Page 52 of Mistaken Magic

Itried to ask him who was paying for this, but the man avoided the question twice without me even noticing.Ihad a feelingIknew the answer, though.WhenLiamhad agreed to take me under his wing, he'd meant it.Justlike he'd bought me clothes, he was now buying my accessories.Iwasn't sure how much a student counselor made, but allI'dheard, all my life, was how expensive we kids were.Ikinda felt guilty, so decided the best wayIcould pay him back was to make the best gradesIcould.

Forthe rest of the weekend,Ispent my time reading my textbooks and playing on my new phone.Ionly hadLiam'snumber in there, but the wifi access worked all over campus -and wasn't limited by school rules - which meantIhad internet and social media.Imay have stalked a few people from my old life, butItold myselfIwas just gloating.Myex fromDesMoineswas dating a freshman.TheguyI'dpunched had recently been dumped by his latest girlfriend, and she was posting pictures onInstagramto make it clear she was just fine.Unfortunately, no one seemed to miss me.

Itwas likeIwas a ghost.EvenatSilverOaks, it wasn't that much better.Noone really knew me, so no one invited me to do anything.OnSaturday,Iheard people down in the atrium.Lookingout my window,Isaw an entire group of kids running around having fun.Coupleswere poorly hidden in the nooks between bushes, kissing like they were all alone.Otherssat in groups laughing about whatever they were talking about.Me?Istudied, hoping that whenIwent back to my classes,Iwouldn't be quite so lost.

Then, onMonday,Lynnand her friends started pulling away.Theyweren't quite ignoring me, but close.Atfirst, it was subtle.Thegap between our chairs at lunch got bigger and they spent more time talking about their other friends than acknowledging me.Thenext day, no one even said hi, and onWednesday, my chair wasn't reallyatthe table, but more in the general area.Oddly, the more everyone else ignored me, the nicer the court became.

Itwasn't much, but at least once a dayIgot aPixyStixfromAspen.ByWednesday, she was saving all her orange ones for me.Notthat we talked much otherwise.Ifwe bumped into each other in the bathroom of our suite, we were nice.Ifshe saw me in the halls, she smiled.Mostly, she kinda just did her thing, but the sugar bribe kept me from going completely insane.

Thenthere wasTorian.Afterhis arrogance on the first day, he knewIwasn't impressed with his attitude.Ibasically ignored him, and he pretty much returned the favor.Tuesday,Itook tositting beside the nerdy guy in biology,Jeff, who'd been evicted for me the first day.Thatput the pair of us together at the back of the room, and leftToriansitting alone.

Harper, one of the jester girls, quickly tried to move in.Herbutt didn't even touch the seat beforeTorian'sglare had her changing her mind.Afew words were exchanged, but they were soft enoughIcouldn't hear them.Whenelectricity began to crackle around his fingers,Harperwas done.Sheturned around and went back to where she usually sat.Fromthe look onTorian'sface, he wasn't impressed.Unfortunately, from the way he turned around to glare at me,Iwas the one getting the blame.PoorJefflooked like he was worried about getting caught in the crossfire.

Evenworse was that the entire student body heard all about that little ordeal.HarpertoldKatrina, another of the jesters, and she told pretty much everyone else.Theking ofSilverOakshated the "mudblood."Ididn't know how to break it to them that they were mixing up their fantasy terms, but whatever.Thosetwo were the most popular girls at theInstitute, and when they got excited about something, so did everyone else.Exceptfor the court, of course.

Fromwhat gossip said, bothKatrinaandHarperwanted to be withTorian.Hewasn't interested, and was basically inseparable fromAspen.Aspenliked me, which meantIwas allowed to talk to the three most beautiful guys our age.AspenhatedHarperandKatrina, so they couldn't.Thus, the vengeance quickly turned on me.

Itdidn't take long before the jesters decided it was time to do something about it.Thefirst timeItripped in the hall,Ithought little of it.Myfoot bashed into someone's leg, andIwent down to one knee.Embarrassed,Iquickly picked myself up and kept going.ObviouslyIdidn't get the message they were trying tosend, because they tried again at lunch.Thistime, they planned better.

Withmy plate full of food,Iwas winding through the packed tables when everyone started to giggle at the jesters' table.Iblew it off.Itwasn't the first timeI'dbeen laughed at, andIhad a feeling it wouldn't be the last.Plus, being fae didn't really make them much different from any other popular group.IfIreacted to their tormenting, they'd simply torment a little more.Pretendingto be oblivious was my best defense.

ButIheard something.Itwas like a sizzle or a crackle.Isniffed, hoping that wasn't my hair, butIrefusedto turn around.Nope, the sniffing was bad enough.Then, just a few steps later, my ankle collided with someone's chair.Hard.

Istaggered and stumbled for two steps, trying to keep my balance.Iactually managed to catch myself, but to do so, my arms tilted.Theplate of food did too, and everything began to slide.Inslow motion,Iwatched as my entire lunch choice took to the air, and there wasn't a single thingIcould do to stop it.Theclatter as my fork and food hit the floor was deafening.Themess from my beef taco lunch looked like roadkill.Theburning feeling in my face was unbearable.

"Guessyou're lacking a little grace,"Harpergiggled from behind me. "Typicalfor your kind."

Thedining room was completely silent and everyone was staring at me.Thatwas whenIknew it hadn't been an accident.Notthe first time in the halls, and definitely not now.Standingthere, with every eye on me,IwishedIcould just die.WasIsupposed to find a janitor now?DidItry to clean it up myself?ShouldIgo get another lunch?Frozenin horror,Iclosed my eyes and did nothing.WhenIfinally opened them again, the first thingIsaw wasLynn'stable, devoid of any extra chairs for me to sit at.

I'dbeen banished.

Leavingeverything on the floor,Isimply left, using both hands to shove open the doors soIcould escape.Ididn't stop at the office to tellLiam.Ididn't pause to ask permission,Ijust walked right out the front door of theInstituteand kept going until my mind finally kicked back in.Shamehit first, but rage was right on the heels of that.They'dknownIdidn't have any magic to save my pride.Icouldn't keep my food from hitting the ground or clean it up with a flick of my finger.

Thosegirls had done this because they wanted to show the rest of the school they were winning against someone.Aspen'sfriendship had lifted me up more than the jesters were willing to tolerate.Me, a stupid human girl with absolutely no magic, was getting the one thing those half-bloods wanted most.Evenworse, they hadn't used magic to do it, almost like they were making a point.Theyjust didn't realizeIwasn'tfriends with the court!Iwas more like their pity case, or maybe even their personal amusement.Afterall,Iwas only going here becauseAspenfound me "interesting."

SoIcouldn't run from this.FirstbecauseIlived here, which meantIhad nowhere else to go.Second, because it wasn't right that those girls had decided my lack of magic was going to become their latest entertainment.Theyexpected me to tuck my tail between my legs and get the fuck out of their way, but they didn't know me at all.

Ihadn't done a single thing to them.Notafter their sneers, not when they started gossiping, and not even this time.Clearly, they thought that meantIwas an easy target.Sofar,I'dbeen working hard to learn about all the thingsI'dthought were myths.I'dkept to myself, hadn't caused problems, andI'dactually beengood!Myteachers had given me lesson plans to help me figure out whatI'dmissed - which took most of my free time - and my nose was usually in a book.Inall of my classes,Iwas behind, getting individual attention to get caught up, anddoing the regular coursework in my dorm.Ihadn't done a single thing to deserve being their enemy -Ididn't have the damned time to - sofuckthem!

Droppingonto a powder-coated metal bench in front of the school,Istared out at the landscaped acreage of theInstitute's"lawn."Ihadn't brought my coat and the blazer for my uniform wasn't quite warm enough for the weather, butIwas not going back inside.Tearsburned in my eyes, the frustrated and humiliated kind, and nothing was going to make them stop.Thelast thingIwas willing to do was let those amazingly beautiful people in there see me like this, butIwas sotiredof it all.

Timeafter time,Igot singled out and bullied.Thiscrap wasn't anything new.Iwas the foster kid no one wanted and had a psycho mom who'd killed my dad.Iwas poor.Now,Ididn't even have magic to show off.Thisalways happened at every schoolI'dever been to, soIhad two choices.Icould take it and learn to hate myself, orIcould fight back and ruin every good thing that had happened sinceLiambrought me here.

Ididn't want to be popular.Ijust wanted to be normal.Iwanted to be like everyone else, able to laugh about things with someone, and to have a sympathetic ear listen whenIdidn't know what to do.Iwasn't asking for much,Isimply didn't want to let down the one person in my life who'd stuck his neck out for me:Liam.

Thena body claimed the space beside me, and with a single snap,Ibegan to feel warmer.Thatmeant it had to beAspen.Icouldn't look up or she'd see the angry tears threatening to spill over, soIkept staring at the dormant grass before me, my hair too little of a shield to hide my face.

Long, thin fingers appeared before my eyes, the nails painted a glittery green, and a fresh orange was clasped between them. "It'snot much,"Aspensaid, "but it's whatIhave, andI'mwilling to share."

Inodded and accepted the fruit, but couldn't make my voice work.Theonly answerIcould give was a sniff.Imade it halfway through peeling the orange beforeIcould find a word.Thewhole time, she just sat there, her shoulder nearly brushing mine in a silent show of solidarity - and it meant a lot.

"GuessIowe you one, huh?"Ifinally managed.

Herlaugh was soft, like wind chimes. "It'sless the owing, and more the willingness that matters.Afavor done for gain isn't a favor.Idon't want your debt,Rain."

Breakingoff a slice of orange,Iheld it out toward her. "Ididn't mean to steal your lunch."

Shesmiled at me. "Ialready had two, andIdidn't want you to be alone."

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