Reckless Magic (4 page)

“
I’m not exactly sure,
actually. I’m not what you would call the ideal student,” I gave
her a cynical smile, but offered no explanation to my statement. I
would have liked at least one friend in this place and admitting
that I was practically a ticking time bomb seemed like the wrong
way to make one. “You said three students, who is the other one?”
“Talbott Angelo, he was sitting on the other side of you,” Lilly
started blushing as soon as she said the word “Talbott.” Her cheeks
turned a crimson red against the pallid tone of the rest of her
skin, yet somehow it enhanced her beauty instead of diminishing
it.

I gave her a slightly knowing smile. I
had barely noticed Talbott, other than his size and stature. Yet,
Kiran’s blazing blue eyes were ingrained in my memory. I couldn’t
help but blush too, as I thought about his perfect features and the
way he seemed amused at my discomfort. I should be offended, or at
least irritated, but I couldn’t really blame him.

Instead of offended, I was more
embarrassed at my body’s reaction to any close approximation I had
to him. First, I stared unabashedly, then I acted clumsy and
erratic, next of course I had physical reactions that no one can
explain and eventually I fainted. Clearly I needed a class on how
to behave in the presence of the opposite sex. Which I was sure
they offered here at the prim and proper prep school I now
attended.

The bell rang in the hallway, and we
started to gather our things. I noticed that Lilly was wearing the
best of every designer imaginable, which was hard to do,
considering we all wore the same, plain uniform. But her book bag
was designer, her shoes were designer, and what little jewelry she
was wearing screamed expensive. I looked down at the backpack I had
carried since junior high and laughed at its’, um, wear and
tear.

I stopped to glance at myself in the
mirror. My black eyeliner was smudged in the corner of my eyes, but
I didn’t bother to fix it. I probably had laid it on a little too
thick to begin with; I had been in a hurry this morning. The black
from the eyeliner nearly matched the color of my dark eyes, making
the white of the pupil appear almost neon. I grabbed my pink lip
gloss out of my pocket and applied it quickly, unsure of the reason
behind it.

“
What is your next class?”
only her clothes screamed snob, Lilly’s demeanor and voice were so
sweet that I doubted she belonged at a place like this.

“
Um, Drama with Mrs.
Woodsen,” I replied, looking at the class list, Mrs. Truance handed
me earlier.

“
Oh, good. I have that too.
Hopefully we’ll have most classes together,” Lilly smiled again and
I could tell that she was truly happy we had the same class. I
already felt more relaxed now that I had a friend or at the very
least someone who didn’t completely hate me; the rest of the day
didn’t seem so impossible.

We left the restroom, and entered the
throng of students hurrying to their next class. We joined them and
Lilly took me through a winding hallway and to a set of beautiful
marble stairs, leading both upwards and downwards. The English and
Arts Building of Kingsley was another red brick building, but much
larger than the Administration Building.

Located on the first floor were the
theater and dressing rooms; there was also a lavish foyer and
elegant marble staircase that led up to the second and third
floors. All other grade levels of English, honors or non-honors
were located on the second floor. The third floor was dedicated
entirely to the Drama department.

Although this floor had many small
rooms, assigned to storage and props, the majority of the floor was
taken up by a large, unusual drama studio. There were no desks in
the room, or white-boards. The room was distinctively painted in
effervescent colors, oranges, and reds, greens and blues; beautiful
silk floor pillows were scattered around the room. Oriental room
dividers stood in one corner, suggesting a type of dressing room,
with various props and costumes cluttered together in another
corner.

An exotic but frazzled looking woman
stood in the front of the room, holding her hands wide, welcoming
us into her classroom. The woman, whom I assumed to be Mrs.
Woodsen, the Drama teacher, had frizzy, unkempt dark black hair and
leather-like skin that suggested years and years in the sun, as she
seemed to be in her late fifties.

She was wearing a deep purple kimono,
with vibrant red dragons embroidering its floor length silk. Around
her wrists were dozens of golden bangle bracelets that jingled with
every small movement she made.

I was transfixed by this teacher, who
seemed more than human, as I took a seat on the floor like everyone
else. I had noticed that although the room would suggest chaos and
confusion, all of the students entered the room silently and took
their respective places on the floor. I sat close to Lilly, not
sure whether to be terrified of what was to come next, or
excited.

“
Hello, my darlings,” Mrs.
Woodsens’ voice purred her hello. As I looked at her thick eyeliner
and dark red lipstick, I realized she reminded me of a cat, or an
Egyptian, or maybe an Egyptian cat.

“
I understand we have new
actors to join this vivacious cast today,” she slowly moved her
eyes to mine and held my attention for a few seconds before
searching out Kiran’s and Talbott’s. I was horrified when I
realized they were in this class as well, but as I looked around I
noticed that I recognized most of the students from English were
here. “So before we begin our work with the one-acts, I would like
for each of them to introduce themselves and enlighten us on their
unique personas.”

I was mortified; surely she didn’t
expect me to speak in front of this entire class of people. Not to
mention the fact that the only thing unique about me was witnessed
by, what looked to be this entire class of people already this
morning. Thankfully, Talbott stood up first. And I tried my best to
shrink into a ball of nothing.

“
Well, I am Talbott Angelo,”
he said in a strong, authoritative voice, his accent thick, making
his words run together. “I am new to this place and this school. I
come from London with Kiran. I hope to enjoy America very much,” he
gave a goofy smile and laughed a little, along with the rest of the
class. He waited for Kiran to stand before he took his seat back on
the floor. His huge frame seemed too big among the other, smaller
framed girls that had surrounded him.

“
Welcome Talbott, we are so
thankful you have been sent to us,” Mrs. Woodsen purred to him. She
turned her full attention on Kiran, gazing at him until I was
almost embarrassed for her. He wasn’t able to look at her full in
the face and I noticed a light shade of red creep up the back of
his neck.

“
My dear Kiran, you don’t
have to say anything unless of course you want to,” Mrs. Woodsen’s
eyes glossed over with obvious adoration. Yuck.

“
No, it’s alright,” he
forced his eyes up and gave her a benevolent smile.

Kiran cleared his throat. His perfect
posture and amazing good looks already set him apart from everybody
else, but now with him standing and everyone else on the floor it
almost seemed as if we were bowing down to him. Thinking that Mrs.
Woodsen practically was, I smiled, then realized Kiran was looking
directly at me.

“
Hmmm…” he continued to
stare at me, while seemingly thinking about what he was going to
say. “I am Kiran Kendrick. I am also from London,” Unlike Talbott,
Kiran’s accent was light and crisp, making him sound like the
perfect English gentleman. “We arrived yesterday. And let’s see,
something unique only to me ….” he was obviously dragging this out
on purpose because a mischievous grin began to appear in the
corners of his mouth. I found myself impatient with him, despite
all of his looks and glory. And then he looked directly at me
again, “Well, recently I caught a fainting young girl, and saved
her from imminent danger,” he finished dramatically.

As his eyes had locked with mine so
intensely, and since apparently everyone in this class had already
been a witness to my episode, all thirty voices burst out in
laughter at once. The sound was shrill and mocking and I was once
again humiliated.

“
Quiet down my darlings. I
apparently am not privy to the joke, so let us calm ourselves and
our inner auras so that we may hear from our last new soul,” her
calming voice met with immediate success and all voices became
silent. Kiran took his seat, but not without giving another roguish
wink in my direction. I now found myself extremely irritated with
him.

I struggled to my feet, not nearly as
effortlessly as the two boys before me. I looked around at the
group of my peers seated, my mind blank and my face bright red. The
faces staring back were nearly all exceptionally beautiful; their
eyes unnaturally bright and their hair unnaturally shiny. They were
also exceptionally hostile and judgmental. It was nice to know I
had once again been able to isolate and alienate myself just as
quickly at this school as at any other.

“
Um,” I coughed to clear my
voice and found Lilly’s face, the only genial expression in the
room. Even Mrs. Woodsen seemed to be eyeing me skeptically. “Um, I
am Eden Matthews. I am from here, I mean from Omaha. And I recently
fainted in front of my entire first hour class, but I don’t
remember anyone saving me from banging my head against the floor,”
I finished quickly and quite sarcastically, before plopping down
cross-legged next to Lilly, unable to look up or at anyone. I
thought for a second that I might come off funny or at least witty,
but the deafening silence determined otherwise. Lilly patted my
knee reassuringly, but I was too mortified even to look at
her.

“
Well, I do hope you are all
right dear,” Mrs. Woodsen eyed me even more suspiciously before
turning her gaze on a few students who had begun to whisper. I
looked over to see that it was the group of girls who had
surrounded Kiran and Talbott. They stopped talking after receiving
the evil eye from Mrs. Woodsen, but all turned to give me a dirty
look. “Unfortunately for those of you who are new, we have already
started working on our one act plays, and the groups have already
been chosen. I am afraid you three will have to work together
quietly on busywork, until after the One Act Meet, in a few weeks.
I will have you grade papers from the younger classes. Please sit
in a group behind the dividers, so that the other students can have
room to work on their small masterpieces.”

At this point, the entire class stood
up and moved into their one-act groups. Lilly gave me an
encouraging smile and went to stand with her own group. I gathered
my backpack and shuffled slowly behind the dividers. This had to be
some cruel joke. Mrs. Woodsen was now officially my least favorite
teacher, even worse than Mr. Lambert. Again I was reminded that
this was only second hour and the day was far from over. I had
never regretted burning down a school more than I did at that
moment.

4.

I took my sweet time walking over to
the dividers and cringed when I looked behind them and found a tiny
sitting area. I stared, mouth agape, wondering how I was going to
get through this hour.

Kiran bumped, purposely, into my
shoulder as he walked by and took a seat on the floor directly in
the middle of the small space. Talbott followed close behind,
although he was careful not to touch me as he entered. I was amazed
at how quickly my infatuation with Kiran turned into disgust. Had I
known he was going to sell me out in front of everyone, I doubted I
ever would have found his faultless features so alluring
before.

Regretfully I took my seat next to
Kiran on the floor. I pulled my knees in as close as I could and
disdainfully, rested my forehead on them. I gave myself hope that
there was a way to avoid these irritating boys in the hole we had
been banished to.

“
So what are you?” Kiran
asked pointedly. I lifted my eyes and found him staring at me
intently. Avoidance was clearly out of the question.

“
What do you mean?” I asked
dryly. I had lost all patience for him. And for the first time I
noticed Talbott staring at me as well.

“
What are you?” he asked
again, pronouncing each word crisply and clearly. If this was some
weird game, I was not in the mood. I laid my head back down on my
knees.

“
What he means to say is,
which are you?” Talbott interjected, apparently hoping to elicit
some type of answer from me; I, however, had no idea what kind of
answer they were even looking for. After responding with silence,
he continued, “We were not aware of you before we came; are you
witch, or psychic?”

My head snapped up in reaction to his
ridiculous question. I saw then that they were just playing another
joke on me. How irritating. I was speechless, and my temper was
slowly rising. I may have made a fool of myself before, but that
did not mean these teenage boys needed to continue humiliating
me.

“
She’s not one of you?”
Kiran tilted his head towards Talbott and asked softly.

“
No, not in the least. And I
cannot get a read on her. Can you?” Talbott responded just as
softly. They were speaking to each other as if I was not here and
my patience was drawing thin.