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Chapter Thirteen
Esmerelda woke up to sunlight shining through her window and yawned before sitting up. It was only seven so she did not have to be up for a while yet but she was soon awake when she realised something.
She remembered she had had that nightmare last night. Clearly, the curse she had been under had not caused that nightmare and that was in her own mind but she had not had an accident like she normally did and was soon back asleep, having being exhausted. Right now as she sat on her bed all she felt was dryness. For the first time she had not had an accident whilst sleeping and she beamed, it really had only being that stupid prank.
She got out of bed, feeling in such high spirits, it was now just two days until she could speak to her beloved sisters one again. She left her bedroom to use the bathroom, glad as the morning rush was not present yet and then went to get dressed, everything seemed to be looking up.
Esmerelda was not sure what would happen with Gretel, Delilah, Wendy and Millicent because even though she had embarrassed them she was not sure it would stop them, even if they now knew what she was capable off. As she walked down the stairs to head to the hall for breakfast she saw the group of girls ahead of her talking but they stopped when a third year walked up to them and said something, clearly mocking them. Esmerelda did not say anything, not wanting to get in an argument with them and in turn they said nothing to her. Maybe they had really changed, Esmerelda thought as she walked off.
For the first time since she had started at Cackles, the group of girls did nothing, or said nothing to her. She went through a whole day without being bullied and settled down for the night feeling much better about Cackles than she ever had before. Yes she missed her sisters liked mad and she knew that feeling would never go away, even if people tried to make it but school was not as tortuousness for the girl now, she was getting used to it.
A few more days went by and Esmerelda was honestly feeling much better. Miss Hardbroom was still really annoying, basically falling to her knees whenever she saw her star pupil but Esmerelda had learned to ignore her, she wasn't getting good grades to impress HB that was for sure. People seemed to come to the same conclusion because they were less harsh on her. That was what Esmerelda suspected anyway as the other students in her class had stopped glaring as soon as HB complimented their blonde classmate, clearly pass caring themselves.
The gang of girls were still staying well away from Esmie, she wasn't sure if they were scared of her or just didn't want to be embarrassed again, Esmerelda didn't really care though as they were getting their just desserts.
The girls had always being popular, the type of students that if they told someone to laugh at someone else they did it even if they didn't think it was right because the girls were thought highly off. They had never had problems socially, always seen talking to other pupils but after what had happened in the lunch hall the girls were having a hard time. Good. Esmerelda thought to herself. Maybe they knew what it felt like now.
She would see girls laughing and pointing at them as they walked down the corridor and she at times saw other girls blocking the toilets when the girls tried to go in, at one point she even saw someone cast a spell on them that vanished their stockings and left them standing in pull up nappies. The girls ran off when that happened to get changed as people laughed. Esmerelda was shocked she had to admit. She had always heard teenage girls could be vicious and nasty but until she started at school she never really knew just how much that was true. She knew she was not much better for what she had done to them but that was payback for making her life sheer hell, they had to learn, but she had not mentioned it again and was not going to unless the group decided to start on her again but right now they seemed to be keeping away.
These were the thoughts running through Esmerelda's mind as she walked onto the school grounds that afternoon. It was time for another flying lesson. First years had flying lessons for the entire first year, trying to perfect their skills and make them better fliers. Some girls in her year still struggled and Esmerelda didn't blame them, flying was hard, she was only so good because of all that practise in flying club. She didn't mind though having to have an extra lesson because she really enjoyed flying.
"Mount your broomsticks girls" Miss Drill told her students as they raised their broomsticks, some with difficultly. They had to wait for some of the girls to get theirs in the air before they were allowed to sit on the broomsticks and take off.
"Right girls, today I want you all to fly individually" Miss Drill said knowing some girls flew in groups but that made it hard for her to watch them "I am going to be accessing how you are all doing so I can help you improve any problems, take of gently now and fly the usual course" she told the girls. The usual course being around the back of the school and back to the fields. A short course easy enough for the first years to practise.
There was a number of girls in front of Esmerelda. The first girl, Bella, took of fine, maybe a bit wobbly but she got in the air okay. The second pupil was a girl named Amanda, which took of very well, but Esmerelda knew she attended flying club as well so she had some practise in. Next up was Luna. Luna still had a lot of problems flying so after she tried to take of but nearly fell off, Miss Drill walked over to talk her through it again and she managed to get in the air unharmed. Then Celeste was next. She was another girl from flying club so she was in the air within a few seconds, balancing perfectly. Niamh was the last person in front of Esmerelda and she was clearly the worst flyer in her year. Her problem was not lack of confidence though, it was the fact she had to much confidence. The girl stupidly tried to take of flying at about forty miles per hour, which Esmerelda knew was just plain stupid, you were supposed to take off slowly then gradually gain speed, much like you do when driving a car. Niamh though decided it was better to take off at full speed and all that ended up happening was she was thrown of the broomstick by the sudden pressure of speed, rolled over and landed on her back on the ground, yes she was barely an inch of the ground but it still made her look ridiculous and Esmerelda could hear a few of the pupils sniggering but she didn't join in.
"Niamh how many times do I have to tell you NOT to do that!" Miss Drill shouted. She had to tell the girl the same thing nearly every lesson as the same thing always happened. The dark skinned woman wondered why she kept doing it, trying to show off just made her look stupid and slow to pick things up. Niamh stood up and scowled angrily, clearly wanting to learn how to fly the way she wanted to.
"Don't scowl Niamh, now take of at a normal speed like everyone else, you are not bionic woman" Miss Drill told her. The girl sighed but took of slowly into the sky, getting up this time without any problem, and speeding up as soon as she was straight, Esmerelda rolled her eyes wondering why she always wanted to fly so fast in the first place. No one was even impressed.
"Right Esmerelda you are next" Miss Drill told her
Esmerelda smiled happily. Finally, she felt like she had been waiting for hours for her turn and flying honestly was one of her favourite things to do now.
The blonde girl took of flying, feeling the air pressure that was similar to taking of in an aeroplane, some people hated the feeling but Esmerelda loved it and in a matter of seconds it lifted and she was soaring through the air.
She loved the feeling of it. Miss Drill was right there was something magical about flying in the air that gave you a feeling like no other. Esmerelda often blocked everyone else around her out and entered a world of her own whilst flying and today was not different.
She knew her classmates were flying around her but she didn't notice them as she flew around, enjoying the relaxing feeling she got. Flying was wonderful and she was so privileged she had gotten to try it and do it regularly.
Esmerelda would later wish she was paying attention because she was so lost in her own thoughts she didn't notice who was flying towards her. She could hear distant shouting but much like it happens when you are in a world of your own she couldn't understand what was being said as she was distracted.
The girl hummed to herself unconcerned as she flew slowly along until suddenly she came back to reality in shock. She could feel someone tugging on her.
She saw Miss Drill suddenly appear in the sky, flying towards her. This was strange to Esmie, she didn't normally come up unless there was a problem and that was why Esmerelda turned around to see what was going on and was met fact to face with the bully's she had cursed a few days before. All of them were glaring at her as they hovered on their broomsticks, surrounding her in a circle Before she could even open her mouth to speak, or indeed have a chance to escape she felt someone push her and then she wasn't on her broomstick anymore and was falling.
The young girl screamed as she fell, knowing how high up she was and scared she was falling to her death. In reality she could only have being falling for about a minute but it felt like hours and she kept screaming until she fell smack down in the middle of a mattress. She looked around shocked, and looked up to see Miss Drill landing. Clearly the teacher had cushioned her landing when she saw her falling.
"ALL OF YOU COME DOWN NOW" She shouted as pupils started to fly downwards and Esmerelda stood up still shaking from shock. She looked up into the sky and realised how lucky she was to be alive.