Harvest High – School for the Gifted

Chapter 1

Welcome to Harvest High

The twins Jack and Jill, and I, their cousin, Claire, had known we were different since we were very young. We realised that we could do things that normal kids could not do. We realised they were magically gifted.

Jack was a telekinetic. He discovered this when he threw a hissy-fit when he was about six years old and accidentally broke a glass just by staring at it. With a little bit of practice he discovered he was able to move objects just by looking at them.

Jill could control plant life. When she had found out that her twin brother was gifted, she had become determined to find out what her gift was as well. Not long after, she discovered that she could speed up and slow down the growth of plants, or could just make plants appear out of nowhere.

I was a year younger than my cousins, and was the first to discover my power but the last to realise it was actually a power. I could communicate with animals using my mind, or speaking. I had always thought this was normal, and that everyone could speak to animals like I could. But when Jack and Jill caught me barking to our dog, and the dog barking back, they told me that this wasn't normal and that I was gifted, like them

The three of us found out about a school known as Harvest High – a high school for gifted people, just like us. We sent in our applications, hoping to be accepted. I was fifteen years old and my cousins were sixteen when we received a letter from the school.

"WE GOT IN! WE GOT IN! WE GOT IN!" Jill ran into the lounge room, waving a white piece of paper around above her head. I jumped up immediately, and Jack ran in from the kitchen. We practically tackled Jill to get the letter off her and read it.

To the Farman children,

I am pleased to inform you that there are places for you in Harvest High. You will find attached three packs including all of your books and stationary for the school year. Please pack your bags and be ready to leave for the school by sunrise tomorrow. We look forward to seeing you.

Sincerely,

Thomas Maynor

Headmaster of Harvest High

"Come on!" said Jill. "Let's go pack our bags!" The brunette jumped to her feet.

"How do you think we're going to get there?" asked Jack as he stood up.

"Who cares?" said Jill. "Come on!"

We were all too excited to sleep that night.

At six am the next morning, the doorbell rang, and the three of us charged downstairs faster than we had ever run before. We didn't know what to expect to be taking us to the school, but we didn't expect to see nothing but a green-haired teenage girl.

"Hello Farman children," she said; her voice gentle and melodic.

"Hi…" said Jill slowly.

"I'm Annona Goddess. I'm a senior student and I'm here to take you to Harvest High."

Jack peered behind the girl. "So do you have a car or something?"

Annona laughed; her laugh like tinkling bells. "No, child, I have something much better. Go get your bags."

We did as we were told and brought our bags downstairs.

"Now link hands and make sure you're holding onto your bags as well."

We were confused as to why we were doing this, but we obeyed nonetheless. She gently took Jack's hand. "Whatever you do," she said. "Don't let go." She then muttered something in a language I didn't understand, and I saw a bright white light.

I squeezed my eyes shut tight against the light, and I felt Jill squeeze my hand. I suddenly felt weightless, like I was floating. I couldn't feel the ground beneath my feet. I wanted to open my eyes to see where I was, but even through my eyelids I could tell it was way too bright.

Thump! My feet hit the ground and the light vanished. I opened my eyes and looked around. We were standing outside a large pair of golden gates. I wondered if I had died and gone to heaven. Behind the gates was a large brick building and I saw a lot of people, some my age and some older, playing outside.

"Farman children," said Annona, pushed open the gates. "Welcome to Harvest High."

I felt like a kid in a candy store as I walked through the gates and towards the building behind Annona. Jill's violet eyes were wide as she looked at everything in the school. Jack had a huge smile on his face.

Annona led us into the building and turned to face us. She held out her hand, palm up, and out of nowhere three sheets of paper appeared in her hand. She smiled when she saw our looks of amazement and handed us a piece of paper each.

"This has your dorm number, your schedule and a map of the school," she said. "You can take your stuff to your dorm room and explore the school for a while, until you hear the bell. Then you must head to the main hall for breakfast and the opening assembly. Until then, welcome to Harvest High." She then clapped her hands twice and in a flash of white light she was gone.

"Woah…" said Jill, staring at the place that Annona had been. "I want to do that!"

Jack laughed at his sister, and then glanced at his map. "Boy's dorms are on the opposite side of the school to girl's dorms," he noted. "So I'll see you two at breakfast." He waved and turned to head off to his dorm. Jill and I walked off in the other direction.

Jill's dorm was two doors down from mine. She dragged her bag down the hall and went into her dorm. I turned to my door, took a deep breath, and pushed it open.

I heard a squeal, saw a flash of pink and the next thing I knew I was on the ground with some random girl on top of me.

"MARY! MARY! MARY!" I heard a high-pitched voice say. "Look! We have a new roommate! Look! Mary! Come look!"

"Gerrofomee," I mumbled from underneath the girl.

"What?"

"Get off of me," I repeated.

"Oh, sorry," said the girl, and she climbed off. I sat up and looked at her. She had wavy candy-pink hair and red-brown eyes, and had a huge smile on her face.

"Hi! I'm Popuri!" she said. "Who are you?"

"I'm Claire," I said.

Another girl walked over to me and held out her hand. She had brown eyes and glasses, and raven black hair, tied back in a long braid. I took her hand and stood up.

"I'm Mary," she said with a shy smile.

"It's nice to meet you," I said. I turned around and saw Popuri dragging my bag inside. "Wow, Claire," she panted. "This weighs a tonne!"

I frowned as I helped her drag it in. I hadn't noticed until she mentioned it, but my clothes and books shouldn't have weighed that much. I knelt down and opened the bag, only to be tackled by a scruffy brown puppy.

Sammie! I exclaimed in my mind. What are you doing in there?

Coming to the school with you, clearly, the dog replied in her mind.

I thought I told you to stay at home!

Since when do I do as I'm told?

Popuri and Mary looked between me and the dog. Popuri frowned in confusion, but Mary seemed to have worked it out.

"You communicate with animals!" she exclaimed.

I nodded. "Yes, that's me, the animal-girl. And this is Sammie, my dog who is going to be in a lot of trouble for coming with me here."

Sammie barked.

"Aww, she's so cute!" said Popuri, kneeling down to give her a scratch behind the ear. Sammie leaned into Popuri's hands.

"So what can you guys do?" I asked.

"I'm a dreamer," said Mary. "I can visit people's dreams and I can make parts of their dreams become reality."

"And check out what I can do," said Popuri, standing up. Suddenly, there were three more copies of her standing next to her.

"I'm Popuri!" said one.

"No, I'M Popuri," said another.

"No, you're both wrong," said the last. "I'M Popuri."

This resulted in a high pitched argument until Popuri, the real Popuri, made them disappear.

More hyper-active girls, I thought. Fun!

Don't you like her? Sammie's voice entered my mind.

She's sweet, but a little…well…crazy.

"I can also do this!" Popuri unknowingly interrupted my conversation with Sammie. She closed her eyes and her pink hair suddenly turned purple. I raised my eyebrows. She grinned and it returned to its unnatural pink colour.

"I can change my hair to any colour I want," she said. "And," she added. "This pink is natural."

Well, I didn't believe her, but I didn't tell her that.

I heard a loud ringing sound, and Sammie tensed up and barked.

"That's the bell!" said Popuri. "To breakfast we go!" She thrust a fist into the air and ran out the door.

Mary giggled a little at Popuri. "Are you coming?" she asked me.

"Of course," I said. I scooped up my cheeky little dog, deciding that it was pointless to hide someone as noisy as her in my room, and that she'd want food anyway. Surely they'd understand, considering I was an animal communicator and all. Mary held the door open and I walked out, and she walked with me to the main hall.

There were two long tables either side of the hall covered in many different dishes of food. Sammie wagged her tail when she saw the food.

"Claire!" I heard someone call, and I looked over to see Jack and Jill waving me over.

"Come sit with me?" I asked Mary. She smiled and nodded. I led her over to my cousins and we sat down beside them.

"Mary, these are my cousins, Jack and Jill," I introduced. "Jack, Jill, this is Mary, my roommate."

Mary waved shyly. "Hello."

"Nice to meet ya!" said Jill.

Jack was eyeing the dog in my lap. "I thought I told you not to take her."

"It's not my fault," I said defensively. "She hid in my suitcase."

Jill broke into a fit of laughter. "I always knew she was a little genius."

Friendly chatter filled the hall until a familiar green-haired girl stepped up and clapped her hands. "Silence, please!" Her melodic voice echoed through the hall, and the chatter died down.

"Hello, and welcome to a new year at Harvest High," she said with a smile. "I'm Annona Goddess; this year's Head Girl. I'd like to introduce Headmaster Maynor.

A short, plump man waddled up to Annona, and the girl took a seat. He wore a red suit and had a brown moustache. He coughed to clear his throat.

"WELCOME!" he said. "I am aware that the food sitting in front of you looks very appetising at the moment, so I'll cut straight to the rules, shall I?"

The rules were fairly straight forward. No boys in the girl's dorms and vice versa, no using your powers for violence, etc.

"And at last, we may eat!"

The friendly chatter returned as the students put food on their plates and began eating. I had a feeling it was going to be a good year.