Last Christmas (Book 1 in the Christmas Series)

Chapter Twenty-Three

November appeared to be going faster than I ever thought was possible. Before I knew it, we were heading straight for December at full speed ahead, as though someone had attached a turbo booster to the calendar. I didn't like how fast things were moving, but there was nothing I could do to try and stop it, no matter how much I wanted to. December getting closer meant less time to make my mind up and I was no closer to finding an answer then I was when I first started. It felt as though I was constantly moving through a revolving door with no way off.

I thought it was going to be easy, but it was turning into a trial of patience. This was my life, my chance for a fresh start, yet I didn't know if I wanted it. I didn't know what I wanted to do, and it was beginning to mess with my head a little. Despite all that, despite the roller coaster of thoughts going through my head, I pushed on. Returning to school meant I had something else to focus on besides having to make a life-changing decision. That something happened to Mrs Reynolds and the fact that her mean scale had exceeded its capacity, it was more than enough to distract me.

When I returned to school four days after my fainting incident, it was clear that Mrs Reynolds didn't think I was going to be returning anytime soon. My guess is she thought I had been kicked out rather than fainted on the floor in the Drama room, though the look of devastation on her face when I walked in was more than enough to cheer me up. Niska had told me that since I failed to turn up to two lessons in a row, that Mrs Reynolds had transformed from the mean troll we all knew her to be, into some weird version of Jason. That all changed the moment I had entered the room.

"Ah, Miss Claus, how nice of you to grace us with your presence. You missed a test whilst you were away, so you shall have to retake it in today's lesson. Don't make yourself comfortable," Mrs Reynolds said, watching me like a hawk as I took to my normal seat near the back of the room.

"She's lying, we didn't do any sort of test whilst you were gone. We barely did anything, so all the work became homework in the aftermath," Niska muttered, pulling out the stack of work we were given for homework on Friday. I had put all the effort into doing the homework only to discover I needn't have bothered to do the homework in the long run.

"I thought as much," I replied, keeping my voice low as Mrs Reynolds raked her steely eyes across the crowd whilst taking the register. She was one of the few teachers I had met who knew everyone just be a glance, even those she had never taught before, like Joel. It was weird.

"Right, there is work on the board for you to be getting on with whilst I sort out Miss Claus. Miss Claus, with me, if you please," Mrs Reynolds said, glaring at me from above her laptop.

"Save me," I whispered to Niska as I snatched my bag up and followed Mrs Reynolds from the room, reluctantly I might add.

Mrs Reynolds lead me across the hallway and to a separate room off to the side, a room that had no windows, and little to no wall displays. It was like a prison cell, only there was no toilet or bed. Just a singular desk and chair amongst the grey brick wall. I knew she thought I was a witch, but locking me in a cell just felt like a step too far. Then again, we had passed several other teachers on our way to the cell, so they knew I happened to be in there. If she was going to keep my prisoner, she wasn't exactly being subtle about it. Without a word to me, Mrs Reynolds gestured to the seat at the desk and slammed a small, but scary looking test onto it. With a furrowed eyebrow, I took my seat, glancing down at the Maths was glaring back at me from the test.

"You have the entire hour to complete the test. The marks will be going on your report that we will send out at Christmas. Keep that in mind whilst you answer the questions."

Mrs Reynolds left the conversation at that and, instead, left me alone in the cell with nothing but a Maths test to keep myself occupied. Sighing, I fished around my bag for a pencil and glanced at the first question on the paper, but the moment I did, I wanted to be anywhere but with the test. I knew that this was the perfect time to manipulate my way out of the situation, to use Magic to solve all my problems and find my way around failing this test on an epic scale. But I couldn't. I made a promise to Granny that I would no longer use my Magic to solve problems that I could work on myself, and the Maths test was one of those things. I had been working to improve my Maths skills over the passing weeks and this was the first time in a long time I had to prove a point to myself and to everyone around me that I could do it.