Alex blew on a strand of hair that was dangling in front of her face. She watched as the hair swung away and back towards her nose. She sighed and shoved the dark strand behind her ear before pulling it our again and twirling it around her finger.
Thankfully, the hand on the clock shifted to one, and the bell rang, ending the most boring day of history ever. Standing, Alex pulled her bag over her shoulder before shifting her binders in her hand. Her load had been heavier now that she had been bringing the book of spells to school. She knew her Dad would kill her if he knew what she was doing with the book, but she had no choice. She was desperate to find a spell, and the book was huge.
She had though actually acquiring the book from her Dad would have been the biggest challenge. But when she had actually opened it, she had taken one look at the size 2 print and the list of single-spaced spells that went on for hundreds of pages, and wanted to vomit. Reading and research was so not her thing. But if Justin was right, and there was a spell out there that could help, she was going to do whatever it takes to find it. Even if it meant staying up late to read every single spell, or bringing it to school to read during study hall. They had to find something.
When Alex reached the classroom of her study hall, she immediately went to the back corner of the room, where she knew she wouldn't be bothered. She waited until the teacher had taken a head count, and all the other students had opened a book to read or laid their head down to sleep before carefully pulling the old book down and placing it on her desk quickly before anyone would notice the title. She pulled the book open and slid out her bookmark, which was a piece of paper where she would write any potential spells on. Then she squinted at the text, and once more struggled to decipher the words on the page.
At the front of the room, the clock kept ticking in a loud, annoying way. Alex bit her lip and kept reading, her pencil tapping against the desk.
She yawned, and checked the time. The hand had only moved a fraction. She sighed and returned her eyes to the page, but her mind was elsewhere. For some reason, she couldn't concentrate. It was probably from staying up so late to read. Justin was in the same shape. He stayed in his room, pouring over all the other books, searching for an answer.
Alex yawned again. She looked at her list of spells that she had already written down, and contemplated which one might work best. All of them seemed risky.
Alex looked down at the book again, going through the same page, wondering if she had missed anything. Who knew reading was so hard? She had no idea why Justin liked it.
She wondered what her Dad would think if he knew the real reason she and Justin were suddenly so invested in magic. They had tried to be discreet about their research, but she still wondered if anyone was curious as to why she was so interested. She hoped no one had.
Her mind wandered again, back to when she had asked for the book. If only finding a spell had been that simple.
"So Dad," Alex said as casually as possibly when she stepped into the kitchen. She returned the plate with sandwich crumbs to the sink before continuing. "I was wondering, do you love Justin more than me?"
She quickly pulled on a puppy dog face when Jerry turned around.
"What? No, of course not honey, you'll always be my little girl, you know that."
"But see, that's the problem. If I'm always your little girl I'll never be prepared."
"Prepared? For what?"
"For the Wizarding Competition," Alex said.
"Shh!" Jerry quickly peeked through the window to see if any of the customers had overheard. Satisfied that none of them had, he turned back to his daughter. "Alex, you'll be prepared."
"But you never teach me stuff like you teach Justin," Alex said, still pulling a sad face.
"I taught you how to fly a carpet," Jerry said as quietly as possible.
"Yeah, but you teach Justin millions of stuff."
"Like what?"
"I don't know, I'm not there when you do."
Jerry sighed and looked at his daughter once more. He must have accepted her miserable expression to be sincere, because he sighed again in resignation. "What do you want me to teach you that you think would put you on par with your brother?"
"Um, I don't know…" Alex pretended to think for a minute. "Maybe….you could give me…the book of spells?"
"The what!" Jerry hissed, shocked. "Alex I don't know if you're ready for that."
"But how do you know that?"
"You never pay attention during the lessons."
"But that does because I know there's no point in trying because Justin is so well taught I'll never have a chance anyways!"
"I-" Jerry broke off, and realized he had just been backed into a corner. He could just say no, and leave the whole matter be, but Alex did look really upset by the whole thing. And besides, she was finally taking an interest in magic, which was a plus.
"Fine," Jerry said, and Alex fought the triumphant smile off her face. "But every week you have to show me a new spell you have learned from that book."
"Um, Ok," Alex said, and walked out of the kitchen, a huge grin on her face.
Alex heard someone clear their throat. Jumping up, she quickly slapped a hand over the book so no one could read the spells on the page, and looked up into the eyes of the most ancient teacher ever.
"Um, hi," Alex said.
"You might want to wipe off that drool," The teacher said. Alex blushed and quickly raised her sleeve to her mouth.
Then she glanced at the clock, and realized that the period had ended five minutes ago, and there was a whole new class waiting at the door.
"You dozed off in study hall," The teacher explained in a tired voice. "Whatever your project was it must have been…compelling." With that she turned, her heels squeaking against the floor, and walked to her desk. Alex quickly shoved the book in her bag and gathered her things before walking out.
Justin ran a hand through his hair as he tried to read the page he was on. It was his third book in the research, and he only had about two possible spells. He glanced nervously around the room again before returning to the page.
Unlike Alex, he was completely uncomfortable with bringing these books to school. Although the kids in his study hall were very unlikely to question him, he still didn't like it.
He never liked study hall up until this point. He always thought it was a waste, when he could be taking another academics class. But now he was grateful for the extra time to look at spells.
He turned the page, but there really was nothing in this novel. The next chapter was some odd romance story that was some kind of wizard legend. It was the Romeo and Juliet to the Wizarding world, minus the whole family enemies and everyone dies thing. But it was famous like Romeo and Juliet, only instead the names of the characters were Carla and some prince, who was just called Prince. Lame.
It was a story that most kids learned when they were young, and never bothered with again.
But he was somehow pulled into this story, and although he should have skipped it and moved on.
It was about two people in love, but it was a secret. One of them was a Prince, one a commoner. They would do whatever it took to be together. The tragedy of the story was that one day, Carla woke up to find that the Prince was no longer, and no one remembered who he was but her. She looked for him for the rest of her life, and she died alone. What she didn't know was that the prince had ended up being turned into a farmer boy, but in a different country. He eventually saved enough money to return home, but Carla had moved on.
Justin almost laughed at himself when he finished the ending, unable to believe he had been so interested in it. He shut the book and quickly put it back in his bag so no one would notice what it was.
He wished he had brought more books to search through. It looked like he would be staying up late again.
Sighing, he leaned back in his chair. Hopefully, find a solution soon. It was driving him crazy.
Then he noticed that Riley was sitting at the other end of the room. He had never noticed that they shared the same study hall. Justin glared at his back for a minute before Riley felt his gaze and glanced back. Justin moved his head to look like he was just spacing out. Riley shrugged and turned back, and Justin glared again.
Oh yeah. He was definitely staying up late tonight.
So here you go, another chapter. If you're wondering about the name Carla, it's the name of this kid I know who somehow wanted to be in the story (she's too young to read it anyways, but she'll appreciate the name). Anyways reviews appreciated and thanks for reading!
