Young Writers Society

Madame Prince's Academy for the Gifted as not a usual school. It was a school for powerful inhumans - witches, wizards, shapeshifters, elementalists….. any kind of magic in the worlds (apart from the demons.) The humans thought it was just a fancy school. 

Oh boy, how wrong they were. 

Madame Prince's was built over a rift. It appeared in two worlds - Midgard and Fairyland. Nobody really knew how this happened, but it worked for them perfectly.

It was the middle of the spring term, and the pupils of Madame Prince's were going back to school. 

I know, I know. Why are they starting in the middle of the term? 

Well, in the February half-term, one of the teachers left an enchanted diamond in the lab, to investigate in school time. It turned out to be cursed and blew up, exploding most of the school. Luckily nobody was hurt, but intensive repairs had to be carried out. Now it was fixed, and the pupil's extended holiday was over. 

The massive Great Hall was crammed full of chattering pupils embracing their friends, rushing to shout goodbyes to their parents, running off to explore the school. There was one word for it, and that word was 'chaos'.

"Move out of my way, Lavina," a voice snapped. 

A tall African girl was striding through the hordes. Yasmin Cox towered over the other children in her form. She had long black hair, fierce brown eyes and was wearing a ruby necklace that was definitely not allowed. 

She snapped her fingers in front of Lavina's face. "Hello? Are you deaf? Get out of my way!" 

Lavina jumped and darted to the side. "Sorry, Yasmin."

Yasmin glared at her. 

"You're too hard on her, Yas," said a Chinese girl, tapping Yasmin on the shoulder. 

Yasmin spun around, eyes blazing, but relaxed when she saw the girl's face. "Hey, Ying." She hugged her best friend. "She's a moron. She deserves it."

"You boss her about too much. And everyone, come to think of it." She laughed. "But Lavina is a moron." 

Yasmin linked her arm through Ying's. "Can you see Bobs?" 

"No." Ying scanned the crowd. "Oh, yeah! There he is." She waved at a gangly Chinese boy in glasses who was standing in a corner looking confused. "BOBBY! OVER HERE!" 

Bobby looked up, spotted Ying jumping up and down like a rabbit and grinned. He pushed his way through the crowd. "Oh my god, this place is so massive! How do you ever find your way around?" 

Ying, Bobby and Yasmin had been friends since they were seven years old. Until recently, Bobby had been going to a different school to them, but after months of cajoling his dad had agreed to send him to Madame Prince's. 

"Your hair looks nice short, Ying," said Bobby. 

Ying grinned and twirled a finger through her hair. It used to reach past her bottom, but now barely went past her shoulders. "Thanks, Ka Yan cut it for me. Mum hates it. She calls it 'an affront to good taste.'"

Yasmin burst out laughing. "That's rich coming from her. Does she still wear those stupid hats?" 

"Your mum's just as bad," Ying said defensively. 

"Yeah," Bobby nodded. "They should start up a club - the 'Mums in Stupid Clothes club'." 

Yasmin was about to say something when she was knocked over by a boy running at full pelt into her. 

"Hey!" She glared at him from the floor. "Watch where you're going, you useless twit!" 

The boy turned around and grinned. He was nearly as tall as Yasmin herself, with dark brown skin, black curly hair and mischievous dark eyes. "Ah, ah, ah," he said, wiggling his finger at her, "I'm a useful twit. There's a difference." 

Yasmin got up. "Can't you leave me alone for FIVE MINUTES, Sam?" 

A second boy came over and tapped Sam on the arm. He was short and stocky, with wild red hair, freckles and green eyes. "Hey, Sammy, let's go and check out the football pitch. Don't hang around with the losers - you might catch the weirdness bug off them." 

They both burst out laughing. 

"Er, who are these?" asked Bobby. 

Ying rolled her eyes. "Meet Thing One and Thing Two - Sam Bloom and Tim Witkinson. Madame Prince's resident idiots."

"Along with yourself, of course," said Sam, winking at her. 

"Oh, go take a flying jump," Yasmin hissed. 

"Only if you go boil your head." 

From a little while away, Lavina and one of the new girls were watching them insult each other. 

"Who the heck are those girls?" the new girl asked. 

Lavina sighed. "Yasmin Bloom and Ying Zhang. They're total loonies. Watch out for the black girl, she's tough and jumps at any excuse to thump someone. The two boys are just as bad, although they're more likely to insult you than thump you. Zhang will probably just curse you. Unfortunately, I'm in Cheetah Dorm with the four of them." 

The new girl turned pale. "Oh, shoot. I'm in Cheetah Dorm too." 

Lavina sighed. "Good luck. I'm Lavina Carter, by the way." 

"Marnie Perrow." Marnie smiled and turned back to watch them. 

"YOU DUMB, PEA-BRAINED WEIRDO!" Yasmin yelled at Tim. 

"Strange, aren't they?" Marnie added. 

Lavina gave a wry smile. "They give the word 'strange' a new meaning."