Pure Magic (Ballad of the Seer, Book One)

Chapter 11 - The Power of Words

As the day went on, whenever Lily walked into a room people stopped talking. Whispering followed her through the hallways. The majority of her peers were talking about the secrets she revealed at Bianca's party. Lindsay's nose job had been long suspected, but never confirmed so brazenly until Lily. Wendy's affair with her boyfriend's brother garnered the girl some unwanted attention. Wendy stared daggers at Lily when they passed in the hallway; she had some serious rage festering inside. The only thing called into question was Carson's sexuality, given how many girls he'd bedded—the number was surprisingly high.

Her breakup with Jack also received a fair amount of buzz. Several witnesses to the spectacle had taken it upon themselves to spread the news. Once again, Jack was an eligible bachelor and a lot of girls were clamoring for a chance to be his next girlfriend.

A number of people thought Jack was the one to dump her. That theory was very popular since no one could imagine why any girl would breakup with the most popular guy at St. Steven's. The other reigning theory was that Lily had been carrying on an illicit affair with Duncan all summer, and he moved to Ashland for her. Their handholding only added fuel to the fire.

By lunch, most of the school was talking about Lily for one reason or another.

Lily stood outside the doors to the cafeteria, watching the other students inside, debating whether she was hungry enough to enter. She had a decent breakfast, it might sustain her these last few hours. As if to answer the question, her stomach rumbled. She opened the door, preparing for the worst. And nothing happened. Of course, people looked up and whispering broke out, but no more than a normal day. Lily rushed through the lunch line and found a table in the far corner of the courtyard.

Dianna sat next to Lily. "Why are you way over here?"

"I needed to be away from all of that." Lily motioned at the melee of hormones and emotions that were giving her a headache.

"Have either of you seen Jack today?" Eric asked, when he and Hilary joined them.

Lily and Dianna shared a conspiratorial glance. Lily shook her head, and Dianna said, "Why do you ask?"

"He was supposed to be back at school." Eric said taking a huge bite of his burger. "He must've got sick, 'cause there's no way he would have chosen to stay home. He told me it was hell spending all day with his mom."

"I'm sure she drove him into the walls." Dianna said, looking at Lily pointedly.

"I'm sure he's fine." Lily added. He certainly looked fine when he walked away from being thrown into a brick wall the day before. She still couldn't figure out how he managed that. It was clear from Dianna's lack of subtlety that she was thinking about the same thing.

"Yeah, you're right. I'll just text him later." Eric said. He then turned to Hilary and pointed to her hamburger. "Are you gonna eat that?"

Hilary took a bite and said, "Yes."

Eric rolled his eyes as he got up to go get seconds. Given his standing with the lunch ladies, he wouldn't have a problem with that.

Thankfully, the subject of Jack didn't come up again, at least not at their table. She had to hear from several girls how stupid they thought she was for breaking up with him. They went over the multitude of possibilities for what was surely Lily's mental breakdown. "I bet she's like bipolar. I mean she's always having like major mood swings. Like out-of-the-blue. Did you see her the other day when she started crying for no reason?" one girl said.

A second girl said, "I heard that her whole family is crazy. That's why they all lock themselves away in that big old house so far away from everyone."