Chapter Text
"Will Emira Blight please come to the principal's office?"
The voice over the loudspeaker sounded more disbelieving than cross. The class gasped seemingly in unison, and Emira immediately felt dread creeping up her spine. The only times Blight names get announced is when they're being congratulated for being student of the week. Never for office calls of all things.
The stares of a thousand eyes burned into the green-haired witch as she stood up, even though there were only around 20 other students in the room. It was so silent that you could hear the faint whirring of the broken air conditioner that only ran for half of the day. Edric swapped a worried look with his sister. For once, the most talkative kid she knew had nothing to say. Even the Illusions teacher was speechless as Emira made her way to the door and into the wide, empty halls of Hexside.
She could hear the students hush as she walked by the windows in the doors, only ramping up her embarrassment and shame. Principal Bump's office was on the floor above this one, and each step only increased her anxiety. Her thoughts ran wild. What will my parents do??
She’s gonna get disowned for sure. She may as well just put in the papers for her emancipation now before things get worse for her. Move away from the Boiling Isles, change her name, craft a whole new identity. She felt her stomach dropping as she climbed the stairs. Bump’s office was at the end of the hall.
This was it… The end of Emira Blight.
She really wished a meteor would crash into Hexside and strike her down right now. She gripped the door’s handle with a clammy hand. Her palms never got sweaty. Emira hadn’t felt an anxiety this strong since… well, she couldn’t remember when.
The door creaked so obviously when she opened it. So much for not making an entrance. She stepped in the room, witnessing her principal massaging his temples over some paperwork, presumably about her.
“Ms. Blight,” he spoke flatly. Emira didn’t think it was possible for someone to sound so unimpressed. He looked at her with unreadable eyes, fingers locked crossly.
“Principal Bump,” Emira stammered politely. Normally, she’d say ‘hey, Bumpy-boo!’ just to be an asshole. Right now though, she just wanted this to be over as soon as possible. The principal sighed and gestured her to step closer. When she did, he lowered his voice, as if he was just as scared for her.
“29 tests, Emira. You’ve cheated on 29 separate tests,” he began, sounding more disappointed than angry. “I’d expect this out of your brother, but you’re… how do I put this? A little more advanced than him. I think deep down you know that. You’re in all honours classes, you have perfect attendance, you’re even on track for Emporer’s coven courses. Do you know how much responsibility is on your shoulders right now? Or how this will look to your parents?” Genuine concern shone through his stern exterior.
Emira dipped her head shamefully. “Uh… yeah,” she said in a small voice.
Bump shook his head, sighing deeply.
“Listen up. I know how…” he hesitated, “ extreme the Blight parents can be. I expect they’d pull you from Hexside altogether if they found out about your casual plagiarism,” he paused again. This time though, something flickered deep within him, “so I’ve decided to not immediately address them about this matter.”
“Wait, seriously??” Emira gasped in disbelief, feeling more relieved than she had ever been in her entire life. The principal held his hands up dismissively, though.
“Yes, but not so fast. That doesn’t mean there won’t be consequences,” He stated, opening a drawer in his desk. He pulled out a uniform with gray sleeves and leggings, and Emira’s heart dropped. “You’re spending 29 days in the detention track, one day for each cheated test,” he declared evenly. “You may change in and out of your detention uniform as you arrive or leave school so your parents won’t suspect anything, but please, Emira, do not abuse this opportunity. I’m only doing this because you’re one of our best students. Everyone looks up to the Blights. Please, be smart about this,” he explained, the witchling’s surprise growing by the moment. “And if you cheat on just one more test, I’m afraid your parents will indeed receive notice.”
Emira nodded vigorously, taking the uniform and draping it over her arm. “Yes, Principal Bump. Thank you so much.” she said in gratitude. She noticed the smallest, bittiest, most crooked smile flash on his face for a moment before he returned to his no-nonsense attitude.
“Again, make good choices, Ms. Blight. See you in 29 days.”
* * *
Room E2007, right? Is that where the detention room was?? Only one way to find out. Emira slowly twisted the handle and warily entered the room, taking it all in.
It wasn’t an exciting place to be at all. It had everything you could ever want - dull walls, dull flooring, and an even duller looking teacher along with three peculiar students. A lanky boy was preoccupied with his doglike friend, invested in a friendly game of shoot-stab-squish with aforementioned boy.
The last student that caught Emira’s eye was a girl around her own age with her hair stuffed in a messy brunette bun. The hairtie keeping it in place was adorned with copper spikes, making her look that much more dangerous. She was the only one who noticed the Blight enter, silver fishhook earring glinting in the bleak light. They locked eyes, and Emira could feel the shock emanating from the other girl.
This went on until Emira remembered where she was and turned to the teacher, who was playing Solitear on his scroll. She coughed into her fist to get his attention.
“Oh-!” He jolted out of his game and adjusted all four pairs of his glasses. By now, the other two boys were looking at Emira too. “Ms. Blight. Yes. Welcome to detention,” He started.
“Um, hi.” Emira greeted curtly.
“You know the drill. No scrolls, no talking, no laughing, no giggling, no whispering, and absolutely NO leaving the classroom. Not even for bathroom breaks.”
It seemed like he had to repeat that last part quite a bit. Emira gave him her fakest polite smile and nodded, moving to sit one seat away from the girl who had noticed her before. She waited until the teacher returned to his scroll before she let out a breath she hadn’t realized she was holding. She propped her chin on her hand and closed her eyes, willing the time to pass faster than it was.
It’s official: I hate it here!!!!
This SUCKS. Like, majorly. This sucks major balls. Major horrible balls.
Okay, don’t get weird, Emira.
Maybe this was worse than getting transferred. Then, she would have a fresh start. No one would whisper or wonder why she wasn’t in any of her classes but they still saw her walking into school. Sure, she’d have to start from the bottom, but regaining her status should be easy enough.
Unless they transferred her to some boarding school where smiling wasn’t allowed. It would be like this class every single day. Boring teachers and mean students. For the rest of her time in school. Okay, maybe 29 days didn’t seem so bad anymore. She wondered how long it would be until the other students would start whispering about her, staring at her, laughing at her. World’s first Blight student to get detention. She knew the rest of Hexside was probably already crawling with rumors. Damnit.
Pull it together, Em. It’s only 29 days.
A rumbling snore startled her back to earth, and she opened her eyes to see the teacher knocked out cold in a deep sleep. She raised her brows, glancing at the other kids in the room. The boy and the dog were intensely absorbed in their game, and the brunette was aimlessly doodling shapes and figures on herself. They didn’t care that Emira was in there at all. It was almost like they didn’t even know who she was. But that’s impossible, right? Everyone at this school knew the name Blight. She wondered if she should say something.
…Maybe not quite yet. Instead, she found herself focused on the student closest to her. Emira became acutely aware of the double venus symbol the girl had drawn on herself. Interesting.
Her sleeves were a little torn. Emira could tell it was worn from years of antics and mischief. The girl had light freckles running the length of her arms, and upon following them up, she found them on her cheeks, too. Her silver fish hook glared at her from chestnut brown hair, making a statement. A cold contrast to the warmth of the surrounding colour. How did she get that in there?? Emira wondered quietly.
“Why don’t you take a picture? It’ll last longer,” The girl said without looking up. Emira looked shocked. No one had ever spoken to her like that other than her siblings.
“M..me?” She asked, still in mild disbelief.
“No, the other popular green-haired girl in here.” The brunette replied sarcastically. Emira quickly found she was not going to enjoy being around this particular student.
“Good idea.” Emira decided to play this little game, summoning her scroll and snapping a picture.
Why not make it a Pentstagram post? She captioned it, ‘Rude-ass girl in my new class. GET ME OUTTA HERE! X_X’
Before she posted it, the mysterious girl finally cast a sidelong glance to Emira.
“I didn’t mean it literally, dork. You could have at least got my good side,” she joked. Emira was not used to being called a dork, and she definitely was NOT used to being so overlooked. She wasn’t sure if she liked it.
“I'm not a dork , ” The illusionist retorted, adding venom to the word. The brunette rolled her eyes.
“Whatever, dork.” She snorted, just rubbing it in now. She began writing something down on her forearm instead of doodling. Emira craned her neck to catch a glimpse of what it was out of sheer curiosity. It read ‘VINEY’ in big bubble letters.
“Is that what they call you?” Emira asked, tilting her head. “I assumed something like bitchface would be more fitting.”
Viney clutched her chest in mock pain.
“Ouch!! And I assumed the Blights would have better insults than that,” She shot back, smirking at Emira, who narrowed her eyes and shuffled further away from Viney. It was only now that she noticed the boys were looking at her, whispering things to each other.
“How long do you give it? I’d say a week,” The more witchling-like of the two spoke in a low voice, sliding five snails on the table. His dog companion barked something in response and they both chuckled. God, Emira really wished she took beast keeping right now. She didn't want to pull her translator out and make even more of a fool of herself.
“What are you two so giddy about?” Emira piped, accidentally scaring the two boys out of their hushed conversation. The tall one blinked nervously, turning in his seat to face her.
“Uh! N-nothing,” he stammered, the student beside him growling low. Emira gave him a look that let on she knew damn well it wasn’t ‘nothing’.
“Sure, okay. Who even are you?” Emira asked a little more harshly than she intended. They were strangers, though. And boys . They weren’t so deserving of her respect just yet.
“I’m Jerbo, and this is Barcus,” he patted Barcus on the back when he growled again. “Hey, chill! She probably means well,”
“Girls like her never mean well ,” Viney chimed in, crossing her arms and leaning back. The green-haired witch glanced at her, brows raised. “I wouldn’t cozy up to this one too quickly.” She glared at Emira, who returned the look.
“Well I’m not too fond of strangers myself,” Emira replied coldly. “Looks like we’ll both be keeping our distance.”
“Fine by me.” Viney huffed.
"Good!” Emira scoffed.
Jerbo and Barcus couldn’t look away from the scene until it all went quiet. They both pretended to be busy when Emira swept her piercing gaze to the two of them, irritation prickling her skin.
Emira sighed, leaning back in her seat with her arms crossed. For a moment, she considered moving further away from Viney. She didn’t though, hoping that her presence alone would be enough to piss off the other witch. This was going to suck.
Not nearly soon enough, class was over. For the day, at least. Jerbo and Barcus must’ve cycled through 20 more games (though most of them were made up on the spot). Viney never said another word to Emira after their little argument. She didn’t even look at her. Emira won’t lie, she did spare a few glances her way, but it was JUST to check if Viney was already staring. That was never the case, though.
The scream of the school bell was a liberating sound. She stood up a little too eagerly since it startled a nearly-asleep Viney. Emira didn’t bother apologizing.
* * *
“EDRIC!!!!” Emira shouted as soon as she walked through the door. She stomped upstairs and rapidly knocked on her brother’s door. A clatter and rushed footsteps let Emira know he was probably napping like he did every evening after school. How he got home first was beyond Emira. The door flew open and a very sleepy Edric appeared, rubbing his right eye.
“Em…!” He greeted, still partially unconscious. “What’s u-”
He was abruptly cut off by Emira whisking him inside of his room and slamming the door behind them.
“Sibling emergency . You CANNOT tell mom or dad.” She hissed silently. Even though her mother was at work and her father nearly never left his lab, she was still a little scared someone might hear.
“Oh, yeah, of course, I would never,” Edric vowed, more awake now. He was usually true to his word when it came to stuff like this, filling Emira with relief.
“Okay,” she drew in a deep breath, “So, you know how I got called to the office and didn't come back to class? Well. I got switched to the detention track.” She squeezed her lips together, bracing for his reaction.
“Holy. Shit. Seriously???” Were the first three words out of Ed’s mouth. He looked flabbergasted. She nodded, feeling the panic from earlier bubbling up inside her again. “Oh my god. OH MY GOD!!!! SERIOUSLY?!?!?!?!” Edric exclaimed, looking almost as frantic as Emira had felt.
“ Shhhh!! Shut up! Dad could hear!” Emira’s brows furrowed. “Or worse. Mittens.” Edric clenched his teeth at the thought of the more likely option.
“Oh. Oops.”
Sure enough, a tiny knock was heard at the door moments later. Emira glared at Edric with a half 'I-told-you-so’ and half ‘WHAT-THE-HELL-MAN’ look. He threw his hands up defensively as she sighed and went to open the door. There, their little sister stood, looking just as groggy as Edric did when he opened the door for Emira.
“If you guys are going to fight, could you at least do it a little quieter? Some of us need our after school naAAEOUF” Emira yanked her sister into the room and shut the door again, like she did with Edric. “And now you’re pushing me around??? I can't catch a break today.”
“Amity, I have something to tell you, but you have to PROMISE you WILL NOT tell mom or dad. Or else, I’ll be like, super dead. And so will you. But not because mom killed you, it’s because I will.” Emira shook her shoulders to make sure Amity knew she was serious.
“ Okay, okay, I won’t tell, sheesh..” Amity promised in annoyance. "But if it's something stupid, I will make fun of you for it." Emira and Edric glanced at each other, and Edric nodded. They were both more than aware of their sister’s little tattling streak, and it took a lot to get her to keep her mouth shut. Something about this time seemed like she would stick to her promise, though. Emira sighed.
“Ugh. I can’t say this out loud again… Edric, you tell her.” Emira decided, taking a few steps backwards so she could breathe.
“Okay, here goes… Em is in the detention track now.” Ed revealed. Amity’s jaw dropped, eyes going huge, kind of like a little cat. Emira nodded to confirm her suspicions.
“Seriously?!?!” Amity whisper yelled.
“That’s what I said!” Edric chirped. Emira rubbed her temples.
“This stays between us though, okay? You guys already swore the Sibling Emergency oath.” Emira stared them both down, ready to defend herself if she had to. Instead, they both nodded in understanding. Emira smiled for the first time today, relieved. She noticed Amity looked like she wanted to say something, then changed her mind at the last second.
“What?” Emira prompted.
“Just curious - what’d you do?” She asked meekly, afraid it was a stupid question. Emira swallowed.
“Long story short, I plagiarized.” She said simply. Edric and Amity both looked at each other, then to Emira. “It’s a serious offense, guys.” She tried to joke, but they still looked confused. “Okay, fine. Usually, plagiarism is just a ‘call-to-your-parents’ type of deal, but if mom ever found out I messed up at all in any way, she would transfer me to the world’s most horrible boarding school and watch me waste away in here. So, Bump was nice enough to not tell her and let me do detention instead. It isn’t permanent, but it still SUCKS bigtime. Especially because of the losers already in there.” Emira added that last part more bitterly than the rest of her words. The thought of that girl from earlier made her skin want to melt off.
“Oh,” was all Amity could say. “Yay for you?” She was very bad at expressing emotions other than hatred. Edric, on the other hand, squinted thoughtfully.
“The losers already in there…?” He echoed, trying to remember who exactly those kids were.
“Yeah, there were three of them. Viney, Barkis, and, what was it.. Jerba?” She didn’t really bother with memorizing the boys’ names. Somehow, Viney remained crisp and clear in her mind.
“Jerbo! Yeah, I know him! Back on Alternate Coven day, he was my partner for Abominations. Never saw him after that, though..” He smiled to himself a little. “He was nice.”
Emira rolled her eyes.
“I guess if you consider placing bets on how long it will take for me to kill that girl nice, ” She scoffed. Amity gave her a funny look.
“I’m sorry, they were betting on what? ” She blinked, trying to register what she just heard.
“Nothing. Nevermind. Sibling time over.” Emira turned and exited Ed’s room, and Amity had no choice but to follow.
“Well, keep me updated!” Edric called as his sisters left.
“I won’t!” Em called back, entering her room and closing the door.
She immediately flopped face-first onto her bed, letting a groan into the pillow.
This had been the most stressful day of her life as a Hexside student.
She had no idea how she would survive all 29 days. She'd probably have to kill that brunette if she wanted to stay sane. She could research how to hide a body.
No, that would be stupid.
Maybe what I need is a good nap to clear my head. Yeah, that sounds right. Tomorrow will be better. I hope.