Chapter 2 Emily
I hadn't been outside for long when I ran into some familiar faces.
John Thompson and Derek Sanchez.
These two were the bullies from my high school, always with that lingering smell of weed on them.
I didn't have much interaction with either of them.
I kind of had Ethan to thank for that. By secretly using his wizard talents, even though his face was covered in acne, he was still pretty popular at our high school. Even though he usually treated me like I was invisible and never talked to me at school, no one would bother me for no reason.
"Charles."
"What's up?"
"Have you seen Ethan? We want to hang out with him," said John, all muscles.
"Ethan?" I paused for a moment. "He's not here. He went to buy stuff for magic school."
"Magic school?"
John and Derek exchanged glances, then suddenly got angry.
"Are you messing with us?"
"I'm telling the truth..." I immediately realized my mistake. "No, I got confused. He's preparing to apply for college. He went with my uncle today to get the materials ready."
Wizards need to keep things secret from regular people, but Squibs are somewhere in between, so oddly enough, there's no such restriction on us. Nobody usually bothers to check up on me about this stuff anyway.
After all, I don't have many friends.
No wizard would ask me about regular people's business, and no regular person would ask me about wizard stuff.
"Charles, you're a weird guy."
"Haha, you fool still believes in magic," John said with a laugh. "When I was seven, I stayed up late and saw my grandma stuffing presents into the stocking by my bed. After she died, I never got Christmas presents again. That's when I stopped believing in Santa Claus."
"It sounds like you are quite pitiful." I said.
John's face immediately turned red. He raised his fist.
Seeing things were going south, I turned and ran.
But bullies are bullies for a reason--they caught up to me pretty quickly.
With no other choice, I ran back into the community.
There were special spells set up by wizards here. Only approved people could enter this community.
Just around one corner, I disappeared from John's view.
Watching John and Derek running around outside like headless flies, unable to even find where the road was, I let out a satisfied laugh. But soon, my laughter stopped.
There was nothing funny about this.
After I move out next month, my uncle will definitely remove me from the community list.
Then I'd be just like John.
Unable to even find where the road was.
I had originally wanted to go out and ask around about community college. But John was definitely waiting outside to ambush me, and I didn't want to get beaten up for nothing, so I could only go home first.
I walked past the wall around Isabelle's house, about to head back.
"Isabelle."
It was Emily's voice.
My steps paused.
As the older sister, she was only slightly less pretty than Isabelle, with the same blond hair and blue eyes.
When we were kids, I got along really well with these sisters. Emily especially liked to stick around me. But in recent years, after finding out I was a Squib, Emily's attitude toward me had become pretty cold. Sometimes when we ran into each other on the road, she'd even pretend not to see me. Isabelle, on the other hand, treated me the same as always.
I heard their conversation, but Isabelle and Emily hadn't noticed me.
Eavesdropping wasn't the right thing to do, especially on two girls. I was about to leave quickly, but then I heard my own name.
"Did you go see Charles again today?"
"Emily..." Isabelle said weakly.
"Listen, Isabelle, I'm not trying to stop you from being friends with Charles."
"Then why are you doing this?"
"Because you're not from the same world, sweetheart. I've told you many times--we're wizards, and you're a wizard with exceptional potential. And Charles? He's just a Squib. Squibs should stay away from wizards and go live with the Muggles. He'll find some ordinary girl, get married, and have kids in that Muggle world, and just end up living a plain life."
"But Emily, didn't you really like Charles when you were little, too?"
"When I was little, it was one thing; now it's different." Emily got a bit angry, as if Isabelle had brought up some embarrassing history. "Isabelle, Charles, and I are not the same kind of people."
"Even so, Charles is still my friend," Isabelle shouted back. I could hear her running away.
"Isabelle!"
Squib.
That word again.
I clenched my fists and quietly walked away with my head down.