Outcast (Original Story)

Chapter Six: A Guide to Everything That Can Go Wrong ~Gwen~

"Gwen?" I jerked and noticed my face was suddenly way too close to the oatmeal in front of me.

"Sorry," I mumbled, looking over at Aylee, Zeldon, and Nico, who were all staring at me.

"Stop worrying, you're making me sick," Aylee said.

"I can't! How are you not worried? There are a million things that could go wrong-" I blurted, shivering at the thoughts that were forming in my head.

"There's a million things that could go right," Zeldon interrupted, looking proud of himself for thinking of a comeback. I shook my head. Apparently, no one understood.

"Gwen, we have all our classes together. If anything happens we're all together and I don't think any of us even have the option to ditch each other, given that everyone hates..." she trailed off. "Never mind." But I knew what she was going to say. Given that everyone hates us. The worst part was, she wasn't wrong. "Sorry," Aylee said. "I didn't mean to say that." I shook my head again.

"Who's ready for science?" Nico asked, breaking the tension. Butterflies burst in my stomach again.

"You have science with us?" Aylee asked.

"Yeah. And a lot of other ones too I think." That was interesting. Zeldon's roommate happened to have almost all of his classes with us, and he was sitting with us instead of his friends. I wondered if someone was pulling strings.

"I hope we don't have homework," Zeldon added as we returned our trays and began walking to the classroom.

"We probably will," Aylee said bluntly. "I don't know what you expected from North Star." Zeldon shrugged.

"I know we have work, I wasn't expecting there to be torture on the first day." Aylee rolled her eyes but Nico laughed.

After taking multiple wrong turns and Aylee and Zeldon arguing over who's fault it was, we finally reached the science classroom. I exhaled slightly. Being late was something like, number three on my 'what could go wrong' list. A short man with gray hair and a happy face greeted us at the door.

"Good morning! Take any seat for now," he said, ushering us inside. There were already a lot of elves in the classroom. Of course. Everyone seemed to stare at us as we picked our seats, and I realized how much our uniforms stood out when we were among so many other elves. There was a chatter that filled the room but I didn't feel like talking. It's going to be fine. Aylee was right about one thing, none of us have anyone else. We're stuck together no matter what.

The professor walked into the room, smiling brightly. "Good morning students!" The room hushed. "My name is Professor Penson, and I'm so excited to have all of you here at North Star! In my class, we won't use a lot of magic, but we will certainly use things of magic significance, such as potions to study the aspects of chemistry and biology. Since it's the first day, I'm not going to hand out any homework-" some kids cheered and Professor Penson smiled. "But we will get started on our first project."

Some people groaned. It wasn't thrilling, but at least it wasn't hard. "But before we do that, I want to go over a few ground rules. I know, I know, rules. But they just keep everyone safe. So first, as you all probably know, you are not allowed to use magic in the hallways or classrooms without permission. The only other case is if in an emergency. You can, however, use magic at your own will in your dormitories, as long as it is unharmful. Also, as many of your teachers prefer, please address your teachers as 'Professor,' and raise your hands when you would like to speak. One final rule, please treat everyone with respect and kindness, whether you think they deserve it or not. That is all we ask of you." I nodded. I could remember that.