Authors: Andy Holland
"No!" Professor Easthill cried out in horror. Kal looked back, biting his lip, a look of shock on his face. John's face was white, staring in disbelief at his destroyed work on the floor.
"Kal, what have you done?" Jerome asked, his face a combination of amusement and amazement.
"I didn't mean to," he replied haughtily. "It shouldn't have been placed where it could so easily fall off."
"You knocked it off, you fool!" John shouted at him. "It didn't fall!"
Kal glared at him angrily. "Don't you call me a fool, you little nobody. It's just a stupid model."
"Kal, that's enough!" Professor Easthill shouted. "Go and sit down! Class, turn to your books, and read from chapter 4. John, you and I will clear this away; perhaps there is some way that it can be saved…"
But there was no way that the model could be saved. The rest of the class watched as Professor Easthill and John cleared away the pieces, gathering the scattered little trees and other carvings and putting them back in the case. He felt utterly drained, and realised he was shaking as he tidied away the ruins of what represented weeks of work. He was still picking up the pieces when the class finished and the students began to leave. None of them spoke to him, for once deciding to pass up an opportunity to torment him. But it didn't matter what the rest of them did. Crystal was able to hurt him far more than any of the others could. He wiped a tear from his face just as she passed him, and as he glanced up at her he could have sworn that she smiled. For just that moment, he hated her more than the rest of them put together.
"Are you alright, Daisy?" John asked. Daisy sat alone on the edge of a bench in the school gardens, her lunch untouched on a plate in her lap while she stared into space. She snapped out of her trance and turned to look at John.
"Oh, yes. I'm fine, just having my lunch." She smiled sadly. "Arthur was meant to meet me here, but I think he's decided to have lunch with Jenna instead."
John nodded sympathetically. "Maybe he was just held up. I'll tell him you're here if I see him."
Daisy nodded, then looked up at John again. "What are you doing, John? Have you had lunch?"
John pointed to his bag. "I've brought something with me. I'll eat soon."
"Why don't you eat with me?" Daisy asked brightly. "That is, if you'd like to."
John shook his head. "I'd like to, but I'd better not."
Daisy frowned. "Why not, John? We get on, don't we? Are you worried that Crystal will see you with another girl? I see you looking at her all the time."
John shook his head, frustrated. "It's not like that. I'm not interested in her that way, and I don't care who she sees me with. It's hard to explain, but I have a different reason for wanting to get to know her."
"Oh, I see," Daisy replied, looking confused. "So why don't you want to eat with me? Please tell me, I won't be offended. Don't you like me?"
John shook his head. "No, I'd like to have lunch with you, but I heard what your brother said to you on the first day, and he's right."
Daisy frowned. "What are you talking about?"
"You don't want to be seen with me, Daisy. It's early in the school year, and you can still make lots of friends. Being seen with me won't help you."
"I don't care what my brother said—"
"And Crystal," John interrupted. "She told me I was dragging you down with me, and that if I liked you I'd leave you alone so you can make friends."
"What? When did she tell you that?"
"In the first week, when she told me to leave her alone as well, so I didn't do the same to her."
"Well, I don't care what either of them said. I've been here for five weeks, and look around. No one else is sitting with me, so avoiding me hasn't helped so far." Daisy was right; plenty of students were wandering past, but no one else had stopped to speak to her.
"It's early days, you'll make friends. You just need to find your feet, and talk to people."
Daisy smiled. "Advice on making friends? Are you sure you can help me there?"
John shook his head and laughed. "No, I guess not. I guess the best I can do is show you how not to do it. What I mean is, if you let people to get to know you, they'll like you. Don't worry about your brother so much."
"Sit down, John," Daisy told him. "You're talking to me anyway, so you're not really listening to Crystal or Arthur. I'll take your suggestion to not worry about my brother by ignoring his advice and talking to you."
John sat down reluctantly and unwrapped his meagre sandwiches, which he began to nibble. Daisy paused for a moment before asking her next question.
"I never asked you, John, what happened about your model? Did you repair it?"
John shook his head. "It's lying in pieces in a box in my room. I don't think I can fix it."
"That's too bad. They should make Kal do it. It was his fault."
"I know, but I doubt he would be able to fix it. I wouldn't trust him to do a good job."
Daisy laughed. "I guess not. I'm really sorry it was broken. It looked amazing. You should try and repair it. I'm sure it can't be as bad as it looked."
John shrugged and pointed to her plate of food. "You should eat that before it gets cold."
Daisy looked down at her food. "A little late for that advice. Speaking of advice, why don't you take your own? You could try harder to make friends as well as me."
John shrugged. "It's difficult for me. I'm not really used to talking to people. I don't know how to begin."
"You seem to be doing fine with me."
John nodded. "It's easier with you; you start the conversations for me. I just have to reply. I don't know how to start conversations with the others."
"You just need more practice. Are you going to Seth's birthday party tomorrow? It's straight after flying."
John shook his head. "I wasn't planning on going. I doubt I'll be welcome."
"Don't be silly. It's an open invite to the whole class. Come, it'll be good for you."
"This hasn't been the most enjoyable week for me. There are some people who I wouldn't mind having a break from." After John's model had been smashed, Daniel and Joel picked on John relentlessly, latching on to his misery and making as much of it as they could. John had disappointed them by hardly reacting at all, but underneath he was finding it a little too much.
"Are you talking about Daniel? He's horrible, isn't he? But he won't be there tonight. His father is in Furnace, and he will be with him. I heard him complaining to Joel about it. Joel will be there, but he won't say anything without Daniel. Come on, I'll talk to you if no one else does."
"Don't!" John replied in alarm. "I'm not going to ruin your chances of making friends. You should talk to new people."
Daisy shook her head. "Fine, if you insist. But we can talk at school still, like this? I'm having lunch on my own most of the time anyway."
John frowned. "Alright. If you promise to try and make new friends tomorrow at the party."
"If you promise to come as well. I promise I won't talk to you!"
John laughed. "Alright, it's a deal." He held out his hand, which she shook very formally. John stood up. "Thanks for eating lunch with me."
"Thank
you
," Daisy replied. "See you at the party."
After lunch, as it was the last day of the week, the students had their favourite lesson: flying. This was their fifth lesson, and they had been making good progress.
"Mother wasn't that keen on me coming tonight," Crystal told Jenna as they walked to the amphitheatre. "She'd have been even worse if she'd known we were flying to Seth's house."
Jenna shrugged indifferently. "You tell her too much, that's your problem."
"No,
you
do. Listening to you is why she doesn't want me to go to parties."
Jenna laughed. "If she really didn't want you to go to this party she wouldn't have let you."
"She was in two minds about it. She's made Seth send one of his guards with us to walk us home at the end of the night, to make sure we get back safely. I'm really surprised she's letting me stay at yours."
"I'm not. It's much nearer, and she probably trusts me much more than you realise."
Crystal laughed. "Now that is unlikely." They had just reached the changing huts and went in to transform. "So, what do you think he'll teach us today…"
Most students flew to the party, leaving straight from their lesson, and if their flying teacher disapproved he didn't show it. Daisy and Arthur of course were accompanied by their bodyguards, as were a few of the other students. Crystal really couldn't understand the point; as dragons, there was very little that could happen to them other than crashing, and there was nothing their guards could do to stop that.
Crystal flew low over the ground, figuring that if she crashed from this height she couldn't hurt herself too much. As she flew, she watched John disappear high in the clouds above her. She was a little envious of his ability to do this, but was also relieved, assuming that he wouldn't be coming to the party. Jenna showed rare loyalty to her by flying with her instead of with the twins, staying low and taking a longer route.
Seth's house was huge, and although Crystal knew that he was a distant relative of the King, she didn't realise how wealthy his family was. Seth always talked of them as if they were the poor relatives in the royal family. Despite it being his birthday, Seth's parents were out for the night, and he assured them that the servants and guards who were there were very discrete and as a favourite of theirs, wouldn't report anything back to his parents. In the house there were several bathrooms where they could change out of their school clothes, so Crystal shared one with Jenna, who helped her get ready for the party. As always, Jenna put a lot of effort into her appearance, and insisted that Crystal did as well, helping her with her make-up and jewellery. The party had been going for some time when they finally went down to join the others, and a few of the guests already looked like they'd had a little too much to drink.
"Here, Crystal, I've brought you a drink," Seth announced as he passed her a cup filled with the green punch. "It's a special recipe of mine." His face was almost as red as his hair, but was smiling at her inanely.
"You can't drink that," John told her quietly. Crystal spun around to glare at him. She thought and hoped that he wouldn't have come. He was wearing some ridiculous brightly coloured shirt instead of his usual bland attire, obviously making an effort but getting it all wrong.
"What makes you think you can tell me what to do? Why are you even here anyway?"
"She has a point, John," Seth told him, putting his hand on John's shoulder in a friendly way. "You're not exactly popular here. Why don't you just take an early night?"
Crystal lifted the drink and took a long sip. She paused to glare at John, daring him to comment before finishing the cup. She smiled at Seth. "Thank you, that was delicious."
Seth smiled back, pleased with himself. "I'll get you another." He took her cup and headed back into the house.
John shook his head in despair, but didn't move, watching her expectantly.
"Still here?" Crystal asked icily. "When your host suggests you leave, that's when normal people would leave."
From the other side of the room, Crystal noticed Daisy, who waved at her and John cheerily. She was talking to a tall young man who bore a striking resemblance to Seth.
"You're not still spending time with her, are you?" Crystal asked derisively. "That's Seth's cousin she's talking to; he's actually a reasonable match for her. Good-looking, isn't he? I think he's something like sixth-in-line to the throne. Yes, he could offer her a lot. What do you think someone like you could offer her? She's a princess. From the richest of the principalities. What are you compared to her?"
John said nothing, just watching her patiently.
"What?" Crystal asked, beginning to feel a little uncomfortable. John said nothing, but just stood there, still watching her.
Suddenly Crystal put both hands on her stomach, doubling over in pain. After a second it was gone, but she was starting to feel very sick. John moved towards her and took her arm and led her away from the house into the garden.
"Hey, what are you doing?" she asked, but without any real conviction. Her stomach turned again, and she wretched, but nothing came up.
"Come on," John urged her quietly, "you don't want to be seen like this. Move quickly."
Crystal stared at him, confused, but let him lead her away. She gasped as the stomach pain returned, and she bent over in pain. John didn't let her stop, but lifted her from the ground and carried her quickly along the garden path and out of the grounds. The guards at the gate didn't even blink as they passed by.
Eventually, the pain passed and Crystal struggled in his arms. "Hey, I can walk!"
John let her down gently, but took her arm again to lead her away.
"Stop, where are we going? I feel fine now."
Before he could answer, the sudden pain in her stomach caused her to collapse, and she immediately vomited into a bush. She closed her eyes, feeling terrible, but John lifted her to her feet and started to lead her away again.
"Keep moving," he told her. "If you stay here people from the party will hear you."
She shook his arm off. "I'm fine now. It's over. I want to go back in and get a drink. Of water!" she shouted at him, misreading his look.
He shook his head. "I'm sorry, but it isn't over. It won't be for hours."
Crystal started to object, but found herself retching again without any warning, and John just dodged out of the way as she vomited a second time.
"What's happening to me?" she asked weakly. "I had one drink!"
John was leading her away quickly, and she didn't object this time. "You can't drink," he told her. "I didn't mean that you shouldn't, I meant that you
can't
. Your body can't cope with it. Even a sip would be enough to make you vomit, and feel pretty ill for some time. I tried to stop you."
"Not hard enough," she objected lamely.
John shrugged. "Perhaps. I wasn't sure how to stop you."
Crystal dropped to her knees again and retched, failing to bring anything up. It felt like her insides were ripping apart. "Please, make it stop!" she begged him.
John paused, and then removed his shirt.
"What are you doing?" she asked in amazement.
"You need to drink water, plenty of it, but there's none that near to here, unless you want to go back to the party, which I don't recommend. There's a stream a couple of miles away, but it'll take ages to walk there."