High School Magical

Chapter 10

I wake up to a tinkling sound and a flash of light as I open my eyes and the door closes.

"Bree," I call softly.

I pad across the room. There's no sign that she was here, except when I pull the heavy curtains open, the center of her mattress shimmers. I brush my hand over it and come away with a light dusting of sparkly dust on my fingers.

After dressing in my school issued uniform—the socks are itchy—, I check my schedule and reference the campus map on the back. Several girls, including Yassi, chat in the entryway downstairs.

"Good morning," they chime.

Yassi links her arm in mine and asks, "Ready for your first day?"

I nod. "And I'm ready for breakfast."

"Good, because I want waffles, and I'm hoping Wyatt is in the dining hall," she says with a smile.

After I eat a made to order omelet and with no sign of the centaur or Bobby Gold, Yassi walks me to the biggest building on campus: Hawthorne Hall. It's five floors, complete with spires and turrets. It reminds me of a castle. Ivy clings to the stonewalls and the windows reflect the morning sunshine.

"You have creation period one with Popperwell. Lucky you. Last year, I had Derrington first thing in the morning." She makes a choking sound. "For Popperwell, sit on the eastern side of the classroom because he has a hard time hearing out of his left ear."

"Good to know." I glance around at the other first year students, filtering up the stone steps and under the pillared archway. From atop a hill, bells chime from a stone chapel.

"Gotta run. See you at lunch. Good luck," Yassi calls as she races toward her class.

From across the lawn, a group of centaurs gallops with Wyatt in the front.

As the bells continue to chime, I square my shoulders and take a deep breath, ready to begin my magical education.

The busy first day brings me swiftly to the end of the week as professors overwhelm us primaries with information: rubrics, syllabi, labs, homework, and reading. So much reading. Creation isn't too difficult, but conservation is a nightmare—mostly because Derrington is as cold as her classroom, which is to say arctic—, arithmetic is nothing like algebra two, and futurism makes my brain feel like it's going to explode. There's so much to know and memorize.

My bonus class, the seminal seminar, seems to be bogus because every day when I show up to the appointed room in Nightingale Hall, no one is there. My roommate still hasn't made an appearance either. More than anything, I want to tell Chelsea everything and maybe get a hug from my mom. I can't call her (apparently, the campus is a technology free zone, meaning we do everything the old-fashioned way, or the magical way as the case may be). My wand is little more than a lousy stick with a crack in the handle.

The only upsides are Yassi (because she's awesome) and Dewey Dunkle (because he's hilarious). He's a dwarf and has the exact same schedule as me minus seminal seminar. Through this crazy chaos, he somehow manages to make me laugh even though sometimes I want to cry.

It's Friday evening and I'd like to go home for the weekend, but I have so much homework, I declare, "I'm locking myself in my room all weekend to catch up."

"I hear the library has a dungeon if you're serious about that," Dewey says. His brown eyes sparkle with mirth.

"Ha ha," I say dryly but smile at the same time.

Yassi says, "But you'll get used to the load. Just think though, only two years until graduation. It's four years at your old school, right?"

I nod. "Probably when I do get ready to graduate, Professor Arrowsmith will finally show up and pile on more work, keeping me here."