IV. Punishment Projects
Amanda opened her eyes as fading layers of sunlight washed through the window near her bed. She only had rushed memories of being helped into a small office. She sat up from her bed in the nurse's office and found herself in a soft, white bed with a small curtain on both sides of her. She quickly found that her vision was obscured by a layer of white cloth on her nose. Looking around she quickly found that there was no one around the office, only bandages, papers and other medical supplies. Even the other beds in the office were clean and empty.
Out of curiosity Amanda softly touched her nose and instantly regretted it, as a dull pain shot out of her face. Shit, Diana had some untapped strength in those dainty, seeming arms. The memories surfaced of Diana breaking her nose on her desk after Amanda's comments. Honesty, Amanda never thought that Diana would be capable of something like that. Guess she wasn't such a goody-goody after all. Slowly a group of hushed voices entered the room and Amanda discovered that it was Professor Finnelan and Ursula.
"How are you feeling, Amanda? I'm sorry that I'm not allowed to heal you, Professor Finnelan's orders." Ursula asked, checking Amanda's bandages, making sure that they were secure. Amanda could tell the Ursula's mothering instincts were in overdrive.
The older witch huffed at her younger colleague's concern.
"Hmph. She's lucky the Cavendishes haven't decided to pursue this further. Diana's been quite cooperative, all things considered." Professor Finnelan remarked.
Amanda couldn't believe what she was hearing. Diana attacked her, why did it seem like she was the one in trouble?
"You're making it sound like I was fighting Diana. She attacked me! Let me guess she's somehow 'magically' not in trouble. Is that right?" Amanda asked, not caring if she pissed off Professor Finnelan. The older witch narrowed her eyes at her student. Amanda then decided not to back talk anymore. It just pissed her off that Diana was probably going to get off scot free.
"Miss Cavendish is serving her punishment as we speak. Honestly, young women these days! Back in my day, a witch would sooner be expelled than carry on so shamefully in front of her peers, but I digress. Your punishment will be working with the Luna Nova News Network Club, to bring important news, NOT SLANDER to the students of this school." Professor Finnelan finished.
Amanda groaned, that was her kryptonite, more work and no play. Amanda let out a big exhale and hung her head as Professor Ursula stepped in.
"Amanda, we've decided that you will be working with Wangari and her team on whatever projects they need for the next two weeks. Think of it as a time to learn something new." Amanda pushed over the covers from her bed and stepped onto the cold tile of the office. She took a deep breath and let it out. Well, she might as well get this over with, the sooner she served her jail sentence the sooner things could go back to normal.
"Okay, okay. Where do I start?" Amanda asked, resigned. She didn't even know where their clubroom was.
"Right here!" Wangari called out as her teammates Joanna and Kimberly entered with her team, bright orange hair swaying as she walked.
"Well, it looks like we have an intern now. Get ready to learn all about news, reporting and maybe some investigative journalism. There's nothing quite like chasing a story! Starting tomorrow, bright and early!" Wangari said with a grin spread widely across her face. Amanda groaned.
"Saturday morning?" She asked hoping, they were wrong.
"News never waits for anybody." Joanna said adjusting her camera.
"Be grateful, we'll be working late following the latest stories and planning for the next day." Kimberly said, in a deadpan voice scribbling on her thick notepad.
"Okay…" Amanda sighed. As Professor Finnelan pulled the News team aside to make sure they were going to hold Amanda to proper standards of hardwork and punishment.
Amanda turned around to see Professor Ursula at the door, motioning for Amanda to follow. Amanda walked at her side for a few paces in silence.
"So what's Diana's punishment, if you're even allowed to tell me." Amanda asked, knowing that she might not receive a satisfying answer.
Ursula sighed. "She's working on an independent project of her own. Trust me it's not something to envy. It's much more involved than your punishment."
Amanda looked away in silence. So Diana was actually being punished and not given a slap on the wrist.
"Look, Amanda I know that you and Diana don't see eye to eye." Ursula started.
"That's the understatement of the century." Amanda said folding her arms behind her head as they walked back to the dorms.
"But, it's important for you to understand that there are different approaches to being a witch. Diana's is more… traditional while yours is more modern. It doesn't mean that either approach is right or wrong. It's funny, Croix and I were having this discussion earlier. Both of you are young and still growing into your abilities and YES even Diana still has a lot to learn. The best thing you can do is try to see things from Diana's perspective." Ursula explained.
As they neared Amanda's room she had to admit that Ursula really was such a mom when it came to her students. Maybe Ursula really was in some ways cooler than Professor Croix.
"Alright, you've made some good points. I'll sleep on it." Amanda said, opening the door to her room.
"Good, I'll be checking in with you tomorrow." Ursula said, leaving Amanda to rest.
As soon as Amanda entered her room, she was surprised to find Akko, Sucy and Lotte in her room as well as Jasminka and Constanze. Lotte, Akko and Jasminka rushed up to her with questions but Amanda waved them back.
"Okay, okay. One at a time, I'm a wounded woman ya know." Amanda said, throwing herself into a seat. Akko pushed through everyone else.
"What happened?! We weren't even there to see what went down! We heard that you and Diana squared up with wands and everything! Is Diana also injured?! We heard that Diana socked you in the face for insulting her dead mother's memory!" Akko spat out gasping for air at the end. Amanda laughed.
"No, Diana just had to face the fact that her precious ancestor Breatrix definitely had a lady love named Iris, it was just part of Professor Croix's presentation. I simply told her my two cents and she slammed my face into her desk. That's it. Nothing about wands or insulting her mom okay?" Amanda said, wincing in pain as her nose started to act up. Lotte quickly pulled out her wand but Amanda stopped her.
"Look, it needs to heal naturally. Anyone who isn't experienced in restoration arts might permanently mess up my nose, okay?" Amanda said shielding her nose away from Lotte's help.
Sucy chriped up. "What about the teachers, couldn't they heal it?"
Amanda sighed. "Professor Finnelan told them not to, that I needed to 'learn from my mistakes' or whatever." Amanda said, folding her arms across her chest.
"So what's your punishment? Cooking, taste-testing, eating the nasty leftovers in the dining hall?" Jasminka asked, growing more and more worried.
"No, it's working with the News geeks okay. It's only for two weeks so don't sweat it. Soon I'll be back to my rebellious self in no time!" Amanda said, ending on a smirk.
She had to tell herself that it wasn't that long or she would sink into a depression. As the rest of the witches talked and chatted freely, Amanda sat quietly.
Geez, and to think this was all thanks to Diana. What did Urusla say? Something about her and Diana being different but neither of them being bad. Well, it sure seemed like one had to be bad and the other good. Diana was the stuck up, closeted establishment and she was the laid back, open rebel. Obviously, Diana's way of thinking was flawed and the wrong one, right? What could be so good about pushing others to be something they weren't? Being open and out was the right way, so why was Diana so hell bent on resisting that?
Amanda played with her hair and looked over to a stack of books sitting on one of their dressers. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad, Wangari didn't seem too uptight, maybe she could get her to cut her some slack and hey maybe being a part of the News Network would help her get more girls. Amanda smiled at the thought. Yeah, maybe this whole thing could turn into her advantage.