Normal's Boring

Chapter One

"Trin-aaaaaaaaa!" Tori yowled up the stairs to her older sister. "Come on, we're gonna be late for school! I've got a presentation for Sikowitz's class first period, and I can't be late!" Her sister Trina came running down the stairs, with a sparkling, off-white wand in her hands, as if she were trying to hide it in her clutches.

"Don't rush me, Tori!" The older Vega girl snapped as she continued down the stairs, and slipped a pair of shoes on her feet.

"Why do you have that?" Tori asked, gesturing to the wand in Trina's hands.

"Have what?"

"That wand."

"Oh," Trina started as if it were no big deal. She then continued a moment later, after a short pause, with: "A fairy in my study hall let me borrow it, that's all. No big deal."

"Yeah…" Tori continued as she opened the door. "But why do you have it?"

"I…I thought maybe…if I worked at it…" Trina struggled to finish her sentence, but remained seemingly poised as she grabbed her car keys. "I tried to make it work and it didn't, okay?"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Tori stopped her sister dead in her tracks. "You tried to make a fairy's wand work for you? Trina, are you insane? That's dangerous!"

"Whatever," Trina remarked as they started the drive to school.

"You know we don't have to be gifted to go to Hollywood Arts," the younger Vega reminded her sister. "We just have to be talented. There just so happens to be lots of gifted kids who – "

" – Whatever," Trina repeated, ending the conversation.

Tori slumped in the passenger seat of her sister's car. Sometimes, she wished she was gifted, like most of her friends, not mortal and normal and boring like she was. Maybe she was better at hiding it than her sister, but Tori wished, from time to time, that she could shape-shift into any animal like Andre, become a wolf in the full moon like Beck, cast spells and enchant items like Robbie, have her legs replaced with a beautiful tail once exposed to water like Cat…

"No, no, no…" Tori murmured to herself, as she leap out of Trina's car, and sprinted towards Hollywood Arts. "Don't ring – don't ring!" But her words and running were both, by now, fruitless; the bell rung, and Tori stopped dead in her tracks for a moment. She was late for her presentation in Sikowitz's class already, and it was all Trina's fault. Stupid Trina! She thought, in anger. She's always late for everything, and now I'm going to have to pay the price! The younger Vega sister continued towards the school, walking into the building with shuffled feet. As she glumly made her way towards the classroom, she noticed that she was not alone in the halls after all.

"Jade?"

Jade whipped around to see, to her surprise, Tori Vega standing before her. The vampire had been pacing the halls, once everyone else was in class, trying to get this very girl out of her head. Tori looked her over – Jade was dressed in black, per usual, but this particular outfit was much different than any Tori had seen her in before. It was a short, strapless, black dress, which accentuated her chest, with almost thigh-high, lacy boots. Tied with one single bow across her neckline, she also wore some sort of cape, which draped down the pale girl's figure nicely. To Tori, she looked tired, as if she hadn't slept in days – then again, Tori wasn't sure if vampires even slept at all…was that just fiction, or truth? – When she turned around to see the other girl, Jade took a long, needing gulp from the flask-like thermos in her hand.

"What do you want?" She demanded roughly.

"Nothing," Tori recoiled. "But…are you okay?"

"Okay?"

"Yeah…I – I mean, is everything…alright?"

"Alright?" Realizing this was getting her nowhere, Jade added with a sigh: "Yeah. Yeah Vega, everything's perfectly alright. Don't you have to get to class?"

"Don't you?" Tori crossed her arms.

"Is that any of your business? Sikowitz gave a pass. I don't think you have one, do you?"

"Uh…no, I – "

"Well then you'd better move it, Vega."

Neither girl said anything more. Tori went to class, and as soon as she was out of sight, Jade ran to the nearest open window, and slipped out of the building. She had to run, she had to fight something, she had bite someone. She couldn't take it anymore. What was it about Tori Vega? What was it about Tori Vega? Once she was far enough away from the school and everyone in it, Jade jumped from branch to branch up a tall tree until she had made it to the top. She rested her head in her knees and tried to somehow compose her thoughts. When Tori Vega came around, it was like her nerve endings suddenly became lit on fire. She wanted to bite her, to tie her up and torture her, to kill her slowly…but at the same time, she wanted to be with her, to…find someone to love in her…

"But who could ever love a monster like me?" Jade said aloud. A squirrel, which had been scaling the tree for some time now, finally reached Jade's branch. It starred at her with it's beady, little eyes, and the vampire sighed yet again. "Hello, Andre," she said. "Skipping class again?" In place of the squirrel now, was Andre Harris.

"I could ask you the same thing," he said. "Tori's gonna hate me for it, but we had a presentation together for Sikowitz today, and I – "

"Oh, my God!" Jade seethed. "Enough about Tori Vega! If I hear one more word about Tori Vega, I swear, I'll – "

"Whoa, Jade," Andre tried to calm her. "Chill out, will you! What's the matter?"

"Nothing!" The vampire yowled. "Nothing's the matter! Why does everyone thing something's wrong with me today? I'm fine!"

"Jadelyn Angeline West, I've known you since we were both in kindergarten, and you are clearly not fine."

"You know what? Enjoy the tree!" With that, Jade pushed herself back down to the ground, and kept on running.