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Chapter Nine

Esmie's Attitude

Esmie walked into Ethel's room without knocking and found her sister sitting on the bed with her head in her hands crying her eyes out. She smiled down at Sybil for a moment.

"Why don't you go find your friends?" Esmie suggested and Sybil smiled clearly glad at getting away from having to comfort Ethel as Esmie went and sat next to her sister and put her arm around her.

"I can't believe they did that" Ethel said through her tears as she sobbed into Esmie's shoulder.

"Me either, I knew they were cold but that was disgusting of them to do, don't worry though Ethie, I enforced section four" Esmie told her sister who gasped and she was not shocked by her sisters reaction.

"But then you and Sybil have no home either" Ethel said as she lifted her head to look at her sister.

"Well I am not going home with them, they are sick, we will have a home together like we always have, I would rather be in foster care than with them" Esmerelda told Ethel who just looked at her with tears in her eyes. Both girls then jumped out of their skins as HB appeared in front of them.

"The Great Wizard is here" she told Esmie who thought it was quick but shrugged as she moved her hand from where she had been clutching her chest. Esmie smiled and stood up before winking at Ethel and leaving the room.

Esmerelda walked into the office and the Great Wizard looked at her seriously.

"I have heard you want to enforce a section four" he said as soon as the teenager entered the room.

"Yes that is right" Esmerelda replied "Only because my parents are disgusting enough to enforce a section two against their pregnant daughter" Esmerelda told the man and he touched his chin clearly annoyed about that as well. The man looked at Esmerelda wearing one of the most serious looks she had ever seen on him.

"I can of course enforce this but I highly recommend you go back on this" he told Esmerelda and the girl widened her eyes shocked at that.

"Why would I do that?" Esmerelda asked him feeling sick he would even suggest it.

"For the reason you and your sisters will not be homed together, there is no way someone will take two teenagers, one of which is pregnant and a pre-teen" the Great Wizard told Esmerelda and Esmie though did not understand. Many people had multiple kids so why would it be so hard?

"Well you haven't tried yet, at least try before giving up" Esmerelda told the man. Ada looked at her with a look of amazement.

"Esmerelda, don't be rude to the Great Wizard" Ada scowled her. Esmie rolled her eyes then and Ada wondered what on earth was happening to the girl. She was acting like she was…..a teenager or something.

"Alright fine I will enforce it, just don't blame me when they can't find you anywhere, I warned you" he told Esmerelda.

"As long as you try I will be happy, I am not returning home to them people that call themselves our parents and neither are my sisters" Esmerelda answered back not caring if she was being rude to the Great Wizard.

"Do you have any other relatives you think could take you in?" he asked Esmerelda and the girl sighed. She knew the majority of her family would disown Ethel like her parents, their grandma Josephine wouldn't but she had being ill for a long time and she would not be able to cope with her three granddaughters and a newborn, it would all just be to much for her. Esmie looked at the wizard and shook her head sadly.

"A foster placement then, I will contact the services and get them to find a place for you and your sisters to live" he told Esmerelda and she nodded.

"Thank you" she told him as the man transferred away and Esmie started to head for the door but Ada remembered she needed to talk to her and now was as good as time as any.

"Esmerelda, can you wait a second I need to talk to you, sit down" Ada told the girl and Esmie took a seat looking at Ada expectantly.

"I just want to talk to you as I am concerned, you did not seem upset when I took away your head girl status" Ada said needing to know if the girl was upset or not about it.

"I wasn't, I didn't want to be head girl anyway" Esmerelda replied and Ada glanced at Hecate both looking as shocked as each other.

"Why ever not?" Ada asked her and Esmerelda shrugged her shoulders.

"I have so little time these days with my sisters because of my exams as it is, I want to focus on them" Esmerelda replied and Ada just stared at the girl. Did Esmerelda not care as much as she made out about achievements? Did she pretend to care to please other people? Ada was starting to think she did.

"Esmerelda, are you sure about what you are doing, removing yourself and Sybil, it would be much easier to place Ethel alone" Ada said changing the subject as Esmie clearly could care less about being headgirl.

"Of course you would say that" Esmerelda replied folding her arms and slouching.

"What do you mean?" Ada asked the girl not understanding what she meant.

"Well if this had being you and Agatha you would have let her be shipped of somewhere, in fact you did let her be shipped of to that school for bad witches" Esmerelda replied and Ada was shocked. She had never heard Esmerelda mention the woman's name since she lost her powers.

"Excuse me, I had no choice my mother sent Agatha away" Ada told Esmerelda not wanting the girl to think she had wanted Agatha to go.

"I know you Miss Cackle, you were one of them children who loved to have everything because you were the eldest, so much so you still like to put younger siblings down even now in your adulthood" Esmerelda told Ada who sat their opened mouthed at what she had just said to her. Was Ethel using a potion to look like her sister because this could not be Esmie.

"Esmerelda!" Ada replied highly insulted by what the girl had just said to her.

"What have you forgotten what you said to Ethel at selection day?" Esmie replied before putting on a higher voice 'There is no need to be intimated, no-one expects you to be as clever as Esmerelda, Esmerelda is the finest student this academy has ever had, if you are even half as crafty as your sister" Esmerelda said and Ada nodded in agreement, she might be on the older side but she had a good memory.

"Yes and your point is?" Ada asked her annoyed.

"That was before her exam, yes Miss Cackle I do not care about the stupid headgirl role, I care about my sisters and I would appreciate it if you stopped comparing my sisters and I, we are separate people and it upsets all three of us" Esmerelda told Ada and the woman looked at her sadly, she honestly had not known.

"Esmerelda I am sorry I didn't know" Ada said feeling bad now she knew the truth, none of them had said anything before.

"Yes well now you do" Esmie told Ada "Can I go now? I need to talk to Ethie" Esmerelda said desperate to get back to her sister.

"Oh yes of course, I will let you know when they find you a foster home" Ada told her pupil who nodded and then smiled slightly before leaving. Once she was gone Ada and Hecate sat in silence, shocked.

Ethel was stood in her bedroom in front of the mirror just in her bra, it wasn't something she made a habit of doing but she turned to the side looking at her stomach at all angles. She could swear she had a tiny bit of a bump, so small you couldn't tell through her clothing but you could tell close up. She was just turning the other way to look at her stomach when someone knocked.

Ethel gasped and grabbed her blouse from on the bed covering herself with it before she spoke.

"Come in" Ethel said trying her best to make sure she was covered. Esmie walked in smiling but her look changed as she saw Ethel holding her top over herself.

"What are you doing?" Esmerelda asked really confused as to what on earth Ethel was actually doing. Seeing it was just Esmie, Ethel dropped her blouse without a care. It was not like Esmie had never seen her in her bra before and she didn't really care if she did, it was just her sister so it wasn't awkward.

"Come here, I need another pair of eyes, is it me or am I starting to show?" Ethel asked her sister and Esmie walked over to her sister and looked at her stomach. It was such a tiny difference from her normally flat stomach she wondered how the hell Ethel had spotted it without a magnifying glass.

"I don't know maybe a bit, I can't really tell" Esmie admitted not knowing if her sister was just bring paranoid or not, If it was the beginning of a bump it was such a small difference you had to be right up close to her stomach to see. Ethel sighed, grabbed her blouse of the floor and threw it over her shoulders before starting to button it up.

"This uniform won't even fit soon" Ethel said dramatically as she fiddled with the buttons.

"Ethie don't work yourself up, you will still be adorable with a bump" Esmie told her sister knowing her sister was really body conscious already. Ethel sighed and gave her sister a look telling her she didn't believe her.

"Of course I will" Esmie said sarcastically.

"You will be, I will still love you" Esmie told her sister. Ethel scoffed at that and both fell silent for a while.

"What did the wizard say by the way?" Ethel asked then remembering he had come.

"He enforced it" Esmie told her sister "Now we have to wait and see where they place us" Esmerelda told her sister with a shrug.

"Will they split us up?" Ethel asked her sister with wide eyes as she finally got the last button of her blouse done up.

"I hope not Ethie" Esmerelda said as she hugged her sister, that thought in the back of her mind worrying her so much but she had to be positive and think there was a foster family that will take all of them in, there had to be one somewhere, right?