The One He's Not

Unwanted Plans & Unwanted Powers

Unwanted Plans & Unwanted Powers

KAT

I stifled another yawn as Mrs. Murphy, my grade seven teacher, continued to speak. She had just written the date, October 9th, 2543, on the board and her voice didn't waver as she continued to go on and on about the importance of the King and Queen and how we wouldn't be able to last a day without them.

I place my head on my desk with a hollow thump. Mrs. Murphy gave us this speech everyday and I think if I heard it one more time, my ears were going to bleed out.

I probably could go up to the front of the class and recite the exact speech from memory without skipping a beat. Our city, Payne's Landing, is one of the most treasured cities in the world. As you all know, it is ruled by a powerful and loyal King and Queen. In fact, our current King, King Elliot, is the grandson of the very man who founded Payne's Landing and without him our kind would be blended with the lower ranks, as known as the humans...

And the speech went on and on from there. I usually tuned Mrs. Murphy out by this point because what she blabs on about isn't anything new to me. I mean, I practically grew up learning the Payne's Landing's history.

My father, Simon Andrews, is the hand of the King. What that means is that my father does all of the King's dirty work, which is why my feelings toward King Elliot aren't exactly pleasant. In my opinion, he is lazy and even though he could easily do half of the duties himself, he still orders my father to do them. My father might as well run the kingdom with the amount of work he's doing.

Overall, I just have a love/hate relationship with the palace. I live on the royal grounds because of my father's job and my mother also doesn't have to work because he gets paid so well. We do receive a lot of benefits, like free transportation and healthcare and what not, so I should be grateful to the kingdom and their generosity. It's just that I would prefer not to deal with all the issues that go down in the palace.

"Psssst, Kat," I hear someone whisper my name to my left, making me lift my head from my desk.

It's Karina and the look on her face almost makes me giggle. She's my best friend and it has been that way ever since we were in kindergarten. Her high ponytail was swinging back and forth as she made frantic hand gestures to get my attention. Thankfully, we were sitting in the back of the class, so Mrs. Murphy didn't notice the commotion.

"What?" I whispered, while stifling a giggle that had found a way to escape my lips. Without answering, Karina smiled at me and did the unthinkable.

A folded note that was on her desk started to levitate in the air and make its way towards me. I rolled my eyes at her. Karina loved her powers and she would use them any chance she got. The note made its way closer to the floor without completely falling and when it got to me, it gracefully lifted itself into my hands. It was times like these where our powers were actually useful.

Karina mouths for me to read the note and just as I start to open the parchment of paper, a firm hand slaps on my desk, creating a loud echo throughout the classroom.

"Ah, Miss Andrews, may I ask what's on that piece of paper?" Mrs Murphy asked, while looking down at me with a look of annoyance.

"Uh, it's nothing Mrs. Murphy. I just found it in my bag," I managed to say. It was a pretty good excuse, but by the look on her face, she didn't seem to buy it.

Mrs. Murphy crosses her arms. "Well, if what you're saying is true and you and Karina were actually paying attention to the lecture, you could obviously tell me when and how the people in Payne's Landing got their supernatural abilities."