'Sorry Doug but I got here first. Although there are still two spaces left.'
'No thanks,' Doug snarled, before he followed his friends over to the blanket where Patricia was sitting with Victoria and another girl.
'Denis, over here,' Charlie shouted over to a frumpy boy, who wheezed as he walked over to them.
Once Denis had caught his breath he proceeded to high-five everyone on the blanket and Charlotte saw Margaret wipe her hand on a napkin after her high-five.
'Hi, I'm Denis,' he said, his accent English.
'Hi, I'm Cindy,' she smiled at him, as she tugged on one of her pigtails.
'Hi Denis, I'm Charlotte.'
'Charlie, you've definitely picked the prettiest girls,' Denis blushed.
'I know,' Charlie grinned, as he looked straight at Charlotte.
'Charlie isn't it? I'm Margaret,' she said, as she knocked into Charlotte's side, extending her hand out to him.
'Yeah, it is. Nice to meet you Margaret,' Charlie shook her hand.
'We're a boy short,' Cindy said, as she looked around her. 'He's cute,' she pointed to a boy standing by himself as he looked for a free spot in a group.
Charlie whistled over at the boy and waved his arm.
'Hey Harry, over here,' he gestured him forwards.
The boy looked relieved as he hurried over to them, only he didn't seem to get any taller as he grew nearer to them. He didn't come up much taller than the rest of the group and they were all sitting down.
'Am I relieved to see you, I thought I was going to be the only one without a group. That would have been more embarrassing than the time I turned my hair blue in potions class,' he grinned and Cindy and Denis laughed.
'You should change your hair to purple, that's my favorite color,' Cindy said and Margaret groaned as she rolled her eyes.
'Anything for you,' he smiled, before he flicked his wand at his hair. 'Purpura tempus.'
Harry's hair instantly turned bright purple and the rest of the group laughed.
'Suits you,' Cindy blushed.
'You look like you belong in a rainbow,' Denis chuckled.
'Or as a candy wrapper,' Charlie grinned.
The purple began to fade until Harry's hair went back to its normal shade of brown and he ruffled his hand through it.
'Is there cake in there?' Denis pointed at the picnic basket.
'Yep there is, oh and I recommend the hot chocolate,' Cindy replied.
'Great,' Denis leaned over the basket and inspected what was inside. 'The cake is great,' he said with a full mouth, so that bits of cake flew out at the others.
'Ew,' Harry shielded himself with his arm. 'Close your mouth Denis.'
'Sorry,' he gulped down the rest of the cake, before he took a bite out of a slice of pizza.
'It's okay, I needed a shower anyway,' Harry grinned. 'Now pass me some of that pizza.'
Denis held a slice of pizza out to him and they both laughed.
'Do you want one?' Denis asked Cindy.
'I'll have one of those little pastries,' she blushed as she pulled on one of her pigtails.
'One of these?' he held an oval pastry out to her.
'Thanks,' she popped it into her mouth.
Charlotte and Charlie weren't taking much notice of what was happening on their blanket as they couldn't stop staring at each other.
'It's good to see you,' he said to her.
'It's good to see you too,' she smiled.
'I like that,' he pointed to the red clip that was in her hair. 'It's pretty, just like you.'
'Thanks,' she blushed. 'I borrowed it from my friend Gerty.'
'I'm so glad I reached you before Doug and his cronies did,' he stared into her eyes.
'I'm glad you did too,' she stared back into his.
'Do you want anything to eat?' he quickly glanced at the picnic basket.
'No thanks, I'm not hungry,' she beamed.
'Me neither, which is a good, as I don't think there's much left.'
Charlotte chuckled, her eyes not leaving his.
As nice as Denis seemed and as funny as Harry was…Charlotte couldn't keep her gaze away from Charlie. She couldn't stop smiling at him and he felt the same, barely taking his gaze off her, a fact which hadn't gone unnoticed by Margaret who folded her arms and smirked to herself.
'Payback time,' she muttered under her breath, a devious look on her face.
Chapter Three
All the groups gathered around Molly and a tall, dark-haired boy from Alexander's College. Charlie was standing next to Charlotte and they kept on exchanging smiles with each other.
'For those of you who don't know me I'm Molly and I'm head girl at the Miss Moffat's Academy. This is Dale, he's head boy at the Alexander's College,' Dale gave them all a wave. 'Each group will be given a list,' she held up a piece of paper. 'And a pen to tick off each item,' she held up a pen.
'Can't we just use magic to tick off the items?' Alice asked.
'Just use the pen,' Molly rolled her eyes, as she began to hand out the lists to the groups.
'As you can see, there are a number of items on your lists, your group’s aim is to find them all and get back here first. Whichever group does that and has the most correct answers wins the scavenger hunt,' Dale said.
'What do we win?' a boy asked.
'Win and you'll find out.'
'Are you all ready?' Molly asked the groups, as she stood back by Dale.
There were excited murmurs and nods in reply and Charlie reached out and grabbed Charlotte's hand, which caused her heart to jolt and she couldn't hide the huge smile from her face.
'I said are you all ready?' she said and the crowd responded with loud cheers and whoops.
'Go on then,' she shouted, as she shooed them away.
All the groups instantly hurried off in different directions and Charlotte was led along by Charlie who was still gripping her hand.
'Where first?' he asked Margaret, who was holding the items list.
She looked at his hand wrapped around Charlotte's before she gave a large fake smile at them.
'This way,' she spun on the spot and knocked into Charlotte, causing her to let go of Charlie's hand.
'Sorry,' she said, as she rushed off across the park.
Charlotte longed for Charlie to grab her hand again but instead he just gave her a smile as he walked alongside her.
'Which item are we doing first?' Denis puffed out.
'You have to find the leprechauns house and borrow a cup of sugar,' Margaret read the first item off the list.
'What does a leprechaun’s house look like?' Cindy asked.
'Well it isn't going to be a mansion is it?' Margaret rolled back her eyes.
'I reckon it'll be a small house that's even shorter than I am,' Harry grinned and the rest of the group giggled, including Cindy who made sure that she was walking next to him.
'Let's try through here,' Margaret led them towards the forest area that was at the end of the park.
That'd make sense,' Harry said.
Charlotte was wary about entering a forest with Margaret, but at least she had Charlie with her. She hoped that Margaret wouldn't turn her into a cockroach in front of the others, although she couldn't fully rule it out. Margaret may have been all friendly towards her but Charlotte was still unconvinced, although she hoped that she really had changed as being civil with her was much more preferable than having her as an enemy.
'What's that,' Charlie ran over to a tree and bent down.
'It looks like a door,' Denis puffed out.
'Well spotted Charlie,' Margaret smiled.
'Thanks,' he grinned back at her.
Charlie knocked on the little red door and waited for an answer. It was then that Demi and her group appeared and Demi shoved her way over to the leprechaun’s door and pushed Charlie out of the way just as the door opened.
A leprechaun in a green suit and a large green hat appeared and looked up at her.
'Please can
I borrow a cup of sugar?' Demi asked.
The leprechaun muttered something under his breath as he disappeared inside the tree. He appeared back with a tiny cup of sugar held out in his hand and nodded as Demi took it, before he slammed the door shut.
'Wait,' Charlie shouted. 'We need a cup of sugar too.'
'And we were here first,' Margaret huffed, as she glared at Demi. 'You cheated.'
'There is nothing in the rules to say we have to be polite,' Demi smirked, as she barged past Margaret and back over to her team.
'Game on,' Margaret glared at her with folded arms.
'Whatever,' Demi rolled her eyes. 'Got it,' she held the cup out in front of her team.
'That's tiny, it's no bigger than your thumb,' one of the boys on their team said.
'Let's get out of here,' Destiny said.
The other team ran off into the forest and Charlotte's team remained by the leprechaun’s house feeling frustrated.
Charlie knocked on the door again and waited for a response. Eventually the little door opened with force and the grumpy looking leprechaun stared up at them.
'What d'ya want?'
'A cupful of sugar please.'
The leprechaun slammed the door shut and Charlie looked up at Charlotte.
'Do you think he's coming back?' he asked.
'I hope so, as I refuse to be beaten by Demi and that girl she's found to replace me,' Margaret sighed.
'Don't worry Margaret, I think we'll win,' Cindy said but Margaret turned her back to her.
Eventually the leprechaun appeared and half-gave, half-threw the minute cup of sugar at Charlie.
'Thanks,' he replied, just as the leprechaun slammed the door in his face.
'I thought leprechauns were meant to be cheery old fella's,' Harry said.
'Not this one,' Charlie grinned, as he carefully grasped the small cup of sugar.
'The leprechauns we have at the Academy are always friendly,' Cindy said.
'Yeah, the ones at our College are too. They serve us the best steak and mushroom pie ever, it's even better than my mom’s, erm, don't tell her I said that,' Denis said.
'Mrs Jackson, I'm afraid your steak and mushroom pie just isn't good enough,' Harry put on a posh English accent.
'Cut it out,' Denis play hit Harry's arm and nearly knocked him over. 'Sorry,' he very gently patted Harry on the shoulder.
'It's okay buddy, you've got some muscles on you there,' he smiled and Margaret let out a snigger.
'When you've quite finished we have a scavenger hunt to win,' Margaret announced.
'Yeah, sorry, what's next?' Denis asked.
Margaret looked over at Charlotte and saw that Charlie was still standing next to her, they were both staring at each other and it was as though no one else existed.
Margaret clutched tightly onto her wand and gave a mischievous look.
'What's next?' Harry asked.
'Find a gnome and ask them how do a gnome kiss?' Margaret replied.
'Okay, let's go!' Cindy began to walk forwards but paused when she saw that Margaret wasn't moving.
Margaret shooed her forwards and let all of the group pass her, including Charlie and Charlotte who were too busy smiling at each other to notice that Margaret hadn't moved. Now that she was at the back of the group she held out her wand and aimed it towards Charlotte's back.
'At the mention of their name ventus,' Margaret said, smirking as she hurried past them.
'Which direction do you think we should take Charlotte?' she asked.
Charlotte let out a loud fart which seemed to echo around the group. Her face went the shade of beetroot, desperately hoping that no one realized that it had been her.
'Who did that?' Harry laughed.
'That's horrible,' Cindy flapped her hand in front of her nose.
'Well it wasn't me,' Denis said.
'You know the saying, whoever smelt it dealt it,' Harry grinned over at Cindy.
'It wasn't me,' she said defensively.
'Who do you think it was Charlotte?' Margaret asked.
Charlotte instantly let out another loud fart and this time everyone knew that it had been her.
'Sorry,' she blushed.
She couldn't bring herself to look at Charlie, worried that he wouldn't like her any more.
'See, it wasn't me,' Cindy said.
'Or me,' Denis said.
'No, it was Charlotte,' Margaret smirked as Charlotte let off another loud fart.
Charlotte was more embarrassed than she could ever express. She wanted to run off into the trees and be far away from the rest of the group, then she wanted a beautiful white pegasus with a glossy mane and feathered wings to fly down and flick her onto its back. She wanted to be flown high up into the clouds and away from this situation.
As much as she wanted to escape she knew that she couldn't, instead she was stuck here with Charlie who most probably thinking she was disgusting. She felt warm fingers curl around hers and looked up to see that they were Charlie's and that he was smiling at her, so she smiled back.
Margaret was furious, she didn't understand how Charlie could still like Charlotte. She decided that there was only one thing for it, she'd just have to repeatedly say Charlotte's name until Charlie's smile faded.
'Charlotte, I think you should look over there,' Margaret pointed to the side of her as Charlotte immediately farted. 'Go on Charlotte, before the other teams beats us Charlotte.'
Charlotte didn't understand why she couldn't stop farting but going by the smirk on Margaret's face she predicted that she had something to do with it.
She followed Margaret's instructions and hurried off, glad to put some distance between her and the others, although she still found herself glancing back at Charlie. Sweet, caring, super cute Charlie, she knew that he liked her for her and that whether she farted or not wouldn't put him off. She smiled to herself as she stepped over a large white spotted red mushroom.
'Watch it!' a squeaky voice said.
She peered around to find the source of the voice but couldn't see anyone there.
'Down here,' the voice said.
Charlotte carefully knelt down and looked at the ground, before she spotted a gnome with rouge cheeks and a blue waistcoat standing beneath the mushroom.
'Oh, hello there,' Charlotte smiled at him. 'I'm sorry to disturb you, I was just wondering if you could perhaps answer a question for me.'
'I guess I could, if you promise to take more care where you're stepping in future.'
'I will,' she smiled.
'I was wondering if you could tell me how do you kiss?'
'Kissing hey,' he chuckled. 'I can't tell you that.'
'Please, you said that you woul-'
'But I can show you.'
Charlotte nodded, she lowered her head and closed her eyes, waiting for the kiss from the gnome. Only the gnome didn't kiss her lips, instead he rubbed his nose against hers.
'Now if you don't mind I'd like to be left to my thoughts,' the gnome said, as he hurried back under his mushroom.
'Thank you,' Charlotte waved at him, as she hurried back over to her group. 'I found a gnome and got the answer.'
'That's great,' Harry said.
'Well done,' Cindy said and the rest of the group, except for Margaret, all clapped and cheered.
'About time,' Margaret said under her breath, as she rolled her eyes.
'What's next on the list?' Cindy asked, but Margaret ignored her.
'Come on, we've got to find a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow and take one gold coin out of it,' Margaret said, as she rushed forwards. 'Hurry-up, she shouted back to them.'
'Good one,' Charlie said, walking alongside Charlotte. 'I knew you'd find the gnome and get the answer, you're as smart as you are cute.'
'Thanks,' Charlotte blushed.
'So, what what did he say the answer was?'
'He didn't tell me, he showed me.'
'Oh, well now I'm jealous of that gnome,' he gently grabbed h
er arm to stop her walking and they both stared at each other.
Books for Girls - WITCH SCHOOL - Books 2-6: Book 1 is FREE! Page 11