Birds
“WAKE UP, DOMINICK! YOU’RE GONNA BE LATE!” Mom yelled from downstairs,
This is important, I can’t be late. I grabbed my clothes, socks, and shoes from the closet and got dressed. I grabbed my backpack from off the back of my chair and ran downstairs.
The clock read 6:33 AM.
“I wasn’t gonna be late, Mom. Class doesn’t start ‘till 8,” I told her.
“No but it’d be nice if you ate with us every once in a while,” she said, smiling at me.
I walked back upstairs and took a shower. I checked the clock again and it read 6:55 AM. I got dressed in the uniform they sent me yesterday and headed downstairs. I grabbed my hoodie and threw it on over top of it because I didn’t like the uniform all that much.
I sat down and grabbed the cereal from the middle of the table and poured it into the bowl.
“Dad, milk?” I asked him.
He slid over the milk. I took off the cap and poured it into my cereal. I usually skip breakfast. I got a spoonful of cereal and began eating.
“Mmrf-” I said, with a mouth full of cereal.
“Don’t talk with food in your mouth,” Mom said to me. I swallowed the cereal I was eating.
“Mom,” I asked, again.
“Yes, Dom?” she replied.
“Didn’t you two go to Lixarts?” I pointed to Mom and Dad.
“Yeah, we did, that’s where we met and I knew right then it was love.”
“So did I, honey,” Dad chimed in.
They got up and started hugging.
Dad looked at me and smirked.
Around 25 minutes had passed of us 3 talking and eating together as a family. I got up and grabbed my backpack and walked out the door.
“Dom, be better than we were at your age,” Mom shouted.
“Bye Mom, Bye Dad.” I said, waving bye to them.
“Bye, Dom,” they said, in unison.
I walked outside to the sign that read “Portal”. There were intricate engravings in the ground, it looked like some sort of a magic circle. I walked down the sidewalk and stepped onto the circle. The other 4 students there looked at me. Two of them were boys and the other two were girls; who strangely looked almost identical. A blinding light engulfed us as we were instantaneously teleported to the front door of the school. The door loomed over us as we walked in.
A girl with ocean blue hair walked past me. It seemed like she didn’t like the uniform as she wore a black sweater with a rose emblem on the top left of it. She smelled like vanilla as her perfume wafted into my nostrils as she stomped by.
Suddenly, she stopped and turned around.
“What are you looking at, weirdo?” She said, facing me.
I looked around to see students scurrying past me, in a frenzy to make it to their classes.
“Me?” I pointed at myself.
“Yes, you,” She walked over. Her combat boots stomped against the marble floor as she stood face to face with me now.
“I wasn’t looking at you,” I turned to walk away.
“Yes, you were,” she grabbed my shoulder with unusually strong strength.
I grabbed her hand and pried it off of my shoulder.
A look of surprise spread across her face.
I waved and walked away.
I walked over to one of the windows and looked outside.
It was a huge campus. It had 3 separate buildings with a giant parking lot, a comically large water fountain, a school store, an outdoor and indoor corridor, a food court, floating gardens, and an observatory. The school is supported by a magical core under the school that keeps it afloat.
I’ll explain how the day works to you. Classes start at 8:00 AM and there’s a total of 5 classes throughout the day until 4:00 PM. First class is Magic History which is in Room 235. The classes that follow are listed as followed (in order), Magic Rituals, Counter Spellcasting, lunch, Alchemy, and lastly, Training. There are X and Y days, different classes every other day. The first day of school is always an X day.
My classes on a Y day are Medicine, Ward Creation, Charm Creation, lunch, Gardening, and Magic Sports.
The bell rang interrupted my thoughts as the clock struck 7:30.
I looked at the time which read 7:45. Since I had already walked around, I knew the general areas for where most of the subject halls should be located. It only took me around 5 minutes to get to Room 235.
I walked in and there seemed to be around 13 students with about 30 tables in the classroom altogether. The teacher waved me over. He looked to be in his mid 40s, gray hair and gray facial hair. He wore a sweater with the face of an old TV character on it and a pair of jeans.
“And you are…?” he said, staring into my soul.
“Oh. I’m Dominick. I’m new here, we just moved to Wintermere,” I responded.
“Oh, I heard about a new student. Welcome! How do you like it so far?”
“Love to tell you but I just got there a few days ago,” I responded.
“Well, you’ll be sitting over there,” he pointed to the back corner, next to a girl.
“Alright, thank you, sir.” I replied, giving him a smile.
“It’s Mr. Willowsky,” he said, sitting back down at his desk.
I sat down and pulled out my book from my backpack. I began reading.
I looked at the girl next to me. That’s the girl from earlier.
“Hey, I’m Dom-”
“I have ears. You’re literally right there. I’m Aura, now leave me alone,” she grabbed her book and started reading.
After a while most of the students came pouring in, 15 of them, 2 never showed. Most of them looked at me with a perplexed expression as they walked towards their seats. Luckily, no one sits next to me besides her.
The bell rang and Mr. Willowsky took attendance before when he was showing everyone their assigned seats. Some of the students complained to Mr. Willowsky about the assigned seating saying, “We’re not kids,” amongst other things.
“It’s temporary. It’s just to feel out the environment of this class. Don’t worry, you’re not my only class with the assigned seating,” he said.
The rest of the class was him explaining the basics of the class, the rules we are expected to follow and the syllabus, which was explained in every class throughout the day. We didn’t do any work today which was a plus.
The sun was beating down on the pavement as the final bell rang and the announcements came on.
“Thanks for a wonderful first day and I hope you guys enjoy your time here! Have a good day!” The principal said,
CLICK
The phone hung up.
The students ran out of the school like an avalanche, finding their friends. The magic portals lit up outside. They were designated by number and location. I looked over and saw Aura. I picked up the pace and jogged over to her.
“We’re going to be seeing each other a lot. I feel like we should try to get along,” I said to her.
She looked over with an annoyed expression.
“Fine, but that really just entails you leaving me alone, ok?”
“That’s not what I meant-”
She was already walking away, giving me the finger; waving it back and forth.
I walked over to my designated portal and sighed. It lit up and teleported us back to the magic circle by my house. I walked down the pavement to my house. Dad was there, sitting on the porch.
“Hey, Dom,” my dad said, swinging slowly back and forth in the porch swing while holding a cup of hot cocoa.
“Hi, Dad, aren’t you cold?” I responded, teeth chattering as a response to the cold weather.
“Nope, feels nice, I grew up here,” he responded, smiling
I put my backpack on the rack hanging on the back of the door and walked back outside. I sat down next to Dad.
“How was Mom when you met her, Dad?” I asked him.
“Hm, that’s a random question,” He said, looking at me with a confident smirk.
Dad always knew when I had a crush, he’s always been able to read me like a book since I was little.
“I was just wondering if you guys, like, fell in love at first sight or did it take some time?” I replied.
“Let me tell you something I didn’t learn until I was your age. Son, love at first sight is not real.” he replied.
“Well, I figured as much but I just wanted to know.”
“Why? Is there a girl? Is she nice? Is she cuuuuute?” He put his lips together and started kissing the air.
“She’s cute but she is the furthest thing from nice.
“Oh, you like ‘em mean. You get it from your old man,” he pointed to himself, “but if you want my take on this-,”
“I wanna figure this out myself, Dad.” I said, cutting him off.
“You’re growing up-” he pretends to cry, “so fast,” he wipes an imaginary tear off his cheek.
“Listen up, son. It’s time I told you how I met your mother,” he set down his hot cocoa and leaned forward.