Dedicated to someone not on Wattpad, who has now moved about halfway round the world. We will miss you, EM2. This chapter is for you.
The rest of the lesson was boring. There was no easy way to put it. But, naturally, Laura and Timothy wanted to continue them. Which would be why I had another one scheduled in for the next afternoon. With mum sick, it was up to me and Christina to cook dinner. And we did. Christina was able to make a stir-fry (I'm not sure how, but it was delicious), and I ate it. I would've made dessert, but I didn't have any of the ingredients for chocolate pudding (Junior Masterchef, here we come!). Shame 'bout that. We all went to bed early, and I could have sworn I heard tears from Tina's room (though she denys it) (hey, I used next to no brackets in the last chapter. It's time to make up for that). Still, no more magic for the rest of that day. That was something to be happy about, at least.
Turns out, even though everyone had heard about our mum, that wasn't even the biggest topic at school. No, it wasn't Angie being away either. It had nothing to do with the disease. And, before you ask, it had nothing to do with 1D. No, the gossip was all about Gen leaving. Gen, because you probably don't know her, is funny, hyperactive, positive about nearly everything and popular (though she denys it). Despite all this, she is still a model student. No wonder everyone was talking about her. She was going at the end of the day (reason: unknown), so everyone wanted the chance to talk to her one last time. I couldn't blame them. The only problem was, with everyone trying to chat to her, I didn't get a chance. Tina did, though. Everyone did. Except me. Not a good start to the week.
Hayley and I chatted for most of the lunch. She was, to put it simply, incredibly excitable. And nuts. She was completely and utterly weird, chatty and obsessive over TV shows. Those were all her good points. Her only bad points were that she didn't always know when to shut up, had an awful sense of humor (as in she laughs at everything) and just couldn't work out when a joke was up. Still, she was a friend, an awesome person and we always got along. I can't remember how, but we eventually got onto the following topic:
'You know that book Em wanted to get? I started reading it. It's soooooo good! You should get it!'.
In case you've forgotten, that was the topic a few days back. 'Sorry, can't. Don't have any money to buy it. What happened in the latest Young Drac episode? I missed it.'. She was obsessed with that show. If that didn't get her off the topic, nothing would.
'Dunno. Missed it as well. I'm going to watch it on iView.'. Phew. Off the topic.
'And,' she continued, 'you don't need to buy the book. I can lend it to you.'.
Was this the worst day of my life or something?!? 'Nah, it's fine. I'll borrow it from the library. Who's it by?'.
'James Ascot. Only book by him I know of. And I checked. The library doesn't have it. I'll give it to you when I'm finished. No arguments.'. Why was that name familiar? That's when I worked it out. James was my father's, and that weird psychopathic guy's name. And Ascot-Brown was Carter's last name. Or, at least according to the curse-card-thingy it was. Were they working together? Did they have everything planned out for me?
'Er... Sophia? You still there?' Hayley asked.
I snapped to attention. 'Um, er, yeah. Sorry, drifted out for a few seconds!'.
Then I was saved from awkward questioning by the bell. I could've kissed it. Except that would've been seriously unhygienic. And just plain weird. So, naturally, a picture would've ended up online. (Murphy's law, people. If something can go wrong, it will. Applies to my life pretty well) .
Best way to end a school day: doing extension maths homework (involuntarily, by the way) with a headache, having one of the nicest kids in school leaving, having a parent in a coma and with multiple psychos out to kill you and only basic magic to help you. Wait, sorry. That should read WORST way to end a school day. And trust me, I know. I've learnt the hard way. Even a looming apocalypse would be less stressful. Then my phone went off, just adding to my headache. Perfect. There was a text for me, that said the following message:
ANONYMOUS: Ready to talk now?
I quickly texted back.
S.ARDEN: Why should I be?
ANONYMOUS: I work with Laura Arwen and Timothy Gold. You can trust me. Main coffee shop, four-thirty.
S.ARDEN: The last person who said that was Carter. Forgive me for not trusting you.
They wouldn't use text shorthand. Might as well follow the example.
ANONYMOUS: I don't forgive easily. Sorry about that. Coffee shop, four-thirty. Can I expect you or not?
I texted back one word before I went to sleep, and left the world's problems behind for at least nine hours, before school.
S.ARDEN: Yes.