Competition, noun.
1. the act of competing; rivalry for supremacy, a prize, etc.
2. a contest for some prize, honor, or advantage.***
As the week passed, I didn't have any more dolls delivered to my locker, which was a relief. It meant Grandma's spell on the necklace worked. It meant that, for now, I was perfectly safe. Well, from magic killing pyromaniacs. I wasn't safe from Grandma's forced cooking lessons - which I actually quite enjoyed. I wasn't safe from the growing excitement and anxiety of the swim team in the lead up to our next meet. And I wasn't safe from Joyce's relentless effort to get to me.
Ken and I were spending more time together. In school, it was mostly a quick exchange of words as we came across each other in the hall on the way to class. But, at lunch, we were constantly talking. Most of his friends were nice and made sure I felt included in their group. It was a little mismatched bunch that somehow just worked.
Callum was obsessed with the universe and space and all that. And I'm not talking about Star Wars. Every day he had a new and interesting fact to share with the table; like how there was evidence of a ninth planet in our solar system - of course, Pluto and the other two dwarf planets weren't counted amongst those. Everyone knows Pluto, but those other two were also news to me. Noah got along great with Callum. It probably had to do with Noah's celestial magic - magic linked to celestial bodies and events, from the moon to the sun with a pit stop at all the other planets and the stars in between. No one thought it was weird that Noah knew so much about it; if Callum knew all these weird facts, why not the new guy?
Sam was a nature spirit, who took it all a little far. He was all about the environment, organic food and, bonus, he was a vegetarian. Whenever any of us had any meat for lunch, he would start ranting about how it was cruel and not efficient - there was less food needed if people just eat the veggies directly rather than feeding the veggies to the cow and then eating the cow. Noah, who already fit in perfectly with the group, had had the perfect answer to that. He took a bite from his chicken and tomato sandwich, leaning on his hand and looked at Sam, pretending to listen closely. Then he said, "Cool story bro, tell is again." Which set Sam off again because he didn't get the sarcasm behind it all. It wasn't until he had explained it all three times in a row that he finally caught on.
Zoey was a little bit of a know-it-all. She didn't rub it in anyone's face, which I appreciated a lot. No one likes a know-it-all. But, regardless of the topic of conversation, she always had something to say. Maybe she wasn't really a know-it-all; Ken said he thought of her as versatile, which, I suppose, was one way of looking at it. But she was nice and had a good sense of humor. She had a whole arsenal of bad dad jokes, knock-knock jokes - which Callum would ruin by just saying 'come in' - and an even bigger arsenal of dirty jokes. Some of which had us nearly choke on our 'inhuman' sandwiches.
Iris was quiet most of the time. That week, she had had her nose buried in three different teen fiction novels - she wasn't a quick reader according to herself, but she read a lot, hence how she could finish books in a day and a half; half the time she was reading in class. Only on Thursday did she insert herself into the conversation, when I learned that she could also be one of the loudest.
Here's what happened. It started when Joyce said, "How about we all go to the movies tomorrow night?" I.e. Friday night. Nothing wrong with that offer at first glance, right? Wrong!
"Isla and I have a meet on Saturday morning; we need to actually get some sleep before we get up at five."
That caught my attention. I mean, obviously I was aware of the meet, how couldn't I be? Coach Evers had turned into a real slave-driver. What I didn't know was that it would involve getting up at five. "What?! Five? Isn't that a little early?" Ken only shrugged. "You have got to be kidding me! All week I get up before seven, Saturday and Sunday are my sleep-in days."
YOU ARE READING
Witch (Supernatural #2)
FantasyAfter their mother is murdered, Isla and Noah move in with their grandmother in St. Faith. They are hoping for a new start halfway through their senior year. Transfering swim teams, making new friends, falling in love... staying far away from any tr...