| | | | Five, six, seven, eight, one, two, three, four... I counted in my head. I moved my feet to the rhythm of Barbie Girl by Aqua in my dance studio while my instructor, Miss Carmichael, was sitting on her baby blue sofa, watching my every move. I was trying out to be the captain for the Varsity Dance Team at my dance studio which a very big deal if you even make it. Slide, bounce, pop it, fist pump, kick, high V, squat... Finally the last note faded away and I posed with both of my hands on my back, my head hanged back, and my left knee bended front.
There was an awkward silence before Miss Carmichael spoke and I stood straight. “Stella, that was good but…. I’m sorry; it wasn’t just good enough to make you captain…”
What!?!?!?! What did she mean “it wasn’t good enough”? I worked my bootie off for this position and….. I didn’t get it???? “Thank you for your time, Miss Carmichael, I’ll try harder next year,” I said, holding back tears. I wanted to be captain so bad and yet…..
I grabbed my pink Dance bag off the floor and my flip flops and I headed out the door, wiping away unwanted tears. Out in the hallway, I took off my black jazz shoes and pulled my warm-up pants on over my neon tights while wiping away tears the best as I could and not trying to meet other girls’ eyes. As quickly as I could, I ran outside not caring if the ice cold weather burned my bare arms, and started walking home.
Halfway home, I heard something strange above me. I looked up to see a great white owl and freaked out. “EEK!! Please, I beg of you, do NOT poop on me!!” The owl flew fast over to a branch a few feet away from me and looked at me.”
“Why would I poop on you?” the bird said.
“YOU CAN TALK!?!?” I freaked out. Birds weren’t able to speak actual words; it wasn’t part of their nature to even do that!
The white owl laughed, “Of course I can talk, you silly wizard. Of all humans, you SHOULD have known it.”
Ok, what is this crazy bird talking about……wait a moment. Who should be the crazy one? I am, of course. Birds don’t talk, EVER. Plus what this owl talking about when he called me a “silly wizard?” It doesn’t make sense…..I better make sure I’m awake, I think a slap on my face would do it……AHHH! Yup, definitely awake. So this means I’m going crazy….. Or I already am…..because this is definitely real.
“Ok, first of all, I am NOT a wizard and secondly, you should NOT be speaking because you are a bird,” I said to the owl.
“Oh, so your parents never told you what you are?”
“Told me what?”
“That you, Stella Pearldust, is a wizard.”
“Yeah right! Wow, this reminds me of Harry Potter too much except Hedgewig didn’t speak and it was Hagrid who told Harry that he was a wizard.”
“Huh? Who is this Harry Potter? Oh, never mind, just take hold of my wing.” The owl said and flew down holding out one wing for me take hold of it. I hesitated for a second and then placed my hand on the owl’s soft wing. “Oh and by the way, I’m Gama.”
Then there was blackness and wind flipping through my blonde hair. I screamed and Gama said, “Its ok, young wizard, you’ll get used to it.” Finally there was a big whoosh and a flash of blinding light. I closed my eyes from the light, and then I found myself on the ground. I opened my eyes, picked myself up, and gasped with astonishment.
There were people of all ages, walking around in robes, tunics, hats, and holding onto a wand or a staff. Some weren’t even walking; they were riding on unicorns, horses, brooms, lions, tigers, panthers, magna rays, dragons or they were flying with wings. It was amazing! Wait…..where is Gama?
“Uh……Stella Pearldust??” I heard a voice behind me and a tap on my shoulder. I turned around to see a girl, about my age, looking at a clipboard in her hand. She had light auburn hair cut in two layers, a straight nose, big eyelashes, lime green eyes, and was wearing jeans and a Hello Kitty T-shirt.
“Uh, yea, that’s me,” I said.
“No, duh, and you are late. You were supposed to be here one minute ago. It just threw off the schedule for you, tons. We better hurry and see the headmaster,” she said fast and grabbed my wrist, pulling me with her.
“Hey, wait!” I shouted.
The girl stopped and snapped back at me, “What? We are behind time and we need to go NOW!”
“I’m not just some wizard, let me go back home, I do not want to be here. Plus you are a little pushy and I don’t do pushy.”
“Oh well, can’t get out now.” the girl said, grabbed my wrist again, and started walking again.
I dug my heels into the ground and just looked at her, then said, “What do you mean that I can’t get out now?”
“Meaning you are a wizard, and that’s final. If you want answers, just ask the headmaster when we see him.”
“Ok, let’s see if this guy will answer my one question.” I said and started after Pushy Girl.
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