Calder Academy Year 1

Witches are Bitches

Chapter 4

(Addisons POV)

I gently knocked on the mahogany door, a gold plaque centered at eye level read “DEAN VYLA CALDER". “Come in please!” I heard from the other side.

Pushing the door open I took a brief look around the office. It was bright from the open window behind where the Dean sat in a large backed red velour chair.

Bookshelves lined the walls on either side. She had a solid cherry wood table in the shape of a C before her, and strange plants I had never seen before littered every available shelving space.

Her fire orange hair was pulled into a French twist and her clear cat eye glasses sat low on her nose and she appraised me. Flashing me a brilliant smile she said “Good morning Miss. Celt! How are you liking your classes so far? “. I didn’t have much to go off yet so I just went with my usual response when asked how I am, “great, thanks". Vyla scrutinized me with a raised brow, bit didn’t push for more.

“Aside from checking how you’re making out here , I called you in to discuss where you’re at magically. The power I picked up from your apartment was significant but very sloppy for someone of your age. Now I don’t mean that offensively as most witches are taught control exercises, and changes to look out for when their magic begins to develop. I understand you did not have that opportunity prior to coming here therefore I’d like you to work with a tutor I’ve personally hand selected. He’s fluent in all elements of magic, and is actually our Physical education professor Killian Saint. You may come in now Killian."

I turned around expecting…well I don’t actually know what I was expecting truthfully, but it sure as hell wasn’t the surly asshat before me!

He didn’t meet my eyes , instead went straight on to address Vyla. “Dean Calder , you requested a meeting with me?" at that he flicked his eyes to me and back to her suspiciously. If she noticed it she didn’t comment.

“Professor Saint, as I’m sure you remember from your visit to the City, this here is Addison Celt, a newborn witch. As I suspected she was unaware of her witch lineage, and has agreed to a semester here at the Academy. Without extra work she will fall behind in classes so I’ve selected you to tutor her. You two can make the schedule as it works for you both. Any questions?”.

Uh yeah I had a million, like why the hell was she pairing me with this stick in the mud!? I get I need the extra help to catch up, but literally anyone else would do…ugh. On my better judgment I kept my mouth shut and looked to ‘Killian' to object. Saint my ass.

“No ma’am, thank you for the opportunity.” I looked at him like he was crazy but quickly looked down at my shoes, focusing on a small tear in the carpet instead.

“After dinner hour, I expect to see you in the gymnasium for our first session.” He said without any inflection. He turned to Vyla “Dean Calder" he said in parting before giving me a curt nod and walking out.

Rushing to the cafeteria I made sure to pause before cautiously opening the door. My goose egg had disappeared over night, but I wasn’t eager to formulate a new one.

The sounds of loud chatter, teasing, laughter and clanging silverware rang out all around me. I looked around the room slowly trying to find Taryn when I saw a hand viciously waving from one of the back tables.

Taryn was on her knees on the table top waving me over like a lunatic. I couldn’t help the grin that broke across my face as I headed towards her.

Flopping back on her seat she pushed a tray my way. “Lasagna day today, Val makes thee best lasagna ever. I’m lactose intolerant but that doesn’t stop me. I’m on my second helping, to be honest I was getting prepared to eat yours if you didn’t show soon. What took you so long anyway?” She asked around a fork full of cheese and sauce.

Wow this girl spoke a mile a minute. That was ok though, I was in dire need of friends and she had an easy going energy around her.

“Sorry, Dean Calder called me into her office to talk tutoring and see how my first day was going.” I replied while unraveling my utensils from out of the napkin.

“Cool. So how are you liking it? My first day was s**t, literally . I stepped in troll s**t out on the quad. Those things are nasty little buggers, they go whenever and wherever and could give a rats ass who steps in it, Blech! So why do you need a tutor.?” she asked before I could answer her first question.

“Hold up. Trolls? Like… under the bridge feasting on children trolls?!” I whispered yelled. She looked at me straight faced, her fork frozen halfway to her mouth and busted out laughing. “Oh my God girl, you’re hilarious. Have you never met an actual troll before? Don’t let them hear what you think of them, those guys will turn you to dust with one look ha-ha.” Holy s**t she’s serious.

“Well don’t tell anyone, I actually just found out I was a witch two days ago. I lived my whole life thinking this kind of stuff was just fiction.” I said with an embarrassed shrug. I don’t know why I felt compelled to admit that to her after we had only just met today, but somehow I still did.

“Shut up. Are you serious?! That’s insane! How though?” She leaned forward whispering. After giving a quick glance around to make sure nobody was listening I gave her a bit of my back story.

I told her of my parents, and she looked at me sympathetically, I pretended not to notice even though my heart clenched from her expression. I don’t know why I was telling her these things I never told anyone, but I just knew somehow that I could trust her.

“What class do you have next, want to grab dinner tonight, and then I can show you around a bit if you want some company?” She offered, as we strolled to put our trays back. “Umm, potions with Eldenrock in room 4003” I said, scanning my schedule briefly. “Dinner sounds like a plan, but I have tutoring after that.” Her face showed a bit of disappointment, and I got the feeling she too was pumped about having a friend.

“But as soon as I have some free time I’d love to see the grounds!” I remedied quickly. She went back to grinning at hearing that. “Cool, so what nerd did you get stuck with as a tutor?” She elbowed me as we walked out the doors. “Professor Saint.” I said with disdain.

She grabbed my arm stopping my in my tracks. “Uh, and you waited until now to mention this why?! Addy! Ps I’m calling you Addy from now on. But back to the point! He is SO hot, I heard he’s only a couple years older than us too. His uncle works for S.E.A and that’s how he landed a job here. It was that or department of magic enforcements for him. Just watch your back with Trinity . She’s been obsessed with him since she started here. He pays her no attention, but I heard she used force winds once to push a girl down the dorm stairs who looked at him too long .” Man this girl could ramble .

I was never one for girly conversations and gossip, but I actually found myself engaged with Taryns way. As soon as she had started one topic she was onto the next. “So the winter ball theme is Cinderella, and I was thinking I could conjure up glass slippers, but I’m scared to cut a foot if they break, I am down 4 pounds though and…”

I stayed silent throwing in the odd “mm" and “wow" as we walked, letting her do all the talking. In my mind I was elsewhere, thinking over everything she told me about Killian Saint.

(Killians POV)

Tutoring Addison was the last f*****g thing I expected Vyla to ask of me. It makes sense yeah, but it’s not like I could say anything against it. That would just open a door to my personal life, and things I couldn’t talk about at work. Least of all with the Dean of the damn Academy.

I had an image to maintain professionally. If this was ever going to work out for me and Addox, I couldn’t jeopardize that with my own bullshit or my uncle would have me burned at the f*****g stake.

When the Dean told me I’d be working one on one with the new witch my core clenched in excitement, and I hated my body for betraying me. Truth of the matter was I had no reason to dislike her, but she doesn’t need to know that. She just needs to hate me in return so we can interact as minimally as f*****g possible.

If I wanted to touch her soft skin, and breathe in her floral scent I’d have to do it in my bloody dreams. Never been one to slap my own ham, truthfully I’ve never had the need. I’m not a bad looking guy, and the kinds of women that seemed to lay with me weren’t the type to stick around thankfully. Guess there’s a first for everything…

(Addisons POV)

As I sat amongst the other students in the potions lab I wondered what this professor would be like. I hoped they were more lenient than Professor Letties saggy butt. At least I was on time for this class, I prided myself.

“GOOD AFTERNOON WITCHES AND WARLOCKS!” shouted a younger looking man as he jogged into the classroom , dishing out high fives to random students as he went.

He had sandy brown hair that he wore shaggy to his eyebrows, friendly brown eyes and a wide bright smile. He was dressed in a white lab coat with blue plaid pants, and black sneakers. “How we all doing today ?!” he addressed the class. Everyone said a lame collective “good" before going back to ignoring him.

He was nerdy and eccentric , with what we’d call in the human world a ‘hipster vibe’ . If he noticed the students talking and texting he didn’t seem to pay any mind to it.

“Alright then ! Today we’re going to be a trying our hand at a simple potion. Using what you’ve learned so far this year, you’ll be expected to make a levitation potion using only 3 ingredients. What those Ingredients are is up to you. Whether your potions work or not will dictate whether you pass or fail the assignment today. I want you all to get into pairs, Miss Celt I understand you’re starting mid way through what we’ve learned so I’d like you to join another pair and watch. Ok? Great! Everyone get started.” He clapped his hands together and sauntered to his own table of vials and liquids.

Ignoring the red of my cheeks I looked around for a pair that looked friendly, hoping someone would just call me over soon and save me this embarrassment.

A good looking guy with shaggy black hair and brown eyes and chiseled jaw waved me in his direction. Oh thank God. I walked over quickly and sat down.

“Thanks" I said appreciatively. “Don’t mention it we were all new once too, what’s your name Miss. Celt?” he asked with a friendly lopsided smile. “Addison” I laughed “Everyone addresses me so formal it’s strange, and you?” I was feeling pretty ok about this class so far.

“Yeah you get used to that, I’m Rixon” the guy answered, “and this here is Darius" he gestured to the big guy with light yellow eyes, and a shaved head who also sat at the table with us . Darius gave a small wave. "Darius is actually a wolf shifter but in this class for extra credit. Can’t have the buff and the brains hey Dari?” he teasingly socked the big guy in the arm.

I liked Rixon and Darius, they were both smart and funny. Rixon ended up making our whole potion which worked effortlessly on the first try. He put an eraser in a petri dish and poured a small amount of the clear liquid on top. A moment later it was hovering a few inches above the dish. I stared in amazement totally entranced.

“Very well team!” boomed Professor Eldenrock from less than a foot behind me making me leap an inch off my chair. Rixon flashed me a knowing smile, and I had to cover my mouth to stifle the laughter.

Potions 101 flew by before I realized, it was definitely my favorite class so far. So far elemental studies is pretty cool too though it’s proving a bit tricky. Today we're learning how conjure rain in small areas.

“You need to envision the water as though you are one, and connect it to gravity for it to fall as rain!” Professor Shannon had told us. Most people were getting it, a few could only conjure small trickles though.

It had been 45 minutes and I had yet to create a drop. I had my eyed scrunched shut trying hard to envision the water when I heard laughter, and glanced over to see the three girls from history this morning watching me in mockery.

I turned away angrily, and focused on my breathing. I searched around inside until I felt the electric like current Shannon said was our internal magic and latched onto it. It was foreign but felt right at the same time, like it was always inside waiting for me to touch it.

Just as I began to switch my focus to water, I heard another laugh from the b***h witches and imagined how good it would feel to dump a downpour of water on all their heads , wrecking their stupid made up faces and hair.

Suddenly there was a loud splash like a bucket of water falling from the ceiling…

“WHAT IN THE ACTUAL f**k?! WHO DID THAT?” a shrill voice screamed. Everyone including me whirled around to see what happened.

Standing there soaking wet from head to toe was the three girls. The blonde one in the center met my eyes with razor blades, and stormed over. “It was you wasn’t it?! You stupid f*****g b***h!” she shouted, and reached a hand up to slap me.

Her palm stopped inches from my cheek, like it was being held back by an unseen force. “TRINITY VARIAN. You will not raise hands against other students in this school do I make myself clear?. I don’t care WHO started it. Miss. Celt , I sincerely hope that wasn’t you, because that would be a very unfortunate way to start your first day here. That’s it for today. When you come back in here tomorrow I expect civility.”

Trinitys face turned passive as she looked me up and down. Hiking a shoulder she turned away like I was nothing “whatever” .

So that’s Trinity? Wow. Surprising that Killian doesn’t like her since she’s an asshole just like him. Speaking of the devil I have one hour left until he tutors me. Suddenly I’ve lost my appetite.