Forgotten Magic: An Alchemyst Fanfiction

Chapter 18- Day One in Paradise?

I woke up to the sound of flutes playing. What? 

What kind of school used flutes to wake people up with?

Not a school I looked forward to being at.

But what did I know about schools anyways? Maybe flutes were a common theme.

I opened my giant suitcase and pulled out the first thing I could find.

It was an ironically plain gold dress.

By now I had figured out how to put on the corset by myself. Even after mastering different types of martial arts, several languages and magic, I still considered this a great achievement.

The next thing was not easy either; I had to leave the safety of my room. Heading out into the unknown to meet who-knows-what?

I took a deep breath and took a step into the empty hall and was immediately swept up into a swarm of girls rushing somewhere.

I hoped I would have some sort of initiation before I joined this group of girls who seemed to have barely gotten out of bed. There were many girls frantically trying to brush their hair while running and some even had curlers still in their hair.

Just when I thought I was going to lose my balance, the swarm stopped.

We were in the lobby where I’d first met Ms. Jean.

Ms. Jean, no longer wearing a faded purple nightgown, walked into the room.

“Welcome, welcome, to our first week of our 74th annual dance!”

All around me the girls clapped and cheered, I saw several curlers fall out of people’s hair.

I guess an initiation had been too much to hope for.

“That will be all,” Ms. Jean finished and the room was flooded with whispers.

“Who do you think is going to choose you this year? I hope it’s James,” I heard whispers throughout the hall.

“Maybe Henry,” someone interjected.

“No way,” another voice argued back, “He’s way too good for anyone at this school!”

What the heck was going on?

There was a small girl in the corner of the room who was standing quietly, attempting to detangle her last curler.

“What’s going on?” I politely asked.

She gave me a look of confusion, “Oh right, you’re new here. We’re just excited because our annual dance is coming up!”

"A dance?" I asked, surprised.

That seemed almost...normal.

Maybe this was a place that I could learn to belong.

" Yes, every girl hopes to be chosen by one of the Flawless Five: Jordan, Harry, Alex, James or Henry. Only the first two ever really dance with any of us. Nobody here is good enough for Alex or James. Girls here can only dream of Henry."

I thought of Dylan.

I shook my head, Dylan used to be my dream, but dreams only set you up for failure.

One by one you have to let them all go.

"Are you ok?" the girl had looked up from her nails.

I nodded, "Just a little home-sick, I guess."

" The name's Gabriella, Bree for short, I'd be happy to show you around, if you'd like!"

"Thanks, I'd like that."
***
Classes began shortly after a delicious breakfast.

Actually, I guess you could say breakfast was the first class.

Etiquette was one of the things I had seemed to miss out on, in the short time span of my education.

By the time breakfast had come to a conclusion, all the teachers had decided that I was hopeless. But of course John was paying for me to be here so at least they would try to smother their disappointment.

So naturally, when we got to languages the teacher got me started on the english alphabet, assuming, that I was unable to read or write.

I stared at the letters trying to hide my disappointment.

I peeked at what the other girls were doing.

Basic french verbs.

They wouldn't know what 'marcher' meant if it walked right over them, until their perfect hair was a disaster.

The teacher noticed me staring grumpily at the other students and came over to ask me if I needed help.

"This work is for children!" I was extremely irritated. Of course I didn't need help.

The class had gone silent.

"Very well Miss Aurelia, please select a novel from the right shelf and read the first page to the class."

This task was meant as a punishment, to embarrass me.

And it would have, if I couldn't already read English.

Several girls snickered behind their hand, their atrocious French work momentarily forgotten.

"Yes Miss White."

I selected a small book entitled 'Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet' and flipped to a random page.

"Romeo, oh Romeo, where art thou Romeo-"

The teacher cut me off, "Choose a book from the middle shelf."

Her 'punishment' had backfired.

This book I chose was a song book.

I knew the song so I sang the French lyrics with a perfect accent.

The class stared at me in awe.

As did the teacher.

"Miss Aurelia, how many languages are you literate in?"

"More than seven."

There was a tense silence before the teacher could bring her embarrassment under control.

"Please go fetch some water."

There were gasps from around the room but I didn't understand the big deal, I was being excused from class and that's all that I really cared about right now.

***

Hey guys this is so exciting I havn't updated in four days and for this story that's alot. It was going to be a six page (on Word Docs) so I'm splitting it into two chapters! Sometimes I wonder if people are actually reading this as fast as I'm writing it. Probably not. Anyways, I'm excited for the next chapter and you should be too! Please

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