They both leaned in closer to each other until they were so close to each other that Charlotte could feel his breath brush against her face. Charlotte closed her eyes and pursed her lips, as she waited for Charlie's lips on hers.
'Charlotte, Charlotte, Charlotte,' Margaret whispered and Charlotte let out three loud farts.
Charlie pulled away from her and couldn't hide his laughter. Charlotte covered her face with her hands before she rushed forwards. She had been touching distance away from her very first kiss and it'd been ruined. She wanted to cry, scream and hide all at the same time and she longed for Stef, Gerty and even Alice to be here to cheer her up and give her advice.
Margaret was the first to spot the rainbow and they all followed her to the pot of gold. Charlotte trudged behind them, watching as Charlie caught up with Margaret and chatted to her.
'Are, y-you, okay, Charlotte?' Denis puffed out, as he stopped walking to catch his breath and she farted on queue.
'Sorry,' she blushed. 'It seems as though that keeps on happening to me today.'
'It's okay, it happens to be too, especially after I've eaten beans,' he grinned.
She gave a weak smile and chewed on the side of her lip. Suddenly a realization clicked in her head and she grabbed onto Denis's arm.
'Say that again.'
'W-what, that beans make me fart?'
'No, no, not that. My name. Say Charlotte,' she farted.
'Okay Charlotte,' he replied and she farted again.
'Exponentia remotio,' she said, as she turned her wand on herself.
'Denis, can you say my name again please?'
He nodded and then coughed to clear his throat.'
'Charlotte,' he smiled at her.
'Did you hear that?'
'What?'
'I didn't fart. Charlotte, Charlotte, Charlotte.'
'You think someone put a spell on you?'
'It would appear so.'
'Who would do that?'
'I have a good idea,' she folded her arms and looked over at Margaret.
'Will you both stop flirting with each other and hurry up,' Margaret shouted over to them.
'Catch you in a bit,' Charlotte smiled at Denis, before she stormed forwards, slowing down behind Margaret and discretely aiming her wand at her.
'At the utter of their name eructate,' she said quietly, before she hurried forwards until she was walking alongside Charlie.
'Charlotte, the end of the rainbow is up there,' Margaret smirked, until she realized that Charlotte hadn't farted. 'Charlotte,' she repeated.
'Why don't you lead the way Margaret,' she smiled back, just as Margaret let out a loud burp. She immediately covered her mouth with her hands and ran off.
'Hey,' she smiled at Charlie.
'Hi,' he smiled back.
They all reached the end of the rainbow where a large bronze pot lay beneath a patch of overgrown grass. It was so overfilled with glowing gold coins that Margaret had to pick one up cautiously so that she didn't knock any over.
'Wow, there must be hundreds of coins in there!' Cindy exclaimed.
'I doubt they'd notice if we took more than one,' Harry grinned.
‘We are not getting disqualified because of your greed,' Margaret snapped.
'Alright calm down, I was only joking.'
'There are no times for jokes, we have a scavenger hunt to finish,' she huffed, as she held the list up.
'I'd rather spend time with you than have a pot of gold,' Charlie whispered to Charlotte.'
'Same,' she nervously giggled back.
They finished off the rest of the items on the list and then hurried to the finish line, where Molly and Dale were waiting.
The picnic blankets had been moved together to make one giant blanket that resembled a patchwork quilt and there was a long table filled with yet more sandwiches and fancy cakes.
'Wow,' Denis said, as he veered off towards the food.
'Ahem, we haven't finished yet,' Margaret huffed out, as she grabbed his arm and yanked him forwards, his gaze lingering on the table.
Charlotte turned her head to see Demi and the rest of her team running towards them.
'We need to hurry,' she pointed to the oncoming group.
'There's no way that I'm losing to them,' Margaret began to run, her grip still on Denis's arm and he let out a yelp as he was dragged forwards.
As they ran in sync alongside each other Charlie reached over and took Charlotte's hand.
'Come on guys, remember that the whole team has to reach us for it to count,' Molly shouted.
Charlotte and Charlie reached Molly and Dale just after Harry and Cindy had. They all looked over at Margaret and Denis and cheered them on. Denis was hunched over, his hand clutched to his side.
I...can't...stitch,' he puffed out.
'We are not losing,' Margaret shouted, as she yanked at his arm. 'Pull yourself together.'
'It hurts.'
'If we lose because of you then you have my word that every time I see you I shall turn you into the most hideous toad imaginable.'
Denis swallowed, a frightened look on his face before he nodded and forced himself onwards.
Demi had nearly reached them now and she pulled out her wand and aimed it at Denis's back.
'Don't even think about it,' Margaret held out her wand.
Demi grimaced as she put her wand down by her side but she continued to run, barging past them both and racing over to Molly.
'Come on,' she shrieked over to the rest of her team, who were all gaining on Margaret and Denis.
'I'm not being beaten, least of all by them,' Margaret huffed, as she pulled Denis forwards.
Denis continued to clutch his side but he knew that he had to keep on going, he didn't want to let his team down and he also didn't want to be turned into a toad.
'Come on Denis,' Charlotte shouted.
'Not much further now, then you can raid the picnic,' Harry said.
Margaret kept on yanking at Denis's arm until he fell onto his knees in front of Dale. The rest of the group cheered as they wrapped their arms around him, except for Margaret who stood there smirking over at Demi.
'Well done, you're the first team back,' Molly said, after they had let go of Denis.
'What do we win? Margaret asked.
'Maybe there is no prize, you just get to bask in the knowledge that you won.'
Margaret's face fell and she found herself clutching tightly at her wand.
'Just kidding,' Molly grinned. She pulled a pile of golden medals out from behind her back and placed the medals around each of their necks before she cheered the rest of the incoming teams on.
'Shiny,' Cindy said, as she held the medal up to look at.
'I suppose this will do as a prize,' Margaret said.
'Well done Margaret, we wouldn't have won if you hadn't helped Denis,' Charlie smiled, as he placed his hand on her shoulder.
Margaret didn't burp on her name being used so Charlotte took it that the spell had worn off. She chewed on the side of her lip and tried not to feel annoyed, after-all Charlie was just being nice, a trait which she liked most about him.
'Yeah, well done,' Charlotte smiled.
'Thanks,' Margaret ignored Charlotte and looked directly at Charlie.
A loud sizzling sound came from behind them and they turned to see that Molly had turned the end of her wand into a sparkler and was holding it up in the air.
'It looks like all the teams are back. Well done to all of you, especially the winning team,' she smiled over at Charlotte and Charlie. 'They are the ones wearing the gold medals if you want to congratulate them. Anyway, it's time to feast, so help yourselves,' she pointed over to the long table. 'Although if all the cherry slices go before I get to them, I will not be pleased,' she smirked.
As most people hurried over to the food table, Stef and Alice rushed over to Charlotte and wrapped their arms around her.
'Well done Charlotte,' Gerty smiled.
'I lik
e your medal,' Stef lifted it up to look at it. 'It's a shame we didn't all get one really, seeing as we all took part. They could have given an extra prize to the winning team.'
'We'll just have to win next time,' Gerty said.
'We might stand a chance if we have Charlotte on our team instead of Alice.'
'Stef,' Gerty gave her a stern look.
'Well it's true, a snail would have been quicker than her. All because her shoes were rubbing her feet or something,' she rolled her eyes.
She wasn't that bad.'
'Pfft, that's a matter of opinion.'
'How's it going with Charlie?' Gerty changed the subject.
'Yeah, okay,' Charlotte gave a wide smile. 'Well, apart from Margaret trying to ruin it for me.'
'How so?' Stef asked.
'Someone cast a spell on me so that every time my name was said I farted,' she blushed.
'What a cow,' Stef chuckled. 'Sorry, it is a tiny bit funny though.'
'Yeah I suppose it is a bit, but it wasn't at the time.'
'What did Charlie say?' Gerty asked.
'He was sweet about it but it was super embarrassing.'
'He clearly likes you Charlotte.'
'Yeah, he's looking over at you now,' Stef waved over at Charlie, who was stood by Harry and Denis at the food table.
Charlie waved back, his gaze settling on Charlotte and they exchanged smiles.
'You should go over to him,' Gerty said.
'We should all go,' Charlotte grabbed both of their arms and pulled them forwards.
‘I'm not saying no to that, I want an egg sandwich before they all go,' Stef said.
'The sandwiches are always the last thing to go,' Gerty said.
'That's rubbish, I always go for them first.'
'Well then you're the exception.'
'I want a cake, although I think I'll stay away from the cherry slices,' Charlotte grinned. 'How's it going with Nick?' she looked at Stef.
'Okay,' she couldn't hide her smile.
'I'd say it was going better than okay,' Gerty giggled. 'It seems that it's going well for Alice too,' she looked over at Alice and Benjamin who were sitting close together on the blanket and chatting.
'At least it gives us some peace,' Stef said.
When they reached the table Gerty and Stef went off to get food and Charlotte walked over to Charlie. They both smiled at each other and she tried to think of something to say but her mind was blank, all she could think about was how sparkly Charlie's eyes were.
'Do you want a cake?' he continued to smile at her.
'Okay,' she smiled back.
'I recommend the strawberry cupcakes with the vanilla icing,' he picked one up and passed it to her.
'Thanks,' she took it off him and nibbled at the icing.
'It's not as sweet as you,' he took her hand and smiled at her.
Margaret folded her arms as she looked over at Charlotte and Charlie. She was determined to have ruined things for them by the time this picnic had finished, however many spells it took.
'Flumine of in sudore,' she discreetly flicked her wand at Charlotte.
One minute Charlotte had felt fine and the next she'd began to feel hot, so much so that the armpits of her sweater were dripping with sweat and a mass of it glistened on her forehead. She could feel how sweaty her hand was and quickly pulled it away from Charlie's.
'Sorry,' she muttered, as he wiped his hand onto his trousers.
'It's fine,' he smiled. 'Can I get you a cold drink?'
Charlotte nodded before she took a bite of her cupcake and Charlie rushed over to the end of the table and picked up two glass flutes that were filled with different flavoured layers of fruit juice.
'This should cool you down,' he held the glass flute out to her.
'Thank you,' she took the glass off him and studied the layered colors.
'The orange layers are my favorite,' he smiled.
'I like orange too,' she cringed as soon as she said it.
'Haven't you ever had one of these before?'
'No,' she shook her head. 'We don't have these at the Academy.'
'My mom makes them every Christmas and for special occasions, I always drink too many of them, they are irresistible, much like you.'
Charlotte giggled before she took another sip of her drink.
Margaret looked over at them, not understanding how he could still like her, even after the spells she'd cast on her. She smirked as her mind recalled a perfect spell and she aimed her wand at Charlotte.
'Summa cupiditas,' she flicked her wand.
Charlotte took another bite out of her cupcake and then another one. Soon the whole thing was gone but she was still hungry, so she turned to the table and picked up sandwiches and chips.
'You must be hungry,' Charlie said.
Charlotte wanted to stop eating but her hunger was just too strong. She found that she couldn't stop, instead she had to keep on eating. She began to shovel food into her mouth and then she picked up a chocolate cupcake and squashed it into her mouth.
'That foods not just for you,' Molly appeared by her, her arms folded and her gaze unimpressed.
'Exponentia remotio,' Margaret said quietly, as she aimed her wand at Charlotte.
She immediately stopped eating and quickly grabbed a bunch of napkins off the table and spat the food left in her mouth into them.
Charlotte looked at Charlie who couldn't hide the look of disgust on his face.
'Sorry,' she muttered out.
It was then that she felt the nausea rise in her stomach and the tears began to cloud her eyes so she turned and ran off, not wanting the boy she liked to see her be sick whilst crying at the same time. Molly sighed before she followed her, muttering 'first years,' under her breath.
Margaret waited until Charlotte was out of sight before she walked over to Charlie.
'Do you think I should go after her? I didn't mean to upset her, it's just she was eating so much food and-'
'It’s not your fault Charlie, the problem runs deeper than that,' she feigned worry. 'Charlotte's my friend and all, but she's got issues, ones I've told her to address but…' she shrugged.
'What is it?' he asked, concern in his voice.
'She'd be sooo mad if she knew I'd told you.'
'I won't tell her you said anything, I just want to help her. I should probably go and check if she's okay,' he started to walk away but Margaret grabbed his arm.
'Well, you saw how she stuffed her mouth with all that food? That's what she always does every meal time and then she runs off to be sick. Sad really but she's been doing it ever since I met her, it makes meal times at the Academy awfully messy. So you can't go after her because if you saw her being sick she'd be so embarrassed and I know how much she likes you.'
'She likes me?' he smiled.
'Well yeah, like way too much. She mentions you like all the time and she writes Charlie hearts Charlotte in all the covers of her books. She talks as if you're already dating, in fact she's always talking about you. I've told her to calm down but she says that you're soul mates and that she's going to marry you and have twenty children.'
'Right,' Charlie said.
'I know a boy like you would never be interested in her. I mean what with all her eating problems and the way she gets weird over you and everything. Still, she's my friend so please let her down gently,' she placed her hand on his and smiled at him.
When Charlotte had stopped being sick, she cleaned herself up and then hurried back to the picnic to find Charlie, only when he came into sight he was deep in conversation with Margaret. She took a deep breath and walked towards them, not wanting to give in to Margaret.
'Are you feeling better?' Charlie asked.
'Yes thanks,' she nodded.
'You look very pale, I think you should go and lay down as you don't want to infect us,' Margaret smiled.
'I'm fine thanks Margaret.'
'I'm just worried about you Charlotte,' she couldn't hide her s
mirk.
On hearing her name Charlotte let out a loud, long fart. She blushed bright red and looked at Charlie who was trying not to laugh.
Books for Girls - WITCH SCHOOL - Books 2-6: Book 1 is FREE! Page 12