Spotlight

Chapter 12

I smile when I see the Big Sliver gate with the Brimstone insignia.

Finally, after a long and arduous summer, I'm back in school.

I'm in the same building and room as last year, so I quickly get my keys and sign all my forms at the front table while my driver carries all my stuff.

Once I have all the documents I need for the school year, I go up the stairs to my dorm room.

"Couldn't even carry her own bags." Sara makes a disapproving sound when I walk in.

"Sara!" I tackle her and she temporarily loses her footing.

"You're injuring me on the first day." She laughs.

"How are you? How have you been?" I bend my head back. "It has been forever."

"I know." She bends her head back as well. "This felt like my longest summer."

I release myself from the hug and start unpacking my things.

"So, how do we feel about second year?" Sara asks as she hangs fairy lights on her wall.

"Excited, actually. How different do you think it'd be from first year?"

"I know we stop Chemistry and start the Potions class."

"I've never made a potion before," I say. "I wonder what it's like."

"I'm sure we'll do simple things like medicines, transformation potions, stuff like that." She's smiling. "It'll be fun."

"Yeah." I sigh. "Wow, everything will go back to normal so quickly." My chest feels tight so I open the window and warm air flows in. "I feel like today's my first day."

"What do you mean?"

"You know. Being scared about meeting new people or being by yourself or worrying about what to say." I go back to my wardrobe.

"You're joking?" She arches a brow. "Cassandra, you met the Royal Family of Ferona this summer. You took the pledge. You lived at the palace for a week. You can't still be scared of all this stuff."

"Yes, well I am." I roll my eyes. "And I was scared of all that stuff as well."

"But you still did it. Because at the end of the day, what is life if not doing things you're deathly afraid of?" She says over my shoulder.

"I guess." I rub my arms. "Who told you that?"

"My grandmother. She gave me a ton of strange motivational quotes while I was growing up." She turns back to me. "Oh, I saw you visited your grandparents' grave. How was that?"

I chuckle. "Did you stalk me all summer?"

"I swear I didn't. You just came up everywhere I looked." She hops on her bed and examines her wall. "Good?"

"Nice," I respond. "But I think I'm gonna skip dinner and breakfast tomorrow. I'm not ready to be thrown back in. I don't think I can stand everybody staring at me just yet."

She nods. "Do you want me to stay with you?"

"No, join the others. I have some stuff I need to do anyway."

"Okay."

We both keep getting our stuff ready. I'm done in an hour.

At four, I sit at my desk and finish off the things I was supposed to do this week.

It's mainly writing thank you letters to guests that attended one of my Aunt's or Seb's events in August. I am really behind on all that.

At around five, I get a call. A smile forms on my face when I see who it is.