Amariya

"It'll be okay, Nov." Reaching out, my hand found the left arm of my older sister. I knew, without need for words, that Nova was scared shitless. To anyone passing by, she would have seemed entirely fine, but I knew her well enough to know otherwise. The subtle way she chewed on her lower lip, the slight twitching of her fingers, the tension drawn across her forehead, the way she held her shoulders just a little too high up; All of these things were dead giveaways to my sister's anxiety. "I'll be there with you, and eventually you'll have lots of friends. Don't sweat it, sis." I spoke gently to her, sending her my most reassuring smile. Nova had always been a big ol' ball of nerves. Then again, I couldn't really blame her. She had to witness things that I, thankfully, was spared. She had to live with that monster longer than I did, she had to carry the heavy burden of memories I no longer possessed.

"Yeah, you're right." Her reply was shaky, but I knew she was already feeling better. I did have a knack for cheering my sister up, even when her brain tried it's hardest to betray her. I watched her shoulders relax, and her eyebrows un-knit themselves. Nova's fingers were still twitching slightly, and she was still absentmindedly chewing her lip, but that was something she did so often, I doubt she even realized she was doing it.

My sister's anxiety never really went away, she was just so used to dealing with it, that even I sometimes forgot about her suffering. After a moment, she carried on, her signature smirk spreading across her face. "I'll be fine!" she nodded, "Besides, if anyone decides to fuck with me, I'll just tell them I'm a witch, or a vampire, or something." Her hands curled into little claws, as she wiggled her fingers at a cheesy attempt to be spooky.

This earned an honest laugh from me, her over-the-top gestures, and flamboyant expressions always made me giggle. When we were little, she used to tell me bedtime stories when I was scared, or couldn't sleep, and would act out what the characters were doing. It always calmed me down, and made me smile. I drank in the fond memories, before giving her a sarcastic reply. "Well you certainly look the part, Elvira." Snickering devilishly, I pulled back as she reached out to playfully smack my leg. "Hey watch it! I bruise like a banana!" I choked out through my laughter, rubbing the spot where she'd hit me dramatically. It hadn't actually hurt, but this was our dynamic. This was how we always were.

After a few moments of familiar silence with my sister, I stood. Gathering my things, I peering down at the little map I'd been given. "Well, my first class is this way." I mumbled, pointing down the hall halfheartedly. "I've got Calculus. Snoooore." Rolling my eyes, I grabbed my backpack from the bench, and swung it around my shoulders. "You gonna be okay getting to class by yourself, Nov?"

"I'll be fine, Ri." Nova's reply came out confidently, but I knew better. My sister could get lost inside a paper bag; Her sense of direction was nothing short of tragic. Standing, she took another shaky breath as she slung her own bag onto her back, and turned to face me. "I'll see you at lunch?" she asked quietly, causing a small pang of pity to ripple through my chest. God, she's so nervous.

I thought for a fleeting moment that I should offer her some guidance, but that thought quickly faded. I knew better than to challenge her, or demand to walk her to class. Nova hated it when people coddled her, and honestly, I couldn't blame her. I didn't have panic attacks like she did; I couldn't imagine going through all of that, just for people to treat you like damaged goods. Resisting my urge to shelter my sister, I turned, and sent her another thousand watt smile. "Yep yep! See you then!" I gave her one last look, searching for some subliminal sign that she wanted, or needed my help. Satisfied when I found no trace of panic, I turned, and headed toward the stairwell leading to the second floor.

My head was full of brightly spinning thoughts, as I made my way up the stairs. Unlike Nova, I loved meeting new people, and making new friends. The idea of new faces, and voices, and names, filled me with a brilliant excitement. As I headed toward my math class, I couldn't help but smile at all the fresh faces passing by me, trying my best to commit them all to memory. Even if I didn't have names to attach to them yet, I at least wanted to familiarize myself with as many as possible.

After a few minutes of smooth sailing, I found room 227. Calculus, with Mr. Green. Thankfully, I was quite early, and only 3 of the seats had been taken. I scanned the room quickly, eyes lingering on each present student for a moment. In the back of the class, sitting near the window, there were two boys. The one closest to the window had a soft face, and a head of dusty blonde hair, cropped tightly in the back, leaving just a bit more on top. His pale blue eyes were crinkled up at the ends, as he and the other boy laughed a little too loudly at whatever they were talking about. The boy next to him had thick black hair that fell to his chin, with swooping fringe that obscured his forehead. His round, doe-like eyes were a deep shade of brown, and held a cute sort of innocence. I took them in for a moment longer, before I turned my eyes toward a spectacled girl, sitting closer to the front, whose face was burred deeply into the pages of a novel. Loosely curled dark chocolate hair was pulled neatly into a ponytail, that fell just past her shoulders, short curtain bangs sitting just above her angled eyebrows.

The girl held a pen in her right hand, and had been chewing on the cap carelessly, when she seemed to feel my gaze. Looking up, she let the pen rest on the desk, her mahogany orbs meeting my emerald ones. I offered her a warm smile, and received one in return. "Hello!" her voice rang out sweetly, sharp eyebrows raising in excitement. I supposed it wasn't often that new students arrived at Forks High School. "You must be one of the Winter sisters!" she continued, confirming my suspicion, her excited tone catching the attention of the two boys in the back.

"Yes," I laughed softly, moving to sit at a vacant desk next to her, "I'm Amariya Winter." I replied, reaching across the gap between the desks to offer my hand. The boys in the back had gone silent, and were curiously watching the exchange.

The sweet girl leaned closer to me, compensating for the gap between us, and took my hand, giving it a soft shake. "I'm Angela Weber." Sending me another friendly smile, she continued, "Welcome to Forks!" Before I could reply, I heard a voice chime in from behind.

"I'm Mike! Mike Newton!" His zeal caused Angela to roll her eyes slightly. I gathered that they knew each other fairly well. I turned to see the blonde boy wearing a goofy grin, and waving enthusiastically. "And this is Eric." he continued, thumb pointed to his dark haired friend.

"Shut up, Mike!" he glared over to his friend, as if to say 'I can introduce myself.' before returning his attention to me. "I'm Eric Yorkie." He smiled sheepishly, tossing me a shy wave.

"Amariya, but you can call me Riya." I repeated, offering a friendly nod to both of them. "Must be a real small town if you've already heard about us. New students in Forks must be big news then. My sister will absolutely hate that." I laughed softly, mostly too myself, as I tried to imagine Nova's face once she realized we were going to be a hot topic for at least a few weeks.

"Pretty much," Angela nodded slightly, a small laugh of her own escaping her. "I can't even remember the last time anyone new came to Forks. It's not exactly an eventful place." Scrunching her face up a bit, she shrugged.

"Pfft, I'll say." Mike chirped in from the back, letting out an exasperated breath. "This place is a bummer. Nothing exciting ever happens."

"That's not true," Eric interjected, "Remember two summers ago when Jack Dunn's bike got stolen?" A sarcastic roll of his eyes let me know he too thought this place was a bore.

I shook my head, letting out a soft chuckle. "Please, I grew up in New Hampshire." I shrugged my shoulders, "Boredom is an occupation there. Unless you're in one of the cities, it's a complete snore."

"New Hampshire? Isn't that like, in England or something?"

"That's why you flunked geography in 6th grade, Mike." Eric snorted, not bothering to correct his friend.

"It's in New England, bird brain." Angela rolled her eyes again, not bothering to look back at him.

"Right, so she's British? Cool!" Mike gushed, causing Eric to howl with laughter once again. I turned to face him, mouth parting slightly to reply, but was cut short. "Why don't you have an accent though?" I closed my mouth, and pursed my lips slightly, unsure if he was serious or not. Angela shot me a knowing look, and I covered my mouth to suppress a snicker. None of us bothered to correct him.

"Seriously though, unless you're into skiing, snowboarding, or farming, it might as well be Sleepy Hollow." I droned out, ignoring Mike and scrunching my nose. I wasn't a huge fan of sports. Or farms. Or anything messy.

"Ugh, relatable." Angela sighed, pushing her white-framed glasses further up her nose. "The most exciting place remotely close to Forks is La Push." She rolled her eyes, and I sent her a curious look, eyebrow arched as I waited for her to go on. "Oh, sorry, you don't know the geography yet. La Push is home to the Quileute reservation. It's a great spot for surfing, whale watching, ya know, beach stuff."

I felt a burst of nostalgia tug at my heart, my face lighting up. "Oh, I love the beach! I haven't gotten to go in so long. Between school, and helping with the move, there just wasn't any time to. I grew up around the ocean though." I crooned, my hand unconsciously going to my heart. I was going to miss the Atlantic.

"You should come with us sometime!" I turned to see Mike's beaming face. "We go up pretty much every weekend. We've got a bunch of friends up there!" He nodded enthusiastically, puppy-dog eyes nearly pleading for me to agree to go. Glancing over to Eric, I caught the same earnest excitement. Lord, they must really not meet new people often. Their bright faces beamed somehow even brighter when I finally nodded in agreement.

"It's settled then," I turned to see Angela clasp her hands together, in a cute display of her own anticipation. "We're heading up this weekend, if you're free." I nodded to signal that I was. Taking a piece of paper from a spiral notebook on her desk, she grabbed the pen she had previously been nibbling on, and scrawled down her number, and eagerly handed the piece of paper to me. "That's my cell. Text me so I can save your number, and I'll remind you when we're going."

"Cool, will do!"I folded the piece of paper, and slid it into my back pocket. I turned toward the door as Mr. Green entered, and called for everyone to take their seats before beginning to take attendance. I was so absorbed in our conversation, I hadn't even noticed most of the other students had already filed in. I sent Angela another smile, and turned to face completely forward, as Mr. Green began writing some basic formulas on the board.

3 new friends on the first day? Not bad, not bad at all! A small smile played at the corners of my lips. I was already enjoying Forks. My eyes were on the board, left hand lazily jotting down the formulas Mr. Green was dictating, but I wasn't paying any real attention as he spoke. Thoughts of the three new friendly faces took up most of my concentration, along with the prospect of adventures in La Push, and potential for even more friends there. I'll have to ask Angela if Nova can come to La Push too, I'm sure they wont mind. I know she misses home. Maybe the beach will cheer her up?

I found myself wondering how Nova was doing, and hoping she made it to class without too much difficulty. Furrowing my brow, I scolded myself for not walking her to class. Attempting to reaffirm my faith in my sister's ability to take care of herself, I tried to shrug the nagging feelings off. The school isn't that big, I'm sure she made it there just fine. Besides, everyone here seems so nice. If she did get lost, I'm she found someone to help her out.

Nova may have been my older sister, but that didn't stop me from worrying about her as if I were the oldest one. Of course she had friends back home, but was often prone to isolation. Her anxiety made even simple things incredibly difficult sometimes. Every day was a toss up, with Nov. It was either a good day, or a bad one. Sometimes the good days would string together like daisy chains. She would smile brightly, and laugh freely. Sometimes the bad days formed an endless night. She would lock herself in her room, and refuse to come out. I still remember days where I had to plead with her to open the door, and let me in. There were times I even feared for her life, petrified that I would open her door and be greeted with a horror scene. And though she's gotten so much better, some nights, I still poke my head into her room, just to be sure she's okay. There would always be a part of me that worried for her, a part that needed constant reassurance that I wouldn't lose my big sister. I couldn't stomach the thought of living without her.

But what if she panics? Will she be okay? What if she starts hyperventilating? What if no one helps her? What if...? Shaking my head, as if to clear the silly notions from my mind, I focused in on the whiteboard in front of me. Realizing I had fallen quite a bit behind, I quickly wrote down the formulas I had missed, before they were erased. She's fine. I willed myself to think positively, pushing any worries about Nova as far back as I possibly could. Nova's a big girl. She's not going anywhere. I consoled myself, steeling the ball of unease that had formed in the pit of my stomach. No one's coming to take her away.

Somewhere, in the back of my skull, a memory tried desperately to flicker into my thoughts; Something far away, and blurred, and yet vaguely familiar. I didn't give it a chance to decode itself before I banished it back into the depths of my mind. The memory, I knew, was of something I didn't want to remember. Not now. Not ever. He's dead. He can't hurt us anymore. Finally caught up with the notes, I let out a small sight of relief.

Before I knew it, the bell had rung. 45 minutes goes fast when you're lost in your head.

Yeehawww, Chapter 3 is a go!

I feel like I write for HOURS and only yield like 3k words, which is exceedingly frustrating, but what can you do. *le shrug* Anyway, let me know what you think! I've got a lot of ideas for this story, and I'm so excited to bring it to life! :D

I sat down the other night and loosely mapped out a HUGE chunk of the plot. I've potentially got over 30 chapters worth of material already! Of course, my chapters so far sit between 2.5k to 3k words, which isn't very much. BUT I still think this is going to be quite a long story. Hope you don't mind, haha!Thanks again for reading!