The Legacy of the curse

Rita POV

I woke up feeling happy because I was starting at a new school. We had to move to a new neighborhood after rumors started spreading that my family was cursed. And to be honest, I think we might actually be cursed.

I first noticed it when my dad started a new job as a bus driver. On his first day, he accidentally spilled coffee on the bus dashboard. That one mistake got him fired before his shift even ended.

Then there was my older brother. He got accepted into a college for art and performance. During my 9th-grade exams, he stayed up all night helping me study. But when his own results came out, he failed miserably and had to repeat the semester.

Next was my mom. She finally opened the bakery she'd been dreaming about for years. Two weeks later, someone broke in and stole everything. Every last thing. They even took the spoons. It was devastating. And then there was me. On my very first day of first grade, I walked into school feeling excited-until the janitor slipped and dumped a full bucket of dirty restroom water all over me. I stink like a dumpster. From that day on, everyone called me Stinky. That's when I started hating school.

Right-my new school.

I got up from bed and headed straight to the bathroom. I grabbed my toothbrush and started brushing. Once I was done, I took a shower and stepped out, wrapped in a towel. I walked over to my closet and stared at it blankly, trying to decide what to wear. After a lot of indecisive scanning, I settled on a black denim skirt, a pink blouse, and a pair of black sneakers.

Next up was makeup. I applied some mascara and a bit of clay mask-just enough to make my face glow. Or at least, that was the goal.

Then came my hair. I wanted to curl it and make it look perfect. Just kidding. I suck at doing hair. One time, I tried curling it and ended up burning a chunk so badly, I had to cut it all off. Ever since then, I stick to a ponytail or a bun. Safe. Simple. Flame-free.

I went downstairs to the dining room, where I found my mom and my elder brother, Jack, chatting over breakfast. I walked over to join them, glancing around for my dad.

"Where's Dad?" I asked after greeting them.

"He already left for work," my mom replied.

My dad had just started working as a cashier at a mall, and my mom had gotten a job as a receptionist at a hotel. Not their dream jobs, but they were trying.

About ten minutes later, breakfast was over. Jack and I headed outside and climbed into the Scalp-a sleek car he got for his 18th birthday. He was dropping me off at school before heading to his own.

Five minutes later, I was standing in front of my new school, silently vowing to do whatever it took not to embarrass myself.

That's when I heard someone shout, "Doc!"

I turned around-just in time to see a basketball flying straight at me. I ducked fast, squatting down like the ball had suddenly turned into a cannonball instead of something that was supposed to bounce.

"Sorry!" someone called.

I looked up and saw a boy with sky-blue eyes and curly black hair. He looked genuinely concerned. I stood up, nodded quickly, and walked away without saying a word-leaving him standing there, confused.

Inside the building, I made my way through the hallway toward the principal's office-except it hit me: I had no idea where the principal's office was. I stopped and looked around.

That's when I saw her.

A girl stood near the entrance, glancing toward the doors like she was waiting for someone. She wore a black overall with a red bodycon top underneath, paired with black sneakers. She was holding a book and had the same striking sky-blue eyes and curly black hair as the boy with the basketball. They had to be related-probably twins.

I walked up to her until I was standing in front of her.

"Hi, I'm Rita. I'm new here," I said with a friendly smile.

"Hello, I'm Rachel," she replied, matching my tone with a warm smile of her own.

I asked her where the principal's office was, and she gave me a detailed description. She said she would've taken me there herself, but she was waiting for her twin brother.

I thanked her and headed off.

Following her directions, I arrived at the office and knocked on the door. A voice from inside called, "Come in."

I stepped in slowly.

A woman with a cinnamon complexion and short red hair looked up at me. Her eyes were big and brown, her nose and lips were small and delicate, and she wore bold red lipstick that matched her outfit-a fitted red pencil skirt, a black button-down shirt, and black high heel.

She smiled warmly and said,

"Good morning! You must be the new student," the woman said with a sweet smile. "I'm Stacy Sunwell, the principal."

"Nice to meet you," I replied, returning her smile.

A few minutes later, I was walking down the hallway with Ms. Sunwell leading the way to my first class. In my hand, I held my class schedule, a locker key, and my locker number.

As we walked, I couldn't help but think how surprisingly smooth my day had been so far-aside from nearly getting hit in the face with a basketball. Still, all things considered, I gave the day a mental thumbs-up.

We finally reached my first class of the day: science. Ms. Sunwell introduced me to the teacher, Mrs. Vincent, and Mrs. Vincent introduced herself right back.

Then came the moment of truth.

I was asked to introduce myself to the class-and yes, I know what you're thinking. You expected me to freeze up and babble something totally embarrassing, right?

Well, surprise-I didn't. I nailed it.

Truth is, I kind of saw this coming, so I prepared a little speech ahead of time. I would tell you what I said... but I completely forgot it the moment I finished. Sorry.

While I was talking, my eyes landed on a familiar face: big blue eyes and shiny black hair. It was Rachel-the girl from the hallway. She smiled at me, and I smiled back.

Mrs. Vincent directed me to my seat, which just so happened to be right next to Rachel. I sat down beside her and gave her another smile, this time feeling a bit more confident.

A few minutes into class, Mrs. Vincent asked, "Can someone please tell me the first ten elements of the periodic table?"

Of course I knew the answer. But there was no way I was about to become known as Miss Know-It-All on my first day, so I kept quiet.

A girl with big glasses and long, straight hair raised her hand. It was hard to tell at first if her hair was black or gold-maybe somewhere in between.

"Yes, Cassie?" Mrs. Vincent called on her.

Cassie answered confidently, "The first ten elements are hydrogen, helium, lithium, beryllium, boron, carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, sodium, and neon."

"That's absolutely correct. Well done, Cassie," Mrs. Vincent said with a proud smile.

After three classes, it was finally lunchtime. So far, I hadn't fallen asleep, spilled anything on myself, or banged my head into anything. Honestly? I was ready to call this one of the greatest accomplishments of my life.

That thought barely finished forming in my head when I tripped on-well, nothing. Completely nothing.

My tray of food went flying. My body hit the floor. My face kissed the tiles.

Three words: utterly. soul. crushing.

Laughter exploded around me, and all I could think was please, someone let the ground open up and swallow me whole. As expected, it didn't.

I was trying to pull myself up when I heard a kind voice say, "Hey, I've got some clean clothes for you. I'm really sorry."

I looked up and saw Rachel, holding out a fresh outfit. I gave her a weak smile and thanked her.

"Come on," she said. "Follow me."

She led me to the restroom, where I changed into the clothes-which, thankfully, fit perfectly. When I came out, she wasn't alone. Standing beside her was the basketball guy from this morning.

"Oh, hey, you're done!" Rachel smiled. "Rita, meet my annoying twin brother, Daniel. Daniel, this is Rita. Meet yourselves."

"Hello, Señorita," Daniel said, kissing the back of my hand dramatically.

I blinked. I guess he didn't remember me.

...Until someone else said, "Oh, he remembers you."

A new voice chimed in behind us. "Guys! I just heard some girl totally face-planted in the cafeteria!" The voice was full of laughter.

I turned and glared at her. It was Cassie-from science class.

"What?" she said with a shrug, still laughing. "Oh. You're the girl." Her smile faded. "Oops. My bad."

"Um... yeah," I muttered, embarrassed.

"Shit," Cassie cursed under her breath. "Well then-welcome to the club, girl."

I looked at her, confused. "The club?"

"You had two disasters in one day. That means you're cursed," Daniel said casually.

"Wait-you guys are cursed too?" I asked, shocked.

"Yep. We are," Daniel replied. "And I do remember you. I'm really sorry about earlier."

"I was outside this morning when that basketball nearly hit you," Cassie added. "Then the cafeteria incident sealed it. You're definitely one of us."

"Come on," Daniel said. "Let's go somewhere we can explain better."

They led me to a fountain outside-one I hadn't noticed when I arrived at school. A quiet little spot with a stone bench beside it.

We sat down. The four of us.

And then... they began to explain why they believed they-and their families-were cursed.

Cassie took a deep breath and began, "Okay, so the first time I really noticed something was wrong was the day we went to this super fancy dinner at a rich family's house-the Bolognese family."

She rolled her eyes at the memory.

"We were all trying to be on our best behavior, right? But my parents? Oh no. They ended up arguing-no, full-on fighting-in front of the entire Bolognese family."

She paused, then added, "And I-I barfed."

"Barfed?" I asked.

"Yeah. Threw up. Kinda. Or maybe it was like hiccups... but mixed with a mini explosion. I don't even know. It was just-awful."

She groaned dramatically. "It was normal food! Stuff we've eaten before. But somehow I started hiccuping, then burped, then just-blah. Right there. In front of everyone. They looked at us like we were... diseased or something."

I winced. "That sounds... traumatic."

"Exactly. And that was just the first incident," she said with a sigh.

Cassie continued, "The second time was during a school show back in middle school. I was performing, and both my parents came to watch-since I'm an only child, they never missed anything."

She shook her head, cringing at the memory.

"In the middle of the show, while cheering me on, my dad suddenly tripped on nothing-like, absolutely nothing-and fell flat on the stage. In front of the entire school."

"Ouch," I said.

"Exactly! It was so embarrassing. I was mortified. I couldn't even focus after that-I messed up my part in the performance, and my class was furious with me. They blamed me for messing everything up. I honestly just wanted to disappear."

She exhaled slowly, like the memory still stung.

"And then there's my mom," she added.

I leaned in a little.

"She got a job working birthday parties-dressing up in costumes and entertaining little kids. You know, like clowns or princesses or cartoon characters. That kind of thing."

"Okay..."

"Well, it just so happened that Bianca-A girl who used to bully me-was throwing a birthday party for her little sister. And guess who was hired to show up in costume that day?"

I gasped. "No way..."

"Oh yes. My mom. In full costume. I wasn't even supposed to be there, but I found out later. At the end of the party, my mom tripped and landed face-first in the cake. The mask came off... and Bianca saw everything."

"Oh no," I whispered.

"She took pictures. Posted them on the school forum. Everyone found out. It was everywhere. I didn't show my face at school for a week."

Cassie let out a long breath. "So yeah. That's why I believe my family's cursed."

I blinked. "Okay... wow. That's rough."

Rachel gave a sympathetic laugh. "Cassie always has the most dramatic ones."

Cassie rolled her eyes but smiled.

Rachel looked at me and said, "Alright, my turn, I guess."

She tucked a strand of curly hair behind her ear, her voice calm but a little embarrassed. "So, my story isn't as crazy as Cassie's-but it's still... weird. First time I realized something was off was during a school camping trip in fifth grade. Everything was going fine until the talent show. I was supposed to do this ribbon dance thing on stage."

"Oh no," I murmured.

"Oh yes," she said, nodding. "I tripped on the ribbon. Got tangled in it. Rolled off the stage. Into the campfire."

Cassie burst out laughing. "You didn't catch fire though!"

"Not really," Rachel grinned. "But I did roast my ponytail. I smelled like burnt toast for two days."

I couldn't help but giggle. "That's awful-and a little funny."

"Oh, it gets better," Rachel said. "Second time? It was my mom. She's a chef. Like, a really good one. She got picked to cook at this huge charity event-like, all these important people were there."

Cassie nodded like she already knew where the story was going.

"And she forgot to label the salt and sugar," Rachel said, dragging her hand down her face. "She made dessert. All the cake, pudding, and pastries tasted like French fries."

My jaw dropped.

"She cried for three days," Rachel finished. "I had to convince her she wasn't cursed. Which is funny, because deep down... I kind of believed we were."

I was still smiling when Daniel came walking back toward us, arms full of food. "I missed the good stories, huh?"

"Oh, you always miss the drama," Cassie teased.

"Don't worry," I said, "you still have to tell yours."

He grinned and handed me a sandwich. "I've got stories. But you'd better eat this before your curse strikes again.

Rachel gave him a look. "Tell the field day one."

Daniel groaned. "Ugh, don't remind me." He turned to me. "Okay, so this was back in fifth grade-the same year Rachel did her ribbon dance crash-and-burn at camp."

Rachel hid her face, laughing.

"We were both part of the school's Field Day," Daniel continued. "She had her whole ribbon thing, and I was in the big obstacle course-like, the main event. Parents were there, teachers, everyone."

He held up his hands dramatically. "It was going great. I was ahead, people were cheering, and then I got to the rope swing over the mud pit."

"Oh no..." I said, already bracing myself.

"Oh yes," he said, nodding solemnly. "I swung. I really thought I had it. But halfway across, the rope snapped. Not kidding-snapped. I flew midair like some action movie hero, landed flat on my back in the mud. Completely soaked."

Cassie was laughing so hard she had to wipe her eyes.

"And guess who was filming the whole thing?" Daniel asked. "Our mom."

Rachel chimed in, "She put it on Facebook. Captioned it 'My little mud monkey.'"

"I still can't go to family reunions without someone bringing it up," Daniel added, sighing.

"That's when we both kind of knew," Rachel said, nudging him. "There's no way two kids from the same family could bomb that hard in one day unless we were cursed."