Avalon's Adventures - Merlin's Prophecy

Chapter 4

Gotta say, the past few days have been rough, especially since we started school again and the weird-ass dreams I've been having. This school is the only school in Lepidus town, and it's the smallest school ever. Everyone here knows each other, has their own friendship groups and as it's a small town, very small - practically a village, they don't often get newbies, which makes us the oddballs.

People have been gawking at us as if we're from another planet. Noah has been struggling with all the attention, poor kid ain't used to it. What's worse is that other kids are picking on him.

Noah's not the best at making friends or socialising – he can come across as cold or
robotic, and that's not his fault but kids can be dicks. They don't see that, they see an awkward, weird kid who makes them uncomfortable and the only way they know how to react is to attack. Since I threatened the hell out of one of those dumbasses though, they've stopped picking on Noah– only thing is that they still gawk at him.

And since then, everyone except Noah, Sarah and the teachers have been avoiding me like I
have some contagious disease or something. Not that I'm complaining or anything. I hate people.

Thankfully it's Friday today and now it's three o'clock, school's finished for the weekend. I'm
waiting outside the gates with Sarah in front of the school. This school is different from our
old school - a large red bricked building with three fields, a football court, and a small picnic
area. The area itself isn't so bad and its fun to hang out there, especially when it's sunny as
they have a holiday feel to them. When I'm hanging out with Sarah and Noah there, I can
almost imagine us abroad in Tenerife with Granny Cassandra. Sun blaring down on our
necks, soft sand in between our toes and skin red and burnt as anything. Then everything
comes crashing down as we get disturbed from bullies.

And she's still dead.

After looking at my phone and seeing the bright numbers flash across the screen, three-
fifteen, I let out a sigh. Fifteen minutes. And we're still waiting for Noah. Knowing Noah,
he's probably gotten into another argument with his teacher about art facts. Noah can't
stand something being wrong, so he has to correct everything. Don't get me wrong, it's cool
but it does drive me up the wall. I just want to go home and forget about school, not think about it for the entire weekend.

"He won't be too long Jane," Sarah says, smiling. "You know what he's like, either arguing
with the teachers about facts or helping them clean-up."

"Yeah, I know," I say with a tired sigh and smile. "But I just want to go home, it's been a long
day as it is."

Sarah's about to reply when the school door is thrown open and Noah is striding over to us
with a frown and creased eyebrows, cheeks tensed and pink. Sarah and I share frowns as we
both nod in agreement. He's upset. Again.

"Speaking of the devil," I tease, trying to make him smile. A frown curls on my lips when it
does the exact opposite.

"Hi," Noah mumbles, shrugging back.

He walks past us and over to the path on the opposite side of the road, one that leads through the back of the village and towards the mansion. It's the longest route home, ten minutes longer or so than the simple walk through the village,
but it's the quietest. Besides this way we don't get anymore awkward stares from the locals
or harassed by other kids.

Oh shit. This is not good, normally he's excited to see us after school.

Sarah and I share looks as we rush after him. He's not far down the path when I step in front
of him and bend down on one knee, grinning as I gesture to my back. And Noah grins, for
the first time in days, as he climbs onto my back. Giggles escape him as I lift him up, and the
sound makes me laugh loudly. Without hesitation, I take off into a run – making Noah gasp and cheer.