"You will stay here until recess is over! Hopefully this time you will actually learn your lesson and we can move on from this," Mr. Herald said as he sat down at his desk at the front of the classroom. He picked up his pen and started to grade the homework assignments while young Jade West was meant to sit silently in her seat and reflect on her actions.

For Jade though, she's already done just that and has not regretted a thing. If her classmates wanted to poke fun at her for her darker aesthetic then they should be able to handle being poked back. Turns out though, most children do not have as thick of skin as they think they do. Jade confronted a group of four girls who were loudly mocking her clothing from across the lunchroom while she was trying to read in peace and decided that they needed to be put in their place. The young girl then shut her book and stowed it away before picking up her lunch tray and marching over to their table. Without a word she picked a random item from her tray and dumped it and smeared it over the other girl's clothing, making them scream and cry as some of the other students laughed. The cafeteria staff and some of the teachers nearby did not find it as amusing and swiftly swooped in and broke it up and Jade was escorted to the assistant principal's office for a stern talk.

From the window in the classroom, Jade had a full view of the playground outside and watched her classmates and the other students of the school race around the play equipment under the springtime sun. She did not have many friends at this school nor did she really care so this "punishment" was nothing to her. The young girl crossed her arms and leaned back in her chair, letting it teeter on the back legs as the minutes slowly ticked by on the clock until Mr. Herald stood up and said, "I'll be back in a little bit. Just need to run to the computer room to grab some papers. Don't do anything while I'm gone." He sternly pointed his finger at her as he left the room and closed the door behind him while Jade just scoffed and rolled her eyes.

For the next ten minutes, Jade was left completely alone in the classroom and bored out of her mind since her book had been confiscated by the teacher as well. She was about to close her eyes and take a nap for the remainder of this period until she heard the sound of muffled crying and laughter coming from somewhere nearby. Jade got out of her seat and approached the windows and popped them open before glancing to the sides and spotted the source of the noise. Off to her left, along the side of the building tucked out of the view of the recess aids was a group of three boys gathered around a young girl that Jade couldn't see too well as one of the boys was crouched down in front of her and shoving her shoulder. One of his buddies was crumbling something up in his hands and letting the pieces fall around the girl while the last boy looked a little uncomfortable and seemed to be acting as their lookout. "Come on! Say something else, you nerd!"

Jade rolled her eyes at the boy's weak threat and leaned on the counter as the other girl's face came into view. Her large brown eyes instantly caught Jade's attention, they were framed by a pair of large glasses and were brimming with tears as she looked between the three bullies. She had long brown hair that had once been tied in a series of intricate braids but it looked like someone had tugged and messed up her hair, making it look like a tangled mess. She had beautiful tanned skin and her clothes were covered in dirt and grass stains from being shoved to the ground. Jade was about to duck back inside the window and ignore them for the rest of the period since it was almost over but heard the same boy say, "I thought you were Spanish, so say something in Spanish, loser! Where's your sombrero? Did you get your card to stay here?"

At hearing that comment, Jade went into autopilot and turned back towards the window and jumped onto the counter, and ducked through the open window since it was on the first floor, and slipped out onto the grass. She may be young but she at least knew that she wouldn't stand for people picking on others for their race or where they came from so she stomped towards the group of boys, who had yet to notice her. As she marched towards them, she scooped up a book that was left discarded on the ground, most likely belonging to the tan-skinned girl, and closed it without looking at the title, and approached them. The boy acting as the lookout was facing the other way but as he turned towards Jade, his eyes went wide and he threw up his hands in a sign of surrender and glanced to the other boys with wide eyes before shuffling away. Jade nodded to him as the main bully said, "Hey! Dude where are you going?"
He glanced at his friend and then over his other shoulder just in time to see Jade wind back with the heavy hardcovered book and struck the other boy in the head with it, knocking him to the ground. Before the main bully who was still crouched down could do anything, Jade shoved him with her boot and knocked him fully to the ground, and knelt towards him, keeping him pinned under her leg as she punched him a couple of times in the face. He instantly started to cry and beg for mercy as Jade stood up and gave him a kick to the shin and yelled, "Get out of here and leave her alone! I don't want to see any of you bothering her again! Do you hear me losers?!"

The two boys ran off, holding their wounds as they stumbled over their own feet as they tried to run away from Jade, leaving her alone with the girl who was quietly wiping away her tears and picking up the remanents of some torn up flowers that the one boy had been crumbling and sprinkling over her clothes. "Hey…are you okay?" Jade asked as she knelt in front of the mystery girl and offered her back the book. As she did, she took notice of the cover and saw it was a dark black covered book with red designs of twisted tree branches, and in gold letters, she could see the title, "The Complete Collection of Grimms Fairy Tales." She young girl took the book and gave a nod before scooping up one of the flowers that had managed to not be destroyed and offered it to Jade with a sad smile. "I'm fine. Thank you," her voice was so soft and timid, her volume was barely over a whisper.

Jade looked at the dandelion in the girl's hand and took it and held it in her fingers as she sat down on the ground next to the girl and said, "So…why were those guys bothering you?"

The girl kept her eyes to the ground as she picked through the remanents of the other flowers, trying to find other ones that could be saved as she placed the book in her lap and said, "I don't know," she frowned and continued, "I just started and just wanted to make some friends so I was making flower crowns. They talked with me and were nice at first…but then they got really mean when I talked about the places I've lived."

From the quiet words that the girl spoke, Jade could pick up on a strange yet hypnotic accent. Her English was fine but it was clearly not her native tongue and she struggled and paused several times to find the right word to say. The blend was strongly rooted in Spanish, that much was clear, but the other one was hard to place and Jade could not figure out what it was. As they sat there in awkward silence, Jade asked the girl, "Where did you move here from?"

"I grew up with my sister in Mexico with our dad, but we moved to Ireland to live with our mom," she said while picking grass blades off of her stained clothes.

"Then what brought you across the world to L.A.?" Jade asked as she twirled the dandelion between her fingertips.

"My mom got a job out here at some big company. That's why we moved to Ireland too, but I don't really know what she does. We all had to come along though."

Jade then leaned back, resting on her hands as they pushed off from the ground, and said, "That must have been hard. Having to leave all your friends, I can't imagine having to do that twice."

The girl only shrugged halfheartedly and said, "It's okay. I didn't have any anyway."

"I doubt that," Jade stated plainly which caused the new girl to looked at her with a confused expression as she said, "You just haven't met anyone worth your time. Either way, we're fixing that."

She then stood up and dusted off her ripped jeans and then offered the tan-skinned girl a hand and said, "I'm Jade West."

The foreign girl looked at Jade's outstretched hand then back up and smirked, "So you think you're worth my time?"

That comment made Jade pause for a moment but then made her laugh as she returned the smirk with her own and raised an eyebrow and said, "Probably not. Do you want to find out?"

The two girls shared one last look before the girl reached up and took Jade's hand and was pulled to her feet and said, "I'm Victoria Vega, but you can call me Tori."

Jade shook her hand and gave her a soft smile before leaning in and placing the dandelion behind Tori's left ear and grabbed Tori's wrist and said, "Come on Vega, let's get you cleaned up."

"Why are you using my last name?" Tori asked curiously as Jade led her towards one of the double doors to go back inside. The dark-haired girl glanced back over her shoulder at Tori with a smirk across her lips and said, "Because I want to. And I want it to be my special way to call you. If I'm gonna be your first friend here, then I want to make sure you remember me if you ever have to go away."

Tori couldn't help but laugh at the strange logic Jade was using but nodded and said, "Trust me, I don't think I could forget you if I tried."

Author's Notes:

So here we go again, first off, one quick announcement. Happy Birthday to Invader Johnny! Here's an early birthday shoutout and gift with the start of a new story and the newest chapter of my other story, Unsaid! I hope you enjoy and have a great day!

Anyway, this is gonna be another longer story so I apologize if you're looking for something with a short narrative and resolution. You should know by now that I love the drama and stretching out. I'll admit this intro chapter is a bit shorter but you'll have to trust me on it. This whole story, or at least the original concept I had for it, was going to be a subplot in Unsaid, but I realized that if I had added it in there, it would have been way too long and oversaturated the story. So now I'm making it it's own thing and giving it the attention the idea deserves.

I hope you all enjoy and I'm curious to see where you think this will go based off the details so far. Feel free to review if you'd like and enjoy your evening.

Songs Used for Inspiration:

1. ?

2. ?

3. "Happier" by Marshmello ft. Bastille