Author's note: Wow, so this is my first fanfic in ages and a lot has changed around here while I've been gone. As you all now, everything Harry Potter affiliated belongs to J.K. Rowling and not little ol' me. Please review so that I can know what you like and what you think I should improve on:-)
She sat in the corner of the classroom, in the spot that one would classify as your classic 'social reject area', making it all the more easier to ignore select person in that position. Of course, she had no choice as to where she sat as this was sixth grade and classroom seats were assigned. Ironically, the seat did seem to suit her quiet demeanor.
Clarissa Albright seemed not to be entirely different from the other students at West Eden. Clarissa wore the same green jumper uniform the other girls wore to school, she had those stylish butterfly clips placed just so in her bright red hair (on days that she could get away with it), she stored her homework in the dazzling Lisa Frank folders…She was just a face in a crowd of equally indistinguishable students that plagued the dim classrooms of the learning facility.
Clarissa pulled herself out of a daydream and stared down at the blank piece of paper placed in front of her. Today was the most exciting point that her classes would take during the day. It was Art hour and this was really the only class period that Clarissa enjoyed.
Mr. Moore, the school's art teacher, had given them a rather easy assignment considering that it was Friday and there was no use in starting a new project until Monday. The class was to draw their version of a superhero and there were no limits to their creativity; they could make their hero have a madcap power such as 'meat vision' if they so desired. Most students thought of the assignment as juvenile, as they were in a secondary school now and were above such a task, but they couldn't disguise their simple pleasure when they began to work.
Clarissa scribbled away feverously at her small desk. Drawing was the one activity that she greatly enjoyed. It gave her a feeling of being, peace, fulfillment… it was the one thing in the world that made her feel like she could rise above the sea of mediocrity that the other students would eventually drown in.
Mr. Moore clapped his hands as he approached the front of the classroom. "Alright class, the period is almost up. Let's see what you drew, shall we?"
He walked by each child's desk, examining their outrageous drawings and occasionally holding up a piece of work for the class to admire with their ooh's and ahh's.
He finally reached the corner seat in the back of the classroom.
Mr. Moore picked up her drawing and held it to the side so that the nosy boy who sat next to her could not even steal a glance at it. After a few moments he swiftly placed it faced down on her desk.
"Well, he doesn't seem to be much of a hero, does he?" Her teacher laughed silently to himself as he absentmindedly stroked his thick mustache. "Would you like to describe him to me and to the rest of the class?"
Clarissa awkwardly cleared her throat and looked nervously at her teacher. After receiving a nod of assurance, she slowly lifted up her drawing to show the class and began to speak.
There were a few murmurs of confusion throughout the class as they gazed upon a simple drawing of a boy in thick round glasses standing awkwardly against a blank background.
"My… my superhero looks like just any regular boy," she said softly, but just loud enough so that the class could hear her. "But he's really the most powerful being to walk Earth…"
She was immediately stopped by the interjections of her classmates as they started throwing out ideas of how their superhero could easily defeat Clarissa's, even if she had said that he was the most powerful. To them, their superhero was the most mighty and dominating and none other mattered, especially since Clarissa's poor superhero only seemed to be an ordinary boy. They soon got wrapped up in their discussions of the fate-deciding battle of Steven's Lava Man versus Christina's Squirrel Boy and Clarissa was able to breathe a sigh of relief and venture back into her realm of solitude and daydreams.
The shrill bell rang and the students ventured out of the classroom hastily, wanting to get home as soon as possible to begin their weekend of cartoon watching and video gaming. Clarissa pushed her way through the crowd of hyperactive preteens and hurried out of the plain brick building.
Her best friend, Jamie Harris, was waiting for her at the usual spot by the rusted chain link fence that separated the quiet suburban neighborhood from the school district. She inattentively twirled her long brown hair as she leaned against the fence.
Upon Clarissa's arrival, Jamie immediately pulled out a pair of lollipops from her pink backpack and held them out to her friend.
"I managed to get these from that kid Eric today," Jamie said proudly as Clarissa carefully chose the grape lollipop over the mystery flavored. "He said that I couldn't beat him in a race from the library to the kickball field. Boy did I whip him!"
Clarissa nodded in acknowledgment. They began their walk home, taking their sweet time as they pleased, not unlike they normally did. This was the only time during the school week that they could spend together, as they had no classes together this year.
After listening to Jamie reenact a comical conversation that she had at lunch, Clarissa pondered before finally speaking for the first time in minutes.
"Jamie, do you think that magic exists?"
Jamie stopped dead in her tracks and sharply looked at Clarissa. "What d'you mean? If you mean Santa, I've known that he wasn't real since the third grade."
"Not that. I mean real magic, like making stuff float in the air and making doves appear out of nowhere." Clarissa sucked on her lollipop babyishly as she waited for her friend to reply.
"I dunno." Jamie ran her fingers against the brick wall of the post office that they were passing. "If it existed, wouldn't we have noticed by now?"
Clarissa shrugged. "Maybe it's really hard to see. Maybe you have to believe in order to see it. Or maybe you're born with it."
"It seems stupid to me," Jamie said and threw her lollipop stick at a dumpster. "I mean our parents lied about other magic existing like the tooth fairy and the Easter Bunny. Next thing you know, we'll find out that God doesn't exist."
"That's a pretty awful thing to say, considering we go to a Christian school," Clarissa pointed out.
"Yeah, but you know what I mean. I can't believe our parents fell for such crap when they were our age."
Clarissa cast a sideways glance at Jamie. Jamie was awfully mature at her age, at least she liked to think so and didn't miss an opportunity to make herself sound older than she was.
"Well, I believe in magic," Clarissa said, kicking a stone into the street. "Even if our parents lied about everything else, I still believe."
Jamie sighed huffily and stopped at the gate in front of her house. "Whatever, I'll see you tomorrow. You're still coming over, right?"
"Mm-hmm. I'll see you then."
Clarissa waved good-bye and continued on, quickly loosing herself in another daydream of what could be.