Gifted: The Winterwood Academy Book 1: A Young Adult Witch Novel

by Kate A. Fox

  THAT NIGHT, AFTER FINALLY CONVINCING BOBBY’S PARENTS TO LET her stay over, we sat on my bed as we had so often done before she left for Plymouth. The incident at Frosty’s seemed entirely forgotten and she was braiding my hair into two French plaits as we listened to the UK Top 40 on Spotify. It wasn’t really my kind of music but it was Bobby’s first night back in London and so whatever she wanted, she was going to get.

  We’d already stuffed ourselves full of ice cream at Frosty’s but that didn’t stop us from pigging out on doritos, chocolate and basically anything we could find in the kitchen cupboards.

  I was just beginning to relax, trying my hardest to forget all about the woman in the alleyway, when Bobby spoke up.

  “So I heard there’s a party at Billy Bradbury’s tomorrow night?” She said it as though it was a question but we both knew the answer already.

  When she hadn’t brought it up right away I had hoped that word hadn’t gotten to her and I could avoid it all together.

  She wrapped a hair tie around the bottom of the second braid she’d just finished and moved to sit next to me.

  I purposefully avoided her gaze and made a show of getting off the bed to look in the mirror at her fine work. Bobby wasn’t only good at nails. She was great at hair too.

  “You did a great job.” I said in an attempt to avoid the subject.

  “Don’t try and get out of it like that.” Bobby said and even without looking at her, I knew she was scowling at me, “You know we’re going, right? It’s been ages since I went to a good party and Billy always throws the best!”

  “If by the best you mean parties that usually get shut down by the cops because he gets too big for his boots and invites the entire school to swim in his pool, drink his dad’s whisky and smoke his mum’s pot.”

  I didn’t mention the extra-curricular activities of the party goers. Neither of us even needed to mention the fact that everyone at school hooked up at those damn things. Everyone except me. I was still determined to stay well away from boys and their wicked ways of trying to get into girls pants.

  “Come on. Don’t be such a killjoy! We have to go.”

  Remember when I said this was Bobby’s first night back in London and she was going to get whatever she wanted? Well I really didn’t want to give her this.

  “Please, Brianna!” she said in a whiny, pleading tone, “Don’t shoot down my last night of freedom before I have to go all the way to Germany.”

  Bobby was just like Polly. She always knew how to get what she wanted from me. I mean, how could I say no to those huge brown eyes?

  That’s exactly why I was trying my hardest not to look at her. She made it extremely difficult when she moved to look at me through the mirror and our eyes met.

  She had the puppy-dog look down to a tee. How are her and Polly not related?

  I cringed at the thought. That would have made things so awkward between her and Peter.

  Speaking of…

  “I was supposed to go with Peter but he dropped me for that piece of trash he calls a girlfriend.”

  “Well we can’t have that!” Bobby snapped at me and she climbed off the bed to head to the wardrobe, “We need to make sure you look like a pretty cherry bombshell.”

  By cherry I knew she was talking about my hair. I also knew that there was no way anyone would ever consider me a bombshell.

  “I don’t want to impress Peter.” I protested.

  “You know that and I know that but Lola doesn’t know that.” Bobby winked at me as she threw open the wardrobe door and I knew that she was forming an absolutely devilish plan in that sadistic little head of hers. Bobby knew exactly how to get under the popular girls skin and I loved it. At least when it didn’t involve me as the main playing piece.

  CHAPTER 7

  I CAN’T BELIEVE I LET BOBBY TALK ME INTO this. I was already feeling majorly self-conscious as I stood on the pavement outside Billy’s house and we hadn’t even gone inside yet.

  Bobby had practically made me her barbie doll, curling my hair and piling the makeup onto my face. Not to mention the skin tight dress she’d found in Nicola’s closet.

  I knew Nicola wouldn’t mind me borrowing her clothes, but still, I felt so ridiculous. Even more so when I tried to walk in the heeled boots that were the highest pair of shoes that I owned. What the hell was I thinking when I let Bobby talk me into buying six inch heels?

  Maybe it was because I knew she was leaving and I hoped that I’d never actually have to wear them? The only time I ever had was when I tried them on in the shop and hobbled about in them like an idiot.

  Music was booming out through the open windows of the house and I was almost sure that there would have been a million calls from the neighbours to the cops by midnight.

  Several kids were milling about on the lawn with a couple more sitting on the porch smoking with beer bottles in hand. They were making absolutely no attempt to hide what was going on.

  The main party was clearly going on in the backyard. The back gate was open and people seemed to be swarming through it in even greater numbers than I’d seen at Billy’s last party.

  “Are you going to stand there, gawking like an idiot, or are we going to go in?” Bobby smirked at me.

  She was hot as usual. Not the same made up hot that she’d made me but naturally hot. Unlike me she was gifted with a great set of boobs that were practically spilling out of her navy blue dress. The sides were cut out to reveal a part of her ribs and her lean abdomen. She was wearing a pair of bright red stiletto heels that made her legs look killer.

  She made me feel even more self-conscious and all I really wanted to do was go home.

  “Come on!” Bobby grabbed my arm when I remained silent and began to drag me down the garden path towards the gate.

  “Whit woo!” one of the guys on the porch yelled even as another began to whistle.

  “Jerks!” Bobby yelled back at them and continued through the gate, still dragging me behind her.

  It wasn’t until we came around to the back of the house, part a row of bushes, that we stopped and she finally released me.

  I had to admit that it did look as though everybody was having fun. Nobody had made it into the pool yet but there were crowds of people all around it. There were couples gyrating to the music and guys playing beer pong. A few people were perched on the seating area of the decking at the back of the house where a firepit was burning brightly.

  I found myself glancing around, not at all sure what I was looking for. But the moment that I saw them I realised what it had been.

  Peter and Lola were stood close to the music booth where Billy was awkwardly trying to look like some kind of famous DJ. the truth was he looked like an idiot with one headphone perched on his ear and the other slipped down around his neck.

  Almost as though he had sensed us, Peter’s eyes travelled from Lola to us. When his gaze fell on Bobby I was almost sure that I saw his heart stop.

  Lola, insanely jealous as she was, turned the moment his attention was gone from her.

  She glared at us across the pool and if her eyes could have reached out and touched me they would have slapped me clean across the face.

  “Here we go.” I muttered under my breath.

  “Did you say something?” Bobby asked.

  She had been so busy scanning the groups of people that she hadn’t even noticed the exchange. I was sort of relieved about that.

  “No, no.” I shook my head.

  “Okay, good. I’ll go inside and grab us a drink.” Bobby said, “Why don’t you go and see if you can get us a seat? Not that you’ll have much luck.”

  From the looks of it she was probably right. There were so many people that the garden fence was pretty much filled to bursting.

  I watched Bobby go before turning my attention to the decking, careful not to catch Lola’s eye as I went.

  “Hey, it’s Red!” one of the guys on the decking pinned me as soon as I approached.

  G
reat. Just what I needed - to find myself in the middle of the school football team (all but Peter who was usually my barrier).

  I hated it when Peter called me Red but when these guys did it, it was even worse.

  “Hey Red! Come, sit with us!” The guy sitting next to the first douchebag tapped the smallest of spots beside him on the palette style seating area. As if I was going to be able to fit my thick butt in there.

  “Come on!” the first guy (Craig, I think his name was) waved me over.

  “I’m not sure there is room.” I said, almost shyly.

  I hated being put on the spot like this. To make matters worse, the few girls who were mixed in with the football team glared at me as though I was something that they’d found on the bottom of their shoe. They were threatened by me because I was in their territory. Even if all the guys weren’t taken, they weren’t about to just let anyone walk in there and cozy up to them. These girls may not have been Lola-bots but they were much worse. These weren’t dolls that would jump up and down whenever Lola told them to. They were Lolas’; each one of them just as bitchy as the next.

  “Sure, Red, why don’t you come sit with us?” tall, blonde and bristly, Nadine, said the nickname as though it was the vilest of insults.

  What is it with hot blondes thinking they run the world?

  “Naddie, don’t be such a bitch.” Jenny, her mixed race friend, chuckled, “I’m sure Brianna only wants to sit down.”

  Though her words were kind, and she even used my name, I could hear the cold, sterileness of her tone which said she was just as snakey as the rest of them.

  I opened my mouth to speak, not at all sure what to say, when I heard the sound of someone clearing their throat behind me.

  “How’s it hanging, guys?”

  Peter’s voice almost made me jump out of my skin and I whipped around to see him stood behind me, not a Lola in sight.

  “Whoa! Red!” he gaped at me as I turned and his jaw practically hit the floor, “You look....incredible.”

  He eyed me up and down, drinking in the sight of me as if I was a cold drink on a hot day.

  “Careful bro.” Craig chuckled, “Don’t let Lola hear you saying crap like that.”

  Peter gave his friend a warning glance that said, ‘she’ll never know if you don’t tell her’. Then he turned back to me.

  “I hope these jerks aren’t giving you any trouble.”

  “Not at all!” Nadine piped up, “Harry was just offering Brianna a seat.”

  That was the name of the second guy - Harry.

  “There you are!” Bobby’s chirpy voice sounded behind Peter then and I felt my heart beat hitch up a notch.

  As if it wasn’t bad enough that Peter was talking to me, calling me incredible, in front of all these people. Lola was going to have fit if she saw him talking to me and his previous fling.

  Almost as if my thoughts had conjured her up, Lola appeared beside me.

  “Well isn’t this cozy?” she said but her expression was less than impressed. She offered me only a cursory glance before turning to Bobby.

  The look that passed between the two of them was like a look that passed between two lionesses from opposing prides before they began trying to rip each other’s throats out.

  “You must be Bobby.” Lola offered her a cold, calculated smile.

  “I think you know very well who I am.” Bobby smirked back at her, satisfied that she had been the one to have Peter first. That was definitely going to piss Lola off big time.

  I was a little glad that her backup wasn’t anywhere in sight. Maybe she would be careful about her bitchiness without them to back her up.

  When I heard Nadine and Jenny gasp I wasn’t so sure.

  “Are you seriously going to let her speak to you like that?” Nadine said, stirring the pot. I only wished she would eat the crap right off the spoon.

  When I chanced a glance at her she was smirking as though she couldn’t wait to see what went down.

  Nadine’s words seemed to rile Lola up and before I’d even looked back around she had thrown herself at Bobby.

  The drinks she’d been holding were flung away like discarded rubbish and the two of them became locked, arm in arm, like two fighting cats.

  They tousled around and around, forcing Peter to dodge out of the way.

  I wasn’t so lucky. My damned boots left me at a disadvantage and before I knew what had hit me, I found myself flailing my arms and legs as I was thrown backwards.

  The ground fell away from me and suddenly water was rushing up around me. The chlorine rich liquid burst into my open mouth, pounding in my ears and confusing my senses until I had no idea which way was up.

  CHAPTER 8

  I WAS A GOOD SWIMMER. AT LEAST I USUALLY was. Right now I was the furthest thing from it. I was so shocked by what had happened that I had no idea what to do. My arms and legs flew out in all directions as I tried desperately to get my bearings.

  God help me!

  If I didn’t get a handle on myself I was going to drown.

  I was so frantic I had no idea which way to turn. Where was the surface? The pool lights were so bright that I couldn’t tell whether they were just that or the lights coming from the garden above.

  There was no way of knowing which way to try to go.

  Disoriented. Confused. Scared.

  I was suspended in the deep pool, unsure of what to do.

  Then I felt a hand grip around my wrist.

  It was a strong hand, oddly warm considering the temperature of the pool was bracingly cold, so cold it had knocked the wind out of me.

  My eyes which had been closed to stop the stinging sensation caused by the chlorine suddenly burst upon and I felt as though my lungs were being filled with air.

  A warm, tingling sensation enveloped me and as my head turned I saw her. Not the woman from the alleyway but the woman that had come to me in my dream.

  Her white-silver hair floated around her like a halo. She was smiling at me comfortingly, her face bright. She seemed to glow from within just as she had in the meadow.

  Am I dying?

  If I was seeing her then I had to be.

  Yet I wasn’t scared anymore. In fact, I was quite the opposite.

  Though she was simply floating next to me I felt as though her warm embrace was all around me, protecting me from the water that threatened to drain the life from my lungs.

  Then suddenly something hard and heavy hit her. The object burst right through her, causing the image of her to totally disperse.

  My eyes blinked, almost in slow motion, and when I opened them again Peter was before me. Instinctively my hand reached out to grip his outstretched arm and he gripped hold of me, dragging me to the surface with him.

  The moment my head broke the water I began to cough and splutter. My cheeks burned red with heat when I noticed all the kids who had approached the edge of the pool to watch. Not a single one of them looked as though they were ready to leap in to rescue me.

  I was clutching hold of Peter so tightly that I thought I might break his arm. Lola was watching me with that same expression of licking pee off a nettle but I didn’t care.

  Right now Peter was my life raft and I was going to hold onto him for dear life.

  “You okay, Bri?” Peter’s voice sounded oddly distant. I could barely hear him through the pounding of blood and water in my ears. But I was still relieved that he hadn’t called me Red.

  When I didn’t answer Peter began to drag me towards the edge of the pool as though he was a lifeguard. He held my head up above the water, careful not to choke me with his hand resting just beneath my chin.

  “My God, Bri. Are you okay?” Bobby was on her knees at the side of the pool, reaching out for me to drag me out of the water with Peter’s help.

  I didn’t start breathing again until I found myself back on solid ground. My back rested against the solid, cold ground that was no longer warmed by the summer sun. Even the warmth of the evening could
n’t chase away the chill that gripped my entire body.

  I shivered even as I coughed up a mouthful of water and Bobby quickly turned me onto my side.

  “Is she alright?” Peter asked as though I wasn’t able to conceive his question. He used his muscular arms to pull himself up out of the water and suddenly he was crouching over me, right opposite Bobby.

  Their eyes connected over me and suddenly I felt like an afterthought.

  ‘Hey! Down here! I’m the one who just nearly died!’ I wanted to screech at them but I was still so breathless that I couldn’t speak.

  When I finally managed to catch my breath, I uttered, “I want to go home.”

  My entire body was wracked by a gut wrenching cough.

  “I can take you.” Peter offered.

  “No way! You smell like a brewery!” Bobby snapped at him and shoved him away from me. We were so close to the pool’s edge that I was worried she might have knocked him back in.

  Luckily for me, Peter was way too built for that and he barely moved an inch.

  “Bobby is right.” Lola stood over us then, glaring at me as though she hated the fact that Peter’s attention was on me, “I’m sure Brianna can make her own way home.”

  “I’ll go with her.” Bobby suggested and even as she began to help me to my feet, I pushed her away.

  “No. I can go myself.” I shook my head.

  “You’re in no fit state…” Peter began but I was already making my way out of the garden, past the kids who were staring at me unable to hide the amusement on their faces.

  I managed to reach the garden gate just before hot, embarrassed tears began to streak down my face.

  ***

  By the time I had managed to walk home, removing my stupid boots that had gotten me into the mess in the first place, I wasn’t quite so wet. All Bobby’s hard work had gone to crap and my hair hung in lank strands all around my face. No doubt there were probably streaks of makeup running down my cheeks but I had just barely managed to stop myself from crying.

  I took the steps up to the flat two at a time, my boots knocking against my leg as I ran.