Witch - By Fiona Horne Page 0,10
I was enjoying making new friends. It was nonsense, mostly, but my father smiled, and my mother was relaxed and excused me from having to wash up.
‘Go and watch TV with your father,’ she said, patting me lightly on the arm.
I watched a cop show with Dad. Not exactly the most relaxing thing to watch before bed, but I did feel like I was bonding with him. And when he offered his cheek for a goodnight kiss, I felt unexpectedly happy. Maybe there really was something to this positive-thinking stuff.
The next morning Amelia and Alyssa were waiting for me at the bus stop outside school.
‘Hey, we had a dream last night about a new guy arriving at our school. We think we should be friends with him,’ Alyssa said.
‘Why?’ I asked.
‘Because he looks like he needs one,’ they said together.
I followed their gaze and saw a guy standing by himself on the school steps, staring up at the imposing Victorian facade of the school building like he didn’t know whether to enter or not. He had bad acne and greasy dark hair, and he definitely could’ve done with losing a few pounds. Another misfit, like me – or more like I used to be, now that I seemed to be assembling a few friends.
‘C’mon, let’s talk to him,’ I said to the twins.
I walked up to the guy and tapped him on the shoulder. He jumped.
‘Hey, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you,’ I said, smiling in what I hoped was a warm and friendly way. ‘I’m Vania and this is Amelia and Alyssa.’ The twins smiled and nodded at him.
‘Uh, I’m Dean . . . Dean Librado. I’m new here.’
His hair was so greasy it was kind of grossing me out, but knowing firsthand what it was like to be judged, I felt bad for him. And at least he didn’t smell bad.
‘Do you need help finding your way around?’ I asked. He smiled gratefully. And, letting positive thinking rule, I noticed he had a nice smile.
‘Yeah, thanks, that would be great. I’m a bit lost. I have a map of the classrooms, but I’m supposed to see the principal and I have no idea where the office is.’
‘We’ll take you there,’ Amelia piped up. ‘We have to go that way anyway. Vania, we’ll see you at lunch.’
For a second I was confused. Why was she taking over? Then I saw she was flicking her eyes behind me. I turned around to see Bryce walking towards us.
‘Cool,’ I said, and then I added to Dean, ‘Nice to meet you – see you later on today.’
The three of them walked up the stairs. Dean was smiling as the girls chattered on together, no doubt saying the same things at exactly the same time.
I felt all warm and fuzzy after my good Samaritan effort, but before I could use my positive thinking on Bryce Cassidy came up behind me and pushed me out of the way. ‘Stay away, Fish Lips,’ she hissed as she passed.
‘Hey Bryce!’ she called out, and he smiled at her. She kissed him on the cheek before looking at me smugly as she linked arms with him. ‘Walk with me,’ she said to him.
Bryce looked at me but didn’t smile or even nod in acknowledgement. In fact, he completely ignored me as he passed by and walked up the stairs with her.
What had just happened? I felt like a total idiot. I stood there alone for a moment before slowly following them inside. It wasn’t like I had much choice.
Down the corridor Bryce was laughing at something Cassidy whispered in his ear. Was he laughing at me? How could I seriously have thought there was anything between him and me – whether we both believed in ghosts or not? No matter how many magical powers I could eventually develop, I would never have the perfect body, blonde hair and cheerleader status that Cassidy had.
Right now the power of positive thinking seemed like a load of crap.
As if things couldn’t get any worse, I had chemistry. And this time Mr Barrow called me up to the front of the class right at the start. He challenged me to solve a complicated formula – made more complicated by the fact that it made no sense. After fifteen minutes of me standing there writing the start of solutions only to have to erase them again, he snatched the marker out of my hand and solved the problem himself. But