MAGE ; benny weir [1]

fourty

"Guess who found out that we have a sub for Mr. G?"

Catching up to Ethan and Benny in the hallway, Ellie skipped up to her two best friends and decided to deliver the great news.

"Really?" Ethan asked. "He never misses, though."
"Well, he was rubbing his forehead while I watched him go into the nurse's office," Ellie explained. "His class is also in three minutes, so that's my hypothesis."
"I told you to quit using big words around me," Benny joked.

As the three headed down the hallway towards Mr. G's classroom, Benny took this opportunity to kid around. 
Taking the pencil out of his pocket, Benny lifted it up to his mouth like a microphone and began 'interviewing' his friends.

"So, Mr. Morgan," he started, sporting a stupid look on his face that didn't fail to make Ellie laugh. "What kind of substitute teacher are we getting today?"
"Well, Mr. Interviewer," Ethan began, leaning into the pencil like a microphone. "I bet this sub will sleep for the whole period."

"Hmmm..." Benny joked, tapping the pencil onto his chin. "Interesting, interesting... what about you, random woman I found on the sidewalk?"
"Oof, good question," Ellie teased. "I bet our substitute won't even let us scratch our own butts without permission."

As the three geeks entered the history class's doorframe, Ellie tried to continue her joke until she noticed that Ethan and Benny were suddenly frozen. She scrunched her face at their weird behavior. 
"Uh... hello?" she asked, snapping her fingers and waving her hands in front of the boys' faces. "Earth to nerds!"

Finally following Ethan and Benny's lines of sight, Ellie found herself standing before the new substitute teacher: a tall, beautiful woman who wore the deepest gold dress and held a shimmering glass skull in her angelic hands.

"Welcome, my young warriors..." the substitute greeted to the boys, looking past Ellie. "I am Lucia, your guide to salvation."

"Guys, I heard we have a sub in for Mr. G!" Rory exclaimed, quickly standing in front of the three and oblivious to the new teacher. "What prank do we pull first: Alien Fire Drill or—?"
Cutting off Rory's inherit rambling, Ethan and Benny spun him around to join them in their astonishment.
"Woah..." Rory gawked.

"Hottest. Sub. Ever."

Ellie rolled her eyes at the boys, taking her arms behind them and shoving them past the teacher's desk. "C'mon, pea-brains. Let's go sit down."

"YOU, MAIDEN!"
As Ellie stepped a single foot past Lucia, the substitute teacher immediately shut her down by stopping right in front of the witch. "You shall not participate in this golden hour!"

Ellie couldn't help but squint at the woman. Usually, she was really good at respecting her elders... but this was weird. "...Huh?"

"You must exit this sacred space at once, young one," Lucia informed, staring down upon her.
"But, it's history class," Ellie questioned. "Do you want me to skip or something?" 

As soon as Ellie challenged Lucia's request, the tall golden woman's temper snapped in an instant. "You DARE disregard Lucia's commands?!"
"What? No, I'm just saying—!"
"Weak maidens such as yourself only live to loyally serve their king, now you must GO!"

Ellie tried to look past Lucia to get some help from the guys, but she could almost see the drool spill out of Rory's mouth. Great.

The witch shoved her backpack farther over her shoulder, flaring her nostrils at Lucia before slamming the classroom door shut. 
Hearing the door boom into the hallway snapped Ellie out of whatever anger had consumed her. Purple sparks flew off the door's hinges and onto the floor, leaving the witch to huff in annoyance as she painfully remembered.
"Ugh... the week isn't over yet."