Cassandra Black sat cross legged on her floor, glaring holes into the object across the room. Dark blue eyes narrowed as she glowered. This was the worst part of becoming a part of the human world again.
Shoes.
The girl glared at the pair of brand new light grey Chuck Taylor's sitting innocently by her door. Her toes ached simply at the thought of confining them in there for hours on end. But alas, even with all her glaring, the shoes remained and so did the fact that she had chose to be here. And so the shoes were a necessity.
Cassandra sighed and curled her fingers inward, connecting to the energy around the shoes and drawing them to her. They slid to a neat stop at her knees and Cassandra reluctantly pulled them on. Standing up in one sweeping motion, she ran pale hands down the skirt of her new dress and grabbed the worn leather jacket from the bed behind her.
Pushing her arms through, she headed for the mirror sitting in the corner. As she surveyed her appearance, her lips pursed. With the soft white of the dress, her silver strands appeared washed out and faded. She pouted for a second. She loved the silver. Cassandra eyed the curls for one last second before closing her eyes and focusing on the energy thrumming at her fingertips. With slow practiced hands she ran her fingers through her hair once and opened her eyes again.
The silver had been replaced with a soft pastel pink colour that suited the dress much better. Cassandra smiled at the Cassandra in the mirror and tugged on her jacket once more before departing her room.
The House was old, but filled with magic. Cassandra didn't dare enter the other bedrooms, as much as she could have used the extra space. She didn't bother with the kitchen, making a mental note to go shopping after school, and carefully passed through the threshold of the main door, patting the wood affectionately. Once outside, she trailed a hand through the several wind chimes, smiling softly at the soothing chiming that followed her out.
And there was the other unpleasant thing.
Cassandra hesitated at the edge of the grass, looking irritably at the hunk of metal that soured her driveway. The car sat there, unaware of the distain that the pastel girl held for it, but Cassandra didn't quite want to touch it. It was somewhat necessary, and helped her to blend in a bit more, but Cassandra always preferred more natural ways to get around. Walking, for example.
But as the grass curled around her feet and she felt the quiet reminder of the earth that the school was ten miles away, Cassandra conceded and pulled the keys from her pocket.
Her family had made sure that all her human affairs were in order before she had left, so the shiny new drivers license sat in the cap holder were she wouldn't lose it. Not that she couldn't find it easily, but Cassandra didn't want to bother with it.
The engine roared to life and Cassandra carefully pulled out of the cobblestone driveway and onto the smoothed dirt road. She fiddled with the radio, turning to a quiet classical station as she entered the paved part of town.
As Beacon Hills High School came into view, Cassandra couldn't help but stare. Outside of the school, tons of teenagers were excitedly greeting each other, buzzing with the start of a new school year. It wasn't exactly the weather for crop top and shorts, as California high schools were usually depicted as having. Yet the students all around her were still incredibly good-looking with nice clothes.
Cassandra thanked the stars that she was able to find a spot in the student parking lot next to a pale blue Jeep. Grabbing her backpack, Cassandra took a moment to take a deep breath. Here goes nothing. Exiting her car, she gave the shiny soft red car a pat on the hood before she began to march towards the front of the school. Despite all of the commotion going on, Cassandra could feel people's eyes watching every move that she made. She put up a good front though, confidently climbing the stairs leading up to the front doors. It didn't take too long to find the main office after weaving through students that were mingling amongst themselves. Cassandra approached the receptionist's desk with a shy smile.
"Hi, I'm Cassandra Black. I'm here to pick up my schedule?" She internally winced as it came out as a question, but the lady looked up with a smile anyways and started to speak as she looked through the files next to her desk.
"Hello! You just moved here a couple of weeks ago, right?"
Cassandra brightened at her warm tone. She wouldn't admit it, but the pastel haired girl was slightly worried that the lady would be harsh and mean, as they usually were depicted in movies.
"Yeah, I just moved here from -," her mind blanked. She couldn't exactly say she came from a secret world hidden in the shadows now could she? Hastily, Cassandra blurted out the first state that came to mind. "Maine!"
The receptionist chuckled as she continued looking through her files.
"Oh, that must be a real change, especially the weather. Are you enjoying it here so far?"
Cassandra laughed quietly to herself. She had no idea what the weather was like in Maine, but California was better than the Shadow World. "I guess you could say that."
The woman- 'Mrs. Dwyer' read the nameplate on the desk- shot Cassandra a grin.
"I'm sure you'll enjoy it as times goes on. The kids around here are very nice. I'm sorry this is taking so long, dear. It's my first official day on the job. The last office assistant, well, she…"
Mrs. Dwyer trailed off with a slight frown before perking up and pulling a sheet of paper out of a folder.
"Here we are! This has your schedule, locker number, and the combination. Principal Thomas should be ready to talk to you. Just go right ahead and knock on his door. It was a pleasure to meet you, Cassandra. I hope you have a great first day!"
The woman was so sincere that Cassandra couldn't help but slip a blue lace agate stone into the fake potted plant on the desk. Hopefully that would be help with dealing with all the teenagers and parents that came through her room.
"Thank you!"
Carefully easing towards the principal's office, Cassandra glanced inside and rapped on the door. Principal Thomas' inspection of his office, a look of distaste clearly displayed on his face, was brought to a temporary halt by her presence.
"Hello, Principal Thomas? I'm Cassandra Black and I'm a new student here. I was sent a letter saying I should come meet you before heading to any of my classes."
"Ah, yes, come in. Sorry for the clutter, the beginning of the year is always messy."
As Cassandra moved to sit in front of his desk, he sat down in his oversized chair and cleared his throat.
"I usually like to meet my new students in order to welcome them to BHHS and get a sense of who they are."
Cassandra raised an eyebrow and tucked a pink curl behind her ear. Principal Thomas' eyes followed the movement with a faint look of distaste and Cassandra curled her fingers around the strap of her bag.
The principal looked over at his computer before inquiring, "It says here that you moved to Beacon Hills from Maine, is that correct?"
"Yes sir, I wanted to come and see where my family began so I moved out here."
"And your parents, where are they? We seem to have some trouble getting a hold of a guardian." Thomas looked through my folder – consisting of a single, handwritten page most likely from the phone conversation. He did not look thoroughly impressed. "I'm sorry your Aunt won't be able to meet with me for the time being, there are several things we need to sort out before we can ensure that you'll receive the appropriate academic schooling. I'm not overly familiar with the legal issues regarding private schooling in Maine, but there is a nation-wide requirement to standardized test in third, fifth, and eighth grade. At the very least we require a transcript."
"I've done them, the paperwork just hasn't been settled yet," Cassandra quickly said, conjuring several ways get one of the teachers to send falsified school records. "They'll probably be here by the end of the week."
"And it is very unfortunate, starting in the middle of the school year like this," Principal Thomas went on, sighing and scribbling something on a blue slip of paper. "During your first week, you will have to take several tests to measure your academic levels. I'll schedule your first one on Monday."
"Thank you, Principal Thomas," Cassandra stood up and swung her bag over her shoulder.
"Good luck, Miss Black. And welcome to Beacon Hills."
Cassandra scrambled out of the office and her smile slipped. He wasn't a very nice man and Cassandra was even more grateful that she had placed the crystal with Mrs. Dwyer. The poor woman was going to need it.
Cassandra strolled down the halls, looking very carefully at the locker numbers. She had gotten maybe halfway down the hall when everyone froze around her. Cassandra huffed quietly and pushed her way through the crowds. Was every school like this? Cassandra was suddenly grateful she hadn't needed to experience this until now.
She had just found her locker and was attempting to open it when she was accosted by a whirlwind in heels.
"Why aren't you staring at me?" A sharp voice demanded.
Cassandra looked up slowly from where she was placing her books down. Standing next to her was a redhead girl, about her age, in a maroon dress and heels that allowed her to tower over the pastel haired girl. "I'm sorry?"
"Why aren't you staring at me? Everyone else is." The red-haired girl demanded again.
Cassandra blinked, once, twice. The girl had a strange aura around her, black twisting in with muted reds and pinks. "I'm sorry," she apologized again. "I'm new here. Why am I supposed to be staring at you?"
"I'm Lydia Martin," Lydia said, placing a hand on her hip and raising an eyebrow. Cassandra slowly shook her head.
"I don't know who you are, I'm sorry. Would you like me to stare at you?"
Lydia blinked at her and slowly looked Cassandra over. Cassandra shifted her weight from leg to leg, feeling oddly like she was being scanned and evaluated.
"The lack of colours will need to be fixed, and you are in desperate need of a good makeover, but this could work." The redhead plastered a smiled on her face and stuck her hand out. "I'm Lydia Martin, and you are?"
It took Cassandra a second to catch up with the sudden change in topic, but she hurried to shake the offered hand. "I'm Cassandra. Black." She added her last name as a second thought.
"Well, Cassandra Black, allow me to show you around! We're going to go get my best friend first so you two can get to know each other before lunch." Lydia looped her arm through the crook of Cassandra's elbow and dragged the smaller girl down the hall. The assembled crowds parted like the Red Sea and Cassandra could hear the whispers starting to float around. They walked in silence until reaching the locker of a brunette girl, who was shoving a jacket into her locker.
"Allison!" Lydia brightened and pulled Cassandra a little faster. "This is Cassandra Black, she's new and she's sitting with us."
Allison looked shocked as Cassandra waved shyly at her. "Hi, Cassandra, I'm Allison Argent," the brunette looked closely at her as she said her name, and Cassandra was slowly beginning to realize that she was in fact missing something.
"It's nice to meet you Allison," Cassandra smiled at her, brushing a loose curl over her shoulder. Allison's eyes were drawn to it and widened.
"I love your hair! Where did you get it done?" The girl gushed.
"Oh!" Cassandra, surprised, tugged on a handful of curls. "I do it myself, actually. I'm not a big fan of people touching me for extended periods of time." She shrugged and tucked a hand into the pocket of her jacket. Her fingers curled around the red amethyst she had placed there last night. A small surge of confidence filled her bones.
The three girls split up when the bell rang, Allison helpfully providing directions to the Chemistry classroom. Cassandra hurried through the hallways and down a flight of stairs, but safely reached the classroom. She froze just outside the door. Should she knock? Or just open it very carefully? Maybe it was best if she just waited until the next class, so she could be early, before everyone else – what if all the seats were taken in there?
Four rules: To know, to will, to dare…
Cassandra shook off the overwhelming barrage of thoughts and squared her shoulders. She opened the door carefully, peering inside to see the entire class, including the male teacher, looking at her curiously. Cassandra ducked her head, avoiding all eye contact and darted inside, headed over to the teacher and handing him the slip clutched in her hands. He resembled a snake with glasses, and gave Cassandra a cool once-over before reading her notice. Cassandra shivered as she came in contact with the energy that surrounded him.
"Very well," he said, sounding utterly annoyed at her presence. "Listen up. We have a new student among us, Cassandra Black. Miss Black, I am Mr. Harris and be advised that I will not tolerate such unpunctuality again. You may be seated there," He indicated the empty desk at the middle of the classroom. "You are fortunate enough to join us in the middle of a pop quiz," he even hissed like a snake, which caused Cassandra's toes to curl in her shoes, "which will give me ample opportunity to determine if your academic progress is up to par with my standards."
Cassandra was dumbstruck. He was completely channeling Professor Snape, something she had yet to see anywhere else but the world of Harry Potter.
She nodded and quietly took her seat, scurrying to fish out the pencil case in her bag before a paper slapped down on the desk in front of her, courtesy of Mr. Harris.
"That will be the last disturbance in this class," he gave a pointed look to someone behind her and Cassandra didn't dare to peek, "Return to your test. Now."
A susurration of whispers rose from the back of the room as Cassandra began scribbling, and she snuck a glance at the teacher, with his back turned, and then craned her neck to see who was making a fuss. A handsome boy in a form-fitting blue shirt seemed to have a nosebleed – a nosebleed that consisted of black blood. Cassandra didn't get a proper look, before he clutched his nose and stormed out of the class with a 'Jackson!' from the teacher. She blinked after him, feeling her heart rate increase. This was bad.
Left at his desk was another handsome boy, this one tanner and in a white shirt, who stared confused at the door for a while. Mr. Harris promised the entire class punishment if every question wasn't answered by the time the bell rang, so Cassandra made some wild guesses on the last few, but still felt better by the time class was over.
Jackson didn't return to class. Cassandra had a bad feeling about this, but skipping class the first day of school when the principal already was suspicious didn't make it to the top of the list of spectacularly good ideas. So she sat patiently in her seat.
Patience yields focus.