2 weeks after the break up

Schuyler moved into the house on Riverside Drive. It had been two weeks and she still didn't feel comfortable in her own skin, nothing she did would feel the empty void now in the pit of her heart. When Oliver would come over to visit her she would smile and pretend nothing was wrong and as far as she could see, he believed it. Schuyler got out of her bed, the yellow of her room brought her some comfort as she looked around; she still couldn't believe that she was here and not on the townhouse of Fifth Avenue. She had not returned since that night with Jack and she wouldn't again.

Schuyler took a few tentative steps out into the hallway; the emptiness of the house surrounded her. No one would be waiting in her home, her grandmother, Cordelia, was dead, her grandfather, Lawrence, would never be reborn again, and her only living relative was in the last room, at the end of the hallway, on the top floor of Columbia-Presbyterian Hospital. She walked down the grand staircase of the house, each step creaking as she stepped on it. She wished that someone was here to comfort her, no, not just anyone she wished Jack was here, and she wished Lawrence was here, she wished Cordelia were here, or even her mother. But there was only Oliver and/or Bliss, sometimes.

As Schuyler walked into the kitchen she realized just how long it had been since someone had inhabited the house. There was no food, no dirty dishes, no trash, just her and the empty kitchen. She was placed a hand on her hip as she leaned against the counter in the center, taking one deep breath she decided that today was the last day of feeling like this. She hadn't gone to school and barely left the house in the last two weeks. She was tired of feeling so down about things in life she couldn't change, she pushed off the counter and marched upstairs. Today she was going to school to start her new life with Oliver and that was that. She looked at the watch on her arm and slapped her forehead. A great day to have an epiphany while she was about to be late.

She ran up the steps four at a time and right into the bathroom. It would be the quickest shower and make-up time she had ever had, because she was in and out in less than ten minutes. She ran out of the door and took to the city running at her top demon speed, she glided over the city she always loved that sensation over all of her other powers. She arrived at the doors of Duchesne in a minute flat; fixing herself she opened the doors and walked in. She got an uneasy feeling in the bottom of her stomach. It could have been nervousness but she felt as if she was going to throw up. She walked to where her first class was and the feeling intensified tenfold. Her first class was with Jack, Mimi, and Oliver.

The urge to turn around and go back home seemed like a good one at the moment, but then she reminded herself that she couldn't run forever and opened the door. Many heads turned her direction all with different expression on it. The first one she located was Oliver's whose face was worried yet happy to see her; there was an empty chair next to him so she walked his direction. The next one she located was Mimi's who looked victorious and a little annoyed as she was her walk to her seat. And she caught a quick glance at the back of Jack's head before rolling her eyes and sitting next to Oliver. She refused to allow herself to care anymore.

"Welcome back Ms. Van Alen. I'm sorry about your grandmother, she will be missed" The teacher gave her one more sympathetic look before turned back to the board to finish teaching.

She heard a few welcome backs from students behind her but turned them out when Oliver put a hand on her shoulder and pulled her into him planting a single kiss on her cheek. She smiled and laid her head on his shoulder as she took in his presence. Nothing had changed about Oliver since the trip to Rio; he was still her best friend and now the love of her life. She told him that Jack was no longer in the picture and never would be again. He told her they would never mention it and just move on. She thanked him for not doing the many things that should have been done to her.

The teacher was giving a lecture on Leviathan she figured that all the lessons from now on would be on Silver Bloods, Leviathan, and the Corcovado. It was something they had to learn now that the Conclave was all dead, and the school was once again under the management of the old Regis, Charles Force. She had been hearing from Oliver that he implemented new rules for out school that the students and their parents were supposed to follow. Some of the rules included a curfew, in-city limits, a Blue Blood partner and to Mimi's dislike, no more human familiars, for a while. She hadn't talked to Charles Force since the night after the incident with Jack. He came to her house and demanded she come back to his townhouse. She told him she wasn't going anywhere with him and he should go home to his darling children and wife before there is another surprise attack. Charles Force then forbid her from ever coming back and walked out.

She found herself dazing off with a hand waving in front of her face. And connected to that hand was an arm and connected to that was Oliver. He gave her a worried smile the look in his eyes asking if she was ok. She smiled and sat up listening to the last sentence before the class was over. She stood up determined to be the first person to exit the classroom but the Force twins were already ahead of her. Before she could stop herself she bumped into Mimi, with an appalled "hmph" Mimi turned around the best she could, her left arm hooked into Jack's (not daring to turn around).

"Excuse you, Schuyler; you should watch where you're going before you get yourself hurt." Mimi smiled devilishly, as if she was challenging her.

With Schuyler's new attitude, she felt in the mood to take her challenge. She took a step forward so that she was almost in Mimi's face, but there was still room to dodge or move out of the way if anything happen.

"No, excuse you, Mimi, you should watch where you are going, before you break a nail or bruise your face before your Bonding ceremony. God forbid something terrible and ugly befall that pretty little face of yours." Schuyler laughed as she shoved past a shocked Mimi, with Oliver right behind her.

"Wow, sky, talk about backbone, what's gotten into you?" Oliver asked grabbing her hand as he caught up with her.

"I'm fine. I'm just sick and tired of her and everything that's going on. Plus I'm getting tired of being so nice about it" Schuyler stopped at her locker which was conveniently right below Mimi's. She grabbed her books and left before she had another encounter with her. She looked down the hall for a red head; she searched the crowd, when she finally spotted it stopped not too far down. She pulled Oliver as she walked quickly over there.

"Bliss!" she yelled down the hall.

She saw's Bliss's head turn towards her in confusion and then in surprise. She let go of Oliver's hand and opened them to hug Bliss. She was surprised at how good she looked for suffering a loss almost as bad as Schuyler's. When she embraced Bliss she felt another wave of uneasiness run over her. She didn't know what it could possibly be this time because she felt fine. She looked Bliss up and down. She was in good health which was great. Besides needing some rest she had looked fine.

"How have you been doing, Bliss?" Schuyler asked a little worried.

"I've been doing well, I still wake up in the middle of the night but they aren't as bad." Bliss said as she turned to walk onside the group.

"How about after school we all go out to lunch and maybe a movie, we all just need to relax. I'll pay" Oliver laughed as he knew the girls would definitely say yes.

"Sure I'll go" Bliss said as she started to walked towards classroom door.

"I guess I wouldn't hurt, especially because you're paying" Schuyler smiled as she gave Bliss one more hug before watching her walk into her class.

"I'll pick you up tonight and then we'll go get Bliss, but I'll see you in gym, ok?" Oliver said as she stopped walking. He wrapped her in a tight hug and planted a kiss on her forehead "watch that attitude" he added as he released her and walked the other direction to his classroom.

Schuyler walked down the hall; it wasn't so bad being back here. So far it was a good day, with Jack ignoring her; it was easier for her to just move on. And with him getting bonded, soon it was going to be easier for him too. She walked slowly down the hall in a rush to get to any of her classes, knowing they would all be on the same topic for a while. She took a detour through a small corridor that led to the master classes that the most dedicated of vampires went to master a certain skill. She was about to turn down another hall when she collided with a body, that was attached to a very unhappy face.

Force.