Chapter 2
Black Bird
"Amsel, Miss Amsel?" Professor Jekyll called out.
Vanessa Amsel, a 15-year-old senior set to graduate early at the end of the semester, gazed from her notes and replied politely, "Yes, Professor?"
"My dear, you are needed at the nurse's office. You are excused from class." He motioned her to the front of the classroom. Vanessa quickly collected her notebook, textbook and pencil. Placing them neatly into her leather book bag.
Her red-headed partner, Flint MacKay sat to her left he asked quietly, "Do you need me to go with you?" He caught her eye with his bright blue eyes.
She smiled sweetly at him, "That's alright Flint, I'll be fine." He nodded sternly.
"You can borrow my notes on whatever you miss." He promised.
With an appreciative kiss on the cheek she thanked him.
She gracefully rose from her chair and tucked her straight black hair behind her ear. With resounding claps of her black high heels she was out the door. She absentmindedly adjusted her little black dress, smoothing out the wrinkles from sitting.
She confidently found her way through DWMA's hallways and arrived at Nurse Medusa's office.
She let herself in and glanced at the two boys standing outside the office on the opposite wall, she recognized them from her class. Remembering they dropped down to NOT to find a partner. She paid them no mind and walked in seeing her roommate, Lacey Malta sitting up in a bed with the blonde nurse examining her eyes.
Vanessa felt her heart pick up in pace, in short strides she pushed Medusa away and began checking Lacey personally. Her thoughts were racing trying to understand why an afternoon with potential partners could have landed her in the nurse's office.
"What on Death's green Earth happened?" She asked, checking for broken bones.
"YehOWH! Vanessa! Please that hurts!" Lacey swatted away her hands. Medusa cleared her throat.
"Miss Amsel, please. I was just in the middle of checking for a concussion." Medusa guided Vanessa away from her roommate. Worry was stitched into her face.
Vanessa tapped her foot impatiently and quickly took in the nurse's office. The room was lit brightly with natural light from nearby windows; only a few beds were kept in Medusa's office. Her desk had been neatly kept and a standing wooden coat hanger at the entrance had a spare lab coat hanging on it's throngs. A mini fridge was tucked underneath her desk to store temperature sensitive medication and other various things.
Vanessa had only been in here a few times; in her early days of soul collection she had sustained some nasty injuries. Now, it's rare if she walked away from a fight with an injury. She would be the last person to read out her résumé, but creating a death scythe at her age was a feat and had earned her a respectful reputation.
Medusa resumed checking Lacey's pupil dilation. Lacey smiled at her roommate in hopes to calm her down. Vanessa chewed on her index finger.
"It's no big deal, I bumped my head and-"
Vanessa sighed, "On what? I thought you were meeting with potential weapon partners this afternoon." She gasped, sky diving to conclusions, "Did one of them beat you up? I'll kill them!"
She spun around almost out the door before Medusa grasped the back of her dress and sat her down on a stool with surprising force. Vanessa's expression went from anger to confusion in a blink of an eye.
"She crashed against a wall after being propelled by unexpected soul force!" Medusa snapped and grumbled returning to her patient. Lacey wrung out her hands, shocked at Medusa's usually cheerful demeanor turning so quickly.
Vanessa stood again from her stool and paced to the window and folded her arms. Regardless of how Lacey got hurt, Vanessa felt it was her responsibility to look after the reckless freshman. She saw a little of herself in Lacey when she first entered DWMA and Vanessa also knew what kind of trouble she found herself in and wishing she had someone to guide her or advise her against terrible judgment.
Vanessa brushed a few stray hairs from her eyes and recomposed herself, "What does that mean for Lacey?"
Medusa replied calmly, "It means she has a mild concussion."
"I'm sitting right here, you don't have to have this discussion like I'm not here." Lacey huffed.
"Shush, Lace." Vanessa quieted her roommate turning away from the window and her green eyes met Lacey's lilac eyes.
Lacey screwed up her face, but didn't say anything.
"Okay." Medusa stood up and went over to her desk. "Here's an icepack and if you have any difficulty speaking or you have a persistent headache, please head straight to the hospital." She loaded up an icepack with ice and handed it to Lacey.
Lacey gingerly held it against the side of her head, sighing with relief.
"Vanessa, keep an eye on her and please escort her back to the dormitories. You are both excused from afternoon classes and other commitments." Medusa handed Vanessa neatly written doctor's notes. Vanessa gave her a small smile of thanks.
"Yes ma'am." Vanessa stood and motioned for Lacey to follow.
"Thank you for your help." Lacey smiled at Medusa.
"You're welcome my dear." Medusa smiled in return picking up a clipboard. She sat back down to her desk and started to file away her documents.
Vanessa and Lacey stepped through the door and exited the office. Out in the hallway Lacey could see over Vanessa's shoulder that Peter and Henry had waited for her to come out. They were quietly chatting with each other when they heard the girl's open the door.
Vanessa sized them up with a wary eye and said, "Henry and Peter Halloway, I can safely assume you two are to blame for my roommate's concussion then?" She folded her arms.
"The reaction certainly wasn't something we expected," Henry began, shrugging casually.
"Or intended." Peter finished his brother's sentence.
"I want to hear some apologies!" Vanessa demanded. "You gave her a concussion! I'm not leaving until I hear it!"
"I don't care, really. It's not big deal." Lacey cut in stepping ahead of her roommate and standing between her and the twins. Lacey thought, I am not in the mood to referee a fight.
Peter straightened and removed his glasses, squinting at Vanessa as he spoke, "You should watch that tone of yours, we're not about to be intimidated. We know miss overachiever here isn't anything to be afraid of." He walked right up to Lacey and put a hand her shoulder. "Lacey says it's no big deal, then it's no big deal." Lacey shrugged his hand off.
"Was that supposed to be an insult?" Vanessa sneered and pulled Lacey away from Peter. "Would you feel so brave if I had Flint to back me up today?" Lacey glared at Vanessa in turn and pulled away from her hand.
Henry glared through his hair, "Even if Flint was here, we aren't so easily scared off. Besides," He pulled Lacey back and she stumbled into him and dropped her icepack. Lacey's face was growing redder by the second. "You should be treating us with more respect as Lacey's new partners."
Lacey shook her head, "Hang on, who said anything about-"
"I wouldn't let her be near such manipulative and scummy heartbreakers like you!" Vanessa pointed accusingly at them and pulled on Lacey's arm to yank her away from Henry but he was still holding her other arm.
Lacey thought angrily, this is ending right now!
"Shut up!" She snarled and ripped her arms away from the pair of them.
Vanessa blinked, surprised at Lacey's reaction. She never spoke back to her like that before. Bringing her tone down to speak to Lacey she said, "They could have seriously inju-"
Lacey whirled on Vanessa, "You have no idea who these guys are and they are probably my only chance at getting into EAT!"
"But-" Vanessa started.
"Zip it." Lacey ran her fingers over her mouth, like a zipper. "And you!"
She turned on the twins, "How am I supposed to trust your judgment over us suddenly becoming partners? Don't I have a say in this? How do you know we're even compatible after that "soul force" thing that happened earlier?"
Peter was stuttering, "It w-was a sign! We don't really know either."
"Then we'll take it up with Sid when we go over a physical compatibility test tomorrow." Lacey replied and off balanced she stooped to pick up her icepack.
"You're going to give it a try then?" Henry sounded hopeful.
"Yeah, I'm a eager beaver freshman. Remember?" Lacey turned their words back on them.
They flinched at that; Lacey felt a little triumph for the first time all day. She grasped her roommate's arm and guided her away.
The twins exhaled and grinned at each other, then hollered after them, "See you tomorrow, partner!"
-End of Chapter 2-