Arcanum

2.

One thing I hated about these side jobs was how tedious it could get, especially when your target was a total bore. I hung around outside the Performing Arts building, occasionally glancing through the windows to check if Rochelle was still there. She danced with such grace, almost as if she were a grey leaf floating gently in the wind, letting every note of the soul-wrenching piano music dictate her movements. They alongside with her facial expression illustrated such pain I wondered how could be possible to fake. Was it fake? I glanced closer at her for a few seconds to realize that I didn't care.

I wasn't friends with Rochelle. She was just a job. Impermanent. She belonged in the popular group and as soon as I found out why she had broken up with Bennett, he would make it up with her - and then everything would go back to normal.

I looked out across the car park. Some boys were lighting their cigarettes as they leant back against the wall: a cloud of smoke. I started to approach them.

"Hey."

They looked up at me, three of them - I recognized them from my English class.

"You want something?"

I flicked my hair over my shoulder and smirked. "You wanna give me that light?"

"Get your own, freak."

I raised an eyebrow. "Come again?"

"You heard me." He said, nudging his mates to get a laugh and a nod in response. "You and your family, you're all such freaks, doing all that creepy voodoo stuff."

I stepped towards him, putting him into a swift armlock. "Don't take that tone with me. Now drop it."

His friends watched amused as he dropped the cigarette onto the ground, his face turning towards the floor. No other response.

"Life lesson for you, listen when a girl talks and do it respectfully. Now get out of here before I report you."

His two friends turned around, running off with a glance back at me; a mix of disbelief and worry. For themselves or their friend, I wouldn't know. The guy who was still stuck in the armlock moved his head up to look at me, an expression of confusion on his face with a slight frown, almost as if he'd forgotten why he was even there.

Then Rochelle stepped out of the building and I released him, stepping away from the scene. Time to go. I brushed off my clothes and started off the streets after her, blending into the pavement.

I was good at my job, there was a reason I had a reputation. At least the teachers would think better of me; they were probably the only people in the whole village that didn't talk down to me because of my parents. Didn't stop them from looking at me funny sometimes though.

Just because my father was a magician didn't mean anything. He was a good one too - but some of his tricks were a little too weird for some people to handle.

For instance, several nights ago he made one of the audience members disappear. They haven't shown up since. Everyone instantly associated the whole scene with me, asking me questions the very next day at school and even yelling insults from across the hall - freak, weirdo, creep. I'd heard it all before... I walked on, of course. No point in waiting around to listen to irrelevant comments from those who didn't know better.

I followed Rochelle into the town centre, pulling my white scarf tight around my neck. Burrey was just as dull as its inhabitants. The most exciting thing ever to happen was a teenage shoplifter at a pick and mix stall.

It was surprising just how much a scarf could disguise. Using it to conceal my face, I easily blended in with the trickles of crowds filled with the many schoolkids that bustled around in the shops as the day drew to an end. Rochelle's faded blond hair bobbed from side to side, making her easy to spot from across the street.