Duds

13 Watched

Later in the day Ash and Gerry came up to me when I was in the library.

"Rosy!" Ash called, "Congrats on beating Lillia!"

"Thanks!" I had a big goofy smile on my face. Many people had come up to me and congratulated me on beating Lillia.

"You're welcome. Now I want to know all about-"

"Rose?" Gerry cut Ash off.

"What?"I asked.

"Did you use you-know-what in the fight?"

"What?" I asked confused for a second.

"You know..." he leaned closer and whispered, "magic."

"Oh!" I looked guiltily at him, "No..."

"You used it!" Gerry said angrily.

"Kind of. All I did was copy the spells she cast to level the playing field and I only did that in the fight with her."

"Ugg! Why do you never listen?"

"I listen...when I want to."

"At least she didn't cheat," added Ash.

I jumped on his idea, "Yeah, I'm not a cheater."

"You are not helping, Ash."

"Yes he is! Thank you, Ash."

"Uh..."

"It's Ok. You don't have to answer him, Ash."

"Ok," Ash said.

"Ok! Now if you will excuse me I will find a quieter space to read my book."

"No, you are not excused. You will stay here and will tell us what happened."

"No I won't!"

"Yes you will!"

"No I won't!"

"Yes you will!"

"Ok, Ok. Settle down. Rosy please tell us about the fight," said Ash, "I really want to hear all the details from you."

"Ok, fine."

Then I told them what happened and when I was finished Gerry had even more questions for me.

"Ok. I understand, but why would you ever think of such a risky thing? Why endanger yourself because you wanted to win a fight? Do you know what can happen if they suspect you are the Princess? You could be killed! You could be used as a weapon! You could be tortured! You-"

"Ok! I get it! I won't use any more magic from now on!"

"SHHHH!"

I looked at Ash, "What?"

"You said the m-word out loud very loudly."

"Oh. Oops?" I smiled nervously at them.

Over the next few days I didn't use any magic. I went through the motions like I had done in the past, but whenever I saw Lillia I rubbed my win in. It usually made her furious and she vowed to get back at me.

One day, I saw the Boss watching me closely. I hadn't noticed that before. The next class I went to I sat at the back of the classroom and watched everyone. I noticed something else: my teacher, Mrs. Resnik, was watching my corner, and me in particular, very closely.The next class was the same way, my teacher paid special attention to me in particular. I was starting to see a pattern and I was not liking where this was going.

After classes I sought out Ash and Gerry.

"Hey, guys," I said, "I need to talk to you."

"Ok," replied Gerry with confusion written on his face.

We went to the library to have a private word.

"I noticed something today in class..." I trailed off.

"Yes?" Ash prompted.

"I saw that the teachers are paying close attention to me. In particular."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"Oh, no! This is bad. This is very, very bad," muttered Gerry while he paced across the floor, "It is imperative that you don't use your ma-," he cut himself off, "Your you-know-what."

"I know, but if they don't stop watching me then I'm going to do something."

"Don't do anything rash, Rose. Not now. Wait for the right moment."

"Ok, but it still creeps me out."

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Ok so how'd you like this chapter? It was a little shorter than normal. She tells Ash and Gerry about using magic and she is watched closely by the teachers. Someone can only take so much of that let's see what happens next. Comment!! Thx!

- S