Playing with Fire #1 ✔

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟐 - 𝐄𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫

I slammed the button down on my alarm a mere second before it would've started screeching at me. I slid out of the warm comfort zone that was my bed with a groan — it was school today, for the first time in just under two months. And, thanks to my incredibly severe lack of motivation, I'd done zero schoolwork over the summer.

Meaning that getting back into the swing of things was going to be tough.

Exhaustedly, I dragged my school uniform on, scraped a brush through my dirty blonde hair and brushed mascara over my lashes — before slowly stepping down the stairs.

The house was empty; Mum and Dad always left for work early, leaving me to fend for myself — literally. My staple breakfast consisted of burnt toast (that goddamn toaster got me every time), and a chamomile tea — as recommended by Al. Of course, she'd rather I drink a concoction of mashed-up herbs that she grows out in the woods, but I couldn't help the fact I trusted the shop-bought packets a whole lot more.

There was no note on the side wishing me a good first day back at school, or anything. Typical.

I checked my phone as I crunched through my blackened toast, forcing it down with the help of the tea. No texts, no calls, no updates on social media, no emails — no notifications whatsoever. Just how I like it.

It was only when my bus pulled up at Challis High that I remembered the new American boy joining my school. That's how dead my brain was. Knowing my luck, he'd probably end up in my form — most likely he requested that. After all, he seemed to want to get to know me.

He's gotta have an ulterior motive or two going on in that handsome head of his.

It wasn't a massive surprise that Theo had chosen to come here; Challis High was not only one of the biggest high schools in Lake Oldoy, but it was also the best. Which, admittedly, wasn't exactly hard considering there were only three.

Challis High School had been around for about 50 years; meaning that while the teaching had significantly improved, the architecture hadn't changed much. I didn't mind though; I liked the brick and dark brown wooden window framed look of the place. Of course, getting closer to the place revealed the wads of chewing gum stamped into the concrete paths, the chips in the window frames' paintwork and the toilets... Well, high school toilets are always downright awful.

I stumbled off the bus, still half-asleep, and immediately spotted Wednesday — her dyed metallic-silvery purple hair creating a personal tornado in the early autumn wind.

"Hey, Wednesday!" I called over to her, waving subtly.

"Ember! Hi!" Pushing through a crowd of zombie-like teenagers, Wednesday's exuberant enthusiasm made me smile — though I couldn't understand how she was so excitable this early in the morning. "I haven't seen you for ages!"

"It's only been six weeks!" I exclaimed, shoving her hug off me.

I usually ended up spending my summer holidays largely in isolation D most likely with a relative dragging me off to a cold and distant land to meditate. My Uncle Rob, who'd taught me my (useless) mantra, lived in Svalbard. Over the holidays, I went there for training. Though I'd yet to see any progress whatsoever.

My uncle insisted that it was just taking time for my abilities to develop. But since my 16th birthday was fast approaching, I worried that my potential abilities would evolve much sooner than I was ready for.

"Okay, so what do you want first? The good or the bad news?" She questioned, trying and struggling to contain her mass of hair in the wind. Wednesday always had good and bad news when we hadn't seen each other for a long while; it was a habit of hers to gather things into slots of good and bad things — as if the world was that black and white.