SpellShocked (SpellShocked Saga: Book 1)

Chapter 18 - Disillusioned

"So, the...thing goes...u-under, no, over, no..." I sighed, dropping both end of the tie I had spent the last five minutes trying to figure out so that it hung from my neck uselessly. I was hopeless at this.

"I'm guessing they didn't make you wear a uniform at your old school, huh?" Hunter remarked. He was sitting the wrong way on his desk chair so that he straddled the back of it, his chin rested on his arms which were folded over the top of the chair. He had been trying to give me verbal instructions on how to tie the tie, and it was not going well.

"No...I just usually wore j-jeans and a t-shirt." I admitted.

"Here, pass me the tie," he chuckled. I gave it to him and he put it around his own neck and expertly tied it. He then slid it off his own neck and placed it around mine, tightening it for me. I smiled – or probably more accurately, grimaced – nervous by the close contact he made with me. "There we go!"

"Th-th-thank you..." I stammered.

"No problem." He slapped my arm jovially and went to pick up his backpack.

I looked at myself in the mirror; the uniform consisted of a white shirt – the first button of which Hunter assured me must remain unbuttoned – a black blazer, black pants, surprisingly any kind of black shoe, and a red and black stripped tie emblazoned with the school logo which just happened to a a stylised version of Merlin's Infinity Focus Mark.

I felt super uncomfortable; the uniform felt like it fit me wrong, like it was smothering me under the layers of fabric. Hunter, on the other hand, was rocking the outfit. He wore it so naturally and confidently and looked amazing doing it. I silently reprimanded myself for thinking that way. 'Stop screwing this up!' I thought, 'He wants to be your friend, just let it be that and nothing else.'

"You ready to go?" Hunter asked, standing behind me in the mirror.

I took a minute to prepare myself to leave, and said, "Yeah. I...I think so." He put a hand on my shoulder and I looked at him through the mirror; he was smiling encouragingly.

"Hey, it's gonna be okay. I'll be with you every step of the way." He squeezed my shoulder and...I actually felt a little bit of strength from this one kind action. I smiled at him and nodded. Grabbing my backpack, I followed him out of our room.

"Our first period class is Illusion," Hunter said as he, Olivia, Az and I all left the dining hall after breakfast, "It's taught by...," he checked his timetable, "Madame Thornton."

"What?!" I yelled, causing all three of them to jump.

"Woah, what's wrong?!" Hunter exclaimed, wide eyed but grinning amusedly.

I bushed, embarrassed by my sudden outburst, "S-sorry! It's j-just...I've met her. She's h-horrible."

"Ugh!" Olivia groaned, "Why'd we have to get stuck with her first thing on a Monday morning?"

"Could be worse," Az said, "We could be stuck with Miss Pritchard again."

"Miss Pritchard gave us all detention once because Theo and his goons used magic to create an illusion of her dancing on a stripper pole and blamed us for it. She's hated us ever since."

"That's awful!" I exclaimed.

"I wouldn't feel too bad for her," Az muttered, "After the way she treated us, she fully deserved it. Anyway, I doubt Madame Thornton could be much worse." I chose to let him live in hope for just a little while longer.

I was glad that I was somewhat a part of this group because I would have been totally lost if I had been by myself; thankfully, I could just follow Hunter to all of our classes. We filed into a classroom and I was shocked to see Madame Thornton already sitting behind a desk, looking as grim as always. She was writing something and refused to look up as we entered. I took a seat at a desk to the left of Hunter a couples of rows from the front.