The morning came much too soon for Cinder. She stretched out in her bed, looking out the window at the view of the island. She had to admit, watching the sun rise on the ocean was quite a nice thing to have greet you in the morning.

With a groan she pushed herself out of bed and softly made her way to her closet. She picked out a dark red long sleeve and a pair of black jeans and made her way over to the bathroom.

Knocking gently before opening the door, she placed her clothes down beside the sink and turned on the shower. The room slowly filled with steam as she stripped out of her night clothes and stepped into the scalding torrent of water. She jumped as the heat jerked her fully awake.

Once finished she toweled off and got into her clothes for the day. Looking into the mirror she started to straiten out her hair, pulling it down across her face. She heard a soft tap on the door and turn to see Neo peek her head in.

"I'm done in here, you can go ahead," Cinder said as she gathered her night clothes and left the bathroom.

After placing her dirty clothes in the hamper, Cinder made her way downstairs. Once there she saw her parents had left a note.

Hey darlings, sorry we missed you. Help yourselves to whatever you want to throw together. Remember school starts at eight, don't be late.

Ugh, this was so typical of them. Cinder stomped her way into the kitchen only to realize they hadn't gone grocery shopping so they had no food in the house. Damn it! This day already needs to be over.

Soft footfalls behind her alerted her to Neo's presence. By the look on her younger sister's face Cinder could tell they had both come to the same disappointing realization about their breakfast plan.

"I guess we could stop somewhere on the way to school," Cinder suggested. But Neo's eyes widened suddenly as she saw the oven clock behind Cinder.

Cinder turned and cursed silently as she saw the clock. 7:55 it leered at them, sharp red characters burning into their backs as they scrambled to gather their school things before hurriedly rushing out the door and running down the street.

Luckily for them the school was only a half mile down the road. They heard the first bell chime as they stepped into the main office out of breath, their steps slowing dramatically as they approached the desk.


A slender blonde sat at the desk, glasses low on her nose with her mouth held in a tight line as she read over the papers in front of her. A small wooden plaque indicated that her name was Ms. Goodwitch.

"Um, excuse us?" Cinder mumbled, her voice betraying just how nervous she felt. Ms. Goodwitch looked up at the two girls and pulled her glasses off her face. "Yes?" she asked looking expectantly at the sisters.

"We, we're new to the school, we just moved yesterday, we were told we should come and get our schedules here?" Cinder's voice again trembled as she tried to keep her breaths even.

"Would you two happen to be the Falls?" The older woman asked as she searched her desk for a pair of pink sheets. "Yeah," Cinder replied, glad to have accomplished what was needed.

"Here you are," The receptionist said, "each row has the classes name and room number. I'm sure you will be able to find it all ok."

The sisters tentatively took their respective schedules and made their way out of the office. After comparing schedules they saw they only had one class together. Neo looked up at her big sister and frowned.

"Don't worry about it Neo, we will be fine. Now let's hurry to class, we don't want to give the wrong impression." The two traveled in silence as they walked the halls, footfalls echoing loudly, until finally splitting up as Neo entered her first class. She turned back in time to see Cinder turning the corner. Cinder walked down another hall before arriving at room 404, Homeroom.


She slowly pushed the door open, looking around the classroom. There were students all over the place, some chatting, others frantically trying to finish any forgotten homework. Nobody paid any attention to her as she entered.

Cinder made her way to the corner, sitting by herself. She leaned over to grab her books out of her bag and upon raising her head her amber eyes met the blood red of a girl with light green hair and a rather revealing top. Cinder tore her eyes up from the girls chest in time to hear the girl sneer down at her.

"So you're the new girl, huh?" Cinder wasn't sure how to respond. She opened her mouth to say something but the dark skinned girl above her spoke again.

"A bit shy are we? I guess the more submissive the better. Makes it easier to make you my little bitch." Cinder's eyed widened as the girl leaned in closer. Her mind was racing a mile a minute. No one had ever treated her like that, electing to simply ignore her everywhere she went. She sat frozen in her seat too stunned to respond.

As the crimson eyed girl got closer, Cinder detectably cowered back lowering her face. The standing girl grabbed Cinder's chin and pulled it towards her. "You're mine now, I'm sure we'll have tons of fun," she said as a devious smile crept its way across her face.

Cinder closed her eyes again turning her head. But as she did she heard the sound of flesh on flesh and quickly turned to see the previously threatening girl on her ass with the outline of a hand printed in red across her face.

Cinder looked to the other side of her desk to see a short girl staring at her with great interest. The girls stormy gray eyes peered into Cinder's soft amber orbs. They seemed to hold so much behind them, excitement, danger, and, sadness? They held each other's gaze for a few moments before Cinder dropped her head, suddenly very interested in the graffiti carved into her desk.

As she admired the amazing wit of '8=D' she felt more than heard the girl sit down next to her. Cinder panicked. She had no idea what to say to the girl. She murmured a soft thank you, barely above a whisper.

"No problem," the girl responded, her voice strong, confident. "Emerald's a bitch to everybody, somebody needs to stand up to her."

Cinder turned to the girl, her face showing her confusion. "She's the cunt I laid out just now." If the girl's strong language affected Cinder she didn't show it, though she did turn around to see that the girl from before had disappeared.

"Sooo, what do I call you?" the girl asked. Cinder turned to face her but managed to only half glance up at her. "Cinder, Cinder Fall."

"That's a beautiful name!" the girl exclaimed. "It's just like your eyes…" the girl trailed off, realizing what she had said. "Um, I'm Ruby, Ruby Rose." She hurriedly continued, hoping Cinder wouldn't notice.

"It's, ah, nice to meet you," Cinder replied meekly, still unable to fully look Ruby in the face. "You too!" the girl replied, a smile lighting up her face. It was a kind smile, a warm smile. Cinder couldn't remember the last time anyone had smiled at her like that. She got so wrapped up thinking about that smile she didn't realize Ruby had continued talking.

"I'm sorry, could you repeat that?" Cinder requested shyly. "Yeah, I was just asking about you. Where are you from?" Cinder looked at her desk and thought for a moment.

"Well, I'm originally from Mistral but I've moved more than a dozen times in my life. I've lived in every kingdom and every major city there is."

"Wow, that sounds awesome, I wish I could do that."

"No, you wouldn't. It's the worst. I've never lived in the same place for more than a year, I've never been able to do very well in school as they keep changing, and it's impossible to have any friends since everyone already has friends and anyone you meet you just have to leave a couple months later! I hate it!" Cinder's rant ended and she realized she had said far more than she had intended. Ruby probably thought she was a freak. She put her head down on her desk and waited for Ruby to leave.

"I'll be your friend." Cinder was surprised when she felt a hand on her shoulder and looked up to see Ruby smiling that same brilliant smile at her. Cinder could feel her heart beat quicken. Was she really going to make a friend? On the first day of school?

Cinder returned Ruby's smile with a smile of her own. The two stayed like this for almost a minute, just smiling at each other, before the teacher came in and asked everyone to take their seats.

Maybe this time things won't be so bad. Maybe this time I can be happy.

A/N: So here's chapter two, hope you guys like it. Please leave any feedback you might have, advice, suggestions, complaints, etc.

I hope to be able to make chapters release between once and twice a week but for now they'll go up as soon as they're finished.

Enjoy.