Chapter 8
I was just as shocked as everyone else when there was an announcement that all the female students were to report to the auditorium for lunch—both lunch periods even so we would miss at least one class. I was glad when Gloria and her friends were waiting for me so we could go in together and sit.
“We don’t mean to be pushy, but I honestly think helping you is healing me a bit,” Kate admitted. “That sounds more selfish than I mean for it to be.”
“Not at all, and I completely understand where your head is,” I forgave. “I’m grateful. I feel like a bobble head and a bit like a robot vacuum just bouncing into things. So I really appreciate the…”
She nodded, knowing where my head was even if it was hard to articulate.
“I know you all need to eat, but let’s do this as orderly as possible,” Mrs. Reid said loudly.
“And since the female population of Morrigan is much smaller than the male, you don’t need to sit all over.
You three in the very back on the right side—let’s not be silly.
We can sit a bit closer together so we don’t need to yell or use microphones. ”
“Do you know what this is?” Gloria whispered as we moved closer up front.
“No, and I hadn’t even heard the council made its decision yet, so I don’t think it’s about me,” I mumbled.
I really hoped not at least.
It took a bit longer for everyone to get to their seats with the boxed lunches that were provided. They were a bit light, but the people handing them out promised there would be more coming for those who wanted them.
“Why do we have rules?” Mrs. Reid asked when everyone settled down.
She glanced around. “At college even. Why does the school have rules?” She waved us on when no one answered.
“This is interactive. Yes, this is a lecture, but I promise you there is an important point and you all need to learn a hard lesson. So I ask again—why do we have rules here?”
“To keep order,” someone called out.
Another woman snorted. “Control. To control us.”
Mrs. Reid pointed between them. “Those things aren’t mutually exclusive but yes, both. Maybe not control in the way you’re thinking but learning to control your magic. We all know people who need to learn to control their behavior.” She nodded when the woman seemed to concede that.
“To teach us what we need to know when we’re on our own,” I called out.
“All are correct and yes, this is where you learn about how to behave in society with a safety net,” she agreed, giving us a moment with that. “Why do we have laws?”
That second woman snorted again. “Control. To control us.”
Several people chuckled and even Mrs. Reid smirked. “Again, you’re not wrong, but you make it sound more like someone’s got your gaming controller or you’re a robot.”
“To protect people,” I said.
“That’s not wrong,” she accepted, still glancing around.
“To keep society from anarchy,” someone else offered.
“True.”
“So people know where the lines are,” a woman to my left offered.
“Now we’re on the right path,” Mrs. Reid praised, pointing to her.
“Justice,” Kate said from next to me, her voice cracking. “So there’s justice in our society.”
“Yes, yes, that’s why, and clearly that system has failed you,” Mrs. Reid whispered, her face falling. “I’m so very sorry it did.”
Kate just nodded, focusing on her food like she wanted to leave it alone.
“How many of you have broken rules?” Mrs. Reid asked the class.
She chuckled when no one said anything and raised her own hand.
“Come on, we’ve all done it. How about laws?
” She lowered her hand and raised it again.
“We all have. Just be honest about it or you won’t learn the lesson I’m here for today. ”
“I’ve broken rules but not laws,” someone called out, most people seeming to agree with that.
Mrs. Reid focused on her. “You’ve never gone over the speed limit?
” She chuckled when people flinched. “I do. I hate obeying stop signs that are in stupid locations when no one is around. It’s annoying to have to drive places for our human personas and then I have to take more time for stop signs put into place for people who are abysmal drivers.
“So yes, I’ve rolled through many a stop sign and it drives my mate nuts.
” She smiled when she received some polite chuckles.
“We all break the law as a society. We use magic to lie about our income to our different governments so we can fund the government they have no idea about. We’d all be locked up for years for that. ”
“You’re going to teach us what laws are okay to break and which aren’t?” someone asked.
“No, that would get me in trouble, and I prefer not to be in trouble,” Mrs. Reid teased. “I’m here to teach you a lesson in morality and hope you learn from it to become better witches. Because sometimes the rules and laws don’t give us the justice we deserve.”
She was definitely right about that.
Mrs. Reid met my gaze. “I’m sorry to call you out like this but please, stand up.”
So it was about me? Shit.
I swallowed loudly and did as she said, turning and facing so I saw the most people possible.
“Now that you’ve all seen the press conference—and don’t lie that you don’t know what I’m talking about. This place gossips faster than most workplaces and cliches. If you haven’t seen it, you’ve heard enough to know the truth.”
She was staring out at the witches when I glanced at her, wondering where she was going with this.
“So how unfairly was she treated? You all know how Bevin was wronged now. Repeatedly and—”
“With all due respect, that’s a bit rich coming from the mate of one of the councilmen after what Hanson did,” someone called out.
Mrs. Reid didn’t shrink back from the criticism. “This is what I can do to help the situation. My question is what did you do?” She raised an eyebrow when the witch didn’t respond. “Nothing? So you never saw someone break rules when it came to Bevin? Laws were broken. You saw none of that?”
“No,” the woman confirmed. “I’m a master’s student and she’s a freshman.”
“Ahhh, fair, but there are rules about bullying.” She focused out at everyone there instead of singling out that woman.
“How many of you did anything when people said things to her or whispered behind her back?” She shook her head.
“Why didn’t you? Why didn’t any of you help her?
Protest what was going on? Argue that it was wrong? ”
“She did,” someone called out and stood, trying to pull up another woman.
“Leave it,” that woman hissed.
“No, I didn’t help, but you did, and the point is to make it clear—I’m not sure yet, but I wish I had stood up now.
You did and it helped so let her see that,” the first argued, sighing when the second witch shook her head.
“She told people to cut it out when they were laughing at Bevin getting reamed by Dunham and his lackeys.”
“I don’t know of this,” Mrs. Reid hedged, glancing between us.
“She asked to be unnamed if I’m guessing right,” I hedged.
The woman we were talking about sighed and caved, standing and looking at me. “Yes, I’m the witch who went to the headmaster and told him what happened. I’m sorry I didn’t want to be public about that or—”
“Thank you,” I whispered, relieved I finally got to say it.
I nodded when she paused. “I’ve wanted to thank you for a while for helping me.
I wasn’t socialized like other people. This is my first schooling and it’s all really rough sometimes.
I didn’t understand what they were saying and it was scary to be in the room with all of them after what happened with Gregg. ”
Pity filled her face. “Yeah, I didn’t think of that. I judged you that day for just standing there and taking it, but now I get it. I’m sorry I thought you were weak.”
I shrugged. “I can be. I fall apart too often, but I’m starting to see it’s valid.
I mean, most people don’t have the media always talking about their sex lives, and—it’s incredibly disconcerting to constantly be on one broadcast or another when I came here using Millen to not have the spotlight on me like a Shaw would. ”
She bobbed her head and looked at Mrs. Reid.
“The school board investigation was crap. Maybe you can help the headmaster with that. I wasn’t the only one who overheard what was going on.
There were like twenty students who were outside laughing and jeering that Bevin was getting reamed by Coach and his lackeys.
“I told them to cut it out because even if they hated her, none of us deserved that. That it might be her today with a ‘reason’ in their eyes, but that was bold and over the line, so what would they do next? Who would they call in next, and would it just be for a talk if unchecked? I gave names of who was outside that door and the school board didn’t question them.
“They just said us two witches couldn’t be accurate against the men in that room.
It was ridiculously dismissive and there were other witnesses if they’d done their jobs instead of always sweeping things under the rug like we don’t matter.
So yeah, I don’t know Bevin, we even got off on the wrong foot, but—”
“We did?” I asked, genuinely shocked at that.
The other woman next to her sighed. “You were rude to us when she tried to talk to you at orientation.”
I winced, not able to tell the truth and that all the familiars around made it impossible for me to hear people and focus.
So I went with the next best thing. “I’m so sorry.
I get really bad migraines and everything was so overwhelming—I was scared to go to the healer and admit I needed to be healed because I didn’t know if they’d report it to my parents. ”