Aradia Megido stuck a barrette into her dense black hair, pinning it up into a high bun, and tied a ribbon around the base to secure it. She glanced quickly into the mirror at her outfit– a pleated black skirt that came down to mid-thigh and a vivid red T-shirt with black flowers embellishing the sleeves. Red and black seemed to make up most of her wardrobe these days.
Ever since her parents had died, all she seemed to ever wear was mourning attire... but she was okay with that.
She was okay with a lot of things now.
"ARADIA!" A shriek echoed through the hallway, bouncing off of the glossy hardwood flooring. "Let's go already!"
"Coming," Aradia muttered. She shoved on her red Converse sneakers, flung a duffel bag over one shoulder, and dashed off.
Aradia Megido came from a wealthy family. Damara, who had inherited a large sum of money after her mother's passing, was now manager of the family's estate. She had forked over some cash to contractors in the area and instructed them to build a specialized estate.
Now the Megidos owned a gorgeous Victorian villa in the suburbs, complete with a expansive lawn and large backyard. Luscious forsythia plants blossomed over the flower boxes that ringed the balcony/patio, glittering with dew, and abstract paintings dangled from the pale crimson walls. But despite the modern decor, there was something eerie and strangely antique about the empty rooms.
Aradia was suddenly snapped out of her reverie as she spotted her older sister, Damara, leaning nonchalantly against the doorway. Chunks of her hair were dyed neon red and icy blonde, and coiled up into a bun on the top of her head. In Aradia's opinion, the differently colored streaks contrasted much too sharply with Damara's naturally jet-black hair. Not that she would ever say anything. Damara always wore a coat of smoky mascara, deep black lipstick, and bloodred eyeliner. It was an effect that many in the modeling industry found striking.
Damara jingled the keys to the van, which glittered like finely polished silver in one manicured hand. "Let's blow this pop stand, brat."
The car ride was long and awkward. Damara blasted profane music and chomped on a wad of raspberry gum, while Aradia studied her calc notes (she was in advanced math).
"Damara?"
"Yeah?" Her voice was barely discernible over the roar of music. Something that sounded like a very off-key guitar solo began blaring in Aradia's left ear.
Do you think that the people here will... hate me? I'm worried that I won't fit in." Aradia didn't know what possessed her to make such a vulnerable statement (and to DAMARA, of all people) but her older sister's reaction surprised her. Damara leaned backwards, patted Aradia on the knee, and muttered: "Sheesh, kid. You're giving me déjà vu."
"W-what?" Aradia stammered. "What do you have to do with anything?"
"Well," Damara said stoically, making a sharp left turn, "I used to worry everyone would hate me whenever I started at a new school. We used to move every six months, it seemed like, when dad was in the military..." Her voice trailed off.
"I was so little," Aradia said thoughtfully. "I- I don't remember."
"Alright," was Damara's dubious response. "But it seems just a wee bit too convenient that you chose to forget something tragic, while all of your other childhood memories are perfectly intact."
The old Aradia would have bristled at this. But the new Aradia just sat there limply, not even trying to make an emotion surface from the shriveled mess that was her heart.
A few long moments later, Damara's van pulled up to the large red-brick building that was to be Aradia's new school. She sucked in her breath sharply and stared up at the midnight-black banner that read Homeschool for the Gifted & Talented. It sounded like a very bad attempt at irony, considering it was a private school. Nevertheless, Aradia was bewitched by the way the looming spires contrasted with the smog-choked sky.
"Well, this is it," Damara said flatly. "It's now or never to get out of my car." Aradia realized she must have been zoning off for a while.
"Any day now, Ara..."
"Okay, okay," Aradia blurted, hoping to pacify her sister. "I'm leaving!" She clambered out of the seat, clutching her duffel full of books in both hands.
Once Aradia had exited the car, she resumed starting at the majestic construct of her soon-to-be school. The scholarship letter cryptically scrawled on parchment that informed her she was "very special" had done nothing to prepare Aradia for the sheer sight of it all. There was dark stucco roof, an array of lush herbs carpeting the campus, and blue-tinted windows that floated in the white marble walls like eyes.
After another moment of taking it all in, Aradia pivoted to thank her sister for the car ride.
"Thanks, Dam–"
But Damara had already sped off in a cloud of exhaust. Great.
Aradia wandered up to the entrance hall. The path was a hard, shiny coat of marble, darker than the walls of the building itself. She rubbed the toe of her sneakers over it, and giggled at the faint squeaking noise.
What to do next? She supposed she should head off to the office to collect her schedule.
Aradia cautiously stepped through the threshold, disregarding the bulletins tacked to a piece of corkboard that urged students "not to enter until the bell rang." She wandered down the marble hallway, passing darkened classrooms. Eventually, Aradia spotted a patch of brightness in the otherwise dim hallway. She swung open the thin oak door with a "CREEEAK."
Another girl was standing in the dim room, silhouetted by a pool of light. She had fluffy red hair that the old Aradia probably would have envied, twinkling blue eyes, and a kind smile.
"Hello," Aradia said quietly.
"Oh!" the girl jumped. She had a very high-pitched voice. "Why, you're new here, aren't you? I bet I'd recognize you otherwise."
"You... would?" Aradia asked.
"Whale, there aren't many pupils in this school, if you haven't caught on," the girl replied with a giggle. "That was a fish pun, by the way."
"... Oh," was Aradia's somewhat apathetic response. "So, um, what's your name?"
"Feferi," the girl chirped, extending an arm in her direction. Aradia took it, and they shook hands. The circumstances were so absurd by this point that it wasn't even an awkward gesture.
"So, what are you doing back here?" Aradia queried, blowing a strand of hair out of her face.
"Oh, I'm guessing you saw the 'DO NOT ENTER' sign!" Feferi giggled, pushing up the raspberry-colored glasses perched on her nose. "Well, I'm technically not supposed to be here yet. I work part-time in the office for extra credit during free period, and I left my homework here, so I thought I'd drop by and get it."
"Mm."
There was a brief lull in the conversation, in which Aradia took the time to stare down at her battered sneakers. They looked strangely out of place against the smooth granite flooring.
"So," Feferi said, breaking the silence. " I'm 'ssuming you want your schedule?"
"You're 'ssuming right," Aradia responded faintly, jerking her head out of the clouds.
"Right," Feferi grinned. "This way!"
A few moments later Aradia was standing on the edge of the campus, schedule clutched in hand. Now that she had parted ways with Feferi, she didn't know quite what to do with herself. She shrugged, slipped a novel on archeology out of her duffel, and began to read. Though she couldn't seem to kindle up an excitement about any of her old hobbies, at least she was trying...
"Who i'th that?" a voice asked quietly from a few yards away. The speaker had a barely noticeable lisp, but it tended to become more prominent when he was agitated.
Sollux Captor was standing on the edge of the campus, several paces away from Feferi. The discomfort in the air was palpable. Fat droplets of rain cascaded down from the strip of grey sky above them and plopped onto the pavement.
"Oh, that's Aradia," Feferi replied. "She's nice. I met her in the office a few minutes ago, but she swam- I mean, ran off in quite a hurry." She chuckled at her little pun and added, as an afterthought: "You should go introduce yourself."
"I will," he was quick to respond.
"You should," she said again.
"Thank you for being tho cool about everything, Feferi," Sollux replied quickly, as if trying to get the awkward formalities out of the way. "I know this can't have been ea'thy for you."
"Oh, cod, Sollux," she replied, waving a hand dismissively. "As if I hadn't seen this coming from a mile away."
'This' was their breakup, which Sollux had initiated a week ago at a nice seafood buffet in the suburbs. (Let's just say it involved a few broken plates, an angry cat, and an invitation never to return again.)
"Am I really that tranthparent?" he muttered, lifting his tinted glasses from his face and twirling them in one hand.
"Mmm," Feferi said impartially, not wanting to start an argument. "Oh, look. Aren't the clouds lovely today?"
"They look like ***** **** ** *****," Sollux replied cheerfully, setting his glasses back on his face with a flourish. (It's probably best that we block this statement, to protect the tender ears of young readers.)
"Oh, if you're going to glub about how SAAAD you are that the weather is all black and gloomy, like your soul," Feferi started, inhaling deeply," then you need to TUNA yourself around and GET OUT of here!" Her balled fists trembled with agitation.
"Fair enoug'th. Goodbye, Feferi," Sollux said stiffly. He turned and began to walk off, the original topic of conversation entirely forgotten.
"Bye, Thollux."
He glared.
"Sorry. Sollux." Feferi had to bite the inside of her lip to suppress a giggle.
Sollux sauntered off, sure that an invisible stormcloud was looming over his head. Darn Feferi and her stupid fish puns. Darn everyone. The stormcloud crackled and began to pour cold rain on his head.
As he walked across campus, still stewing, Sollux spotted Nepeta off to the right. She seemed to be trying to teach brawny Equius to doodle cats, but was failing miserably.
"I just don't understand how you can keep breaking all of my pencils!" she grumbled. "You're super-strong, and it's freaking meowt!"
"I apologize most sincerely," Equius managed," for the strain that my- ehm- muscular density has put on the doodling of oddly adorable cats as a recreational activity."
Nepeta blinked at him. "'S okay."
Sollux rolled his eyes and passed them. "Weirdos."
Suddenly, the new girl came into view. Aradia, that was her name. She was whistling softly and flipping through a book on... he squinted to make out the words on the binding. Archeology.
Suddenly, she glanced up at the sky. Her eyes were so sad. He didn't think he'd ever seen anyone look so depressed before.
Before he could tell them not to, Sollux's legs were propelling him towards Aradia. Turn around, he thought to himself, exasperated with his lack of self-control. Dumb... legs... won't work! It was too late to turn around by this point, so Sollux shuffled forward, putting one foot in front of another.
From close range he could tell that Aradia had pallid skin and piercing grey-green eyes, underlined by dark circles from a lack of sleep. A crescent-moon birthmark stood out from the skin underneath her left eye. If anything, it added to her already striking appearance.
"Hello?" Aradia asked, staring right at him. Her unabashed gaze made his heart stutter.
"Um, hi. Thollux Captor," he introduced himself, sticking out a hand. When she didn't make a move to accept the gesture, Sollux awkwardly retracted his arm.
"Aradia Megido," she replied. Her voice was soft, and strangely winsome.
Sollux stood there, paralyzed with indecision about what to say next. He opened his mouth. Closed it again, like the colossal idiot he was. Introductions had never been his strong suit.
Finally, Aradia said," Do you want to go for a walk?"
Sollux nodded mutely. She had rendered him speechless with just a look.
"First you draw an oval," Nepeta instructed patiently," and then you draw another, smaller oval in the middle of the big oval. Like this!" She demonstrated, tracing shapes onto the coarse paper with the crumbly lead of her pencil.
"Pardon me, Miss Nepeta, but I just don't see why it's so imperative that I learn how to draw kittens!" Equius lamented.
"It's fun, silly!" Nepeta smirked. "Don't you ever do anything fun?"
"Well, I am rather interested in blood types..." Equius began hesitantly. "I am an AB positive, which is rather rare on the spectrum."
"That isn't really what I meant by fun..." Nepeta replied thoughtfully. "Sheesh, you're going to need more help in the fun department than I thought!"
"Um, pardon me, but I wasn't aware there was a 'fun department.'" Equius had begun to perspire heavily, which was customary for him when nervous.
Nepeta sighed. "See what I mean? You need help."
"Oh dear..." was all that Equius was able to muster.
Suddenly, Nepeta's head jerked up. "Is Sollux walking with someone?"
Equius arched an eyebrow. "I was under the impression that young Captor was currently courting Feferi."
"That's old news," Nepeta said impatiently, waving a paw- er- hand in Equius's direction. "Oh, look, he's smiling at her. Is she smiling back? I think she might be."
Aradia made an animated gesture, causing Sollux to reply with an equally snarky comment. There. Aradia was definitely smiling now.
Suddenly, Aradia stumbled. She caught herself by looping an arm around Sollux's shoulder and clinging to him like a support. Aradia's cheeks reddened slightly at the contact, and a nervous apology rushed from her lips, but Sollux had already beaten her to it. She laughed sheepishly and took a small step back. But her eyes held his.
"Well, it's about time to update the shipping wall..." Nepeta murmured to herself.