Magix

Chapter 1: Jaw-dropping Fantastic!

"You are late, Summers!" goaded my horrid chemistry teacher the moment I entered the classroom. Ms. Hammonds was the type of teacher who was fond of making her students uncomfortable, and I, by no means, was an exception. In fact, she rather enjoyed watching me make a fool of myself.

"Sorry Miss, won't happen again," I mumbled, too embarrassed to look around the classroom filled with mocking grins and laughing stares. Quietly dragging myself across the room, I sat noiselessly onto my seat making sure to not catch anyone's gaze.

David, my best friend of all time, leaned back in his seat in front of me to shorten the distance between us. "Y'know, you are no more than three minutes late, Locks." he whispered quietly.

"I know, she really must be a witch."

David's shoulders bounced in silent laughter, and I couldn't keep myself from letting out a muffled bark of a laugh.

"What was that, Locksetta?" Ms. Hammonds challenged, her thick red-rimmed glasses making her eyes look about ready to bulge out of their sockets.

"Nothing Miss!" I quickly squeaked, earning another round of snickers and guffaws from the class.

Ms. Hammonds glared at me for a moment too long, declared that I had extra homework to deal with later, and then continued on lecturing about "first ionization energies". David, on the other hand, continued his silent shoulder-rattling laughter.

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"Oh! Did I mention that it wasn't even on one of the shelves? It literally just sat there behind the strange grandfather clock in the library!"

"Hmm? Yeah. Cool." I grumbled over David's excitement, "what even are you going on about?"

David stopped pacing around the space in front of me and paused, "you weren't even listening to me, were you?" he drawled, a lazy tone lacing into his voice.

"Sorry," I shrugged, "I'm still kind of embarrassed about earlier."

"Ah, don't worry about it Locks," David clicked his tongue and then his eyes twinkled, "I think it might be a prank, actually."

"Ms. Hammonds pranking me? Last I heard, pranks don't make you feel all anxious."

"No, not that, Locks, the book." David shook his head in distaste, "you really weren't listening. Anyways, I found a book in the library behind the grandfather clock."

"What does that have anything to do with anything?"

"It has your name engraved on it at the back."

That gave me a pause and I rose my brow at David. A book? With my name engraved on it?

"Then it's definitely a prank. Where's it even at right now?" I asked, a new sense of excitement taking on the edge of my voice.

"You should seriously listen to the things I have to say more often."

"You talk a lot."

"You talk a lot."

"Real mature, Wood." I retorted with a snort.

"It's at my house. Forgot to put it back in my bag after trying to unlock it. The thing's drill-proof!" David flung his arms into the air in a show of surrender, his blond brows raised expectantly.

"I bet you took it out of your bag and kept it at yours purposely as an excuse to call me over."

"Yeah, that too." he grinned sheepishly at me, "so will you be coming over by O'five?"

I rolled my eyes and gave him a cheeky grin, "of course."

"Oh, and one more thing," he came back after stalking away a few steps, "this might sound a tad bit stupid, but you remember that funky little heart shaped key necklace your-"

"Yes, and you want me to bring it because you think it might open the lock?"

Some color tinged into his pale cheeks and he ducked his head away from me, "yeah, see ya, Locks." he quickly said as his way of goodbye and strode away from me.

I didn't even try to hold back the smile that stretched my lips then made my way to my next class, Physics.

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"Hallelujah!" my mother's fist pumped into the air as she pranced around the room in excitement. Her brown curls of hair flopping about aimlessly in the messiest fashion possible. "This means I get to choose your outfit!" she squealed, dancing around some more.

"No mom! You cheated!" I huffed, "you can only move the horse in an L!"

"I did move it in an L!" She retorted rather sassily.

"Yeah, an L of five tiles! It's supposed to move only four tiles!" I pouted scornfully.

Playfully poking my bottom lip, she blinked at me for a moment too long, "give your mother a chance, do you have any idea how hard motherhood is? Waking you up for school, cooking food for the household, doing the laundry, scrubbing the dishes, cleaning the-"

"Okay! Okay. Chill mom, fine!" I laughed, "you can dress me up with your grandma fashion style for today."

"Wait, wait. Let me record that on my phone so I get to quote you!" She said gleefully, her hair seemingly bobbing to a song only it itself can hear.

I groaned ruefully, "I knew I shouldn't have played chess with you. Anyways, go ahead, find the grandmaiest outfit you can make from my closet."

"Oh trust me, darling, you'll look jaw-dropping fantastic!"

This is my mom.

I shook my head one more time as mom left the room. Nestling into my favorite red couch and taking in its worn out but somewhat homely scent, I looked about the place I had been living in for the past seventeen years. The living room looked dreary with what little light peeked through the blinds, so I got up and adjusted the shutters.

Glancing at the clock, I nearly did a doubletake. "Mom! You better hurry, I'm supposed to be at David's by five!"

"You don't need to scream at the top of your lungs, Locksetta, I've completed your outfit," she tsked jokingly after nearly giving me a heart attack from her sudden appearance. "Now go give Daves a stroke with the outfit I picked for you"

"I probably will," I mumbled.

"What was that?" She raised a dark brow.

"Nothing mom!" I grinned before walking past her and into my room.

She had laid down a plain black cotton shirt, a pair of army print baggy pants, and a jean jacket on my bed. My favorite pair of worn-out brown leather boots sat by the bed's footing.

Not bad.

Once worn, I finished the outfit off with some silver feather earrings and some lipgloss and mascara.

Just before making my way out of the room and nearly forgetting the necklace, I threw my hair into a loose sideway braid over my shoulder.

"Boo!"

Mom let out a small shriek and almost started scolding me but her eyes caught the necklace I wore around my neck. She looked as though she had something to say but thought better of it, instead, she complimented the outfit and gave me a thumbs up.

"You look great, honey, I wonder who gave you such impeccable taste in outfit-choosing," she laughed, "Oh right! Me!"

I laughed along with her for a moment before giving her a peck on the cheek and making my way towards the door. "I'll be back by eight, leave some roast for me."