Mystified

Chapter 2

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Seize the moment of excited curiousity on any subject to solve your doubts; for if you let it pass, the desire may never return, and you may remain in ignorance- William Wirt

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Chapter 2

"I'm still not entirely sure," I say looking outside the car at the pouring rain that was currently pummelling the floor. 

Mum looks over at me and smiles "You'll be fine. If they hate you, use your witch powers on them," she said sarcastically. 

I look over at her and smile "Yep... witch powers." 

I take a deep breath and open the door, I wince looking at the vast downpour of rain "Wish me luck." I pull up the hood of my coat and get out of the car, slamming the door. I dash towards the reception, trying- and failing- to stay dry. 

As soon as I push the main doors open the warm air from the school surrounds me and I take a deep breath. I smile to myself and shoulder my school bag, it was unusually light, but then again I'm sure by the end of the day I will be dragging it behind me. 

I walk slowly towards the blonde haired receptionist who is busy sat chatting on the phone, she looks up quickly, registering my existence then goes back to chatting. A minute or two later she puts down the phone and looks at me "Hey, I'm Miss Pitt," she pauses "Just call me Emma, how can I help?"  

The more I look at Emma the more I notice how fake and bored she looks. She had bright pink extensions on her nails. Her blonde hair was more of a whitey yellow than blonde and she drummed her fingers against the desk waiting for an answer. 

She raises her manicured eyebrows at me, I pause for a moment "I'm starting here, I'm... uh new." 

Emma sighs in relief "Finally," she mutters underneath her breath. She reaches round and grabs some pieces of paper and hands them to me. "Here's your timetable, map of the school , hall pass and whatever. Have fun." 

"Thanks," I mutter turning away from her, I open the map and find where I am; I look up all of my lessons and commit it to memory. 

Before we came mum made me choose four subjects to take; I chose- History, English, French and Chemistry; sport at this high school was also unfortunately mandatory. Luckily for me witches are quite graceful apparently, although I had yet to see that. 

There's still twenty minutes until my first lesson which is French I walk to where my lesson will be and look at my surroundings. Back in England we don't have lockers surrounding the halls, I notice that a steady stream of people now come through the doors and begin to talk with one another. A few glance over at me, noticing that I don't belong here. I shuffle and wish that I could turn invisible and be away from everyone's whispers and stares. 

I stand in the hall on my own and wait for the lesson to begin. People begin to walk past me and go inside, all glancing at me. When most people have gone in I enter and walk to the teacher sat at the front. 

The teacher is small, she's probably in her fifties with greying hair and deep brown eyes. She looks up at me as I walk over to her, she smiles briefly and puts down her pen. 

I feel the eyes of the class on my face and my gaze flickers over to the class who hush as I walk in.  

I bite my lip and decide to start things well with the teacher "Bonjour, je m'appelle Pippa," I smile slightly as a sigh of relief escapes the teachers mouth.