"Damnit! I hate that coffee table." I glared at the offending peice of funiture while rubbing my shins. It definately wasnt the first time in the four years I've been here that the anceint thing gave me a brusie
I turned on the living room light to avoid hitting something else. Dawn was approaching but there still wasn't enough light to navigate the haphazardly arranged room. Cori finally decided to leave the bathroom after hogging it since she got up. Her blonde hair was in a messy bun that apparently is all the rage. My own black locks were cut close to my head, barely brushing the back of my neck. Cori had chosen an outfit for summer, short skirt that didnt follow conduct rules, and a thin t-shirt. She barely even bothered with a heavy coat even if it was winter. She didnt really need to, Werewolves never got cold.
"Its not our fault that we have better vision." She sand while grabbing the back of the couch and vaulting over. Her feet landed about a foot away from my own. Cori looked down at what I was wearing and gave a sigh. "Honestly, Ashleigh, your parents leave you with a hell of a lot of money, and you wear that?"
I tried not to squirm under her gaze. I was wearing what was usual for me: Converse with dark jeans, a dark coloured tanktop, and a big fuzzy sweater. It was extremely childish but I stuck my tounge out at her. I made a b-line for the fridge and immediately closed it. "You need to tell Nancy or Stu that shopping needs to be done soon." I walked over to a cuboard and was rewarded with a pack of pop-tarts.
Looking out of the bay windows in the dining room, I looked at the fresh snow and shivered. It was winter then, too.
"You might have to avoid Mrs. Voight today if you are going to wear that skirt." I warned Cori. She gave me the finger and took off with her car keys. I watched as she pulled out of the driveway recklessly fast and tore down the street. For some reason it didnt seem sensible to her to give me a ride to school. At least Cori didnt take her bitch pill today. She is so much more enjoyable when she wasnt going for my throat, almost literally.
Tearing open the pop-tarts I glanced at the colck and saw I had enough time to eat these in peace before I had to brave the icy sidewalks to the bus stop.
Or, make that not so peacful. I caught a shimmer out the edge of my eye before the ghost decided to materialize. It was a male, tall with light hair. He looked sketchy to me so I tried to give him a push to go away.
"Hey! Stop that!" He shouted. He looked annoyed but not angry as most of the others do. He fully materialized and hopped on the counter and looked around. "Cool digs. Parent's money?" He asked, gaze dropping back to me.
"Uh, no. This is a foster home. Im just a ward here." I looked back at him, watching his aura. It vibrated with energy even in death. I knew what he was and it definately wasn't human. "Look, if you dont mind, there are already too many werewolves in this house. I dont think there needs to be another."
He leered at me. "Oh sweetie, there can never be enough werewolves in one spot. We are great for parties. Its not our fault that little Necromancers like you are boring." He replied jumping down from the counter and getting in my face.
"First you call me sweetie, then you call me boring. Is that supposed to be a compliment?" He answered by getting closer to my face and planting a ghostly kiss.
"Thats the way Liam rolls, babe." He whooped. Not the way I roll though. I thought and shoved him away. I continued to munch on my pop-tarts, refusing to let a ghost mess up my daily routine. The clock was working against me and too soon I had to leave. I grabbed my coat and left to face the outside world, as unappealing as that sounded.
I walked as fast as the ice would allow my average cordination skills. Slipping every few seconds. The cluster of kids grew closer so my time for walking was almost over. A few of the werewolves that lived in this area gave me dirty looks. Probably because Cori wasn't overly fond of me. She was their alpha, so I guess it made sense. I looked at them with indifference, something I grew into after a year or so. I didnt care that it made me look stuck up. They do the same thing. My thoughts drifted from the students to the school. A group of different supernaturals thought it would be an amazing idea to make a school for their children. It currently taught about twenty-two necromancers, twenty-eight witches and sorcerers, twenty half-demons of varying degrees,two xana, two selini, one benendanti and twenty-nine werewolves. The rest of the student body consisted of ingnorant humans.
Make that thirty werewolves. A new teen was marching up to the stop with his hands in the pockets of a heavy hoodie. He was definately tall, about 6'3. Tall compared to my measely little 5'2. My eyes were drawn to his hair, as dark as my own, which fell into bangs that covered most of the right side of his face. That led me to look at his one visable eye. He was more than five feet away, but I could describe in deatail the exact shade of blue in his eye. It was the vibrant colour you'd expect to find while diving in a cave, or a really clear lake. The clour seemed to shine. How can I tell he's a werwolf? The muscles. You dont find that kind of body on a teen unless they are body-builders or something.
He stoped about five feet from the werewolves, leaving him a foot behind me and to my left. I turned my attention back towards the road and one of the humans caught my attention. His name is Peirce. He came here fresh off the coast. Which, I dont know, nor do I care which. In this small town the closest thing you can get to a beach is Lake Lincoln. Peirce gives alot of mixed signals when it come to the supernatural kids. Its like he knows what we are but acts like he doesnt have a clue when the subject comes up. Its rare that we ever get human students that know that the school teaches things that arent exactly human. Peirce seems to be one of them.
The bus came around the corner and wheezed to a stop. I tentatively stepped away from my non-icy patch of side walk and tried to hurry to get on the bus. That meant I wasn't being careful of where I placed my feet. One foot went one direction and the other foot tried to go the other. It should have ended with my butt connecting to the hard ground, but that didnt happen because a hand grabbed my left arm and pulled my feet under me again. I looked over to find the new werewolf had my arm in a sure, gentle grip.
"Come on, you arent going to fall again. I have you." His voice was deep. Not suprising.
"Thanks." I replied then focused on the bus. My feet still slipped and slid, but I never fell thanks to the hand on my arm. When I finally made it up the stairs I swinged into the first seat automatically. The seat gave a sigh as the new kid slipped into the seat with me. I glanced over and found him looking at me.
"I told you that you wouldnt fall again. I'm Aiden, by the way." He gave me an uneven smile.
"Ashleigh, I appreciate your saving of my behind." I said. There was humor in my sentence but I didnt smile. I rarely ever did since the accident. Although it is becomming a more common occurance. He still gave a small chuckle at my comment. I turned back to the window for the rest of the route, which in the backwoods of Winfield, are numerous with many stops and pot-holes. I caught the shimmer of ghost every now and then as we picked up a few more kids. Winfield is a small town in Missouri. The routes were longer but there were fewer people and more cows or whatever else live-stock people decide to raise here. The scenery was very nice though.
The bus lurched to a stop in front of the tiny high school. Aiden took his time getting off, and that meant being some of the last ones off. As Peirce passed he gave me and Aiden a strange look then hurried off. As soon as I stepped off the bus, I was attacked. The person doing the attacking was a shaman by the name of Padrick. His flaming orange head gave him away a second before his ambush. He came seriously close to knocking us both over.
"You know, the point of an ambush like that is supposed to land you on your bum." His thick Irish accent made the words seem ridiculous. He slung his arm across my shoulder and started towards the doors. He finally seemed to spot Aiden, who stood there watching the proccedings with a close eye. "Who's this then?" He asked.
"My name is Aiden. I just moved here from Syracuse. My parents said it was time for a break from the polotics." He replied. He examined Padrick's arm on my shoulder. "Its strange seeing a town as small as this one though. No Walmart?"
"No. If you want to go to Walmart you have to go into Troy. Or deal with what they have at the IGA, or Dollar Tree." I said giving a mock sigh. "It is just so hard to live in a place without a major shopping center." I faked a sniffle.
"Aye, 'tis such a shame. I cant even buy my best friend a decent gift unless I drive for ten or twenty minutes." Padrick also gave a mock sigh. I felt a side of my mouth quirk up. We joked about this all the time. It was a well known fact in the school that we both hate any kind of shopping.
"Yeah, then said friend gets a bucket of worms with no context clues whatsoever." I elbowed Padrick in the side. "You are so lucky that I like fishing, or else I probably would have dumped that bucket on your head." His freckles become more pronounced as he blushes.
Aiden seemed to brighten somewhere in the middle of our conversation. I couldnt imagine what would make anybody light up like that. Maybe it was the fishing comment. I slung my own arm over Padrick's shoulders and countinued on our path. Padrick reached his free hand up and grabbed Aiden's shoulder. It would have been difficult for him to throw his arm around his broad shoulders. So we continued into the tiny highschool.