One Broken Legacy

Chapter 5: The Stinking Club

Senior English was my last class of the day, and my eyes kept drifting closed as the teacher droned on. I felt slightly jealous of Nick, who slept on the desk next to me, a thin trail of drool spilling down his lip.

Nick had been out of it all day, his eyes barely open through our first couple of classes before he gave up trying and burring his head in his arms. During lunch, I had looked up the moon transitions. The full moon would happen Monday night, three days from four days from now. He would transition soon after. He had to.

The bell rang and Nick sat up, his neck cracking as he looked around, eyes bulging. "What the hell am I doing here?" He asked as the teacher swiveled to glare at him. "I was just in the library."

"I'm afraid you fell asleep halfway through class and no one had the heart to disturb you."

He turned to me, accusations written all over his face. "Yeah, right. You just wanted to see me suffer. You're a horrible friend."

"Sorry." I patted his back as we finally left class, the tight-bunned teacher closing the door behind us, "You're the one who chose to befriend the new girl."

"Well, no one else wanted to take my side in the Human-Coth debate. I needed at least one ally here."

You have no idea. My expression twisted into a bitter resting face. It was remarkable how narrow-minded people were. I thought the anti-coth humans were a rarity. That was my bias, growing up with a family absent from humans. I suppose I would never understand how other species interacted, not if I stayed locked in the manor.

Nick and I continued to weave our way to the dorms before our path was blocked by Cassey, who had revealed herself to be a popular student in the last two days. It had only taken that long for the entire school to turn their noses up and whisper 'witch' in my wake.

Today her hair was done up in a ponytail, a few clips holding her bangs out of the way. She must have hurried to dart in front of us because her usually perfect hair was slightly scruffy, a few loose bangs escaping from their restraints.

"Sybil," she said. I stopped, letting one hip jut out so I could rest my books on it, "I saw you sneaking around on the grounds last night. Maybe I should tell the principal, let her make heads or tails of it."

I gave Cassey a long, hard look. One of the six dorm students staring me down. From what I gathered, her father was a politician who spent a lot of time campaigning and chose to leave her at school. That also meant she was my problem.

"Hey, Cass. My name is Lexi." That was how the majority of our conversations started. So far, we were right on track.

"I don't care. What were you doing last night?"

"I went to town," I explained, knowing full well walking away would have caused her to blow up. "Couldn't find my way back. Is that so hard to understand?"

Cassey's face went red, her cheeks puffing slightly as she glared daggers at me.

"I don't know why they let you stay here; you're a witch and it says in the school code that any Coth have to identify themselves." Cassey leaned on the row of lockers, tapping her nails on the metal.

I huffed. "I know. I read and signed the terms and conditions. If I don't identify myself, I'll be expelled. Good thing I'm not a witch." I rolled my eyes, looking over her shoulder and making it obvious I had other places to be.

"I'll prove you're one." Cassey turned, her ponytail snapping behind her. "You watch."

I rolled my eyes as she stormed away. For as smart as she thought she was, she knew nothing of my world. Her experience was limited, but that was no excuse.