Equally Magical Ch4

The music department’s building wasn’t as disgusting as the main building had been.  Pale blue and sea green, with big pink and red treble and bass clefs painted all over it, Louise couldn’t help but smile.  It looks rather cute, she thought to herself as she walked through the front door.  Now to find my lecture room.
Trotting down the corridor, Louise carefully inspected all the doors, trying to find one baring the number 106 on it.  She glanced down every so often at the Post-It note with the room number on it that the receptionist gave her to double check she’d got it right.  As she headed to her class, she couldn’t help but notice that the walls in the building were just as bright as the ones outside.  Each one was beautifully decorated with crotchets and quavers in soft pinks, reds and oranges.  
“Someone must really love this department!” she chuckled, admiring the artwork.  She then caught the number of the room opposite her out of the corner of her eye and smiled.  
“Here I am!” she whispered under her breath so as not to draw attention to herself.
Knocking on the door, Louise waited for someone to answer.  A tall, dark haired woman wearing a neat blue and green dress opened it up, grining from ear to ear.
“Hello there, young lady!” she said, looking at Louise.  “You must be one of the new first years!”
Louise nodded.
“I’m Annette Jones,” responded the woman.  “You can just call me Annie.   I’ll be your lecturer for your introductory class today!”
Louise walked into the room and took a seat at a desk.  There weren’t that many other students in the room with her.  She assumed that not that many people were interested in music here, or maybe the lecturers weren’t very nice and had put people off studying the subject.  Scanning the room for friendly looking people to converse with, one face stood out that made Louise gasp.  Sat on the table opposite hers and chatting to a dark haired girl was Helena DuBois.
“Shit,” muttered Louise.  She hadn’t managed to shake that weird feeling she’d had about Helena that morning and it wasn’t about to go away any time soon.

“And since Miss Goethe happened to be the last one in, she can hand out the books.”
Lotte let out a frustrated sigh.  She’d been placed in a class with her least favourite lecturer, Erik Dawson.  She’d only been in the lecture room five minutes and he had already chosen to pick on her.  Lotte had never liked the guy – his tall, sinewy form and long black hair made him look like an adult that had never outgrown their goth phase.   Sighing, she got up off the bench she was sat on and walked over to where the lecturer was standing.  Wilhelm, who was sat to her left, poked her in the arm as she stood up, a gesture which confused the German girl.
“Why did you do that?” she whispered, rubbing her arm.
“I felt like it!” came her brother’s hushed response.
Lotte glared at him then strode over to Erik’s desk.  The lecturer smiled before reaching down to pull up a heavy looking box of books from beside his desk.  Placing them on the table, he turned to Lotte, smirking.
“There’s more to come, Goethe,” he laughed, bending down to haul up another box of books.
“Now, there’s two books.  One type in each box.  You’re to give one of each type of book to everyone in this room.  Got it?”
Lotte sighed and began pulling the books out of the boxes.
“Good girl.”
“Du hässlich Fotze,” she muttered, causing Erik to tap her on the shoulder.
“What did you just say there?” he questioned.
“Nothing, Erik,” she mumbled under her breath.  She looked up and noticed Wilhelm and his friend Marcus, who had been sat to Lotte’s right when she arrived in the room, staring at her.   She was then aware of the two boys talking amongst each other.  Marcus, whilst not German himself, was fully aware of Lotte’s tendency to spout expletives in her native language whenever someone really got on her bad side.  Wilhelm didn’t really have that habit – although he had a temper on him, he very rarely spoke German unless it was to his sister, his family, or Lotte’s penpal who was a native speaker herself.  Glancing around the room, the blonde girl’s eyes met Marcus’, and she quickly looked back down at the box of books she was to hand out.
Erik, however, was still waiting for a response.
“Lotte von Goethe.  I asked a question and I expect an answer.”
Lotte bit her lip, nervously.  If he knew what she’d really said about him, she’d be marched up to the rector’s office immediately.  An idea suddenly entered her head, causing her to smirk a little.  She wasn’t usually the devious type, however she figured this might just work.
“I said, sir, that I am glad you picked me to hand out the books.”
Erik smiled, his pale face creasing as his lips curled up the way.
“You know, Goethe, it’s a wonder you’ve made it to third year, what with you being dyslexic and all.”
Lotte’s face went scarlet as she bit her lip again.
“I mean, your native language isn’t even English, for crying out loud!  It’s German!  What are you even doing at an English language college anyway?”
The blonde girl could feel tears pricking at the corners of her eyes.
“I came here to learn, sir,” was her croaky response.  Picking up a bundle of books, she shuffled over to the benches where the students were sat, tears dripping down her face.  She was immensely embarrassed by Erik’s remarks.  Her dyslexia wasn’t something she was proud of as it had set her back a little at school.  Trying her best to stem her crying, Lotte doled out the books to the students, all of whom sat quietly staring at her.  This didn’t worry her fully until she got to the bench her brother sat on.  Noticing his facial expression, she sat down beside him, sobbing.  He responded by wrapping his arms around her and hugging her close.
“What did he say to you, sis?” he asked, brushing her hair with his fingers.
“Yeah, we couldn’t quite hear Er-dick’s response from over here” chimed in Marcus.
Lotte giggled a little.  Er-dick.  Great name.  A bit infantile, but hilarious nonetheless.  It was typical of Marcus to make this sort of remark.
“He poked fun at my dyslexia,” cried Lotte, hugging Wilhelm tighter for comfort.
Suddenly, Wilhelm saw red.  Letting go of his twin, he leapt up off his bench and stomped to the front of the lecture room.  Erik had obviously seen him coming, for he was stood at the front of his desk, waiting to see what the other Goethe twin would do.
“Erik,” growled Wilhelm, glaring at the lecturer.  “I know what you said to my sister.”
Erik smirked.
“She was talking back, Wilhelm.”
Wilhelm growled again, as the lecturer continued to laugh.
“She was not,” he retorted, rolling up his sleeves.
“I beg to differ.  Oh, and why are you rolling your sleeves up, boy?  Are you going to try and punch me?”
Wilhelm nodded.
“This is the third year we’ve had you, Erik, and every year you push my sister.  This, however is the first time you’ve made her cry.”
Again, Erik let out a laugh.
“Also,” continued Wilhelm, “I know it is only the first day back after the summer but by god, you’ve pushed me and my sister too far this time.”
By this point, Erik was doubled over laughing so hard there were tears streaking his pale face.  This was obviously amusing to him in a way, although to Wilhelm it was highly embarrassing and frustrating.
“Oh please, Wilhelm!” guffawed Erik.  “Don’t even bother trying to punch me!  You couldn’t even fight your way out of a paper bag!  I’ve seen you trying to punch someone before!  Your arms are-“
His speech was cut short by Wilhelm delivering an almighty whack across his face.  Erik opened his mouth to reply but could not, for more punches followed, each stronger and more painful than the last.  He couldn’t even scream, and didn’t want to fight back, for it was against the staff code of conduct to do so and he didn’t want to risk losing his job.  Falling backwards onto the floor after a particularly nasty punch to the stomach, Erik put his arms up in surrender.
"Wilhelm, stop!” he screamed in defeat.  “I’m SORRY!”
At that, Wilhelm stopped what he was doing, rolled down his sleeves and looked at the drama lecturer in disgust.
“I do not believe a word of that, however I do not want to get into trouble for this.  So for now, I will accept your pathetic apology”.
Erik got up off the floor, gasping and panting in pain.  Looking around the room, he noticed Lotte playing on her phone nervously and Marcus carefully rubbing her back, obviously trying to calm her down.
“Go back to your seat, Goethe,” huffed Erik, still in pain from the blows he had endured.
Wilhelm glared at Erik again, still angry at the man’s remarks, then trotted back up to where his sister and best friend sat.

Belissa’s first lecture, however, was going much better.  She’d already somehow impressed the lecturer by showing off her knowledge of Italian drama and poetry, and had even actually managed to recite Portia’s speech from “The Merchant of Venice” in her native Italian.  The lecturer for her introductory class, Francine Broad, was a modest looking little old lady who seemed to take great delight in listening to Belissa nattering on about her home country.
“Very good, Belissa!” smiled Francine after a particularly interesting speech.  “Now, who’s next?”
At that moment in time, there was a knock at the door and a tall, slender woman with dark hair walked in.  She was wearing a very unusual yet slightly formal outfit of jeans and a brightly colour t-shirt, and Belissa assumed that she must be a mature student.  
“Ah, Serenity,” said Francine, addressing the kookily dressed woman.  “What brings you here?”
“I’m actually looking for someone in your class,” responded Serenity.
“Who are you looking for?”
“I’m looking for a Belissa Brando.  Is she a student in your class?”
Francine nodded and pointed the Italian out to Serenity.  Belissa promptly stood up upon hearing her name.
“Si?” she asked.
“Would you mind coming with me, Belissa?” questioned the taller woman, causing Belissa for once to question what she was doing.
“Am I in trouble already?” she squeaked, anxiously.  She was hoping Lotte hadn’t reported her for the incident in the lounge that morning.
Serenity shook her head, laughing a little.
“No, sweetheart, you’re not in trouble.  I just need to speak to you about something.”
Belissa was about to follow the woman out of the room when Francine took it upon herself to introduce Serenity to the rest of the class.  During her introduction, Belissa learned that Serenity’s surname was Jones, that she was the college guidance counsellor and that she was the older sister of Annette Jones, who was one of the music lecturers.  As soon as Francine was finished introducing Serenity to the class, the two of them left the room, a slightly puzzled Francine staring after them.

Once Belissa and Serenity were outside, Serenity’s mood changed from the happy one she had displayed inside the lecture room to a slightly more serious one.
“Do you know why I’m here, Belissa?” questioned Serenity, stooping slightly so her eyes were level with Belissa’s.
“No miss, why ?”
Serenity said nothing in response.  Instead, she reached into the pocket on her jeans and pulled out a small object.  Looking closer at it, Belissa realised it was a small pin badge.  The badge was about the size of a pound coin and was a nice bright orange colour.  A set of two darker orange stripes were layered at an angle across the top of the orange base, and a large, golden letter “O” lay proudly on the top.  Serenity handed it to Belissa, who gasped.
“What is it, Serenity?” asked Belissa, curiously, twiddling the object in her hands.  It was rather pretty, she thought, although accessorising wasn’t her strongest point.  Belissa figured it looked like something Lotte might enjoy, as judging by her appearance, Lotte was clearly into fashion.
“It’s a badge, Belissa,” came her response.  “More specifically, a transformation badge.”
Again, Belissa stared at the object, curiously.  A transformation badge?  What did it transform her into?  Was she dreaming?  She was about to ask Serenity when suddenly, the corridor was plunged into darkness.  A few anxious shrieks came from the classroom behind the two women, and all of a sudden Belissa could feel herself being yanked forwards by what she assumed was Serenity.
“We don’t have much time!” shrieked the older woman, dragging the short Italian along behind her.  “We must hurry and find the rest of your team!”
“My team?” asked Belissa.  “What team?”
“Well you’re not the team leader but you’re part of a team put here to save the Earth, now if we don’t hurry and find the team leader unspeakably bad things could happen to this college.”
Belissa  blindly followed Serenity along, clutching the badge she had been given tightly in her left hand.  Little did she know that things would only get more interesting from here.