The White Witch (2 page)

The day goes on and I manage to avoid Samantha and pretty much most of the school population by disappearing during lunch, and eating on the floor of hallway B while I catch up on my reading. I catch sight of Mr. Wentworth once more, but I manage to slip into a stairwell before he sees me. For a guidance counselor, he doesn’t spend much time in his office counseling or even offering guidance. Not that there is much of a need for that here. Most of the kids in Shippan High already have therapists they see because their mommy and daddy don’t pay enough attention to them. And apparently the expensive cars they drive and expensive vacations they take just aren’t enough. Just last week one of the girls in my class was having a fit because the BMW that she was given for her birthday didn’t have a pink interior like she requested.
Really? Ugh. Two more weeks, Kate, two more
.

“Thanks for asking me to come along.” Ana says in a cheerful voice as she straps on the seatbelt.

“Sure, anytime.” I pull out of my spot and edge my way through the packed parking lot.

“You know, to be honest, ” Ana fiddles with her fingers in her lap, as we put more distance between us and the school. “I was starting to think you didn’t want to be friends or something.”

“Oh.” I pinch my brow, thinking about what to respond to that as my stomach twists. “I’m not a very social person, please don’t take it personally. You’re cool and all, and I do want to be friends, it just takes me a while. You know?”
Hello, giant leap out of my comfort zone
.

Ana smiles, and I hope my response has satisfied her. “Yeah. It’s cool.”

“Lookout!” Ana screams as she grabs hold of the handle above her door and braces herself.

I hear the screeching of my tires as my heart drops into my stomach and my jeep stops just inches from the passenger door of a black Tahoe with windows so dark you can’t see inside.

“What the hell? You have a stop sign, you ass!”  I’m waving my arms like a mad woman and pointing to the stop sign behind them, but the SUV just picks up speed and keeps going. “Wow, couldn’t even put down his or her window and apologize?”

“For real!” Ana puts her hand over her heart and takes a few deep breaths. “Geez, that scared the hell out of me.”

Ana and I spend most of the afternoon in the bookstore coffee shop talking about the books we bought. Well, Ana did most of the talking, that girl never runs out of things to say. But hey, better her than me. Luckily, her mom’s office is near the mall and she tells me that I can drop her off there before heading over to see my dad at the rink. Which works out great because that way, I don’t have to drive all the way back to our houses in the Cove.

I open the doors to the ice rink and take a deep breath. An unconscious smile makes its way across my face and I leave it there for a moment before walking in. I walk by the office and smile at Liz as she sits behind the glass organizing some papers. “He’s got you up here today?”

“Yes, Connie is sick so I’m just hanging out here. Are you getting on the ice today?”

“How much time do I have?”

“’About an hour.” She smiles, knowing me far too well.

I glance in the direction of the ice rinks and feel the pull to make my way over there. “Yep, an hour’s perfect. I have my final essay on Hamlet due on Wednesday and I want to get it out of the way tonight. So that works… skating now, Hamlet later.”

“An essay due in the second to last week of school?” Liz clicks her tongue and shakes her head. “That’s just ridiculous.”

“Tell that to my AP English Lit teacher, would ya?” I adjust the strap on my messenger bag and head to my dad’s office on the far side of the building. I glance at the figure skaters practicing and realize that I will never cease to be amazed at the things they can do.

I have been watching figure skaters since I was six, and though I tried it out for a bit, I never really took to it. I’m sure the fact that I’m kind of clumsy didn’t help my situation. But I do love to skate, so in between public skating sessions, and hockey games and practices, I always have the other ice rink all to myself.

“Hey Kiddo!” My dad looks up, his eyes smiling. I look at his face and smile in return,  the additional greys in his hair spark a memory of six year old me, sitting with him, watching  the Three Amigos and asking him when he ‘painted’ his hair white to be in that movie? He really did look just like a younger version of Steve Martin.

“Heard you hung out with Ana today.” He begins, looking back down at the papers he is reviewing.

“How did you-”

“Ana’s mom texted Liz and she told me.”

“Gosh, you’d think it was an event or something.” I throw my hands up in the air.

My dad looks up this time cocking an eyebrow. “Isn’t it? I just about called the media!”

“Very funny dad.” I squint my eyes at him and scrunch my nose. “So, very funny.” I slip my sneakers under his desk and walk over to the corner of the room where my hockey skates await me.

“All kidding aside Katie,” He says, looking up at me. “I’m glad you’re coming around. Liz and I were starting to worry about you never wanting to go to a friend’s house, or have one over.”

“Geez, dad, you talk like I have no friends at all!” I wrap the too long lace around my ankle before tying it.

“Um, you don’t, Katie.” My dad’s voice carries a hint of sadness.

“Just don’t get too excited, I’m not about to call her over for sleepovers or anything, ok?”

“Fair enough.” He goes back to reading the paper on his desk, and I make my way to the empty rink for some private skating time.

Almost two hours after having dinner I’m cursing my teacher for assigning this Hamlet essay paper to us when pretty much most of the school is doing nothing but watching movies and having social time in class. “Alright, ten pages, one and a half spaces,” I say out loud to myself as I press the
print now
button on the screen. “Done.”

I lean back in my chair as the printer whirls away, inking out what I hope is my last assignment of the year. Of course, with Mrs. Landsley, you never really know. The letters on my dresser catch my attention and I get up, grab them and throw myself on the bed. I sigh and sift through them, looking for the two who’s answers means the most.  Harvard and University of Pennsylvania. I close my eyes and rip the first one open.

Dear Ms. Katelyn Miller,

              We are pleased to accept your application to ...

I stop reading after the first few words and clutch the letter to my chest for a moment before opening the second and reading the same first few words. “Aaaaaahhh!” I sit up in the bed, trying to read the rest of the letter, but though my eyes are scanning the letters, my brain is just wandering to a million different places. “Yes, yes, yes!”

In an instant, my door flies open and my dad runs in with Liz close behind. “What is it? Are you ok? What happened?”

I begin to hand the letters to my dad, but I can’t wait for him to read them. “Looks like I will have to choose between Boston and Philly.”

“What?” My dad begins to read the letter and seems to do the same thing that I did, stop after the first few words. “Baby I am so proud of you!” He grabs me into a bear hug and the stupid grin I already had on my face gets bigger. “Your mother would be so proud of you.” He whispers in my ear.

“Katie, that is so wonderful. I am so excited for you and proud of you.” Liz beams a smile at me and waits for my dad to release me before pulling me into a hug of her own.

“Thanks guys.” I let go of Liz and wipe my eyes before the tears get a chance to fall.

“Wait, does this mean you won’t be doing the one semester at University of Connecticut?” My dad questions with a bit of sadness in his eyes.

“Nah, I already got accepted there a few months back b/c of all the extra credits I got in my senior year, so I will do one there while I get everything ready to go out of state.”

My dad breathes a sigh of relief that I am not sure he realized he was holding.

“No worries, dad, you’ll have me bugging you guys for quite a few more months.”

“Good! That will give us time to make some trips down there, find you an apartment, go shopping and visit the campus.” Liz clasps her hands in front her, looking like an excited child.  She really is the glaring opposite of the mean step-mothers you read about in fairy tales. From the moment she met me, she has been nothing but kind. Though I know I have freaked her out a few times and even hurt her with the famous “You’re not my mom” phrase, which I immediately regretted, she never treated me as if I weren’t her own. She was the one that told me that I wasn’t a freak after my best friend yelled it in my face and taunted me with it as I ran out of her party. I always believed that Liz didn’t see me that way because she saw what happened that day and still didn’t freak out.

It’s a gloomy Friday as the rain hasn’t stopped coming down since last night. There is a storm coming through and it has ruined most of Liz’s celebration plans. She has spent the whole week talking about our trips to Boston and Philly and even started her own list of pros and cons for each University. Last night at dinner she was talking about the places they could stay when they visit me, depending on which school I go to. Dad just rolled his eyes. He is so used to Liz’s overly advanced planning by now, that he just lets her go with it and agrees with whatever plans she makes. I was pretty glad to have avoided Samantha pretty much all week, but it doesn’t look like it will be an option today. I park my car and sigh, knowing this is the start of a pretty crappy day.

“Going somewhere fakelyn?” Samantha and her evil minions block the door, as the rain pelts my head and I stand silently grateful for not having brought my laptop with me today. I’m pretty sure I’m not getting out of the rain anytime soon.

“Just trying to get inside Sam.”

Samantha lunges forward and Vikki and Taylor take the post at the door. “
You
do
not
call me Sam. Only my friends call me that, and you are so not a friend of mine.”

I feel the anger welling up inside me. Years upon years of this torture that I had suppressed, tried to ignore, even tried to forget, come rushing to me.

“Who the hell
wants
to be a friend of yours anyway
Sam
?” I spit out her name as if it disgusts me to say it. The rain drops come bigger and faster until virtually no part of me is dry.

“What did you say to me?” She steps forward until she is toe to toe with me. Taylor and Nikki rush beside me, grabbing my arms while Samantha throws her fist into my stomach.

The pain radiates through me as the sound of the girls’ laughter penetrates my ears. Tears sting my eyes, but I do not allow them to come. I set my jaw, “Release me!” I demand through clenched teeth, and Taylor and Nikki let go.

“What are you doing? Hold her!” Samantha yells at Taylor and Nikki, but they stand motionless, their eyes devoid of emotion. “You see! You
are
a freak! I knew it. Just like you did at my birthday party when we were kids, you did it again!” She shakes Taylor until Taylor starts moving her head back and forth, scanning her surroundings in confusion.

“Those girls were bullying you and I was trying to help!” I poke her in the chest hard, causing her to take a step back. “I am not a freak! I didn’t make them do that!” I glance quickly at Taylor and Nikki and my mind wanders for a moment thinking on whether or not that statement is true, but even if it is, then how? The rain falls so hard on us, I feel like it’s going to bruise my skin.

“You’re doing this too!” Samantha spreads her arms out, indicating the rain. “Just like you did at my party.” She pushes me, but I don’t move. “You couldn’t stand that I was getting all the attention and you got mad, and I don’t know how,” She shakes her head, seemingly still confused by what she is about to say, “but you made the water in my pool boil over, flooding the entire yard and ruining my party.”

“What? Are you serious? How could I do that? You know what? You are nothing more than a delusional, mean, self-centered bitch who needs to make herself feel better by picking on other people and talking shit about them!”

I shove her hard with both my hands as a crowd begins to gather around us, some chanting Samantha’s name, others chanting mine, and between the chants I hear whispers of some telling others to look at my eyes. “And I for one, am tired of it!” I throw my hands down with my palms facing the ground and a blue and white light flashes around me as Samantha, Taylor, and Nikki are knocked off their feet and fall to the ground unconscious.

Lightning and thunder fill the air and the students run screaming as a bolt shoots down and splits a nearby tree in half. I walk to the doorway where some of the students are standing and they all part quickly, fear and confusion etched on their faces.

I turn to look outside and see the bullies slowly getting up with the help of some of the faculty.

The whispers of the students around me are not as low as I would like, and I hear the words freak, weirdo and nerd more than I care to.

“Come on Miss Miller.” I feel an arm wrap around my shoulders, but I feel numb, and devoid of energy.

“Mr. Wentworth?” I turn my head and meet the gaze that I have successfully avoided for so long. 
Yes, still immensely creepy
. The strangest thing about him is always the way he looks at me, as if he knows something I don’t, as if he is thinking something I should know and right now it’s intensified tenfold.
What the hell is going on?

I barely remember the walk to his office or sitting in the chair while his assistant wrapped me in a musty smelling faded blue towel.

“What happened out there Miss Miller?” Mr. Wentworth leans his forearms on his desk and searches my face.

“Huh?” I stop staring at the ground. “Oh, I, I don’t know. Samantha and her friends were trying to bully me as usual-”

“Wait. As usual? How long has this been going on?”

“Since freshman year.” I lower my head and focus on my fingers that I can’t seem to stop fidgeting with.

“Why didn’t you say anything? I must have asked you a hundred times over!” He puts his elbows on his desk and runs his fingers through his black hair. He isn’t an ugly man, but the glare he carries is unnerving.

I raise my head slowly and smirk. “And what could you have done?” I say with a huff.

“You’d be surprised.” His expression changes and he is much more serious than he was a moment ago when there was a bit of concern in his voice. “Now tell me
exactly
what happened.”

“Mr. Wentworth?” The kindly old lady I know as Mr. Wentworth’s assistant, opens the door a bit and pokes her thin face through the opening. “Sir,the police would like to speak to Miss Miller, and also, her parents are on their way.”

“Thank you Betty.” Mr. Wentworth rubs his face and sighs as Betty closes the door.

I can vaguely hear her voice on the other side as she tells the officers Mr. Wentworth’s response.

“It was lightning, okay?” The counselor’s voice is firm and his eyes are dead locked on me.

“What?” I know I am a bit disoriented, but I am pretty sure that didn’t make any sense.

“What you saw, what knocked the girls down, it had to have been lightning, right?” He furrows his brow at me.

“Um, yes?” I answer what I think he wants to hear though I am still replaying the entire scene in my head.

The door opens and two police officers walk in. The first one is tall with blonde hair, pulled back into a bun, her blue eyes stark against her dark tan. She seems a bit young to be an officer, so I assume she must be a rookie. The man that walks in behind her seems older by quite a few years. He sets his hat on the desk just as Mr. Wentworth passes by and gives me one more glance before leaving the room. The older officer pats down the salt and pepper hair that makes him look very distinguished, his dark brown eyes are focused on me as he takes the seat behind my school counselor’s desk.

“Miss Miller, I am Officer Williams, and this is my partner in training Officer Grant. We would like to ask you a few questions about what happened.”

I shake my head up and down unable to respond as I pull the towel tight around my shoulders.

“We have talked to several students that were present, but we would like to get the story from your point of view. Can you explain to us what happened when you arrived at school today?”

“Well, I, got here a little later than I usually do, so I had to park towards the back of the parking lot.  The nearest entrance is through the Science Wing so I made my way over. When I got there, Samantha and her two friends were blocking the doorway.”

“Why would she do that?”

“Because she’s a bi-,” I stop myself, realizing that I will have to tread very carefully. “A bully.”

“Is that the first time she’s bullied you?”

“No.”

“Have you ever reported her bullying?”

“No point. Her parents are great friends with most of the executive staff here. No one would do anything anyway.”

He gives a haughty chuckle, “I can’t believe you would endure someone’s bullying under an assumption that-“

“It’s not an assumption. It’s a fact. Two years ago, she just about beat the hell out of a girl that started dating her ex-boyfriend and she claimed that she fell down the stairs. No one questioned it, no one suspended her, and no one expelled her. Never mind that there were witnesses. After something like that, you learn to keep your mouth shut.”

Officer Williams looks at his partner who is writing in her little notepad. “Alright, so say she was stopping you from entering the building. How did you all end up away from the building then?”

“She
was
stopping me from coming in. I told her that I just wanted to get inside, and I called her by her nickname, Sam. She didn’t appreciate that and she stepped out to get in my face and tell me that only her friends call her that. I got mad and asked her who the hell wanted to be her friend anyway.” Out of the corner of my eye, I see Officer Grant suppress a smirk and I finish the story, ending on the flash of light.

“What flash?” Officer Williams leans on the desk, his fingers intertwined.

“I don’t know. A flash.” I suddenly hear Mr. Wentworth’s voice in my head. “I guess it was lightning. It knocked some of the kids down and then I remember another bolt hitting a tree and everyone freaked out and ran.”

“That first flash, or lightning.” He uses air quotes when he says lightning and it makes my stomach turn. “Some of the other kids we interviewed said that the first flash of light wasn’t lightning.”

“Then what was it?” I look back and forth between the two officers.

“Why don’t you tell us. The kids that were watching said that you did something to knock them down, that you assaulted them.” His condescending tone begins to get under my skin.

“Did what?” I sit up straighter, not ready to be accused of something I didn’t do. I think.

“That’s what we are trying to find out. We searched the area you were standing and found nothing on the ground indicating that you set anything off, but we also didn’t find evidence of lightning hitting the ground.”

“What are you saying?”

“I’m saying that a lot of the kids were scared by what happened, yet, no one knows exactly what it was that happened. Does that make any sense to you Miss Miller?”

“No, I suppose it doesn’t.” I feel a heat rising in my body the way it did when I was getting angry with Samantha.

“Your eyes are hazel, correct? I mean they look hazel from here.” The Officer leans back in the chair, folding his arms across his chest.

“Yes, they’re hazel. Why?”

“Some of the students commented that as you were yelling at Miss Cooke, your eyes became blue, almost a glowing blue, much like the light they saw around you.”

“That’s ridiculous. Besides, I was barely able to see Samantha who was not more than two feet away from me because of that rain, how on earth could they see my eyes?”

“Fair enough, however, I’m just telling you what we have been told. Miss Miller.”

I drop the towel from around my shoulders, faking more confidence than I really have. “And how many of those students were able to talk to Samantha before you got here. Better yet, how many are friends with her? No offence Officer, but she’s got more people willing to sling mud at me in her defense than are willing to tell you the truth.”

“And why is that, Miss Miller? Why does she hate you so badly?”

“I don’t know!” Tears run down my cheeks despite my attempt to stop them. “She has hated me since we were in fourth grade and I tried to stop two girls from bullying her that she now says were never bullying her at all!”

A knock on the door breaks the intensity that had built in the room. The rookie barely gets the door open when my dad shoves his way in. “Katie!”

I rise from my seat and fling myself into his arms.

“Are you okay baby? Mr. Wentworth just told us about the lightning strike! It’s a miracle that you weren’t hit, being that close!”

My dad looks over at the two officers and releases me into Liz’s arms. “What the hell is going on here?” He turns so that he is facing the two cops. “Are you two interrogating my daughter? My daughter, who is a minor and didn’t have a guardian present?”

Officer Williams stands, clearly not ready to be intimidated by my dad. “Sir, we were merely asking your daughter some questions about what happened. Three out of the four girls in the altercation were hurt, and there are too many conflicting stories about what happened.”

He looks back at me and then Liz before returning his attention to the police. “And what exactly is your conclusion officer?”

The female officer puts away her notepad and glances at the door where the Principal is now standing. “Mr. & Mrs. Miller, Katelyn, if you could please wait in my office while I speak to the officers.”