The Silver Pocket Staff

dormmates- chapter 2

   The teacher that called Hiraeth had piercing blue eyes and a soft expression.  He smiled as he saw her walk up to the table. 

"Good morning, Hiraeth. My name is Riley Scott and I will be your Elements teacher. You have seven mandatory classes to take, which are Weaponry and Self-defense, Verbal Spellcasting, Science, Math, History, Potions, and Magical and Non-magical animals. There are four optional classes and since you are thirteen, you have the ability to take all of them. The only catch is that you have to decide with your dormmates which ones you will all take collectively. The optional classes are the Black Magics, Astrology and Divination, Elements, and Debate in Magic. Does anything sound particularly interesting?"

Hiraeth rolled her eyes and said stiffly, "I don't really care about what classes I take right now."

Mr. Scott raised his eyebrows and handed her a piece of paper with the names of all the classes available. "Alright then. Your dormmates will be Talia Anderson, Dylan Taylor, and William Fox." He pointed to a table where a few kids who looked around Hiraeth's age seemed to be awkwardly talking. "Decide if you all want to take the optional classes and come back here and I'll decide your schedule."

   Hiraeth nodded and walked confidently to the table. "Hello. I'm Hiraeth Roberts," she stated. "Can you please introduce yourselves?"

  A boy with dark skin and curly, brown hair stood up and shook her hand. Hiraeth grimaced. "I'm Dylan Taylor. Nice to meet you." Dylan elbowed a girl with brown hair who seemed to be falling asleep. Her head jolted off of her arm and she blushed.

"I'm sorry. I'm really tired. My name is Talia Anderson. Pleasure to meet you," she said groggily. Hiraeth noticed she had tear stains on her face.

Hiraeth turned to a boy with blond hair and green eyes. He was picking at his fingernails "And you must be William Fox." 

The boy looked up and mumbled, "Yes, but you guys can call me Will." He gave a small smile and continued to pick at his fingernails. 

They all sat in silence for a few moments. The boy named Dylan piped up. "So do you all want to take the optional classes? I personally want to take Elements and Astrology and Divination."

"Astrology and Divination is so stupid. The aligning of the stars or looking into a glass ball isn't going to tell you anything about your future. It's a complete waste of time and I don't think we should do it. Elements is a much better choice. We can learn about our own elements and how to use them. We should also try the Black Magics."

"That's your opinion, I think it's interesting. Let's vote on it." Dylan challenged. "Who wants to take Astrology and Divination?" No one raised their hands except Dylan. 

"Fine. I don't care. I still think we're missing out. Why do you want to take the Black Magics, Hiraeth? Do you want to be a dark sorceress or something like that?"

"I think it could be important to be informed of every branch of magic. We can use it as well know what tricks other people could possibly use on us. Does anyone disagree?" Hiraeth objected. No one said anything. "We won't need to use Debate in Magic anytime soon, it's just like an extracurricular. So that settles it.  We'll be taking the Black Magics and Elements." 

   The children walked over to Mr. Scott and told them what classes they chose. He handed them two slips of paper, one that had their room number, 675, and the other had their schedules. He also told them where to find air lifts, which were small transparent capsules that take individual students up to their room floors and are pushed by air, though you have to imagine what floor you'd like to go to. They quickly found the air lifts and stepped inside. Hiraeth imagined herself at the sixth floor and felt the lift move up. She opened her eyes and saw the grand orphanage glinting before her. She didn't like her dormmates very much. One was too loud and the other two were too quiet. It didn't matter since she wasn't planning on talking with them very often.