CHAPTER 2

　　They both alighted from the car, Hayley mistakenly brushed her hand against the rough bark. Images of various corpses in dark empty vast lands, hanging from nooses, seeping blood and some rotting flashed before her eyes in quick succession.

　　“Earth to Major Tom.” Earnestine called snapping her out of it.

　　“Huh?” She gasped jolting where she stood beside the car, the door still open and no corpses in sight.

　　“Let’s go.”

　　“Right.” Hayley said shutting the door and following her sister's hands shaking and unsure as they danced up and down her bag strap.

　　“Are you okay?”

　　“Just nervous.”

　　“I told you, it's going to be fine.” Earnestine told her.

　　“Now come on, let’s get to the principal’s office.” She completed, leading her towards the administrative block. Hayley took a shaky breath and walked with her. Hayley tried to clear her head by taking in the school environment. It was quite large and yet beautiful, she hoped she got the hang of it.

　　Arriving at the office Earnestine looked at Hayley. “Ready?” She asked.

　　“Ready as I’ll ever be.” She replied and Earnestine’s lip twitched into a smile and she proceeded to knock before going for the handle.

　　“Welcome,” The principal said with a smile as they stepped in. “You must be Hayley Michael, I'm Mr. Hagen. Please, have a seat.” They both took a seat across his desk. Hayley smiled back, he seemed like a nice person, she had learned not to judge so quickly though. Earnestine and Mr. Hagen began a conversation way too formal for Hayley's interest and her eyes drifted over to the stone bust, for some reason her gaze was fixed, she could not look away. As she watched the sculpture slowly moved its stony eyes to glare at her and as she watched the face turned to a dried-out skull and its jaw dropped open causing her to jump in the seat.

　　“Hayley!” Earnestine called. “He said you can go to class.”

　　“R-Right, yeah I’ll do that.” She stuttered as she got up alongside Earnestine.

　　“Thank you.” Earnestine said to Mr. Hagen.

　　“What’s up with you?”

　　“I’m fine.”

　　“No you’re not, I called your name three times,”

　　“I’ll be fine, besides I have to get to class,” She said making to leave.“ Hayley, take care of yourself, okay?” She managed a smile.

　　“I will.” She promised and with that, she headed for class.

　　During lunch, Hayley sat alone in the cafeteria praying nobody would notice her as the new girl. Looking up she noticed a few eyes glancing in her direction and even made out a guy in a corner winking at her and looked away fixing her gaze on her tray. The ketchup was way too fluid and flowed out from the pile of the chips like blood from a dying man.

　　“You don’t look too hungry.” A girl said sliding into the seat across causing Hayley to gasp in shock.

　　“I think I lost my appetite.” She declared after a few seconds and the girl giggled before reaching out.

　　“May I?” She asked and Hayley slid it over.

　　“Thanks, I'm Wendy, by the way, Wendy Cooper.” She said digging in.

　　“Hayley, Hayley Michael.” She introduced.

　　“Nice to meet you,” She said as she finished off standing and Hayley smiled doing the same still wondering why everything seemed creepy today. Wendy was a bit tall, she was caramel-skinned, with black straight hair and a tattoo on her neck, brown eyes, and brown upper lip with a pink lower lip which was typical to most of African descent.

　　They walked over to the counter dropped the tray and headed into the hallway. Wendy was adamant about keeping her company. Hayley disliked this at first but Wendy seemed cool and slowly appealed to her. “You were pretty active in Chemistry class.” Wendy complimented.

　　“Thanks…I can help you if you have problems.”

　　“That’s alright. Fortunately, I'm a bookworm too, the guys however are just a bunch of doughnut heads.” Wendy said opening her locker and taking her assignment book. Their lockers were not too far off.

　　Hayley took her books as well and they went out to the sports field. They watched the boys play football but

　　Hayley's attention was caught by the oak tree whose top was visible from where they sat. Hayley placed her palms on the oak tree, and her heartbeat slowed down. She felt weak but then strength surged into her. Magic. She could feel every inch of it, the ringing in her ears, the slow pounding in her chest, the cold creeping up from her fingers, the taste of blood in her mouth, and the image of a corpse staring at her with glassy eyes. “Hayley,” Wendy interrupted tapping her arm twice before she responded startled.

　　“The Red Tigers just scored.” She said with a smile and Hayley forced a smile of her own trying to fit in with the small group that was cheering. It was a hallucination, she wasn't even close to the tree, and she glanced at it and smirked, Weston Hills might be a lot more interesting than she thought.

　　Janeka was in the backyard practicing her magic when Earnestine got back. She was using an invisibility spell, no one but her sisters could see her. Freya warned them but the fresh air let her concentrate better.

　　“She's been registered.” Earnestine interrupted, as she passed by the back door seconds after Janeka had uttered a spell that made her look tense in shock for a second.

　　Late in the day, Earnestine drove into the school premises to pick up Hayley. She found her walking around with a girl. She couldn’t stop the smile that spread across her face, she was finally talking to someone. Earnestine had been worried that Hayley would find it hard to make friends in this environment but now she was pleasantly surprised.

　　“Bye Wendy, see you tomorrow.” Hayley announced after they embraced and she got into the car.

　　“I told you it would be fine,” Earnestine said as they drove out of the school. “Ice cream, my treat.”

　　“Sure, but why?” Hayley replied.

　　“To celebrate you making a friend, I’m so proud.” She beamed pulling over to an ice cream bar.