Monday 2 August 2010, Adelaide, Australia
"I entered university, which would begin my five-year journey to finally become the teacher of Luna Nova, thistime I decided to follow it very strictly and not try to invent fashions, since the last time that happenedeverything went wrong and I only ended up ruining everything, because of that I acted in the best way and Imanaged to act as I expected, after all I had to succeed in something, no matter how bad some plans andsituations appeared I acted as if it were nothing and everything was fine, just lowering my head and movingon,"
Well now is the time, I've even got a new car to go to university, that way I'll get more respect and everything else, I'm leaving the house, with my materials, I take my rucksack to the car, I start it up and take a deep breath, well I spent a lot of money on the car, it's quite comfortable, I put it in first gear and drive off making those noises that sound like it's bubbling.
I'm driving along the streets respecting the traffic lights, I'm even dressed in my university jacket, taking advantage of the fact that the day is also a bit cold and I'm just getting there, it's very close to everything, I arrive at the entrance to the car park and I can see people chatting, I quickly stop the car and get out of it more confidently, I look at the crowd of witches around, all with their various cars and they even look back at me dressed as Ursula, which is good it's time to go to the
No one has approached me so far, so I walk along as normal to get to the classroom, but soon a woman comes up to me, she goes right over to talk to me, she seems to have recognised me, or she must be one of the people who recommended me.
"You must be the freshman, right? Ursula Callistis from Astrology, nice to meet you, I'm Iris from Herbology, they told me about you, there's a whole ambition to go to Luna Nova, that's right girl, look I'll show you my class after class, we can go out and get to know you better around here, I'll show you how everything works" Said Iris leaving, well I just shrug and continue on my way to the classroom.
I haven't even spoken to her properly, class is in five minutes, I'd better pick up the pace, I get to the classroom and there I see that there aren't many people in my class, everyone is looking at me sitting down, I think they've noticed that I'm new here, I even take a deep breath and start to enter the classroom, which the teacher already looks at me with a smile on her face.
"Well this is the new student, Ursula Callistis, welcome to the class, in a few minutes we'll start the first lesson, pay close attention and if possible talk to me a lot if you have any questions and need help" said the teacher and I nodded in agreement.
"Good morning, I'm Ursula Callistis, nice to meet you" I say, waving to everyone and sitting down.
These chairs, which are a table and a chair at the same time, are very bad, I don't know how they can make such an uncomfortable place, apart from being very hard, even the old chairs in Luna Nova weren't like this, anyway, it's time to get the things here and get writing down, it's too important for me to start things.
[...]
Today's lesson was pretty uneventful, it was an introduction, which I've already been able to write down a lot in my notebook at least, I take a deep breath and start walking around, well the school day is over, what else do I have to do, I walk to the canteen, but I'm soon approached by Iris again, well that's very interesting.
"You there Ursula, come with me, I have to introduce you to this place" All right.
"Oh yes, I've only just arrived, you know" I say, scratching the back of my neck.
"I'm already in my third year here, I could graduate in 2012, I intend to go to Luna Nova one day, I'm also doing the best in Herbology so far and you seem very motivated too" She has no idea how much I just want to finish this.
"Ah, I've only just arrived and I'm having a little help at home" I say to her.
"Well, you won't be able to do anything without your staff, I'll introduce you to the other girls, Dean Taylor asked me to keep an eye on you, I know how ambitious you are, to the point of attracting the Dean's attention, not bad, I'm one of the most exemplary students here" I'm understanding everything, it was the Dean who asked me to be accompanied by her, it makes sense.
She led me to a stool where there was a group of about six other girls, good to know that I'm going to be in a group, it seems, two of them are a couple, at least we can be free here to express our love, very different
from how things were in Luna Nova, I think I like it better here now, but I can't, I'm still thinking about Daniella.
"Ah, that's the freshman you told us about, welcome Ursula, what do you say we go for a drive? Do you have a car?" I nod.
"She's a bit shy, but we can give her a hand" said Iris.
"Sure, I'll introduce you to her, I'm Isabella from Metamorphosis, this is Lia also from Metamorphosis, this is Bridget from Numerology, she's the smartest student here and her girlfriend is Jessica from Summonings, this is Kelly from Summonings too and finally this is Theresa from Broomflying, she's the best in our class, we have our own sisterhood, trust me, if you take part in the events here it can give you a good boost to your reputation, you can become more liked in this place" said their apparent leader.
"Oh girl, but you know something, you're the first astrology witch to turn up here, you've got to show you can do things when we go to an event, especially as there are witches' sports matches" They don't even realise how skilled I am.
"Would you like to see?" I say confidently.
"It would be interesting to get an idea of how the freshman will do, we're already one of the best teams here, if you prove yourself capable we'll accept you into the group" Well, I'm a bit rusty because I haven't trained for a few months, I've even lost my defined abdomen, but I still have the skills I picked up before.
"Hey, you don't have to test the freshman like that, she doesn't have to show all that to be accepted by you" said Iris, defending me.
"She offered, well I don't see a problem and you, freshman, do you see a problem?" Isabella asks and I shrug.
"Well, it might be useful for me to know how I'm doing" I say, clenching my fists.
With that they take me to the university sports centre, where there are people practising magic, look at the space, it's really huge, I'm already looking at the broomstick track and I'm going to leave this for last, it's time to prepare for these tests they're making me pass, I want to show that I'm not just a helpless nerd.
[...]
Well, all that's left is the flight test, I could see the look on everyone's faces as they were shocked by my physique, when I took off my jacket, I think it showed that I still have a bit of definition and as I really am a trained witch, they were stunned, nobody had any idea that I could be so good, now all that's left is the finale.
"Look, this is a rare opportunity, you did well in all of them, even better than we expected, how can a girl our age be so skilled in magic, you're not normal" I learnt from the best.
"They only taught me the best and I learnt as I went along" I shrug.
"Well now it's the broomstick flying test, you passed everything, but now I want to see your ability to fly a broomstick, it can't be that good, I've won my magic school's broomstick relay for three years in a row, I'm the fastest in all of Australia, a prodigy, if you can stick with me we'll take you on the team, it'll be five laps" Well that'll be fun.
I take my broom and get into position, everyone is looking at me, there's even an audience that's a bit surprised, I take a deep breath and look at the gun being fired, marking the start of the race, I'm off, I'm surprised, she's not on my side or in front of me, but well I'm going to continue, I have to show I'm good enough on the broom, I'm leaning, and making the turns in the best way.
It's very smooth, the track is very easy to get the hang of, some turns to the left, others to the right, I finish the first lap, and continue, second lap, third lap, fourth lap, everything so far is very smooth, I haven't looked back for a minute, nor have I seen Theresa getting close, very strange, anyway I think it's the last lap.
I cross the finish line and brake the broom, and everyone is watching me in shock, and even the people at the back have seen me, I think they must have realised that I still have a lot of stamina, and then the girl I was facing arrives and she looks at me shakily.
"What are you? I'd never reach such speed and control even if I trained, you're monstrous, if you join our team we'll win for sure" said the surprised Theresa.
"Well, I've only learnt from the best witches, but anyway, am I accepted? We can go for a walk afterwards, go out and have fun, celebrate the start of the new year" I say to them, who nod in agreement.
"Look more than accepted, we're going to the car, we know some interesting places in Adelaide" They were more scared than impressed with me.
Well, I think I've made a good first impression now, and I'm soon approached by the dean who takes me to her office, I see that for the first day I've got a bit of a reputation, that's great, I've got a group and now I can start making more of a name for myself from now on, when I get to her office I sit down in the chair and she claps her hands in excitement at my results.
"That's perfect, that's marvellous, you've made it Chariot, as I asked you've joined the most popular group here at the university, now you just have to carry on acting the way they want you to and build up your reputation, go out with them, keep going, in a short time this could attract the attention of Luna Nova, your demonstration in the tests they did I could see from afar and woah, are you sure you want to be a professor of astrology? Your physique says something else, you have everything it takes to be a giant athlete" I'm very sure about that.
"Look, I want to be Luna Nova's astrology teacher" I tell her.
"So I'll talk to you as soon as the events are over about hiring you in a few years' time, I have direct contact with Miranda Holbrook from Luna Nova" That's very good.
"Anyway, I'll be going then, thanks for your help Dean Taylor" she smiles at me and I leave.
It's not that bad and it's not that pretentious, but I want to see what it's going to become in a few years' time, is it really going to work out, in any case I'm going to do my best to become great, I want to be able to get to Luna Nova soon and jump around like it's a soap opera, but I'm still going to live five long years, all this leaving behind the marvellous life I had six months ago.
[...]
I get home, I really enjoyed a day of celebrating with them, they drank a lot and I had to stay out, but at least I could smoke and chat a bit more being free, the girls are fun, but I still feel all artificial, so I go into the house and sit down on the sofa, where I see Lucy waiting for me as if she were tapping her feet.
"Where were you all day Ursula?" She asks me.
"Forcing friendships with the university staff" I tell her.
"So I was drinking and smoking, as you'd expect, but well, now it's time to study, we can't stop focussing on what's important now" I know, I haven't stopped studying, I'm going to focus on everything.
"I'm not going to stop focussing on anything that's important, I have to get the grounds ready, from what I've heard from the dean if I do well there she'll contact Holbrook to hire me and they'll even keep an eye on me" I say more hopefully.
"University games? They'll be in November, there's plenty of time to get there, I won for my team too and that's where I rose to popularity as one of the best, I was even considered to go in Nelson's place as a broomstick flying teacher, but I refused, it's not my kind of thing to teach, it was my dream to become a great broomstick competitor, But there's no such thing, I wanted to be able to compete against your mum and see which of us is the best, after all I've got three in a row like her, but she's the one who's broken the records so far, so I wanted to see if she's that good, unfortunately there's no such thing, but let's focus on studying instead of my frustrations" She's right, I have to focus.
It's time to start studying, I'm going to have to study in two places at the same time, it's good that today's class is very quiet, in fact everything around here is too quiet, things aren't as complicated as they were in Luna Nova, maybe I can have a chance and become the teacher of Luna Nova if I do everything right, I hope I can at least do it, I don't want to be embarrassed.
[...]
Friday 22 October 2010, Adelaide, Australia
"I was building up my reputation, already used to the new place and everything, but still very wary, especiallyas I had a surprise that day that Mum was going to find out I'd actually made a lie like that, at universityeverything was pretty normal, so far I couldn't complain, my circle of friends was great and my team wasconsidered to win the university games, where I would be present at almost everything, because I was soskilful with magic, I was at a level well above what they thought, but of course on my way back fromuniversity I had one of those encounters."
I'm exhausted, another day I'll have to go out with them, but first I'll go home, I think I'll get ready, I'll get the car there and I'll walk inside, I realise there's even a car stopped in front of the house, I recognise a WCI car from afar, I wonder what they're doing here? I wonder if they've found out where I live from the nine witches, what do I do now? I take a deep breath and enter the house.
As I enter and open the door, I realise that everything is fine, Lucy is talking to Rose! Rosemary! She's here, I get nervous, I hope Mum's not here, I go and sit on the sofa to talk and I get very nervous.
"Chariot, you're really here, I found you after all" said Mrs Morris.
"How... How did you find me?" I say shocked.
"Look, it was pretty easy really, the last bank transfer from your account was in Australia, just like your last plane journey, apart from the fact that you went to university as such, but I haven't told your mum yet, to preserve your confidentiality, I came after you alone to find out how you're doing, I know your situation isn't the easiest" I even swallow my saliva.
"Mrs Morris, I had to run away from here because I had no choice" she nodded quietly.
"I know that, Daryl threatened to kill you and the people you love, so you went to the only place left where nobody would have thought you'd be, very clever escape, that's what I could piece together from the plans" She's very clever.
"Yes, Mrs Morris, she threatened to kill everyone and I had to flee here... How is everyone?" I ask her.
"They're pretty devastated by your departure, your mum keeps telling me to come and find you, well now I know where you are, but I won't tell her because she's worried about everyone's safety, on the other hand Daniella is too depressed, she thinks you refused to marry her and after everything she's still kind of living in Dublin, but without much to do, anyway, I think I can visit you from time to time to let you know how everyone is" I'm actually grateful for that, it's kind of a relief.
"I just feel a bit bad that I have to stop telling Laura about it, but I'm relieved to see you well Chariot, and how are things going here?" I keep smiling at her.
"Well, now I have a new life as a university student, I'm trying my best to one day return as a teacher, under this new identity that I've now taken on, so that one day I can perhaps improve things" I say to her who is listening.
"That's very clever, but you still think about them a lot, don't you?" I nod my head in agreement.
"Every day, I just want to be able to go back and stop pretending to be a university student here, I don't agree with it, I'm just pretending to be a nice girl so I can be accepted at Luna Nova in the future" she stroked my head.
"That's university life, when I joined the WCI it was all about having to socialise to get better positions, being quiet doesn't help, pay for everyone's food, that also helps, take them out for dinners, have a few parties, before you know it you'll have been recommended to be the future teacher of Luna Nova, I wish you all the best Chariot" I'm relieved that there's someone familiar around.
"Thanks for coming by Rose, one day I'll be back, it might take five years, but I want to know how things turn out, don't let anyone know I'm here, I don't want to risk anyone's life" I tell her.
"Not even Daniella? I can get her to come round and you can live together, maybe it'll make things better" I nodded.
"Especially Daniella, I know it will be painful, but for everyone's sake I have to separate from her so that she can't risk her life, Daniella doesn't deserve to go through this" I say almost crying.
"That's very painful Chariot, I'll do as you ask, now I'm going home, I have some things to sort out and some news to give you" She hugs me and I feel relieved.
I never thought I'd meet Aunt Rosemary here, but it's good to know that she's going to look after me here in Adelaide, even give me some news about what's going to happen, and then she said goodbye to me and went to the car, and I took a deep breath, crying with emotion, I didn't expect to see people from my past again, after so long.
[...]
I arrive already changed, I think now I can have fun with the guys, I'm going to this party they're talking about, I even brought some drinks and I could see that there's a house full of stuff, I never thought I'd see a place this full before, well come on, I never thought I'd go to a party before, there are all kinds of people at this person's house.
"Woah, Ursula, you really came, sit down with us" said Isabella, beckoning me over and I joined in.
"Look, it took a while, did something happen?" Nothing much, just a special visit.
"I was just late finding an outfit" I say, scratching the back of my neck.
"Look, kids, this is Ursula I told you about, she's our university prodigy, all eyes are on her" Bella said to the boys, and they seem to be students from another university, so much so that they whistle at me.
"Not a bad friend of yours, you're very pretty, a nice French accent, as I'd been told, I'm Ryan and these are my partners, if you want to go out with us I'm available, especially with me, pussycat" She came very close, I'm gay, don't get into relationships with me.
"Look, Ryan's the best rugby player at university and a future star, he's got everything it takes to be promising, he's got plenty of money Ursula, not to mention how handsome he is, a guy like that giving you the ball isn't for the few" I keep pushing his face away, especially as I'm getting married... I still love Daniella and I'm a lesbian.
"I'm not into it, mate" He moved closer anyway.
"Why not? We can go for a drive, have you ever ridden in a Ferrari? I have a very cosy house where we can celebrate in another way" I still walked away.
"What's wrong with her? Is she underage? Ryan is 19" He's even younger than me and he's hitting on me.
"Ursula's single, that's really strange, I thought she wouldn't be able to resist, well anyway we'll talk to our friend, we'll be right back" They were taking me away, I even felt a sense of relief.
I walk through the party, being taken to one of the rooms, where three of the girls have taken me, if I were to do something in the room with them it would be less worse than with Ryan, but I honestly only have my eyes on Daniella, I'm not going to forget the person I was going to marry like that, I'm sorry, but my heart has an owner.
"What's your problem now Ursula? We're having a party with the cream of Adelaide, the richest people here, and you turn down one of the sons of the owners of almost an entire neighbourhood in the city, do you have any idea how much money he has? Girl, you've got it made" I shrug.
"I'm not dependent on men, I make my own way" they were shocked.
"What? I'd give my life for a guy like that. I'd give my life for a guy like that, if you get married, you'll be a millionaire for the rest of your life, fuck college, I'd do anything he wanted" That's your problem.
"Well, you would, I wouldn't, I'm not submissive to any man, I want distance" And besides, I was a millionaire for a while when I was Shiny Chariot, they have no idea who I really am.
"You're weird, Chariot, really weird" I'm not weird, I'm just a lesbian.
"I'm gay, you're happy with that" They're shocked.
"But you don't look like a lesbian like the girls in our group. But you don't look like a lesbian like the girls in our group, you don't dress like one, you don't act like one, how can you be a lesbian when you're like that?" I frown, maybe it's because I'm pretending to be someone else too.
"I'm not going to say anything to you, but that's it, I'm gay, I'm going anyway, I think this party is a bore" I say to them.
"All right Ursula, we're sorry about that, we're going somewhere else, what can you tell us to do?" They ask.
"Come with me by car, as it's just the three of us" I'll pay for something expensive for these three and they'll be closer to me.
I go out of the room, then I go to my car, where I just wait, take a deep breath, just waiting for Isabella, Theresa and Iris, they must have talked to that Ryan guy and now I realise that it's a wealthy people by the many mercedes and ferraris scattered around here, no small thing, me here with my Commodore that I already thought was the trendiest I could get.
I don't know much about Adelaide, but I think I can follow some tips that Lucy gave me, prestigious and expensive places where they didn't even think they'd pull over, we can even post photos of them.
"We warned you that you'd have to go home because of family problems, but Ryan won't bother you" They didn't say I'm gay at least.
"If we tell him you're a lesbian it would be a disaster, people don't take it well, that's why we didn't invite the other girls here, we had no idea you were a lesbian" Now you know.
"Well, I'm going to take you for a walk, you'll enjoy it, better than this noisy party" I say to them.
"Look, these noisy parties are opportunities for us to get rich people, but if you're pretty, that's what..." Jeez.
"No! Don't you have the slightest self-respect? Do you only think about being trophies for rich men? Don't you think about being happy with someone who really loves you? You may not have mansions, ferrariums, yachts, but that soon loses its fun and it's not even worth it, rich people are cold, they're usually always the worst kind, I've never met one who wasn't" I even get disgusted.
"That's exactly why we can take everything they've got and enjoy life in a way we haven't enjoyed it before"
"So you're not in it for love, you're in it to get rich, and you'll only end up becoming like them, that's not how it works" I have experience with rich people, they have no idea how dirty this environment is.
"You're so deluded, Ursula, do you think we're really going to be affected by this? Look, there are rich people who are good too" I know two of them, my late mum and my sister who's just a child, otherwise they're no good at all.
"And since when is Ryan, who just wants to measure his penis for his mates so he can get the hottest one, which in this case would be me, one of those people? I can tell people's ways from afar, you have no idea how these things work, I'm going to show you a more interesting way to have fun, where you don't have to depend on these rich males" Disgusting.
They're even laughing and we're even playing a song, well I think my first stop will be a clothes shop, I think they'll like being able to buy whatever they want, it'll all be down to me, we'll go out to a shopping centre and enjoy everything, be able to spend as much as we like, who knows, maybe this way I'll create more affinity and I'll be better accepted by these people.
"Now I'm sure that Ursula is a lesbian, only a lesbian could be so boring talking about men, they always say that we're objectifying ourselves, and we can't enjoy life" I'm not even going to argue about it, I'll be quiet.
"It sounds like the girls, it's a shame they're not as good as us, we're practically carrying the group, look Ursula I hope that apart from this boredom you're more interesting than those other girls, I honestly don't like going out with them, the three of them are very nerdy and talk about games and very tacky things, instead of what's interesting" I think you should cancel if there's a shopping arcade, only the shopping part will be interesting for them, but what a thing, I can't even be a nerd, even Daniella was less boring at first.
I think I'm going to have a fit around here, these girls talking about each other behind their backs, don't they say something about me too, whatever, I don't care about that, I'd better just leave it alone, after all I'm going
to graduate and become a Luna Nova teacher, then I'll be able to wind up a bigger plan, when Diana graduates things will change for the better, even more so since there won't be a curse.
"Rose lied to me all this time, she hid knowing something about you and kept looking for you for years, butalways saying she made a mistake, but I trusted her, I'm not going to stop trusting Rose because of that, shehad reasons, anyway it's good to know how your missing years went, I'm relieved that everything was okay."
"And that's how the years at university went, I had to go out to parties with the girls, make friends, I hung outon the one hand with the three nerdier ones, it was more fun, they even invited me to RPG tables, and onthe other hand the straight ones were always at parties and talking about boys, I had to act hyper feminine tobe accepted, it was a pain, but in the end I managed it, not that it was easy, because I felt like sendingeveryone somewhere special."
See you, university witches...