Orange leaves filled the sky with each gust of wind. It was another windy fall day making Donna glad that she had worn her warm sweater. Her father had dragged her to a large pumpkin patch. Supposedly it was the best pumpkin patch in all of Poison Oak but to her it looked like any other other green field. She didn’t really like going out into the fields so much and she would normally have stayed home but it was the first time since she was grounded that she could go outside. She was more worried that if she had refused she might have stayed grounded longer.
When they arrived to a large house in the center of the field she saw a lone man standing on his porch waving at them. Her father waved back. He went off to ask about which pumpkins he could use for his project but bored by the thought of it Donna wandered off into the field.
She walked through the different assortments of pumpkins. They were all different colors. Some were green and others were orange. Still others were yellow, purple, red and blue. She felt slightly more interested as she walked along. The colors called for her to take more steps. The farther she wandered the more the pumpkins varied. They were different shapes, colors and sizes. Some had spots, some had stalks and others were rectangular. Still others floated and some were bright like light bulbs of different colors. Out of the corner of her eye she saw a group of enormous pumpkins. She could hardly believe it. They were the size of the carriages in the movies she had watched as a child. She ran over to them excitedly to see if they were real.
Tripping on a loose pumpkin she fell forwards. Covering her face she let out a small scream. “Ah!”
She landed on what she thought was a pile of pumpkins. She didn’t want to open her eyes. She could only think about how much this would cost. If her father would be embarrassed and if she would stay grounded for longer now. She really shouldn’t have wandered off. How many pumpkins had she crushed? This was a test to see if the grounding would end but she had failed it so quickly and so miserably.
“Hey are you ok?”
She opened her eyes to see a pair of big worried brown eyes staring at her. She felt the blood rush to her face when she realized she was in the arms of a boy. She instantly pushed off and stood up straight. Now sweating out of nervousness. She managed a high pitched “SORRY!” then a softer. “I am so sorry…”
“It’s ok.” The boy replied. “The pumpkins are ok.” She looked around. Everything was still the same as before she fell. She was now free to calm down but for some reason she couldn’t.
“They are huge right? My dad grows these using a mixture of magic and cultivation. He’s teaching me how to do it too, but mine don’t look anything like this yet.” Donna couldn’t bring her self to say anything. So the boy continued. “I should be the one that’s sorry. The one you tripped on is one that I grew. It’s not even good for eating. You stepped right on it but it didn’t even break.” He picked it up and inspected it.
Donna just kept staring.
“Hey do you want to see my favorite ones?” He placed the small one Donna had tripped on onto a pile of similar ones. Then he led Donna around to the other side of the large pumpkins. There was an enormous one. It was black and red the size of a bus. Donna couldn’t stop smiling. It was the most amazing pumpkin she had ever seen. “I hope one day I can make some that look like this, and not just pumpkins but other plants too.”
“You’re Donna right? I recognize you from around school. You always have the coolest hair. Are you looking to buy some ingredients from our shop?” Donna looked down and tucked her hands inside her sweater.
He was waiting for an answer but Donna still couldn’t get any words out. After what seemed like several minutes they could hear shouting. “I think I hear your dad calling you but maybe I’ll see you around school?”
“Isn’t that cuuuuuuuuute!!!” Deneb’s loud voice echoed in the bell interrupting Donna’s story. “I love that story! It’s the cutest thing ever! Isn’t that a cute story Theresa? I would love to meet a boy like that. Instead I just get weirdos checking me out.
“You’re the weirdo.” Donna responded burying her face in her knees trying to hide her blush. “It happened years ago but she still always makes me tell this story.”
“Are you talking about Frank Briar from Briar’s Ingredients?” Theresa asked. “Yeah that’s him!” Deneb answered for Donna before she could. “Theresa, do you have anyone like that?” She instantly thought of Mark but then she paused for a moment. “I do not have anyone I think of in that way presently…”
“That’s ok it’s a new year after all.” Deneb quickly changed the subject by taking out her schedule and handing it to Theresa. She signaled Donna to do the same. “Are my next teachers any good?”
Theresa took the schedules and looked at them. “Oh Deneb you have Mrs. Ernest for spells next. It’s going to be intense but she is really good. Try to show her your best magic and she will help you make it better. What is your magic affinity?”
“My family has always had a really strong intemperance spell. We are pretty good at making people lose control of a feeling they have. So if someone wants to laugh, we can make them laugh really hard.”
“That’s a pretty strong spell.” Theresa stated.
“I don’t think it is, I’d rather have something to attack with. Something like your fire Theresa, but my second strongest spell is possession and I can’t even do it for very long.”
Theresa let out a small laugh. “I think that one is actually very strong. You are underestimating yourself Deneb.”
Theresa looked at Donna. Just then realizing that Donna had purple eyes. Donna stood up. “You might have heard of the Placide family’s famous necromancy skills. My mother has taught me much about it but I’m also good at water spells.” Donna then held out a ball of water to show Theresa then with her other hand she finished the last bite of her sandwich.
“That is very impressive. I can see you have a real strong control over it.”
Theresa then looked at Donna’s schedule. “You have Mrs. Geoffrey for alchemy next. I know this year Frank is going to be her assistant so you might see him there. I approved his application to be an assistant over the summer.” Donna’s eyes opened wide and she was about to ask Theresa something but a loud toll from the bell forced them to gather their things, cover their ears and run down the stairs.
After saying their good byes Donna walked to her next class. Controlling her nervousness she took a seat at one of the benches at the back of the alchemy room. She had hoped she would run into him here and suddenly she was glad she had taken care of her braids the past week. The room filled with other students but there was no sign of Frank. She thought about it for a bit. Frank would be the kind of person to take this class so seriously and become an assistant. He really liked this kind of thing. Her father had also taught her a good amount of alchemy. She was sure she knew more than most of the people in her class.
“Hey it’s cool to see you’re in this class too.” Frank said as he sat down next to her.
“Frank, I thought you took this class already.” Donna replied trying to hide her surprise at his sudden appearance.
“I did but I asked if I could assist for this year too. I think Mrs. Geoffrey liked me because she didn’t say no. I have a feeling she’s going to like you too. How is your first day going so far?”
“It was alright. I made a new friend but Deneb didn’t have the best morning.”
“Sorry about your friend. Hopefully things will get better but I’m glad it’s going good for you so far.”
“We’re just going to take it day by day.”
Donna then decided to take her chance and ask Frank a question she had been meaning to ask for a while. “Ummm… The fall festival is coming up. Are you going to set up a shop this year?”
“Dads’ been working hard to fix up the pumpkins for this years festival. I’ve been helping him. We have some really cool alchemy ingredients to sell this year. You should come by my booth. I’ll save you my best pumpkin.”
Donna paused for a bit trying to contain her excitement. “I’ll be there and I’ll make sure to pick up that pumpkin.” Donna looked up and saw him give a big smile.