{Millie}
"Millie, are you going to walk home with us?" asked Danny. The clock read 2:25. Five more minutes till freedom.
I looked away from the clock, "Us?"
"Yeah, you didn't walk home with us last night, so I figured you were... occupied." Apparently Aura was now She-who-must-not-be-named. I didn't understand everyone, she was just a tiny redhead wearing flowy dresses. That didn't really scream Devil conspirator.
"Y'know," Danny continued, "Cause you usually tell me if you're walking home with us or not."
"Us?" I repeated. "Last I checked Danny, for the past two years it's only been you and I walking home together."
"Cira lives nearby. You didn't know that?"
"No, I didn't," I blushed. Thankfully, my hair covered my face.
"Well, if you walked home with me yesterday you would have known," Danny huffed.
"You're so needy, Danny," I teased, poking him.
"Am not," he grumbled, leaning back in his chair.
"Yes, you are. Don't worry, I'll walk home with you tonight. You obviously can't go one evening without me."
Danny crossed his arms, letting his blonde locks conceal his eyes. "Get over yourself. I can't go one evening without your cookies," he muttered under his breath.
"And you think I'll make you cookies after magic class today?" Now it was my turn to huff. "You think I'm a scaredy-cat!"
Danny bit his lip in that infuriating way when he tries to conceal a grin. "Millie," he started slowly, biting his lip harder at my angry expression. Amusing was not the effect I was going for at the moment. "Mill, you got goosebumps."
"It was cold! I was sitting under the shade. You were in the sun so you wouldn't know."
Danny chuckled under his breath, harmonizing with the squeal of his chair. Any movement he made caused the metal foldouts to whine in protest under his weight.
"Are you laughing at me?" I exclaimed, dropping my voice to a whisper. Ms. Wosner, the English teacher, was giving us the eye. I slid my blank paper closer and wrote down my name, hoping that would be enough to make her think I was working.
"Are you going to try and do the assignment now! There's five minutes left, you know that right?"
"Yes," I said sullenly. "If you'd stop bothering me than I could at least come up with my argument."
"Mill," Danny laughed, "This is a short story assignment, not an opinion piece. It's written on the board."
"I knew that," I mumbled, pouting. "Where's your story then? Your page is blank too."
"Actually, it's not," Danny said, flipping it over to reveal each line filled with neat handwriting.
So not fair. "When did you do that!" And when did his handwriting get so nice?
"When you were daydreaming."
"Why weren't you daydreaming with me, huh? Since when did you pay attention?" I asked sulkily.
Danny shrugged, a little sheepish. "There was nothing else to do..."
"Oh, so now it's my fault you're a good student. I am to blame for the demise of slacker Danny. Well, I don't want that responsibility! You can say goodbye to my cookies tonight - teach you a lesson." I inserted a hmph in there for good measure and turned my nose away.
"Millie, c'mon," Danny pleaded. "I promise I won't do any work in English tomorrow. Or Ancient Languages. And Math, I will never pay attention in that class until the day I die. Cross my heart." He looked at me from under enviously thick lashes. He had his begging puppy dog eyes turned up full force. I looked back to the front of the class at those stupid letters that spelled out our stupid assignment I hadn't bothered to read before. I was determined not to budge. Being one half of a pair of slackers was acceptable, but being the lone slacker friend amongst our group would earn me the title of the loser friend. I did not want to be the loser friend.
A lean forearm slid into my peripheral. "I'll let you slap my arm," Danny coaxed. "I know you wanted to in Magic class." His offer was tempting...
My hand shot out without warning and smacked his arm with a resounding slap. I smiled mischievously at his silent cry of pain. Ms. Wosner gave us a stern look which I ignored, basking in the sight of the red welt that had appeared on Danny's arm.
Satisfied, I threw Danny a bone, "If you're nice to me on our walk home then I will consider making cookies."
"That means you're making me cookies," he said with a grin, shaking his arm out.
"I was going to make them anyway," I refuted, but the bell drowned out my voice. Danny and I immediately hiked up our bags and made for the door, always eager to waste no time in leaving.
"Do you think Eli survived magic class today?" I overheard Brad whisper to Forest on our way out.
"I think we would have heard by now."
"Maybe," said Brad, sounding disappointed. "Think she'll try something after school? Break his leg this time or something."
"No sure. Why do you care so much?" Forest asked.
"Well, he's a dick.
"And getting choked wasn't enough?"
"He shoved me because I was in his way in the hall this morning. Like he can't walk around. I wish he'd lose a hand."
Danny and I both grinned, walking behind unnoticed.
"Maybe Aura is taking requests." Forest suggested.
"Sure, and have my body found by Hreya river next morning? No way am I going anywhere near her, she's psychotic. I'll just keep my fingers crossed she gets rid of Eli before I break a shoulder," Brad grumbled.
"Did you see Eli's face this morning though? He was sweating."
"Yeah," Brad chuckled, "bet he wet his bed last night."
Crash!
In the blink of an eye Brad went flying to the right, taking Forest with him, and smashed into the wall of lockers. Brad and Forest crumpled to the floor, their flimsy frames not even leaving a dent in the metal. Eli stormed past without a look back.
Danny stood glaring after him, not noticing as I helped Brad and Forest up.
I nudged Danny, "Are you going to go after him?"
Danny snorted, "Why? We're not in love."
"But he's your friend. Don't you care that... he's... upset..." I trailed off meekly as Danny gave me a derisive look. We continued down the hall in silence.
Outside Cira stood waiting against the school wall. He pushed off to match our quick stride.
"Hey, did you guys see Eli?"
"Yeah," I said when Danny didn't answer, he was staring ahead in silence. Cira gave him a curious look then turned to me.
"Do you know what's wrong with him? He looked pretty mad."
"Aura," I replied.
"Did she..." Cira put his hands to his neck and mimed choking himself, "again?"
A smile twisted my lips. "No-o-o, it's because people are saying Eli looks scared. He doesn't like that he's losing his macho status."
"Ah," Cira laughed, "So the guy has an ego."
"Massive," I confirmed.
We headed down the road in silence. On one side was Danny, stone-faced and silent, and on the other was Cira, glancing at me every few seconds with a shy smile on his perfectly chiseled face.
"Can I ask you something?" Cira asked after a few minutes.
"Anything."
"What's the deal with Aura?" Anything but that.
"Deal? As in her deal? Cause she's straight," I said, evading his real question.
"No, that's not what I meant," he said, shaking his head, amused.
"Then do you mean deal as in the choking Eli thing? She's just a bit intense. And overprotective of me. She's really quite nice when you get to know her, as long as you're not an ass."
Cira grinned and I continued, implementing a distract until they forget technique. I saw it on a sitcom once.
"Or do you mean deal as in how in the world did she actually choke Eli like that? Well, I don't know the specifics, that's the problem with air fairies, their element is invisible. But I can confirm she is very skilled. I don't know if she's crazy powerful like everyone is saying, but Alfea did ask her to attend, so it's quite possible she'll take over Dyamond as the omnipotent ruler in the near future.
"Big word for someone so dumb, I know. Aura taught it to me. That's her other deal, when you hang around her you somehow absorb all her useless knowledge. I could walk next to her in silence and my brain starts to fill with things I never new by osmosis. See, osmosis, another big word I never needed to know, thanks to Aura.
"Oh, and her other deal is that –"
"Millie, you don't have to talk about it if it makes you uncomfortable," Cira interrupted. Good thing too, Aura wouldn't be happy if she found out I was talking about her. Anonymity is number three on her list of most important things in life. Her current situation really isn't ideal.
"I'm sorry," Cira apologized. He looked so sincere with his head bowed to the ground.
"Don't be. I don't know when you moved to town, but I doubt you heard much about it."
"I hear so many accounts at school I don't know what's rumour or not."
His dark eyes caught mine and I felt the wall separating my feelings from my mouth crumble. "I like that you want to know the truth," I whispered.
"Why?"
"Because everyone else accepts the lies."
I dropped my eyes. Out of the corner I caught Danny's gaze flicker towards me. It was over in an instant, but I didn't miss it. I worried he could hear my fluttering heartbeat and the deep breath I took to steady it.
"Will you tell me the truth?" Cira asked quietly. His eyes fixed on me again and I felt like we were all alone.
I pointed into the distance at the thin line that was the bridge. "It happened just on the other side of the river." Cira looked, and even though Danny's eyes were already pointed towards it, I felt his focus heighten on the bridge and my words.
"A week before school started she was walking home late at night. She lives on this side of the bridge, and she usually cuts through the field to get home from my house." My voice hitched at the last part. I felt two pairs of eyes on me and I knew it did not go unnoticed.
I swallowed, pushing the lump in my throat down to my stomach. "This man started chasing her. He wasn't drunk or on drugs like everyone's saying, they ran tests on his body. He was trying to hurt her. He backed her to the edge of the ravine, there was nowhere for her to run. She was scared and alone, and I don't know if she screamed or not but there's no one nearby to hear.
"She summoned wind to knock him to the ground so she could escape, but it worked a little too well. The wall of air she threw at him was so strong that she crushed his chest cavity, along with his lungs and heart. He died almost instantly."
I stopped in the middle of the bridge, staring into the field, searching for where it had happened.
"She was the one in danger. She was trying to protect herself, and now everyone's treating her like a monster."
"How come no one else knows this?" asked Cira.
"It's still under investigation. All anyone knows is that a man died and Aura was there."
"How is she handling it?"
I turned my head. "Not well. At least I think."
"You haven't talked about it?"
No, we hadn't. But I didn't want to admit that my best friend hadn't told me anything. Danny answered Cira instead. "Would you be able to talk about it if you were in her shoes?"
"No. Not yet at least," Cira replied. And then the guilt set in. Did I push Aura too hard that first day back at school? I should have just kept my mouth shut. And after, why was I whining about Alfea and pushing to know who she was looking for today. I wanted to bang my head against a wall to knock out all my insensitivity.
"How do you know all this?" Cira asked me.
"Her mum's the mayor," Danny answered for me. "C'mon, let's get out of here." He grabbed my arm and tugged, pulling me away from the bridge, my search of the field, and this conversation.
Walking home my head hung low and my feet dragged, scuffing my ratty sneakers in the process. Cira's looked guilty for bringing this topic up in the first place, but I was too caught up in my own whirlpool of melancholy to try and lighten the mood. That burden fell on Danny.
His icy silence from before had melted and he was playfully tugging at my arm, bag, hair, anything he could really to physically pull my mood up. Or maybe he was just trying to annoy me, cause irritation would have been more welcome than this stupor I was in.
"I think this mood calls for cookies," Danny hinted. I shook my head despondantly. "You know you want to," he sung, executing a sloppy spin. "It's the only thing that gets you out of a mood."
"I'm not in a mood," I mumbled.
"Oh, yes you are!" Danny crooned, "And the only thing that will fix it is baking. You fail a test, you bake. You find out about Paya's dating life from Rachel, you bake. Remember that day you broke a nail, lost your earring, and Brad spilt his lunch on you? Well, I do, and you baked."
"Thanks for the reminder."
"Don't expect me to leave you to bake cookies alone, with no company, and no one to complement them when they're done."
We had reached the grey brick façade of my house and I turned, reaching out a hand to forcibly hold Danny back. A smile cracked my features. "You can stay. But, I am making brownies."
Danny ruffled my hair, "I'll even let you lick the bowl this time." He side-stepped me and disappeared behind the red front door as if it were his own.
"After you," Cira said, gesturing to the gap behind me. I bit my lip and entered.
And there stood my mother, like a ghost appearing from thin air. Her highlighted hair was in a perfect blow-out, her grey patterned dress skin-tight and wrinkle free, and her face carved from stone.
"Who is this?" she demanded without even a single hello as Cira entered behind me.
This day did not want to get better. "Mum, Cira. Cira, my mother, the mayor."
"I did not ask for an introduction I asked for an explanation, Millennia. I have a right to know everyone who enters this house."
Danny's head popped out from behind the fridge door. "Shon of me mums fiend," Danny called through a mouthful of leftovers he had raided.
My mother didn't even glance in Danny's direction, her eyes locked on mine. "You have never mentioned this boy before, so why is he suddenly in our house?"
Cira stepped forward extending a hand, "I am new in town, Mayor..."
"Mayor Lustrum," my mother finished curtly. She appraised him with her perfectly lined eyes, "When did you move here?"
"Just a few days ago, Ma'am. I haven't had a chance to meet many new faces yet."
"Do you get good grades?"
"Yes Ma'am." Cira answered without hesitation. Short answer too, my mother's favourite kind.
"Good. If you are going to be spending time with my daughter then put it to good use and teach her how to get a grade above a D."
With that my mother strode out the door and called one last goodbye behind her, "Clean up any mess you make in the kitchen." The door swung shut in my face and my shoulders slumped.
"Soooo, that's your mom," said Cira, staring at the closed door.
"That's our mayor."
"She's a right bitch," Danny called from the kitchen. I didn't have the energy to argue with Danny today, not that there was much to argue with after that introduction.
I kicked off my shoes and rolled up my sleeves. "How does a double batch sound?" Danny grinned, already having assembled all the ingredients I needed on the counter.