Wizard (Troy Sanders Trilogy Book 1)

8: And Enters Miss Sunshine

I got my room number, key and a map to it from Abigail and made my way down the long hallway. Speaking of which, I was no architectural expert but the hallway’s arch form was really spectacular; the only other place I’d ever seen that kind of architecture again was the town’s cathedral; and believe me, compared to the hallway’s arch, theirs was just low-budget work.

Just then, two boys suddenly shoved me out of the way. Now, any other person would have thought it was a mistake but I knew better- bully expert here, remember?- the hallway could easily accommodate five persons standing shoulder to shoulder so there was no reason why those guys should brush against let alone shove me.

I continued on my way though; no need to create trouble when it wasn't looking for you. But one of the boys stepped right in front of me and I had no choice but to stop. I turned to see that his friend had taken up position behind me; classic bully formation, if my experience served me well.

They were both wearing red cloaks which meant they were in their third year. The one in front of me was a regular blonde- funny, he actually reminded me of Mom- he was richly built with well-muscled arms that could strangle an elephant.

His friend, however, was a direct opposite of him. A brunette with a thin structure; and kinda sick-looking too, I might add. I bet I could easily beat him if it came down to that; although I couldn’t say how pleased the other guy would be about it.

“What can I help you gentlemen with?” I decided to ask, giving my best businessman smile. It always looked good on Grandpa Blake and if it could work well for an old man, it should work better for me.

Unfortunately, it didn’t. “He’s trying to play smart, isn’t he, Thom?” said the blonde guy.

I turned to see Thom nod affirmative. His nod was so sharp I feared his head might fall off at any moment. It started to dawn on me that perhaps Blondie Jones in front of me had forced his friend to try to pick on me; Thom definitely didn’t look like bully material.

“It was nice making your acquaintance,” I said to them before they could establish domain, stepping around the blonde guy. I’d already been picked on so much in Krestwick High and I had no intention of letting that continue in Firewalt.

All of a sudden, Blondie grabbed my cloak and I swung around with my fist, catching him right on the nose. He went down on one knee as he grunted in pain and I saw blood splash on the floor; I had definitely made an impact.

“Are you going to let him get away with that, Drake?” Thom shouted, his voice coming out high pitched like a girl’s.

“Not a chance,” Drake replied and rose off the floor with blood in his eyes- like his eyes were literally bloodshot like a beast’s.

And in that moment, I began to wish I had hit Thom instead. Drake, despite his hard physique, must have had a soft body because his nose was pretty torn, he would definitely need stitches; or maybe I had more punch power than I thought— would be really cool if I could punch a hole in a guy’s nose, right?

Anyway, back to the fight. “I would have loved to turn you into a bug and just squash you but it won’t be as painful as I want,” Drake said to me, a lot of anger in his voice, “but believe me when I say that what I’ll do to you will make you wish I had turned you into a bug and squashed you.”

They both began to work determinedly towards me but I kept my eyes trained on Drake; he was the one with the revenge plan after all. Also, I didn’t think Thom could really do any damage.

Out of nowhere, a faint blue breeze suddenly whizzed past me and hit the boys, sending them screaming and flying in different directions. I turned to see a girl wearing a red cloak- another year three- standing there with her hands extended. Apparently, she had taken care of my almost torturers.

“Stupid boys don’t even know that year ones aren’t worth their efforts,” I heard her mutter to herself, wiping her hands as if disgusted by the thought of the boys’ stupidity.

I knew that I should have felt happy that I was saved from what would most likely have become an early beating in a new school. But the fact that the girl thought I wasn’t worth someone’s effort really got to me— talk about ego, huh?

I took a closer look at her as she began to walk towards me and noticed that she had a long caramel hair which she had brushed over one of her shoulders. Her eyes were clear blue, her nose pointed and I could hear a drawl in her English when she spoke, which kind of pointed at an Australian origin although I couldn’t be sure; thing is, I’d never paid attention in Geography class and all I just said came from watching the National Geographic channel on more than one boring occasion with Mom.

My eyes suddenly drifted down to her lips and stopped, their red colour and fullness somehow reminding me of a strawberry before being bitten into. And without any warning, I was snapped back to reality as she smacked my head, really painful too.

“Ouch!” I shouted. “What was that for?”

“Didn’t your mother tell you that it’s rude to stare at someone? Especially a woman,” she said, glaring at me as if I’d just committed the world’s greatest sin.

“You’re not a woman, you’re a girl!” I returned at her, that getting to me more than the others.

“Lady,” she corrected, smiling smugly. “I’m sixteen.”

Sixteen? I had actually guessed at nineteen. But wait a frigging minute! If she was sixteen, then how in the world did she get to be in year three?

It suddenly dawned on me that perhaps she wasn’t the one early. I was the one late; proving more to me that there was something fishy about Blake Sanders’ timing in telling me about my magic heritage when he had known where I was all the while. The school was supposed to be like summer camp for teenage wizards, ending when they were ready to go to college.

As I was still thinking, a light breeze suddenly blew her hair in my direction and I perceived honey in them. An image of her rubbing honey into her hair flashed across my mind and somehow, it made my stomach churn.

I must be hungry, I thought as I turned back to carry my luggage. Drake and Thom had already picked themselves up and left; I really thought they were dead for a moment back there. But it also made me realize that whoever this girl was, they didn’t wanna mess with her- why else would they leave like that without even putting up a fight?

I took another look at the girl who could strike fear into the heart of someone as rigid as Drake. She was slim and had her curves in the right places; not a surprise for someone at sixteen. The wind was blowing her cloak back so I could see that she was wearing black skinny jeans with brown cowboy boots that almost reached her knees. She was also putting on a blue T-shirt with blue earrings and matching pendant— kinda mismatched with the red cloak, don’t you think?

“When you're done staring at me again, come carry my luggage for me, would you?” she suddenly said, gesturing to two bags which she had dropped on the floor.

No way, girl! There was just no way in hell I was carrying her bags. I knew she just saved me and all but if she couldn't carry her own luggage, then she didn’t deserve to have them in the first place.

“Thanks for your help back there but I can’t carry your bags for you. I really am sorry,” I said as gently as I could be- we don’t wanna anger the saviour, now do we?

“Why not?” she asked, looking as if my response was the most unexpected thing she had come across that day.

“What do you mean why not?” I returned. “I just can't.”

Could you believe the nerve on that girl? Asking me to carry her luggage like some designated busboy. I didn’t know if that was the norm around here- which I didn’t think it was or Abigail would have mention it to me earlier- but even if it was, I still wasn’t going to do it.

“Fine,” she said with an “I get it” shrug, “you’ll just have to come collect yours when you’re ready to carry mine.”

Before I knew what was happening, my luggage suddenly flew out of my hand and landed right next to hers. I took a determined step towards my bag but retreated when I saw her make a red light appear in her hand and pointed it at me; I might not know magic but I knew without a doubt that red was never a good sign.

It hit me then that maybe this girl wasn’t as right in the head as I thought; that would definitely explain why those two decided to bolt earlier. I should have known that life wouldn’t have been so kind as to just send me a normal “right in brain and every faculty” girl that was willing to save me for nothing out of nowhere.

The girl went to sit down on my luggage— can you imagine that?—and stared at me expectantly. I knew that if I got riled up enough, I might be able to access my magic like the previous times. But even if I did get in touch with it, I really doubted that my “accidental” magic would help me against a third year apprentice.

“Alright, girl, you win,” I finally said to her after seeing the futility in my resistance. “I’ll carry your bags for you.”

“I knew you’d eventually come around,” she replied, a satisfactory smile on her face. “See that wasn’t so hard, now was it?”

She swiped a bubblegum out of thin air, unwrapped it and threw the wrapper right in my face as she walked away; chewing loudly, presumably just to rub my defeat in.

I knew that the most logical action would be to bolt as soon as I got the chance. But even with that girl’s back turned to me and walking very far ahead of me, somehow I knew that escape was not an option I had.