Chapter 3
3
M Y FIRST-BLOCK LITERATURE CLASS WAS uneventful. Before the teacher started her lecture, the intercom buzzed on, and the overhead announcements reminded us all of the various rules and responsibilities of being in a brand-new building (no vandalism of any kind, including graffiti and latrinalia; no gum; and no tape on freshly painted walls) as well as guidelines about class time, including that, per a new school board edict, any special ability used for credit had to be preapproved by not only the instructor but the administration and the board as well.
The girl next to Al swore under her breath. “There goes my gym grade,” she muttered, snapping her book shut hard enough that the papers on her desk ruffled in the burst of wind.
Afterward our teacher passed out the syllabus, followed by the first book we would read and discuss for the year. Then she promptly told us we’d have a quiz on Friday on the first four chapters. She gave us the rest of the period to read. When the bell rang, Al and I parted ways. I fumbled through the packed maze of hallways to my second block, which was Algebra II.
The girl who had been cuddling with Mateo sat behind me, much to my annoyance. During roll call I learned her name was Kaci. She kept to herself when the teacher gave us free time toward the end of the class, choosing to write in a journal rather than interact with our classmates. I made reluctant small talk with the guy next to me, who I vaguely recognized from the previous year.
Third block was World History, and class was much of the same, except that halfway through, the bell rang for our lunch period. I grabbed my wallet and booked it out of the room toward the cafeteria, hoping to get a good spot in the underclassman lunch line so I wouldn’t spend the short thirty minutes waiting for soggy fries. Also, I was starving since I hadn’t grabbed breakfast. Luckily, Al was already there and let me cut in line with them.
Food acquired, we eyed the tables arranged in parallel sets, trying to find an empty spot that wasn’t already saved. The cafeteria was loud, buzzing with conversation and raucous bursts of laughter. The telltale hum of witch magic hung in the air, as did the heavy, cloying scent of fresh, fragrant flowers and the humidity caused by water droplets of spring rain, which came from a shimmer of sprites crowded around the table near the window.
A girl with a floating tray of food in front of her waved at Al. “Hey, Al!”
I stiffened.
Al nodded their head toward her since their hands were full. “Hi, Lex!”
“Who’s that?” I whispered as we maneuvered through the crowd.
“She’s a member of our coven. Her dad is great with plants and potions and tells the worst dad jokes. She’s pretty cool too.”
“Oh… cool.” I couldn’t have been less enthusiastic. Al shot me a side-eye as my worries pinged around in my head, but they didn’t comment.
“I’ve been thinking about what your mom said,” they said, settling across from me at our table in the corner next to the wall. My stomach soured as they scanned the lunchroom. “It’s not a bad idea, honestly.”
If I had been standing, my knees would have buckled. “What?”
“Well, it makes sense. I’ll have more responsibilities with the coven soon, and I really need to put more effort toward casting my spells and learning potions and being involved in coven life. It would be good for you to have people to hang out with when I’m unavailable.”
A lump lodged in my throat. “Oh.”
“It wouldn’t be an awful thing for you to make more friends. And it’s not like I won’t still be your BFF. But like we said this morning, we’re embracing our true selves, right?”
No. Yes. Maybe? I didn’t know. I didn’t even know what “true self” meant for me. Cam, the best friend? Cam, the son to disappointed and disapproving parents? Cam, the brother to a missing sibling? Cam, the teenager besotted with a werewolf boy who smiled at him once? And new friends? I didn’t want to find new friends. Socializing was exhausting and really flew in the face of my plan to blend into the wallpaper for the entirety of the school year.
Al continued, unaware of my internal crisis. “And for me, that’s being a witch. I need to concentrate on that a little bit more than in the past.”
Al’s plan seemed logical for them. It was just… my mom’s words from the morning had gotten stuck in my brain, and the sting of Aiden disappearing was an ever-present ache. I didn’t think I could bear losing Al, too. It all put me on edge. But it was a me problem, not an Al problem.
“I get it,” I said, forcing a smile and slotting back into my best friend role. “It’s cool.”
Al huffed and shook their head, smiling indulgently. “Don’t sound so worried. I’ll help you. We’ll scope out some candidates, and it’ll be great.”
“Great,” I said.
“Or I could walk up to Mateo and tell him about the huge crush you had on him last year and all the pining you did from afar.”
My face burned. I kicked their ankle under the table. “You wouldn’t dare.”
Al cackled. “No. I wouldn’t.” They pulled out a small notebook from their bag and clicked a pen. “Okay. Mission Find Cam a New Friend has commenced.”
“What? Now? ”
“No time like the present. What about him?” Al nodded toward a guy eating alone. He was hunched over his tray, scrolling through his phone.
“No,” I said, struggling with my small packet of ketchup. This was happening too fast. I was ill prepared to have to interact with new people. While Al surveyed the lunchroom, I took out my ire on the unsuspecting plastic rectangle. My sweaty fingers slipped along the edges.
“Why not? He’s kind of cute. He looks lonely. I think he’s human too, so your parents would approve. And who knows—maybe he’ll help you forget all about your crush on Mateo.”
The top of the packet finally ripped, and ketchup squirted out in a long sinuous line onto my plate. “No thanks.”
“Why not?”
“Because I’m not going to randomly approach a person you picked from the cafeteria on a whim.” Irritation prickled along the back of my neck. I squirmed in my seat, careful not to slide around too much on the new cafeteria stools. They were hard molded plastic—uncomfortable in every way, terrible for posture, and tiny enough that even my admittedly small butt was in danger of slipping off if I moved too enthusiastically in any direction. “Just no.”
“Okay. Fine. What about that girl? She’s drawing. You like drawing. You can be friends.”
I twirled a fry in the small puddle of ketchup I’d created. My appetite had fled. “No.”
“Okay. How about—”
“Al,” I said, grimacing. “I don’t like this game. Can you stop? Please?”
They frowned. “I’m just trying to help.”
“And I appreciate it. But I’m not going to suddenly make friends because you say I should.”
They huffed and crossed their arms. “Cam—”
I understood what Al needed. They were a witch. They needed to have witch friends and be able to do witchy things that didn’t involve me. I got that, though it didn’t feel great. But why were they so hung up on this right now ? “Why are you harping on this? What are you trying to accomplish?”
Al frowned, and they threw down a chicken nugget. They looked away, shoulders tensed. Their grip was tight around their can of soda. “Like I said, I’m going to have more responsibilities with the coven this year once I turn sixteen. I don’t want you to be lonely when—”
“So you are leaving me behind,” I blurted out.
Al snapped their head around. “What? No. Just—things are changing. I have a duty to the coven, and I need to do better. I need to be better.”
“You’re amazing the way you are.”
“Thank you. But that’s not enough.”
“What’s not enough? Al, what’s really going on with you?”
Al flashed a brittle smile. “You know what? Never mind. You’re right. We don’t need to do this now. Don’t worry about it.”
Don’t worry about it? Al had spent our walk here lecturing me about being honest with myself and with them, and they now had the nerve to blow me off? To not follow their own advice?
Unless they didn’t want me to know. My heart sank. It was just like my mom had said. Al was just trying to soften the blow before they pulled away. Okay. All right. I could deal with this. I swallowed and gathered myself, easing back into the exterior that I used around everyone but Al.
“Ah,” I said.
“What does that mean?”
“Nothing.” I shook my head. “I’ve got to go. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Cam,” they groaned. “Wait. Don’t be upset.”
“I’m not,” I lied as I gathered my things. “We’ll talk later.”
I left the table and, on the way out of the cafeteria, dumped my whole tray in the trash. We weren’t exactly allowed to leave if it was our lunchtime, but the cafeteria staff couldn’t keep me from going to the bathroom.
I walked out the doors and tried to remember exactly where the restrooms were around this labyrinth of a place. I barely knew how to get back to the classroom I was supposed to be in once lunch was over. I guessed and turned to the right, and met a dead end. Then I backtracked, barely paying attention to where I was going, because the only thing running in my head was This was not how things were supposed to work out. I felt stupid for having been so excited that morning. My stomach hurt, and tears gathered in my throat, because Al was all I had left. And now they might abandon me too. I couldn’t handle it.
I walked faster and faster as if I could outrun my spinning thoughts. When I finally stopped and took a shuddering breath, I found myself in the senior hall. There was a banner hanging by strings from the ceiling tiles, welcoming the seniors to the first day of their last year of high school. It was already torn in half and fluttering in the breeze from the air-conditioning. A few choice phrases were emblazoned in red marker along its edges. The hall sported small splashes of color that the other hallways didn’t. The floor was a checkerboard mix of white and blue tiles, and tall lockers alternating in blue and yellow lined the walls. At my size and height, these were definitely spaces I could be stuffed into if someone chose to do so.
Crap.
I grabbed my phone from my back pocket. Maybe there was a map of this place on the school website that I could use to find my way back. Otherwise I was going to be at the mercy of the upperclassmen.
The bell rang overhead, and I tensed as not twenty seconds later the hall flooded with students. I was caught in the stream of people, with no idea how to find my way back to my history class. Oh well—I would just be late, I guess. The teacher really couldn’t hold it against me. It was a new school, and—
“Hey, howler boy!” A loud voice echoed down the hall.
A kid who happened to be next to me suddenly halted. He turned on his heel, his sneakers squeaking on the pristine floor. “You talking to me?” he called back.
“Yeah. Who else? I said ‘howler boy.’ That’s what you are, right?”
“Yeah. I am. What do you want, slimer?”
“Slimer”? That was a new one. I’d never heard that insult before, and I wasn’t quite sure what it meant. But the other boy, who was pushing his way through the crowd, obviously did, if his absolutely furious expression was any indication. He was flanked by a girl and another boy. The girl had bright electric-blue eyes and matching hair, while the two boys’ eyes glowed green. Oh. Sprites. The girl was a water sprite, while the boys were earth, maybe? I wasn’t quite sure how sprite classification worked.
I tried to maneuver away from the impending altercation, but the whole crowd had stilled to watch whatever was about to happen. A few folks had their phones out, vying to record the next viral social media moment. And as the trio approached, a low murmur rose among the student body, and the crowd shuffled, parting like a school of fish trying to get away from a shark. I was stuck, squeezed between the offended werewolf and a mob at my back.
The werewolf kid stood his ground, feet spread, chest puffed out as he faced the three sprites. His pale face was flushed red in anger. It was like watching a Wild West showdown in the middle of the hallway.
“I think you owe my friend here an apology,” the boy in the middle of the trio said, gesturing to the sprite at his right. “For kicking his bag when you were leaving class.”
The werewolf narrowed his eyes. “I don’t owe him shit.”
And oh my gods. Why?
The trio chuckled humorlessly. I had to get out of there before things got worse.
“What’s going on here?” A new voice joined in, the tone jovial but with the hint of an edge.
The crowd shifted again, and I was swept along with it but still unnervingly close to the combatants. Javi Lopez had appeared, and I didn’t know whether to be relieved or tense up even more. He was the middle of the Lopez brothers, not quiet like Mateo and not mellow like Danny. He was loud, talkative, dramatic, basically every middle-kid cliché. And it was a crapshoot whether he would calm everyone down or instigate things further.
He rested his hand on the other werewolf’s shoulder. “Everything okay, Nate?”
“Stay out of this, Lopez. This doesn’t concern you,” one of the sprites spat.
Javi raised an eyebrow. “As you well know, Reese,” he said, addressing the tall one in the center with the auburn hair, pale skin, and shocking green eyes, “if a werewolf is involved, then it does concern me.” He clucked his tongue. “And three against one? You know I have to intervene just to balance the odds.”
“We don’t want a fight,” the girl said. “But we are prepared to defend ourselves if necessary.” Droplets of water flicked from her fingertips.
“Yeah,” the third sprite taunted him. “We have to protect ourselves from that famous werewolf aggression.”
Javi’s jaw clenched. “I don’t want to fight either,” he said, and then broke into a wide smile as he opened his arms, posturing for the crowd. “Let’s just all go on our way and forget this even happened.”
Reese crossed his arms, a smug grin blossoming across his face. “When he apologizes.”
Javi sighed. He shook his head and slung his arm around Nate, tugging him close. “And here I was hoping not to get suspended on the first day of school.”
And okay. This was happening. I didn’t particularly want to be a witness to a fight between a pair of werewolves and a shimmer of sprites in the hallway, so I attempted to squeeze my way out of there. The two sides continued to banter, and the insults rose in pitch and viciousness as I searched for an escape route. I turned my back on the scene and had my shoulder wedged between someone’s backpack and the wall, trying to slide out, when the physical part of the fight erupted.
I didn’t see who had charged whom, but the ooh s of the crowd went up instantaneously. I was jostled along as everyone moved to make room for the fight. The impact of someone against the lockers on the other side of the hallway clanged loudly amid the rumble of the student body. The squeaks of shoes as the crowd ebbed and flowed like a current, the grunts and growls of the fighters, and the flash-bang of magic all tumbled together as the altercation intensified. I was craning my neck to see what was happening when the crowd suddenly surged. I was pushed hard from behind. I stumbled forward, my shoe slipping on a patch of water, and landed on my knees with a painful jolt.
Oh, that hurt . I braced myself with my hands to push upward, but someone stepped on my fingers. My phone skittered out of my grip and slid across the brand-new linoleum. I reached for it, but someone else’s bag whacked into my ribs, knocking the wind from my lungs. I wrapped an arm around my torso and resisted the urge to curl up on the ground. I had to get upright or risk being trampled.
I did my best to scramble out of the way, but there were feet and legs blocking my sight and my path, and every time I tried to gain my footing, the crowd would push in another direction. A girl tripped over my ankle and landed on her butt. Another person slipped on the growing puddles of water and smacked their chin against the floor. I crawled toward the side of the hallway, making little progress amid the screams, groans, and cheers of the fight happening around me.
Puddles of water and bunches of leaves were scattered everywhere. The knees of my jeans were soaked, and wayward bracken stuck to the fabric of my clothes and tangled in my hair. My hands were damp from both sweat and sprite magic. This was easily the worst day of my life, and I would go home and cry over it as soon as I could stand up and get away from this mess.
A strong hand gripped my upper arm over the sleeve of my shirt and tugged hard, helping me lurch to my feet. Finally! Before I could turn and thank my savior, a yell split the air way too close for comfort. I looked up in time to see three bodies locked in a fighting embrace hurtling toward me.
They rammed into me, throwing me into the lockers. All my breath left me in a whoosh. The back of my head smacked into the metal, and stars burst behind my eyes. My knees went weak as blackness encroached in the periphery of my vision, and I slid to the floor in a heap. A body landed on top of me, crushing me between the lockers and the floor. There were shouts in my ears. Pain radiated from my ribs and the back of my head, and panic seized my chest. I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t move. I couldn’t see .
Someone grabbed my wrist, their skin hot and clammy against my own. I couldn’t make out who it was as my eyes glazed over, my vision tunneled, and the chaos around me disappeared, the sound of voices muting until they were gone altogether.
And suddenly I wasn’t in the hallway at all.