Twelve Years Later

Callie slept soundly in her bed. Nothing seemed to disturb or ruin this moment. Suddenly the sound of children came from outside of her door.

"Hey give that back to me!" shouted the voice of a young girl.

"You have to catch it!" teased the voice of a young boy.

"You're being a meanie!"

"No, I'm not!"

"Yes, you are!"

"No, I'm not!"

"Yes, you are!"

This continued on for some time. She groaned and pulled herself out of bed. Callie stormed her door open and said, "What are you two fighting about, again?"

Two brown haired children stared blankly at her. The girl, Mikaela looked no older than five and had almond hazel eyes. The boy, Marlin had wide blue eyes and seemed to be a few years older than Mikaela.

"He took my dolly!" Mikaela pointed to Marlin.

"No, I didn't!" He held his hands behind his back.

"Give it," Callie held out a hand.

"But I don't have it."

She scowled at him. He sighed and handed to her a small rag doll. Callie gave the rag doll to Mikaela. Once they were both satisfied, Callie went back into her room. They had done this each morning. Fight over something useless in front of her bedroom door. She sighed. Callie might as well get ready now.

Her room was very small. It carried a draft throughout the room whenever summer came. All that was in there were a closet, a bed, and her guitar. Nothing more. Living in an orphanage was anything, but fun. Small children would always cry to annoy the older kids. It was hard for the owners to keep up with the place, so the older kids were forced to do chores. Any child in an orphanage hoped and prayed to be adopted. Most of them did, but in Callie's case…not one family would adopt her.

Callie slipped on a pair of worn-out blue jeans, a dark blue tank top, and black converse. Her thin light shoulder length blond hair was brushed until it was almost completely straight. To top it off, she placed a thick black headband on her head. Callie looked in the mirror and sighed. She couldn't wear any makeup like the other girls at her school. If she wanted anything, she would have to pay for it herself. Callie smiled towards her dented locket. It was the only thing Callie had to remember her birth parents. Too bad she couldn't open it. She felt her light blue eyes water. Why did her parents give her up? And if they were dead, why did they have to go? Callie wiped off her tears and made her way down to breakfast.

Bacon and pancakes could be smelled from a distance away. Jennifer Smith, her temporary guardian and wife of the owner, cooked carefully at the stove. She had chest length brown hair and prominent brown eyes. Her figure was broad yet small in a way. Jennifer wore long dark jeans with a floral blouse. Callie sat herself sat herself next to Megan, Jennifer's daughter. She had straight dark red hair and almond green eyes. Megan's skin tone was almost compared to a peach.

"Good morning, Meg," sighed Callie.

"Morning, Callie," Megan smiled.

John, a black haired boy, handed her a plate full of food.

"Thank-you," she said.

He nodded and headed back to Jennifer.

"So, any news?"

Callie gulfed down almost a whole pancake.

"Nope, except the basketball game is today."

She snapped. Callie had completely forgotten about the basketball game. Megan was even wearing her cheerleading uniform for crying out loud.

"That's today?" Callie looked at her with wide eyes.

"Yup," Megan took a bit of her salad. "That's why I'm eating this."

"Dude, why do you even stay on the team, if there are so many expectations?"

She shrugged, "College."

Callie rolled her eyes. In her opinion, cheerleading was a waste of time. They couldn't eat so much. They couldn't wear what they wanted. And most of all, most of them were just snobs. She devoured her food nearly all at once. Her own figure wasn't as skinny as Megan's. Maybe that's why she didn't make the team.

"Ok, you can slow down now."

"Sorry," Callie swallowed one last bit of bacon, "Hungry."

"I can see that."

"Good morning everybody!"

Josh Smith's voice echoed throughout the kitchen. He came out through his study, smiling brilliantly at them. Megan was almost the spitting image of him. Except his red hair was much lighter and his skin was pale. He had a lean figure with a few chubby spots. Josh wore a loose t-shirt and a pair of dark pants.

"Good morning!" everyone replied.

He faced Callie and Megan, "I need to talk to you two for a moment."

They looked at each other with weary eyes. Whenever Josh asked them to talk to him…it was serious. Callie got up from her seat and walked over to Josh's study. Megan and Jennifer soon joined her. The study was a small room full with books. It contained a wooden desk at the end of the room. A big window stood behind the desk, allowing the sunlight to pass through. The wood floor reflected the painted red walls around it. When Josh had the free time, he would come in there in read himself to death.

He closed the door behind him. Jennifer closed the curtains making it almost completely dark in the room until the lights came on.

"Alright girls, there's something we have to tell you."

Josh leaned himself against the desk.

"Someone is coming over today…to…uh, inspect our Magical education," said Josh.

Great, just what Callie needed. Someone watching over her while she sucked at her Magical studies. She, in some ways, hated being a witch. Callie always needed to tell lies to everyone she met whenever something strange happened. The only good thing that seemed to come out of magic was having much more advantages than Muggles. And she couldn't even use those advantages freely and out of the classroom until Callie was seventeen. Five more years to go. Luckily, Megan was there to suffer along with her.

"Why do we need to be inspected all of the time?" asked Megan.

"Well, the Ministry just wants to make sure that you're being taught right."

"But you have been teaching us right," interjected Callie. "What if they think you're not teaching us right?"

"You would be shipped off to Salem Witches Institute," Jennifer replied gently. "It's a good school, but your father preferred that you'd be trained by him."

"Why?"

"That's just the way I grew up," he shrugged. "It feels weird for me to send my kids to some institute when I can teach them on my own."

"But I'm not your daughter."

Josh got up from the desk and put a hand on Callie's shoulder.

"True, but you should know by now that we already consider you apart of our family."

Callie bit her tongue to avoid saying anything else. In truth, she felt the same way about them. But if she were ever to get adopted, it would hurt even more to leave them.

"Why does this inspection differ from the rest of them?" Megan raised an eyebrow.

He took his hand off of her shoulder and faced Megan.

"Well, the American Ministry of Magic officials can't make it this time. Turns out, today is when the school officials take their day off. So, an official is coming here from England to inspect us."

Callie and Megan still held confused looks. Couldn't they just hold off the inspection until tomorrow then? Josh chuckled in reply.

"I know you think this is strange, but the ministry is just trying to do their job. Plus London's requirements might be different from ours. So I'm warning you now…don't use magic outside of class, period."

His tone was sharp. He spoke directly toward Callie. More than once, she nearly used magic to solve her problems. Unfortunately, Josh had always caught her in the act. A honk came from outside.

"Oh, that's my ride," Megan rushed her way out of the room. "I'll see you at the game!"

Before anyone could say anything, she was gone in a flash.

"Alright, now that's taken care of," Jennifer faced Callie. "You need to get to your chores, young lady."

"Yes, ma'am" she groaned.

She ventured out into the front hallway. All of the children had already started their own food fights. As Callie put on her dark pink jacket, the doorbell rang. Sighing she opened the door. A flash suddenly came through her eyes.

"Hey Callie," said a familiar voice.

It was Cody Hawkins. Photographer of the school newspaper and also her friend.

"Hey Cody," she continuously fluttered her eyes until she regained her sight.

"Sorry, about the flash."

"It's alright; just warn me next time, please?"

Cody nodded. He had round head with almond brown eyes. His dark hair was messily brushed and had a light tan skin tone. Cody wore a striped shirt with a leather jacket over it and loose jeans.

"So, where's Megan?"

"She went off with her cheer squad to practice today. Why?"

Callie looked at him puzzled.

"Why? We're doing an article on the game today, that's why," he said incredulously.

Her eyes got wide. How could she have forgotten about this? They had prepared all week long.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I totally spaced out," she said guiltily.

Cody groaned, "How could you forget?!"

"Um, other stuff."

"Well," he looked at his watch. "We've still got time. So it's not that big of a worry right now."

"Look not to be rude or anything, but I gotta do chores."

Callie pushed her way past Cody.

"I'll help you," his voice said suddenly.

She turned around.

"It'll get the job done faster."

"You really don't have to," she shook her head.

"I know, I want to."

She smiled. He could be a real dork sometimes.

"Ok, then."

Callie took out her list, "You can feed the chickens for now while I take care of the horses and everything else on this list."

"Great."

"The food's over there, just take a bag and feed it to them," she pointed ahead.

"Awesome, I'll see you around then."

"See ya and call me if there are any problems."

"Will do."

Living on the ranch wasn't easy. Callie always had to take care of the animals before going to school and doing her homework. It became hasty sometimes, when the animals refused to take their medicine. Everybody in the orphanage had their own job. Megan's job was to help take care of the crop. The others' jobs were too numerous to count with the number of children on the place. She traveled across the dirt ring towards the stable.

The horses waited patiently as Callie refilled their troughs with food. When she was finished, Callie quickly backed away from the herd of horses going towards her. They could be such pigs. That reminded her she need to go feed the pigs. She ran out of the stable and grabbed a bucket of food. Callie hulled over the heavy bucket towards the small gated area just outside the stable.

Before entering the pen, she slipped on the rubber boots sitting right next to the gate. Callie did not want to get her shoes dirty. She stepped into the mud very carefully. It was quite slippery. She successfully poured the food into the trough.

"Excuse me?" said a British voice from behind her.

This startled Callie. Her boots jolted through the mud nearly making her fall. Once she fully regained her balance, Callie turned around to see the strangers standing behind the fence. They both had the same features—except one looked younger than the other. Each one shared the same pale pointed face with pale blond hair and cold grey eyes. The only differences that seemed to be found were height and hair length.

"Can I help you?" she asked.

"Yes, I am here to see Mr. Smith," said the tall long haired man.

"Oh yeah, he's inside," explained Callie unenthusiastically. "Just knock or ring the door-bell and he'll answer—or his wife will, but it'll be most likely the kids."

"Thank-you," he nodded and left.

Callie's cell phone suddenly rang. She put down the bucket and flipped it open.

"Hello?"

"Uh, Callie could you please help me here?" whined the voice of Cody.

She groaned.

"What did you do now?"

"I might've just gotten…a tad too much food for the chickens."

"Cody!!" she screamed in rage. "They go crazy if you give them too much food!"

"Yeah, sorry about that and now they're about to come after me."

"Just like I am now?"

"Yeah."

"I'll be right there."

She slammed her phone closed. Callie had given him the easiest job in the world. And what does he do? He messes it up and she has to go clean it up. Carefully going through the mud, she marched over the chicken pens.

Callie crouched under the small door and looked around. Cody was found hiding in the corner of a pen and shaking by the time she got there.

"Cody?"

He looked up her relieved, "Oh thank God you're here!"

Callie looked around the pen. There was not a chicken to be found in sight.

"Where's the chickens?" she dared to ask.

"Yeah, about that…," he got up to his feet. "In their anger…they must've opened…the door when I went into hiding."

Her face turned completely red.

"So where are they now?"

That question was answered with the sounds of screaming chickens and laughing children. They both ran out of the pen. The chickens were running away in fear as the rest of the children chased them around the dirt ring.

"No guys! Don't do that! Please!"

She ran after the chickens. Cody soon joined in. This was not the easiest job to do. Every time she caught one, they would always slip out of her hands. Running after the chickens definitely made up for her mile time. Cody wasn't having much luck with it either. Whenever he got his hands around the chickens, they would always peck at him. As for the rest of the children, they just watched while Cody and Callie made fools of themselves.

"Callie? Cody?" said Josh's voice. "What in the world are you doing?"

They stopped to catch their breaths.

"What does it look like?" Callie took a breath. "We're trying to chase the chickens back into…their pen."

When she looked up, Josh was laughing himself to death. Callie gave him a puzzled look.

"You know you can just use the food to real them in, right?" he smirked.

Frustration rushed into her system. Callie could be a real idiot sometimes.

"It's alright guys," Jennifer made her way out of the house. "I'll take it from here."

"Thanks Mrs. Smith," said Cody.

"You're welcome Cody."

"We'd better prepare for tonight," Cody faced Callie.

Callie nodded and headed into the house. They wanted to work in the kitchen, but it was too over crowded. So she suggested they work in her room. He agreed to it immediately.

She closed the door behind her once they were inside. Cody took out his portfolio out of his bag.

"Ok, so what I'm thinking is…maybe we can have interviews with the cheerleaders and the basketball players before the game…you know just to catch their emotions. And also…"

Callie wasn't exactly listening. She took her guitar and began to strum a few notes.

"Callie!"

Her head shot up to Cody's annoyed face.

"Oh, sorry," she apologized. "My mind's been somewhere else lately."

"Look, let's just get this thing over with and maybe we can have an early lunch…cool?"

"Cool," she put her guitar aside.

She loved music. Nothing meant more to her. Callie hoped it would be something to fall back on if Magic career didn't work out.

"Alright, so where do you think we should snap the pictures?"

"I don't know somewhere good…?" Callie shrugged.

"Callie," he groaned.

"What? You know this isn't my thing."

"Then why did you go into newspaper?"

"It was either this or chess."

"Good point," he agreed. "Ok, I'll try to help you, but you gotta do some of the work yourself in order to get credit."

"Will do."

They worked at least an hour just organizing the interviews, reporting, and pictures. Callie was finally relieved when they had finally finished.

"Yes!" she cheered.

"Now, it's nothing to get worked up about," he gathered all of his paperwork into his portfolio. "Besides its only sports."

She rolled her eyes. Cody hated sports. The only reason he was in charge of the sports section was because he was late to the first newspaper meeting.

"I mean if Kevin Sanders is the head of the team now, it might as well be pointless."

More than Cody hated sports he hated Kevin Sanders. To him at least, Kevin was a self-absorbed jerk.

"Please," she scoffed. "The only reason you don't like him is because Megan likes him."

"No, I just know he's very manipulative."

Callie gave a disbelieving look at him. He gave in.

"Fine then, maybe I do hate him for that reason."

She chuckled. Cody had always had a puppy crush on her. Ever since the fourth grade he had always had certain feelings for her.

"And what about you?" accused Cody. "Even you swoon over him sometimes."

"Maybe," she smiled. "He is a little cute, but he off limits. Especially to me."

"Why?"

"Because…I'm at the bottom of the food chain, an orphan, and let's not forget the cheerleaders declared me the official freak."

"Right."

"Let's go get some lunch before we start heading out."

He nodded in agreement.

They headed down into the kitchen to grab a few sandwiches. Callie opened the refrigerator door.

"So, did you hear about the exchange students that are coming?" asked Cody.

He caught the bread as Callie threw it to her.

"Yeah, a little bit here and there," she passed him the cheese.

There had been rumors going around the school about exchange students coming from England. But that was all she heard.

"It's kinda pointless in my opinion."

Cody began to slice the cheese.

"I mean we only have almost a week left in school, why come now?"

Callie placed the frying pan on the stove, "I don't know, maybe it's to observe Americans on their final days of school."

"Yeah, I don't know, but it could be anything."

She turned on the stove. Cody handed her the cheese sandwiches and tossed them on the pan.

"So, did you get their names or..?"

"Nah, not yet. They're supposed to be announced on Monday."

"Finally!" shouted an annoyed British voice.

A pale boy had rushed into the room.

"Somewhere where it's not invested by brats."

She recognized him. He was with the older man who had asked for Josh.

"Can we help you?" Cody raised an eyebrow.

"No," he answered sourly.

"Whatev," she flipped the sandwiches with the spatula.

Cody looked at his watch. "Well, we'd better hurry if we want to catch that bus."

He was right it was nearly time to leave. Callie took the sandwiches of the pan and placed them on the plate. She turned the stove off. But she turned back around the boy had taken one of the sandwiches.

"Hey, that was ours!" she complained.

"Too bad, I'm hungry," he sneered.

The boy continued to stuff his face. Callie started to charge towards him, but Cody blocked her.

"Don't bother, Cal it's not worth it," he said.

She sighed, "Ok, then you can have that other sandwich, Cody. I'm not so hungry anymore."

Cody looked at the boy with disbelief. The boy looked to be no older than they were, but seemed to carry an irremovable smug.

"Dude, who are you anyway?"

He put down the sandwich and smirked, "Malfoy, Draco Malfoy."

Callie thought this be a very strange name. Draco? Didn't that mean dragon or something?

"Well then my name is, Hawkins, Cody Hawkins," he said in a mocking tone.

She snickered. Malfoy glared.

"You think that's funny do you?"

Callie silenced herself.

"Alright, then what's your name?"

"Callie, just Callie," she said quietly. "I don't have a last name."

She wished her parents could've at least told her last name to her. For now she was just using Smith on her papers.

"C'mon Callie, let's go," urged Cody.

Callie nodded and followed Cody out of the room.

They ran along the dirt road towards the bus stop. It was just about to leave when they finally reached it. They crashed on the seats nearly out of breath. The bus was nearly one-hundred years old. It held grimes of dust and the brown seats held pieces of gum below them.

"So, what are you planning to do over the summer?" asked Cody.

"You know, what I do every summer. Work, and stay at the foster care to hopefully get adopted."

He snorted at 'work'. "I thought you already paid off your guitar."

"Yeah, but now I'm paying for more lessons."

Money was the only thing that Callie had a problem with. She couldn't get an allowance because of how tight the money was with the foster care. Even Megan got barely any allowance. She was just grateful that Steve, the owner of the music store nearby, allowed her to work off her guitar and lessons. Callie was also happy now that she had paid off her guitar. It allowed her to work fewer hours. It wasn't long until they finally arrived at their school, Whitthorne Middle School.

It wasn't that big of school. The building was covered in red bricks and had glossy windows. Cody tugged her arm to leave. They ran into the gym where all of the basketball players and cheerleaders were practicing. Cody waved at Megan. She smiled and waved back. A girl with dark blond hair scowled at her, stopping Megan.

"Sorry, Codster," said Callie. "She's under the curse of the Wicked Witch."

He groaned, "C'mon let's set up."

They sat themselves on the front bleachers. Not that many people had arrived yet, so the gym was almost empty. Callie took out her notebook and readied her pen for notes. Cody began to adjust the lens on his camera.

"Hey Hawkins!"

Kevin shouted as he passed by them. He had light curly brown hair and green eyes. Callie thought the reason girls swooned over him was because of his baby face.

"Make sure you get a picture of me making the winning shot."

He stopped right in front of him, still dribbling his ball.

"And what makes you think you're gonna win?" inquired Cody.

"Well let's see…we're playing against Oak Tree (which we all know is possibly the worse team on the league), we're better than them, and…oh yeah, I'm the best player on this team."

"And who exactly declared that?" Cody narrowed his eyes. "Yourself?"

Kevin wiped the smirk off of his face.

"You'd better watch your back, Hawkins. And I'm serious about that picture."

Kevin walked back into his group of friends.

"Are you trying to get yourself killed?" Callie hissed.

"Nope, just trying to prove a point," he shrugged.

Callie sighed. Cody defiantly had much more bravery than she did.

Thanks for reading! And just to clarify things....Callie is not a Mary-Sue. I've taken the Mary-Sue Litmus Test like four times. Her score is 10. Anyway the next chapter should be up soon.

-Emyrox567