s not like there will be any class going on. Do you see any professor around? I bet the students are huddled in their classes, wondering what next would go wrong with..” “With me, you mean….” Raul gave me an apologetic look, but it was all right. It was understandable. Since we have been here, no students have come close, no teachers too. The fire was still burning. I was sure it had ventured into the other classes. Weren’t they coming to stop it? “You know you are the only one that can quench that fire….”
What have I done?Panic swept through the magic room like a tidal wave, mingling with the smell of smoke and the sound of screams.My heart sank as I realized the magnitude of what I had unleashed. I had wanted to prove myself, to show my mastery over the elements, but now, all I felt was guilt and remorse.As chaos erupted around me, I knew that I would carry the weight of this moment with me for quite a long time. For in my quest for power, I had unleashed a force beyond my control, leaving destruction in its wake. And now, I could only watch helplessly as the flames consumed everything in their path.The flames. They held me captive. They had me frozen in the midst of the ensuing chaos. They had my heart sinking into the depths of sorrow. The flames, born of my own magic gone awry, danced voraciously across the classroom. Smoke choked the air, thick and suffocating, as desks and books became engulfed in a raging inferno. The screams of my classmates pierced the cacophony of destru
As I caught sight of Sinclair standing by the door of my classroom, a flutter of nervous anticipation stirred within me. The time for my magic classes had finally come, and despite my excitement, I couldn't help but feel a twinge of apprehension. The time has come.Mr. Lethon must have sent him. I thought, checking the time on my wrist watch. It was exactly the time for my magic class. Sinclair was quite punctual.Since I had decided to cut him some slack for not doing anything about Levina's bullying, we have exchanged words here and there—greetings especially—but it has not been like the same. Probably, because I have been avoiding him really. I'm not sure why. I think I just didn't want to talk to him, not that freely as before, at least not yet. However, he was here to pick me up.I looked at Professor Bulock talking about some impossible theory of magic, and almost called him to the fact that his time was gone. But that would be falling under his radar again. I was tired of that
As Diana and I walked hand in hand to school, chattering like monkeys, a sense of elation bubbled up inside me, replacing the feeling of shame that had subsided a little after Laura's words of encouragement.The Queen had fulfilled her side of the bargain, as she had promised us. She had moved the children's classes back to the general school, and she hadn't disturbed me since then. And even though the weight of her last words had never left me, I couldn't help but feel relief and gratitude, walking to school like this, hand in hand with Diana. It was pure bliss.As we walked, Diana regaled me with tales of spells and enchantments, her enthusiasm quite infectious. I knew that it was because I had just shown her, though messy, that I was good enough to be filled in with magic spells. We exchanged knowledge eagerly—I told her about the book I had stolen from the library, and what I had learnt from them—each revelation sparking a lively conversation that danced between us like fireflies