Until the Last Page

The hallway past Head Master's office was full of the students of Rosebed racing to their next classes. Fae were not the only individuals within the student body of the school. They were the majority, but there were plenty of Elves, Beasts, and Jinn that also filled the hallways. It was a truly diverse student body that Rosebed was proud of and Calla was a fool to believe. All the smiling faces on the flyers and school website was all a facade.

Come on! Elves and Minotaurs have been at war for a thousand years. Pictures on the website showed the two species sitting close to each other in the lunch hall with nice smiles. Calla met those two. They are the reason why the Flight Gym no longer can be used. Everyone pretty much stays in their own cliques. Calla counted about six different ones walking the hallway in front of her.

She waited till a Centaur galloped past her before joining in the flow of students. She broke the traffic as she reached the grand staircase in the center of the building. A small fountain and statue showing off the founder of the school was located on the main floor. This connecting point of the two wings was one of the only modern area of the school. It was a start of a project a year ago in attempts to bring the school from it's old roots to the modern era.

This center area with it's tall windows and polished look made the area feel fresh. A contrast to the old wood tones and brick the rest of the building gave. She paused at the balcony and looked out to the people below. She spotted an Elf escorting a couple with their young teenager. They were all smiles.

“Run...” She breathed just hoping the family would hear her.

That was when Calla felt a large object smack to the back of her head. She turned immediately, ready to attack the one responsible and found Wes standing there with his stupid umbrella and leather clothes. The young man straightened up and swung the umbrella behind his neck, standing there holding it with both hands. A stupid smirk soon emerged on his dumb face. She loved that dumb face.

“So I heard you got caught.”

“Gasp, no, how could you ever have known?” Sarcasm fell on every word she spoke to the man.

“A little bird must have told me. They are quite talkative this time of year you know.”

Calla didn't like his joke. She knew that he was the one who told the teachers on what she was doing. Come on! Lady Bliss would have not seen her if someone didn't tell her. And yes, Lady Bliss was right. They were in a game and Wes was winning. He started spinning the umbrella in his hand gloating how Calla had two more days to beat him.

“Two more days and this lovely head of hair of yours will be donated to the needy Elves of Chanley.”

The tip point of his umbrella picked at her purple strands of hair. He was so adamant that he was going to win and at this point he was. Why on earth did she agree to this stupid bet? Her frown grew on her face as she tore the nice umbrella from Wes's hand. Before he could say anything she swung it over her striped knee and broke it right in half. A wild angry look remained on her face a she tossed the pieces over the edge of the balcony. He gave a shout and raced over to the side completely missing the pieces from dropping to the main floor.

The girl brushed her hair behind her in a snooty manner and walked off into the crowd of students once again. If he was going to play dirty, she was too.
–

“Calla, I don't know magic that well to cast a spell on a duck let alone a person.”

“Come on Iskander, I can't shave my head. You don't want to see me bald.”

Calla only had two classes this semester that weren't with the other Fae going to be Fairy Godparents. One was gym, the other was study hall. Study hall always was in their grand library that reached all three levels. It was a great place to get lost in and be alone with old smelling books. Calla thankfully was able to find her friend Iskander hidden behind all these books.

Iskander was a Jinn. If you thought that Elves and Minotaurs had problems, Fae and Jinn had bigger problems with each other. This was mainly due to jealousy, Calla found out, since Jinn had stronger magic abilities than the normal Fae. She had to use a wand to amplify her powers while he could snap his fingers. Though due to Calla's floater status, she liked to look past the species every once and a while. She also happened to share a room with his sister the first year she moved to Rosebed, so that helped too.

Iskander set down his book on his lap and looked Calla right in the eyes.

“Calla, do you like him or something?”

“Whaaat? Pft, noo? Why would you say that?”

“Well, I don't know. You kind of did this last year when we got that new student teacher.”

“Hey! Mr. Quiltwigs is a respected teacher here at Rosebed, I was merely making him feel welcome.”

“You kept threatening your parents that you were going to quit the Fairy Godparent program to be a Garden Fairy with him! A Garden Fairy Calla! You hate plants!”

“Hey. Hey. Hey. I never said I hated plants. I just hate getting my nice clothes dirty.”

Iskander moaned and smacked his head back on the wall behind him. Poor thing. She was two grades higher than him and yet he was the more mature one.

“Shouldn't you be thinking about the magic words you'll be using when you finally get your wand?”

Calla was the one who moaned this time. She slumped down on the chair across from Iskander, her feet now laying on top of his.

“I don't know. All I can think of has been done before. Everything else I can think of is sounding like blah. Blah bibbidi blah.”

She rocked her head to the ceiling that was the third level above them. The floor to ceiling book cases made the area feel smaller than it was, but at least it was quiet for them in their humble little corner of the library. If only they would actually allow them to use the wand outside of their classes. She could get a little more training in on how to use magic. They say it can take a life time for a Fae to learn magic. Something she didn't know if she wanted to do. But in all actuality, she wanted to use it against Wes.

Calla sighed and started humming a lovely little song that Wes knew all too well. Frankly most people knew the song. Not many Fae out there end up being lovely singers and well known umbrella wielding nannies. There also aren't that many others who happen to be the nephew of said umbrella wielding nanny too. Her eyes rolled forward to Iskander with a little smile. He just stared back shaking his head.

“Oh come on! He's rebelled so much to not walk in his aunt's footsteps. Wouldn't it just be great to see him acting like her? At least singing and dancing around in a 'practically perfect' way?”

She slouched forward on the desk with a big smile and her chin in both of her hands. She sat like that trying to inch as forward as she could to get him to agree with her. It was quiet for a while until she finally got that sigh. She gave a big toothy smile and thanked him joyfully. She grabbed her bag and have him a big side hug.

“Meet me here after school and bring your lovely face, kay?” she kissed his head as she joyfully skipped off. Iskander moaned and dropped his head down to the table wondering what he just got himself into.