Thanks to The Bitter Kitten for being an amazing Beta.
Chapter 2
Meet the gang
Tyron silently cursed his voice for wavering. The last thing he needed was to seem weak and awkward in this weird school.
The headmistress merely smiled and began to talk. Her voice was soft, and Tyron found himself comforted. He relaxed into his chair as she told him about the history of the school.
"Robichaux was established as first a premier finishing school and later a safe haven for us witches," she was saying. "Over the years, witches have come here seeking sanctuary and knowledge within these walls. The school has withstood many forms of adversity, and almost always come out the other side victorious."
"Almost?" he questioned.
"When Hurricane Katrina took down half of New Orleans, Robichaux suffered great damage. The students at that time had to be relocated. We only recently finished rebuilding. The council decided to allow male students to attend the reopened school, and also changed quite a bit of the curriculum."
Tyron could only stare at her as he processed the new information.
The headmistress gave a wry smile. "I find it ironic that we could hold our own against countless murderers and psychopaths, but crumbled under the wrath of nature. It's an important lesson, I think, to be reminded of our place."
Tyron shifted uneasily. The whole situation had an air of foreboding about it.
"Rest assured, you will be perfectly safe for the duration of your stay here." Cordelia took a sip of something from a cup that Tyron only now noticed was there.
"It may feel a little strange at first," she said, "but it's good to be amongst your own kind."
She set her tea down and stood.
"I'll let you get settled in," she said, heading for the door.
She opened it, and Tyron could see the butler- Spalding, the headmistress had informed him- waiting in the hallway.
He followed Spalding up the stairs and through yet another set of corridors. They reached what he assumed to be the door of his own room and entered.
The room followed the same monochromatic colour scheme as the rest of the house. It was rather large, and had been divided into two distinct sides. Both held a four poster bed with a nightstand, a wardrobe and a desk, all made of the same dark wood as in Cordelia's office. The left side of the room was littered with magazines and various other things, and had a lived-in feel about it; in stark contrast with what he had already seen of the house.
Spalding placed his suitcase next to the bed on the empty right side of the room and promptly left.
Tyron could feel the tiny bit of comfort that Cordelia's kind words had supplied begin to fade away as he unpacked his suitcase.
He had already unpacked most of his things when stampeding feet crashed down the hallway. Suddenly, a frantic-looking boy banged through the door, clad in a flannel shirt with mousy brown hair in wild disarray.
"Hide me!"
Tyron only stared, gobsmacked, as the boy raced around the room, muttering to himself as he went.
Another set of footsteps could be heard from the other side of the door and the strange boy jumped head first into the wardrobe, slamming the door behind him.
The door opened and a delicate, hawkish blonde girl entered, followed by a black-haired girl whose bangs nearly obscured her overly-large eyes.
The blonde studied the owl-like girl, who was busy staring off into the middle distance. Neither of them moved for a long, long moment.
The owl girl snapped out of her trance and pointed to the cupboard like a proud hound who had successfully located a scent.
The blonde gestured lazily at the cupboard and the doors swung open, rusty hinges creaking loudly. Tyron felt a wave of envy at her casual use of magic. It had to be magic, since they were all witches, right?
The boy was crammed into the wardrobe, his legs up near his head and his shoulders slumped in defeat.
"Gotcha!" said the blonde girl, and it was if someone had flipped a switch in her brain. Gone was the fierce, hawk-like witch who had come barging into the room, and in her place stood a girl who could only be likened to a toddler in a candy store.
"Every damn time…" mumbled the boy as he tried to untangle his twisted limbs. "Next time, Nina's on my team," he said, pointing at the dark haired girl.
"It really isn't my fault that you have no strategic ability whatsoever." The blonde replied in a playfully condescending tone.
The girl cast her eyes to Tyron. "Who's this, then?" she asked, green eyes gleaming with curiosity. Tyron was getting whiplash from her mood swings.
"No idea. Must be the new kid." said the boy, stretching as he climbed out of the wardrobe.
"His name is Tyron Blacc," said the owl girl. Nina seemed to stare right through him.
Tyron had had a long day and he was in no mood for some random psychic chick, but decided to refrain from making enemies within the first hour of entering this freak show.
"Excuse her," said the blonde, seemingly noticing his annoyance, "She does that sometimes. My name is Jessica; nice to meet you." She extended her hand and Tyron shook it. She seemed nice enough, if a little too peppy.
"I'm Adam," said the boy. He was now busy picking up stray pieces of clothing that littered the floor.
"Tyron," he said simply.
Adam smiled sheepishly. "Sorry about the mess. So what are you in for?"
"Setting curtains on fire." Nina supplied.
This girl's shtick was getting old pretty quickly.
"Cool." Adam said. He didn't actually sound all that impressed, and he never stopped picking up the left side of the room.
Tyron was about to ask if anyone else could do something similar when a bell rang.
"Oh, dinner's ready!" Jessica exclaimed. "We´d better go downstairs."
Tyron followed the trio down to the dining room. They took their seats, Adam gesturing for Tyron to take the seat beside his.
He had barely taken his seat when two boys walked into the room, chattering animatedly with each other.
One of the boys was extremely pudgy, with a dark complexion and a bespectacled face. He was wearing a garish red scarf and his arms were covered in bracelets.
The other boy was even darker than the first, though not nearly as large. He carried himself with a strange confidence and was gesturing wildly to his companion. They took the seats in front of Jessica and Nina.
"What are you two arguing about now?" asked Jessica. From her tone, Tyron thought their quarrelling wasn't uncommon.
"I am trying," said the smaller one, "to convince Bradley that a scarf does not go with absolutely every article of clothing in his closet. …Pun intended," he added as an afterthought.
Jessica just blinked. "And how's that working out for you?" she asked, dusting lint off of her sleeve.
"It's futile," said the boy.
"There is nothing wrong with my fashion sense!" said Bradley, working up some righteous indignation.
"Keep telling yourself that," the other boy said sweetly.
Bradley opened his mouth to retort when another girl walked into the dining room. She had a dark mane of luscious, curly hair and carried herself with the air of someone who had much better things to do.
Tyron would have appreciated her attitude if he wasn't so annoyed at not being acknowledged by any of the newcomers.
"I see the queens are still going at it." said the girl as she took her seat, adjusting a knife so that it lined up perfectly with the spoon.
"Fuck you, Brooke," the smaller boy snarled.
"Not even if you paid me, Seany-boy," Brooke retorted. She was smiling, but she was staring him down. There was obviously no love lost here, and the tension was so thick even Tyron could feel it.
Jessica threw her spoon to the ground, drawing everyone's attention as the metal clanged.
Tyron's stomach grumbled at the delicious smell of food that was wafting from somewhere inside the house. He wondered when they would be served. It had been ages since he'd eaten.
Before anyone could make a remark, yet another boy came into the dining room. This one had handsome features and ruffled, dirty blond hair. He walked to his seat with an obvious spring in his step and sat down, genuinely smiling all the way. He reminded Tyron of an exuberant puppy.
"Hi! I'm Connor," he said. He looked at Tyron like they were old friends unexpectedly met.
All the heads in the room turned at once. Now they noticed him.
"Um, hi. I'm Tyron. I'm new here..."
Awkward introductions seemed to be the theme of the day.
