Charmwood Academy

by S C Thomas

  Her mouth fell open in shock. “Wh-what? Out of your hands? How the fuck is it out of your hands?”

  “Language young lady.” He said sternly, glaring at her for her choice of words.

  “You’re not the boss of me!” She spouted, a spittle of blood flying out of her mouth.

  “For one, I am the headmaster of this school. That makes me the boss of everyone. Two,” he held up two fingers as if she couldn’t count and Emma rolled her eyes dramatically, crossing her arms over her chest to emphasize that drama. “I am your uncle and sole guardian. I am the boss of you in and out of this school young lady. You will watch your language around me.”

  “Fuck, fuck, fuckity fuck.” She half sang, grinning when veins appeared in his right temple and she stamped her feet, flinching at the hardness of the ground, having forgotten she’d taken her heels off. “Why can’t you expel him? What he did was wrong on so many levels and no one tried to help her! They just – they just watched!”

  Marcus sighed and stood, approaching her, lifting her face up by the chin. “These can get an infection if you don’t go get them checked out and I’m no place to be patching you up. Sheryl will have a fit if I even so much as bandage you. You need to go to the infirmary.”

  “I’m not going anywhere.” She hissed, her words clamped together from the way he held her and yanked her head back. “I won’t go until you talk to me about this.”

  His jaw set tight and his eyes glazed over in annoyance and then he let out a long sigh, rubbing his scruff once more. “Alright, you’re a big girl, aren’t you? You had to learn things the hard way always running and hiding, didn’t you?”

  Emma shrugged, nodding slowly so as not to upset her head again.

  “If I expel him, our school could possibly be shut down.”

  She blinked. That was an answer she hadn’t been expecting. Furrowing her eyebrows, she tried to put together what the reasoning to his reply could possibly even mean but came up blank. “I don’t understand. How could one kid getting expelled mean the school get shut down?”

  “Possibly.” He corrected her and walked around his desk, fiddling with a stack of papers in front of his chair, though Emma doubted they had anything to do with the topic of choice. “His parents are huge donors. Without their support, a huge chunk of our budget is cut out and all they have to do is say the word and the others pull their kids out. Which in turn takes away the rest. One kid goes, they all end up going. I’ve seen it happen I can’t play the system, Emma.”

  Emma shook her head, the tears reappearing in the corners of her eyes. “If I had done that, would I be expelled?” He looked up at her in shock, his mouth opening to reply but she held a hand up, stopping him from speaking. “I doubt it. Because I’m your niece, right? I would just get away with it because your headmaster. What if someone, whose parents can’t afford to do large donations, did that? They would get expelled, wouldn’t they?”

  He swallowed nervously and hesitantly nodded to confirm her suspicions. She cleared her throat, drawing a shaky breath that rattled her lungs. She hacked out a rough cough, blinking away yellow dots in her vision once again.

  “You really need to go to the infirmary.” He pressed, genuinely concerned for her. “We can finish this conversation tomorrow when you’re feeling better.”

  “I’ll be pissed off more tomorrow.” She snapped, shaking her head. “You don’t want me to come back tomorrow, trust me. What Drake Caulderon did was wrong, extremely wrong and he needs to be punished. Can’t you at least give him detention for it?”

  His face twisted but it was enough for Emma to know the answer.

  “I got detention for punching Sherice in the face. I got detention for that and you can’t do fucking shit to Drake?”

  “Language.” He said loudly.

  “FUCK, FUCK, FUCKITY FUCK.” She screamed, satisfied by the beet red color to explode in his cheeks. “I don’t care, don’t you get that? Drake Caulderon needs to learn his lesson. This isn’t right, letting him get away with it! He almost made Kelyn get naked in front of everybody! And not a damn person could do anything about it. They didn’t want to, they couldn’t.”

  Her uncle sighed, shaking his head. “That’s just how it is, Emma.” He looked at her in pity. “I really am sorry your mother kept this world a secret from you. Had she not, it would’ve been easier for you to accept that scene as well, even if you don’t full approve of it. At least knowing this world sooner would’ve let you accept it.”

  “And whose damn fault is that?” She snarled, inciting a grimace of shame emit from him. “He needs to be punished.”

  Marcus shook his head, throwing his hands up in surrender. “I really can’t do anything right now, Emma. I don’t want to lose money for the school.”

  Emma glared at him, shaking her head. “My mother would’ve never let this fly.”

  His jaw ticked and he leaned towards her, lowering his voice. “You don’t know anything about your mother for this world, little girl. Don’t go saying things like you know it. You only know the person your mother was in front of you. She hid this world from you. Don’t you think she hid more? If you don’t, you’re naiver then I thought.”

  She stared at him and traitorous tears slipped down her cheeks from the words he had slapped at her. His face softened at the sight and he leaned back with a sigh.

  “I’m sorry, that was uncalled for.” He mumbled, looking away from her.

  “You don’t know anything.” She said in a wobbly voice, wiping the tears with the back of her hand. “You don’t know what my mother would’ve done.” Emma took a step back towards the door. “You’re no better than the rest of them. What he did was wrong, and you know it, but you’re turning the other cheek. Just like they all did.”

  Marcus opened his mouth but before he could speak, Emma spun on her heels and ran from his office, wiping at the tears that gave her away. She fell against a wall foot away, closing her eyes as she took in large gulps of air, trying to calm herself down before she made her way to the infirmary to find Kelyn. She needed to make sure her friend was okay. She didn’t care about the kiss. It was a reflex action and something that could easily be brushed to the side. Their friendship was far more important, and she had to make sure that Kelyn was alright.

  Staggering forward, blinking away the remaining tears, she let her feet lead her towards the infirmary, slapping against the cold stone ground and reminding her that she had left her shoes in her uncle’s office. Oh well, too late now. She couldn’t return just for a pair of shoes. She would have to get them some other time, after all she did have lessons with him. And there was pretty much no way to avoid her uncle when he ran the school and all he had to do was beckon for her to come to his office. She would avoid him as long as possible, she doubted it was going to last more than a couple days at the most – even without her lessons.

  As she rounded a corner, her name was called, relief in the way it was spoken surged through the one word. She looked up, spotting Josh and stopped dead in her tracks.

  “There you are!” He said happily, pulling her in for a hug against his chest as he got within arm’s length of her. She tensed, standing stock still against him. “I was so worried; I couldn’t find you. Where’ve you been?” He pulled back, examining her from head to foot. “Where are your shoes?”

  She blinked, pulling back from him, glaring at him.

  He flinched at the look she was giving him and drew slightly back. “Okay, so you’re mad at me.” It wasn’t a question, but she nodded in confirmation anyways. “Look, I can explain. I just didn’t want to get in his way when he had those goons of his holding you down – “

  “I obviously took care of myself.” She interjected; her tone flat as she spoke.

  His eyes searched her face. “Have you been crying? Who made you cry; I’ll fucking kill them.”

  “You did.” She snarled and he stepped back in shock, eyes going wide. “You didn’t help with Kelyn.”

 
He opened his mouth, rethought his words and closed it again, unsure what to say at the moment.

  “You let her get ridiculed like that! You didn’t do shit to step in, just like everyone else.”

  “There’s a code, Emma. I am sorry, but- I just – Look, I am sorry, alright? Come on, let’s get you to the infirmary. I don’t like the look of those cuts.” He reached for her but she veered back, stepping out of his reach.

  “I’m not going anywhere with you.”

  He blinked, surprise flickering his eyes. “What do you mean?”

  “You didn’t help, Josh. It’s one thing to not help me, your girlfriend, but a whole different story when it comes to someone being ridiculed that way! You should’ve stood up for her the way I did or something. Made him stop, I don’t know. But you did nothing but stand there.”

  He threw his hands up in exasperation, huffing out a breath of air. “What was I supposed to do? He would’ve done it anyways.”

  Emma narrowed her eyes at him. “You aren’t really sorry, are you? You just said that.”

  All he could do was stare at her, pity flitting through his look. But he stepped towards her, forcing her to take another one back. Her heart squeezed. She wanted to reach for him, for him to hold her and tell her everything was going to be alright, but she knew better then to do that. She was angry at him at the same time and the conflicted emotions was hurting her inside. She wanted it to stop hurting and knew he was the one who could make it stop but he was also the one who had made her hurt.

  “What do you want me to say, Emma? That I’m sorry. I’m sorry okay? There, I said it. Now let’s go get you checked out. You just need some rest; you’ll feel a lot better in the morning.”

  “I told you,” she said slowly through clenched teeth. “I’m not going anywhere with you.”

  “Now you’re just being ridiculous.” He took a quick step towards her, but she was just as quick when his hand flashed out, trying to grab at her. “Knock it off, Emma, let’s just go.”

  “No.” she took another hefty step back. “I don’t think I can be with you anymore.”

  His shoulders squared and panic flashed in his eyes. “What did you just say?”

  “I think you heard me clearly, Josh. I think we’re done.”

  He blinked rapidly, shaking his head. “No, no look you just need a night’s rest is all.” He persisted and tried to reach out for her again, his eyes glimmering in panic. “You just need to feel better.”

  “No.” She said flatly and walked around him in a wide circle, keeping her eyes directly on him to make sure he wasn’t going to follow her. “I’m breaking up with you.” Her voice cracked and she pulled her gaze away from him before the rest of her could break in front of him to and walked forward, breathing through her nostrils to keep from screaming and crying.

  “Emma, please!” He shouted to her, his voice echoing on the walls. “Please don’t do this.”

  Her heart felt like a hammer smashed into it and the pieces went flying everywhere. She wiped quickly as tears rolled down her cheeks, not wanting Kelyn to ask unnecessary questions when she found her. By the time she reached the infirmary, she had collected herself enough to not burst in front of anyone. Her eyes flashed to Sherice, not missing the girl at all as her usual group was surrounding her. They all looked at her, throwing her angry glares they didn’t dare try to hide. She held her head high, knowing full well they were royally ticked she had ruined their perfect night. Well, hers was ruined to!

  They’re a bunch of selfish bitches. Who cares how they feel?

  Getting to the end bed where a single girl lay, Emma looked down and breathed a sigh of relief to see her friend. Kelyn smiled weakly up at her and gave her a small wave. Emma bent down, holding up a hand to stop her from trying to sit up.

  “Tell your friends I’m in.” she whispered in the girl’s ear, enticing surprise to flash on her face, followed by a smile. “I want to fuck shit up.” She hissed and stood straight up, turning on her heel and left the way she had come.

  This time as she passed Sherice and her group, she turned and grinned at them, waving. “Having fun girls?” she asked sweetly and stormed out of the infirmary, her shoulders slumping once the doors slammed closed.

  Her head was spinning, pulling her deeper into her daze. She couldn’t believe everything that had just happened. Her fairytale night had been ruined and she no longer even had a prince charming. Wrapping her arms around herself, she moved forward, dragging her feet.

  If Happy Ever After’s did exist

  I would still be holding you like this

  All those fairy tales are full of it

  The song that drifted through her mind made her explode into a waterfall of tears and her feet picked up, carrying her in a run to her dorm room.

  Whoever said fairytales didn’t exist was damn right.

  Twenty-Five

  The books thumped down as they slipped from her fingers. She rubbed her forehead, sitting down with a plop in her seat. Emma dropped her face into her hands, giving a muffled groan into her hands. Since the night of the dance and her breakup, Emma had been focused solely on her studies - determined to get her head back in the game. The trials were approaching quicker than ever before and Emma desperately wanted to be part of them, she had to be.

  She was tired of being the outcast, somebody was leered at and avoided like the plague. It was worse now though, because since that night Kelyn was avoiding her. It was herself all over again from when had avoided Kelyn. The only difference was that Emma didn’t go searching for her, she let her be. She didn’t go to the dining hall either, she had no one to sit with either. And seeing Josh in there just hurt way too much. She was afraid if she made eye contact with him at all, she would fall to her knees and beg for him back. She had to keep herself away from him long enough for the pain to be numbed so she wouldn’t succumb back to him.

  Thinking about him brought the tears back. She couldn’t help it. She never thought that breaking up with a boyfriend could actually hurt so badly. Pushing him out of her mind, she took out a shaky breath, rubbing her face.

  She drew her eyes upwards, looking at the librarian who was hunched over her book as usual. She hardly ever spoke a word. Emma found that she actually preferred it that way. She was able to study alone, no interruptions of any kind. With no friends either, it made it even easier to focus. It was lonely, yes, but this way she had no one to distract her. Pulling her eyes back to the books, she flipped open one of them, staring absentmindedly at the words splayed across the page. She wasn’t comprehending them, couldn’t connect the words in her mind. As usual was her daily routine, she replayed the events of that night in her mind. It wasn’t just the breakup that liked to go on repeat like a broken record and make her crippled all over again. No, it was what had happened in the dining hall, instigated by Drake and how no one had done anything whatsoever.

  Her uncle was part of the problem to, desperate to keep the school running. Weren’t there other donors who could keep the school alive? Surely the other parents would understand why he would’ve done it, wouldn’t they? A little voice in the back of her mind told her that it wasn’t possible. That she was wrong. If they were the parents of those snotty brats who had cheered Drake on, they were going to be just as bad as their own kids – if not worse. After all, a child only learned hatred towards another from their parents. They weren’t born into the world deciding to hate them. If the parent showed hatred, the kid soaked it in and replicated it. So okay, the school would be ruined. The pride and joy of the Charmwood family would go down in flames. Was that so bad though to save the shifters from having harm done to them all over again? Probably. Because she wasn’t stupid and Emma knew that just because the school would be shut down, it wouldn’t stop the torment ensued upon them. They would switch schools and endure it from new people, maybe even old people who would also switch there. It would never end for them.

  How fair was that? To be stuck in a life where you
knew torment existed against you and your own kind. To know that when you did have children, they would just be tormented like you’d been. That had to be the worst part, knowing that whatever offspring you brought into the world would live upon the same treatment, maybe worse, as you had done.

  Then there was Drake Caulderon and Sherice Camtois themselves. The rulers of the school. Emma knew that if she wanted to, she could take it over in a heartbeat. This was pretty much her school anyways. Her uncle ruled, she ruled. If she wanted to, she could take those two down in a heartbeat and step in their places. She no longer had a king to stand by her side, but women were strong on their own so that didn’t really matter much. The only thing stopping her from doing so, was the fact she had no power to conquer. She had power, it was obvious in the way she tended to blow things up with her mind, but it wasn’t enough to take control of an entire student body – was it? Maybe it was. She could do what Drake did and stand her ground, invoke fear amongst them. She could do it, if she really wanted to. But Emma wasn’t that way. She wasn’t mean like them. The rulers of the school. They were able to get away with everything they wanted. They could do as they pleased and know they weren’t going to be punished for it, just because the fact their parents donated money to keep the place running. How pathetic was that?

  She knew something had to be done. Something had to be done about Drake Caulderon and Sherice Camden. It wasn’t right that they were able to treat anyone like that. To make a laughingstock out of them and humiliate them beyond recovery. Had Emma let it go through to the point Kelyn would’ve been naked in front of them all, she probably would’ve never shown her face in front of anyone again. Never would leave her dorm again. Emma had done the right thing in saving her, she knew in her heart she had done the right thing. She felt it in her bones, even if everyone cast her looks of pity when she walked by. Or that they whispered behind their hands, pointing at her, all over again. She was the plague, being avoided because they thought she was entirely insane. She wasn’t deaf though and she had heard some of what people said about her, they weren’t always whispering when she was around. She swore some deliberately spoke knowing she was within hearing range.