She remembers how she used to hate math class with all her being. She doesn't hate school in general, and she's not bad at it either, but she just doesn't get this. She used to have absolutely no idea what her teacher was saying because she can't understand the logic behind it.
Now, however, she has no idea, because she stopped listening. She's preoccupied with staring at the back of the boy in front of her. He'd transferred to her school three weeks ago and, suddenly, math didn't seem so horrible anymore.
It's her first crush, she just recently overcame the stage in her life where boys were nothing but eww, and it scared her at first. She'd talked to Misty about it at length and she'd even dared to ask her mother about the strange things she's feeling and though the woman wasn't that much of a help (She'd told her to get used to it and then left the girls alone for the weekend), she's not afraid anymore. She thinks she could even get to like it.
When the bell rings, she packs up her things slowly, she knows he's turning around every day to get his bag from the back of his chair. Today is no different, but when the boy faces her, it's not the boy anymore.
She's staring at the beautiful face of her best friend who smiles down at her gently.
Cordelia wakes to noises in front of the house. Her bedroom faces the front yard, and it's not the first time people woke her by standing on their doorstep.
It's the first time, however, that she had dreamt about that boy and she's not sure what to think. The fact, that he turned into her best friend, a girl, confuses her to no end, also. She would like to ask someone what that means, but her mother doesn't care enough and Misty is definitively the wrong person to talk to.
That's new, too. In the last seven years there was nothing Delia hadn't told Misty – or couldn't tell her. Last month, when the girl had her very first period, the first person she went to, had been her friend. And only after she couldn't really help Cordelia out there, had the other girl reluctantly turned to her mother for help. Then she had shared what Fiona told her with Misty because she knew the taller blonde couldn't talk to her own mother when the time came. When Fiona had overheard that conversation, she told the girls that this is not really a topic you are supposed to converse over just for the joy of it (she'd said it's way too personal) but Delia hadn't cared. She's glad to have someone with whom she can talk about everything – no matter how personal or maybe even inappropriate it was.
So what is she going to do now? She has other friends of course, but none of them she really wants to reveal this to. The only thing she knows, is that she will be sharing that dream with Misty as soon as the girl gets here, up until the part where the other girl starts to appear. Misty would be so delighted about that development in her crush of that boy. Everything else, she relents, she has to figure out for herself.
The girl is pulled out of her thoughts, when she hears her mother calling for her. She's genuinely surprised by that. She hadn't known her mother is even home and she honestly hadn't cared last night when she went to bed. After their weekly Latin lessons Fiona had left under one pretence or the other and Delia had spent the evening eating ice-cream and going to bed way later than she's allowed to on occasions her mother is there to monitor that.
She pushes back the covers with a sigh, swings her legs over the edge of her bed and stretches her still tired muscles. A glance at the clock reveals that it's barely seven a.m., and she knows, that the only reason Fiona had opened the door in the first place was because she just came home herself. At another shout, she rolls her eyes, but gets up finally. She doesn't have to go far though; the moment she opens her bedroom door, a bunch of wild blonde hair crashes into her. She's about to make a joke about watching where you walk, but is stopped by a strange sound coming from Misty. It sounds suspiciously like sniffling. Looking her friend over carefully, Cordelia can see that the other girl had actually been crying. Red eyes, wet cheeks, and that awful sniffling sound – all the indications are right there.
Taking the girl's hand, Delia drags her back into the room, closing the door with her foot while turning around and pushes her down to sit on the bed. She takes a seat beside her and envelops Misty in a tight hug. The girl cries into her friend's shoulder.
Delia's curious, but she doesn't want to push and so she just silently comforts Misty, tightening her hold ever so often, to let the other girl know she's there for her. Her patience is rewarded ten minutes later, when Misty pulls back and wipes her eyes with her sleeve. She doesn't care, she's just going to change it later.
"I'm sorry I woke you up so early" she says, gets up from the bed. She makes her way over to Cordelia's closet and pulls out one of her own shirts. "Your mother probably hates me now" The words are mumbled into the fabric she just pulled over her head.
"Don't worry, she just got home herself." The blonde tries some humor to cheer Misty up some, before she just has to ask what she's doing here.
In the last seven years nothing really changed and – if so – their friendship only grew stronger. Every day, they went to school, did their homework and then met at Delia's. Both girls have other friends, too but none of the invitations hold the same appeal than what they already have. Some birthday parties and the occasional outing they had been roped into with a lot of begging – that's really the only time the girls have spent apart over the years.
Friday's were still reserved for Latin lessons with Fiona and Bible lessons with Misty's mother (though fortunately the girl had managed to talk her mother out of Bible Class one year ago).
Misty would still come by Friday evening for sleepovers. This week Misty's mother had insisted that the girl stay home after lessons, because they had something important to discuss and, as much as she didn't want to, she had relented and told Delia she would be by around ten on Saturday. No matter what her parents had to say to her, she knew, she either wouldn't like it or just didn't care. As it turns out, it is the former.
"We're moving" She grabs a handful of tissues form the vanity because she can feel the tears coming again. "My daddy's got a new job offer and it makes more money, so he's taking it" She is engulfed in another hug, as Delia folds her arms around the taller blonde's waist.
"When are you leaving?" They won't be moving far. This is nothing serious. They will still get to spend a lot of time together. If she's not in reaching distance for daily visits, there's still the weekend. And holidays.
"Saturday, so I have enough time to get around before the new school year starts." She buries her face in Cordelia's shoulder, lets the few tears that threaten to escape roll down her cheeks. This is goodbye – she knows it and, deep down, Delia does, too. "Delia, this is not like I'm moving to another street. We won't see each other anymore"
"But you can't leave" They are both crying now. They can't do this. They are like family – they are family – and though there are ways and methods of keeping in touch even when not in the same state, they just can't do this. The last seven years have been the best years of their lives. Without Misty, Delia has no one to talk to about her magic or use magic with – and vice versa. They need each other in more ways than they had ever imagined.
"I have to"
"Why don't you stay here?" Delia has to say something. It's barely audible through her tears but she needs to fill the silence that fills the room.
"I'm thirteen, Delia" the girl laughs. "I can't stay alone in another state"
"No, I mean, why don't you stay here?!" She doesn't know where that idea came from, but she knows, as soon as it leaves her lips, that she means it. Misty's spending the majority of her time at their house anyway, so what did it matter if she moved in officially? It's the perfect solution – Misty doesn't want to leave and Delia doesn't want her to.
The wild blonde more than once confessed to her friend, that she doesn't know, what she would do if she didn't have Cordelia. The friendship in itself, is of course incredibly important to the both of them, but there's also the fact that they are both witches. No one in Misty's family knows about her Powers and she intends to keep it that way. It is incredibly hard for the girl to hide her magic from her parents at times though, because when she doesn't use it for a while, she just tends to forget, that she has it. More than once objects started to fly through the room when she was thinking about something in particular and she's still afraid of anyone finding out. She can't see herself living with her parents, away from Delia and even Fiona and not let her magic get public notice.
"Honey, your mother would have a fit, and I'm going to school on the other side of town" Misty shrugs "Besides, my parents would never allow this" She wants to stay, Delia can hear it in her voice and feel it in her body language as the girl leans more heavily against her. Her hair smells like roses and for a moment Cordelia is transported back to her strange dream.
Shaking her head, she gets rid of the images quickly. She doesn't have the time for that. "So you'll change schools, you'll have to do that at your new home anyway" They finally move out of each other's arms, but just long enough to walk back over to the bed and cuddle up against the headboard. "And my mother won't even notice you're here. I'm sure you know that"
She doesn't mention the situation with Misty's parents, because they both know, that this is the least of their problems. It they actually do this, if they get Fiona on board with this, the adult has ways and means to make it happen.
"You will be leaving here in three years, to go to that Boarding School for witches"
"So you come with me" Delia detaches herself from Misty's arms and turns around to look at her friend. Sitting cross-legged on her bed, she almost bounces with energy. She can't believe she hasn't thought about this before now. "This will be so amazing. We learn all about our magic and how to use it properly and we are going to be going to the same school"
The girl rambles on for a whole while, as Misty drifts off, lost in the idea of the image Delia is picturing. With a short laugh, Misty leaps forward and throws her arms around her friend's neck. This shuts the shorter girl up effectively.
"You seriously mean that?" Delia nods in reply, her smile hidden in the other girl's hair. When Delia leaps off the bed without warning, they stumble onto the floor and with a lot of laughter Cordelia pulls her friend off the floor and heads out the door with Misty's hadn in her own.
Misty is confused, until they come to a stop in front of Fiona's room – then she's just scared. The adult would never hurt any of them, but she's still not pleasant to be around when tired, or drunk, or hung over – or just not in the mood to deal with the children. But Delia knocks without a second thought and doesn't shy away when her mother opens the door and glares at them. The girl's not scared of her mother anymore – at least not as often as she used to be.
Fiona is not really excited about the idea at first, but with some clever prodding and well-thought through arguments on how this would benefit all of them, they don't need that long to sell her the idea. She tells them to get out of her hair and let her sleep for a few hours and promised to have an actual conversation about this. They spend the day camped out in Cordelia's room and when there is a knock on the door four hours later, they can't help but be pleasantly surprised. When Fiona genuinely makes an effort to have this conversation, then this thing is as good as over.
The girls are pretty confident, that this will work out.
