Chapter 4 - Chapter Four

Chapter Four

Ugh, Sandy had forgotten the agony of waking up in the morning! She rolled over to look at her alarm clock, and the neon green letters hit her like a baseball bat. 6 A.M., how painful, Sandy thought.
She got up a went over to her dresser. She opened one drawer, and a blue soccer jersey was laying on top. She grabbed it without thinking and threw it over her head. And jeans, which were always trusty. Then she took a hairband and tied her messy hair into a ponytail that didn't actually look much better. She didn't care, though.
With that lovely dressing-up bit, she went downstairs for breakfast. Mom, Charlie, Cammy, and Lindsey were all there eating cereal. Sandy took a bowl and poured frosted flakes into it. A small tiger was at the bottom of the box. Sandy took it out.
"Frosted Flakes are more than good, They'rrrrrrrrre great!" Sandy threw the tiger on the counter and pulled up a chair, happily going about her morning as though no one else existed. The ignoring people went pretty well with the exception of Charlie, being the king of cool, spilling milk down his front and cursing loudly.
Then Lindsey decided to break Sandy's breif good-natured moment.
"Well, someone looks like they're still in their PJ's." She of course was perfect all the way to her unstained shirt. Sandy ignored Lindsey, and of course mom pretended not to hear.
"Time to go now!" Said her mom cheerfully. Then her smile shrank a couple of teeth, "Uh, Sandy here come over here for a moment."
Sandy looked at her, puzzled, then at Charlie, who avoided her gaze. Sandy turned back to her mom.
"Okay mum, um bye guys."
The troop filed out the door, and Sandy turned to her mom. It was too early in the morning to be polite.
"What mom?"
"Well, honey... you have been excepted to Comerick's School of Unfortunate Talents."
"Unfortunate Talents?" Sandy repeated in question form, "What a confidence booster."
Her mother chose to ignore the latter part of her statment, "It's a boarding school for the...erm...gifted...Of course, you can visit on the weekends since we live so close. Oh, God, I was so hoping you'd take after me..."
"...I've never seen any school nearby." Sandy said, cocking her head. Her sandy hair spilled over her shoulder as she did. It made her look even more tussled and her mother quickly brushed it back. Sandy rolled her eyes.
"Don't look at me like that, you need to start caring about what you look like, and of course you've never seen the school, it's warded." She hung her head as though greatly dissapointed. Sandy's eye twitched slightly. What had she done wrong now?
"Erm...warded?"
"Magically hidden and protected." Her mother said casually. Sandy snorted and burst out laughing. Her mother regarded her emotionlessly until Sandy's giggles faded.
"Oh...you were serious...let me laugh harder." Sandy said the last part in her mind. Her mother nodded grimly.
"Sandy, you're endowed with special abilities."
"Yeah sure, complete destruction." Sandy said sarcastically. Her mother gave her a dead serious look.
"Oh, come on, you've gotta be kidding me!" Sandy blurted before she could think.
Her mother gave her a dissaproving glance, but explained. "In kindergarten, your first day, every kid in class but you got chicken pox."
"Kids get chicken pox all the time."
"And had it again as soon as they came back. In second grade, the bully picking on you suddenly lost all of her jewelry and couldn't stop spilling things on her new dresses every time she wore one."
"She...she was a klutz?" Sandy should have been excited to be different for once, but her knees were shaking and she felt like digging herself a trench.
"As soon as we moved, it stopped happening. She's a ballerina now. You didn't make things happen for a while after that, we thought it had just been a phase. And then we noticed, it wasn't happening to other people, it was happening to you. Because you were sad about moving, you brought it on yourself. Your hair started to get wildly out of control and wouldn't tame itself no matter what. It used to be like Effel's, so pretty... You started spending less time doing things with your sisters and more time rough-housing with Charlie and his older friends. Then, in fifth grade you met Carly and Izzy. Then it stopped completely. Your father and I were so releived.
"Then, just last year, you should remember, there was that teacher. Her entire house burned down because she gave you a 'C' and you weren't allowed to play sports until you brought your grades up."
"I...I never meant to do those things, Mom..." Sandy took a step back.
"And running, your second best sport, your father noticed that you took after him a little, using the wind and earth to help you run faster. Your father was a famous elemental. Books have been written about him."
"I..." Sandy tried to say something in her defense, but her throat had closed up on her, as though filled with molasses.
"So, you're going to Comerick's. To learn how to control yourself."
"But...but...Carly...Izzy." True, she didn't say 'Izzy' with much enthusiasm, but still...
"You can still keep in touch, dear." Her mother said it coldly. She didn't like Sandy's friends. "It starts tomorrow, I tried to talk your father out of it, but he's so happy the magic line hasn't dried out." Sandy noticed her mom didn't say her last words with much enthusiasm either.
"And what's your power, being an utter jerk!?" Sandy shouted, then she ran up to her room before her mom could wipe the shock from her face and ground her.
Sandy slammed herself down on her pillow, but not before she noticed that, like her mood, the sky was clouding over and lightning was forking from the once clear sky.
She found herself thinking, for the very first time, 'Why can't I be normal?'

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