I found out that the boy Levina liked was Sinclair.
Back in class, when the headboy was listing the rules and regulations by which the contest will be governed by, I had, out of a whim, turned aside to look at my friend; only to find out that she was watching Sinclair as an ardent fan would; not just a mere fan, but a fan in love with her object of fanship.
Levina had been been hanging on his every word. And when he had called out her name-as the my campaign manager-listing off the do’s and don’ts of her office, I had watched her ears turn pink.
I had been amused. But I hadn’t told her. That would’ve embarrassed her the more. I had decided to wait until she was secured enough to let me know about her likeness for the headboy and when it had started.
Has Sinclair noticed her love for him? I wondered, subtly glancing at her now. Well if he did, he had a good way of hiding it. It made me consider the nuggets I had given Levina earlier; the ‘ignore him yet be in his space’ advice. Sinclair should better fall ino it. As a matter of fact, I would help with it. My first class as a relationship counselor won’t hit the rocks.
“So, you mentioned that I should just do myself; focus on getting my magic and academics better; and ignoring him; and making subtle attempts to be in his space sometimes; then make it look like it was a coincidence that I am in his space.” Levina read off from the book she had jotted my sage advices.
” Are you sure it will work? Because all these nuggets sound like recipes to failure. Are you sure he will notice me?” She kept the book on one of the cartons, and gazed at me steadily.
I sighed tiredly, and picked another good to shelve. Levina has asked me this particular question more than a hundred times. She shelves two goods, then remembers the nuggets. The cycle was tiring.
“That’s what worked for me, Lev. You can try it, or you can leave it. If you choose to try it and it doesn’t work out, you can try out another relationship counselor.”
Levina pouted her lips, and threw a jab on my shoulder. “Come on…don’t blame me , Dora. I haven’t had a boy come after me before.”
“Then they are blind, or afraid of your father. Both classes are not fit for you. You need a boy that’s neither blind, nor afraid of your father.” I chuckled as I said this, earning another jab from Levina.
“But seriously, I think it’s because of your father. You are beautiful, Levina; more beautiful than eighty percent of the girls I have seen in my lifetime.”
It wasn’t a lie. It wasn’t flattery. Levina was beautiful. Her father, however, was very protective. If not, why would she be spending almost half of the school day in his office?
Yes, his wife was late and all, but still…girl has to socialize. It had gotten even worse since the bullying incident. I believed he should loosen the grip a little. He wasn’t going to marry his daughter.
Levina blushed by the way at my compliment, before picking up another carton.
The goods came from human towns into the store on Fridays, and that’s why we shelved goods then. The irony. Friday was supposed to be the less busy day of the week because it was weekend, but alas, the work load could be greater some times, than the other days.
“So, where do you think I should start with the campaign?”
I shrugged my shoulders. “I don’t know Lev, I’m not the manager; neither do I know anything about the contest. You had been the one to put my name there. If there should be a questioning party, I should be the one.”
Levina pouted her lips again. “But I haven’t been a campaign manager before.”
“Then, you meet and learn from one who has been. It’s no big deal. I’m the one that should be stressing. Diana mentioned that Laura had done it in her days. My Aunt hadn’t won, but she had been a second runner up. So, I know that when I get home today and inform her, another set of drilling would start again.” I looked up to the ceiling and sighed heavily.
Levina laughed, grunting under the weight of a carton. “What’s in this? It’s heavier then the rest.”
I frowned, taking note of the carton that even smelt differently. Leaving the shelving I was doing, I squatted close to Levina and perused the box. We exchanged glances thereafter, wordlessly questioning if we should go ahead to open it, despite seeing the tag: ‘Not open to staff. For the Queen.’
“Well, we saw it here. We can always claim we didn’t see the tag. I’m damn curious, and I know I won’t rest until I see it’s content. What could the Queen possibly be ordering from the human towns?”
Well, at least I didn’t have that conclusion on my own. I had prepared myself to convince Levina to open the carton, but it seemed she didn’t need that.
“We will just remove this tag first…” She said, holding the tag that had been plastered to the carton. She drew the tag to remove it, but it refused to budge.
What the hell! I screamed in my head when I bent my head to check out the root of the tag, but found nothing. It was just there; a piece of wood that had been plastered to the carton like a plaque. There’s no way this was possible, unless magic had been used. Does humans have magic? Last I checked, the answer wasn’t affirmative.
“Try using magic…” I finally said to a frustrated Levina who had tried to get rid of the plaque but to no avail.
She looked at me in confusion, and I pointed to the base of the wood. “It looks like the wood had just been plastered there. But there is no hint of glue or whatsoever at the base. It can only be possible by magic, or else the wood would have fallen away. So, try magic.”
Levina nodded, but she didn’t bother checking to see the base of the plaque. She trusted my deduction. She inhaled deeply rather, to center herself. And then holding the plague, she spoke: “Atirange…”
Immediately, the wooden plaque swirled fast in an anti clock motion, causing the both of us to shift away from the box, incase its contents was an explosive one. The plaque stopped rotating after ten seconds however, and the carton opened on its own accord.
Instantly, three bottles was pushed up, by probably a lever, to the surface such that they stood above the carton. They were on a pan, a rotating pan with three pits which the bottles had been placed in. The bottle was transparent. We could both see that it was just red wine. There was a note by the bottles.
I peered at it.
Finely brewed, my Queen. Enjoy.
I shook my head and then laughed, before handing the note to an over curious Levina. We had been so suspicious of the Queen that we had expected an arsenal for the detriment of the community, or something just as evil as that. But it was just red wine. It must be the same brew that she had been drinking during our training on Saturday, last week.
I looked the wine over. Yes, it had the same scent as the other. So, the humans specially brewed wine for her? Where was the magic coming from then?
Levina’s laughter a second later, told me that the same thought about the Queen had run through our mind.
“So, how do we put it back? How do we push the lever down, and put the plaque back on. Thinking of it now, I don’t think this store would fare well, if the Queen discovers her wine had been tampered with. You should use your magic…you are better anyways.”
This was said without a note of envy or jealousy. It was one of the reasons why I liked Levina, her free spirit; never mind that I had been placed in a higher magic class than her. Without much ado, I stretched my hand toward the carton. And without saying a word, I commanded it to revert to its original state, deftly stomping down the dreadful feeling that was nagging at me.
I didn’t understand its roots, so I sent it away for my peace of mind. I already have enough on my hands with the headaches that had started as soon as time winded down to evening. The triplets will be here soon.
“Levina, can you excuse us for a second?”
I sighed in relief when I heard Raul’s voice, not because I was glad to see him, but because I was glad that we had managed to get the carton back to its original shape before he came in. I don’t think he would be glad to know that we had tampered with his mother’s wine either.