No Good Witches | ONC √

Unlawful Dismissal

I was no stranger to detention.

I'd earned myself a bit of a reputation in the short time I've been here as an unabashed magic user. There'd been my first day, when I'd tripped and fell in the cafeteria and used a bit of telekinesis to keep my food in my tray and off of my uniform, hoping no one would notice. Everyone did, and that was how I'd earned my first of many detentions for unlicensed magic use. I was yet to be arrested though, so that was something.

"This sucks!" Mallory exclaimed for what could have easily been the sixth time as we waited for the arrival of Dr. Alvarado outside of the ethics classroom, where detention was usually served. "My mom is going to kill me...this is the first time I've ever gotten detention, you know."

Mallory was the type of beautiful that you don't really believe can exist in real life until you see it in person. She was five three with the presence of someone eight inches taller, brown hair falling around her round face in waves. Her dark eyes were placed with intention on her high cheekbones, with none of the fanfare of double eyelids or eye bags. It was as if the creator had simply drawn the lines across the soft terracota of her skin.

She also had a reputation for being a heinous bitch, so I normally tried to steer clear.

It looked like we would be the only two people this evening, which wasn't surprising. It may have been a school filled with assholes, but they were well behaved assholes at least. I texted my Mom to tell her I would be staying after late and hoped she wouldn't ask me why. No doubt she'd have a lecture to give about how any bad press could jeopardize her campaign.

"Hello? Cass? Could you at least pretend to be paying attention to me?" Mallory continued.

I looked up from my phone and raised an eyebrow at her. "You know my name?"

She gave me a classic Mallory scrunched–up–face–yet–I–still–manage–to–look twice–as–hot–as–you once over and tucked a strand of her thick hair behind a light brown ear. "Of course I know your name. Aren't you the girl who, like, started the fire in the gym?"

I tensed and shifted away from her. "It wasn't a fire."

She smiled cruelly and crossed her arms at me. "Lacy Brinklman said it was a fire."

I opened my mouth to respond when her phone rang. When she saw who it was her face dropped. She turned away from it to answer it. "Listen, mâae, it wasn't my fault—" I watched her walk down the hall as she spoke hurriedly into her phone in Thai, feeling strangely empathic for whatever reaming she was receiving from her parents.

"Oh. Cass. Hi."

I turned. Rebecca. In all of her blondeness. I adjusted the strap of my backpack as I took her in. "You have detention?"

Her jaw tensed. "Looks like it." She chirped, before looking down at her battered loafers. "I'm sorry you're here though. Davis was way harsh."

I scoffed and shook my head. "No thanks to you."

She drew her eyebrows together. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Don't play dumb, Rebecca." I sighed the words. All the magic that I'd had earlier today had long dissipated from my bones. "You heard exactly what Josh said, and yet you didn't do anything."

She pursed her lips. "I was trying to...deescalate the situation. If you didn't get so worked up over it..."

I shook my head again and looked away from her.

"I don't know why you couldn't just let it go." She punctuated her sentence by running a hand through her strawberry blonde hair. Her fingertips displaced the flower she had behind her ear. An actual flower.