(Josie Sayz: I have
been working on this, on and off for the past three months. This is part of my ‘Arcturus
High’ series, is written from the point-of-view of Caitlyn and takes place
between story #2 and #3. I haven’t fully written #2 yet, so it isn’t on here. There
are a few big spoilers to things that happen in #2 in this piece. This is just
the text to ‘Caitlyn’s Journal’. I have hand written it all and attempted to
draw pictures (I cannot draw, so luckily Caitlyn is only 11 years old, so
hopefully some of the drawings will look like an 11 year old drew them). Once I
have scanned in every page, I will, also, upload the completed version of ‘Caitlyn’s
Journal).
Caitlyn’s
Journal (text only)
1) My name is Caitlyn
Flynn. I’m just your average 11 year old girl, at Arcturus High, learning all
of the ins and outs of secondary school. Between a new building, new teachers
and new rules, there is a lot to take in – not to mention trying to find time
to see my friends, join after school clubs and do all of my homework! Oh, and
did I mention that I might be magic?
[picture]
My full name: Caitlyn Elizabeth
Flynn.
Age: 11.
Best friends: Jay,
Darcia, Samantha, Aisha, Emily.
Favourite subject:
English.
Favourite colour:
Purple, green and khaki.
Favourite food: Chocolate
ice cream.
Three things I never
leave home without: a colourful notebook (my current one has butterflies on the
cover), my tarot deck and my amethyst cube.
2) Well, maybe not
magic-magic. I’m not enrolled in some super-secret, private school, hidden away
in Scotland, for only witches and wizards to attend – no, that would be cool.
I’m not actually sure what kind of magic I am. It’s all a little confusing. Oh,
and it’s a secret! Only Bert and Mr Penn know about it. Look at me, getting
ahead of myself. It all started on the first week of school.
[doodle]
3) This is my secondary
school, Arcturus High.
[picture]
It looks a little
daunting, and it was, when I first started – standing at the front gate,
looking up at the building towering over me. I was so scared of getting lost. I
came from a primary school that only had sixty students in a year group, now
there are 240 of us in year seven, alone. Once I learnt my way around, things
weren’t as scary anymore. I made myself a little map and things got so much
easier. My music teacher, Mr Wye, also taught me an interesting way to remember
the classroom numbers. On the ground floor, all of the numbers are either
single digits or double digits. On the first floor, the numbers are all in the
one hundreds and on the second floor, the numbers all start with two hundred.
4 & 5) This is my
map of the school:
[picture]
6 & 7) Oh, and
you’re probably wondering what that odd, black turret is, in the middle of the
school.
[picture – black card, with black glitter]
Apparently, it has
something to do with the story of King Arthur. Because of its history, it
couldn’t be knocked down, so the school had to be built around it. I’m not sure
how true that is, as I’ve never been inside it. No one ever talks about it
either, everyone just seems to pretend it isn’t there. I find that I’m
constantly been drawn towards it. No matter where I am in the school, I keep looking
at it, but no one else seems to notice it. It’s like there is a magic charm
placed on it, which makes everyone ignore it. They can see it; they just aren’t
bothered by it.
Jay’s older brother,
Will, says you can access the ground floor. He says it’s the drama department’s
prop and costume room. That sounds pretty cool. Maybe, I’ll have to come up
with an excuse to join drama club, one day, so that I can go inside it. Will
says it looks really cool inside, and it is made of old, castle-wall like
bricks. For now, I can only dream of what it looks like!
8) Mentioning Jay, he’s
my best friend.
[Picture of Jay and
Caitlyn]
We have been best
friends forever. We grew up four houses away, so we’ve known each other since
the day I was born. He knows me better than anyone. I couldn’t have got through
my first week of secondary school without Jay. It was so hard when we got
separated, as soon as we walked through the door. Luckily, we still get to talk
to each other on the way home and we are finally in an after-school club
together, so we actually get to spend time together again, which I love.
Although we both ended out with different friendship groups during school, it
is so nice to know that we can still be friends. Jay literally is the best friend
a girl could ask for. He even bought me the cutest, little teddy bear keyring,
to help cheer me up, after I was struggling when we got separated. Oh, and the
notebook that I’m writing in was a Christmas present from him (he knows
purple’s more my thing than pink). [yuck arrows at pink]
[picture of bear]
9) I can’t talk about
friends without mentioning Darcia. She is my best girl friend. I have known
Darcia since we were about six years old, but we only became friends around a
year ago, in the last year of primary school. We have become a lot closer since
starting secondary school and ended up in the same form group. I don’t know
what I would do without her. Darcia was there for me, on the first day of
secondary school, when Jay and I got separated. She has helped me to find my
way around school (she was a big help when I was making my map). Darcia has
been helping me to make friends too. She is in a different English and science
class to me, and she isn’t afraid to go up to everyone and introduce herself,
whereas, I usually linger on the side-lines. She even helps me with my
homework, sometimes, if I get a bit stuck – she’s really good at explaining
things to me in a way that I understand. She is such a good friend. I know I am
very lucky to have her.
[picture]
10 & 11) Samantha,
Emily and Aisha, I made friends with as soon as school started, and the five of
us do everything together. Samantha started secondary school knowing no body,
as all of her friends went to a different school. I made friends with her
straight away – I know what it is like to get separated from your friends, but
at least I have Darcia. Samantha is very quiet and shy, but she is also one of
the nicest people I know.
Emily and Darcia had
known each other before school started, because their dads are both on the
school’s governing board. Emily’s dad is also a teacher at Arcturus High. She
knew her way around the school before any of us and she’s good at pointing out
shortcuts to get around the building. Emily’s dad also tells her when important
assemblies or events are going to happen and when a really important visitor is
going to be at the school and Emily lets us know – Year Sevens are usually the
last to be told anything, they just expect us to know things, so knowing
Emily has been super helpful.
Aisha transferred into
our form group, after being placed in the same form group as her old school
bully. We became friends straight away. Aisha can be quite loud (but not in a
bad way) she is just full of so much energy and confidence. She isn’t afraid to
put her hand up in lessons, even if she might have the wrong answer – that
takes guts! Aisha has been helping me to try and be a little more like her, and
I try. I did answer a question, in English, the other day, because she knew I
knew the answer, and gave me the courage to raise my hand. She is so much fun
and has the biggest, most craziest ideas. There is never a dull moment when
Aisha is around.
[picture across bottom
of both pages]
12) The reason as to
why Jay and I got separated, on the first day of school, is because of how the
school is divided. Although the school is so big, there aren’t enough classrooms
or teachers for the whole of every year group to be in some subjects all at
once. There are five main year groups (years seven, eight, nine, ten and
eleven) and each year group has 240 students. Each year group is divided into
eight form groups. Four form groups are called red band, and the other four are
called blue band. Red band and blue band have completely separate timetables
from each other. Not only do we not have the same lessons, but we often have
different break times to them as well, so we literally never see each other.
The biggest difference between red band and blue band is which foreign language
you learn. I am in blue band, which means I learn German, and Jay is in red
bad, so he learns French. Apparently, when you get to years ten and eleven, and
study GCSEs, they merge blue band and red band, and we will actually have
lessons together – that is ages away though.
[red sign with French
flag and food, blue sign with German flag]
13) Some days my form
group makes me wish I was in any other group, but the one I was sorted into. We
have been called the worst form group in year seven, and the worst form group
in the school’s history, and we have only been at school five months. I think a
lot of the group started playing up around the time that my late form tutor, Mr
Shaw, became really ill. The boys just stopped listening to him. Now, our new
form tutor, Mr Flourfield has the responsibility of trying to regain control of
us all. I mostly stay in my little group of me, Darcia, Samanatha and Aisha
(Emily is in a different form group), especially in lessons when we are all
together, but I do speak to Artie, James, Lee and Miraj. We were in form groups
for every lesson, but maths, when we first started, however, after the
Christmas break, we have now been separated by abilities in English, science
and humanities, so luckily, I don’t have to spend every lesson with this lot. I
do feel bad for any teacher that tries to teach our form group though. Some of
the boys run riot around the classroom, throw things and one even swore at the
teacher – that was Reiss and he got sent straight to isolation (that’s a dark
room, where you have to sit all day, doing lines, if you’ve been really bad).
[dark room writing
lines]
14) Talking about Mr
Shaw still upsets me. He passed away, just before Christmas, and I have a
sinking feeling that it’s all my fault. I was doing a tarot reading for Aisha,
one form time, and he seemed really interested, so I did one for him, but it
was bad. He got Ten of Swords, Five of Pentacles and The Tower, literally the worst
three cards in the deck and then a week later, he passed away. Bert and Mr Penn
have told me that it wasn’t my fault and tarot cards can’t bring people bad
luck, they are used to warn people of what could happen if they continue down
the path they are. I still get a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach
though.
[picture – Mr Shaw]
Although I was not too
keen on Mr Shaw, at first, I really warmed to him. Not only was he our form
tutor, but he was also our English teacher. I had never really liked English
before he taught me. He made me see that English isn’t always black and white,
like maths and science is. Yes, you can get something wrong, but your opinion
about a story or a poem is valid, providing you can back it up with reasons
why, from the text. I like that. And I seem to understand things better than
Darcia, for once, so sometimes, I get to help her, which is nice. I won’t let
it go to my head though. I’m pretty sure that my new English teacher, Ms Carole
(everyone calls her Mrs Potato Sack, because that’s what it looks like she
wears) is making everything as hard to understand as possible. She gave us a
week to read the first three chapters of Charles Dickens’ ‘David Copperfield’
and write a three-page essay explaining what it was about. The book is huge,
and the text is so teeny tiny. I read it, but nothing sank in. I’m trying to
re-read it, but I am so daunted by the sheer size of the book that my brain
isn’t concentrating when I’m reading it. She is really taking my interest away
from English. I had been telling people that it was my favourite subject, but I
might be changing my mind.
15)
[picture of door on right]
Darcia, Samantha and I
believe that there is a secret door in the school. On our first day, Mr Shaw
gave our form group a tour of the school and we stopped in the corridor between
the canteen and the staircase to the IT department. ---- pointed out a small,
narrow doorway under the stairs. At first, I thought it might just be the
caretaker’s storage cupboard, but Mr Shaw seemed to act really suspicious when ---
asked what the door was. Mr Shaw couldn’t answer him and kept changing the
subject.
I’m sure that we caught
Mr Shaw and Mr Wye coming out from the door once too. Mr Shaw was adamant that
the two of them were coming down the staircase, from visiting IT Support, but
they didn’t come from the staircase. They came from the side of it. Emily says
I’m remembering wrong, because it was a while ago, but I know what I saw. I am so
certain that Mr Shaw had a secret room. It’s sad that he passed away, because I
have so many questions, I wish I could have asked him.
16) [musical
instruments]
My Wye is my music
teacher, and I have tried, a couple of times, after the lesson is over, to ask
him about the secret door, but to no success. He is adamant that they were
walking down from the IT department, whenever I spotted them, just as Emily
keeps saying, but this isn’t just a silly theory, because I want it to be true.
I know what I saw.
Since Mr Shaw’s
passing, Mr Wye seems to have become close friends with Mr Archimedes. I wonder
if teachers get lonely too. Mr Wye and Mr Shaw appeared to be good friends, so
I wonder if Mr Archimedes is filling that space now that Mr Shaw is gone. I haven’t
been taught by Mr Archimedes, nor do I know anyone who has. He is a maths
teacher, and mainly teaches GCSE maths to years ten and eleven. He does seem
friendly, on the few occasions that I have seen him. He lingers near Mr Wye’s
music classroom, after school, sometimes. He claims to be looking for Mr Wye,
but I have my own theory.
17) Okay, so back to
the whole magic thing. At the end of the first week of school, I found myself
joining Naeniam Exponentia – or NE for short. It is a magic tricks and
illusions club, taught by Mr Penn. He used to be a magician and has allegedly
performed at the Magic Castle, with his silent partner, known only as T, however,
I’m not so sure on this one, but I’ll come back to that in a bit. NE is held
after school, every Tuesday and is usually held in Mr Wye’s music classroom. To
begin with, it was just people in years eight and nine that were there, but not
long after I joined, Mr Penn opened the club to more year sevens. Each week, Mr
Penn alternates from teaching us card tricks, stage illusions and potion
making, with some strange fruits called Frandadis Fruits. They have magical
properties, and when you mix certain ones together in a certain order, magical
things can happen. On my first day in the club, I watched Mr Penn make Hannah
(in year nine’s) rubber duck necklace open its mouth and say, “Quack!” That was
the most amazing thing I have ever seen. I can’t wait to be able to do
something like that one day.
[rubber duck necklace]
18) Mr Penn is a great
magician! He starts every lesson with a magic trick, and I don’t just mean
every NE lesson. He’s a science teacher and he starts every one of his classes
with a card trick or illusion of some kind, to get the classroom’s attention. I
haven’t had him as a teacher yet, but I know of people who have.
I wasn’t too sure about
Mr Penn when I first started. I kept getting an uncomfortable shudder whenever
I was around him, but Bert has assured me that I am worrying over nothing. I
think it may have been because he looks a little scary. He’s six foot tall,
with a huge mane of hair.
[picture of Mr Penn]
Now I have got to know
him, Mr Penn is one of my favourite teachers. He has a lot of patience for us,
when he teaches us something new. And if you’re struggling, instead of singling
you out, like some teachers do, he tries to help you. He can be scary too
though. If you mess about or miss behave, just the sound of his raised voice is
enough to terrify me. You know if someone has annoyed him, from halfway around
the school. His voice echoes down the corridors and makes the building shake. He
is one of the best teachers, but do not get on the wrong side of him!
19) I have done my
research, and everyone who has ever performed magic at the Magic Castle is
listed on the Magic Castle’s website. All of the great magicians are listed,
like Tommy Cooper, Harry Houdini and David Copperfield, but Mr Penn and T weren’t
on the list. During NE, Mr Penn often tells us stories about his and T’s
performances there. So, why aren’t they listed? It’s a mystery. Well, Oscar
(he’s in year eight) and I have a theory. We believe that Mr Penn is a time
traveller, from the future. So, he has performed at the Magic Castle, just in
the future, so it hasn’t happened yet. The reason as to why he has travelled to
the past (our present) is because he wants to be the one recognised as the original
Frandadis fruits researcher. Frandadis fruits seem to be very rare. There are
no textbooks written about them, nor can you find any information about them on
the internet. We think Mr Penn is using our NE sessions as research. Then, he
is going to write a book, or win some sort of special science award and travel
back to his timeline and be some sort of wealthy, renowned researcher. I think
it’s possible that Mr Penn isn’t his real name and he is working undercover,
for what reason, I haven’t discovered yet. Maybe it’s to preserve his identity
in the future.
20) In Naeniam
Exponentia we
are divided into our year groups when we practise any kind of card tricks,
illusions or Frandadis experiments. This is so that Mr Penn can monitor the
difficulty of the tricks that he is showing us. To make the club sound even
more magical, rather than referring to us as years seven, eight, nine, ten and
eleven, Mr Penn has given each year group a magically sounding name. Year
sevens are Septumiams,
year eight are Octoniams,
year nine are Novemiams,
year ten are Decemiams and year
eleven are Undecemiams – we
only have Septumiams, Octoniams and
Novemiams at the moment. Mr Penn only started the club last year for students
in years seven and eight. He wasn’t looking for new members, when I spotted
them getting together in the library. It was Bert who spotted me and asked if I
wanted to join. I am so glad that he did. I have been having so much fun! I get
along really well with everyone, well I like to think I do; there are a few
people who are a little difficult to get along with, but everyone has been
really nice and inclusive of me joining them.
21) NE has been so much
more fun now that all of my friends have joined. Not only did Mr Penn let Darcia,
Samantha, Emily and Aisha join, but just before Christmas, he let Jay, Carlos,
Rajinder and Xander join too. I don’t know what made Mr Penn open the club up
to more year sevens, but I am so glad that he has. I don’t feel like the
uncomfortable, little kid of the group anymore – not that anyone treated me
that way, but being the only Septumiam did make me feel a little awkward, around all of
the older students. Oh, and Lyra and Bentley have joined too. It has been so
much fun, getting to have a lesson with Jay. After Mr Shaw passed away, I
didn’t think I wanted to be at school anymore, but having just one hour a week
with my best friend, words cannot explain how much this has helped me. I cannot
thank Mr Penn enough for just randomly deciding to let Jay and his friends
join.
The Septumiams are: me,
Darcia, Samantha, Emily, Aisha, Lyra, Bentley, Jay, Carlos, Raj and Xander.
22) It also means that
I get to know Jay’s friends better too. Carlos is Jay’s best friend. He has no
sense of fear. He nominates himself all of the time to be Mr Penn’s assistant,
even when it seems dangerous. He can be a little big headed at times, and he
and Darcia seem to clash, but it can be funny to see them argue. I think Carlos
doesn’t like being told what to do by a girl, so as long as I let him believe
he is always right, I think we’ll get along okay.
Rajinder, or Raj as he
prefers, picks up everything really easily. He can literally do any card trick,
after only been shown two or three times. He doesn’t seem to understand why we
all haven’t picked things up straight away, though, and he doesn’t seem the
best at helping people. The other week, during a Frandadis experiment, Raj spent
ten minutes barking things at Carlos, who didn’t understand a word, and the
boys ended out with black smoke pouring out of their Frandadis beaker. It was
funny.
It is nice to get to
spend time with Xander too. He still seems really shy, even around his friends.
He sits quietly beside Jay and barely speaks up, unless he’s laughing at
Carlos. I sometimes get to walk home with him and Jay, and he seems less
reserved when it’s just the three of us. He is really sweet
23) The first of year
sevens that Mr Penn let join were Lyra and Bentley.
[Lyra and Bentley]
I was so surprised to
find out that Lyra is Rickie’s cousin. Lyra is so polite, kind, soft spoken and
well behaved. She is like the complete opposite of Rickie. She gets over
excited very easily, when we are doing Frandadis experiments – it isn’t
necessary a bad thing. She seems very eager to learn as much as possible, like
me. I sit in between Lyra and Bentley.
Bentley is funny. He is
very clumsy – he once dropped his bowl of soup in Darcia’s lap. It was a
complete accident. He got all flustered as he was talking to her. I think he
has a crush on her, but despite being so boy obsessed, I don’t think Darcia has
noticed. He likes to be centre of attention. It can get a little frustrating
sometimes, but I know Bentley’s heart is in the right place.
24) The Octoniams are: Robin, Oscar,
Fabian, Pete, Alex, Charlie, Rickie, Tobias, Ariel, Callista, Reuben and Caleb.
I get the impression
that Robin is Mr Penn’s favourite, much to the annoyance of Bert (in year
nine). Robin is always the one selected to be Mr Penn’s assistant with any of
the new illusions that he demonstrates. In fact, Robin is the only one of us
that Mr Penn performs anything with to the rest of the school. I’m not sure if
Robin picks things up quicker than the rest of us, or maybe it’s because he is
the shortest. I don’t know why his height would have anything to do with it.,
but Rickie thinks it does. Actually, Samantha might be shorter than Robin. I
wonder if Robin reminds Mr Penn of T, his old performance partner.
[picture of Robin with
Mr Penn]
25) I get along really well
with Callista (Calli) and Ariel. They are the only girls in year eight in NE. They
really look out for me. They always wave to me, if they see me around school. At
the beginning of December, Calli convinced me to join choir, with her, Ariel
and their friends Heather, Katy and Madeline. It is a lot of fun. Chior is run
by Mr Wye, after school on Wednesdays. I really like getting to spend time with
Calli and her friends. They don’t treat me like a year seven, they treat me
like one of them. I found out last week that Katy is Xander’s sister - I had no
idea they were related.
In choir, Mr Wye makes
us play some fun singing games. We move all of the tables to the sides of the
classroom and put our chairs in a circle. One of us stands up, then the person
on their left sits down, then the person on their left stands up and so on.
Then, while we are singing, “My Bonny Lies Over the Ocean,” every time you say
a word that begins with the letter ‘B,’ you have to stand up if you are sitting
down or sit down if you are standing up. It is so funny, especially when you
get to the line, “Bring back, bring back, oh bring back my bonny to me.”
Another one that I like is when we sing, “The Grand Old Duke of York.” My Wye
gets us to swap the ups and downs around and everyone gets confused, and we all
get the giggles.
26) Pete, Fabian and
Oscar sit on the front row of seats, with Robin, closest to Mr Penn. The boys
were actually the ones who convinced me to join NE, in the first place.
Although Bert had been the one to introduce me to the world of magic, I wasn’t
sure I wanted to join at first, because Jay was very much against Mr Penn’s
club, to begin with. Pete, Fabian and Oscar sat with me and my friends, one
break time, and helped me to see that card tricks and stage illusions are
really fun. The boys are all learning to play the guitar too – sometimes you
can hear them walking through the music department practising a tune that their
teacher had shown them. Their friend, Derrick, is learning to play the electric
keyboard. The boys say that as soon as they find themselves a drummer, they are
going to become famous rock stars!
27) The group that sit
behind Pete’s table are Tobias, Rickie, Alex and Charlie. Robin tends to hang
around with Rickie and Tobi. The three of them sometimes sit with me and my
friends, when we have the same lunch as year eight. Tobi is really kind. He has
even said that he is going to teach me how to play the guitar, which is super
nice. I’m a little scared of Rickie. He seems to pick on me for no reason at
all. Calli says it’s because he is jealous that I grasp card tricks quicker
than him, and I’m in the year below, but Darcia, Emily and Raj are way faster
than me and he doesn’t pick on them.
I haven’t had the
chance to get to know Alex and Charlie that well yet. They have another friend,
named Ben, that they are usually seen with around school, but he isn’t a part
of NE. They both seem to be super good at sleight of hand tricks. I guarantee
that in another life, Alex was a pickpocket. Once, he was demonstrating the
newest card trick that Mr Penn has just taught us, using Charlie as his volunteer,
and Alex managed to swipe Charlie’s watch from his wrist, without any of us
noticing – not even Charlie! I think they are a sneaky pair to watch out for.
28) Caleb and Reuben are
probably Mr Penn’s secret favourites. If mine and Oscar’s theory is true, and
Mr Penn is using NE as a means of Frandadis fruits research, Caleb and Reuben
are going to be the pair who make him rich and famous. Every part of NE
interests me. I want to learn everything there is learn about card tricks,
stage illusions and what all of the Frandadis fruits do. Caleb and Reuben,
however, are predominantly interested in the magical things you can do with Frandadis
fruits. Mr Penn may give them a hard time, but they are, by far, the most
talented.
For the Halloween
performance, they had a huge, wooden pyramid on stage, and made all of the wooden
blocks change colour, by dipping bouncy balls in different Frandadis juices and
throwing them at the blocks. As the balls bounced onto the wooden blocks, the
blocks changed to different colours of the rainbow. Oh and Caleb’s dad is Mr
Hartwell, the English teacher.
[picture of rainbow
pyramid]
29) The Novemiams are:
Bert, Beth, Joe, Jamie, Stuart, Alison, Hannah and Judith.
Beth is the Novemiams
that I am probably most scared of. She is Caleb’s girlfriend and would most
likely murder anyone who even breathes near him. I’m surprised Darcia is still
alive. On my first day in NE, Beth made me show a card trick to the group, as a
sort of humiliating initiation ceremony into the group. I was very lucky I was
able to remember one trick that my dad showed me once. I still feel
uncomfortable and a little intimidated around her.
Joe and Judith are
close friends with Bert – I haven’t spoken to them much yet. Judith often hangs
around with Hannah, Alison and the twins. She has a super cool, colourful,
stripey scarf. I want one just like it.
[picture of stripey
scarf]
30) [Bumble Bee Pencil]
Being in NE with the
twins, Jamie and Stuart, is so much fun. When it is Frandadis fruits experiment
week, they are guaranteed to make the most outrageous thing. The very first time
I met them, they concocted a mixture, which they poured over a pencil, which
made it fly around the library. They called it a, “Bumble Bee Pencil,” because they
used a standard yellow and black striped school pencil. It was so cool! The
pencil hovered above the table, before shooting off, towards some books and Mr Penn
made them chase after it.
[picture of a purple arm with blue spots]
I don’t know how true
it is, but Jamie swears that his brother spilt Frandadis fruits over his arm
once and it turned blue and covered in boils. I’ve never seen anything like
this, but Mr Penn gave them a warning, when it came to messing about, so maybe
it is true.
Jamie, Stuart, Alison
and Hannah have all been so nice to me, since I joined NE. They say, “Hello,” to
me around school and Alison came to my rescue once, when an older boy stuck a,
“Kick-me,” sign on my back. I am very grateful for her.
31) I look up to Bert,
like a big brother. [picture of Bert]
If it wasn’t for him, I
would never have been introduced to Naeniam Exponentia or know that I might
be magic. Bert says that he could feel my magic’s presence before he noticed
that I was watching the NE group, in the library. Bert has known for most of
his life that he is magic. He said his mum’s grandfather is. Yes, is,
as in he must still be alive! How cool is that?! My parents don’t believe
in magic, let alone know that I’m magic; they freak out if I accidentally make
the lights flicker, when I’m upset. I told Bert about making the lights flicker
and he says that’s one of the first signs of magic. He has promised to look out
for me and says that I can go to him if I ever have any questions at all.
Bert is very close to
Mr Penn, and not just because he has agreed to teach him magic. Bert is really
interested in learning all there is to know about NE too, like me. He is the
one that Mr Penn trusts most to be in charge, if he gets called out of the room,
and he’s the one that Mr Penn always chooses to be the host of the NE
performances. I guess Bert is sort of a big brother figure to a lot of us in
NE. He is very friendly and approachable. When I was upset about something and
asked to speak to him, Bert literally stopped what he was doing and took me
into a quiet music practice room, so that we could talk. I think I trust Bert
the most, out of everyone at school.
32) As well as dividing
us into year groups, for our magic lessons, Mr Penn has picked someone from
each year group to be what he calls, “Assistant,” and, “Secretary.” The Assistant
is supposed to be the person who Mr Penn thinks is most helpful and has picked
things up the best. The Assistant is someone who the rest of the year group can
go to, outside of Naeniam Exponentia, if they want to ask any card tricks, illusions or
Frandadis experiment related questions. The Secretary is the person that you
approach if you have any suggestions of tricks or illusions that you have
discovered and are interested in learning. At the beginning of every NE lesson,
Mr Penn asks the Assistants and Secretaries if anything needs reporting. It
saves a lot of time, instead of having everyone all speak up at once.
Septumiam Assistant:
Darcia, Secretary: Samantha
Octoniam Assistant: Pete,
Secretary: Robin
Novemiam Assistant:
Bert, Secretary: Beth.
33) To begin with, when
I was the only Septumiam, if I had any questions, Mr Penn said I could talk to
Pete or Robin. Now, with there being more Septumiams, Mr Penn initially wanted
me to be the Assistant Septumiam, or the Secretary. I was very surprised. I
didn’t think I was that good at everything, not like Pete, Robin, Bert and
Beth. I did turn it down though. I thought that Darcia would make a better Assistant
Septumiam than me – she loves the attention and the praise that she gets from
helping people. I’m a little too shy for all of that, and I could see Darcia
taking over anyway, so it just made more sense to give it to her. As for Secretary,
I convinced Mr Penn that it would help Samantha out more than me. Being friends
with the girls and the Octoniams and Novemiams has helped me to be less quiet and
shy, but I think if people were to introduce themselves to Samantha, she might
come out of her shell a little too. It is a big secret though, that I passed up
the opportunity and told Mr Penn who to give it to, instead. If Darcia knew she
didn’t earn it, she might get a little upset and I like seeing how happy it
makes her, thinking she’s the best Septumiam at magic stuff. I don’t want to
become popular from being in NE, I’m just happy to learn things.
34) I have always
been interested in magic tricks. [picture: cards]
There is a
television programme on Fridays after school, with a magician, Stefan Mullen –
he’s the youngest magician ever to join the Magic Castle! Sometimes he pulls a
giant plush rabbit out of a mini top hat, or a giant bouquet of fake flowers
appear from inside his sleeve. Sometimes he does card tricks; I’m always so
fascinated, because I could never figure out how he did it. At the end of every
show, he shows you how to do one, simple trick, like make a penny disappear. My
dad tried to teach me a few card tricks, once, but he never gave me enough time
to learn how it was done. Learning from Mr Penn is so much better. Whenever we
learn a new card trick, Mr Penn will show us how it is supposed to be performed,
then he breaks down each sleight of hand move step-by-step. We each have a pack
of playing cards and we all work through each step together as a big group,
before Mr Penn lets us practise individually or in groups.
My
current favourite card trick is what Mr Penn calls, “The Whispering Queen.” You
ask the volunteer to shuffle the deck and pick a card. You ask them to remember
it and you put it back in the deck. You control the card to the top and
shuffle, keeping the card at the top of he deck. While you are shuffling, you
look at the corner of the top card. Then get the volunteer to cut the deck a few
times. Then, you ask the volunteer which Queen is the most powerful. You turn
the deck the right way up, take out that Queen and ask her to whisper to you
the volunteer’s card. It involves a bit more acting than some of the other
tricks, but at the moment, that’s my best trick.
35) Before I joined NE,
Mr Penn only taught the small illusions that you can do with everyday objects,
like the cup and ball trick, making coins disappear then reappear and escaping
out of handcuffs Harry Houdini style, however since then, the school’s head
teacher, Mr Koh, has loved the NE half term performances so much that he
managed to convince the school governors to give Mr Penn more of a budget and
now we get to learn bigger stage illusions, like sawing someone in half and
escaping a locked box, with your hands tied behind your back. I know that
Stuart and Pete are really looking forward to sawing Beth in half next week. I
know that we won’t literally be sawing her in half, but it must be different
from the old-fashioned way of having a contortionist curl up in the top half of
the box, while wooden dummy legs poke out the bottom. Mr Penn says that he has
a warehouse full of some of his old props, and if the school will give him a
storage room, he might bring some of them in for us to learn. How exciting is
that? [sawing Beth in half]
36, 37 & 38) As
well as card tricks and stage illusions, Mr Penn is also teaching us
experiments with magical fruits called Frandadis Fruits.
[picture over both
pages]
Frandadis fruits look
like normal, everyday fruits, but they are different colours and have magical
properties. They are very rare and only grow on one island in the whole world,
Frandadis Island, which isn’t too far from where I live. Mr Penn says you can
get there within a day, by a powerful boat. He says the island is really small
and many of the fruits don’t grow all year around. That is why we have to use
them sparingly. I wonder if you can plant the seeds from Frandadis fruits to
grow more, like you can normal fruit? I will have to try to remember to ask Mr
Penn, when I next see him. We might get more Frandadis fruits and not have to
keep asking for sums of money from the governors to fund them.
Frandadis fruits are
amazing. They can do so many magical things that are like actual magic. There
are five categories of Frandadis reactions. They can change the colour of
things, can change an object’s size, change the stability of an object (make a
solid object floppy) they can make things move and they can alter emotions. The
last one, we are never to touch – Mr Penn says consuming Frandadis mixtures can
be life threatening, especially if the dosage isn’t 100% correct. All of the
Frandadis reactions are usually only temporary. When we changed the colour of
pencils, they returned back to normal after a few minutes. Mr Penn says that
the stronger the concentrate of the mixture, the longer the effects last, and
we do only practise with incredibly small doses. The surface or object that you
are trying to manipulate can impact the strength of the reaction too. For
example, wood is a porous material and will therefore absorb the Frandadis
concoction a lot faster and more easily than metal or certain plastics.
I have changed the
colour of things – I got all of my friends to pick a different colour and we
changed all of the keys of Mr Wye’s wooden glockenspiel/xylophone (sorry, I
keep getting them confused). I have changed the size of things – I made my deck
of cards grow as big as my exercise book. I did want to try and do a big card
trick with them, like Stefan Mullen, from the magic show on TV, but before I
got to the sleight of hand part, the cards shrunk and fluttered to the floor. I
have watched Pete, Fabian and Oscar change the stability of an object – they
made a pencil floppy, they also made it move, like a snake. Mr Penn also used a
Frandadis mixture to make Hannah’s duck necklace open its beak to quack. As for
changing emotions, I am yet to witness anyone make a mixture that does that. I
bet Mr Penn can, though. I heard that the twins once set fire to Mr Wye’s piano
and Mr Penn had to persuade Mr Wye to let him still hold NE lessons in his
classroom, after school; I bet Mr Penn had to use an emotion potion for that,
to persuade him. I heard Mr Wye was furious, but they seem to be friends again
now. [pictures of coloured xylophone and a snake pencil, with a rattle
eraser tail].
39) Okay, so there is a
little more to me being in NE than just card tricks, stage illusions and
Frandadis experiments. Now don’t get me wrong, I do love all of these things,
but I have a little added incentive for wanting to be there. Bert and Mr Penn
think that I’m magic, I mean really magic, as in, I have magical powers, magic.
They do too. No one else knows about it. It’s a secret! I’m still not exactly
sure what it means to be magic yet. I know I can make the lights flicker when
I’m extremely angry, upset or stressed – Bert says that’s what happens when you
don’t know how to control your powers.
As I mentioned earlier,
Bert said he could sense my magic before we met. I have a feeling that Mr Penn
could too. Now that I am aware of it, I do feel something different when I’m
around them. It’s like an invisible power or force is drawing us together.
Sometimes I do get a similar feeling with Fabian, but he must always be in
proximity to Bert or Mr Penn, I guess, because I don’t think Fabian is magic.
Wouldn’t Mr Penn keep him behind after some NE lessons too, like he does with
me and Bert. Oh yeah, me and Bert sometimes get private magic lessons with Mr
Penn. Sometimes, if the actual NE lesson has been too chaotic, Mr Penn will put
an illusion spell on the classroom clock and everyone’s watches, to make everyone
think it is home time, when really there might be fifteen minutes left, but he
just wants to get rid of everyone and start the secret sessions with me and
Bert (Bert can do that spell too. I’m so jealous!). It hasn’t happened too
often yet, which is good. I’m worried that I will run out of excuses to tell
Darcia, Emily, Samantha and Aisha as to why Mr Penn wants to keep me and Bert
behind all of the time. I’ve got away with using the excuse that I’m struggling
to pick things up and I need the extra help so far, I’m not sure how long I can
keep it up.
I haven’t really learnt
anything super special yet. Mr Penn needs me to have perfected my breathing
exercises and control over being able to feel my ability/power/whatever you
want to call it, before I’m allowed to try an actual spell.
40) I wonder if Mr Shaw
knew we were magic. I do think that he was spying on us, or at least Naeniam Exponentia. He was
always lingering outside Mr Wye’s classroom whenever we were using it for magic
practise. Now, Mr Wye’s new friend, Mr Archimedes, does the exact same thing.
Back to Mr Shaw though,
I think that he was working with someone to try and track Mr Penn down. I don’t
know why, nor do I know who or what. All I do know is that Mr Shaw used to
appear around our NE lessons. I know that he was a good friend of Mr Wye’s,
whose classroom we have been using, but I know that there is more to it than
that. Mr Shaw took an unusual interest in me joining NE and whenever he asked
Mr Penn about the club activities, Mr Penn would just tell him that I’m
exceptional at card tricks, when I know that isn’t true. Part of me always
wondered if Mr Shaw was some sort of witch hunter, and he could sense that Mr
Penn and I were magic, that’s why he was always snooping around. Either that or
maybe Mr Shaw was spying on the Frandadis experiments? Since Mr Wye and Mr
Archimedes’ friendship has started, Mr Archimedes seems to be lingering around
NE too, unless he really is just looking for Mr Wye. But I know better
than to believe in coincidences. And Mr Archimedes is never looking for
Mr Wye when I have choir with him on Wednesdays after school. I could never ask
Mr Wye about it after choir though, because everyone lingers about for ages
afterwards. This is my little secret, after all, and I don’t think anyone else
would understand. They would think I’m being silly, but I know the truth.
Something suspicious is definitely going on.
41) This is what my
Naeniam Exponentia workbook looks like:
[Picture of exercise
book]
I have decorated the
front, to make it feel more like me – Mr Penn doesn’t mind, he actually
encouraged it. This is the place where we keep all of our instructions and
notes for how all of the card tricks, illusions and Fradadis mixtures work. On
some of the pages, Mr Penn has given us step-by-step instructions. On other
pages, aside from the trick’s name, the page is blank, for us to fill it in as
we see fit. Sometimes there are often several ways that you can do the same
trick, it just depends on how confident you are at different types of
misdirection. Mr Penn’s key misdirect is juggling, but I can’t juggle for
toffee. Sometimes I try to use something someone is doing, in the room, as a
point of distraction, like Stuart pulling funny faces or Rickie taking the
mickey out of me – see, he’s useful for something.
Oh, but the things that
I learn, in my secret meetings with Mr Penn and Bert, they don’t go in here.
They don’t get written down anywhere. I have to try and memorise everything.
That’s why I have so many notebooks on the go and why I write so many things
down, because I need to free up the space in my brain for all of the real
magic stuff.
42 & 43) Mr Penn
has told me and Bert to keep a crystal on us at all times. He said that it can
enhance our magical ability and help us to bring it out, when we need it most.
Mr Penn has an obsidian disc, on a cord around his neck. He says that it’s for
protection, to stop people from scrying on him. I guess as a magician, he wants
to keep his tricks a secret, also the Frandadis fruits seem to be a little
taboo. Not many teachers, students or parents approve of them. As a science
teacher, I can see why he’s interested in Frandadis fruits. They are like
science experiments. Mixing different things together creates a different
chemical reaction, which makes a different magical thing happen.
Oh yeah, back to
crystals! Mr Penn told Bert and me to get one, to help us focus our magical
abilities. Bert has a tiger’s eye crystal. Bert says it helps to give his inner
magic more strength and power. He keeps it on a keyring, in his pocket. I have
an amethyst, well, I have two of them. I have a big one (that fits in the
centre of my palm) that my nan bought me, which I keep at home and I have a
small cube that I keep in my inner blazer pocket. From what I understand, an
amethyst is supposed to offer protection and can help with stress relief and
anxiety. The lady in the shop said it’s supposed to help with sleep too. Mr
Penn said that he thinks a protection crystal is a good fit for me. I guess I
feel less anxious about things now than what I did months ago, and I’d like to
think it’s protecting me, from what exactly, I don’t know. It’s something else
that I can’t wait to learn more about.
[picture of crystals]
44 & 45) Before I
am allowed to learn how to use my magic to cast spells and illusions, Mr Penn
says that I need to learn how to control my heart’s centre first. From what I
understand, it’s basically a meditation exercise. I need to learn to calm my
breathing, and I don’t just mean, I need to be a happy person and not be angry
or moody. I need to be able to calm my breathing, so that I can feel the magic
inside of me. Once I learn how to tap into the magic and feel it while I’m
calm, Mr Penn says that’s when he will start teaching me how to control it.
I have been practising
my power centring exercises that Mr Penn gave me. I think I am starting to get
better. I have been lying on my bed, with the curtains closed. I close my eyes
and focus on steadying my breathing and trying to push away all of my thoughts
from the day, so that I can focus all of my energy on the beating of my heart.
Then I have to try and imagine all of my magic as little glowing orbs that are
scattered throughout my body and my aim is to bring them all towards my heart,
without breaking my focus. It is really hard though, what with my parents
screaming at each other all of the time, and my brother constantly coming into
my room and demanding that I play with him. My neighbours are really noisy,
sometimes, too. And then at the odd times where I do get peace and quiet, my
mind struggles to calm down and focus, and I wind up getting even more
frustrated than when I started.
I did manage to speak
about this with Bert (it is hard to get Bert alone. He is so popular and has so
many friends, and he is constantly trying to flirt with Ariel) but he suggested
when trying to calm my mind, to start with remembering my day backwards. So, I
start by thinking of lying down on my bed, then drawing my curtains, then what
I had for dinner, doing my homework, and I keep thinking back and back until either
my brain gives up and wants to rest or I get back to the point where I woke up
and thoughts don’t need to spiral around in my head anymore, because I have
concentrated on thinking about all of them.
I probably haven’t been
practising as much as I should, but it is hard to find a moments peace. Bert
says that if you do it right, you get a warm, tingly feeling in your chest,
then you can draw that feeling down your arm, to your hand, to make something
happen. I haven’t got that far yet, but I can’t wait to. My new year’s
resolution is to practise as much as I can. I am getting closer. The other
night, I got as far as feeling the glowing orbs of magic floating around in my
body, but before I could get any further, my mum came into my room, demanding
to know why I was, “Pretending to sleep,” and to get ready for bed, “Or else.”
Mr Penn says that once I get better at the breathing exercises, I can practise
whilst holding my amethyst, which can enhance my magic.
I can’t believe that Mr
Penn and Bert can do all of that calming stuff in the middle of the day, just
by standing there and make magic happen. I want to get as good as them one day.
That’s my goal!
46) My nan bought me a
packet of tarot cards, from a charity shop, back in November. Every Saturday,
she pays for my brother to go to football practice, so to make it fair, one
Saturday a month, we go shopping together and if I happen to see something that
I like, that is pocket money price, my nan will buy it for me.
I didn’t really know what
tarot cards were before buying them, but I felt as though I was drawn to them,
magically, just as I was with my amethyst. I don’t know whether it is related
to my magic, but tarot readings just seem to come naturally to me. I am really
enjoying learning about what all of the cards mean. I can’t memorise them all
yet (there are 78 of them) but I have a little notebook that I carry with me, where
I have noted down their meanings. I have only been learning their meanings
upright, at the moment; I haven’t started learning what all of the cards mean
in reverse (upside down) yet. I could probably write an entire book, of my own,
about them. I am so fascinated by the stories that come to me as I am doing
readings too. I usually practise during form time and I have been doing
readings for Darcia, Emily, Samantha, Aisha, Bert, Ariel and Calli. Oh, even
Artie asked me to do a reading for him the other day.
47) Mentioning Artie, he
is a really nice guy, who is in my form group. He doesn’t have many friends and
often prefers to be on his own. I think that’s very brave. I was excited when
he showed interest in my tarot readings and asked me to do one for him, during
form time. The whole room was full of noise and everyone was giving Mr
Flourfield a hard time, so we were able to do it without being disturbed. Artie
opened up to me and shared a big secret – I have to promise not to tell anyone,
not even Darcia. Artie is actually adopted. The people who I thought were his
older brother and sister are adopted too. I promised that I would keep it a
secret, because Artie is worried that if the other boys find out, they will
tease him for it. Why do some boys like bullying others? It isn’t right! Artie
liked the outcome of his tarot reading, so that made me happy. After the
terrible reading that happened with Mr Shaw, I get worried when I do readings
for other people. Artie was worried about dropping out of the football team, to
take up drum lessons instead. He really wanted to do it, but was worried about
what the rest of the team would think. Artie has already been through so much
and still puts up with Lee and James teasing him about every girl he has a
conversation with, assuming that he has a crush on them. They are so childish.
I’m not surprised that Artie prefers his own company when they are his friends.
I have told Artie several times that he can hang out with me and my
friends and we wouldn’t bother him, like they do, but he declined. I don’t
blame him, I guess my friends can be a bit of a handful sometimes too.
48) Mentioning my
friends, I think Darcia and Emily might be boy mad. All they talk about, at the
moment, are the boys that they like. Before school starts, every morning, they
make us walk around the entire school, boy spotting. Darcia has a teeny, tiny blue
notebook, that is the size of my thumb. It is attached to a keyring and she
dangles it from her pencil case. In that little book, she writes a different
boys’ name down on every page. It isn’t limited to just boys either. Darcia has
a crush on Mr Lockley, the
young art teacher and Mr Hartwell (who is Caleb’s dad) yuck! She likes Caleb
too, so I think that’s kind of weird and creepy, but I can’t tell Darcia that.
Emily doesn’t have a
notebook with boys’ names, but she does make us linger around the year nine
boys a lot – there is a boy with bright blond hair, named Josh, that she likes
and I think she likes my friend, Jay, too. Emily joined Mr Wye’s brass band
practice on Friday afternoons as soon as I mentioned that Jay was going.
Samantha hasn’t shown much interest in boys yet, I don’t think, and I know
Aisha gets just as frustrated with them as I do, so at least I know I have her
on my side.
49 & 50) Mr
Flourfield is my new form tutor. He started working at Arcturus High in
January. I think he is supposed to be replacing Mr Shaw, but things are a
little odd. Mr Shaw was an English teacher. Since he passed away, the school
haven’t hired a new English teacher, and Mr Flourfield is the only new teacher
that I am aware of. There is a staff board, on the wall opposite the main hall/next
to the receptionist’s room. It has pictures of every teacher, with their name
underneath. That wall has definitely helped me out, when I can’t remember a
teacher’s name.
Mr Flourfield seems to
be really good friends with Mr Penn, which I guess is a good thing. If Mr Shaw
was suspicious of Mr Penn, it’s nice to have a form tutor that approves of my
magic trick interests.
Oscar and I have a
theory that Mr Flourfield is a time traveller, from the Victorian era. He
dresses like he’s from the Victorian times. Okay, so maybe it’s not that odd,
after all, he is a history teacher, but to dress that way every day of the
week? He even has a pocket watch – who has one of those in the twenty-first
century? Mr Flourfield keeps complaining that his pocket watch is losing time –
more evidence of his time travelling shenanigans, don’t you think?
It isn’t just because of
how he dresses, Mr Flourfield also seems to be really confused by technology.
At my school, every teacher has a computer or a laptop in their classroom. For
his first two weeks at Arcturus High, Mr Flourfield appeared to be terrified of
his computer. He had no idea how to turn it on or click the mouse and he seemed
to have never seen a keyboard before. My mum has never used a computer, but
even she can type on a typewriter. No one has ever seen him use a brio either.
He carries an inkwell and quill with him everywhere.
Also, wouldn’t it be
strange if mine and Oscar’s theory about Mr Penn being a time traveller, from
the future, is correct and he just happens to be friends with Mr Flourfield,
who is a time traveller from the past? There must be some sort of Time
Traveller’s Convention/Meet Up somewhere, I bet.
When we have form time,
Mr Flourfield has sat us all in a seating plan. It feels like a cruel and
unusual punishment. We have seating plans in some lessons, but I don’t
understand why for fifteen minutes, where all we do is meet up with our form
group, we need to be forced to sit next to people we don’t like. Well, I’m
quite lucky, because I’m sat between Artie and Miraj, and I get along well with
both of them. Darica, Samantha and Aisha are all near each other though,
towards the back of the classroom. I think it’s a little unfair that I have to
be separated from them. Mr Flourfield claims we need a seating plan to improve
our behaviour, but I don’t understand how making our group angry and frustrated
is going to calm them all down.
51) There is something
strange that I have noticed happen a couple of times, around the school. Whenever
I mention this to Darcia, Emily, Samantha or Aisha, they brush it off as
nothing. Okay, so it might be nothing, but I still think it is a little odd. On
a few occasions, I have seen a bird flying into one of the windows in the black
castle turret. If there really is nothing in there, how would a bird know where
to find the tiny slot? There is one window, on what would be the second floor.
I’ve tried looking into it from the music department staircase window, but the
window in the turret doesn’t face the music department, so I can’t see inside. Maybe
birds shelter inside there? If that is the case, it is probably full of bird
poop – yuck! I just wonder why, of all places, would birds go to that specific,
small opening. There can’t be any food in there. Could it be a special meet up
for birds, I wonder? I have seen a crow carry a small, leafy branch in there,
once.
52) There is something
that I have been thinking about quite a bit, lately. Back in December, when Mr
Penn and Bert told me about crystals, Mr Penn mentioned Merlin and the Magic Circle.
Apparently, all of the people who had magic powers during the time of Merlin
and King Arthur, were all part of a group called the Magic Circle. As war broke
out, to protect the magic, Merlin disbanded the group, warning the magic users
to go into hiding, so that all of the magic holders weren’t killed and then end
magic forever. Before they left, Merlin warned them that when the time was
right, he would call them forth to reunite and fight. I’m not sure who Merlin
intended to fight or why though. Mr Penn is under the belief that he, Bert and
I are all decedents of members of the Magic Circle and fate has brought us
together, just as Merlin intended.
I can’t talk to anyone
about it and it’s been bubbling inside me and I think I might explode. Is the
magical ability that I have related to Merlin, from the King Arthur times? Does
that mean I’m related to Merlin, somehow, like he’s my great-great-
great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandad?
Does that mean Bert and Mr Penn are related to Merlin too? And if I’m related
to Merlin, why aren’t one of my parents or grandparents magic too? I don’t
really know the story of Merlin that well. Maybe I should start researching.
Mr Penn said that the
magic is returning, as Merlin predicted, ready to fight. I’m not sure I want to
fight. Who are we supposed to fight? What are we fighting for? I don’t even
think Mr Penn knows.
53) I have just had a
thought, what if the thing that we are supposed to fight is a dragon?
What if it has been hiding in the black turret all this time? What if it has
been eating birds and summons them into its lair, with a luring tune that only
birds can hear? Maybe that’s why no one else pays attention to the turret.
Maybe that’s why I do notice it. Maybe the dragon’s powers don’t work on me. I
don’t think I want to fight a dragon. I wouldn’t even know how to. I bet it
could swallow me whole, easily.
[tower, dragon picture]
54) We have a special
Naeniam Exponentia performance coming up. The music department usually puts on
a performance just before Christmas break and summer break. The head teacher,
Mr Koh, lets us do a performance just before the October half term break (which
is right by Halloween) and just before Easter break. However, there is a
special, additional performance coming up in February. This is for the school
governors. The art, music and drama department are going to be demonstrating
what their clubs entail, as well, in hopes of receiving more funding. Mr Penn
told us that Mr Koh is trying to convince the school governing board to support
more of the creative after school clubs, and not just supply money for the
school sports teams. It means a lot of practise, but I’m looking forward to it.
And it will be the first performance that all of my friends, in my year group,
will get to be a part of. It’s all very exciting.
55) Bert and Ariel are going
to be the show’s hosts. That basically means that they get to do all of the
cool stage illusions, and they will be doing card tricks and Frandadis
experiments in between all of the other performances. As always, Bert is the main
host, or the ring master, as he likes to be called. Mr Penn wants the
presenting to be fair for both boys and girls, so he has asked Ariel to present
with him. Some of the boys have been joking that she is the magician’s
assistant, but I know for a fact that Ariel is super talented. Everyone knows
that Bert is the most talented, all round, out of all of the NE club members,
but not everyone sees how hard Ariel studies all areas of magic (just like I am
trying to). Ariel once said that she wanted to learn the quick-change, clothes
routine, but Mr Penn told her that it wasn’t real magic. He said they are too
easy and once you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all. I don’t think that is very
fair. Everyone else who suggests stuff, Mr Penn at least gives us a
demonstration. And Ariel always has her head in a magic book. Calli has told me
that Ariel even gets into trouble in lessons sometimes, because she is
practising her sleight of hand. Ariel deserves so much more than to stand in a
pretty outfit, encouraging the audience to applaud. I hope that she has a trick
up her sleeve, to show off what she can do. Bert absolutely adores her – he has
been fighting for Ariel’s attention since well before I even joined NE, so I
dare say he would let her get away with whatever performance she wanted to do,
and just not tell Mr Penn.
56 & 57) Mr Penn
has made each year group split up into three groups. One group will perform
card tricks, one an illusion and the third will do a Frandadis experiment. In
my year, Jay, Raj, Carlos and Xander are going to perform a card trick each. As
there won’t be an actual audience, only a few members of the school governing
board, the boys are going to use each other as their card picking volunteer.
Raj and Jay are a pair and will do a card trick each and be each other’s
audience participant and Carlos and Xander will do the same. Carlos and Raj are
very confident, so I think it was good of Mr Penn to pair them with Jay and
Xander, who aren’t as confident. Jay is getting there; he just isn’t quite
quick enough yet with his sleight of hand moves. Xander really knows what he is
doing, and I know he’s been practising lots. He can do it perfectly when he’s
showing me and Jay, whilst walking home, but when practising in the classroom,
with everyone watching him, he gets really nervous and drops the cards. I hope
he can overcome his stage fright by the time we have to perform.
Darcia, Samantha, Emily
and Aisha are going to perform a Frandadis experiment. They are going to use
one of My Wye’s xylophones/glockenspiels (I still don’t know which is which)
and Emily and Samantha are going to pretend to be learning a piece of music,
but they are struggling to see the engravings on the wooden bars. Aisha is
going to come along and help them, but she is going to use a mixture that
accidentally turns their instruments teeny tiny. Then Darcia is going to make
it too big, then the girls are going to work together to make it big enough to
play, before shrinking it back to its normal size.
[picture]
58 & 59) Lyra,
Bentley and I are going to do three scarf tugging illusions. I am really
looking forward to doing this. First of all, Lyra and Bentley are going to
drape a scarf around the back of my neck, so that the right side dangles a fair
bit longer than the left. Then, Lyra is going to hold the longer piece over the
shorter one, creating a small triangle-sized gap. Keeping the little gap (Mr
Penn says this is called a slipknot) Lyra and Bentley loop the left side of the
scarf over and around the back of my neck. Then, they are each going to grab
one end of the scarf and pull. Instead of strangling me, the loop/slipknot
piece (that keeps the scarf from knotting) will slip apart and I will be untied.
Next, Lyra and I are
going to hold the scarf at either end and Bentley is going to stand in the
middle, in front of the audience and get us to help him make a knot in the
middle of the scarf (it’s not really a knot, it’s another slipknot). Then he is
going to duck underneath the scarf, to stand behind it, and face the governors.
Placing both hands over the knot, Bently is going to say some hocus pocus
sounding words, whilst rubbing the knot. Without anyone noticing, Lyra and I
are going to gently pull the ends of the scarf and the knot will magically
disappear.
The final one, I am
most excited about, because this is my turn to do an illusion. With Lyra and
Bentley's help, first they are going to hold the scarf out at full length, then
Lyra will walk to Bently's side with her end, and I am going to hold out the
loop in the middle, showing that the scarf is in half. As I take the middle loop
and lead it towards Lyra and Bentley's ends, I take all of the scarf in my left
hand, poking the centre loop under my left thumb, as my right hand lifts up a looped
piece closest to one of the ends of the scarf. I show this new loop to the audience,
pretending that it is the centre of the loop. Then, I cut the top of the loop
and carefully let down the two long ends of the scarf. The ends are now looped
over the tiny piece that I cut. The tiny piece of cut fabric will look like the
other ends of the scarf, in two separate pieces. I tie these ends together and
slide the knot off the end of the scarf. Bently will hold the one end of the
scarf and Lyra the other, as I tug the knot off Lyra’s end. They will hold out
the scarf, showing that it is still whole – well, I will have cut a very small
piece off the end, but the scarf is so long that it won't appear as though I
have. Mr Penn is getting us to practise this part with string, because he
doesn't want me to keep cutting up scarves, so the first time I will actually
be doing this with a scarf, will be in front of the governors. I'm super
nervous.
60 & 61) In year
eight, Callista, Pete, Fabian and Oscar are performing card tricks, between themselves,
in a similar way that Jay and his friends are. Calli paired herself with Fabian
instantly – at first, I thought it was because he is the most talented at card
tricks, but I’m beginning to wonder if she likes him.
Rickie and Tobias are
doing a cup and ball trick, but instead of hiding just one ball and getting the
audience to guess where it has turned up, they are really mixing things up.
This may sound confusing, in writing, but when you see it performed, it is
amazing. Rickie and Tobi are a great duo. They really pull this off well:
They start with three,
small tinfoil balls and each ball is sat on top of three plastic cups. Rickie pretends
to place the first ball in his left hand (but uses sleight of hand to put it in
his right) and shows the audience the ball has vanished from his left hand, as
Tobi lifts the first cup to reveal that the ball has magically appeared
underneath Tobi then tips the second cup forwards and takes the tiny tinfoil
ball off the top, but as he does it, Rickie sneaks the ball that he pinched
underneath the cup, as Tobi puts the cup down. the cup (there was already one
there to begin with). Tobi picks the small tinfoil ball up and places it on top
of the first cup, but as he does, he sneaks a giant tinfoil ball under the cup,
without the audience seeing. Tobi then appears to pass Rickie the ball he took
from the top of the second cup (but really Tobi is hiding it in his hand) and
as Tobi lifts the second cup to show that there is a tiny tinfoil ball
underneath it, Rickie makes it look as though the tiny tinfoil ball that he
appeared to take from Tobi has vanished in his hands. Tobi takes the tiny ball
from under the second cup and places it back on the top, while secretly hiding
the other tiny tinfoil ball, hidden in his hands, to underneath the second cup,
as Rickie takes the tiny tinfoil ball from the top of the third cup and
pretends to place it under the cup with his left hand, but he has used sleight
of hand to hide it in his right. Rickie reveals that the ball has vanished as
he slightly lifts the third cup and acts shocked that he doesn't have a ball to
put under the cup, but as he is doing this, he slips the ball that he has been
hiding, in his right hand, under the cup and reveals that the ball magically
reappeared under the third cup. Rickie then hides a giant tinfoil ball beneath
the third cup and places the tiny one on top. Tobi then takes the tiny ball
from the top of the second cup and shows the audience that he is putting it
under the second cup, as well as a second ball that he has palmed in his hand. There
are now three small balls under the middle cup, but the audience thinks there
is only one. Rickie then removes the tiny tinfoil ball from the top of the
first cup, as he lifts up the middle cup, to show the three small tinfoil balls.
As Tobi takes the three tiny balls and tries to juggle them (he's not very good
at juggling and always makes me giggle,) Rickie places a giant tinfoil ball
under the middle cup. Once Tobi has dropped all of the tiny tinfoil balls,
Rickie lifts up the middle cup to show the giant tinfoil ball, and as he is
placing the cup back down, he hides an orange inside of it. As Rickie places
the giant tinfoil ball on top of the second cup, Tobi reveals that there is
also a giant tinfoil ball under the first cup, and Rickie shows that there is
also one beneath the third cup. Then Rickie lifts up the middle cup (and the
giant tinfoil ball) to reveal his hidden orange. I think it is so clever. Lyra
and I practised this a lot, but we were never fast enough at hiding any of the
tinfoil balls – we kept dropping them too and had to chase them as they rolled
all over the classroom floor.
62) The next routine is
Alex and Charlie’s. Because Alex is so obsessed with street magic, or pickpocket
magic as Mr Penn calls it, Mr Penn is actually letting him and Charlie do a
routine. Alex really wanted to do the trick with one of the governors, but Mr
Penn was worried they might think he was endorsing pickpocketing, so convinced
the boys to do a demonstration with each other. Alex is going to try to appear
to be doing a pick-a-card trick, with Charlie. Charlie picks a card, looks at
it and holds it out, in his hand. Alex then picks another card and gets Charlie
to hold it on top of his selected card. Alex then tells Charlie that the cards
will change position if he shakes his arm. Alex only touches Charlie’s wrist
for a brief moment, encouraging him to shake the cards, and manages to slide
Charlie’s watch off his wrist without Charlie noticing – I know Charlie
wouldn’t be able to feel it, because I stupidly let Alex practise this trick on
me and he took my watch in less than a second and I had no idea.
Charlie is going to do
a similar trick, where he tries to get Alex to place his palm flat on the
floor, and pretends to show him how to turn his hand around 360°, but as he touches
Alex’s wrist, unknown to Alex, Charlie steals his watch. It’s ever so
fascinating to watch, because you don’t notice it happen, because you are so
interested in the misdirect.
63) In year nine, Jamie
and Stuart are doing a Frandadis experiment, obviously. Mr Penn warned them
against doing anything to scare the governors away. We are trying to earn their
trust, to receive more funding, not have them cut the money needed to order in
Frandadis fruits. The boys decided upon a weak version of their grasshopper
pencils. It will make the pencils turn into grasshoppers and bounce around the
table for about ten seconds, so hopefully not enough to cause anyone to runaway
screaming. They wanted to make bumble bee pencils too (that’s my favourite) but
Mr Penn was worried one of the governors might be scared of bees and faint or
start screaming.
[grasshopper pencils]
Hannah and Judith are
going to perform a small collection of the traditional magician-style magic
tricks. They are going to pull a long scarf out from their sleeve, then stuff
it into their palm and have it disappear (when really they are hiding it in a
skin-coloured thimble). Hannah is going to make a bouquet of flowers appear and
they are going to spray Judith in water (they thought it were best not to get
the governors wet). Then Judith is going to make coins disappear and reappear,
by using sleight of hand to secretly palm them.
Alison and Joe are
doing a couple of card tricks that I haven’t been taught yet; apparently, they
are super tricky. Mr Penn has only taught these card tricks to the Novemiams. I
can’t wait to see them!
64) Caleb, Reuben and
Beth’s Frandadis routine has been kept very quiet. They refer to it simply as ‘Project
F’ (I assume that stands for Project Frandadis). My guess is that it is going
to involve changing as many different
Frandadis properties all at once. I wonder what could incorporate changing
colours, size, stability and movement – oh, and it can’t be scary. Whatever
they do, I know it is going to be huge. I have seen Reuben and Caleb walking
through the main corridor carrying a seesaw, so I wonder if they are going to place
different objects on either end and make a light object become heavy and visa
versa, like turn an apple to the size of a chair and make a chair melt to a
floppy mush. Maybe they could make a heavy object spring in the air – Mr Penn
showed us how to do that the other week.
The boys always look so
professional when they perform, like proper magicians. If anyone is going to
perform at the Magic Castle, one day, then it is definitely Caleb and Reuben.
Calli thinks Caleb was trying to impress me, back at the October half term
performance. I mean, he definitely did, but I don’t know why he felt the need
to. Was it because I was the youngest/newest member, at the time? I think that
Caleb could give Bert a run for his money. They are equally as good performers.
It would be nice to see Mr Penn let them both present the show, maybe together.
Instead of Bert having Ariel as his assistant, maybe Bert and Caleb could
co-host. I could suggest it; Ariel may not like it though and I wouldn’t want
to ruin her chance in the limelight.
65) [Magic trick
pictures]
66 & 67) I
originally thought that Robin and Mr Penn were going to do a big stage illusion
together, like they did at the Halloween performance, but they are doing
something a lot more simple. It's actually really funny. Robin stays silent
throughout the performance, while Mr Penn tells the audience that many of them
know he is a magician, but he started his craft as a juggler. Mr Penn takes
some balls and begins to juggle them, whilst Robin dresses up like the
sorcerer’s apprentice, and makes his magician’s magic wand grow to the size of
a walking cane (it’s extendible). Next, Mr Penn shuffles a pack of cards and
places them on the table, asks a volunteer to cut the deck, wherever they like,
place the top half in Mr Penn’s hand and hide the top card from the half of the
deck on the table, in their pocket. Mr Penn then looks into the volunteer’s
eyes and bouncing his hand that is holding half of the deck of cards, tells the
audience there are 27 cards in his hand. He gets the volunteer to count out the
cards. There are 27. As the audience applauds, Mr Penn tells the audience that
the juggling part of the act is over and to remember how amazed they were as he
hands the stage over to Robin. Robin holds out a giant pack of cards, removes
the flower from the lapel of his blazer and hovers it over the opening of the
giant packet of cards. As he does, the three of diamonds begins to rise (this
is a trick deck, set up especially to do this trick; Robin showed me how it
works after NE a couple of weeks ago). Mr Penn then returns the volunteer’s
attention back to his deck of cards and gets them to look through the cards and
confirm 1) they are all different cards, 2) that Robin did not touch the cards
or force them to cut the cards. Mr Penn then asks the volunteer to reveal the
card in their pocket. It will also be the three of diamonds. As the audience
applauds this time, Mr Penn asks the audience which felt more exciting, his
part of the trick, or Robin’s. He says that it is obviously Robin’s, which is
why he stopped being a juggler and decided to become a magician, and goes on to
explain to the governors why teaching magic tricks is good for students’ mental
health, and how the kick you get from amazing people makes you feel good inside
and that magic is all about making people happy.
67) And that’s all I
have for now. I am sure that the more I learn at school, the more I will have
to report, but I think I have covered everyone and everything that I need to.
Who knows, maybe by the time I am Bert’s age, maybe I will be able to create an
illusion on the classroom clock, to change the time too, or maybe I will have
been inside the black tower and unveiled all of its secrets. Who knows what I
will have learnt by then and what will have changed. Only time will tell.
