One Year Before High School

Chapter 18

Stephany was fuming.

Granted, it wasn't exactly rare for someone like her to be angry; after all she had the temper of a well-shook bottle of Pepsi. But for the sake of her upstanding reputation (unbelievable that no one has  caught onto her yet), she was usually very good at not letting it show. It was only to those close to her (Rylan for example) that could pick out what she was really thinking.

Right now, however, did not require much precognition.

"It's not fair!" she yelled. Stephany fell back onto the pillow she was holding, sniffling pitifully occasionally.

She finally got up, sniffled, then took a tissue and dabbed at her tears. "It's not fair" she repeated to herself. She sat there for a while. Her teary eyes looked down at her phone.

Carla was never really an obstacle in her path, in her opinion. She was intelligent, but not on Stephany's level to pose any real threat. She was very good at what she did, but didn't care for others. Carla was a bit of a lone wolf, and you could only get so far.

Then, out of nowhere, news got out that she was an Ivory, incredibly rare. (A part of her mind admonished her saying that it was technically half Ivory, but she stubbornly refused to acknowledge it. An ivory was an ivory).

"Carla, can I talk to you?"

Carla looked at Stephany, and took a step back. It was after school, and everyone was hurrying home. She herself was also looking forward to getting back to the comfort of her own home.

"Uh..." she said, clearly perplexed at her sudden friendliness. It wasn't exactly a secret that Stephany had it out for the group, and to see her like this kind of scared her, if she was being honest.

They met at the back of the field (Enchantments High had massive fields, the kind that could take a good two hours to walk around). Stephany frowned at Carla, who was shifting discretely from one foot to another. "So, Carla. You think you're so much better than me" she started.

"What?! When have I ever said..."

"You think that, just because you're an Ivory, you're suddenly top-tier stuff huh?" she countiued. Carla stayed silent, thinking that if she stayed silent, nothing she said could be misinterpreted.

"Well, lets see who's better at magic then!" she said.

Carla was about to ask her what she was going on about when an Lilac stream of magic came at her. She yelped and ducked just in time. It sailed over harmlessly over her head, though the same couldn't be said for the patch of grass behind her.

She didn't have time to shout "what are you doing?!" when another beam came right at her. She hurridly ducked again.

Page 48

This is advanced-level magic. How did she learn it?! she thought. Her professor had told her that, at their level, their magic wasn't good enough to do anything besides levitate pencils (with the exception of Macy and herself, of course, since their magic was different). 

But this was at least third year stuff. And there wasn't a single teacher in the entire facility who would teach her anyhow.

Stephany revved up again, and Carla, thinking desperately, made the entire field misty. A light, blue-tinged mist settled over the field. Stephany blinked furiously, trying to dispel it. With a wave of her hand, a gust of wind blew over the field. But Stephany was an ordinary Iridescent while Carla was a Ivory. The mist stubbornly clung onto the field.

Stephany frowned darkly as she saw how her powerful gust of wind didn't blow away Carla's measly mist (although it was considerably more than that).

"Come out and fight me!" she boarderline shrieked. Carla rolled her eyes despite the situation. You wish, she thought. Why was it that everyone thought that would work? It would take a lot more than just a measly insult to pry Carla away from her hiding spot, if she had any sense.

Carla saw that her mist was waning, and tried to make her escape. A field did not provide a lot of cover, however, and she was soon caught up by Stephany.

Stephany cut her off, and raised her hands threateningly. Carla gulped.

Then, out of nowhere, Carla was in the air.

The sudden loss of gravity threw her for second, and her arms jerked wildly. She struggled to stay balanced, and pitched forward. Her eyes widened as she realized that she was a considerable length away from the grassy field now.

"Ste-Stephany. Put me down, now!" she said, trying to sound serious and confident but instead squeaky and not-at-all sure of herself. Stephany, one arm raised, eyed her with hatred.

She seemed to be contemplating whether or not to drop her (Carla wished for the latter of the two choices)

[Our heroes find some clever way to defeat Stephany]

"Let her go!"

Stephany turned around to see a small figure approach her. It was Ivy. She seemed to be glaring at her.

Stephany scoffed, "Go away Ivy. None of your business-"

Page 49

Then suddenly, Carla was yanked from her grasp, and placed on the ground. Stephany narrowed her eyes at this.

"Alright then, be like this"

She starts to move towards her, but Ivy backs away. Quickly, a glacier wall appears in front of her. Stephany actually takes a step back, seemingly confused and more than a little bewildered at this turn of events.

She had assumed that she was the only person getting special lessons. No teacher would teach it to her, but through lots of research on the internet, videos, and other alumni's, she managed to find what she needed.

So to see someone else use advanced level magic...honestly scared her.

Stephany clumsily attempted to get around the glacier, but Ivy was a few steps ahead of her. She glared at the girl, and Stephany, realizing it was probrably time to retreat before any property damage was caused, reluctantly backed away.

"Carla! Are you alright" said Maci. Carla, staggering a few steps after the rough landing, smiled shakily. It looked terrifying.

"I'm so sorry I couldn't get here earlier, but Ivy only saw you because there was a commotion from the field. She saw you in the air, and grabbed the rest of us. I'm sorry!" she repeated, almost crying from hysteria. Carla gave her a shaky nod, wanting to comfort her friend but not trusting herself to say anything.

"She can't get away with this, we have to report her" said Em. She voiced the thought that everyone was thinking.

But in the end, no one reported her. By the time they got back to school grounds, everyone was exhausted. Well, it was mostly just Carla, from the stress of the fight, and Ivy, from having to keep Stephany away. The rest, not so much, but figured that if it wasn't a group decision, they might as well not go.

Page 50

Well! I'm still alive! Surprise, surprise. Have another chapter of this massive dumpster-fire of a book, and see if the next chapter'll be more worth reading! Thanks for reading, and I hope to see you again!