Erika POV
I wake up to an alarm going off. I hit snooze and try to back to sleep.
"Time to get up!" I hear Genie say.
My eyes pop open and I sit up to look at her. "What are you doing up so early?"
She smiles at me. "Watching yaoi on your phone! Oh, by the way, you're now subscribed~!"
"Dammit Genie, will you stop watching porn on my phone?!"
Her smile get's bigger. "Nope."
I sigh and get up to get dressed. I rummage through my stuff and pull out a Metallica shirt and a pair of jeans then go into the bathroom to change out of yesterday's clothes. I'll have to remember to take a shower tonight. I slip on my shoes and black jacket then grab my schedule. I look at the time, 7:10 PM. "Hey Genie, why'd you wake me up so early, you know it doesn't take me long to get ready."
"Yeah, but I didn't want to rush eating breakfast."
I turned to look at her. "Do you really need 20 minutes to eat breakfast?"
"Yes, yes I do. I want to taste everything."
I look at her. "I can make so many jokes with that."
She smiles. "I know. Come on, let's go eat."
"Mmm, food is the magic word."
We go down the stairs and straight to the kitchen, and look through the food on the fridge. I grab some Cinnamon toast crunch, frosted mini wheats, raisin bran, and golden puffs.
"Geez, don't eat the whole kitchen! Your going to eat us out of the house... House of Night, that is!" Genie laughs.
"I'm hungry, I've been eating a lot ever since I hit that growth spurt. Besides, you said you plan to try everything! Oh, and your joke sucks."
"Oh yeah, well your jokes swallow! My jokes are awesome!"
I roll my eyes at her. "That doesn't make any sense."
"Exactly!" She shouts.
"Hey, that's my thing!"
"Quote by Erika."
"Will you quit it!"
She let's out an evil laugh. "No."
"Ugh, you're exhausting."
"Good."
"Hurry up, we have to leave at 7:40."
She sighs. "Fine, mom!"
We hurry up and eat our food then look at our schedules as we rush to the school campus. I look at Genie. "Hey, what's your first period again?"
"Uhmmm, fencing."
"Damn, I have weapons. Where do you have to go?"
"Gym."
"Same here, any idea where that is?"
"Nope, you?"
I look at her. "You're talking to a person who is directionally challenged; I'll end up in the middle of a jungle trying to look for the north pole!"
"Oh, right." She says laughing.
"Yeah."
"Ooh, I know, we'll follow our hearts!"
I look at her. "You're an idiot."
She starts laughing. "Actually, I'm an I-dye-ot."
I sigh. "Come on, let's go look for this gym."
"Okay."
We walk into the hall and look around and run Neferet. She begins to smile but it quickly switches to a look of shock when she sees our clothes. "What are you wearing?"
"Clothes. Would you rather us go naked?" I say.
"What about your uniforms?" She says.
"What about them?"
"Why aren't you wearing them?"
"Oh, because I like my clothes."
She scowls at me. "Well, from now on you have to wear the school uniform."
I sigh. "Fine."
"Can you help us find the gym." Genie asks quickly.
"Sure." She says, suddenly cheery again. "Right this way, ladies."
We follow her until we reach the gym, we both say thank you as we step inside. We see a room that looks like a dancing studio, covered with mirrors and dummies. At the very end of the room you could see a small corner where various swords, knives, axes and foils are up on the walls; as well as a few bows with arrows and arm guards put up next to them. In the center of the room, two people stood talking.
One was a short blond man with a kind smile and boyish face, he was wearing a white fencing uniform and his was hair tied behind his head. His tattoo looked awesome, he had two dragons wrapped around jaw line with their heads above his eyebrow breathing fire at his mark. The next man was tall with loose red hair reaching his neck, his tattoo was a chain connected to the bottom end of his moon running down the left side of his face with a dagger on the end, almost as if it was there to hold the moon down from flying out into space. He wore black pants and no shirt, revealing an X-shaped scar on his chest, as well as a black blade tattooed to his arm. I didn't think this school would allow tattooed teachers.
"Hey, likely do you think that dude will let me play with that battle axe over there?" I whisper to my friend.
She gives me a skeptical look. "Probably not. Anyone with half a brain would know to never hand you sharp objects."
"Why not!? It's not like I'm gonna kill anyone!"
"You're right, one person is too small. You'd go after crowds."
"Not unless they give me a reason."
My friend begins laughing at my remark and the two me look over at us. The shorter one walks up to us. "Good morning ladies, are you two new?"
"Yes." We both say.
"School doesn't start for another eight minutes, you two are early." As he gets closer he notices our marks he stops in place and begins examining them. "You two have some unusually marks."
"Thank you." Genie says with a large grin. "It compliments our personality."
He gives us a strange look and I elbow my friend.
"Ow." She says and starts laughing again.
"My name is Erika, and this..." I begin, extending my hand to shake his.
"Paige." He interrupts, taking my forearm. "So you are the new students I've been told about. My name is Dragon Lankford, I am the fencing instructor."
"Hi." We both say.
"Nice to meet you." Genie adds.
"Sweet name." I comment.
"Merry meet." He responds. "Please, come in."
He leads us the middle of the room then turns to the taller one. "These are the two new ladies we got. The taller one there is Paige Lusardi, and this is your new student Erika Thacker."
The tall man looks at us and nods. "Merry meet."
"Hi." We both say.
The man turns to me. "Erika, you may call Professor Katlo. I am your new teacher and mentor, if you have any questions or need any help, come to me."
I stare at Genie and start chuckling. I mouth the words 'come to me' and she starts to laugh. Our new teachers give us weird questioning looks.
"Hey, will we get to use any of that?" I nod to the different weapons hung up on the wall.
"When I believe you are ready, yes. But for now, let's focus on studying them first."
"So we have to do a bunch of work just like at school before we get to play with those."
"Young lady, they are not toys, you don't play with them. And yes, I'd prefer it if my students know what they are messing with before attempting to handle them."
I let out a long sigh. "But I both know about and have had experience with all of that."
"Well it never hurts to learn a little more"
"If I bring a gun, would I be able to do a little target practice here? You know, get a little more experience and knowledge about what I'm dealing with, since it never hurts to learn a little more?" I beam.
He gives an exasperated sigh with a faint hint of smile then says. "As long as you don't practice on any of the students."
My grin gets bigger. "I think I'm going to like it here."
Genie begins to laugh. "She's a handful isn't she?"
Students began to crowd in and me and Genie have to separate.
Professor Katlo looks at the group gathered at the corner. "Hello students, today we are going to focus on Katanas. Now, who here knows what a Katana is?"
I raise my hand, feeling a little silly.
"Yes Erika?"
"A Katana is a curved, single-edged Japanese sword." I say, a little bored.
"Very good." He pulls one of the swords from the wall and holds it up, pointing to the tip of the handle. "Alright, now right here is called the buttcap." The class begins to laugh, the teacher ignores them and begins listing different parts of the sword. "This whole part is the handle. On the handle we have the rayskin, the braid, and the peg." He says, pointing to the different parts of the sword.
He pauses for a moment and looks, probably making sure everyone is paying attention, before continuing. "This ridge here is the collar, then we have the spacer right below it in between the blade collar. Then we have the scabbard mouth, the guard, the cord, the scabbard, and the scabbard tip." He pulls the Katana out of it's sheath, pointing at part of the blade. "And right here is the back, the grain, the edge, groove, tempered line, blade ridge, dividing line, and point." He moves his hands, making it possible to clearly see the entire sword.
He takes a moment to admire it before speaking again, looking at each of our faces as he talks, pacing. "Each blade has a unique profile, mostly dependent on the smith and construction method. The sword also has an exact tip shape, which is considered an extremely important characteristic. The tip can be long, medium, short, or even hooked backwards. In addition, whether the front edge of the tip is more curved or straight is also important." He holds it out and strikes the air in front of him. "One thing to remember when using a Katana is that it is not intended to block, if you attempt to block using a Katana it might chip because of the edge being made of hard steel. I will have you working with Katanas, but first you're going to practice with a Bokken."
He puts the Katana back on the wall where it belongs and pulls out a wooden sword that looks similar to the Katana. "Once you get a feel for the sword and know how to correctly handle it and feel comfortable using one, we will replace these with the actual swords, but for now you're stuck with this one. Now, everybody grab a Bokken and I will show you how to correctly handle one. When holding the sword, avoid the end of the handle and hold the sword lightly with your hand. Have your left hand closer to the collar, keeping your hand about 4 cm apart."
He begins doing what he describes "Now, tighten the pinky and ring finger strongly while lightly tightening your middle finger, and try to float your thumb and forefinger a little. Make sure there is no looseness in your grip, but don't hold the handle with all your strength. A sword is fixed when a handle is held with all your strength, so then you won't be able swing the sword the way you want it to swing. Make sure you distribute the power between your two hands correctly, putting a little more force behind your left hand then your right. Bend your elbow a little, and loosen the shoulder slightly. Tighten both armpits lightly. Then space between the handle and the navel should be about one fist."
He stops and walks around, looking at how we grip our swords before going back to the front of the group. "Very good, now let's try using it. Try to swing it the way you would throw a fishing rod. Swing a sword with a feeling that a point is thrown at the target. Then, stretch both arms out and try to draw a big circle. At this time, the orbit of the sword must always pass through the center of the body. Tighten the third finger strongly when swinging a sword. Make sure you stretch the right arm fully, when a right arm bends a target can be hard to cut with a sword because an elbow becomes a cushion and the power is absorbed by it. You are all doing very well! Now, Practice with the person next to you."
I turn to the girl on my right and she looks at me. She was a little Slovakian girl who was slightly taller than me with light brown, almost orange hair; pale skin; thin, almost frail looking figure with cloudy blue-gray eyes and the sweetest little smile. "Hi, my name is Magdalena Pekny, but most call me Maggie."
I give her a small smile in return. "Erika, nice to meet you. How are you with a sword, umm Magdalena?"
"I-I'm pretty good." She stammers a little and blushes.
"Great, let's do this."
We go for a little bit and I make sure to go a little easy on her, but she proves her excellence by matching every attack. "You're pretty good at this, let's see how much you can handle!" I start picking up the pace, going a little harder on her with her blocking nearly every attack and throwing a few of her own. "You do this before? I only got a few hits on you and you nearly got me a couple times!"
"I-I like swords." She stutters, blushing again.
"Well you do pretty good, great talent you got there. That's something to be proud of."
"Thanks."
"No problem, you deserve it."
I begin picking up again, and we get lost in our battle. Just like before, she continues to block most of my attacks and actually ends up getting me.
"Way to go ladies!" We both turn, panting, to see Professor Katlo watching us.
"Thanks." We both mutter, getting a little tired.
"Class is about to end, so please put both your Bokkens up. You two make excellent partners, I'm very proud of you both."
We both nod and go put up our wooden swords. As soon as the bell rings Genie runs up to us. "Hey."
"Hey," I say, then point at my partner. "this is Magdalena."
Genie turns to the little Slovakian girl next to me and extends her arm. "Hi! I think I'll call you Alena, if that's okay. I'm Paige."
She nods and takes my friend's hand. "That's fine, It's nice to meet you."
"I think I'll stick with Magdalena." I say. "It sounds cool. Plus it's unique, it'll help me remember it."
She nods again. "I have to go to class, it was nice meeting you two, see you tomorrow Erika.
"See, ya." We walk out the door and I turn to Genie. "What do you have next?"
"Umm, sketching. You?"
"I'm choosing intro to music, mine is in 314."
''I think our rooms are next to each other again.'' Genie says.
"Alright, now it's getting creepy. Are you stalking me?" I shout.
She stops and looks at me. "How did you find out?! Did someone tell you? Who was it!'' She pretends to freak out.
We bust out laughing as the people around us give us strange looks.
I look at Genie. "Look, we're so weird, we're even starting to creep out vampyres. Ever thought we'd see the day?''
''Of course, I am psycho you know!''
I look at my friend. "You're psycho? When did that happen?!"
"I meant to say psychic, but I am psycho too.'' Genie shrugs.
''I thought I was the psycho one?'' I pout.
''Fine, but I get to be a psychic still!"
"No."
"Yes."
"No."
"Dammit!"
Paige POV
I step out of the class and see Erika in the hallway. I quietly shut the door and sneak up on her then yell. "THE FLAMES OF YOUTH! " She looks up and rolls her eyes. "Of course you would say something stupid like that."
I smile at her. "Haha, yes I would."
She rolls her eyes. "So what's up G?"
I stop. "G? That's a new one."
"Yeah, Genie is kind of long and I'm lazy." She looks at me for a second. "Hey, shouldn't you be in class?"
"Nope."
"And why not?"
"The teacher kicked me out." I beam at her.
"What did you do?"
"Well..."
``**~ Flashback ~**``
'I should make an entrance...' I think to myself. 'A grand entrance...'
The classroom next to sketching is empty. And the door, surprisingly, is unlocked.
"What's wrong with some people?" I wonder out loud. "Don't they know unlocked doors leads to the collapse of society?"
A smirk flashes on my face when I spot a window. I quickly climb out and balance myself. Not even a foot from the window I'm standing in, there's another window that looks like it leads into the sketching room. Quietly, I slide it open and step into the frame.
"Dynamic entry!" I shout, jumping into the room and pose.
They class stares at me with their jaws hanging open. The teacher, a man in his mid-twenties with sapphire doodles framing his face, chestnut brown eyes, and short dirty blond hair, has his lips pressed into a thin line and is glaring at me as if he could set me on fire. It's dead silent for a minute.
"Take a seat." He bites out at me.
"Thank you." I grin as I pick up the nearest chair. "Where should I take it?"
"Out." The teacher fumes. "Just get out, I don't feel like dealing with something like this today. You seem to like making an entrance, so how about I talk to professor Nolan about switching you to Drama. Maybe she'll have better luck handling you, because I do not have the patience for this." He mutters that last part under his breath.
"Yes sir, Mr. Boner sir!" I say cheerfully.
"It's Do- you know what, forget it, out. Just get out." He says, putting his hand up to rub his temples as I begin walking out the door.
``**~ Flashback End ~**``
She rolls her eyes again. "Of course."
"What's that supposed to mean?!" I pout at her before falling to my knees dramatically in front of her. "Have I not pleased you, my Queen?! Are you not entertained?!"
Erika laughs at me. "No, no I'm not."
"Then I must throw myself from the highest hill!" I declare before jumping into the air, only to land on my feet a second later. "...Well that didn't work."
"You're a mess." She shakes her head in exasperation while laughing.
"Yeah, I think my teacher might agree with you there. I don't think Mr. Boner likes me very much..." I say.
"Gee, I wonder why!" She says sarcastically.
"Yeah, me too. I mean like, I think I'm a pretty lovable person. So, what are you here for? Look at you, just sitting on the ground like that." I say, nudging her with my foot.
"Oh, you know, just got in trouble for listening to music in class. I thought it was allowed, considering it is a music class and all. But nope, it isn't. This school stinks."
"Oh, that sucks."
"Yep."
"Like a vacuum."
"Or a black hole."
"Or a stripper."
She smiles at me. "Indeed."
"Indubitably."
"Mmm, yes."
We start laughing.
"Sooo, what do you wanna do now?" She asks.
"I don't know."
"Well think of something, I'm bored!" She whines.
"Ooh, how about we call Nick?" I suggest.
"Eh."
"Come on, please?"
"Uh, fine."
"Yay."
She pulls out her phone and calls our old friend's number.
"Hello?"
"Nick!" We yell in unison.
"What do you want?"
"We're bored." Erika whines.
"Entertain us." I add.
"No."
"Yes." I say
"No."
"But we're bored." Erika whines again.
"Not my problem."
"It is now." Erika says.
"Goodbye."
"No, wait!" I yell
"What?" He says, irritated.
"Yo mamma's so classless she could be a Marxist Utopia!" I laugh.
"Huh?"
"She Was telling a joke." Erika says.
"That joke sucked, it wasn't even funny."
"And you swallow!" I shout.
"No, you just don't get it because your stupid." Erika says quickly.
"... Yo mama jokes are retarded."
"You're retarded!" I yell.
"They're not any stupider than your 'that's what she said' jokes!" Erika adds.
"Those jokes are awesome!" Nick yells.
"They are too overused." Erika argues.
"You're overused!" Nick snaps back
"Your face is overused!" Erika returns.
"Huh?" Nick says, confused.
"Exactly!" Erika laughs.
"That doesn't make any sense."
"Good!"
"Whatever, I'm gonna go."
"Fine then." Erika says, sounding like a little kid throwing a fit.
"What, I got a new game!" Nick whines, worried he'll make her upset. He always instantly defends his actions when he worries he might upset her.
"DUMBLEDORE!" I yell.
"What?" Erika and Nick say at the same time.
"You guys were leading the conversation without me, so I decided to hop back in."
Erika stares at me. "So you say Dumbledore?"
"It was the first thing I thought of." I say.
"Dumbledore?" She gives me a skeptical look.
"Yes." I say.
"Wow."
"See, this is why I stopped hanging out with you two." Nick says.
"No, you stopped hanging out with us because we're in another state." I correct.
"...that too."
"Dork." Erika mumbles under her breath.
"What?" Nick answers.
"Huh?" Erika says, mockingly.
"Whatever, I'm leaving." He hangs up.
"Well, that amused me for about 3.2 seconds." Erika says, bored.
The bell rings for us to go to our next class, I jump up and look at my friend. "Come on, get up."
"Uh, but I don't wanna." She whines.
"Too bad, you have to. we gotta go to class."
"Fine." She gets up and starts walking. "Let's go."
"Where are you going? We have to find out where our class is before we go there."
"Eh, I'm going exploring. I'll find it eventually."
"Wait." I say. She stops and I pull out my new schedule. "I know we have the same third hour class. Let's see, we have sociology, its in room 215. Hey, Neferet teaches this class!"
I hear my friend groan.
"Come on let's go." I tell her.
"I really don't want to." She groans.
"I really don't care, come on."
We start walking around until we find the 200 hall, and walk into Neferet's class. We head to the very back of the class, and some kid sat down and turned to stare at us. Another blond kid came by and sat there watching us. Then another kid came in and sat next to him. The blond one looked at him and started whispering, I listen in.
"...weird marks just like that one chick. Where are they coming from?"
Erika Pov
I notice two guys sitting two seats in front of us, whispering. I hear one of them say 'where are they coming from', I clear my throat.
"We come from the deepest, darkest, pits of hell where even your worst nightmares are afraid to venture near. Where we slither with hideous beasts, so terrifying you couldn't possibly imagine their appearance. Doing things so terrible, not even the devil himself dares to imagine." As I said it G's smile grew wider while one of the boys began to get more and more scared.
"Cool, where'd you come up with that speech?" The other boy smiles.
"Just now." I say.
"Nice." He says.
"Yeah."
"My name is Zayne Murento, this here is William Tripp." He holds out his hand.
I take it. "Erika Thacker, this is my friend G." I take a good look at the two. Zayne has black hair, his bangs are dyed a blue-purple color with a little pink on the edge of one side. His eyes are gray, and skin and facial features kind of remind me of Adam Lambert. William was a little on the pail side, with light green eyes and blond spiked hair.
"G huh? What kind of name is that?"
"My name is Paige, she likes to do nicknames." G jumps into the conversation.
"Ah." Zayne says.
"Does he ever talk?" I nod to the blond.
"Yeah, I think you scared him." Zayne rubs the back of his neck. "He's a major scaredy cat."
"Am not." William whispers under his breath.
"Are too." Zayne mocks.
"I'm sorry if I accidentally scarred you for life." I smile.
"You didn't scar me." He scowls.
"Class, please grab your books and turn to chapter 11." Neferet walks into the room wearing a deep, dark purple dress that trails a little on the floor with a sweetheart neckline, ruffled sleeves, and a skin tight fit with a ribbon hanging right below her breast.
Everyone goes in the back of the room and pulls out text books then quickly sits back down, and the guys sit right in front of us.
She looks back at the rest of the class. "Okay class, please pull out your journal for notes." She instructs.
I grab a couple of pieces of paper and hand one to Jess. After she takes hers I begin playing with the top left corner of mine while waiting for further instructions. As I start playing with it, my mind starts wondering. Then I feel something hit the back of my neck, and I look back to see William.
"I am not a coward!" He mouths.
I smile. "Yes you are." I mouth back. I see G staring at something on her left, and from the corner of my eye I see her hand brushing gently against the desk. I turn to see what she's looking at and see a window. On the other side of the window is an American basswood, with it's branches scraping against the window. I stare at it. It wasn't windy outside when we were out there, it shouldn't be moving.
Whoa!" I hear Zayne gasp quietly next to me. I look to see my paper on fire.
"Shit shit shit!" I whisper to my myself, trying to put the flames out real quick. I hear a crash next to me, and see the branch went through the window. Glass flies everywhere, everyone begins running out of the classroom. The four of us run out into the hall, then keep going till we're outside the school.
"Why are we out here?" William asks.
"Because we're ditching." I grin at the two of them. "And you two are stalking us."
"I'm not stalking you, I want to find out what the fuck that was!" Zayne says.
"Oh, so it's just William." I say.
"What?! No!" He shouts.
"Aw, that's so sweet." G says, she clutches my arm. "Can we keep him?"
"Eh." I say.
He turns to G. "Are you crazy or something?"
"Yes, yes I am. Why do you ask?"
"Because he wants to ride the crazy train." Zayne chuckles.
William's face turns red.
"Whoa there! At least take her to dinner first." I laugh.
"I don't get it." G pouts.
"You'll learn when you're smarter." I say.
"You mean older." She says.
When I say nothing she looks at me. "You mean older right? Erika?"
"Back up a minute." Zayne now looks serious. "I still want to know what the fuck happened."
"Can we talk about it after we get something to eat?" G asks. "I need some greasy fast food."
"After food?! You two freaking made stuff catch on fire and a window explode!" Zayne nods.
"Jack in the Box?" I suggest.
After a quick nod from G we start walking from the school, and the other guys follow us again.
"Wait a minute!" They shout as they run after us. "You can't go out there!"
"Watch us." I throw over my shoulder.
"B-but, you have to ask permission first! And we have to cover our marks!" Will starts to freak out.
"Eh, I don't feel like it." I say as I continue walking.
"You don't even know where Jack in the Box is!" William yells.
"Then we'll go to McDonalds!" G responds.
"What? No!" I give her a look of disgust. "McDonalds sucks! Their food is gross!"
"My mom sucks!" G retorts.
"Do not!" I yell.
"Yes you do." She grins.
"Your face sucks!" I shoot back.
"Hey! Quit ignoring us!" William's shout interrupts our argument.
"Have they been shouting this whole time?" G asks me.
"I didn't even know they were still there." I tell her.
"You thinking what I'm thinking?" Her grin turns mischievous.
"Ditch the stalkers?" I match her grin.
"I was gonna say downers, but okay." G shrugs and then punches the air. "Hard core parkour!"
"At least you didn't say-"
"Fire up the Friendship Fusion!" She yells.
"You're a mess." I sigh and shake my head as we begin running.
Stephanie: Hey guys, sorry I took so long with this chapter! I got grounded for a few months then I started procrastinating, then- hey look! A fly!
Jessica: Focus, Steph! Let the force be with you!
Stephanie: You are such a dork! Anyways guys, thanks for reading. Please start reviewing or PM me! Oh, before I forget! That "friendship fusion" Paige mentions at the end is a reference to this amazing and hilarious web comic called Paranatural, which you all should read. The part about me saying "You'll learn when your older" is also a reference to Paranatural. Again, please PM or review me! I can see when people read this and I need feedback. Tell me what's wrong with it, what needs fixing? This is my first story, help me improve it!
Jessica: I know where you live! Review, or else!
Stephanie: Ha, who's the stalker now?
Jessica: Me, I'm the stalker. With a knife. *grins mischievously*
Stephanie: No
Jessica: No?
Stephanie: *Takes knife away* No.
Jessica: Aww... Can't I just-
Stephanie: No
Jessica: Aww *pouts*
Stephanie and Jessica: Bye guys!
