The Witch's Revenge

Chapter 6

Depending on the severity of the act for which they are being punished, students may be issued mild, serious or ontical warnings. Ten mild warnings, three serious warnings or one critical warning will result in the student's ban from extracurricular classes. Three critical warnings will result in the student's expulsion. Any further rule breaks, such as those that result in obtaining fifty mild warnings, for instance, will be subject to punishment seen fit by the teacher issuing the current warning.

Yikes Guess they're really doing their best not to let students hook up. Doesn't really stop any of the gay kids from doing it, though. I guess that's why there's three of us in each room to make privacy harder.

Well, that's enough reading for today. Time to get to washing.

Picking out my outfit for tomorrow, I head to the shower room, praying they have towels there. Car't believe I forgot to bring any. A school's got ot have some, right?

There aren't that many kids still out in the halls. Guess they're all getting to know their roommates. Most people prefer showering in the morning, anyway. I'm the opposite, Don't wanna touch my bed if there's even a spot of dirt on me.

The shower rooms, I find can be found on each of the five floors in the Everyday Area-one for boys, another for girls, right next to each other. Well, hope the walls are thick, cause this seems like they're asking for a peep show.

I find the boxes inside just as instructed, and towels as well. I'm probably the first one washing overall, but a few others da come in. No one wants to be the first to do anything it's much easier to follow the leader.

I do my best not to stare at anyone as I leave my stall. Two of the guys in here with me have towels around their waists, but one is walking around in the nude, not a shred of discomfort visible on his face.

Oh, it's John Yeah, that figures.

I get back to our room before him, immediately going to sleep. Lots to do tomorrow. Hope everything goes well. I can hear noise coming from the bathroom, which must mean lan is playing a game in there.

In the morning, I'm woken up by rustling close to me, followed by the sound of water. It's John, watering his damn plants. Another dreamless night for me. They've all been like that for a while, and it will remain that way for as long as I have my toe ring on.

I go through the rulebook some more, and see that breakfast is at nine, after the first class, lunch is at one, an afternoon snack at five, and then dinner at seven, Seems reasonable enough.

No clocks in the room, though. How are we supposed to.

A loud ringing starts blasting through the room, spooking me into falling off the bed. John nearly drops one of his plants, fumbling with the pot for a few seconds before managing to put it back down.

"Jeepers, that scared me"

I look up at him from the floor. "Jeepers?"

He turns slightly red, scratching the back of his head. "I sometimes talk weird. Sorry"

"It's fine. He doesn't mind." lan's up, too, I see. Does not seem like a morning person at all. "What the hell was that noise?"

Sounded like an alarm to me. I go to the As of the rulebook and, sure enough, see that it is now six in the morning. Seriously? I think I'd rather just not wake up at all. Ever.

Well, we wouldn't have come here if we didn't want high standards, so i won't complaining out loud. Magic probably requires time and dedication, so the schedule is bound to be rough.

"You guys wanna go out and explore?" John asks, glancing at lan, who waves him off.

"I'll get a few more hours. Need to recharge"

That seems to deflate the giant, who was probably betting on his friend making this easier. I get up and put on the outfit I picked out yesterday. "I'll go with you."

Once we're done with our morning routines, we head out, both armed with his own map. The hallways are already crawling with students, the cliques already starting to form. A good few of them turn to look at me as I pass them by Must be because of the magic I used. I can't be the only one here who's ever done it, can 17 I know it's hard to find, but surely a few others have done the same.

"Oh, a garden!" John exclaims, all worry gone from his face. "Can we go there first?"

It's probably impossible saying no to him when he's like that. It would be like telling a puppy it can't sit in your lap, You just don't do it, because you know the look you'll get afterwards will crush your soul and make you feel like a heartless monster.

"Lead the way." It's sure as hell better than letting me do it.

We walk outside through the first exit we find and there are quite a few, I see. No doors, either - just open archways. This place is probably gonna be a mess a few months from now, when the cold comes knocking.

Fifteen minutes later, we find ourselves in front of a tall, wooden fence, leaves and vines crawling all over it. There's a plaque on it that reads School Garden, but nothing to tell us whether or not entry is allowed. Darnn. Didn't bring the rulebook with us, either.

John walks through the opening in the fence without a care in the world, and I can do nothing but follow. The inside is, just as with the rooms inside the castle, much larger than one would assume. There are even trees present, despite not being visible from outside the fence. Sheesh, that's confusing.

Flowers of all sorts are filling the garden purples, reds and yellows mostly, with a few white and blue ones here and there. These are all regular-looking, if beautiful flowers. Nothing out of the ordinary:

As we keep moving, we find stuff that definitely doesn't exist in most of the world. Green, plate-shaped plants with pink insides that periodically open up, then snap shut. There's a stick in the ground in front of each different plant, with a tag on it containing the name.

Snapping Fly Traps, Seems about right.

John reaches his hand toward one of them, but I stop him. "Seriously?"

"Plants aren't that strong, y'know. I'll be able to pull it free"

I glance at the teeth-liked serrations around the rim of the mouth, and my grip on him tightens. "And if they're poisonous?"

John pales, letting his hand drop, 1 brush my palm off of my pants when he isn't looking. People always take offense to that, Makes them feel like they have the plague or something. It's rude, either way, but I would not be able to stop thinking about touching him without doing this.

After the snapping fly traps, we find really big flowers. They're as tall as I am, with wide, orange blossoms, each one having small black stripes on them.

"Firelilies," John reads from the tag, then touches one of the petals, immediately pulling his finger away with a hiss "Hot, hot"

"How's about you don't touch anything form here on out?"

"Aww”

We check out a few more different plants, even walking through an area with nothing but large mushrooms, but I call it quits pretty soon.

"We should head back before we get lost." I can't even see the fence anywhere, with how wide this place is getting.

Are we even still on castle grounds? Feels like this might be the forest around the school. "C'mon, Jahn"

"Call me Mac."

"Yeah, sure. Just come."

Thankfully, this isn't one of those ever-changing labyrinths in movies, and we make out way outside easily, even running into a few other kids on our way. John greets each and every one with a wave and a bright smile, while I just try to merge with my shadow, hoping to attract as little attention as possible.

That's the rule I made with mom, and I intend to follow it.

As we near the exit, I notice a plant in John's hands. "Where'd you get that?"

He looks down, as confused as I am. "I never touched it."

"Then why're you holding it?"

John, red in the face, starts shaking his hand, as if to get the grass off. It just stands there, entangled in between his fingers like some sort of seaweed.

"Help!" he yells out, and I immediately find myself getting hotter. Everyone is looking now. Lovely.

An adult walks up to us well, a sort-of adult. He looks a few years older than us, sure, but he's still in his early twenties. That can't be a student, can it? He's got to be one of the teachers. Kind of young for one, though.

He looks just as intimidating as Lockwood, narrowing his dark eyes toward the plant John is holding or rather the plant holding him.

The young man's index finger twirls through the air, the seaweed letting go immediately. Rather than just stay ont he ground, though, it gets up on its multiple stalks, then walks back into the garden.

Well, alrighty then.