Zara's POV
"Did you see Maya's face when nothing happened?"
The cruel laughs hit me like a slap as I walked through the hallway after Maya's failed Assessment. I spun around to see three girls from our Advanced Magic class laughing behind their hands.
"I can't believe we actually thought she was talented," said Rebecca, the girl who always came second to Maya in everything. "She must have been using magic tricks or something."
My hands clenched into fists. How dare they talk about Maya like that? She was my best friend, and she was going through the worst moment of her life. I opened my mouth to tell them off, but then I heard something that made my blood freeze.
"Hey Zara!" called out Marcus from across the hallway. "You were Maya's best friend, right? Did you know she was a fake this whole time?"
Every conversation in the hallway stopped. Suddenly, dozens of students were looking at me, waiting for my answer. I felt trapped, like a mouse surrounded by hungry cats.
"I... I..." I stammered, my heart racing.
This was my chance to defend Maya. To tell everyone that there had to be some mistake, that Maya was the most truly talented person I'd ever met. That whatever happened today wasn't her fault.
But as I looked around at all those expectant faces, all I could think about was my own image. I was supposed to be popular. I was supposed to be one of the top kids. What would happen to me if everyone thought I was best friends with a fraud? "I barely knew her that well," I heard myself say, the words falling out of my mouth like poison. "We just sat together sometimes in class."
The lie tasted bitter on my tongue, but it was too late to take it back.
Marcus grinned. "Smart move, Zara. I always knew you were too smart to be fooled by her act."
The other students nodded approvingly and went back to their talks. I should have felt relieved that I'd saved my name. Instead, I felt sick to my stomach.
What kind of person was I?
I tried to push away the guilt as I headed to my next class, but everywhere I went, the comments followed me.
"Can you believe Maya thought she could fool everyone?"
"I heard she's been cheating on tests too."
"My mom says some kids use magical devices to fake having power."
"She probably bought her good grades."
Each whisper felt like a knife twisting in my chest. These people were talking about my best friend—the girl who had helped me with homework, who had comforted me when my grandma died, who had shared her lunch with me when I forgot mine.
But I didn't say anything. I just walked faster and pretended not to hear.
During lunch, I sat at my regular table with the popular crowd. They were all talking excitedly about Maya's failure, and I wanted to crawl under the table and hide.
"I feel so bad for believing in her," said Jessica, flipping her hair passionately. "She made fools of all of us."
"Not me," bragged Rebecca. "I always thought something was off about her. She never had any friends before this year except for Zara, and even Zara admits they weren't really close."
I choked on my sandwich. Is that what I had said? That we weren't close?
"Zara, you must feel so betrayed," Jessica continued, putting a fake-sympathetic hand on my arm. "I mean, you trusted her, and she was lying to you the whole time."
I nodded weakly, not trusting myself to speak. Inside, I was screaming. Maya hadn't lied to me about anything. Maya had been the most honest person I knew. But how could I say that now without looking like an idiot?
That's when I saw her.
Maya walked into the dining hall, and the entire room fell quiet. Her eyes were red from crying, and she looked smaller somehow, like she was trying to make herself unnoticeable. She grabbed a tray and got in line for food, but I could see her hands shaking.
Our eyes met across the room for just a moment. Maya's face lit up with desperate hope, like she thought I might come over and sit with her, like I might be the one person who still believed in her.
I looked away quickly and focused on my salad.
"Poor thing," Jessica said in a voice loud enough for Maya to hear. "It must be so embarrassing to be exposed like that."
I saw Maya flinch at the words. She put her tray back and rushed out of the dining hall without getting any food.
My chest felt tight, like I couldn't breathe properly. What was wrong with me? Why was I just sitting here while my best friend suffered alone?
But every time I thought about getting up and following Maya, I imagined everyone at my table looking at me with disgust. I imagined them whispering about me the way they were whispering about her. I pictured becoming an outcast just like Maya had become.
I was a fool, and I hated myself for it.
After lunch, I was walking to my History of Magic class when I overheard Professor Kane talking to another teacher in hushed tones.
"There's something very wrong here," Professor Kane was saying. "Maya's power level yesterday was amazing. Magic doesn't just disappear overnight like that."
"Are you suggesting someone interfered with her Assessment?" the other teacher asked.
"I'm not suggesting anything," Professor Kane answered carefully. "But I've been teaching for thirty years, and I've never seen anything like this."
My heart started pounding. What if Maya really hadn't been faking? What if something terrible had happened to her magic?
I thought about the bracelet I'd given her that morning—the one with the crystal pendant. She'd been wearing it during her Assessment. Could that have anything to do with what happened?
But that was impossible. It was just a pretty bracelet I'd bought at the magic shop in town. The seller had said it was a simple luck charm, nothing more.
Hadn't he?
As I tried to remember exactly what the shopkeeper had told me, a horrible thought crept into my mind. The old man at the shop had asked a lot of questions about who the band was for. He'd seemed very interested when I mentioned Maya's name and her Assessment Day.
And he'd given me a deal that seemed too good to be true.
My hands started shaking as I pulled out my phone and looked for the magic shop's number. I had to know if that band was really just a harmless luck charm.
But when I called, a recorded voice told me the number was no longer in service.
When I rushed to the shop after classes finished, I found an empty building with a "For Rent" sign in the window.
The shop had disappeared as if it had never existed at all.
And I realized with growing horror that I might have just given my best friend the very thing that destroyed her life.