The sparks in a dragon

Chapter 34: Spring Festival

***Bloom's POV***

I let go of the painted hand as the last of the ribbons detached themselves from me. I was still stuffy and I sniffed as I picked up my backpack from the floor. I couldn't get over what happened back there with Daphne. It left me too emotional for anyone to see.  Experience, however, warned me, so this time I walked behind the bleachers.

As soon as I got home, I went directly to bed. It was too late to do anything else. I sat in bed, thinking about my family with a smile as I toyed with my dragon necklace. That silver locket seemed repugnant to me now. This one was real; it represented me.

I recalled Daphne something about the locket being made of dark magic. But what could that have been? I looked back at the time where I was in camp with Sky, and no weird activity popped into my head.

Except one.

The cave.

I gasped and nearly ripped my necklace out when I realized the silver locket wasn't on my neck, but rather my dragon necklace. My heart beat frantically and I felt like I was having a heart attack. Whoever that Gypsy was, she was trying to make us fall in love. If it weren't for Daphne, who knows what would've happened?

But why did she want to make us fall for each other? Did she want to use it against us? Did she want to use him as a way to get to me? Daphne did say I would be wanted by dozens of evil creatures...

Love is the most powerful magic of them all, nothing can stand in its way... My adoptive mother's voice resonated among my thoughts. She used to say that whenever she read me fairy tales. The thought calmed me down because, even if the witch had succeeded in making Sky and I fall in love, she couldn't have prevailed. "She failed," I nodded with decision.

Did she?

***

I opened my locker and put my books away. It was already time to go and I felt oddly at peace. A long time passed since I'd done anything remotely interesting, so rumors died down about me. They finally left me alone- even Mitzy.

Daphne's training and the reflection had left a big impression on me; I was finally controlled. I was nothing like that cry-baby who suffered every time people noticed how different I was... 

I accepted being different.

I was closing my locker when somebody put a hand on my shoulder and I yelped, accidentally slamming the locker shut.

"Oh, sorry Bloom. I didn't know you were so sensitive," Sky apologized as he removed his hand from my shoulder.

"Uh, sorry, I was just... thinking. I didn't see you coming. How are you?" I asked him as I flung my backpack over my shoulder.

He shrugged as we started walking. "Just fine, as good as school can ever be. At least we have less than two months left. I can't wait to get out of here. And it's also spring, time for my favorite festival," Sky responded.

"Really? What's so special about it?"

"Oh nothing... It's really colorful with a lot of food and special attractions. It kind of reminds me of my childhood. I go alone every year because, knowing my friends, they'll say it's too gay. Which is kinda stupid," he rolled his eyes, "so, I was wandering, do you have any plans?" Sky asked.

I rose an eyebrow. Was he asking me out on a date?

I pushed that thought out of my head as I remembered that his emotions were affected by the locket. It made me queasy.

"Bloom?" Sky's voice snapped me out of my thoughts and I looked up to his awaiting expression.

"What? Oh, no, I don't."