Spell Broken

5 - A Secret

My whole body freezes as the bell rings and everyone rushes to be the first out of the room. A shadow falls over my desk and I look up to see Miss. Grong standing before me, her red nails pushing her glasses up. "Lumi. Times up," she says, not unkindly.

"Can I get more time?" I ask. It feels like there's sweat rolling down the back of my neck.

"I'm afraid you had to ask about that beforehand."

"But Miss. Grong-"

"I know you have been dealing with some stuff but I have rules that need to be followed."

I hang my head in shame. I shouldn't have stared at the first question for twenty minutes. I should have moved on, but even if I had, would it have made any difference?

I sigh and hand her my test. I'm sure I failed.

"I am sorry for your loss Lumi," she says, gently.

"Thanks," I whisper as I stand up and leave the room.

When Mom sees my grade on the test she will for sure say I shouldn't have gone to school today. But there's nothing I can do about it now.

I round a corner, head down. Is everyone still staring at me? I'm sure they are. They all know I have magic. I wonder if they think I killed Madam Mara. I'm in the right position for it to be believable.

"Why won't she talk to me?"

I stop and press myself against the wall. It's Amber. She doesn't sound like she's walking but I get ready to run in case she rounds the corner.

"Maybe 'cause you wrote about her without her permission?" a new voice suggests. It's Neo, Amber's cousin.

I hear Amber sigh. "I had to! Mr. M was pushing me for more information and I couldn't think of anything else to include!"

"Why didn't you ask her first?" He doesn't say it meanly, just more curious.

"I didn't have time."

"You could have warned her."

I can imagine Amber running her hand through her hair and making that face that says she's waring between two thoughts. "Okay, maybe I could have," she admits.

"Then why didn't you?"

"I don't know."

"You need to talk to her."

"I know," Amber says.

Then the sound of footfalls starts heading towards me.

I spin on my heel and duck into the bathroom. I wait as their footfalls pass and fall away. I sigh.

That was close. I'm not trying to avoid Amber, I swear, I'm not. But I'm not ready to talk about why she didn't tell me about the article, and by the sounds of it she wouldn't know the answer.

I head over to the sink and stare at myself. My blue hair is wild. Sticking up in places and knots knotted throughout. I damp my hand and hold it over my head, letting water drip onto my hair. Then I run my hands over it, trying to get it under control.

It works. But now my hair is wet and there's no air dryers to dry it.

"Lumi?"

I look over my shoulder and see Mia standing in the doorway.

"Hey." I wave.

Her face softens. "How you doing?" she asks, coming over and placing a cold hand on my shoulder.

I shrug it off. "I'm okay,"

"It really sucks that you found her dead," she says. She's looking in the mirror now, fixing her ear length black hair.