Milkweed: Short Stories for Wizards

The New Kid

The New Kid

It was the start of the of the Spring semester at Milkweed Academy, a stressful time for wizards and ghouls. Every season, wizarding exams were set in place, testing the young and centuries old on skills they'd acquired since the very beginning of their training. The prestigious academy was serious about making the grade and the pressure was high. Wizards that lacked the ability to keep up were held back from advancing their studies and forced to relearn the curriculum while their peers around them continued. No one wanted to be that wizard, the one who was still on lesson one while everyone else was on lesson seven or ten. Unfortunately for Kyle the Conjurer, he'd been struggling this semester. Terribly.

Thankfully, he hadn't been held up in his studies thus far, but the lesson this term had been a challenging one and he found himself struggling more than usual. He feared that this would be the straw that broke the camel's back and he'd for sure be held back after this round of testing. It was depressing to think about.

Professor Flan had taunted him about refusing to seek a tutor.

"I don't need one!" Kyle protested after yet another fire accident in class.

His textbook had gone up in smoke after trying and failing at a trick being taught that day. Professor Flan wasn't having it.

"Face it! You're horrible at fire magic! The only person you're fooling is yourself!"

"I-I'm not horrible! I just have yet to figure it out!"

"Figure it out with a tutor! Your magic is simply nothing but hot garbage right now!"

Kyle cringed as he walked into class on a new day and recalled the laughter from his peers after Professor Flan's comments. Turning into the classroom, he dragged himself over to his desk, surprised when another student was already seated and settling in his place. Said student looked up from his leather satchel, which he'd been pulling his supplies from and paused.

"Hallo?"

"Who are you? You need to excuse yourself."

"Excuse me???"

"You fool, I mean from my desk! Get up!"

Hearing the commotion, Professor Flan quickly turned his attention to the middle of the room where the long desk sat. He snapped his fingers, harshly grabbing the attention of Kyle and the student.

"Kyle Bloodworth-Thomason! There's more than enough room at the desk for both yourself and Sigmund!" Professor Flan gasped. "Every other student shares their desk. He's our new student so have some decency and have a seat!"

"B-but, this has always been my spot!" Kyle protested.

"TAKE A SEAT!" The professor shouted this time.

Sigmund chuckled under his breath.

"Not anymore..." The blonde mumbled, laying his ink pens out on the desk in front of him.

Kyle gritted his braced teeth and finally took a seat, angrily dropping his body down in his chair. He quickly conjured a ruler and set it at the middle of the wooden desk.

"You stay on THAT SIDE of the ruler and I'll stay on THIS SIDE!"

Sigmund paused for a moment to look down at the ruler and looked away again with an eye roll.

"You're a weirdo..." He giggled, opening his textbook when the lesson started.

Kyle pulled his own textbook from his bag and turned to the lesson. Professor Flan used telepathy to write out the lesson plan on the board with a piece of chalk.