I was never good at making friends when I was younger. I was always found weird or different. My family told me I was special, but I never really believed it until I met someone else like me. His name, that’s not important right now. We had met on a camping trip for scouts. I was with my Girl Scout troop, and he was with his Boy Scout troop. We were camping right next to each other, and we had noticed each other as we got out of our vehicles with our troops. I stopped and stared at him for just a second and then I was pushed to move by a troop member. My feet wouldn’t move so I fell instead and my troop members along with my leader laughed. I noticed that the boy wanted to help me, but he was called over by his friends to help them put up their tent. Tears began to roll down my face as I slowly got up and walked over to a nice spot to set up my single tent.
I was the first one to finish putting up my tent, thanks dad for always taking us camping, and I went over to the van to grab my bag. I got to the van and saw that my duffle bag full of clothes and other objects went missing. My heart pounded as I began to panic. I had something that made me feel safe in there and I was afraid that someone had found it. I went back over to my tent, sat down in it and thought about what would have happened to my duffle bag. A few moments later I heard giggling next to my tent and then multiple snaps of something that sounded like a stick. Something took over; I stormed out of my tent and walked over to the tent that was giggling. I unzipped the tent and saw about a ten-inch smooth stick broken into three pieces lying on a troop member’s sleeping bag. “What did you do,” I said angrily.
“Oh Juniper, I’m sorry. I thought this was mine,” a girl with short black hair said with a smirk. She took my wand off of her sleeping bag, got up and handed me the stick. “Here, have this back and take your duffle too. There’s nothing good in it anyway.” The girl threw my items at me and laughed. I didn’t leave right away; I stayed in front of their tent exit for a few more seconds. “You can leave,” another girl with long blonde hair said with an attitude. I narrowed my stormy grey eyes, took a deep breath and let it out slowly. It was a cool breeze that made the girls become very cold and started to shiver. “What did you d—do June?” the girl that had broken the stick asked.
“What do you think, Kimberly?” I asked and walked away. My brown ponytail went back and forth as I walked back to my tent and sat down on my sleeping bag. I blinked my eyes once and I came back from the trance I was in. I looked down at my oak stick and put it back to how it was supposed to be, but nothing happened with it. I picked it up and stuffed it in my dark colored jeans pocket and laid down to calm myself down. “I didn’t think I had that much power in me…” I said quietly as I closed my eyes.
It felt like minutes had passed, but it was hours. I walked out of my tent, and it was pitch black. I looked at my wristwatch and saw ten ’o’clock. I decided to go for a walk with my flashlight and collect my thoughts. I found a path off the road, and something pulled me to go down it. The trail was covered in treetops when I looked up and I heard faint footsteps behind me; I turned quickly to see the boy I had seen earlier when we first got to the campsite. I stopped, pointed my flashlight at his feet and waited for him to catch up. I slowly brought my flashlight up to his face and noticed he had short blonde hair, forest green eyes and dark square framed glasses. He wore a football sweatshirt from an academy that I guessed he went to. We didn’t say a word at first; we just smiled at each other. Finally, he spoke up. “Are you lost?” he asked.
“No, I just decided to take a walk. Something pulled me down this path,” I said quietly. He cocked his head slightly.
“What kind of pull?” he asked curiously.
“Like some sort of aura, I guess. I don’t know how to explain it without feeling like an outsider,” I said. He smirked and held his hand out.
“Come with me, I have something I want to show you. I had a feeling that there was something different about you,” he said with a smirk. I was hesitant but took the boy’s hand anyway and let him lead. “So, what is your name?” he asked.
“Juniper Mathews,” I said quietly. He smiled and turned in front of me. “What’s yours?”
“That’s a beautiful name,” the blond-haired boy paused for a moment before continuing, “I’m Kasey Carter…and I didn’t want to bring this up, but I want to help you…” he trailed off and I looked at him curiously. “Why do you let your troop members and leader push you around?”
“I’m not liked very much…here or at my school…I don’t make friends easily either…” I said and looked down. He put his pointer finger under my chin and lifted my head up so we could be eye to eye. Tears strolled down my flushed cheeks and my lip quivered.
“I’m sorry…” he said.
“It’s okay…you didn’t know…I used to make friends very easily and not a lot of people would push me around, but then something happened, and everything changed…” I said and I wiped my tears away. Kasey nodded and turned around.
“I may have somewhere for you to go and feel at home,” he said as he took another step forward. I sniffled and stood there for a few moments. “Are you coming?” the boy asked.
“Yeah…” I said and started walking slowly. He waited till I got to his side, slyly took my hand and we walked together hand in hand to where he was taking me.
We had gotten to a fork in the trail, and he pulled me up some stairs. I was a little confused, but I followed anyway. The boy and I had gotten to the top and I was surprised at what was there. It was just a dead tree and a bench next to it, nothing special in my opinion. “Am I supposed to feel at home up here?” I asked and looked at the boy who was staring behind me with a smile.
“Turn around Juniper,” he said with a huge smile. I turned around and I saw a school…in the middle of a field…this wasn’t possible, was it? My mouth dropped and my eyes grew wide. The boy whistled and a large creature with wings that looked like a lion, but I noticed it had talons flying over to us.
“W—what is this place?” I stuttered as the creature came closer and the boy held his arm out for it to take. I realized I was still holding his hand and when the creature grabbed his arm, I went up with them. I hugged the boy tightly so I wouldn’t fall, and I looked up at him wondering if he heard my question. “Did you hear what I asked?”
“Oh, yeah, I heard you. This is called AutoBurro Academy or others call it AutoBurro High. It’s for special kids like you and I,” he smiled, and the creature set us down at the front doors of the school. “The doors are always open, and the headmistress lives in the house just over there,” the boy pointed to a small house in the distance as he pushed the beautiful large burgundy engraved doors open. There were some students walking through the halls, but not many. A girl about my age and the boys’ age noticed us and she smiled brightly.
“Kasey! Where have you been? I’ve missed you!” she shouted and ran toward us. Her curly blonde hair bounced as she ran, and her blue eyes shone brightly in the moonlight. She noticed the boy and I holding hands and her smile disappeared. “What are you doing with her sweetie pie?” the girl spat and raised an eyebrow in my direction.
“Trixie, how many times have I told you, you and I are not together? You are not my girlfriend. I am not your boyfriend. Get over it!” the boy spat at the girl, and he reached for something in his sweatshirt pocket. Trixie, the blonde, blue eyed girl, took out a stick and pointed it at the boy. She growled but the boy named Kasey didn’t budge.
“Don’t make me do this honey. You know I will,” she warned. I noticed interesting ears and a tail on her now and I raised my eyebrows.
“Are you a werecreature?” I asked, a little confused. Trixie growled at me and turned to attack me instead. Instinctively, I grabbed for my wand, but it was broken, and I panicked a bit.
“So what if I am, what’s it to you?” Trixie spat at me, and I felt animal saliva land on my face. I whipped it off and giggled a little as I panicked.
“Shift for me please?” I asked politely and looked at Kasey’s expression when I said that. Trixie rolled her eyes and shifted into a cute little tiger kitten. I stifled a laugh when I knew what she could shift into. She meowed and I went into full blown laughter. Kasey started to laugh as well and relaxed a little. “Kasey, you’re right. I feel so much at home here,” I smiled and felt Trixie attack my leg, but she didn’t do much damage because of how young she was. “We should probably get back to camp,” I said as I whipped some tears from my eyes because I was laughing so hard.
“I agree, let’s get going then Juniper,” he smiled and bent down to pet Trixie. “Be good Trixie, okay? I’ll play with you later,” Kasey said, still laughing. He stood up, pet the creature that brought us down off the cliff and we headed back to camp.
We were just about at camp and before we went our separate ways, I decided to make some small talk. “So why did that girl think you two were a couple?” I asked shyly and unsure if that was the right question to ask. The boy shrugged and gave me a sly grin.
“I’m not totally sure, June. Are you okay with me calling you June for short?” he asked quickly before continuing. I smiled and nodded as my cheeks turned a light rose. “Okay, well June it might be because my football buddies told her that I liked her last year and now she thinks we’re dating because I said yes to one date. She’s crazy and I found that out after one date. She’s a tiger kitten, it’s in her nature I guess,” Kasey chuckled a little and scratched the back of his head nervously. I just nodded and looked down. I noticed it was midnight from the time on my watch and I yawned.
“We should get some sleep, Kasey. It’s midnight and I have a big day tomorrow. I’m sure you do too,” I said before leaving his side. Kasey grabbed my arm and pulled me back. I was a little surprised and turned into him. We were so close, and my heart started to beat quickly. “W—why did you pull me b—back?” I asked, avoiding eye contact.
“I just wanted to ask you a question. Are you guys going to the dance tomorrow night?” he asked shyly. I nodded with a slight smile. “Save me a dance?”
“Sure Kasey. I’d love to save you a dance,” I smiled and blushed slightly. Kasey pushed up his square framed glasses and blushed.
“Awesome. I’ll see you then,” he said with a smile, and we went our separate ways. I got back to my tent, and I saw a flashlight coming toward my tent. I pretended to be asleep, and I heard the zipper being unzipped. I recognized the voices that were at the front of my tent, and I sighed a loud sigh as if I were asleep. The girls giggled and came into my single tent. I grew stiff and listened to what they were doing.
“Now, she’ll have nothing to wear to the dance tomorrow night,” one said. It sounded a lot like Kimberly, and I heard cutting of fabric. The girls did a few other things too, but I didn’t pay attention. I was too busy trying to forget about them. After about a half hour they left, and I shot up looking around my tent to see all my clothes cut into pieces and ripped to shreds. If only my wand would have gone back to a single piece of wood, I would have been able to fix everything. I laid back down and turned over to try and fall asleep.
It was morning before I knew it and I got out of the tent still in my clothes from the day before. I wasn’t excited for what the day would bring. I didn’t want to be here anymore. I wanted to disappear for good from the troop and never be found. I was done with their cruelty and jokes. I sat down around the faint fire and looked down at my plate of pancakes. Something seemed off about them and I wasn’t super hungry, so I didn’t touch them. Instead, I put them in the fire and let them burn. I snapped my fingers and made the fire burn a little brighter. Nobody was really paying attention, as usual, so I left and went back to the spot the boy named Kasey showed me the night before.
I stayed up there for the whole day letting the time pass. My troop didn’t care if I was there or not so what was the point of me going back right? I heard footsteps coming up the stairs and I looked to see Kasey and a couple of his troop members on a hike. I gave a slight smile and half of a wave as they passed. Kasey’s troop members smiled back, and Kasey stopped for a second. “You guys go on ahead. I’ll catch up with you guys!” he said, and his troop nodded with a smile. He turned back to me and sat next to me. “You okay June?” he asked. I shrugged and put my head in my hands.
“Can I ask you a question?” I said softly. I felt Kasey’s hand touch my shoulder and I guessed that was a yes. “Are you a wizard?” I had realized something was different with him when his troop didn’t notice the school behind me as they passed me. Kasey didn’t say anything for a few moments, and I looked up at him curiously. “Are you going to answer me?”
Kasey sighed and pushed his glasses up. “I am June. If you didn’t notice by the school last night, that specific school is for magical beings. I attend that school. Why?” he asked curiously, and I took my broken wand from my jeans pocket to show him. “What happened?”
“Three of my troop members took my duffle yesterday before I could get to it and broke it into three large pieces. I tried to put them back the way they were, but it never mended back together. Would you be able to do something about it? Maybe fix this so I can fix my clothes back at my tent before tonight?” I asked shyly and a little relieved that I had made a friend who was like me. Who was different and special. Kasey nodded with a smile and took his wand out of his sweatshirt pocket. It was around eleven inches long and looked to be made of a sugar maple tree, which was the state tree. I watched as my wand mended together thanks to Kasey’s help and when it was finished, I held it lightly with a smile.
“How does that feel? Is the weight uneven?” Kasey asked curiously and put his wand back into his sweatshirt pocket.
“It’s perfect. Thank you, Kasey, I really appreciate it,” I said with a bright smile, and I heard laughter from the bottom of the steps. “Great…now my troop is coming on a hike over here…” I groaned and looked to Kasey for help. He smiled and held his hand out for me to take.
“Let’s go up the mountain, shall we?” he smirked, and I giggled a little as I took his hand. We headed up the mountain the rest of the trail led to and I just about slipped going down it. It was muddy and my shoes weren’t good for hiking up a muddy mountain. Kasey and I laughed as this happened and I pulled him down with me. We both landed in mud and laughed. “C’mon June, we should get down the rest of the mountain and clean up.”
I giggled with a smile. “I agree,” I said, trying to get up, but ended up slipping back down into the mud. “Now I can’t even get up and stand, because I’m full of mud,” I laughed and laid in the mud with Kasey sitting next to me. My ponytail sat behind my head soaking up the mud and I looked up into the sunny sky. Kasey looked at me with a smile blocking the sun from my stormy grey eyes.
Kasey stood up and held his hand out with a smile. “I got you if you fall again,” he spoke as his glasses started to fall slowly off the bridge of his nose. I blushed slightly and avoided eye contact for a second as I took his hand. He pulled me up and I hopped out from the mud I kept slipping in. Kasey and I finally started down the mountain again and made it to the bottom. We decided to head to the beach that was there so we could wash off all of the mud from our clothes and bodies.
I splashed Kasey and he glared at me. “Hey, I am only trying to get you clean,” I giggled and blushed as I sank under the water to get out of the splash zone. I came up thinking I was good when Kasey clobbered me. We just laughed and I looked down, realizing that our clothes were clean as well as ourselves. “I—I think we’re good….” I said shyly and slipped from underneath Kasey’s strong arms.
“Y—yeah, we should get back before our troops think we got mauled by a bear or something,” Kasey chuckled and got up blushing. I blushed as well and crawled to the shore.
We left the beach and got back to our campsites to get ready for the dance in a few hours. I ran into my tent unseen and dried myself off with my shower towel. I took my wand and made myself completely dry so my troop members wouldn’t question things. My clothes became whole again after I said a quick spell and I smiled. “That’s much better,” I said to myself and found a cute strapless powder blue summer dress I had packed just for the dance. I searched for the perfect ribbon to go around my elastic band that held my brown curly ponytail in place. I threw pieces of large ribbon all around the tent until I found it. It was at the bottom of my duffle of course. “There you are,” I said and slipped the lavender colored ribbon I had in my hair out and replaced it with the powder blue ribbon I had found. I smiled and put on a pair of cute white flats I had but weren’t attached to. I knew I would get them dirty, and they were a little big for me anyway. I came out of my tent, and everyone was surrounding the campfire chit chatting. I sighed and saw everyone ready for the dance as I walked over to them. I sat on a log while everyone else sat in chairs, I really didn’t care where I sat, I would always sit on the ground when my family and I went camping in the summer.
“Is everyone excited for the dance tonight?” our troop leader asked. We all smiled and nodded. I hummed to myself quietly as everyone talked and I heard a twig snap behind me in the woods. I turned around to see Kasey sneaking around behind our campsite and I just smiled. “June, what are you smiling about?” our troop leader spat at me angrily.
“Just a thought ma’am,” I said softly as I turned back around. She always had a mean spot for me when I was happy. No one in this troop ever liked me happy. I got up to get a water bottle and realized I wouldn’t be able to take my wand with me tonight. I grew uneasy with the thought and went back into my tent to see if I could figure out a way that I could take it with.