As We Go Along

KAT

 I think it was time to slow down. That would be nice if it was possible. Ginger was busy setting up the booth, while I mindlessly set down pages of magiked paper. I had cast an easy Stick Copy spell that would make a copy of every printed page someone took. Saves the hassle of rewriting the same thing several times, or even running out of paper. Not like our booth was going to get that many visitors. We were on the outskirts of the courtyard, while all of the higher years and more popular clubs were slammed smack dab in the centre of the courtyard.

RiverSide's National Club Fair was more of a joke than it was a way for students to establish and build more friend groups, that have a common shared interest. I'm probably spending more time setting up my booth than actually talking with any students for my club. National Magikal Creature Club isn't as fun and interesting as it's built up to be.

I sighed and set up the sign gripping my wand a bit tighter in my hand than I should have. An easy, Hover Away enchantment would have done the trick, but I decided to just cast a Sticky Safe which ended up leaving the sign suspended in floating space for longer than it should have. I'm average at some spells but would call myself a decent magician at most of the magik I cast.

Summoning spells? Easy peasy. Eerfrog placement enchantment? Such a simple task. But if you were to ask me to fight a Wickcat not only would I refuse, but I wouldn't be able to produce half a decent Spray Down spell without coughing up water myself.

That was probably the most likely reason why I decided to establish the National Magikal Creature Club. There's nothing "national," about it. I just thought the word sounded cool when tagged onto our title.

Ginger tagged along because they're my favourite magikal, non-binary wizard. We met when a rogue bunny jump enchantment went wrong and instead of causing them to bounce to tall heights it caused Ginger to sprout unnatural bunny ears.

"Kat, are you done yet?" Ginger asked as they poked their head out from the other side of the booth. They looked up at the sign that presented a handful of hand-painted Ty-Cats accompanied with the name of our club in bold teal colours. They frowned and glanced at me, "did you use a Sticky Safe?"

"You know me so well," I chuckled softly and ran a hand through my hair. Ginger shook their head and gave one last look up at the sign.

"That's going to-"

"I know," I sighed and looked down, my brown hair cascading in front of my eyes. "So, how many people do you think are going to join our club?"

"I would say about," Ginger paused for dramatic effect. "Three."

Three was a considerable number if it wasn't for the fact that the majority of students were clustered at the main gate clubs. The only reason our club is unheard of is the fact that once people join a club, they stay in their collective huddles all-throughout classes, sports, and meal hall meetings. I stared down at my socks and took a deep breath.

"Well, all we can do is wait." Ginger gave me a quick nod and plopped down in their lawn chair. I cast a glance at them and watched as they quickly straightened the magikal creatures jar that was displayed on the table of our booth. I followed suit and placed myself next to them, slowly tapping my wand against my thigh.

Throughout the first half of the day, many students walked by our booth and ignored it, their faces displayed with one of disinterest. A couple of them asked questions and even took a few of my Stick Copy flyers. But no one had enough of an interest to sign up.

"Hey, I'm going to check out the other booths. Is that cool with you?" I quickly mumbled out as I attempted to awkwardly fit my wand into my pocket.

Ginger gave two thumbs up and a quick nod, "just be back in time to cover for me."

"Gotcha," I gratefully picked myself up out of the lawn chair and awkwardly stumbled for a couple of seconds, before I readjusted the wand in my pocket.

At first, I didn't notice Danny, his blonde hair had been buzzcut and he had put on a handful of pounds. His frame was now a lot stockier than his previous years and he definitely had a belly. "Danny?" I quickly called out nervously, I realised that my hand was shaking as I held it up mid-wave.

He turns to look at me and gives me the biggest smile in all the four realms.

"Yo Kat!" He exclaimed happily and scooped me into a massive hug. He set me down and stared at me as if I was a rare Baorcusp in the middle of an open field. "It's been a while, you've totally changed since the last I saw you!"

My skin tingled, I could practically taste the magik energy flowing off of him. It left an odd sweet burnt feeling on the tip of your tongue whenever you were near him. Danny was notorious for being a well of magik and quite the powerhouse.

Squinting through the magik onslaught I managed to cough out a response, "I've been pretty great. If you want to er- join my club. It's in the back. Not that you'd want to join or anything," I muttered out in a low tone. "You grew a lot!" I quickly started out before he got a chance to respond to my quick club-based plug.

He flexed and I shuddered as a massive shock of magik slammed into me and made its way from my fingertips to my feet. "I definitely did!" He laughed, "I got an internship at my father's construction company, so I had a lot of time to develop some strength." His eyes shifted to the left of my shoulder and I quickly turned around, spotting a group of students headed in his direction.

"Looks like you got more friends," I sniffed out. Danny patted my head and gave me a quick nod.

"Great seeing you buddy, we can talk later okay? For now, I've got to head out."

And with that, there went one member of Team Kat. Looking back on it, I probably should have kept in touch with all of my friends over the Summer. But I was just too busy to keep up with everything.

I sighed and shook my head as I continued to weave my way in between the booths. I think it was time to slow down.