Charles king lonely hope part 1
Chapter 9

Headmistress Simmons made pieces of paper appear out of nowhere and began to read out names for their new forms I don’t even know what a form is yet but my name hasn’t been read yet, so I guess I’ll just wait, form A was first and the red-haired guy was part of that one, Darren his name, the girl with the headband went into Form B with two of Wyatt’s friends, headband girl name was Antonia, Wyatt was in form B and so was the rest of his gang, they walked past me and glared at me. Kevin kept mouthing What to them which made me laugh. The other two students who thought they were tough were called up next both in the same form, they weren’t happy, Aisha and Craig, of course, called Craig the person to insult me with a cool name in front of my new classmates was called Craig. What I wasn’t expecting was the form to skip after form D and start fresh with form W. It’s not form Z and I’m sitting here with Kevin and Grace the realization of there being 8 forms and Z being the last one and I’m going to be in there with Kevin and Grace was reassuring. I looked around and noticed Charlotte sat alone, I had thought she had left before, guess I was wrong.

“Form Z your form teacher will be Mr. Ridgewell” A man with a clipboard came to a halt at the feet of Simmons, he had a full tracksuit on and must be the P.E Teacher.

“Hello form Z I am Mr Ridgewell, if you would all please follow me to our classroom” he turned and nodded back to Simmons and left up the hall towards the door where we entered, some students stood up and followed me, Kevin, grace and I did the same, we took a right out of the hall and up the stairs to the second floor and made our way through the hallway, I couldn’t help but look into the classrooms as I passed and catching the eyes of students in their classrooms if I’m honest I’m looking for Lincoln or Yasmin’s. The second floor had a lovely view of the fields and the woods in the back, and the sports halls too, we came to a halt at the corner,

“This will be our classroom,” Mr Ridgewell said, he opened the door and ushered everyone, “Take a seat anywhere” The tables were made of 2 seaters pushed together in bundles of three, creating a 6 seater, I made my way to the back and took a seat on the corner, with my back to the wall and I faced the other wall, not the front desk, Grace took the seat next to me on the corner, she faced the front desk, Kevin took the seat next to her.

“What classroom is this,” Kevin said looking around,

“Basic magic,” Grace said, Kevin and I looked at her.

“How did you know that?” Kevin said. She didn’t answer and pointed behind me, at a piece of paper on the wall done by students called basic magic. “Oh, fair enough, ay Demon king do you think people are scared to sit next to you?” I looked at the empty seats and then to the front of the class, Three students were standing, including Charlotte, They were looking around but there were only three seats left and they were around me.

“There are seats over there,” Mr Ridgewell told them pointing in my direction. Long story short, Charlotte was sitting next to me, not looking particularly pleased while the other two sat across from me looking awkward, a chubby-looking boy with freckles and a tiny dark-haired girl with ribbons in her hair, her large brown eyes kept flicking to me, Kevin noticed and has been asking me to.

“Just say boo! Come on it will be funny” I ignored him and laughed.

“Good morning, Class,” Mr Ridgewell said. Now I have gotten a good look at Mr. Ridgewell. He doesn’t look like a normal teacher, maybe in his early twenties, he has a trendy haircut with a man-bun and a freshly shaven side of his head. “And this is where you say it back.”

“Good morning Mr. Ridgewell,” the class said in unison.

“How hard was that? I expect that every morning, speaking of every morning before lessons start you will all come here, and we will have our form class and I will tell you any news or information about upcoming events if need be. Like today we have a full-filled day ahead of us, First, we have magic lessons, basic skills shields and blast balls, we will talk more about that later. After that we do the magical assessments and then the obstacle course that’s normally people’s favourite and then at the end of the day, we have the battle royale or as it’s been dubbed the rookie royale” Cheers and excited whoops rang.

“This will be the first time I have a class that is participating, I’m hoping for a strong showing from form Z” Suddenly I felt a lot of eyes on me.

“Today will be a lot of fun for everyone I promise, Before we go down to our first lesson, we have some stuff to get through first could everyone get their grimoire out please” shuffling on chairs and bags slamming tables played as background noises. I pulled my bag out and pulled out my jet-black grimoire and put it on the table and noticed the people around me had stopped and were staring at my book and so was Mr. Ridgewell too. I banged to the top of it, and they sprung back into action and pulled out their ones. Kevin with his electric or lightning depending on what you call it. Charlotte had a water grimoire, the boy across from me had a wind one and the girl an ice grimoire.

“I have forgotten mine,” Grace said, rummaging through her battered handbag.

“That’s fine,” Mr. Ridgewell said appearing at the bottom of the table, Just bring it tomorrow okay” Grace nodded agreeing but looked worried, “What’s your element?”

“Light,” she said quietly, to MR. Ridgewell smiled wrote something down and then left.

“You can put them away now,” he said, “Does anyone know what grimoires do?” no one’s raised their hands, “no one? Okay. Grimoire tracks magical progress and grow with you, how you develop your magic your grimoire will help and develop spell for you and only you because nobody can read what’s in someone’s grimoire apart from the owner... now that is out of the way What’s next? Ah yeah, Hands up for a Magical aid” Everyone’s hand shot up in the air apart from mine. Kevin laughed.

“Do you not need one Charles?” Mr Ridgewell asked, staring at me quizzingly.

“I don’t know what they are sir” I said honestly,

“It’s a magical aid to help you perform magic in this case it will be to help perform a shield spell.”

“Oh. I’ll be okay without one sir” I said, and looked around me to shocked faces, I must have said something wrong, Kevin didn’t seem shocked he was smiling at me, I was happy he was there.

“You will be required to perform the spell, Charles,” Mr Ridgewell said a little sternly now, “Are you sure you don’t need help?” I don’t know why but it annoyed me, does he think I am lying? I told him I was fine and didn’t need one. I stood up and put my arm out and pushed a shield out, fully formed.

“My mother taught me a few years ago sir.”

“Blast ball?” Mr. Ridgewell said forming his shield, I picked up on what he wanted and used my spare hand and sent out the orbs like balls of magical energy that flew across the classroom and rattled Ridgewell’s shield. “You don’t need one, but for the battle royale take one, You’ll be able to perform the spells even faster, it will give a great advantage, okay?”

“Yes sir,” I said sitting down, What he said made sense and the smile on his face calmed me down.

“Show off,” Kevin said Jokingly, “I’m sticking with you during the rookie Royale.”

“Sounds good to me,” I said. “We should get Lincoln to he is a lot stronger than what I am.”

“Even Better then!“.

“Can I stick with you two?” Grace asked gingerly,

“Of course,” Kevin and I said together. Not for the first time today all eyes were on me but this time this one was my fault.

“Would everyone please gather their bags and follow me please?” Ridgewell said, and we all did just that, and followed him, to the staircase that was in between the classroom and the library that I have been informed takes up the whole corner of the school like what the nurse’s office does, they are parallel each other. We made our way down a floor and then towards the cafeteria which was under this floor two ways to get to it, either go down the same set of stairs around the school or go down the steps that Kevin and I walked down on the reveal day when we wanted to try the food at the marquee on the grass, only this time when you get to the bottom of the stairs you turn around and walk past the stairs and through the door past them. The cafeteria was in front, and classrooms on either side, we went left down a corridor and down some steps to a spacious sports hall under the school, already sat there were rows of I guess first years and 3 teachers in front of them.

“Finally form Z is here we can begin.” Said one of the female teachers in an annoyed voice. Our classes took a seat with the others, and the annoyed teacher stepped forward “For those of you who don’t know my name is Ms Sandhu I am the teacher for form W. Okay, listen up students our time now is to prepare you for your assessments and battle royale later, our goal is to help you master the shield spell and Blast ball before then it’s basic spell made easier with magical aid and everyone here will be needing one” Mr Ridgewell tapped Ms Sandhu on the arm and then whispered in her ear. “Scratch that all but one needs the magical aid and practice with the spells, Charles King, Stand up and come here please.”

I haven’t been paying attention not since I walked into the hall, I have been looking at the other students to see if any of them were the ones who called me out before, I stood up and walked around my classmates and made my way over to the teachers, Ms Sandhu might be smaller but I think she is the leader of this group of teachers if that is a thing, I have never seen a teacher with a nose ring before. She had a white shirt with the sleeves rolled up to her elbows and brown pants on and they were rolled up too.

“Hello, wait over there please next to Ms. Musa” I looked over to where she pointed, and it was towards the small teacher whom I had seen just before I stepped onto the field for the reveal.

“Hi,” I said to her.

“Hello,” she smiled at me. I stood next to her and then looked back at my classmates, all staring at me with interest. Ms Sandhu cleared her throat and regained the student’s attention again.

“We don’t have long before the assessment test, so we will be getting straight to it, leave your bags on the floor by the wall and form 4 separate lines,” Ms. Sandhu turned on her feet and walked over to me, “hello Charles, my name is Ms Sandhu, Mr Ridgewell informs me that you can perform both the shield spell and blast ball spell without a magical aid, can I ask you to show me quick please so I can give my own assessment, shield spell first”

“Okay,” I said, a little taken back, I raised my right arm and pushed the magic through, picturing the image that I have created many times before, and it shot out forming the see-through shield I am used to.

“Very well done,” said Ms. Sandhu kindly smiling genuinely, “as you go on, try to form it with a closed fist, not an open palm” She pushed her closed right fist into the open palmed left hand. “Stronger foundation and less chance of the shield or your wrist breaking, got it?”

“Yes, Ms.”

“Now the blast ball, fire at this target” She pointed at a target mannequin on a pole, only the upper half of the mannequin though, with red target marks on its face and chest. It floated towards us and then, stopping about 10 feet in front of me, I only realized Ms. Sandhu was the one controlling it when I saw a faint glow coming from her hand. But I did what she said and performed the blastball spell, I hit the target’s chest. Blastballs are called that because they look like they blast the target, and look like a small football firework with a small pop at the end. Everyone learns how to do it; a simple spell doesn’t have the greatest power but can be improved when combined with other spells or turned into an elemental spell if mixed with one’s natural element. “Well done, please go take a seat by the wall, we will decide what to do with you” I walked over and sat by the wall and faced the class and watched.

I made Eye contact with Kevin and Grace who were lined up in the closest line, They received two magical aids both one for each hand, I guess they were for aiding in the spells.

I got moved by Ms. Musa at one point when more target mannequins appeared, Eventually, I was half the class practising shields, forming half of a shield before it disappeared. The other half practicing their blastball spells think I have seen three people almost hit the target.

“Charles?” said a familiar voice. I turned to see Headmistress Simmons standing in the doorway “Grab your bag and follow me” I turned and made eye contact with Mr. Ridgewell he waved his hand for me to go. So, I picked my bag up and left for the door. “Come...Ms. Sandhu informs me you don’t need a magical aid I’m very impressed... so since you don’t need the class and what we would normally do can’t be done I thought I would come down and get you, for a one-on-one lesson.”

“One-on-one with you?” I asked. Feeling genuinely excited, I can be one-on-one with the headmistress.

“If that’s okay with you?”

“Of course,” I said brimming with joy. I forgot we were even walking until Simmons stopped by an empty sports hall; how many are there down here?

“In here Charles put your bag on the floor and join me in the middle” I did what I was told, and joined her in the middle, “normally we would focus on adding your element into your blastball, it’s the next step but since you have dark magic we don’t know how it would react and this practice is for your assessment and participation in the battle royale later on so you can’t let loose, not just yet,” I think she added the last part to make me feel better, like one day I can use my dark magic without hurting my classmates.

“How about a bigger blastball? Something you can hold in your hand you can choose either to shoot it or slam it, into your target with your hand, good for close range fights... like this” Simmons held her hand out and formed a blastball and then put her other hand on the other side and kept it between her hands.

“When you form the ball contain it like this then add more magic to make it bigger... once you’re happy with the size of it, then cut a magical supply off and hold the ball in your hands, you try,” I think I know what to do, from the ball contain it, add more magic, then cut off the supply. Simmons’ blastball was the size of a football.

I took a breath, then breathed out and formed a blastball but it flew up and past my face.

“Maybe try putting your top of it, Charles.” I smiled awkwardly. Then tried again, This time it didn’t fly upwards but my hand flung backwards as the ball blew up.

I kept that up for the next 10 minutes, my arms were killing me! Hands are shaking uncontrollably.

“I did it!” I yelled holding a normal-sized blastball.

“Congratulations, now add more Magic,” Simmons said, sitting on a chair she made grow out of the floor. I pushed more magic through again and increased the size of the ball. Suddenly both my arms flung backwards. That was a lot more painful than the last time it exploded. “Are you okay?”

“I’m good, I’m good,” I said, not completely true, My hands felt like they might fall off. And for the next half an hour that’s what I did, try to form a giant blastball and almost lose my arms in the process. Eventually, I managed to hold it without it blowing up.

“Well done,” Simmons said, standing up, “now slam it into the mannequin’s face.” She smiled with a sinister grin. I walked over holding the ball like a nervous goalkeeper who was unsure of what to do with the ball. I used both hands and pushed the ball into the mannequin’s face, The ball exploded in my face with a bang and a flash of light, I closed my and fell backwards, I opened my eyes slowly and saw the mannequin lying on the floor across the hall.

Slow claps echoed behind me. I turned around and so did Simmons.

“Noah! Out!” Simmons Snapped, at a young lad clapping in the doorway, he had a black Jacket, and the girl with pink next to him did too.

“Sorry Headmistress,” he said and left.

“Stand up Charles” Simmons said. Offering me a hand up, I took it and got to my feet “The bell is about to go so we shall go back to your classmates, but before we go I would like to say... very well done, you tackled something that isn’t easy as a first year, you didn’t give up when it became difficult and even painful, I’m very impressed” I felt my cheeks redden and heart pumped faster.

“Thank you, Ms.,” I said trying to hold the sheer joy out of my face, I don’t think it worked, Simmons smile stretched across her face.

“You’re welcome, now go get your bag” I ran over to the wall where I left my bag, picked it up and was surprised that my hand was still hurting, A sharp sting pricked through my palm as I grabbed the bag. We left in joyful silence more on my part if I’m honest, we got back to the other hall, blastballs were fizzing about and to my shock, they were aimed at students holding up a shield, I caught Kevin’s eye who turned and put his thumb up in greeting and accidentally put his shield down and a blast ball flew past his head and he quickly put his shield back up, I couldn’t help but laugh.

“Wait against the wall, Charles you don’t want to be hit by a stray ball.”

I think she spoke it into existence because no sooner than she said it, one came and splatted against the wall with a damp thud. I looked at where it came from and saw two boys giving me dirty looks, I decided there was no point in doing anything, I would only get myself in trouble, too many teachers around, so I decided to put a shield up, in fact two shields. I dropped my bag and put my two hands up and formed two shields. Simmons looked at me and then at the two boys who shot the spell. Whatever her look was meant to do, I think it might have worked, The two boys turned around and continued with their practice. Simmons turned back around to smile and left towards Ms. Sandhu, I decided to sit down with my back against the wall and keep my shields up then watch the other students practice their spells, Occasionally I caught the eyes of some kids trying to sneak looks at me.

Suddenly a loud bell rang out and a cluster of girls to my right jumped about two feet in the air.

“That’s it everybody” Ms. Sandhu shouted, “stop what you’re doing and gather before me.” Shuffling feet and chatting filled the air, I stood up and picked my bag up and made my way over to Kevin and Grace, Kevin was fine, but Grace was sweating a little.

“Had fun?” I said to her. She looked at me panting.

“A lot!” She smiled from ear to ear. It was nice to see, after what she went through at the start of school.

“It was her first time using magic,” Kevin said. “Can you believe that? She did well though picked up the spell in no time.”

“Your first time?” I went to say. But MS. Sandhu spoke loudly!

“First of all, I would like to say a very well done to all of you, everyone tried hard and did well, I expect everybody to perform well in your assessments and inter-year battle royale, you have a 30-minute break enjoy it, you are dismissed”.