The Witch and her Wolf

Chapter 1

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Chapter 1-

 I jolt awake at the sound of my teacher booming my name, "Ms. Bailey!" and now I am immediately embarrassed.  I fell asleep in class, again! I promised myself that I wouldn’t do that again. I scan my teacher's face and it's safe to say that Mr.Cross is not happy. I gather my courage to respond, “Yes, Mr.Cross” I reply in a light voice. 

“You fell asleep again!” he said in a stern voice. He wasn’t yelling but he wasn’t exactly pulling me aside after class.

“Sorry sir” I apologize before I can get myself into any more trouble.

"Do you even know what we are working on in this unit?” he questions.

“ The Salem Witch Trials, sir” I respond, wanting my body to crumble in on itself.

“Well, since you feel like you know so much, that you feel like you can sleep in my class…” he pauses and walks towards his desk, “if you can answer these questions correctly, everyone in here gets twenty extra credit points and you will get out of this detention.” he challenged and in his left hand he was waving the pink detention slip.

I pressure of everyone's eyes on me. There was no way I could turn this down with everyone watching me. I simply say with a soft voice, “Ok, sir.”

A smug grin grew on his face that I just wanted to slap off so bad. He picks up his papers and I start to feel the nerves in the pit of my stomach. Mr. Cross leans over his desk and picks up a couple sheets of paper. The next test or quiz no doubt. 

After a minute or two he looks up from his hand full of papers, he walks over to the front of his desk. I feel my classmates eyes on me like spiders crawling all over my body, and Mr. Cross still has his slappable grin on his face. “Five questions, Ms.Bailey. You can only get one wrong for the extra credit and a detention free afternoon. Got it?” he says with a hint of amusement in his voice. “Yes, sir” I say knowing I’m probably f****d with the questions he chose.

He quickly looks back down at the papers in his hand and says, “Let's start with something simple. When did the trials start?”

“1692,” I instinctively say.

“Correct Ms.Bailey. What were the two ways that the people would kill the women?” he asks, moving only his eyes to look at me with his wretched smile returning on his face.

After a couple seconds of feeling about thirty pairs of eyeballs on me, I give the obvious answer, “burning at the stake, and hanging,”

“Correct again Ms.Bailey.Where did it take place?”

“Massachusetts” I answer reluctantly. This is too easy. What is he doing?

“What was the name of the first “witch’?” he asks using  air quotes.

I freeze in fear, not knowing the answer. Come on! Think! Think! THINK! I have no idea! f**k! It's been about a minute now and I feel the eyes burn through my skull. 

“Do you have an answer Ms.Bailey?”I feel my heart drop to my stomach but then I hear a woman's voice lightly say “Elizabeth Sanford”. I look around the classroom, not recognizing the voice until I hear Mr.Cross say, “Your classmates can’t help you Ms.Bailey. Do you have an answer?”

I hear the calm, wispy voice again say,  “Elizabeth Sanford”

Fuck it. “Elizabeth Sanford?” I say more as a question than an answer.

“That is incorrect Ms.Bailey. The correct answer is Bridget Bishop”

Damn it

“One last question, Ms.Bailey.” He quickly looks down at the papers and looks back up, “How many women were convicted and killed in the trials?”

The voice came back, “three hundred” and without thinking I say“ three hundred”. Mr.Cross chuckled, “Try twenty, Ms.Bailey.” and now I actually want my body to crumble in on itself.

Mr.Cross’s gloating is cut short by the bell relieving all the students from the clutches of their fifth period teacher. Everyone gets up and starts to leave but when I try to make my way out, we lock eyes and he hands me my inevitable detention slip. 

************

After Mr.Cross’ horrific history class, I was pissed off for my entire last period. Then I worked my way to detention in the chemistry class down the hall. I did not have time for this. The classroom was filled with three long tables that reached both ends of the room, and had sinks on either end. On the pasty taupe colored walls were cheesy anti-bullying posters, ‘don’t do drugs/smoke’ posters, and what's a science room without a periodic table poster hanging on the far side of the chemistry room. I approach the teacher and place the slip on her desk. Ms. Davis is running detention today. Great! She’s not my chem teacher but from what I hear, she has a huge  stick up her ass. She was a white woman with dark brown hair pulled into a slicked back low bun. She wore black square framed glasses with a white lab coat. She didn’t bother to look up from her papers. She just lifted her pen, and with the other end she slid it closer to her. Ms.Davis picked up the detention slip glanced up at me without moving her head and then moved the pink paper to the other side of her desk. I roll my eyes and work my way to the middle seat in the second row. I glance around the room and I see only four other people. 

One was a girl with brown ombre hair with bleached tips. She was sitting on the seat closest to the fire exit at the far end of the room. She was wearing a blue and white cheer uniform and white sneakers. The girl was obnoxiously chewing her pink bubble gum with her mouth open and blowing bubbles half the size of her face. 

There was a boy who sat three or four seats away from me. He was skinny and pale with shoulder length dirty blonde hair. He wore brown khaki pants with cuffs at the bottom and a plain white t-shirt. I could smell the weed off him from a couple seats away. 

There was another girl who had blue hair and black roots. She had a septum piercing with two large diamonds on both sides. She had black and red smokey eyeshadow and dark red lipstick. The girl wore a black ‘Thrasher’ shirt with a white long-sleeve underneath. She also had ripped black jeans with combat boots. 

Lastly, there was another boy in detention. He was my height, so about 5’7. Just looking at him, he’s obviously gay. Wearing very stylish clothing, with a black wide brimmed hat. He also had a very impressive makeup look going on. He was sitting next to the cheerleader and they were writing something down. Probably talking s**t cause we can’t talk in detention. 

I take out my notebook and get started on the little homework I have. About ten minutes in and I feel my phone buzz in my back pocket. I already know it's my mom asking where I am. I look around the room and make sure that no one is looking, and slyly pull out my phone. I was dead on. A message from my mother read “Where are you?”. I look up again to check my surroundings and I quickly open my phone, to reply.  I quickly type “I’ll be a little late today. I'm in tutoring. Sorry. I won't be long.” unbelievably fast and sent it to my mom. Hopefully she’s not pissed. I wait a minute for her reply, then I hear a loud clap on the desk in front of me. I look up from my phone and I see the teacher, Ms.Davis staring into my soul. If looks could kill, I’d be slaughtered. She had slammed her teachers book on the table in front of me.

Ms. Davis holds out her hand, I sigh and hand her my phone. The demon woman holds up her index finger and indicates to me to follow her to her desk. I roll my eyes, even more pissed off and work my way to her desk. 

“Addison, is it?” she asks looking at my detention slip, and I nod. “You are aware that there are no phones in detention, right?” questioned with a raised eyebrow. “Yes, ma’am”  I simply say knowing that I'm in even more trouble than I already was. “Then why were you on your phone, if you were aware?” she asked with her eyebrows drawn together. “I was texting my mom. I’m supposed to pick her up from Marisons Center right now.” I reply. Just mentioning that center, she knows my mom’s condition. “How old are you Addison?” she asks.  “fifteen, ma’am.” I say, in a warn voice. “How would you even pick her up?” she grilled. What is this, an interrogation? “With my car ma’am” I replied trying not to get frustrated. “Now I know you’re lying. You’re fifteen you’re not old enough to drive.” she said with a giggle. “That's true ma’am, but if you have a disabled parent, you can get your licence at fourteen, which i did.” I said slightly challenging her. 

Ms. Davis looked frustrated now. She stood up and leaned over her desk and got to my eye level. “Addison, you can’t use your mother’s condition as an excuse to get out of your own mess.” she challenged with her eyebrows raised again as fake sympathy. I wish those eyebrows would just singe off. I can feel my anger boiling inside the pit of my stomach. 

Before I knew it the chemicals behind her desk started boiling and not even seconds later they started spewing out of their glass vials. This started a chain reaction which caused the rest of the chemicals in the chemistry room to explode. 

Ms.davis turned around to see and the chemicals burst in her face. The cheerleader screamed and the rest of the students booked it to the emergency exit. She ran for the emergency shower and I grabbed my phone and ran to my seat and grabbed my stuff. I made a run for it to the emergency exit like the other students, and on my way I pulled the fire alarm. I look back for a second and I see that Ms. Davis is right behind me without her obnoxious glasses. I can see that her glasses protected her eyes from the burning chemicals, but they didn’t protect her eyebrows. I would burst into laughter if my own eyebrows, and god knows what else, weren’t in danger from these chemicals. 

I make a run for my car in the center of the parking lot. I hop into my white 2008 Volkswagen and quickly make my way to Marisons Center.