The Second Prophecy (Part 1 of the Dragdani Prophecies) (27 page)

In the
classroom, Wheezy had just taken her seat only to start to stand
after Weavger’s voice broke the peaceful silence of the classroom.
She was not the only one to get up. Other students did the same,
including Cartman, who was just a row in front of her.

“
Back
to your seats,” said
Mr. Haster. He was a
stumpy, pot-bellied man with bug eyes, plump red cheeks, a constant
double chin, and thick black bushy curly hair. The sound of moving
chairs filled the room as they all took their seats
again.

Mr.
Haster took a step forward as the door opened
and Peter walked in, closely followed by Mr. Weavger.

“Collin I found this one out of class,” said
Weavger conceitedly.

“I was just a little late. I was about come
in when he stopped me,” said Peter, mad at Weavger for making it
sound as though he was trying to skip class altogether.

“
Well,
I don’t think there’s any
harm in him being a little late, Alistair, as long as he is here.
Although I will have to give you a warning,” said Mr. Haster
unconcerned.

“
I think he
should at least apologize for his tardiness. Well, Stark, apologize
to Mr. Haster and the class for this distraction in their learning
process you’ve caused,” said Mr. Weavger.

“
The
re wouldn’t have been a
distraction if you hadn’t stopped me in the hall,” said Peter
angrily.

“
I said
apologiz
e. Or go to the head’s
office.”

Peter said
nothing. H
e was thinking of what to do
next. In truth he had a strong urge to hit Weavger and tell him
where to go. However, he knew that was just stupid. “I’m sorry for
being late, Mr. Haster,” he said, “and for disturbing the
class.”

Many of the
students could not believe that Peter had given in so easily, for
in his earlier years, he would have told Weavger where to stick his
order. But Peter was already on thin ice with the school, and
Weavger knew that he couldn’t get into any more trouble or he would
run the risk of being suspended or even expelled, depending on how
serious his next troublesome antic would be. That’s why he bit his
lip and did as he was told.

“
Thank
you for that apology;
it is appreciated.
And I’m sure that the class feels the same too,” said Mr. Haster
softly.

At that, two
of the girls in the back started to giggle, and Wheezy shot at look
at them so cold its chill could be felt throughout classroom. The
girls stopped as soon as they saw it, but were sure to resume as
soon as Peter took his seat.

“
I’m
never going to live this down,” thought Peter. He knew that as soon
as class was out, half the school would hear of what had
transpired, and the rest of the school would certainly know after
first break which, to his delight, came quickly. As he walked the
halls to the place where he and Charity usually met, he could hear
the whispers of the people standing next to their lockers, telling
their friends what had happened. He felt their eyes watching him as
he walked. He could not tell if this was just has imagination or
not, but he thought he could feel every new set of eyes of everyone
who had just heard the news all turning to watch him as he went. It
was then that he remembered that Charity had something important to
tell him, and he found himself wondering whether it was good news
or bad news.
Well, if it’s bad
news, it couldn’t possibly be as bad as what has already happened
today
, he told himself.
Nope my day can’t possibly get any
worse.

He was
wrong
.

Peter came to the double doors leading
outside. He headed for the place where he usually met Charity
between classes, which was the place where Charity had given her
proposal to him and where he had accepted.

As he walked
past his fellow students, he noticed that even more were staring at
him. Some were even giggling and sniggering at the thought of him
having to obey Weavger. For most, but certainly not all, of the
students thought Mr. Weavger was funny and obviously thought this
was yet another one of his comical antics, even though they had all
certainly heard him shouting at the unfortunate children who
tempered him, which wasn’t hard to do. But he still went out of his
way to try and be humorous. The students who brought out his
terrible temper with even the slightest misdemeanor were harassed
and humiliated, and even sometimes physically assaulted. They were
not in any way seriously hurt. For mostly it would be a sharp poke
in the chest with a finger, or a slight shake, and even sometimes a
couple of taps on the head with one of their own rolled up jotters.
Besides the unfortunate youngsters who Weavger blatantly picked on,
there were others who didn’t like the teacher, like siblings of
those who caught the sting of his temper, and most likely their
friends.

Charity liked
Weavger, for he was always nice to her and her friends. He often
asked her what she saw in the waster she was going out with, and
sometimes he said it right in front of the boy. Or if Peter were
walking nearby, he would say it loud enough for him to hear it. He
only did it to rattle Peter’s cage, and the young King knew it all
too well.

He was
thinking about this as he walked past the people sitting under the
thick trees hiding from the bright sun and others lying stretched
out on the green grass, letting the sun cover them with its bright
warm rays. Others sat on benches or plastic chairs they had brought
out so they wouldn’t have to stand or get grass stains on their
clothes.

As Peter came
to the bench that he and Charity often used to meet up, he saw her
sitting where the sun’s yellow light shone on her. And he knew he
was happy with her, happier than he had been with any of the other
girls that came before. He didn’t know why, though. He just liked
her. Or did he love her? Again he was not sure but would be more
than happy to think it was love.

“
Hi,” she
said, noticing that he was staring at her. She seemed brighter in
spirit as well as in skin than she had before, as though she were
ready to finally tell him her big secret.

“
Hi,” he said
back, just as brightly. “So what is this big secret of
yours?”

“
Sit down.
Then I’ll tell.”

“
Fine.”

He sat next
to her, as close as he could get.

“
Any closer
and you’ll be on my lap,” she joked.

“
That doesn’t
sound too bad.”

“
And what
would my boyfriend say?” She slapped her right hand to her mouth in
horror at what she had let slip, and she looked surprised at her
own incompetence.

“
Uh
...what the heck was that?” Peter inquired not able to hide the
grin that was so determined to sit on his face. “I’m your
boyfriend. Have I been imagining it all this time?” The grin was
getting wider, which was more out of nerves now than anything else.
For the silence that followed made him a little apprehensive, and a
feeling of dread seeped through him. A thought had come to his mind
that perhaps this was the end of what they had built.
You’re being
paranoid
, he told himself. He stared at
the girl yet again and then said calmly, “Charity, say whatever you
want to say. Come on, get it off your chest. It couldn’t be that
bad.”

“
Well
, the thing is, Daddy
introduced me to the son of one of his old friends who has just
started at this school, and well -”

“
You like
him, and you don’t want to see me any more,” Peter
guessed.

Charity sat
there stunned. Peter himself was just as equally stunned; he had no
idea where that came from, though he tried his best not to show it.
And what was worse, when she didn’t answer he knew that he had
guessed correctly.

“
How long
have you been seeing him?”

“
Peter, I
wanted to tell you but I wasn’t sure if -”

“
How long
have you been seeing him?” the young Wizard repeated.

Charity hung
her head, her eyes fixed on the white paving stones that formed the
path that their bench was bolted to.

“Two weeks,” she finally said.

Peter nodded,
though he was not sure why he did not speak up. “Who is he?” he
asked, getting the words past his dry lips while jealousy and anger
started to show in his words and on his face.

This did not surprise Charity; she surely
knew what the outcome would be.

“
His name is
Steven Olbert.”

“
The
billionaire?” said Peter,
realizing the true reason for Charity’s affection toward this new
boy.

“
No, that’s
his father you’re thinking of,” chuckled Charity, not realizing
what she had given away.

“
Right, he’d
be too old for you if it were him. Or would he?” Peter’s jealousy
was now flaring even more.

“
What does
that mean?”

“
What I said.
I mean, it’s about money isn’t it. That’s what it’s about with
us?”

“
No.”

“
So
you’re saying that the reason
you wanted to go out with me was because you liked
me?”

“
Yes
it
-”

“
The
n why did you ask me – or
should I say blackmail me? – when you found out my mum was
rich.”

Charity’s
face went blank. “I wanted to go out with you for years, but I
thought that you thought I was just a Barbie doll. That’s what you
Losers call me and my friends, isn’t it?”

“
No, I
never and would never call you that, even after this,” said Peter
suddenly, thinking that maybe he was wrong.
But why?
he thought.
Why throw it away if not for money? I
doesn’t make any sense. I tried to be there for her, just as she
wanted.

“
So if it’s
not for money, then why?” he asked

“
It’s just
that I want to move on,” lied Charity. “Can we still be
friends?”

“
Sure,” Peter
lied. He knew that Charity was lying; he could always tell when she
was lying.

“
Break will
be over soon,” said Charity, looking to get away.

“
Yeah,
probably,” Peter’s voice was flat.

“
Well,
I better go.” The girl got
up and within seconds was gone.

Peter sat
there for three or four minutes. “Happy Birthday Pete,” he said to
himself. Then he slowly stood and headed for his next class,
English, which he was reasonably good at. He wanted to leave early
so not to give Weavger the pleasure of finding him late for his
very own class. As he walked, he felt empty, as though someone cut
him open and gutted him like a fish right there and then as he
walked.

He found
himself going over his conversion with Charity in his head, trying
to get why she would lie about the money thing.
It’s not as if I didn’t know that she has a
weakness for boys with money or boys who have parents who have
money. Why?
He was suddenly feeling
angry, but his anger was not directed at Charity or this new rich
boy who came and gave her reason to stray. For Peter suddenly
realized that he didn’t really care that he and Charity were no
longer an item. This anger was directed at himself, and wherever it
came from, it seemed to make him whole again, as if he had gained
something within those seconds.

Why did
n’t you tell
her to bug off when she told you the truth? Why didn’t you walk
away? Or even tell her you didn’t care? And worst of all, why
didn’t you dump her before she had a chance to tell you?

He stood
still as this last question flooded his mind fuelling his anger.
“GOD,
YOU’RE AN IDIOT!” he shouted at the
top of his lungs. His last sentence travelled far and wide through
the corridors of the school before fading away into nothing.
However, Peter hadn’t noticed for a split second after those words
leapt from his lips that he balled up his right fist and swung for
the nearest locker to his left.

To say that
he was surprised by what happened next would be an understatement.
His fist was not stopped by the door of the metal locker; it went
straight through. As if that was not shocking enough, when Peter
removed his bleeding hand from the hole, he saw the thin scraped
wounds on his hand healed in a mere second. He stood there, his
pale face whiter than ever. He turned his hand to look at its palm
and then turned it back as if he expected it to be a figment of his
overactive imagination, but there was nothing to say that the
incident had ever happened, not one mark.

“
What’s going
on here?” said Mr. Weavger as he opened the door of his classroom
just as the bell sounded. Peter slowly closed his eyes, for he knew
that Weavger had him right where he wanted him and that he was in
big trouble.

“
It looks
like you’re late again Stark,” said Weavger. “Oh dear, I guess your
appointment with the principle is going to be sooner then I’d
hoped. What’s that?” Weavger had seen the hole in the
locker.