walleyandkuki - Yay! I didn't realise how much everyone would love Hermia and Benvolio. They were a kind of spur of the moment idea of mine. Now I can't imagine the story without it. Have you finished Child Swap now?

Oreoskidz - How did the shit go down? Dramatic enough? We'll be hearing some more of Gabriel today!

A - I'm not in any grade, I live in the UK! We have a different system. High School starts at age 11 and continues to age 18, although you can leave at 16 with GCSEs and not get A Levels. I'm starting my first year of A Levels (as of today, in fact)

Kiko33 - Well, Hermia is certainly going to be having some shakeups in her relationships.

Now, in this chapter, I am portraying some people who follow Wicca. As previously stated, I don't mean to offend or disrespect. If you are Wiccan or know someone who is and see a mistake or feel offended, please email me so I can make amends. I myself am an atheist, but I have a cousin who is Wiccan, and I have the most utmost of respect for people who make the decision to follow a religion. Any 'bashing' of any religion is not my opinion, rather that of the characters.

Gabriel stepped out from the lunch queue with his meal. He glanced over at the table with usual crowd, only to find his girlfriend bending her head, trying not to catch his eye. Juno, his closest friend and biggest ally, was not even present. Most of his entourage were scattered around the room, also not looking at him.

'Fine! Be that way. It's not as if I even liked you anyway. I was only friends with you out of pity. I am so much better off on my own. I'm much better than anyone else in this stupid school'

But that didn't resolve where he was going to sit, exactly. Gabriel glanced over at the table where the football team sat. David, who was the captain and was also dating Beatrix Montague, was giving a very thorough detailed description of a goal he scored at the weekend. Gabriel knew David well – they'd had loads of run-ins over the years. Being a dancer, Gabriel was athletic and had a lot of stamina. That meant he was fairly talented in other sports. David had badgered and badgered him into joining the football team, until one day Gabriel did join in and completely ruined the game against a rival team for a laugh. Mwah ha ha. That taught David not to mess with Gabriel.

Then there was a table of nerds. Sitting with the nerds was as respectful as becoming a prostitute. As he stepped past, he heard low hushed voices.

"...does ballet!"

"Hermia yelled at him!"

"...cracked his head open!"

Gabriel sneered at them, and swaggered on past. Colour flooded to his cheeks as he told himself that he wasn't embarrassed and he wouldn't want to waste his precious lunch hour in their company. The slags all looked at him hungrily, but Gabriel knew they all had STDs and that their boyfriends were gangsters so he didn't go near them. His sister Rosaline used to sit with Tybalt and the chavs, but now that Tybalt wasn't here anymore the chavs hated him, and Rosaline sat with the Future Millionaires Who Would Change The World If They Were That Lucky They wouldn't want him with them. He walked a full circle around the room, before finding himself in front of the freaks and weirdoes table. One boy was showing off a new tongue piercing. Gabriel at first was disgusted, but then it thought looked kind of cool.

A girl with long hair in a braid and nose piercing smiled at him, and moved her bag off a chair "There's room. Sit down. Seriously, sit down"

"Thanks" said Gabriel. He looked around at his new table mates.

"You must be Gabriel" said a boy who was holding hands with the girl who moved her bag.

"Yes" replied Gabriel.

"I'm Oberon. This is Titania. These are our friends" said Oberon, pointing to them as he introduced them all to him "Why aren't you with your usual band of followers?"

Gabriel flushed "They aren't at my usual table"

"Why's that? You guys all seemed like pretty goo friends"

Gabriel's face flared with anger "Because that fucking bitch, Hermia, humiliated me in front of everyone. They're all laughing at me behind my back"

"That sucks" said Titania.

"They're stabbed me in the back for the last fucking time. I'm sick to death of them all. I'm better off on my own" said Gabriel firmly "From now on, I don't need a girlfriend or a bunch of imbeciles hanging onto my every word. Fuck them all. I can take care of myself"

"Ok then" said Oberon "I guess you like to say fuck a lot"

"All the fucking time"

"Well, since that's the case, I'm going to call you fuck. Well, I would, but I'd get into trouble for swearing all the time, so I'm going to call you Puck" said Oberon.

"Ok" shrugged Gabriel "Stab me in the back, though, and you'll wish you were never born"

"Don't worry. We didn't hear whatever Hermia said. We don't care" added Titania.

"Why didn't you hear? I'm sure all the people in Australia and New Zealand heard it, she was shouting so loud"

"We weren't there. We were celebrating Ostara" said Titania.

"Oh. Well. That's nice" said Gabriel, wondering what the hell Ostara was.

"You don't know what it is, do you?" asked Oberon.

"No" said Gabriel, shaking his head.

"It's a Wiccan celebration. We're Wiccan. This is our coven. Most covens are secretive, but we think that people should take pride in their religion and be open, so we are to those who ask"

"Good for you" replied Gabriel. He had heard of Wicca, and it had intrigued him. To date, he was a devout atheist.

"Well, he's certainly nicer than the school's Christian group were!" said Oberon.

"Oh, them? They told me my life was meaningless without God" replied Gabriel, rolling his eyes "I don't need some invisible man in the sky telling me what to do. I can make my own decisions in life, and I take responsibilities for my actions. And I chose to be mean. So there"

"Exactly! Except we don't chose to be mean. It's against the Wiccan Rede" said Titania.

"What's that?" asked Gabriel.

"An ye harm none, do what ye will" replied Oberon "If we were to cause harm, then it would come back to us in threefold. Like karma"

"But what if a person is already bad?" said Gabriel "Surely being bad back is just delivering the threefold"

"Not exactly" said Titania "If you understood our religion a bit more, you'd get it. I think they should teach this in schools, instead of just the six main ones"

"You have a point. Maybe that's why the main religions are so intolerant" suggested Gabriel "Because they don't understand it"

"Yeah. Exactly. They think we're devil worshippers. All we want is to appreciate the earth and nature for what it is. And we only cast spells for the good of ourselves and others" said Oberon. Gabriel nodded. This group was much more interesting than his old friends. He didn't need them. He felt like he fitted with this group now. Somehow, he thought he would be staying here for a while.