"So, what'd Mrs. Garfield want?" Alex asked as they met by their lockers before going to their next class together. This time Alex had pulled Charlie's hand into hers, which Charlie felt happy about.
"She wanted to talk to me about something in regards to my fifth period class," Charlie replied.
"What about?"
"Just about how I'll be taking a class with someone from outside the school during that hour and I'll be doing my math on a home-study."
"Seriously?"
"I have no idea what that's about myself," Charlie replied, shaking her head as they started to make their way to the classroom.
"Well, at least we didn't have the same math class, right?" Alex asked, smiling at Charlie.
"Right," Charlie agreed, returning the smile.
They made it to the class with a minute before the class was to begin and walked over to where their seats were, towards the back of the room. As they neared their seats, Alex let go of Charlie's hand, and turned so she was in front of Charlie and put her hands on Charlie's hips.
"Let me know how it goes, okay?" Alex said, leaning closer to Charlie's face.
"It'll start tomorrow," Charlie replied as she leaned into Alex's kiss, putting her hands on Alex's hips, but letting one slide to Alex's bottom. Charlie couldn't help but feel a little nervous as she felt the curvature of that part of Alex's body. She wanted to see what Alex felt like there, but she'd barely slid her hand there when they were startled out of their kiss by their teacher shouting at them.
"Miss Rivers and Miss Samuels!" A voice startled them out of their kiss and they quickly looked to the front of the room to see their social studies teacher Mrs. Carlson glaring at them.
"What do you two think you're doing?" she said so loudly she was almost shouting.
"Nothing against school rules," Charlie replied.
"You think what you were doing isn't against the code of conduct of this school?" Mrs. Carlson said, her none indicating they were on dangerous ground.
"Not that I've seen," Charlie replied. "I never saw it say anything about kissing."
Mrs. Carlson looked apoplectic. Charlie idly wondered if she might have an aneurysm right then and there with how she looked at that moment. "You're saying you weren't doing anything else?" she asked, her tone saying she believed otherwise.
"Not that I can think of," Charlie replied, as innocently as she could, then she turned to Alex. "Were you doing anything other than kissing me?"
Alex had a deer caught in the headlights look, but Charlie's question helped bring her back to the present. "What? Oh, yeah, I wasn't doing anything other than kissing Charlie," Alex said.
Mrs. Carlson's mouth opened and closed for a minute or two before she clamped it shut and just glared at Alex and Charlie until the bell rang.
"Just so you two know, when you're in this room, you're in my class. I expect you to behave yourselves while you're in this room," Mrs. Carlson informed them before getting to starting her lesson as a few stragglers entered the room, probably hoping that they wouldn't be noticed so they wouldn't get marked tardy.
"Well, if we can't do this during school, maybe after?" Alex asked.
"Only if none of the other times we have together don't work out," Charlie replied, as they took their seats. "Though, if we can't meet up right after school, maybe you could come by my house?" Charlie couldn't help but feel her face start to heat up as she added that last part.
_
"What do you mean you're going to be getting tutored in your magic during school?" Beth asked Charlie as they started walking home, the school already disappearing in the distance from the scenery.
Charlie shrugged and Beth felt like she should at least be doing more than that, especially since she really did seem to be reacting like it was to have been expected.
"Just what I said. Though, I'm starting to wonder about Mrs. Garfield," Charlie replied.
"What about her?" Beth asked, a little confused. "I mean, I get the magic lessons are a bit weird, but couldn't Heathcliff just used magic on her to bring her to his way of thinking? I mean, I think you told me once that he did that on occasion to keep the government out of his affairs and business."
"Maybe, but it's just the way she said it to me that I'm wondering if maybe she might also work for Heathcliff," Charlie replied.
Beth thought about that for a minute. "Yeah, that would make a difference. Though, do you think that means she has magic of her own?"
"I don't know, but I don't think I'd be surprised if she did," Charlie sighed.
"Yeah, that would make things a little different at school," Beth commented, not sure how to fully digest this information. Though, she did wonder if that meant she knew more about the goings on of the student body than any of them had been aware of before.
However, she suddenly remembered the rumor she'd heard about something that happened in the school office towards the start of the day. It involved Charlie and so she had told herself she needed to verify it, but had actually forgotten it for a minute when Charlie brought up why she was there in the first place.
"Anyway, what was with that comment you made to Mrs. Garfield?" Beth asked, deciding to inquire about the rumor as if it was already established fact. "I mean, were you trying to get detention or something?"
Charlie chuckled, though she looked more nervous than amused to Beth. "Not really, it just came out. Maybe Ralph's having a bad influence on me," Charlie answered.
"You realized others were able to hear what you said, right?"
"I thought about that when I was leaving the office," Charlie admitted.
Beth couldn't help but smile. "Well, I'm sure you'll have to see what Ralph has to say about it. I mean, I seriously doubt he'll let it go by without saying something about it," Beth remarked.
Charlie shrugged. "Think he'll be more amused or upset?" Charlie asked.
"Probably a little of both," Beth admitted. "I mean, he'll be amused that you of all people said that to Mrs. Garfield's face, and probably upset that he didn't think of saying that himself."
"Well, nothing I can do about that now," Charlie replied.
"Maybe, but then there was how you grabbed Alex's ass right before social studies," Beth remarked, enjoying Charlie's startled expression and how she blushed at moment later.
However, rather than giving Beth a response that she was sure would only entertain her, Charlie merely looked in the direction they were going, clearly forcing herself to not say anything.
"So, how was it?" Beth asked. "Soft and springy or toned and firm?"
Charlie didn't seem that eager to answer, so Beth just chuckled. "If you don't want to say, I understand," Beth said after a minute. "I was just curious, though I have to admit that you didn't seem like the kind of girl to kiss and tell."
Charlie smiled at Beth. "Thanks. Mostly I'm not sure myself," Charlie replied.
Beth couldn't help but feel at least a little satisfied with that. At the very least, it was more than she'd expected to get from her.
They continued walking along, Charlie seemed to enjoy the quiet more than Beth, so she tried to give Charlie some time without talking every so often so she could enjoy the sounds of nature, but mostly Beth needed the noise. Although, another thought came to her mind while they walked.
"Oh, by the way, Amelia told me today when I saw her in PE that her dad agreed to give us some basic lessons in self-defense. Though, she had to tell him about how you were attacked on our trip and that I was the one who saved you," Beth said.
"What do you mean 'attacked?'" Charlie asked.
"Well, it was in relation to what Shirley did. Amelia didn't tell him that we knew who it was, just that you'd been attacked, you tried to fight them off, but that I came on it and they took off when they realized I was there," Beth answered. "She also told her dad that you don't remember the attack, that you blocked it out of your memory."
"He bought that?" Charlie asked, sounding surprised.
"Actually, I've heard about things like that happening. Though, I don't know how Amelia told her dad about it, so I can't say for sure how believable she was, but all I know is that he agreed after listening to that."
"At least we have that going now," Charlie said, sounding almost clinical.
"You okay?"
"Why wouldn't I be?" Charlie asked, as she looked at Beth, looking surprised.
"You just sounded almost detached," Beth replied. "Kinda like it was merely another item on a list to check off."
Charlie looked thoughtful for a moment after that, but her response only worried Beth more. "Well, I can't help it if that's how I was."
Beth sighed. "Well, do you want to accompany me to get Stacie?" Beth asked. "I mean, we did all decide to let her in on about Petals and magic, so I was wondering if you'd like to join me in letting her know," Beth asked, hoping to change the subject, if only so she could get Charlie's reaction to learning about their self-defense classes out of her mind.
"Sure, that's sounds good," Charlie replied." I wonder what Petals will think of her as well."
Beth just shook her head. At least she could still see parts of Charlie remaining the same. For the moment, at least. However, she worried what might happen to her friend if things continued on as they were. Would Charlie even recognize herself then or would she be too far gone to even realize it?
Charlie felt good about things as they entered Petals' forest with Stacie in tow. Beth entered the forest first, to show Stacie that it was in fact there, then she entered and Charlie followed.
Inside Amelia, Hannah, and Wes were already waiting. Though, Charlie wondered what might be keeping Tim and Ralph, she suspected that at least Ralph might be dealing with the consequences of his latest prank or something.
"Oh, I was asked to tell you guys that Tim got pulled in for a doctor's appointment," Wes mentioned when Charlie commented about where Tim and Ralph might be.
"Figures," Beth remarked with a smirk.
Charlie glanced at Stacie, who probably wouldn't hear a word they said if they tried talking to her with how she was staring at their surroundings with wonder. Though, Charlie was at least pleased that the scar left behind from the forest having been invaded was healing. Stacie probably couldn't even tell that something had happened, since she hadn't seen it when the scar was still mostly fresh.
"Charlie, you know where Petals is?" Hannah asked, looking like she was finding watching Stacie entertaining.
Charlie thought about it moment while she felt where Petals was. "I think she's to our left," Charlie said. "Close to where the arachnoid's world is."
"Let's go then," Amelia said.
"Actually, I think we should show her the center of the forest first," Beth interjected. "I mean, by the time we get there, Petals might have already moved on."
"We could always call out to her and ask her to wait," Hannah replied.
"If we did that, we might as well ask her to come over to us," Charlie said. "I mean, you know she would if we asked her. Besides, don't you think Stacie would also like to see the sequoia?"
Amelia giggled. "Charlie, only you would find that interesting in a place like this," Amelia remarked. "You have all these crystals sprouting everywhere, maybe growing, it's hard to say, you have the mist in the air, the light source that lets you see things, regardless of what time it is, and then you have just the feel in the air where you can tell just how magical this place really is."
Apparently Stacie had calmed down from her first experience seeing the forest to have heard at least part of Amelia's statement. As she then gasped.
"You mean it's all like this?" Stacie asked, her voice full of the awe she clearly felt for this place.
"Yeah, though there are different trees in different parts of the forest," Amelia told Stacie. "Then, there's lots of those crystals, many are different colors too."
"What are the crystals?" Stacie asked as they passed a violet crystal. "I mean, what kind of rock are they?"
"We actually haven't thought to ask," Beth replied. "We just took it as part of the forest and didn't even think about it."
"Could you ask this 'Petals' about that?" Stacie asked.
"Of course we can ask," Charlie said. "We just hadn't before. Besides, Petals is really nice and considers us friends. I can't say what it would take for her to consider you a friend, but I'm sure she wouldn't object to that if you wanted to be her friend."
"How do you expect her to do that?" Beth whispered to Charlie. "She doesn't even have her magic unsealed, so how you she talk with Petals?"
"Remember how when we first met Petals?" Charlie replied. "Only Ralph and I could hear her. Then when we got into her forest, all of you could hear her, even though you still had your magic sealed. Then, just like before we entered the forest, when you spoke to her, she could understand what you were saying. So, while she wouldn't be able to talk with Petals using the same method Petals uses, I'm sure Stacie will still be able to talk with Petals."
Beth shook her head and Charlie smiled at her. It was clear to Charlie that Beth was still struggling to accept Stacie learning about all of this. Especially since it was clear that Beth was worried about something happening to her sister.
Eventually they reached the center of the forest, with the sequoia towering over them. Charlie checked to see if Petals was in the same place as before and found she wasn't. Apparently she'd gone to where they had started, which she couldn't help but find amusing.
"What's funny, Charlie?" Wes asked.
"Well, I just checked to see where Petals is, and she's by the entrance to our world," Charlie said, chuckling.
"Ironic, I'll give you that," Amelia said with a smile.
"That's a redwood, right?" Stacie said, staring at the sequoia.
"Yeah, that's a redwood alright," Charlie answered. "It's also called a sequoia."
"Does it have crystals growing on it?" Stacie asked, "I mean, it should right? It's big enough."
"Actually we never thought about it," Hannah said. "We never thought about if the crystals came up from anywhere else but the ground."
"Charlie, would you call Petals over here?" Beth asked. "I think once we introduce Petals to Stacie, she'll be more interested in Petals than anything else."
Charlie smiled, amused at Beth's reaction to Stacie's questions. "Sure, though are you sure you're just not getting worked up over your sister being able to explore Petals' forest?"
"I won't deny I'm still not happy about this, but I can't say what you said is true. Right now, I think I'd just like this whole thing to be over with so I can just take a nap at home or something," Bet replied.
"Alright, I'll see if Petals is busy," Charlie assured Beth. Then she took a deep breath and called out to Petals. –Petals? Would you have a minute to come to us? We're in the center of your forest, by the Heart of the Forest.–
–Sure, I'll be right there.– Petals replied.
"Petals said she'll be right over," Charlie announced to everyone.
"I didn't hear anything," Stacie said, looking confused.
"She told me that with her magic," Charlie explained.
"Oh," Stacie replied, still looking confused.
Making sure Stacie was looking her, Charlie used her magic to help Stacie understand. –This is how she communicates with us.– Charlie told Stacie.
Stacie stared at Charlie with her mouth partially open in clear surprise. "Can I learn to do that?" Stacie asked hopefully.
"Of course you can," Charlie answered. "As long as you have magic you can learn."
Stacie looked eager, until her expression fell. "H-how do I know if I have magic?" Stacie asked, hesitantly.
Charlie wasn't sure what to say. She wanted to say that her magic was just sealed, but then that would prompt her to get them to unseal it. Which they had agreed not to do. At least for the moment. However, if she told Stacie that she didn't have magic or anything like that, then she wasn't sure how Stacie would take that.
"We really can't be sure," Beth supplied for Charlie after a minute. "We don't know that much about it ourselves, so we can't really say for sure."
"If you learn, can you teach me?" Stacie asked, her eyes widening with hope.
"Of course," Beth agreed. "But remember, even though you're my sister, I won't go easy on you."
Stacie just laughed. "When have you ever?"
Charlie couldn't help but feel happy watching the two interact at that moment. However, something apparently caught Stacie's attention, as she turned to look in the distance in the forest.
"Do you guys hear that?" Stacie asked. "What is it? It sounds like a stream or something?"
"I think that's Petals' spring. She doesn't like anyone drinking out of it though," Amelia said.
"Why not?" Stacie asked, walking in the direction that she had indicated.
"Because she feels its dangerous. She can't say why, just that it's a feeling she gets about it," Hannah answered, starting to walk with Stacie.
"How deep is it?"
Charlie was dumbfounded. They hadn't bothered to think of that when Charlie had been allowed a drink when she had been having trouble with her magic after their dream conference. As it is, it didn't look like any of them had considered that.
"We never thought to ask," Wes finally said as they started following Stacie and Hannah.
"It wasn't something we were interested in at the time," Beth added.
"How can you go swimming in it if you don't know how deep it is?"
Charlie laughed. Swimming hadn't been something they'd thought about in relation to Petals' forest. Maybe they would have if they hadn't kept having to deal with one problem after another.
"It doesn't matter how deep it is," Beth answered. "Because it's certainly not wide enough to really let you do much swimming."
"How wide is it?"
"It's about two feet wide, I think," Beth answered. "It's hard to tell, with the mist in here."