Kinship (revised)

Chapter 1: Witches and Sandwiches

“Where are you going!” A shrill voice shrieked, interrupting my thoughts, as I casually strolled down the hallway.

I turned around to see one of our schools, quote, popular girls. And yes, like most chilches she was super skinny, and wealthy. But surprisingly, not blonde.

“Yes?” I questioned, taking in her soaked appearance.

“I know it was you, you stupid little witch, who made the water fountain burst!” She sneered, almost as if she’d just solved the worlds biggest mystery.

“I don’t prefer the term witch, call me Ann, and I have no idea what you talking about.” I announced with a wave of the hand, as I continued down the hallway.

There was no way I’d tell her to call her my real name. Only my Grandparents were aloud to call me Pandora, so everyone else called me by my nickname, Ann. There wasn’t really any good nickname for Pandora, I sure as hell wasn’t using Dora. Or Pan, so I just removed the ‘P’.

“Hey, Ann. Be careful today in History, we have Mrs. J.” My locker neighbor and best friend warned.

“She wouldn’t mess with the wicked witch, Karen.” I joked, wiggling my fingers at her, before returning to unlock my locker.

“Don’t be so hard on yourself. Their just being stupid, don’t let it get to you.” Karen soothed with a frown on her face.

“I know, I promise you It doesn’t. You don’t have to worry about me, just old Jakey-boy.” I grinned, as her expression went from sympathetic, to furious.

“Shuttup! He doesn’t like me that way!” She growled as she softly hit me on the arm.

“Sure,” I drawled out, rolling my eyes for effect, “you two both have the biggest crush on each other admit it!”

“Jesus, Ann!” She yelled, “Be Quiet! He could be right around the corner!”

Jake or Jakey-boy, as I sometimes called him around Karen, was my cousin. He too was a witch, or warlock, or whatever you prefer. He too had the same ‘witch’ problem as me, but instead girls thought it was attractive. Like he had the whole ‘mysterious’ factor, gag. It gave him quite the ego, which is why I don’t understand what Karen sees in him.  At least he still hung out with us though.

“I’m going to head to class now. Lets meet in the library for lunch again.” Karen dismissed as she began her way down the hallway.

After I finished grabbing my things, I headed to my second class of the day. History. Of course when I got there, I saw Mrs. J. She was fiddling with some papers as the class began to all take their seats. I sighed as she finally found the attendance sheet.

“Everyone be quiet!” She yelled, silencing everyone, “Jamie Anderson!”

“Here.” A girl said softly.

I sighed and slowly, waited for my name.

“Pandora Decker.” Mrs. J chirped.

“Here.” I said, blushing as the attention was drawn to me.

“Witch.” Someone snicked, as the class broke out in laughter.

It took Mrs. J awhile to quiet them all before she continued attendance. After that began the long horrible hour of history class. One my least favorite classes, besides Math of course. I sat watching the clock for most of the period. The rest of the day was a blur, until lunch time of course.

“Hey! Did you bring me the other piece of your sandwich!” The one and only Jake asked as I wandered into the library.

“Of course.” I said adding a thick layer of sarcasm with the words as I sat down next to him and Karen at one of the tables.

“How did class go with the devil?” Karen asked, poking around in her salad as I laughed.

“I really don’t see what’s so bad about her?” I said, as I unwrapped my lunch, handing half of my sandwich to Jake.

“Are you crazy! She’s the worst!” Karen cried as she threw her hands in the air for enthusiasm.

“So good...” Jake groaned, drawing both of our attention, to where he sat devouring the sandwich.

“Geeze, witches sure do love sandwiches...” Karen teased, as I burst out with laughter.

“The puns. Oh geeze Karen, your lack of humor is slowly diminishing.” I laughed.

“Shuttup, you human dictionary.” She mumbled as she went back to eating her lunch.

After lunch was over, it was back to class. Thankfully I only had a few more hours. It wasn’t too long before I was already driving home. In my crappy-little-blue Honda Sedan. When I arrived home, my Mother was in the kitchen.

“Shoot, shoot, shoot!” My Mom cursed as she pulled a pen out of the oven.

“Meatloaf?” I questioned, staring down the blackened crisp.

“Nope, a cake.” She sighed, resting her hands on her hips.

Slowly I walked over the the garbage. Inside of it lay the discarded remains of a cake mix box. How hard was it really to make a cake using cake mix? My Mom was definitely not the best baker. We usually resorted to takeout, but my Dad and I would still sometimes try her creations.

“Did you follow the directions?” I asked her, raising my eyebrows.

“Yes, It said to cook it at three-fifty for twenty minutes, but you were going to be home soon. So I set it too seven-hundred for ten minutes, so it would be done by the time you arrived home.” She announced, frowning at the burnt crisp.

“Mom, that’s not how baking works. Take out?” I asked.

“I already ordered, I was just trying to make dessert.” She frowned, throwing the cake away.

“Its fine Mom. Baking’s hard.” I said sympathetically as I wandered too my room.

“Ann!” My Mom called after me.

“What?” I groaned as I wandered back into the kitchen.

“Some friends of ours are moving into town. They have a son you're age.” She announced in an excited tone.

“So?” I questioned, raising an eyebrow.

“He’s also a Enchanter.” She added.

Enchanter is the term our kind prefered instead of witch. If you asked me, it sounded too old.

“A normal one?” I questioned sarcastically.

“Ann!” She scolded.

“Well?” I asked with impatience.

“Yes, he is only able to control one element. I need you to be nice to him and show him around. Introduce him to Jake, Karen, and all your other little friends. He’s not used to acting human, so you and Jake need to watch him. He’s only lived in strictly Enchanter areas.” She explained.

“I’ll try, when’s he coming?” I asked.

“Tomorrow.” She said shortly.

“Way to tell me last minute.” I sighed as I continued back to my room.

My room was fairly small, but I liked it that way. I walked up to the candle I had sitting on my nightstand. With a little concentration, and the flick of a finger, the candle lit. Slowly filling the room with my favorite scent. I wasn’t supposed to use magic. Since my parents wanted me to blend in with humans. But I still used it occasionally.

Grabbing my laptop, I sat down on my bed, propping it up with my lap. I spent the rest of the night searching the internet until I was called down for dinner. After dinner I was too tired to stay up any longer, and found myself drifting to sleep. I could only wonder what tomorrow could bring. Hopefully the new kid was nice.