Freaks

31 • departure

❝if we were meant to stay in one place, we'd have roots instead of feet ❞
ｒａｃｈｅｌ ｗｏｌｃｈｉｎ

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ＩＴ figures that just as things are starting to look up, I'm reminded of how temporary this all is.

Me weaving my way down a maze of halls to make it to World History on time, spending too long talking at lunch and never having much time for anything else, blurting all my problems to Professor Horowitz on a weekly basis, training at the Dome with the group (and privately with Idina), sneaking out in the middle of the night to meet Cole on rooftops... 

I forget that this is not my regular life. My regular life begins again in less than two weeks.

Morgana stands in the front of the room delivering her usual speech: 'Stay out of trouble', 'don't use your powers', 'there's still a week left before the holidays, use it wisely'. To Morgana, the word slacking did not exist, and she was insistent on hammering this fact into each and every one of us.

"You may have special abilities, but first and foremost, the Dauntley Academy is a school. That means, I expect you to treat your education the same way you would your training," she recaps, searching the audience for possible miscreants with those deep brown soul-sucking probes that sat in her eye sockets.

Satisfied, she looks back to her assistant in confirmation, "Well?" They nod in reply. "That is all from me. I wish you all a satisfactory holiday." 

Morgana swiftly exits the stage and chatter erupts from all around. Students stand up and migrate across the cafeteria to discuss Easter plans with friends, others exit the room entirely, favouring the Rec Room.

Vague fragments of an ongoing conversation on my table drift through my brain but I'm too absorbed in my own thoughts to try to piece them together.

It seems like every time I get comfortable in a place, I'm reminded it is not home.

"Well, it's better that you're going home than being stuck here," Cass whines. My head shoots up immediately, wondering if I'd spoken out loud. It occurs to me with relief to realise I hadn't. She was replying to a statement Willow had made.

"You win there," Willow grudgingly agrees. "I'd rather handle two months of family drama than an extra week here."

"Why can't you go home?" I ask Cass.

"Blame Morgana dearest," she says sarcastically, glancing around to see if her mother was still around. "This week, she's touring the other schools as usual, then over the holidays, she plans to work — as usual. Normally, I'd just stay at my grandparents', but this year they're taking a cruise to celebrate their forty-somethingth wedding anniversary," Cass explains with a sigh. "And so... I'm stuck here all May. Alone."

"Jesus, Cass," Markus says. "Tone it down with the guilt-tripping, will ya?"

Logan nods in agreement, though his eyes are filled with genuine remorse. "You know you'd always be welcome to ours if we weren't travelling ourselves. And you know how your mom gets about you travelling abroad..."

"Yes, I know, I know," Cass responds quickly, looking away from Logan. "Sorry guys. I'm not trying to make you feel guilty. I guess I just need to vent."