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Titters follow around the room, as they do every time the class is reminded of my existence.
"I-I don't think this is a good idea," I murmur, straightening down my lab coat, grateful we even have them. It'll make whatever mess I make that little bit easier to deal with.
"Rubbish, you've been learning as long as Miss Robinson and she managed to produce a feather beautifully." She indicates towards the perfect golden feather suspended in front of the even more perfect Miss Robinson. Blonde hair, blue eyes, big boobs...she's everything most women want to be. Including intelligent.
"Come on, Miss Black. I don't want to have to fail you..."
I sigh. There really is no getting around this.
"Feather light and pure as snow, to me let it show," I mutter the spell to myself, hating every moment of this. Technically, I don't need to say the words to make magic work, but given my predicament, it may help.
To my surprise, something actually happens and a small puff of smoke fills the air. I cough, trying to clear my lungs of the acridness.
Even before it clears, I know I've done something wrong from the giggles in the class.
There, on the desk, is the cutest grey kitten I've ever seen. It wasn't there before, and yet here it is, looking as bewildered as I feel.
"That's not what I asked for, Miss Black," the teacher observes, as if I’m not aware of that myself. "Let's try again."
I sigh and think of a feather, knowing I'm not going to get away without at least trying again, though I can tell it's not going to work. This time, there's another zing of magic, but it's quickly followed by a puff of grey smoke billowing up into
my face. Ah. Oops.
The teacher purses her lips as she looks me up and down. "I don't think that will do, Miss Black."
"No, Miss." I glance down, trying to avoid the embarrassment.
A small meow drew my attention to the kitten in front of me. Oh. It doesn't seem to be going anywhere, shouldn't it have disappeared by now?
"You need to pull your act together if you're expecting to pass, Miss Black." There's more than a hint of disapproval in her voice, and, as much as I don't want to admit it, a big part of me hurts over it. I don't want to be a disappointment to anyone, and it feels as if I'm heading that way.
"Thank you for the advice." The second the words leave my mouth, I regret them. They're far too harsh and I shouldn't talk to a teacher that way. We don't really have detention here, we're too old for that, but it happens sometimes. Daphne still hasn't stopped talking about her awkward forced detention with two guys though.
"Make sure you take it. If you practice hard you might be able to scrape a pass." She turns up her nose and walks further into the class.
Unbidden, tears spring into my eyes. Hastily, I wipe them away, hoping no one else can see them. The last thing I need is to be humiliated for crying as well as for failing badly at magic.
"That's not a feather," Ivy Robinson sneers, coming over just so she can poke at the poor thing. "I bet you don't even know how you made it."
"I think it's a him, not an it," Caspian says, picking up the kitten and turning it over.
Purrs come from the creature. It clearly likes him, which is something at least. I've never had a cat and don't even know where to start with him. Assuming Caspian's right that's what he is.
"What does it even matter? It's just proof that Mona can't do magic like the rest of us can."
Her words sting, but only because they're true. I don't want to be this bad at magic.
"It didn't used to be like this," I whisper, not knowing why I bothered.
"You mean you used to be worse?" Ivy sneered. "Did you hear that, Camilla? She used to be even worse at magic." She sniggers as she looks at her best friend, yet another one of the perfect specimens we can only wish to be. The only comfort I have is that I know it takes them a lot of time, effort, and makeup to look that way.
"That's not what she said," Caspian counters for me.
Warmth floods through me. I don't know why he's being so protective of me, but I kind of like it, even if I know Ryan won't. Uh oh, here comes the guilt. Ryan isn't even my friend, never mind my boyfriend. A girl can have more than one crush at once. Right?
"Ooh, she's got herself a boyfriend," Camilla taunts, though I can hear the hint of jealousy in her voice.
I look around for the teacher, desperate for her to put a stop to this. She should do, we're still in class and have her lesson to pay attention to after all.
