Better Than Onions

CHAPTER 7

"This is war" I whisper furiously. "This is war, Dumbledore"

Dumbledore looks at me nervously. "Don't you think you're taking it a bit too far?"

"No I'm not taking it too far" I snap. I look over to where Shrek is standing, the judge exclaiming at the beauty of 'his' artwork. Anger rolls through me again.

The judge walks up to the front of the class. "And now... the winner" she announces.

She pauses dramatically, as if it's not already obvious who the winner is.

"Shrek!" she exclaims.

Shrek claps both his hands to his beautiful mouth.

"What? No way!" He gasps, his honey brown eyes wide with fake surprise. "Really? I'm so happy! I spent so long on my painting but I never thought I would actually win!"

"Kill me now" I mutter.

Shrek walks up to the front of the class as the judge presents him with the money. He turns to the front of the class.

"I know some of you might be disappointed that you lost, but I want to assure you that every single on of you in this room is so talented" he laughs. "Not as talented as me obviously. But I want to thank all of you for your effort"

"I'm going to kill him" sI mutter. "and I won't regret it"

"Yes you will" Dumbledore says calmly. "You'll get a life sentence in prison"

"It's worth it" I growl.

Suddenly Dumbledore grabs my hands and pulls me to face him.

"No it's not" he says quietly. "It's not worth it"

I gaze up into his eyes. I never noticed what colour they were before. Blue - like a clear summer sky.

There's a cough behind us and I turn to see Shrek glaring at us.

"Excuse me" he says, offended. "I'm trying to make a speech"

"What makes you think I care?" I snap back.

"Julia!" the judge stares at me, her mouth wide open. "How dare you? I understand you may be disappointed that you lost but Shrek has worked very very hard on his artwork and it's very rude of you to ignore his speech"

I roll my eyes. "Very very hard, sure" I mutter, mimicking her voice.

I didn't mean for her to hear it, but one look at the horror on Dumbledore's face and the half shocked, half amused look on Shrek's tells me that she did.

I look up, cursing.

"Detention" she says coldly.

****

The next day, I'm sitting with Dumbledore, Snape and Edward at our usual lunch table. It's weird having Edward back - nice, but at the same time weird. I still can't talk about Shrek without him blowing up and having a tantrum. Actually, I can't talk about any boy without him going into silent mode and spending the rest of the day scowling.

In some ways, I kind of miss how it was before.

As soon as he leaves the table I lean forward.

"I've got a plan but I need you two to help" I whisper to Dumbledore and Snape.

Dumbledore rolls his eyes. "This again?"

"Yes, this again! I need my revenge Dumbledore! I need to regain my honour!" I roar.