Nick and Charlie

Chapter 13

"Hannah, I think you're overreacting," I say to my best friend as we sit in the library, studying for English.

"I'm not joking, Charlie. She studies witchcraft! I swear!" Hannah says, crossing a hand over her heart.

"Hannah, how would she have time to be a witch AND teach year 11 maths?" I say, trying not to giggle.

"She threatened to boil us in her cauldron, no joke. Ask Grace if you don't believe me," Hannah says, looking back down at her English book.

"Well, at least she didn't turn you into a toad," I say, giving in to the giggles. Hannah glares at me.

"I'm being serious, Char; my maths teacher is a witch!" Hannah says, her hands flying up in the air. Drama queen.

A Bing goes off on my phone, and I take it out of my pocket and look at it.

Emergency with Katie. Need you here ASAP-Nick

I freeze, then start to frantically pack up my books.

"Hannah, we have to go now," I say, and she looks at me worried, before she closes her textbook.

"What's going on?"

"Something's up with Katie," I say, and she takes my phone from the table and looks at the text.

"Ok, lets go," she says, and we pick up our books and leave the library.

...

My house is a 10-minute walk from school, but at the pace Hannah and I are going, it takes about 5.

I burst into Nick's house, and Hannah and I walk down the long corridor into his kitchen.

"Nick?" I yell, putting my stuff on the kitchen counter.

Nicolas pounds down the stairs, two at a time, looking worried.

"Katie came home 15 minutes ago, crying her eyes out. She locked herself in her room and won't tell me what the problem is," he says, and I walk over to the stairs, and as I'm going up I hear Hannah ask if Nick wants some tea. Bless her soul.

"Katie? Katie, it's Charlie," I say, stopping outside her room. If she weren't crying, I wouldn't know if there was anything wrong.

She keeps crying, and I turn the knob on her door. Locked.

"Katie, please let me in. What happened?" I ask, and she just keeps sobbing.

"Katie, the problem won't go anywhere if you don't try to resolve it. Please let me in," I say, and I hear her try to calm down, then the door open and I see Katie, hair a mess, eyes red from crying and filling up with more tears. She's shaking.

"Oh Charlie," she says, rushing forward and hugging me, crying more.

"There, there, little one," I say, holding her while walking over to her bed and sitting down on it.

"Now, now, Hannah is going to bring you up something warm to drink, and you're going to tell me what happened and I'm going to help you get rid of it," I say, and she nods. I grab a box of tissues from her bedside table and wipe her eyes. It breaks my heart knowing she is so distressed.

I hear people come upstairs, and soon Nick and Hannah are standing at the doorway. Hannah hands Katie a mug of hot chocolate, and Nick walks in and sits on the wheelie chair by Katie's desk. Hannah sits on a beanbag that was in the corner.

"Katie, do you want to tell us what happened, or should we tell you about our day?" Hannah asks, bringing out the psychologist voice. If you couldn't tell, that's what Hannah wanted to be.