Chapters have been properly mum'ed I believe, ^_^ Sorry this story is taking longer than normal; I'm writing two (which I know other people do more at a time but...I'm used to focusing on one at a time). Hope this one is enjoyable.

Chapter 3: The High Priestess

Part 1

Last year Emily had learned her lesson about leaving her clothes out on the first day of school; so this year she had them selected and safely hidden in the back of her closet. The shared bathroom, however, was an insurmountable obstacle and she was still left to muddle through a totally wrecked bathroom with no running water left available. She tried not to let the cold shower dampen her mood; she got dressed and grabbed her backpack. As she watched her sister round the corner on the back of Adam's motorcycle, she slid into the seat of her orange moped, delighting in the idea of a lone ride and the hope of seeing Naomi in class. Even though they were friendly in the weekly pottery workshops and the blonde always greeted her on the street, she had never been invited over; the other girl seemed to have an invisible wall between them at all times—except when they were at their wheels working with clay. The redhead sighed as she began her ride to college; perhaps she could see more of the unguarded side of Naomi if they had some classes together.

By the time she arrived, Katie had obviously already made a stir at the new school; everyone she met did a double take—which made her instantly self-conscious. She knew she should be used to this kind of thing by now, the curse of being the second of the twins in a room, but her immediate thoughts always jumped to is there something on my face and made her nervous. The redhead couldn't believe how different this college was from Roundview; aside from the size, the decor was homier and less sterile. Even the sound of it was different; instead of the deafening roar of students there was more of a buzz of excitement. There was also no mass assembly, only signs directing new students to the main office to pick up their class lists and rule books. Emily scanned the lawn for any sign of Naomi but saw none; she squeezed her way through the double doors and checked the hallway. For a moment she was sure the she saw the blonde turn a corner and tried to catch up with her.

"Ems!" Katie said as she stepped out in front of her. "It's so stupid; we don't have any of the same classes!"

"How do you know?" Emily asked.

"I looked…" her sister replied with a don't be dense look. "Cow at the desk didn't want me to but come on…like it's a big secret…"

"Yeah…" Emily said distractedly, holding her hand out for her papers.

"What?" Katie said, looking at her sister's hand.

"My list?" the brighter haired sister asked.

"It's in there," her sister said. "What? You wanted to do stuff on your own right?"

She'd gotten a lot of comments like that from her sister lately; it was easy enough to brush off— it wasn't like it was much different than the way Katie had always been with her.

"Ok. Well I'll see you at lunch then I guess?" Emily said.

"But there are people you have to meet," her sister pouted.

As Katie turned to call people over, Emily took her chance to make a dash for the main office. Her first class was Sketch Art, and it started in twenty minutes; luckily the college was too small for it to take her long to get there, but she would have to maneuver the halls carefully to avoid her sister. She made it to class with a little over five minutes to spare and took a seat quickly in the back; she closed her eyes and caught her breath.

"Him" a girl said from two seats away. "You must be one of the Fitch girls. I'm Sophia."

"Hi." Emily smiled. "I'm Emily."

The dark haired girl quickly moved from her seat and took the chair next to her as the last few students wandered in. The girl seemed a little intense; she was obviously athletic, but unlike most sports girls, she seemed shy and awkward. Still, Emily had never been the kind of girl to judge a person on the spot so she wasn't going to start now. Sophia chatted away for the remaining minutes before the teacher began to settle the class and begin the introductions; the dark haired girl became suddenly silent and attentive.

"Where to next?" Sophia asked when the class had ended.

"Um….Creative Expression…?" Emily said huskily. "What exactly is that?"

"Oh, it's a writing class! I have it too!" the other girl said excitedly, grabbing the redhead's hand and pulling her down the hall.

"We have time…we're not late…" Emily panted as she tried once again to check the hall for Naomi.

"Just want to be sure we get seats together again," the dark haired girl insisted as they entered the room. "…unless you're sick of me…" she added a little self consciously.

Emily shook her head no and allowed herself to be led to a couple of seats by a large window. Sophia resumed her game of twenty questions and Emily answered her absentmindedly as she watched the door. Eventually the teacher entered, took a head count, and locked the door. Once the teacher had explained the basics of the class Emily smiled to herself; she had been hoping she would have a writing class of some sort and this one seemed perfect—a free for all of creative expression, as the teacher described it. Her new friend seemed a little less interested in it as she sketched along the margin of her notebook and whispered comments to the redhead from time to time.

When the class was over, the two girls parted ways, each of them having different classes.

"See you after lunch…or at lunch…or…you know…" Sophia said as she shuffled of to her next class.

Emily didn't see the other girl at lunch; though she didn't really think she would have a chance to any way since the moment Katie saw her, she pulled her instantly into introductions to the worth knowing people in the school. Lunch period had flown by in a blur of fake smiles and vapid conversation and she was glad to be free when the bell rang. Emily had all but given up hope of finding Naomi today. How could someone as distinct as the blonde was be so hard to find in such a small place? The redhead almost let out a squeal of joy when she entered the Philosophy room and saw that the blonde was there. She hurried over to the seat next to her and sat down.


Part 2

Gina parked the car outside the college and waited for her daughter to make a move for the door. "You're going to be late…"

Naomi steadied her nerves as she looked across the lawn at the swarm of classmates she dreaded seeing again. She sighed and got out of the car, slamming the door shut behind her, and prepared herself—mentally testing the wall she had built around herself for the past few years for any weaknesses.

"I love you too," her mum called from the car.

"Yeah…" Naomi said. "I love you too…"

She skirted the main entrance and made her way around the side of the building. She passed the bike rack and recognized the orange moped that belonged to her neighbor. Naomi shook her head as she found herself looking around for the redhead.

"Hey Blondie!" a loud voice called, causing her to jump.

"Hey Cook," she said in and irritated voice as she hid a smile.

Despite the fact that he was loud, arrogant, and constantly trying to get into her pants, Cook was the only friend she had in the school, or the closest thing to a friend. He was the only one who was just as much of an outcast as she was; he was the resident bad-seed and she suspected he had begun talking to her simply because the boy seemed to love self destruction.

"You didn't call me all summer! I'm hurt," he said in a mock tone.

The blonde girl wasn't sure he was capable of being hurt; he certainly didn't act like it.

"That's because I wanted to enjoy my summer," she teased.

"And how could you do that without a bit of the ol' Cookie?" he joked back as he ruffled her hair and pulled her inside.

"Fuck, Cook!" Naomi snapped, trying to flatten her hair back down. "Stop doing that!"

"Come on, Blondie! You've got to see this!" he said, pulling her down the hallway, bumping them into fellow students the whole way.

He stopped in front of one of the classrooms and pushed the door open then stood back with a proud look on his face.

"You found a classroom. Great…congratulations," the blonde said, rubbing her shoulder that had grazed a few of the lockers in their mad dash down the hall.

"Look inside! I've got the new Home Necessities teacher already! Just look…yeah?" he said pushing her into the room.

"Oh my god, Cook!" Naomi shouted as she ran back out of the room quickly. "You'll be suspended on the first day."

The room was completely ransacked; tables overturned, papers strewn across the floor, the blackboard had a rather detailed depiction of a woman giving a blowjob chalked across it, and there was a pile of what the girl hoped was only mud smeared across the front desk.

"I know! Personal record," Cook said proudly as he pulled the door shut again.

"I'm not going to be anywhere near you when they find this," the girl said as she backed down the hall.

"Oi! They shouldn't have put me in a fuckin' girl's class…not if they didn't want their dollies undisturbed…" the sandy haired boy protested as he followed her down the hall.

Naomi shushed him; even if he did get under her skin, she didn't want the only person in college that would speak to her to be kicked out. She counted herself lucky not to be taking that particular class this year as she turned into the room she would be having her first class in. Cook stood in the doorway as she took a seat.

"You're not even going to watch?" he whined.

"Nope," she answered. "Bye Cookie."

The rest of the class filed in and the seats around her remained empty; her invisible barrier did its job as the room filled with students and her table remained empty. At least the excitement of two new students kept there from being any whispers and glare—instead there was only a sense that the table she had chosen was on a different plain of existence. Her first two classes passed quickly and she breathed a sigh of relief as she headed to her last subject before lunch, but her luck quickly turned as she entered her Geometry class to see both Arcia and Mandy at the same table. That in itself was an oddity; the only thing the two girls had in common was their hatred for the blonde, but the reason was apparent. Katie sat between the two girls as they both seemed to bid for her attention; Naomi held her breath as she slid into the seat farthest to the back. At least for today neither of her enemies noticed her; it wasn't that she was afraid of a fight, she could hold her own against both of them, she was simply so sick of it all.

When the teacher dismissed class, she left as quickly as possible and headed outside, pulling out the lunch her mother had packed. Cook found her in their usual spot under the bleachers and dropped his lunch tray loudly beside her.

"So you're still here?" She asked.

He just shrugged. "Couldn't prove a thing…I mean they know, yeah, but they can't actually prove it…all three of us boys in the class have clean up duty."

"And that would be why you're nose is bloody?" Naomi pointed out; obviously the other boys had to know it was Cook that had done all the damage.

"Detention with the new coach," he said as he spat out a little blood. "Just me though…" he added proudly, indicating the other boys were worse for the fight.

"Good job," she said sarcastically. "Just so you know…your Home Necessities' teacher is the new coach's wife."

"Fuckin' shit!" Cook exclaimed.

"You have fun with that," Naomi said. She ruffled his hair as she got up to head to her next class.

Once again, the room filled around her and her parallel universe; she was already beginning to zone out—Philosophy seemed like such a pointless class. She jumped when she sensed that her barrier had been infiltrated and she prepared to fire off a snappy come back to whatever the intruder was going to say.


Part 3

"Hi! I've been looking for you all day!" a husky voice said.

Naomi turned her head quickly, smiling at the redhead despite herself. "Hi."

"I'm glad we have at least one class together. I didn't think I'd ever find you," Emily said.

"Well here I am," The blonde said casually.

"Hi Emily," a dark haired girl said, taking the seat on the other side of the redhead.

"Oh...hi Sophia…" Emily answered. "Do you know Naomi?"

"…not really…" Sophia answered, eying the blonde uncertainly. "I mean…we haven't had classes together...or…" she fell silent.

Sophia was one of those invisible girls; Naomi had never had problems with her, it was just that she was one of her classmates that didn't want risk losing any more or their already scarce popularity by talking to her.

"It's ok…you don't have to talk to me," the blonde assured her without making eye contact.

"Why wouldn't she speak to you?" the redhead asked.

"No reason." Naomi sighed.

Sophia looked away for a few minutes. "Nice to meet you, Naomi," she finally said.

Emily looked back and forth between the two girls, desperately wanting to ask what was going on.

"Everyone shut up and we will get this over with as quickly and painlessly as possible," The teacher grunted from the front of the room. "So we are going to be studying religions and philosophy; by the end of the year you will all give a speech about your answer to all this bullshit. But just to make it more interesting, you'll be paired into two person groups so you can battle it out…"

Naomi's hand shot up.

"Oh Christ, and overachiever." Kieran sighed. "Yes, what is it?"

"So can I just skip all this if I already know there is nothing out there and no reason for all this?" the blonde asked.

"Nope…you'll just have to sit with your thumbs up you're arse and wait to tell us all about it at the end of the year," the teacher replied. "But it was worth a try…"

After more swearing and sarcasm from the teacher, Naomi was pretty sure she would like this class after all. Eventually the pairs were named off at random. Emily sighed and smiled to herself when he placed her with her blonde neighbor, and to her surprise, Naomi gave her a quick smile too. When the class was over, the redhead was sorry to discover that they didn't have any more classes together; she waited on the lawn when the day was over and waved Naomi over when she saw her come out of the building.

"Hey," the redhead said warmly.

The blonde nodded as she checked her phone for service only to see that her mother had left a voice-mail saying the car had broken down once again.

"Great…" she sighed as she shut her phone. "Looks like I'm walking."

"You can get a ride with me…" Emily offered.

"Are you sure?" Naomi asked, eying the moped skeptically.

"Sure, it's no problem," the brown eyed girl insisted. "So…do you really think there is nothing out there? Like you said in class?"

"I don't know," The blonde said honestly. "Should there be?"

"…I don't know…" Emily admitted; she would like to think there was at least a point to life, but damned if she knew what it was.

Naomi carefully climbed behind her on the bike and nervously wrapped her arms around the girl in front of her, trying to find a way to hold on while still keeping her distance, and closed her eyes as the wind rushed through her hair. Who knows she thought there's no reason there can't be something out there.

Well, there it is...another chapter. Let me know what you think of it if you have the time.