So, as it turns out, Mr. Donolly is pretty frickin awesome. He lets us do whatever we want; we hardly learned anything the whole class (!). When it's over, things have gotten so out of control that Mr. Claire comes from across the hall and chews us out. Very funny.
For my free period I hang with Mallory, Stephanie, and Lexis. They're all pretty close friends with me, but not like Jack and I. Speaking of Jack, gym's next…I hope this little misunderstanding clears up. When the bell rings, I take a deep breath, and head off to the girls' locker room to change.
Jack teaches both the boys at PC and the girls at G-WAM, and unfortunately girls and boys wear basically the same gym uniform, minus the sports bras. I hope.
Maroon shorts, a gray t-shirt; can this get any more distressing? They aren't even our school colors! I'm not exactly fashion-crazy, but even to me this is ridiculous. I exchange my t-shirt for a white tank top, and roll up the knee-long shorts so they're at least acceptably hot, minus the hideous color. Maybe Danny will be watching!
After tying my hair up more securely with a black scrunchie I head out onto the fields, where about half of the class is already waiting, either stretching out or zoning out, eyes closed, completely dead to the world.
"Miss DeVough, are you trying to lose yourself points? Why aren't you wearing your uniform?"
"Oh, Mr. Davis, you always were the kidder of the lot! Haha, uniform. Good one."
"Get over here, Max. Now. We need to talk." He's talking in his 'serious' voice; the rest of the class continues to look bored.
"Whatev', Mr. D." I follow Jackson off, away from the class but still in sight of them.
"Max, you know I can't give you special treatment over the rest. Please go change. I am your teacher, and right now you are in my class, so you listen to me."
"Fine, Jackson. What, are you going to ask me to call you 'Mr. Davis' now, too, even when it's just the two of us? What's next, huh? God, it's like I don't even know you anymore."
"Max, please…please, just cooperate, I really want to keep this job."
"Yessir, Mr. Davis, your Royal Highness. I'll go change now." I storm away, back into the gym, grumbling under my breath. Stupid, self-righteous bastard. Making me change for no reason, other than 'it's the rules.' Rules are meant to be broken; I thought everyone knew that! I'll show him.
I angrily throw on my gray t-shirt again, then take my wand out and shrink it, so that it fits me better, and doesn't make me look like I'm swimming in an off-white potato sack. I'm still really ticked off; my lungs are starting to ache. I took my medicine, though…as long as I'm not hit in the chest with a soccer ball I'll be fine.
Once I return outside, I immediately notice that the class is already playing a game. Scowling, I run over to Jack, breathing a bit irregular.
"There, Coach. Better?"
"Thank you." He looks relieved. "Maxi, come on, don't be mad at me…I'm just trying to do my job…"
"And I'm trying to do mine. I'm a teenage girl, Jack. It's my duty to be rebellious. Now what position do you want me in?"
"Are you sure you can play? How are your lungs?"
"Fine, fine; I took my medicine, remember? As long as I don't play for more than ten minutes at a time I should be fine."
"Okay. You're on Gray Team, as a goalie." He blows his whistle, and the game stops, then starts again once I'm in position. Yes, Jackson loves to play me in Goalie, since I don't have to run as much when I'm in the box.
I have a pretty clear view into the guys' classroom in PC from here, actually…suh-weet! I can just make out the back of Danny's beautiful black-haired head, and next to him, the unmistakable mass of golden curls that is my brother. Geez, his hair is getting a bit long. I tried to get him to cut it, but then he just—
"Hey! Watch out, Max, the ball's-" And then the ball slams into me, and I'm on the ground, and the ball rolls out of bounds. No goal!
Oh, shit.
"Jack!" I clutch at my throat, trying to force air through it, eyes watering. Of course, the ball had to hit me in the frickin' chest. That's just the kind of luck I have, apparently. He rushes over to me, a panicked looks on his face, and falls to the ground beside me. "Get…Ben…" I wheeze, because this is a really bad one, I can tell. Ben is the only one who knows what to do. Usually I try to keep him unaware of my attacks, but this is definitely a Need-To-Know situation.
Jackson raises his wand and closes his eyes, a focused look on his face; a golden eagle soars out of his wand.
"Go to Ben. Tell him that he needs to get out here immediately, his sister's having an attack." The eagle flies away, screeching shrilly, and flies straight through the classroom window. My brother turns around, looking surprised. When he hears the message, he apparates out here without a second of hesitation. I'm barely conscious by now, gasping and choking for breath, my eyes rolling. All I want to do is breath again, but I can't. A loud rushing sound fills my ears, drowning out basically everything else, and static fills my vision.
"Max! Max, come on, you gotta hold on now, okay?" I hear my brother's steady voice through all the fog, and reach out to him desperately. I feel myself being flipped onto my stomach, then scrunched into the fetal position, as someone else is casting spells on me in a shaky, scared voice.
And then, as suddenly as it started it's over again, and cool air rushes into my lungs, filling them. I gasp on the air, sucking in as much as I can, probably hyperventilating.
"Max? You okay now?" I nod, still dizzy, my lungs still burning along with my throat.
"Well, that was…unfortunate…" I breath, looking up finally. The sun seems very bright now, after all that darkness. Jackson and Ben are both crouched over me, faces anxious. "I think I'm fine now."
"What were you thinking, Maxine? You could have died! And why the hell didn't you take your medicine like I told you to?" Ben is no longer calm, but furious.
"I did take my medicine! Jack saw me do it!"
"And you!" he says, pointing a shaking, accusatory finger at Jackson, ignoring me completely. "You let her play! How many times have we been over this? Do you want her killed?"
"Calm down, Ben, we're all very upset here, there's no need to play the blame game. I know you're upset, but—"
"Upset? Upset? No, man, this is not upset. This is fuckin' furious!" and he punches him in the face. It's only now that I realize the rest of the class isn't out here any more; they must have gone inside. Is class over already?
"Hey! Ben, stop it! It wasn't his fault!" I say meekly, as Ben throws himself at Jack, face deadly.
"STOP!" another voice joins the chorus, and someone is suddenly dragging Ben away from Jack, restraining him. It's Danny! He waits to release my brother until his struggling stops, and he calms down. "What the hell do you think you're doing, DeVough? You just hit a teacher! That means expulsion!" He sounds nervous, excited. "What is going on?"
"He almost killed my sister!" Ben growls, stabbing a finger in my direction. Oh, brother.
"For the last frickin' time, Benny, Jack didn't do anything to me! I wanted to play; how was I supposed to know my medicine wasn't working any more?" I stand, wobbling slightly. Jackson, who's hand was just moments ago fixing his broken nose with his wand, shoots out an arm to steady me. "Thanks."
"Don't touch her, you bastard." Ben says this calmly, but his words are so icy Jack steps away from me, raising his hands in mock surrender.
"Dude, chill out, I was just helping her!"
"Yeah. Right. Come on, Max, we're leaving." Ben grabs my arm, yanking me after him across the grass. It wouldn't be smart for me to apparate, not now, after such a bad attack.
"Hey, wait! Where are you going? Where are you taking her?" Jackson yells after us, sounding panicked.
"Somewhere where you can never hurt her again! Don't try and follow, Davis."
"Stop now, or you're both down thirty points! I said stop!" But Ben doesn't stop, and I don't try and make him; instead, I wave to Jack, trying to give him a reassuring smile. Danny is looking at me, an expression of complete confusion on his perfect face. I give him a special smile, and he, looking just as bemused, gives me a small one back, waving a bit. Oh joyous day!
Now, where the hell are we going?
"Okay, you can let go of me now!" I say a couple blocks later, when his firm grip is starting to get a bit annoying. "I said let me go!" He drops my arm, stopping, breathing uneven. "Where are we going, Ben?"
"England. Right now. Go pack your stuff."
"What?! Now? You don't have enough money! We aren't prepared!" At this he scoffs, rolling his eyes.
"I've had the money for ages now, and the tickets; do you honestly think I wouldn't be prepared for this in case something happened? We're getting you on a private jet out of here tonight. Go on, get packing! I've got a few phone calls to make."
"But what about school?" I ask, rather lamely. "We can't just leave…what about Jessica?" What about Danny, and Jackson?
"Jessica will be fine. You, on the other hand, need immediate attention."
"I'm fine now, honestly! You're acting very strange, Ben—"
"You could have died. I won't let that happen again, Max. I'm going to be with you from now on, all the time; nothing can hurt you any more." He gives me a fiercely protective look. Wait…did he say he's going to be with me all the time? NOOOOO!
"Ben! Snap out of it, man!" I slap him, not too hard, across the face. He freezes, looking stunned. "Just chill, okay? Chillax. Feel the breeze through your hair, and the grass under your—er—well, my point is, you need to just calm down. Everything is okay now. We can leave if you want, but I'm just asking you to let me say goodbye to Jack first, okay? It would be just…wrong if I didn't."
"You…you slapped me…" he's touching his cheek, uncomprehending.
"Ben, I'm serious—"
"Oh, fine, fine! But don't tell him where we're going, okay?"
"God, you're such a tight-ass. Fine, when can I see him?"
"Call him now. If he wants to come and say bye, fine. If he'd rather finish his classes, that's too bad for him."
I flip out my cell phone, pressing Jack's speed dial. He picks up on the second ring.
"Max?"
"That would be me," I confirm. He sighs in relief.
"Oh, thank God…are you okay? Where are you?"
"My house, and of course I'm fine! Ben would never hurt me. Hey, listen…it's really complicated, but, could you meet me here, in ten minutes? In my room?" There's a long pause.
"It's important?"
"Very."
"I'll be there in three." I flip my phone shut, shoving it back into my pocket, then skip up the stairs to my room and start shoving everything I can fit into my suitcase, which Ben had laid out for me on my bed. I don't pack many clothes; I can go shopping once I'm there. Instead I focus on photos, posters, and some other muggle things I couldn't live without. Then there's a pop, and Jackson appears in front of me, looking confused.
"Wait, so you…you're really leaving? You're leaving me?" He's making it sound like I betrayed him; hurt him on purpose. Tears start to well up in my eyes; I bight my bottom lip, which is trembling. "Oh, don't cry, please don't cry!" He wraps me in a tight embrace, and I cling to him, sobbing into his tee. I usually don't cry. The sobbing is making my lungs hurt again; I try and stop.
"Help me…c-calm down, or else I'll have another f-fit." I say. He brushes some hair out of my eyes, wipes tears from my face with his thumb.
"Shh, shh, it'll be okay. I promise, you're going to be okay. Where are you going?"
"I'm sorry, I can't tell you," I whisper hoarsely.
"Ben?"
"Yeah, Ben. He made me swear it. I keep my promises."
"So do I. And I promise you, Max, that wherever you are going, I will find you some day. Soon. Just…be safe, okay?"
"I will. I'll miss you, Jack. I l-love you." And, because I know it's what he wants, what I might even want, I lean in and kiss him square on the mouth. The kiss isn't long, or hard; just a faint brushing of lips, but with it something changes. Our relationship will never be quite the same.
Queue the angry older bother.
"What the fuck! Get off her!" Jackson smiles at me, brushing some hair out of my eyes.
"Good bye. Be safe. And I…I love you too. Always have, always will."
"I know." And with one last cheeky smile he turns, disappearing with a crack.
"What the hell was that about, huh? You love him? How long has this been going on?"
"Once again, calm down. Nothing happened. Nothing. Just…can you leave me alone? For a minute? Please?" I feel like I'm going to start crying again; I'm leaving Jack. Jackson, the boy I've been best friends with since I was in diapers. My Jackson.
"Hurry up. The jet leaves in twenty minutes."
"Go. I'll finish, just leave." And he leaves, and I pack. Once my room is practically empty I shrink my suitcase, stuffing it into my purse, take a deep breath, and leave, closing the door behind me. Down the steps. Into the kitchen.
"Ready?"
"Obviously."
"Well…good. Come on, we're side-alonging it."
"Whatever." I feel empty, completely devoid of emotion. This might be the last time I see this house. This house; my parents raised us in it, died in it. I always thought I would die in it too. Now I guess I'll die in England. Stupid, tea-loving England. I hate tea.
Oh, who am I kidding? The only reason I don't like England is because it's taking me away from Jackson. I'll never have a better friend, I'm positive.
"Well…let's go then." And I grab his hand, and we're off. Off to a land filled with tea and biscuits. And scones. I hate scones.