Chapter 3 - I get a letter

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Summer flew by quickly. I stayed in my room most of the time, stretched out on my bed, drawing. I tried drawing my wings, then me without my wings, then a guy with a sword.

It was quiet around the house. My mom worked a day job at the local convenience store. She mostly left me home alone to fend for myself. I'll be honest, I was grateful for it. When she was home, she always has people over. I never got any privacy.

I sat up from my bed and found my way to the fridge. Even though there was mostly old takeout, it was better than nothing.

On the door, I found a small note scribbled in my moms hasty writing.

Fig, don't forget to take the trash out before noon. You forgot last week and it smells awful. I get home at six tonight.

I signed and took the note. It was already passed noon, and the trash had already com by now.

I stared at the first word on the paper for a few moments, wondering why the heck it was my name.

Fig.

Like who the frick names there kid Fig. It sounds like some grumpy old cats name. It doesn't even stand for something cool either! It's just Fig. Fig Faulker.

That's me.

The bird boy.

I almost wished school would start sooner. There were only two weeks left of vacation and I hadn't done anything yet. Forget swimming, because I have wings. Forget going to a concert, hanging out with friends I don't have, going to camp, all because I have wings. You know what, forget going out in public! You want to know why?

Wings.

I grabbed some food and went back up to my room to sulk. I had five more hours before my mom came home and scolded me about the trash.



***



"Hey mom," I say, not looking up from my sketchbook. She had entered my room unannounced, and seemed worried.

"I got a letter in the mail."

"That's great! Are we finally being evicted?"

She frowned. "No, the letter's for you. There's a school that's interested in... Well, I think you should go." She handed me the letter.

_______

From: Headmaster Cedar Elloweer
And Dean Edward Terren
Ackmun's School For Magical Misfits

To: Mr. Fig James Faulker
23 Hidden Hallow Rd.
In the upstairs bedroom, sketching away

_______

"Is this some kind of joke?" I ask, looking at my mom.

"No. You know how I am a witch, right?"

"Yes, but you hate magic."

"I don't hate it, Fig, I just chose to avoid the... Politics." She frowned. "Well, I went to a school called Hogwarts, a school for witchcraft and wizardry. This schools like that, but for... Students with different genes."

"You mean 'Magical Misfits,'" I say, looking back at the letter.

"Well, yes," she says, looking at me. "You should read what's inside."


I spent the next half an hour re-reading what the slip of paper said on the inside. It gave me a list of books, the names of the teachers and subjects, where to get supplies (somewhere called Diagon Alley?), and a general outline of what the school was about.

Three cool things I learned:

1) you get a wand
2) you get sorted into a house, of which there were scribbled drawings of each's symbol next to it:
- The Guardian ( but I guess it just a Phoenix? It looks like one at least)
- The Fox ( 'twas a fox with goat horns?)
- The Pterolykus (or that's what they called it, it really looked like a winged wolf)
- The Unicorn (I kid you not, it was the scariest picture out of all of them)
3) I don't have to come home until the summer.

I decided right away that I was leaving this heck hole.

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