Chapter One
Bringggggg
Leah awoke with a jolt, blinking open her amber eyes, only to collapse with a small groan as she realized why she was awake- it was the first day of her sophomore year. Reluctantly sliding out of bed, she picked up her pillow and tossed it at her red-headed twin, Scarlett.
"Wake up, I don't want to be late on the first day," she called, walking down the hall to their shared bathroom. She looked in the mirror briefly, grimacing at the snarls in her light brown hair that she knew would take forever to brush out. She grabbed detangler and spritzed it through her bedhead, then grabbed her brush to begin getting the tangles out. Checking the time on her phone and ignoring the texts from her best friend, Scout and her mentor, Carol, Leah nearly dropped her phone at how late she was. She dashed back into the room she shared with her sister and shook her.
"Get up! We have 15 minutes before breakfast!"
Scarlett jolted out of bed and raced to her dresser, yanking out a pair of bright green capris and snatched a pink shirt from the closet without seeing what she was grabbing before Leah stopped her.
"Wha-"
"No. Wear…" she trailed off as she quickly skimmed over her sister's clothes. "This!" She grabbed a pair of dark wash skinny jeans and a green v-neck. "Knock 'em dead," Leah giggled as Scarlett breathed a thank you as she rushed down the hall. She continued to get the last snarls out of her hair as she chose a dark pair of jeans and a light blue scoop neck. Peeking down the hall at the closed bathroom door, she changed quickly in her room, looking in the mirror and biting her lip at her frizzy hair. She knocked on the bathroom door.
"Scar! I have to straighten my hair, let me in," she called through the door. Scarlett opened it, in the midst of wrapping her hair around a curling wand. Leah turned on her straightener and pulled out her eyeliner as it heated. She drew a simple cat eye over each eye, putting on a coat of mascara before checking her straightener, thanking the ancestors that her thin hair straightened fast. After finishing battling her frizzball of hair, she put on a bit of body spray and grabbed her messenger bag full of her summer homework before rushing down the stairs. She heard the bedroom door slam against the wall as Scar shoved it open to get her things from their room before coming down to breakfast. Leah sat at the table as their mother, Sandy, placed a plate of waffles and bacon in front of her. "Thanks mom," she managed to fit in between stuffing her breakfast in her mouth. She looked at the time over the stove and nearly choked. She grabbed Scarlett's plate of food and shoved it into a plastic bowl, packing both their lunches and waters and shoved her sister's breakfast at her as she came running into the kitchen.
"We're late. I'm driving. Eat in the car," she panted, grabbing her keys and stowing her bag in the backseat before climbing into the driver's seat. She wasn't technically allowed to drive without a parent yet, but she decided that she had a good enough excuse doing it once. She rolled down the window to say a quick goodbye to their mother, blowing a kiss at her before putting the car in reverse and starting down the driveway. Scar rolled her eyes.
"Please, like they'd care that we're like, three minutes late. Relax, Leah," she said through a mouthful of her breakfast. Leah's knuckles were white on the steering wheel.
"I don't want the bad impression we left last year by being 'three minutes late'," she muttered. Scar nodded.
"Fair enough. Step on it."
As Leah squealed into the parking lot, she narrowly avoided a thin boy with pale skin and dark hair. He jumped aside as she nearly hit him and Leah stared him down with wide eyes. Amber eyes met blue eyes and then separated. Leah paused momentarily and shook herself as he disappeared into the school building. Well, one of them that is.
At Forest Upper Schools, there was a reason "schools" was plural. Whether it was a problem with pride, or lack of money, or some other stupid reason no one knew, the building was built with four separate areas that were conjoined by a center area that served as a town hall as well as a cafeteria, gym, and auditorium. How they made it work for all of its purposes was beyond the students.
The four areas were made for each of the four areas of the town. The town had a bit of a pride thing, so people stayed in their separate groups- the River county, the Wind county, the Thunder county, and the Shadow county. No one knew how their names were given, or why people resided where, besides the many rivers surrounding the River county which gave it its name. It had always been like that, and no one was in a hurry to change. Because of this pride factor, there happened to be a lot of rules in place as well. The rules are as follows:
Defend the pride of your county- this is what you represent.
Children must be six years old to begin going to school.
A town meeting, held once a month, will be held in peace. There will be no fighting.
Do not trespass in other counties.
All children must be cared for and looked after, no matter where they are from.
County borders are to be checked daily.
You are not allowed to have a significant other outside of your county.
The rules were strict, but few. These were only the written ones; of course there were the rules that didn't need to be spoken, and common sense.
Anyway, the school was divided like that because when it was first built and word came out that all of the students from every county were to be attending a school together, the parents complained and each county had a separate building for its students to attend classes. Eventually, this was loosened and the classes were mingled more, although the hatred for each offending county was still rich.
Leah snapped out of her trance as she nearly ran the car into a light pole and swerved into a parking lot. She pulled her keys out of the ignition and pulled her bag to the front seat. She heard the warning bell ring, and grabbed Scarlett's wrist as they sprinted up to the school building, waving a quick goodbye as Leah slowed to a fast walk as she entered her herbology class and Scar went into her gym class. Leah sat at an open seat by where her favorite mentor, Carol, was standing. She had known the kindly woman since she was a toddler; her father, Felix, had taught Carol in all the different fighting and hunting ways of the county before she had been in a training accident and severely fractured her leg, leaving her crippled and never to finish her training. Although she had always wanted to learn to hunt and fight for her county, she gave up her dream and resided to the role of a healer. She remained good friends with Felix and then his family after giving up training.
Leah loved the class because it was small, with only one or two students from each county and four mentors, and they got to practice their skills every day in the hospital down the road and even at school, when students were sick or injured. She smiled at Carol and looked at who was sitting beside her, a slim girl who looked to be a junior as well with golden hair and honey colored eyes. The girl looked up with a friendly smile and held out her hand.
"Hey, I'm Monica!"
Leah smiled and shook her hand, introducing herself. Another thing she loved about learning to be a healer was that the students didn't share the same rivalries as everyone else did. They never learned to fight each other, and other became quite good friends.
As the bell rang, Carol moved past the other teachers, most of which were really much older than her, and addressed the class.
"Hello, everyone!" she began in a cheerful voice. "I recognize most of you, who's new this year?"
A small girl with hair so pale it was almost a light gray, shyly raised her hand, as well as a redhead boy named Finn and a boy with dusty brown hair named Kevin. The smaller girl introduced herself as Willow and Carol smiled welcomingly at them before turning to Monica and Willow with a sympathetic sigh. "I heard Morris passed away this past summer?" she asked sadly. The two girls nodded sadly, grief for the mentor they had in their county washing over them freshly. Carol crouched between their desks and gave them a sad smile. "He was a great man, he saved many lives and he was an amazing friend. Our ancestors will have welcomed him with open arms. This school year, you'll be learning from me, Luke, and Ben," she said pointing at the Shadow and Wind county healers. Luke smiled slightly and Ben nodded gruffly. Willow ducked her head shyly and Monica looked up at them each warily, letting a small smile crawl over her face as she met her temporary mentors.
Leah put her hand on her new friend's arm briefly in comfort, and then looked up at Carol as she continued.
"Today we will be just sorting things out, clearing out what is dead from over the summer and what got mixed up, and tomorrow we'll get to head into the property to collect more. She smiled as the class got excited, then began to continue before being cut off by a student opening the door. Ben's eyes flickered in recognition as he got up and walked over to the student.
"Cole, everything alright?" he asked. Students needing assistance on the first day didn't happen often. Leah's eyes widened as she realized this was the same boy she had almost run over earlier. She kept her head down as a blush crept over her cheeks and the boy who now had a name, Cole, spoke to Ben.
"Ash doesn't feel great, she sent me to get one of the herbology students to see what they could do," he explained in his low, quiet voice.
Carol nodded, scanning the room before her eyes landed on Leah. "Leah, why don't you go with Cole and see what you can do for Ash," she said. She chuckled. "She probably just forgot to eat breakfast this morning or something. Take your medicine bag and get what you need. There should be enough in the storage closet."
Leah shyly got up and grabbed her field bag which presently contained a notebook full of remedies and pockets for herbs. She headed to the storage cabinet and pulled open the heavy wooden door, thinking for a moment before grabbing a few vials of liquid remedies and a few dried herbs. She looked to Cole, closing the door, before following him.
An awkward silence ensued as she followed the taller boy, taking many fast strides to compensate for his longer ones. She bit her lip and decided to make conversation.
"So what class are we headed to?" she asked as she hurried to catch up.
"Gym," he said quietly. She grinned a little, knowing her sister had the same class. As they turned into the gymnasium, she caught a glimpse of a senior she knew as Taylor and her twin brother Brian. Scarlett stood on the outskirts of their conversation and Leah shook her head at her sister's nosiness. She waved at the River county twins, Sean and Faith as Cole led her to Ash's side.
The older gym teacher sat in a chair, massaging her temples and sighing with relief as Leah arrived. "Thank the ancestors," she breathed. "I've been feeling like shit!" Leah laughed and pulled a chair up next to her to take her vitals.
"Did you eat breakfast this morning? Get enough sleep last night? Or- no, the past week?" At Ash's sheepish smile, she shook her head and smiled, reaching into her bag for an extra granola bar and protein mix. "Eat this and pour this mix into your water bottle and drink it before second hour is up." She reached into her bag and pulled out a few berries. "Chew these up and just swallow the juice, spit out the rest," she instructed. "This should help your headache for the time being. You should be feeling better in no time."
Ash smiled up at her. "Thanks, Leah. Tell Carol thank you too." She turned to Cole. "Walk her back to class please." Remembering the awkward walk over, Leah started to protest.
"Oh- no- really, that's fine, I know this school well enough." Ash shook her head.
"I insist. Cole, if you aren't back in ten minutes, I'm giving you detention," she warned. Leah sighed as they left.
"Sorry I almost killed you with my car earlier," Leah mumbled. Cole looked over, a gleam of amusement in his eyes. "That was you?" She nodded, a blush creeping up her cheeks. "Sorry," she muttered. He rolled his eyes and shook his head, smirking at her embarrassment. He stopped outside her class. "It's Leah, right?" She nodded. "Well, Leah, bye then. Try not to almost hit me again." He started walking down the hall, leaving just a faint scent of fresh air and sharp mint. She blinked at the encounter, before getting a grip on herself and walking into class. She was well aware that healers weren't allowed to date or marry, especially between other counties. She sat back beside Monica, pulling out her notes to sort out the herbs that had been placed on her desk. She got to work, a pair of icy blue eyes present in her mind.
A/N:
I am so sorry if this is horrifically OOC, I know it is, I just haven't read TNP or any books with Leaf point of view for a while but here's the first chapter! I know, it's another warriors high school AU, but I'm hoping this one will turn out sorta different and maybe good.