The School for Wisps

7.

"AHEM", said Mr. Pitone, "I hadn't realized you had learned Mogrification yet. Normally, Luisa Kornado doesn't start teaching until 3rd quarter. I guess she's just starting early this year." He smiled as the tension eased in the class. Slowly, everyone unfroze and went back to fruitlessly trying to find their own powers. Soon, no one was paying attention to Kirana anymore. 

She picked up Lucas-the-Lizard and placed him on the desk. She looked up to see if anyone was still watching, then snapped her fingers. Suddenly, a human guy was sitting on the table again. But it wasn't Lucas.

Kirana almost screamed, but clamped her lips shut at the last moment. She glared at the person on the desk. Alec grinned back at her, savoring the moment. He hopped off the desk and dusted himself off. As he headed for the door, he whispered in Kirana's ear, "He's in the void. Call him back and he'll be fine."

Call him back? That shouldn't take too much time! Wrong. Kirana spent the rest of the period trying to call Lucas back from the void. When the bell finally rang, Lucas had still not appeared. Students started to gather their things. Kirana stayed in place, mentally calling Lucas's name in her mind. 

When the next period's students started to stream in, Kirana, desperate gave one last giant push with her mind, and Lucas appeared. However, he was missing his shoes. And his socks. With one last glare, Kirana swept out and left Lucas behind, confused and shoeless.

One day in December, Alec threw an impromptu assembly in the cafeteria.

"All right, knobheads!" ,started Alec. Kirana rolled her eyes. Typical Alec. He had gotten meaner and colder toward her after she had called Lucas back from the void. She suspected that he had wanted her to fail and taste a bit of defeat. Someone jolted her shoulder, and she violently jerked back into reality.

"—the EA GAMES, and if you have any other questions, raise your hand and pray that I haven't explained the question to you yet." said Alec. Someone shouted out from the other side of the room, "What does EA stand for?" Alec turned toward the speaker and mimed raising his hand. The student raised his hand. In that quick moment, Kirana saw it was Lucas, who repeated his question.

"You see, it used to be Midway of Year Games. But they decided to shorten it to EA." Alec explained. There were murmurs of confusion in the crowd. Lucas raised his hand and asked, "Huh?"

Alec sighed.

"You know, you lot are hopeless. I don't know why your teachers haven't expelled you yet. It was the Midway of Year Games. And the two letters in the midway of the word YEAR are...?"

"Ohhhhh," said the crowd as one. Alec slapped his forehead in a gesture of defeat, and sent them to class.

"So, Kirana, do you need any help?" Kirana turned with a sigh. It was January, and near the time when the EA GAMES would take place. The voice was Caleb. Figures. He seemed to delight in annoying her, and stuck by her side between periods, at lunch, and in fifth period. At first, he had been a little shy of her, but now he was all but asking her on a date. She frequently found notes in her backpack or jeans pocket in his handwriting, asking her if her day was well, if she needed anything, or his phone number. Sometimes, it was all three. And Kirana never knew how the notes got there. She looked at Caleb, said "no," and turned away. Caleb stuck to her side. She ignored him and looked up.

Her eyes met the calm blue eyes of Lucas, and her heart thudded faster. He always seemed to be steady, or in control of the situation. Gone was the little boy look in his eyes. When he ate lunch with her and Caleb, she frequently looked up, to see his eyes on her. He ate slowly and quietly, unlike Caleb, who was a glutton and talked with his mouth full. She noticed every single little thing about him. Sometimes, she wondered if he knew at all. Kirana was jerked from her daydream of Lucas when Caleb started talking again.

"So, Kirana, to make sure, you don't need help." Kirana turned and glared at him. He continued to talk. "So, Kirana, I was wondering, would you want to go on a-you know, with me." Kirana stared at him.

The bell rang, and Caleb, flustered, escaped to first period. Kirana, aghast, watched him go. A voice whispered in her brain, NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO DEFINITELY NOT!

"I think he likes you." Alec sidled up and smirked at her. She swatted at him, before replying,

"No, he doesn't. It was a joke, that's all. It was a joke." She hurried away. Alec stayed behind, smirking. Two green eyes stared out of the darkness after Kirana had gone. Sandra completely materialized, tapped Alec on the shoulder, giggled, and disappeared again. Alec whirled, his eyes slitted like a cat's. No one was there, but he knew better.

"Darn it, Sandra!" Alec yelled. "WHY CAN'T YOU LEAVE ME ALONE?" In an instant, Sandra materialized, pecked him on the cheek, and vanished again. Alec growled, made a clipboard appear out of thin air, and threw it at a wall. It never reached the wall. Instead, the clipboard hit someone invisible. That person squealed and ran away. Alec grinned. There were cons to being invisible.

Kirana was stomping to second period when Caleb appeared out of nowhere and grabbed her by the arm.

"So, Kirana, did you hear?" Kirana spun and gave him a poisonous look. He retreated, but pressed on.

"The EA GAMES entrance forms are out! I'm joining. You should join too! You're so good! Obviously, you're gonna win. Just join! Please! The entrance forms are in the box over there! Please, please, please, Kirana!" whined Caleb. Kirana, indifferent, refused. But she was looking at Lucas, who was filling out an entrance form at the other end of the hall. 

Caleb's jaw dropped. Why hadn't he seen it before? Kirana liked Lucas, not him! All the little glances probably meant he liked her too! His mind started working. If he got Lucas out of the way... maybe Kirana could learn to like him instead! And finally he would get that date! The competition was coming up. Lucas was entering. He himself had entered already. What a perfect chance!

Caleb came to and turned to tap Kirana on the arm, but she was gone already. She was filling out an entrance form for the competition at the other end of the hall. She started talking to Lucas, and Caleb angrily stomped away, just as the bell rang.

After that day, Caleb avoided Lucas as best as he could. Kirana couldn't have been happier and stuck to Lucas like glue. Their friendship lasted and the bond between them grew stronger. Sometimes, Kirana even thought Lucas liked her back. In all her classes, she had the leading grade. However, she dismissed her devastating power to luck and went back to finding her special power, which she still had no luck with. She didn't notice that her other friends had grown more distant as she grew stronger and left them behind in her shadow.