I Solemnly Swear ☆ CAPTAIN SWAN

Chapter 2 ☆ Swan

Emma's POV

Everything happened so quickly that none of us had time to process what just happened; I stared at Will, who was sagged against the wall like a bag of potatoes, while my brain tried to come up with an excuse why he was suddenly twenty yards away from me.

Conclusion after three seconds: there was no excuse. There was no way this just happened. But it did.

"What did you do to him?" one of Will's friends finally asked, jumping down from the stairs. "What was that light?"

"I don't... I..." I looked down at my hands, which were shaking. There was no anger left, no sadness, just... fear.

Fear that I did this.

"She's just a little freak," another boy said as the rest of his friends hurried over to Will, and he pushed me in my back. I stumbled forward again, but my foot got caught in the loop of my backpack and I lost my balance.

My knees hit the ground, but I wasn't fast enough; my face slammed into the ground as well, leaving me fuzzy for a moment. When I got up again, tears were burning in my eyes and all the boys had gone to see if Will was okay.

I scrambled to my feet again, picking up my bag in the process. "Is he okay?" I asked as I took a few steps towards the group of boys, but the boy that had spoken first jerked his head back and shot me a look filled with hatred.

"You stay right there, you little freak."

I stopped in my tracks, feeling smaller than ever. I forced myself to keep my chin up. "I just—"

"You did this," he growled, getting up again. "You're a weirdo, a freak, a—"

"That's enough, Hunter."

I wheeled around on my heels and felt a jolt of relief when I saw Miss Ingrid standing in the doorway of the dining hall. But that relief was immediately reduced to nothing when I saw the ninety-seven pairs of eyes behind her that were focused on me; the entire school saw what happened, and they all had the same look on their faces.

They were terrified.

And I was the reason for that.

I clutched my bag a little tighter and looked back up at Miss Ingrid, the only person —including myself— who didn't seem to think that I would start shooting fire from my eyes any minute. "Miss, I didn't mean to—"

"Emma, you come and follow me to the hospital wing," she interrupted me. Her stern blue eyes were fixed on my face when she smiled at me, a smile that seemed genuine. "Will, you come with me as well," she continued a little louder.

Hunter, Will's friend, looked merely offended by her order. "Miss, he—"

"No negotiating," Miss Ingrid snapped, a lot colder than a minute ago. "The both of you, follow me. Right now."

* * *

Following Miss Ingrid to the hospital wing was the most terrifying walk I'd ever done, even more terrifying than my first day here, since the entire school was watching in a dreadful silence. My gaze crossed Lily's for a split second, and because I was expecting her to have the same look in her eyes as the rest of the kids, it took me by surprise that she just frowned at me.

Like she was trying to figure out what just happened. Not like she was thinking I belonged in a mental institution.

In that moment, it was probably the nicest thing anyone had ever done for me.