Soon after Mr. Biv had shown Cary's work around the room, the magic faded and the ping pong ball went back to its normal form. Cary felt a bit disappointed by that, but Mr. Biv assured her it was normal. That it took more skill and practice for the spell to last longer than a few minutes. Even his own unicorn had returned to its normal state. Cary spent the rest of the class recasting the spell, trying to get it just right. She kept going back to her mermaid, though, bringing her back each time. By the end of the class, she was able to cast the spell and form her mermaid with a single swiping of her hand.

Most of her classmates were having trouble with the spell, just as much as with the first one. By the end of the class, only three other students besides Cary had managed anything of the spell. One had managed to make the ping pong ball look like an egg, stretching up further than the sphere that the ball was originally. But when Mr. Biv looked at it, he seemed surprised that such a thing was possible.

"Usually, the illusion takes away from the ball, or alters the surface," he said. "Like with my unicorn or Cary's mermaid, it's still within the sphere of the ball. The ball isn't being changed, it just looks like it is. This, however, is clearly a transformation of the ball itself. I can feel the bit that is poking up past the sphere. This is transformative magic, much more advanced than the illusions we do in this class. If it had been intentional, I'd be impressed. But I think it was just your magic working ahead of itself. It might not–"

Before Mr. Biv could say anything else, the ball exploded in his hand. It let out a loud popping sound that echoed around the room. Cary almost expected for Mr. Biv to be covered in egg. But it seemed like the egg was just as empty as the ping pong ball that it had been before had been.

"As you can see," Mr. Biv shouted. "Such transformations are highly unstable. This is why we start our work in illusions. But for now, I think we're done for the day. Is that the bell?" He pointed up towards the ceiling, as if to indicate a sound that he was hearing.

It was still a few minutes early for the class to be over, but with Mr. Biv dismissing the class, most of the students were already heading for the door. Cary started cleaning up her space, putting her latest mermaid into her backpack and the piece of paper that David had hit with his paint in the trash. David was still sitting on his stool, staring at his ping pong ball. He had tried to cast the spell multiple times over the course of the class, all to no effect. It was clear that he was getting frustrated.

"I just don't get it," David said. "Why won't it work?"

"What?" Mr. Biv asked, still shouting.

"Maybe you're trying too hard," Cary suggested. "I don't know, it just seems to work for me."

"Yeah, I notice," he said. His frustration was thick in those three words. "It's just all so easy for you."

"I-I guess," she said, shrugging. "Let's go. You can try it again later."

"You go," he said, shaking his head. "I'm going to stay here till this stupid ball becomes a minotaur."

David continued to stare at the ball for a moment longer before he swiped his ring hand across it, saying the words of the spell. The ball stayed exactly like it was, like it had been all class. His hand stretched out towards the ball, shaking as he tried to force it to change with his will alone.

"Here," Cary said. She placed her bag onto the desk, coming closer to David's side. Her hand went to his, trying to ease the stress out of it.

"I can do it," David shouted, as he pulled his hand away from hers. "Just leave me alone."

"I'm just trying to help," Cary said. "Maybe if you try sweeping your hand around a few times. Like I did that first time. It seemed to work for me."

"God, will you just stop it?" David shouted.

"Hey," Mr. Biv said. His voice had returned to his normal volume. "No need to shout. Now, what seems to be the problem?"

"Nothing," David snapped at the teacher. "Never mind."

David grabbed his backpack off the floor by the stool, slamming it onto the table. He quickly slipped his ping pong ball into one of the pockets. As he pulled his backpack off the table, it hit one of the paint cups he had been using earlier, spilling the paint onto the table and his bag. He didn't stop as he rushed out of the room, dripping paint as he went.

"Sorry about that," Cary said, apologizing for her friend. "He's just frustrated."

"Don't worry about it," Mr. Biv said. He tapped the paint on the table a couple of times and said, "Glanamana Seomra". As he continued to wave his hand, the paint dried in place, slowly peeling away in small flakes. The flakes started blowing away in a wind that Cary couldn't feel, disappearing in the air. "It's common for some of the students to struggle at first. Once David manages his first spell, it'll become easier for him."

"I guess it doesn't help that it comes so easily to me," Cary said. She glanced over at her picture in the corner, the small swipe of red that she had done with the first spell. With everything that had been happening those past few weeks, she hadn't bothered trying it again after that. But she almost thought that she could have done more with it, if she had only tried.

"That is part of it, yes," Mr. Biv said, nodding. "You two were friends before coming here?"

"Best friends," Cary amended. "Still are. It's just... Well, we're very different."

"Everyone is different," Mr. Biv said. "The best friendships come from balance. Yours is just a little wobbly at the moment."

Mr. Biv laughed a little at the comment as he looked around at the room. Cary looked around as well, surprised to see that the paint trail that David had left was gone. For a moment, it seemed like David wasn't really there at all, and his lack of contribution to the wall only aided in that. Before either of them could say anything more, the bell rang out, signaling the end of the day. Mr. Biv looked around in surprise, clearly thinking that the bell had already rung. Cary just smiled over at him before grabbing her bag and chasing after David.

With all the classes clearing out for the day, the hallway outside was packed, blocking Cary's escape. She followed along with the other students heading for the doors to the building. It took her some time to get outside, time that David would have used to disappear into the campus. But Cary knew that there were only three places that he would have gone after class.

Cary found David in the first location that she searched, out on the Cadavraball field. Reggie and Sam were there with him, with Reggie pitching and Sam catching. Sam had tried out for the team, which Cary had missed on the day of tryouts due to the coven's general creepiness. However, unlike David, he hadn't made the team. Still, he had joined in on their little impromptu practices, trying to get better for next year. With the game against Merlin Prep just a few days away, the team needed all the practice they could get.

Without saying anything, Cary just headed over to the stands, watching the three of them practicing. The stands were mostly empty, but there were some upperclassmen sitting underneath them. Cary could just see them under there, but she couldn't tell what it was they were doing. Weird noises came up to her from below, but she mostly ignored them as she focused on her friends out in the field.

David didn't show signs of noticing Cary's arrival, though Reggie waved at her before shooting the next pitch from the pitching machine. Cary waved back as she sat down. But with little else to do besides watching them, she took out her ping pong ball. She kept her words low, whispering the spell, so as not to interfere with the practice. It was harder to cast the spell that way, but after a few tries Cary managed it. Her ping pong ball changed into her mermaid. This time, the mermaid smiled up at Cary, waving as she continued to swim along in the strange ball of water.

"God, will you stop showing off?" David shouted. The fence rattled when his bat slammed into it, pulling Cary's attention to her.

"What?" Cary asked. Her eyes went wide when she realized that David had thrown the bat at the fence. Thrown it at her. "What are you talking about?"

"That spell," he said, pointing at her ping pong ball. "We get it. We all get it. You're amazing at magic. You don't have to rub our faces in it."

"David," Sam said. He looked between David and Cary for a moment, seeming surprised by David's outburst. Cary was as well.

"No," David said, pointing at Sam. With the two of them close together, David was practically jabbing that finger into his chest. "Don't side with her. You know she's spent the past three weeks thinking you were a witch?"

"So?" Sam asked. "It's a big adjustment for all of us, coming here like this. It's not like she ever treated me like a witch. And she's your friend."

"So?" David asked. "That just makes it worse. Just... Just get out of here, Cary. I don't want to see you right now. You're distracting me from practice."

"David, come on," Cary said. "How am I distracting you? It's not like you could sense the spell I was casting."

"Oh, I could," he said. "It's like an ice cube running down my back. Like when you used to throw snow down my shirt."

"Hey, you did that to me just as much," Cary said.

"I don't need that when I'm trying to hit."

"Fine, I'll do my other homework," Cary said. Of course, most of that homework was already done, at the end of class and during lunch. What little was left over she was planning on doing before dinner or after breakfast the next morning.

"No," David said. "Just, no. Just get out of here. I don't want to see you right now. Do you have to just hang around me all the time? Why don't you get your own friends? I'm not your babysitter."

"No, you're my friend," Cary said. "My best friend." At times, he was her only friend, but she didn't want to say that. Didn't want to admit it. Certainly not in front of Sam and Reggie.

"Well, maybe I don't want to be your friend anymore," David yelled. "Just get out of here, freak."

The word, that word, coming from David of all people, hurt much more than Cary was expecting. More than she thought words could hurt. It was bad enough coming from Greg, from the bully that had been taunting her for years. But David? Her David?

"Fine," she huffed. "Forget you."

Cary grabbed her bag, jumped back to her feet, and stormed down the stands, stomping loudly as she went. Just for good measure, she flipped her little mermaid around, holding the ping pong ball up to show him, before casting the spell one more time. She could see it when the shudder ran down his spine again, but she didn't care. And the tiny minotaur that replaced the mermaid, who was flipping his finger up at David, made it clear just how she was feeling about him at that moment.