The car ride to school was mostly silent, consisting of shared looks between Lily and Whitestorm and a tight-lipped Mrs. Malarke.
The only thing she said was, "I called the office to let them know John was coming." Whitestorm had a backpack that used to be Zachary's clutched in his arms, and a curious look in his eyes as he stared out the window from the back seat. Lily watched the wonder in his eyes as he took in everything, and she decided she would take him to a mall to go people-watching sometime. When the car finally stopped Lily took her time opening the passenger side door, looking at the school with a dull foreboding in her eyes. Whitestorm hopped out, too, after some exasperated instruction from Mrs. Malarke on how to use a car door handle.
"So, this is school." Whitestorm stared at the hulking brick building, and the flagpole with no flag.
"It gets worse." Lily promised him grimly, hiking her sagging backpack further up her shoulders.
"At least you have school." Whitestorm pointed out. His yellow eyes were somber, and his freakishly pale shock of hair looked messy as it was illuminated by the fluorescent lights when they entered the building.
"Don't make me feel guilty." Lily moaned, "I like complaining." She caught his gaze to let her know she was joking, and he smiled tentatively. "Remember the tips I gave you at breakfast, Whitestorm. Follow those and you'll be fine." Maybe even better than me. The fact that he's cute and athletic doesn't hurt anything, she thought sourly. The suddenly vulnerable look on his face made her heart soften. "Hey, you'll be fine. Just be your- actually, no. Be—goofy. Just not too goofy." She fretted, her face contorted in a strange mix of a frown and a bored look.
"I will be fine. Don't you worry. It can't be worse than what I've already been through, can it?" He smiled, but his face fell slowly as Lily didn't answer.
"It can get worse, Whitestorm." She said softly. He gave her a puzzled look but she had already pulled ahead, not looking at him. He caught up to her.
"Wait, what do you mean 'it can get worse'?" He said pleadingly, her yellow eyes large.
"Not now, John." She said forcedly, jerking her head to indicate a person passing by, giving the two strange looks.
"Fine." He sighed softly.
"We got… four classes together, out of eight. Plus lunch." Lily said, as she had stolen Whitestorm's schedule from his bag.
"What about first period?" He asked, leaning over.
"Yup, we have Language Arts together." Lily confirmed, as they entered the ninth grade wing.
"Great!" He grinned. She led him past a row of lockers. "What are these? A bunch of closets?" After breakfast, Lily had led him on a guided tour of the house, pointing out what each room meant and what appliances were in it.
"Not exactly. They hold your backpack and everything you don't need to carry with you." She explained. He nodded, and they slowed to a stop. "246. This is your locker. Mine's across from yours," She pointed to the opposite side of the hallway, "So if you need me you can slip a note through or something." She nodded affirmatively, and looked at Whitestorm again. "What's your combo?" She asked him. He frowned and read it out loud.
"5-36-18." He announced. She nodded and spun it with surprising speed, and the locker clicked open.
"I'll teach you how to do that sometime, but for now we gotta get to class. I need to introduce you to our teachers." Lily said, grabbing Whitestorm's backpack from him and placing it neatly over the hook on the roof of the locker. "Grab your notebooks and your textbooks, and we'll go meet Mr. Flanguelli." Lily ordered, standing beside Whitestorm as he fished awkwardly through the backpack.
"Hey, look, Nerdy's got a boyfriend." A voice jeered, and Lily's face flamed a bright crimson. She didn't turn around though, but her grasp on the locker door got tighter and the tips of her fingers turned white. Whitestorm whipped around, recognizing Nerdy as an insult by the look on Lily's face. Two gangly boys, with identical red hair and hazel eyes, stood in the middle of the hallway, sneering.
"Hey, I'm John." Whitestorm said coolly, a dangerous smile on his face as he held out his hand. One boy cautiously shook, and when their hands grasped each other's Whitestorm crushed it hard so the boy yelped in pain, but Whitestorm didn't let go. "It is so nice to meet you." The yellow eyed-boy said with deadpan. The boy nearly whimpered, his eyes watering. Whitestorm finally let go, still smiling, and waved a pleasant goodbye. The two boys skittered down the hallway, staring over their shoulder at Whitestorm with bugged-out eyes.
"You didn't have to do that. You'll just cause trouble." Lily said softly, her hair hiding half of her face as she stood limply near Whitestorm's locker door.
"No one messes with my friends and gets away with it." He studied her face, but she didn't meet his gaze. "Do these kids mess with you every day?" He asked her. She didn't respond, her amber eyes dark and miserable.
"Not just them. The whole school." She whispered, and sniffled loudly as she held back tears.
"Lily." Whitestorm sighed and embraced her in a stifling hug. Lily buried her face into Whitestorm's broad shoulder and cried softly.
"We should get to class. I'm wasting your time. You should've met the teacher by now." Lily sniffled, blinking back the tears in her eyes and wiping them with the back of her wrist.
"I'm not wasting my time." Whitestorm said, amused. "Any time spent with a friend is never wasted." He squeezed her hand and gave her a reassuring smile. She smiled back, weakly, and they walked together down the hallway to the Language Arts room.
"Is my face red, do I look okay?" Lily asked him in a hushed whisper as they stopped out the doorway.
"You look perfect, Lily. You always do." He smiled.