A/N: Sorry for the wait guys. Did my best to type as fast as I could, but I ran out of ideas temporarily :( But I managed to get a grip and I think I made a pretty good chapter and to make it even better...I've got a beta (who's been distracting me from work, because we are currently writing a story together) So my amazing Beta's penname is You And Me Up In A Tree ( really I don't know how she came up with that one) She's a pretty amazing writer (just my opinion) and I like her writing style and in this chapter you get a little taste of that. You might notice yourself though, that it's a bit differently written than the usual, I hope you like it anyway.
Disclaimer: I am Stephenie Meyer and I do own Twilight! Who believes that's true?ß
Chris' PoV
"No," we answered in unison.
Alice pouted, her bottom lip beginning to tremble as she spoke in a small voice. "Why not?"
"Because they are pink. I don't like pink." We were still speaking in perfect synchronization. It seemed that Edward, Dylan and Emmett found this funny, because they all started chuckling.
"What's wrong with pink?" Rose interfered. Right, of course, she helped Alice pick these disgusting boots.
"Pink is too girlie," I answered, yet again at the same time as Bella. The whole twins-talking-at-the-same-time thing was really starting to annoy me. I turned to look at Bella pointedly and she did the same. Giving up, I sighed, and heard a sigh coming from behind me, causing me to smack myself on the head. Of course Bella the same, which only added to my annoyance. Sometimes we just had these moments in which we were absolutely perfectly synchronized.
The boys started laughing harder, and even Jasper was having a hard time keeping his concentration on comforting Alice.
"You are girls, so you shouldn't be opposed to pink," Rose argued.
"I can live with pink every once in a while, but that doesn't mean I like it. I never have and I guarantee I never will. I'm a strong, independent woman who likes to feel superior. Do you really think pink is a color I would wear for that? It's childish and makes me look like every other normal girl, who just want to find their Prince Charming and live happily ever after. Ugh, look at them! Not only are they pink, but they also have flowers on them," I complained. I had a very strong opinion on the color pink, and the majority of the time, Bella agreed.
"So you don't like pink because you think it makes you look weak?" Rose asked. I nodded. "Okay, then, what's your excuse?" she asked, turning to Bella.
"I am a sophisticated, intelligent person and I want to be judged for what I do, not by my appearance. By wearing these boots, I'd be creating the impression of a sweet girl who's goals expand no further than getting married and having pretty little babies. Also, the flowers aren't exactly giving off the impression of a grown up." Bella smiled pleasantly, sat straighter, and spoke with a slight British accent as she said that.
"So you don't want to appear dumb?" Rose asked, slightly defensive. Bella nodded. "Are you implying that Alice and I are stupid and weak?"
"Well...you are blonde," I started.
Bella continued, "and Alice is tiny." We shrugged in unison.
The boys couldn't contain their laughter and they burst into hysterics.
I couldn't help but laugh as well. Until a pillow suddenly hit me. I looked up and saw Alice standing daintily with a smug smile on her pixie face.
"What the...," I trailed off, grabbing a pillow and throwing it back at her. As soon as it was out of my hands, I saw that I had awoken the battle spirit. I quickly hopped up and ran towards the bed to grab a pillow of my own.
"PILLOW FIGHT!" Alice declared. With that said, Bella and Rosalie jumped up as well, grabbing their own pillows.
"This is for calling me stupid," Rose said, smacking both Bella and I on the head. We looked at each other, and silently plotted, then turned to her and smacked her on each side of the head.
It seemed that Alice wasn't quite done with me yet, because she started attacking me from behind. She jumped on my back and repeatedly smacked me in the head with her pillow. I slumped myself on the bed to get her off of me. Now we were both laying on the bed, completely defenseless. A very stupid move.
Rose and Bella came up and hit us as hard as they could. I somehow managed to roll off of the bed and throw my pillow at Rose with as much force as I could muster. It smoked her right in the face, causing her to fall off the bed with a thump. The thump made all of us freeze. Everything in the room was quiet, until a very dangerous and threatening Rose appeared. My eyes widened and I ran, squealing like crazy. I was doing my best to dodge every attack she threw at me, but eventually she got fed up of missing me and threw herself at me, effectively tackling me to the floor. She straddled my hips and bent down to my ear.
"It's too bad I have to ruin your pretty face," she whispered dangerously, taking the pillow and holding it high above her head in a ready-to-hit-me position.
"Why is it that guys seem to be unable to look away when girls fight?" Dylan asked, a small smile playing on his lips, as he stared at us.
"Because it's hot," Emmett boomed, lifting Rose off of me and hugging her tightly to his muscular chest.
I quickly jumped up and patted him on the shoulder. "Good job, big boy, you saved my face."
"Mermaids! Mermaids!" Alice randomly started screeching. It seemed that she was done with the pillow fight and had already gone back to her overly-cheery self.
xXxXxXxXxXx
"Come on you guys," Alice whined like a petulant child. "I wanna be there before the sun sets!"
"Alice, we are almost there, so just chill," Edward groaned.
I really hoped, for Alice's sake, that we were almost there because I didn't want to be seen in public with these disgusting boots.
We were currently hiking through a little part of the forest that surrounded the campus. I wasn't a big fan of hiking and neither was Bella. We were trailing behind, not even attempting to catch up with the others.
"So Chris," Bella started innocently. "Is there something you want to tell me?"
I gave her a questioning glance. "What are you talking about?
"You and Dylan. Jasper said a few interesting things..." she trailed off with a smile on her face.
"So he really does run around telling everybody about everyone's feelings," I mumbled. This might actually turn out to be useful if I were to need information from him anytime soon.
"So it's true?" Bella gasped, pulling me out of my thoughts.
"What is?"
"That you like Dylan?"
"WHAT?" I shrieked loud enough for the others, who were way in front of us, to hear. I glared at Jasper and was about to stomp over to him and smack him straight across his face when Alice started shouting.
"We're here, we're here. Look the lake is right there!" She was jumping up and down, pointing at a spot in front of her.
I looked and saw that it was a rather large meadow with a beautiful lake in the middle. The water was dark and it didn't look like it was moving even the slightest bit. The whole place kind of seemed awkward. It was like nothing moved. Everything was in some kind of frozen state.
"What's up with this place?" I asked quietly.
"Time moves slower here," Alice explained.
I looked around and took in the beautiful scenery, when I noticed that someone was sitting by the lake, talking to another someone who was in the water. All I saw was a head with wet red hair on it.
"Mom!" Alice shouted into the peacefulness.
"Alice, shut up," Dylan hissed. She immediately obliged with a pout.
Mrs. Cullen looked up. Right, I had forgotten that she was Alice's mom since she was married to Carlisle. So much for being a genius. Mrs. Cullen beckoned for us to come over, so we did. When we were close enough, I was actually able to examine the redheaded creature in the water. She looked like a normal girl, albeit much prettier than average. Her face was soft and a gentle smile was playing on her lips. The only thing that unsettled me were her eyes. They were pitch black, even the sclera. She either had no irises, or they were also onyx, so I couldn't see them.
She eyed us with a cautious expression on her face. Then, she gave Mrs. Cullen a questioning look. Mrs. Cullen said something to her in an unknown language. It sounded like nothing I had ever heard before, but it was somehow beautiful. It had a sort of flowing sound and was slightly entrancing.
"Mom, what are you doing here?" Edward asked his mother.
"Oh, I wanted to get some information out of her for my class. I was thinking that we could possibly cover mermaids for our next topic," Mrs. Cullen explained.
"Can't we do something more exciting, like basilisks or dragons?" Alice whined. What was with her constant mood swings? She was the one who had suggested coming here in the first place, and now she doesn't find mermaids exciting enough?
"No, dear, the dragons will be much later. But I may think about the basilisks," Mrs. Cullen said.
"Um, Mrs. Cullen-" Bella started.
"Call me Esme, dear." Esme smiled gently.
"Esme," Bella said, "could we maybe discuss vampires?"
I groaned quietly. Ever since she had read this one stupid book, she had been obsessed with vampires. It had a really dumb title, but I can't remember what it was.
"Yes, we may do that." Esme laughed gently.
"We can catch little fire fairies," Alice suggested a little too loudly.
This place was so quiet and peaceful. It just seemed wrong to be screaming here, but Alice did it anyway and caused the mermaid to flinch. I looked at her soft figure and envied her for her beauty. Dylan was such a liar.
After everyone hushed Alice, the mermaid pointed at her and said something in that unknown language. Whatever she said, it sounded accusing.
Bella laughed quietly. "I can't believe you did that, Alice," she commented. We all looked at her strangely. "What?" she asked self-consciously.
"You understand Merian?" Edward asked her, astonished.
"Err, what?"
"Merian - the language of the merpeople."
"But she's speaking English," Bella replied confusedly.
"No, she isn't. She's speaking Merian," Edward insisted.
"It sounds like English to me," Bella said, shrugging lightly.
"Try talking to her," Esme said.
Bella turned around to look at the mermaid, who was looking straight back at her. Then, she opened her mouth and strange words started to flow out. She didn't sound like Esme at all. With her, it was more fluent. The mermaid answered her with a joyous expression on her face. I saw her scaled tail for the first time when it began moving up and down, causing little waves to dance over the water. The waves vanished quickly, and instead there were about 20 mermaids rising out of the water. All of them were heading in our direction.
"What did you do, Bella?" I asked her quietly.
"I just told her that her hair was pretty," replied Bella, helplessly.
"The word 'pretty' doesn't exist in Merian," Esme commented with a thoughtful expression on her face.
"Yeah, well, that's what I said," Bella insisted. Rose and Alice went closer to the water to regard the mermaids from a closer distance.
"Maybe it's one of the magical words," Esme mused softly.
"What magical words?" I sighed. Having to constantly ask things like this was starting to really get on my nerves. Seriously, they should have just let us stay in Phoenix, in a world where we knew what was going on and I didn't feel like a toddler having to ask all of the time.
"They are the words that win over a mermaid's heart. Some people call them the 'magical words' while others often refer to them as 'missing words' because there are words in the language that are simply not there because the merpeople won't tell. Therefore 'pretty' may be one of them, but that doesn't surprise me too much - mermaids are very vain creatures," Esme explained, looking fondly at them. They were surrounding Alice and Rose, who were busily complimenting them.
"Do they understand English?" Bella asked.
"They understand it, yes, but they don't speak it. In fact, they understand every language in the world, but they seem to be unable to speak any of them."
Bella nodded understandingly, which sparked a memory in me. I turned in Dylan's direction and glared at him.
"What?"
"You told me that mermaids aren't pretty. You lied," I snapped, my glare never wavering.
"Are you feeling self conscious?" he asked in an amused tone. Being the mature person I always am, I stuck my tongue out at him. That only made the idiot laugh.
"What exactly are we doing here, anyway?" I asked Alice.
"I want a strand of Mermaid hair," she answered, causing Esme to laugh at her.
"Why is that funny?" Bella looked at her in confusion, as did I.
"Alice, you aren't going to get a strand just like that," Esme snapped her fingers, "it takes years to gain a Mermaid's trust when you are a human female. They only trust males, and even then the males don't get a strand of their hair."
I quirked an eyebrow at Alice and Rose.
Rose began explaining quickly. "A strand of hair from a living Mermaid has magical powers. It's the only ingredient that is missing from the Beauty Potion."
A beauty potion? This place was getting weirder and weirder by the second. Why did I agree to this crap again?
"Why do you need a Beauty Potion? You're already beautiful," Bella remarked. I nodded in agreement.
"Wouldn't you want to drink a Beauty Potion if you could?" Alice asked her.
I wish she didn't ask that, but then again, neither of them knew of Bella's very low self-esteem. She thought of herself as plain, so this wasn't exactly the kind of question to ask her.
"I would," she admitted quietly, causing me to groan at her answer.
"That is ridiculous. You are already beautiful, so what exactly is the potion supposed to do? It can't make such a beautiful even more beautiful," Edward intervened, his face turning into slight embarrassment, but hardly.
I nodded in agreement when I had actually processed what he had said. He thought that Bella was beautiful. How cute. Bella's face was bright red as she looked at the floor. I immediately tried to push against the feeling of happiness and embarrassment that came my way from her. I really didn't need that. But either way, I still couldn't do much about the bond, so all I was able to do was ignore the emotions coming from Bella.
Soon, I got bored of the lake. Sure, it was really nice here and all, and I did enjoy watching the Mermaids play in the water, but just sitting around and watching wasn't something I really liked to do. Besides, I was hungry.
I glanced at the time on my phone and saw that we had only been here for five minutes. That was impossible! I was pretty sure that we had already been here for a few hours. I'd watched Rosalie and Alice trying to persuade the Mermaids to give them a strand of hair - which did not work. I'd sat with Bella on that one rock that was about halfway in the water, where she sat and spoke to the Mermaids. I'd talked to Esme about a few mythical creatures that we would be learning about in class. I played cards with the boys (Edward had made cards appear out of no where), and I'm sure they cheated (a mind reader, a mind manipulator, and an empath? That can't be good). It couldn't have been only five minutes.
"Hey, um, guys, what time is it?" I asked no one in particular. Everyone shrugged. "Don't any of you have watches or phones or iPods or something?" my voice was full of disbelief.
"We do, but we can't really look at the time while we're here," Emmett explained.
When he didn't explain any further, I impatiently said, "Meaning?"
"Time moves a lot slower at this lake because of the Mermaids. The time always moves slower in areas around a Mermaid lake. It's some sort of spell that apparently effects electrical devices as well," Dylan continued.
"So if I were to stay here, I would never grow old?" I asked. Now that was one of the few things in this place that made me smile.
"Yes, that is right. But nobody can live at a place like this," Edward told me. "The Mermaids have a habit of drowning people. They sing at night, and their song entrances humans. You'll go too close to the lake and then they'll grab you and you'll never see the sunlight again."
"What? And here I thought that Mermaids were kind creatures."
"They are, but they are also a little bit stupid. They like humans and want to take them along, which is why they drown them. Mermaids forget that we need air to breathe and they'll never learn it," Esme interfered as she got up. "I think we should be on our way. It's almost dinner time."
Everyone quickly sprang up, and several moments later, we were on our way back. As soon as the lake was out of sight, I looked at the time again. Yes, we had been there for two hours. I sighed. This had been a long day.
xXxXxXxXxXx
"Hello pretty ladies," Damon said as he sat down next to me. "I see that you have taken us up on our offer."
I looked back at him in boredom.
"You know, you were pretty cool in class today," Dean said, gazing at Bella.
She smiled kindly at him, politely said, "Thanks," then continued eating.
I internally sighed. This girl simply didn't see it. She was really no good at flirting. Well, she was, but she wasn't good when it came to deciphering if a guy was interested or not. The whole Chazz thing last summer only happened because Raven and I had helped a little along the way.
"Did you get your wands already?" Dario asked. Out of the three D's, I found him the strangest.
"Yeah, we did," I answered.
"Really? We didn't see you at Miracles," Damon commented.
"That's because Miracles has no wands that were fitting for us," Bella said with a slightly smug smile on her face.
"Doesn't surprise me, your powers are way too cool." Damon was looking intently at me.
I sighed. Did he have to be so obvious? It made things far too easy. I mean, sure he was handsome and everything, but he practically threw himself at me, ruining any chance of fun.
Dinner was over pretty quickly, mostly because I wanted to get away, and soon, I sat in my room, unsure of what I should do next. After five minutes of sitting on my bed and doing nothing, I decided I may as well take a shower, then go to sleep. I was tired enough for that anyway.
Half an hour later, I was laying in my bed, sighing happily and reveling in the warmth.
I was halfway gone when someone knocked on my door. Who the hell would annoy me at this time?
I got up and made my way to the door, only to find Dylan standing there.
"What do you want?" I slurred sleepily. I didn't even care about the fact that I was standing there in front of him, wearing nothing more than a tank top and a pair of short shorts.
"You've gotta hide me," he hissed, pushing past me and closing the door in the process.
I turned and looked at him questioningly. "Why do I have to hide you?"
"Because Kate saw me and I'm trying to hide from her."
"Who's Kate? And why didn't you go and annoy Bella then? She's the one who loves dogs, not me," I told him, plopping down on my bed.
"Ha ha, very funny," he said dryly. "Your sisters not in her room."
"Why isn't she in her room?"
"I don't know. Maybe she's hanging out with Rose and Alice. It's only half past eight - you're probably the only person on campus that has already gone to bed."
"Whatever. Do you mind explaining the whole 'hiding' thing a bit better?"
"Um, well I was here to visit Bree, and when I came out of her room I saw Kate and quickly ran, but she saw me anyway. When I was standing in front of your door, I figured it would be the perfect hiding place."
"How nice. So I guess Kate is some kind of ex-girlfriend or something?"
"Something like that."
I shook my head at him. Someone knocked on my door again. I got up and opened it. Behind it was a beautiful blonde girl.
"Is Dylan here?" she asked, her tone sounding desperate. I figured that this was Kate. I thought about it for a second, and let my conscience win.
"Yeah, he's right here," I answered, opening my door further and revealing Dylan.
He glared at me, but I just shrugged it off. I couldn't have lived with myself if I had lied to a lovesick girl. Plus, the look on Dylan's face was priceless when Kate ran up to him and threw herself at him. I sent the happy couple out of my room, and ten minutes later, I was far away, being happy in dreamland.
"Wake up, Chris! We're going to be late," Bella's voice came from right beside me.
I opened my eyes and saw her laying on my bed next to me.
"Morning, Bella," I mumbled sleepily, smiling a little when I saw her. The best way to wake up in the morning was to be woken up by Bella. Well, sometimes it was.
"Hurry up and get ready. I'll wait for you downstairs," she told me, leaving the room.
I glanced at the time. Shit! It was already 7:15AM, and classes started at 8. What did I have an alarm clock for when it doesn't even ring on time?
I rushed through my morning routine, and when I was done, I ran downstairs.
Bella was waiting at the stairs for me, and handed me a croissant.
"You know you're the best, right?" I murmured after taking a bite.
"Yes, I know." She smiled kindly at me as we left the building. We were greeted by Alice, Rose and Jasper.
"We get to use our wands today, and we have our very first Potions lesson with Ms. Sanders. Aren't you guys excited?" Alice squealed.
I didn't even bother supplying her with an answer.
The whole morning was rather uneventful. We arrived at the school, and our first three classes weren't very exciting. It was just the same crap that teachers tell us to try and make us think that it will be important for our lives, although all of us know that we will never need it again. Seriously, why would I want to know the value of 'x' if it wasn't for school?
In history, I was so bored that I actually fell asleep.
"Chris, let's go," Bella's voice woke me up for the second time in a day.
"Where?" I grumbled, sitting up and rubbing my eyes.
"We have Potions now, so we've got to go to the Potions classroom," she informed me. It was enough to wake me up. I was happy to finally go to a subject that would be interesting.
I swiftly packed up my things, and got up, following behind Bella and the others.
The Potions classroom was very big and very dark. The room was stuffed and looked kind of untidy, but it was nice and warm, so I wouldn't complain.
I noticed that we had this class with our parallel classes again.
"Come on, I want that table over there," Alice urged, pulling us along with her.
The table she had picked was in the very center of the room, making me internally groan. Who wants to be where everybody can see you? Oh, yeah, Alice.
"There are only groups of five people in this class, so find out who you want to be working with, and sit," I heard a female voice say.
I turned and saw that the voice belonged to a middle-aged brunette woman. I guess she's our teacher.
"For all of you who don't already know this, I am Ms. Sanders. We will have Potions together, and I don't want to waste any time talking, so we're getting to work right away. Open your books to page 15."
I pulled a book called "Potions for Beginners" out of my bag, and stopped short when I saw who wrote the book. Severus Snape? What the fuck? I looked at Bella who had just noticed the same thing.
"This is some kind of joke, right?" I asked Bella. She started giggling, probably at my expression which was more than likely dumbfounded.
"Is something the matter, Ms. Swan?" Ms. Sanders asked.
"You're not seriously trying to be funny by giving us a book written by Severus Snape, are you?" I asked disbelievingly.
"What is so funny about that? Severus Snape is one of the best potions masters in our world. It's such a generous thing for him to want to share some of his knowledge with young students like yourself."
"So, is Harry Potter real, too? If so, then please let me go home, because I'm seriously not in the mood for a battle with Voldemort, and I really don't wanna die."
Ms. Sanders seemed to understand what I was talking about because her expression changed to one of amusement.
"I'm sorry, I forgot that you are unfamiliar with this. Joanne K. Rowling is a witch herself. She used to go to this very school, actually. She based some of the characters in her books on personalities in our world, although I must say that I'm fascinated with the world she created." Ms. Sanders looked dreamily at something that nobody else other than her could see.
I really didn't know what to do with this information. Next time she's probably going to tell me that Charles Xavier was real, too, Wolverine is her boyfriend and they own a house together in Gotham city. Seriously, what is wrong with this place?
I decided to ignore this for now, and just opened the book to page 15 and began reading.
Potions
Potions are a very important part of our magic. Not everybody is able to master this particular branch of magic, but it is always useful to know as much as possible. Potions are not simply elixirs that are mixed together with certain ingredients. It takes skill to be able to make a real potion. Some potions may take several days to finish, and others could be done in less than one minute.
Every potion needs a little magic. To make that magic appear, you must follow the instructions. The reason why this is so hard for many witches, is because of the 'inch of magic' - that is what we specialists call the little spells that go along with a potion. To create the perfect potion, one must have a great deal of self-discipline and patience. This is much more difficult than mundane cooking. With the right attitude and motivation, you may create something special.
Severus Snape
Underneath of his extremely motivating words were the instructions for a Positive Energy Potion.
This potion is a very simple one. It will make the one who drinks it more optimistic and positive about things, as well as let people around them see the person in a more positive light for several hours.
Ingredients:
1 medium glass with water from an everlasting lake
1 spoon of sugar
1 spoon of honey
9 leaves from a red rose
1 small clear fire crystal
Preparation:
Mash the crystal and the rose leaves thoroughly with a dragon horn. Then, place all of the ingredients into the glass with the water. Stir until the sugar and honey have dissolved.
Cut out a piece of a paper in a circle. Write your name around the circle, clockwise. Full name, 1st, 2nd, family name. In the center, draw a simple pentagram. Then, tap on it with your wand and say the word 'felices'.
Place the glass on the paper, and leave it there to stand for 3 minutes. When the 3 minutes are up, pour out a small quantity into a cup, stir it with your wand, and fill it into a small bottle.
Done is your personal share of positive energy.
"Once you've read the instructions, get to work," Ms. Sanders said. She clapped, and instantaneously, small cauldrons appeared in front of us, along with the ingredients for the potion.
"Yay! This is so exciting," Alice sang, grabbing the horn.
I wasn't sure if it was even safe to let Alice handle such a thing, mostly judging by the way she was beating the small red crystal with it, making the whole table shake like there was an earthquake.
"Alice, you need to be a little more gentle. Like this," Jasper told her softly, directing her hand to show her how to properly work it. Alice listened to his instructions quietly, and for the first time, I saw how they managed to maintain such a strong relationship. Apparently, opposites really do attract. Seeing them all cute together, whispering sweet nothings in each other's ear made me feel kind of...sick, really. Come on, I didn't need this in front of me right now.
I sighed in frustration and started to crumble the crystal with the dragon horn in my hand. It wasn't hard, and when I added in the rose leaves, it was even easier. Soon, the stuff in front of me looked kind of disgusting, but at least it was mashed. I looked over and saw that Bella had made the same progress as me, and we both added the sticky stuff to the water in the cauldron at the same time. We simultaneously added the sugar and the honey, then started stirring.
I didn't see the difficulty in this, but I wasn't going to say that out loud, or else Hermione Granger might jump out of no where and smack me on the head. You should never feel safe in this school.
I continued doing exactly what the instructions said, and then I stopped. I glanced around and saw that a few people were already taking out their wands. I pulled mine out of my bag and looked at it. I didn't even know how to use it, so how was I supposed to make it work?
Sighing, I tapped the paper with my wand, and murmured 'felices.' Nothing happened, but how would I know if anything was supposed to happen? I just assumed that I did it right, and put the cup on it. I leaned back and watched as Bella and Rosalie finished up, too.
The bell rang.
"Okay class, I'll take care of your potions, as long as you fill them up and label the bottles with your names. You can finish them next lesson. Those of you that still have to wait for three minutes, write your name on a piece of paper and put it beside the potion, I'll fill it up."
I quickly scribbled my name on a piece of paper and marched out of the room.
"Hey Chris, wait up!" I heard a voice from behind me. It wasn't Bella or any of the others as I would have thought. I stopped, and soon enough, Damon caught up to me.
"What do you want?" I sighed.
"I wanted to ask you if you want to eat lunch with me?" He looked straight ahead, not even bothering to spare me a glance once.
I thought about it for a minute. "Nah, not today." I turned and yelled at Bella and the rest, "Come on, you guys, hurry! I'm hungry."
"Hey guys, how was your day so far?" Rose asked Dylan, Emmett, and Edward. Today was a rather sunny day, so we decided to picnic on the lawn between the high school and the college.
"Cool," Emmett said.
"Normal," Edward answered.
"Awful," Dylan grumbled.
Alice, who was chewing on a slice of pizza, asked, "Why? What happened?"
"I'm back together with Kate." He sighed.
I burst out laughing, fully aware of the curious glances I received from the others, and the angry glare I got from Dylan.
"What's so funny?" Bella mumbled. She was leaning back, her face toward the sun, and eyes closed. She looked really relaxed, and breathtakingly beautiful. Apparently Edward noticed this too, because he looked rather entranced by the sight of her.
I looked back and forth between the two of them, but never got to say anything because Dylan's voice brought me back to the current situation.
"It's Chris' fault that we're back together."
I giggled as a smirk came onto my lips. Yes, I had done a very good job with that. I wasn't sure why, but I kind of liked to annoy him. Although, I probably should have found a better way to do that. Oh well...
"How did you manage that?" Emmett asked. Of course he would want to know.
"Oh, it wasn't really that hard. He came to my room yesterday in hopes of getting a hiding place, and when Kate knocked on the door and asked for him, I let her in," I answered nonchalantly.
"You know what, Chris? You're my new sidekick," Emmett announced.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"That means that you and I are going to play pranks on these suckers here together." Rose slapped him on the arm.
"Everyone except for Rosie, of course," he added. That seemed to be good enough for her, since she smiled a little.
"I'll think about it - it might be fun."
Bella shook her head at us, but I saw a small smile on her lips. I placed a peck on her cheek, then continued eating.
"Aw, you guys are so cute," Alice cooed, then Rose joined her. I rolled my eyes at them, then ignored everyone as I enjoyed the sun.
Our break was over much too soon. We separated and went to our classes.
During class, I started to think that I was going to hate Thursdays for the rest of the school year. It was too much like normal school and I had never liked that. I only listened to half of what the teachers said, and when I was asked, I answered the questions correctly. It comes in handy to be some kind of genius when you're as lazy as I am. Bella actually worked for everything, although she didn't have to. And because of that, she knows a lot more than she should. That's why classes had never been challenging for her. I, on the other hand, was rather lazy. I didn't really have to learn, so I didn't, but since I do have a love for books, I also know more than I should. I wasn't as smart as Bella, but I was smarter than others, and that was good enough for me.
"Finally!" Alice yelled when Chemistry ended. "We're using our wands, we're using our wands," she sang all the way from the lab back to our classroom. All of us asked nicely for her to shut up, but of course, she didn't.
"Good morning, class. I assume that you are all excited for today's lesson, am I correct?" Mr. Cullen entered the room, smiling brightly at each one of us.
Everyone in the class nodded their heads.
"Alright. Before we start, I'm going to give you some instructions. As long as we are not using the wands, you will have to put them down to prevent any kind of damage. You are not allowed to use your wands for anything other than assigned homework yet. Magic battles on school grounds are forbidden. Do not curse while you are holding your wand. And last, but not least, those of you who don't pass the exams in a few months are not allowed to use their wands anymore. Of course, you can try again, but you can only fail three times. After that, you are no longer allowed to use it," he said. "Now we can get started. We'll go into the Magical Arts classroom. Follow me."
Everyone quickly shuffled out of the room and followed Carlisle.
The Magical Arts classroom was a lot bigger than our usual classroom, and between the desks there was a lot more space. Everyone had a single desk, and mine was between Rose's and Bella's.
"First, you need to get a feel for your wand. You need to control it. Every wand is different, and there are different kinds of wands. Some increase the magical power of it's user, and others are simply a magic extension. It isn't the best idea to use someone else's wand because of this. If you are really good, you may be able to work with it, but if not, then it will more than likely end up in a huge catastrophe."
I raised my hand. I was in a good mood right now, so I figured I might as well take part in the lesson.
"Yes, Chris?" Carlisle asked, noticing my raised hand.
"Why are there two different sorts of wands?"
"That is a very good question, Ms. Swan," he said. "Some witches have more magical ability than others. It's not about skill, it's just something that is given to them at birth. It's possible to increase the magic, but that does take skill, and not everyone is willing to do that. Some of you here may have already done it without even noticing. Specialized Magic class is one way to increase it.
"Some witches have a rather small amount of magic within themselves, so they need a wand that strengthens them - only a minority of witches get those. Most witches get wands that simply extend their powers. There is a third kind of wand that I didn't mention before because it's very rare. That is a circulating wand. They suppress the powers of witches a little. Some witches are extremely powerful, and since wands are usually there to strengthen their power, they need circulating wands. The circulating wands reduce their powers a small amount because if they are powerful enough to need a circulating wand, then that means that some spells wouldn't work properly due to their strength without a wand. The circulating wand comes into play there, holding back some of their power so that the spells will work correctly. The wands are a bit more intelligent than others, because they have to know the difference between a spell that requires a little bit of power, and a spell that requires a lot."
"Wands can think?" Rose asked with a confused expression on her face, matching the confused tone in her voice.
"Of course. A wand is not just a stick. They have a little magic within themselves, giving them something that we would call a brain. It's like artificial intelligence, only magical. The second the right witch touches the wand, the wand gets a soul. You transfer a little piece of yourself into the wand. Wands are able to absorb magical energy, and that's how your connection to your wand happens. But the connection has to be built. Some connections are so strong that the witches can actually call their wands and summon them this way.
"Today, we are going to look are your wands and see what kind you have, and how you need to handle it. We'll put them in the wand scanner for that." He gestured to a little cabinet beside himself. "The necessary information will appear on this screen-" he motioned toward the whiteboard, "-and I will give you some tips on how to handle them. You are quite lucky that your generation has this kind of technology. Back in the day we have to figure out how to use our wands ourselves." Carlisle chuckled a little, then called the first person to the front.
"And I thought we were going to use them today," Alice complained from in front of me, pouting.
"Chill, Al. We still have plenty of time to do that," Rose told her lightly, twirling her own wand around.
It wasn't really interesting what was going on at the front of the room. Almost everyone had an extension wand, so it got pretty boring quickly. Well, apparently Jessica Stanley had an increasing wand, as did Lauren. I could have guessed that by myself. Alice, Rose, and Jasper all had extension wands, and then it was Bella's turn.
The screen usually showed the whole class the three basic ingredients of the wand, it's classification, and special abilities. I shouldn't have been surprised when the scanner couldn't show everything about Bella's.
It was a circulating wand and one of the ingredients was unicorn horn. The other ingredients were unknown, and special abilities were unreadable.
"That is quite impressive," Carlisle mused, taking the wand and inspecting it closely. "Chris, may I see your wand?"
I stepped to the front and gave it to him. He put it in the scanner as well, and it showed the same thing as it had for Bella's.
I sighed when I heard a murmur ring through the class. Why couldn't we just be normal and have normal wands?
"I think you two are the only high school students with circulating wands. Actually, you may be the only students to have them. It isn't a very common occurrence now a days. The two of you are very special in so many ways. It shouldn't be possible to have so much magical energy, but I think I'm going to have to stop being so surprised." Carlisle smiled kindly at us.
"Your wands are harder to control than others, and the fact that their special abilities are unreadable doesn't exactly help. That could only mean that you have very powerful wands. I've never seen a wand created from unicorn horn, so you must be extra careful with them, otherwise you may hurt someone with it. I don't think I have to worry too much about it with you two, though." Carlisle let us sit down again, then continued the scanning.
Fifteen minutes later, he was done.
"Okay class, this is good, we have enough time to learn a little spell. The one I always teach my beginners class is the Jesus spell."
Jesus? What exactly were we supposed to do? Turn water into wine?
"The Jesus spell has it's name because you will be turning water into wine."
I smacked myself in the forehead.
"You will lightly tap on the rim of the glass, say the word 'vinosia' and then stir the water counter clockwise three times. We'll start right now in class, and it won't work right away, but it will be your homework, so just keep practicing."
After he finished talking, beautiful old, golden cups appeared in front of us.
I sighed, but got to work anyway. I wasn't expecting for anything to happen, and it didn't. Nobody in the class managed to change anything.
For the next ten minutes, the air was filled with frustrated groans and people repetitively saying 'vinosia'. When the bell rang, everyone seemed to be relieved.
"Remember to practice. I want to see if you made any progress on Monday," Carlisle told the class, then dismissed us, and we all left school.
"This was a tiring day," Rose exclaimed with a yawn, then stretched her arms above her head.
"So...what should we do today?" Alice asked.
"How about just enjoying the sun?" Jasper suggested.
"Good idea." We all agreed.
We arrived at the black house quickly, wanting to inform the other three of our plans. When we finished doing that, we all moved to the blue house so Bella and I could quickly change. The others waited downstairs while we went up to our rooms.
When I opened my bedroom door, I stopped short. My whole body was frozen in place, and I couldn't take my eyes off the sight in front of me. There was a spider, half the size of me, sitting in the middle of my room. It was moving. I backed away instantly.
And the only thing that was louder than my scream, was Bella's.
A/N: Haha don't worry no cliff, because I'm soo cool that I've already written the next chapter. Yeah, I know you love me. Slowly the story gets a dramatic twist, I think it was enough introducing to this world, right? I mean it's still all about school and their lives their, but I have bigger plans, my dear readers...
Soooo how did you like the chapter and it's slightly new style. If you like it you should tell me and if you didn't you should tell me as well. What I'm basically saying is "Reviews". Y'all know that it makes an author happy :D And one more thing:
I mentioned earlier that I'm currently working on a story with my beta and I want you guys to check it out. It's called The Prophecy of the Elemental Phoenix and it's uploaded by You And Me Up In A Tree. If you like this story, you'll definitely like that one as well...that's all I gotta say for now, kiddos and I'm going to write another author's note in a second anyway so I'll just move on to the next chapter-