A/N: So, this new story sort of came to me when I realized I have not really had a long story based around Jeanette…. Time to change that.
The Big Black Book
Chapter 1:
Jeanette's New Friends
"Ow!" Jeanette screamed as her back hit the locker, scattering her things across the hall.
"That's what you get, nerd!" One of her attackers said as they kicked a science book down the hall before running away. Jeanette sunk to the floor and put her hands over her face as tears freely came.
"Well that was rude." Jeanette heard as she looked up from her palms. The sentence came from a girl who was picking up Jeanette's things. She wore tight black jeans and a black shirt with a band name Jeanette had never heard of scrawled across the front. She had several piercings in each ear, and an industrial bar in each ear. Her hair was black, tied into a ponytail save for the red bangs that hung to the right side of her head, tucked behind and ear.
"Oh, you don't have to do that." Jeanette sniffled as she went to start picking up her things.
"No, I do. I've been bullied by those girls more than once. I would love nothing more than to rip their preppy ponytails off their head." The other girl said, handing Jeanette back the kicked science book and her scattered papers. Jeanette smiled.
"Well, thank you." She said, pushing her glasses back onto her face. She stuffed the things into her locker. "I'm Jeanette." She offered a hand out for the girl to shake. She took it.
"I'm Kyra." The girl said smiling as she leaned up against the locker beside Jeanette. The bell rang.
"Crap!" Jeanette said, slamming her locker. She felt Kyra's hand on her arm.
"Just skip class, it can't be that important. Besides you need to calm down." Jeanette smiled and gasped from sudden movement when she was being dragged out the doors into the school courtyard by Kyra.
"But, but, skipping is wrong." Jeanette said, pulling her arm free. Jeanette and Kyra's eyes met. Jeanette noticed that her eyeliner was extremely heavy. Kyra frowned.
"Okay, I guess you're right, if you don't wanna hang out with me, go back to class." Kyra told her, crossing her arms and leaned against the wall of the building.
"No, no, it's not that, it's just…" Jeanette looked down at the papers in her hand. She sighed and stuffed them into her back pack. She sighed deeply. "Okay." She said, before having her arm grabbed and being pulled again. What have I done? The thought flashed through her mind as they rounded the building.
"okay, this is Hestor," said Kyra, indicating a girl in a black Lolita dress with demon and dragon tattoos going up her arms. Her hair was tied into two pigtails and her eyes were framed by the deep black eyeliner. Jeanette had seen her around a few times. "This is Rebecca," This girls was the only one not wearing pure black, she wore a red tank-top covered by a black jean jacket vest and army boots tucked into army boots. Her hair was shaved on the sides and spiked into a small Mohawk. She had a tear tattooed by her left eyes, a cigarette hung limply from her lips. "And last but not least, Agatha." Jeanette smiled, finally someone who didn't look frightening. She wore a black sweatshirt tucked into a black skirt, her hair was tied up into a ponytail and her eyeliner was minimal. Jeanette felt very out of place. She looked around; Kyra had led her behind the school into the woods behind it and inside a bit, into a small clearing. The girls sat on logs around a smoldering fire.
"And you are," Hestor was the first to speak, a very soft and silky voice. Jeanette blushed and looked at the ground.
"I'm… I'm J-Jeanette, nice to meet you." She said shyly, looking up at the group. Hestor and Agatha smiled. Rebecca showed no emotion, but lit her cigarette on the smolders.
"Jeanette was being picked on by the preps." Kyra explained, taking a seat on a log and patting beside her, indicating that she wanted Jeanette to sit. She did.
"It's nothing big, I'm used to it, my sister is Brittany Miller after all." She huffed out. She was greeted by silence.
"And you haven't smothered her in her sleep?" Rebecca asked, blowing out a smoke circle.
"No, but some days, it's extremely tempting." Jeanette admitted. She pushed a lock of hair out of her face.
"So, what's your sister like?" Agatha asked.
"Which one?" Jeanette asked them. She cleared her throat. "Well, Brittany is annoying and preppy and Eleanor is kind, sweet and very athletic." She said, she realized she was not smiling as she usually would be when describing her sister, but scowling."
"So you're the nerd because they aren't?" Hestor asked. Rebecca blew another smoke ring. Jeanette blushed,
"I'm not a nerd… at least I don't think so." She said sadly, looking into the fire. Agatha threw another log onto it, sending sparks into the air. Jeanette shielded herself. She felt very natural around these girls. "I'm, myself… Clumsy and logical, smart and…"
"Boring? Not looked at? The outcast?" Rebecca said in a hoarse voice, finishing her sentence. Jeanette swallowed, but then furrowed her eyebrows.
"Yeah." She said, the statement hit her like a ton of bricks. "Everyone likes my sisters, not so much me." The girls in the circle smiled. Jeanette looked at them all.
"You're in the right place, Miller." Kyra exclaimed, patting her on the back. "We're the other outcasts here at this school. That's the name of the group." She said with a smile.
"The Other Outcasts At This School? Kind of a long name, don't you think?" Rebecca snorted in laughter.
"Chop off the last part there, doll." Kyra explained. Jeanette smiled. "We're the Outcasts." Jeanette's smile grew even bigger. "And, you've been invited to join." Jeanette held back squeals of excitement. Finally, a group of people I can hang out with, who want to hang out with me.
"Yes!" Jeanette squealed in delight at the invitation. She looked around the group with a smile. Kyra smiled back at her.
"Good," she pulled a black book with a deep blue circle in the middle and in the middle of that an onyx stone. Kyra smiled. "If you're meant to be in the group you can read this." Kyra handed the book to Jeanette. It felt ice cold to the touch. "But don't open it now. Read it when you're alone." Kyra called after hearing the bell ring at the school.
"Oh man, I have to get back or Britt's gonna leave without me. When should I meet you guys again?" Jeanette asked them eagerly, clutching the book to her chest. Kyra looked around at the group.
"When you have read the book." She said with a smile. Jeanette nodded and rushed back to the school, catching up with Eleanor.
"Hey Netta, why are you outta breath?" She asked her. Jeanette pulled her bookbag off and stuffed the book into it.
"Oh, backpack is just heavier than usual." She asked, only half lying. Eleanor smiled as they exited the building and made their way to Brittany's Mustang.
Jeanette flopped down on the bed and opened the book. Brittany sat on her bed across the room, filing her nails. Jeanette looked at the first page, it was blank. She frowned and flipped a few more, before realizing the entire book was blank. She frowned. Is this a joke? She thought, frowning even harder than before. "Hey Jeanette?" Brittany asked, standing. "I'm going to get a drink, want anything?"
"Ummm, no but thank you." Jeanette replied. The door closed softly behind Brittany and the book slammed closed, just before Jeanette got her fingers slammed in it. "Whoah!" Jeanette exclaimed, sitting up. The book cover opened to show a beautiful title page covered in swirling script. The Big Black Book of Magick. Jeanette read with a small gasped. The book slammed closed again when Brittany returned before Jeanette could turn the next page. Why would they have me read this?