Griselda crossed her arms, narrowing her eyes at the gates to Alfea. Students were pouring in to the courtyard, some strolling in casually, others appearing randomly out of portals. Normally, it would have been a rather alarming sight, but being part of the faculty, greeting the students on their first day was normal, and she saw things like this quite often.
In fact, as she monitored students who were arriving, the most well-known group of girls waltzed in, giggling and laughing like children. Of course, Griselda liked to use the term "well-known" loosely. Sure, they were probably heard of far and wide, but what exactly she disliked about them was that they were constantly breaking rules in order to do anything. The six of them- Musa, Bloom, Stella, Techna, Layla and Flora- materialized from a portal next to the gates, startling another girl in the process. Stella was holding her magic scepter, raising it high above her head, sun shining in her long blond hair. Great, Griselda thought bitterly, frowning upon the girl's entrance, another year, possibly another chemistry lab blown up.
"I can't believe we're back at Alfea!" Bloom marveled, blue eyes wide. Techna and Musa laughed at her, and Griselda watched as Musa playfully punched the redhead's arm.
"Still can't believe you have magic, huh?" Musa joked.
"Oh don't be mean," Flora piped up, "after all, it took me a while to get used to Alfea myself, you know!" Griselda watched as they then got on the back of the line, hundreds of girls waiting to be accepted into school, given a new dorm room and the like. With the sun beating down mercilessly, however, she felt that she might not be able to stand out here any longer, aimlessly shuffling through the line of girls. She could already feel a headache coming on, the throbbing in her temples getting harder as the girls got closer and closer while the line moved.
As they neared her, she could overhear Techna and Musa complaining about the quality of music (not that she cared, really), while Stella was fidgeting with her ring. Flora had seen her eyeing them and gave a polite smile and a small wave of her hand, which Griselda did not reciprocate. She didn't have time to waste with these students shenanigans, not being the vice principal of the school!
"Next!" she barked, and finally, they approached her in line, carrying their multiple bags of luggage and carry on cases. Raising an eyebrow in disdain, she said, "Names?"
"Hey Vice Principal Griselda!" Stella said with scary cheer, "how's it hanging?"
"If it weren't for right now, it'd be alright I suppose," Griselda grumbled, then, "Names, girls?"
"But you already know our names!" Musa pointed out unhelpfully. Griselda tapped her clipboard with her pencil, glasses falling a bit down the bridge of her thin nose.
"Girls please, I don't have ti-"
"SOKKA WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU DOING?!"
Griselda looked around, the sound echoing loudly in the airwaves. Gusts of wind banged the gates against the doorframe, the winged design flashing brightly. Griselda pushed her glasses back up her nose as they all looked up at the sky.
"Girls, please tell me that wasn't you?" Griselda groaned. Bloom held her hands up in defense, shaking her head.
"No, of course not!" she said quickly, but the voice came again- closer, more strangled.
"IT ISN'T MY FAULT YOU GUYS LET TOPH STEER APPA!"
"IF YOU BOTH DON'T SHUT UP I WILL DRIVE THIS FLYING BISON STRAIGHT INTO A TREE!"
"Flying bison?!" Griselda nearly screeched, catching the attention of a few students, "girls, whatever it is you're playing at, if you don't stop I need to get Miss Faragonda-"
"But it's not us!" Techna cried, "honest!" She opened her mouthy o say more, nearly jumping out of her skin when they heard an unearthly noise- a mix of a roar and screeching for dear life. Griselda crossed her arms, angrily tapping her foot as she glared at the girls standing in front of her. Now was not a time to play jokes, and this one was seeming to get a little over the top very quickly.
"Now I don't know what game you're playing, but it really needs to sto-"
"HEY LADY!" the vice screamed, and the girls couldn't help but laugh as Griselda glanced up, her mouth agape in surprise.
"What the-?!" she began shielding her eyes from the sun, using her hand like a visor.
"GET OUTTA THE WAY!" cried what looked like a rather large fluffy….. boar, if that was the right animal. It was definitely big enough, but with the coloring of the fur, she wasn't sure. Of course, no one had time to decipher what animal it was anyway, amidst the roaring and the screaming and the running. Seconds later, the animal was crashing into the courtyard, students coughing as clouds of dust arose, blinding the visitors from view.
After a few minutes, the dust died down, and Griselda wiped her glasses free of dust. Pursing her lips, she squinted as she watched….. teenagers, perhaps? She wasn't sure, scrutinizing them as they climbed off of…. whatever it was that had just crash-landed in Alfea's courtyard.
"Toph!" cried a voice, and Griselda motioned for the girls to step back, "Weren't you supposed to tell us when we saw a place?!"
"Right, right!" said a girl's voice, dripping with sarcasm, "Let the blind girl steer the flying bison!"
Flying bison? Griselda thought, That can't be possible- there's no such thing! And to have a blind girl steer anything isn't a good idea at all! Cautiously, she took step forward, freezing when the voices came again.
"Alright listen, if you didn't want to crash in the first place, you shouldn't have let me drive!" Griselda looked at the students- they were forming a crowd, some of the having taken out their phones to try and snap pictures or videos. Of course, being the adult figure at the moment, she was the one who had to step up and investigate.
She cleared her throat, throwing back her shoulders in hopes of looking dignified as she approached the crashers. She could see now that they were definitely teenagers, looking to be between at least sixteen and eighteen years of age- much like Alfea's students, which was at least helpful. One was a boy with tanned skin, wearing blue garments that resembled that of some sort of Asian culture. His brown hair was tied in a ponytail, with the sides shaved away to create a mohawk type of look. Cupping her mouth, Griselda called out, "Excuse me! Are you alright?"
The boy whipped his head around to face her, blue eyes wide with shock and possible exhaustion. A girl with the same features, her long brown hair cascading down her back, punched him in the arm.
"Sokka!" the girl said, "Aren't you gonna answer her?!" The boy- Sokka- raised an eyebrow at the girl, mouth agape.
"What?!" he cried in bewilderment, "Katara, are you serious?!" Katara crossed her arms, flipping her long brown hair over her shoulder.
"You have any better ideas?" she asked.
"Aang said he knew the area!" Sokka pleaded, and Griselda could only roll her eyes. She didn't know the kid, but leave it to boys to be so stubborn when it came to anything. Grisel
"Excuse me!" Griselda cut in, making he two jump, "Now I don't know if you kids realize this, but you're on private property. I'll have to call in the headmistress if you aren't registered within this school, you know!" Sokka slapped a hand to his forehead, Katara looking like steam was about to blow out of her ears, her face turning red with a mix of anger and embarrassment. She was about to say more when a third voice piped up.
"Alright, id on't know what's going on, but if you two ladies don't stop bickering I'm gonna make you eat dirt!" Both Katara and Sokka groaned.
"Toph, everyone knows you're the world's greatest Earth-bender, okay?!" Sokka yelled as they were joined by another girl. She was a bit shorter and younger than Katara, with short black hair and green robes. She had green cuffs on her ankles where her pants ended, and her feet were caked in dirt- from the looks of it, she had never worn shoes in her life, so it wasn't really helping matters.
"Well, Aang and Zuko-" Katara began but Griselda chose this precise moment to clear her throat loudly, catching the three kids attention.
"What was that?" Toph asked, cupping an ear, her gaze directed to the left.
"Now I want you three to come with me so we can explain to Headmistress Faragonda what this is all about!" Griselda yelled, "We can't have strangers just waltz in like they own the place!"
There was a stunned silence as the three newcomers stared at her- well, really Katara and Sokka, since Toph at this point was staring at the woods beyond the gates, her back turned to the entire student body- whom were flashing away with their phones and cameras, trying to get a glimpse of the intruders and their strange animal.
"Now, I'll need to finish attendance later, considering I have a completely new issue to deal with," Griseda announced, then turning to the students, "I want all of you to stay in the courtyard until I finish dealing with these three. If I hear any of you have disobeyed you know the punishment."
Griselda turned, beckoning Katara, Toph and Sokka to follow- leaving the trance large animal to sit patiently in the courtyard, chewing on grass and decorative vegetation. The siblings obliged, Sokka grabbing Toph by the shoulders to steer her in the right direction. There was utter silence as they then entered the building, with its high arch-waged ceilings and pastel pink walls. The roof was blue in color, and the shingles seemed to sparkle like glitter on a child's science project.
"Katara, why is everything so sparkly?" Sokka asked his sister. Katara only shrugged, keeping a wary eye on Griselda's back.
"Just shut up, Sokka, you've gotten us into enough trouble already!" Katara snapped at him.
"Why is the floor cold?" Toph asked, jerking her shoulders away from Sokka's grip.
"We're inside now, Toph," Katara explained. Griselda fought the urge not to moan in pain- was this girl stupid?!
"Oh," she said, "That explains the draftiness then." There was a second of silence before she piped up again, "Why did Aang and Zuko decide to go off on their own again?"
"Toph, it's literally the same reason we bought you along!" Sokka retorted, and Griselda smirked to herself as she heard him cry out in pain. "Ow! What was that for?!"
"Don't push it, Sokka," Toph warned, and Griselda could only hope she reached Faragonda's office quickly- she really didn't want to fall behind on enrolling the students. That, and there was still the matter of the group's strange animal eating the school's property.