Forbidden Spells

Ch 1

"Eldora!" I woke up with a start. "It's time for school!" I groaned as I fell out of bed. Today was the first day of 8th grade.

"Coming!" I yelled as I pulled on a pair of jeans. I had moved to Connecticut over the summer and was still getting used to having to wear jeans instead of shorts. California was much better than this blizzard. I jumped down three of the steps and ran down the hallway.

"Hello, dear," my grandma said kindly, handing me my pancakes. "Are you ready for your first day at your new school?" She asked.

"No," I replied, stuffing two big handfuls of pancakes into my mouth. She sighed. "Your mother used to be just like you."

"Well, it's not much of a compliment since she's dead," I said, feeling guilty as soon as the words left my mouth.

"Eldora!" she scolded. Just before she was about to say something else, the school bus honked.

"Well, I've got to go!" I said while running down the hallway and through the front door. I quickly climbed up the black steps and found an empty seat. I noticed that it was very similar to the Californian school buses. The popular and mean kids were all at the back. They were throwing paper airplanes and applying their horrid canceler and makeup. All the shy kids and nerds were upfront so they could be under the protection of the bus driver, a young but strict-looking woman with a commanding voice.

"Settle down, settle down," she called. "And quit with the airplanes!" I quickly found a seat in the middle and sat down. To my displeasure, a skinny and smelly 10th grader sat next to me.

During the bus ride, the boy stayed beside me, picking his nose, and flipping through geography textbooks stained with unknown substances that I didn't want to identify. After what felt like an eternity, the bus pulled up in front of my new school, a plain red brick building with three floors. A teacher was waiting at the school gate to usher us inside. The main hall was a spacious and lengthy corridor that had a staircase at the end leading up to the third floor but branched off on the second. The principal was standing at the bottom of the stairs, distributing schedules to the new 8th, 9th, and 10th graders. "Hello there," she greeted me. "What grade are you in?" "I'm in 8th grade, ma'am," I answered. "Alright then," she replied as she handed me my schedule. "Your first class will be with Mrs. Brana, the History teacher for 8th and 9th grade." "Great," I thought. "Now I'll be in a class with 9th graders."

As I checked my schedule, I realized that I had to get to her classroom on the third floor before the class started at 8:20. With only 5 minutes left, I knew I had to climb all those stairs as quickly as possible without tripping, falling, or embarrassing myself. Unfortunately, I was quite good at embarrassing myself.

"You can do this, Eldora," I told myself, trying for some motication as I started jogging up the stairs. I reached the second-floor landing and stopped to catch my breath when suddenly a girl bumped into me, spilling her coffee all over me.

"What the flip!" she called out. "Watch where you're going, newbie!"

"Maybe you should watch where you're going first!" I snapped back. She looked at me with rage.

"Lilly!" another girl called out. "We're going to be late!"

"Coming, Reya!" she replied. Then she pulled me close and whispered, "Now listen carefully," she said. "You have made a very powerful enemy." With that, she flipped her hair at my face and walked off while reapplying her premium lip-gloss.

"What a jerk!" I thought to myself, frustrated with the unexpected turn of events.

Just before I could think about how horrible the day was going, the bell rang. I was late!

I rushed up the last few steps and finally arrived at Mrs. Brana's classroom, barely catching my breath. Fortunately, I was only a minute late, so some students were still settling in. I joined the queue and tried to act like nothing was wrong.

"Good morning, my dear," Mrs. Brana greeted me with a sweet smile. She was a middle-aged lady with a pretty face, dimples, and short brown hair. "Hello, Mrs. Brana," I replied. "What's your name, hon?" she asked. "Eldora," I said. "Eldora Lovegood." "Check," she said as she ticked off my name on her clipboard. "You may go inside and choose a desk." I walked in as quietly as possible and looked for an open seat.

Unfortunately, all the seats at the back were taken, so I settled on the middle seat next to the window. As soon as I sat down, Lilly and her friend Reyna took seats a couple of desks away from me. I tried to avoid being noticed.

Lilly was an average girl with short, dirty blond hair with highlights. She was somewhat attractive, but she only looked that way because of her excessive makeup. She had so much makeup on that she looked like plastic, but not in a good way. Reyna was also an attractive girl with golden blonde hair that flowed over her shoulders. She also wore makeup, but not as much as Lilly. She seemed much nicer than Lilly, but I couldn't be sure.

The students were filing into the classroom as Mrs. Brana called out, "Settle down and find your seats." As the last few students walked in, she announced that they were going to start with an introduction from each of the students. I felt a wave of anxiety wash over me. I wasn't good at public speaking, and the thought of introducing myself in front of everyone made me feel nervous.

Mrs. Brana then declared that they would go in alphabetical order, and my heart sank as I realized that my name started with an "E". "Let's start with Alisha Comer," she said, pointing to a girl sitting in the very front of the classroom.

Alisha stood up and confidently introduced herself, "Hello everyone. My name is Alisha. My hobbies are talking and studying. My mom is a doctor, and my father is a scientist, and I hope to follow in their footsteps." She had short, blonde hair with pink and blue highlights, and I could tell that she was a smart and ambitious student. Although I didn't want to admit it, I felt a little envious of her.

As a couple more students got up to introduce themselves, including Conner Gonzales and Darin Mears, I started to feel more anxious. I knew that my turn was coming up soon, and I didn't want to mess up my introduction.

Finally, Mrs. Brana called my name, "Eldora Lovegood." I took a deep breath and stood up, trying to sound confident as I introduced myself to the class. "Hello everyone, my name is Eldora. I recently moved here from California, and my hobbies are drawing and sports, specifically tennis and badminton."

"Phew, that wasn't too bad," I thought. However, my relief was short-lived when Lily whispered as loudly as she could, "I guess another one of her hobbies is embarrassing herself." People around her, including Reya, snickered.

I tried to brush off their snide comments, thinking to myself, "Reya and her shallow friend group are no better than Lily herself." I quickly made my way back to my seat and sat down, hoping to avoid any further humiliation.

As the class progressed, about 15 more students took their turn introducing themselves. I found myself growing increasingly disinterested and began to zone out completely. At last, Mrs. Brana interjected, "Well, that was a lovely intro." The introductions had consumed most of our class time, and so we were given 10 minutes of free period. As soon as Mrs. Brana stopped talking, the room burst into chatter and noise. I silently hoped that Lily and her gang wouldn't bother me, so I rummaged through my bag and took out a book. I slouched in my chair, trying to appear as "Unthreatening" as possible. Although I wasn't afraid of Lily, I didn't want to start a fight on the first day of school and make a bad first impression. The minutes dragged on, and it felt like an eternity before Mrs. Brana finally declared, "Okay, pack up your things and head out. Hope you have an excellent day!" I couldn't help but think to myself, "With how the day is going so far, it would be merciful if I didn't end up as the laughingstock of the whole school."