The peach skirt and the powder blue sleeved shirt weren't so bad, Sabrina thought approvingly as she studied her reflection.
She has been more partial to soft and muted colors recently, she realized. Roz was helpful in picking out what would better suit Sabrina's complexion. Sabrina applied a pink lipstick, touched herself up with some face powder and was done with a twirl.
Downstairs, Ambrose and her Aunties were already present, with Salem by the countertop. After the round of 'good morning's, she was finally digging on some bacon and toast. Together with the breakfast was Ambrose's side of judging look. After two months, Sabrina became accustomed to it—pretty much to any of her cousin's customary reactions for most of her crucial life decisions.
Sabrina smiled at him beguilingly. Ambrose wasn't about to ruin for her the first day of the new term in Baxter High.
"Is there a problem with you two?" Hilda asked concernedly.
"No," they both answered simultaneously.
Hilda stared between the two of them for a second longer. "Ookay. If you say so."
Zelda merely huffed behind the newspapers. They could practically hear the roll of her eyes.
Sabrina bid them a quick goodbye, scratching Salem's ears on her way out. She left with a little heavier heart, reminded again of the secret she was keeping from her family.
It hadn't weighed much on her initially, until somehow Ambrose figured it all out based on his instincts alone and continued to distress himself, and eventually her, over it. He talked of time paradoxes that the more Sabrina listened to him fret and sulk, the more she realized the gravity of her recklessness and secrecy.
Fine, she could tell her aunts, and what then? What would they even do with the other her? Heavens, what would Lucifer and Lilith do to the other her?
Sabrina did entertain the notion that at least Lilith would find out sooner than later, though if she already did, the lack of any response from her could only mean Lilith preferred the other Sabrina who was probably more agreeable with the affairs in Hell. Same case if it would be Lucifer who would discover the truth; he was too narcissistic to care, and technically speaking it was still his daughter Sabrina with him.
Okay, so maybe Sabrina was hopeful it would be smooth sailing from then on because nothing unnatural—what was considered as unnatural for her and the other half of her kind anyway—has happened so far. She gotta say the threshold for that category was pretty damn high and wide.
Quietly, Sabrina slipped in on her seat, shaking the thoughts of time loops and time paradoxes away as her friends filed in. They easily fell into a conversation of how they spent the last few weeks of the school break after spending most of it at the Kinkle's Garage. Baxter High and her friends were supposed to remind her that she was also a human teenager behind all that witchcraft.
It was no excuse for her impulsiveness, but, oh, well, what was done was already done.
Ms. Wardwell strolled in with lighter steps, and Sabrina was glad that the selective amnesia at least helped her favorite teacher as well. There were fewer lines around Ms. Wardwell's face, and she seemed to be smiling more recently. Must be because of the guy Sabrina saw her hanging around with a couple of times over the course of summer. She was keeping her hair down these days, not the same way Lilith would wear it but rather styled with soft curls and the ends that made her look younger and dainty.
While Sabrina's attention was on Ms. Wardwell, the others were quick to notice the other person that entered the classroom after her.
The guy was tall and looked a little older than them, Sabrina observed, though she couldn't be sure with his exact age with that appearance of his like a small kid seemingly lost.
"Everyone," Ms. Wardwell called. "Before we officially start the term, there's an introduction to be made by a new student of ours." She turned to the boy, smiling encouragingly. "Go on, lad. Do introduce yourself to us."
"Thank you, Miss," he said. He smiled at the rest brightly and gave a slight, if not a bit stilted, wave in greeting. "Hello. I'm Jack."
The class waited for the last name that never followed. An awkward silence ensued.
"What is your surname, Jack?" Ms. Wardwell asked gently. "So that we may address you properly."
"Oh," Jack said as if he was only getting it now. There were some giggling and snickering. "It's Kline." He frowned to himself before adding, "Winchester."
Ms. Wardwell blinked. "Jack Kline-Winchester?"
"Jack Winchester is fine," Jack told them.
"Of course, Mr. Winchester," Ms. Wardwell said. She pointed at the seat at Sabrina's left. "You may take the empty seat beside Ms. Spellman so we may begin. Welcome to Baxter High, Mr. Winchester."
Jack moved towards the spot and sat. He noticed Sabrina staring at him, and he smiled guilelessly at her.
"He's a little weird, isn't he?" Sabrina murmured during lunch break, catching Jack at a distance ambling around with a tray at hand. He was really like a lost kid as he looked around his surroundings.
"The new kid?" Harvey asked, eyes turning to the direction Sabrina was looking at. "They said he's a transfer. Maybe he's still adjusting."
"Yeah. We should cut him a break. He's still trying to fit in," Theo put in.
"I didn't mean to say that negatively," Sabrina amended. "It's just an observation, and definitely not the kind of 'weird' associated with Greendale in general."
"I think Sabrina just means that Jack looks like he's a little out of it most of the time," Roz helpfully said. "Poor guy. He must have left a lot of things behind his old school. At least he's trying his best to appear optimistic and nice to everyone."
Jack searched for a vacant table when Billy and his gang noticed him. Billy whispered conspiratorially with his friends, surreptitiously glancing at Jack and sniggering with his fellow jocks.
"Okay, that's it. I'm not comfortable seeing this go down," Theo said, standing and walking briskly to where Jack stood when Billy began to move towards him as well.
Theo had beaten Billy to it, pulling a grateful Jack with him to their table. Theo shot Billy a scowl in warning in which Billy regretfully accepted, raising his palms in surrender as he backed off.
"Sit with me and my friends, Jack." Theo maneuvered Jack down to the space beside him. "In case you don't know us yet, I'm Theo Putnam."
"Harvey Kinkle."
"Rosalind Walker. Roz for short."
"Sabrina. I don't mind you calling me that instead of Spellman."
"In that case then you can call me Jack." He turned to Theo. "Thank you for the invitation, Theo. It's an honor to know you and your friends."
Theo snorted. "Dude, that's so formal, but you're welcome." He nodded behind Jack where Billy and his friends were. "Word of advice: stay away from that group. They're bullies especially to new kids."
"Why would they bully people they barely know?" Jack asked confusedly.
"Good question. I don't know either how a bully's mind works."
"Theo was a victim of theirs before," Sabrina supplied. "They're okay now with him, but it doesn't mean we forget about it."
Jack frowned, deep in thought. "I think they might be the people my aunt and uncle warned me about. They said that schools have these bullies that I should look out for them."
"They're not wrong," Harvey muttered.
"Do you live with your aunt and uncle, Jack?" Roz inquired, steering them to a more pleasant subject. "Where did you come from, by the way, if you don't mind us asking?"
"I live with my aunt and uncle at the moment, yes," Jack answered. "We came from Lebanon."
"Like the country Lebanon?"
"Kansas," he said after that puzzling pause of his. "We have a… farm there."
"Farmboy too, huh," Theo said with a grin. "Me too."
"So you transferred from a school in Kansas?" Sabrina asked.
Jack shook his head. "I was homeschooled by my father, two uncles, and my aunt. My father and my other uncle are left in Kansas."
Harvey was intrigued. "Your dad is alright with you being this far from home?"
"He wasn't at first," Jack admitted, staring down on his food. "But he understands the importance of my formal education. And it's not that I'm alone here in Greendale."
Sabrina hummed in agreement. She remembered her Aunt Zelda disagreeing with how she kept setting aside time to attend at Baxter instead of going fulltime in the Academy, but looking at the state of the Academy now and what had happened during her stay, her aunt probably thought it was fortunate that she let Sabrina be.
"Where did you move in exactly?"
"We live near the woods. I'm unfamiliar with the landmarks yet, but I believe we're close to the local mortuary."
"Oh, that's where I live, actually. The Spellman Mortuary is owned by my family," Sabrina shared delightfully. "You're near us then. I think we'll be seeing each other on the way often."
"I'm looking forward to it, Sabrina." Jack sounded sincere. "We are both a bit far from the town proper, I suppose. My aunt chose our location. She says that what she likes about Greendale is that the houses have considerable distances in between."
Someone didn't like to mingle, Sabrina thought wryly. "My aunt Zelda thinks that's preferable too."
While Jack seemingly had his head in the clouds often, he did appear genuine in the span of their talk that was frankly more of an interrogation. Jack, however, didn't mind the questions and was eager to answer them. Jack even warmed to Robin when he joined them after a while and appeared to have found kinship with the latter as a newcomer in Greendale.
Eventually, they learned to chalk Jack's oddness to the lack of social life. His family wasn't particularly strict, he said, though his father and two uncles did place some boundaries for him and wouldn't let Jack out by himself. Jack told the group that he understood the boundaries given to him and didn't mind them much knowing they were for his sake; as to what these so-called boundaries were, he didn't explain.
Jack, in return, was curious about the comings and goings within Greendale. They were unhesitant to fill him in with the events in the past few months, expertly careful in being vague on some specific details that Jack didn't notice. He listened attentively to them taking turns sharing a recap of incidents, and he sat there like a diligent student whose sole focus was on the lecture.
Sabrina knew then that Jack's normalcy and apparent inquisitiveness would be a novelty from then on. She guessed this was why she was immediately drawn to Harvey, Roz, and Theo at the start of their friendship: they were normal people who hadn't known then the other half of her and had no high expectations of her. Fortunately for Sabrina, they were loyal friends who retained the latter despite it all.
"You should hang out with us outside school sometimes," Sabrina suggested on the way home because it turned out that they had an unconscious agreement to walk home together. "We can tour you around Greendale, though, as much as we all love it, we know there's not much sight to see around here."
"I'd like that anyhow," Jack replied earnestly. They stopped by the forked road. "Is that the mortuary?" he asked, pointing at a distance beyond the right turn.
"Yep. That's me." Sabrina gestured at the cottage by the left turn. Though basically neighbors seeing as they were the only two houses close to each other, the distance between the two remained great. "And that's you. I guess this is where we part."
"Actually, do you mind if I escort you up to your place?" Jack asked. "I've read that it was necessary to see a lady to her home to make sure she would return home safely."
Sabrina's eyebrows rose in surprise more than anything. She could take care of herself, thank you very much, and had proven it time after time—which she wanted to remark but knew it would be uncalled for. Jack meant well; he did ask for her consent, and he wasn't to blame if he wasn't up to date with the latest social norms. Really a good reason to have Jack over with them.
"Sure," she finally said, simply amused.
It wasn't a long walk, though Sabrina appreciated the company nonetheless. At the porch, she immediately spotted Ambrose slouching with crossed arms and an unimpressed stare.
"Well, this is our place," she said, turning her back to Ambrose. "Thank you for escorting me, Jack."
Jack brightened at her gratitude, and Sabrina knew she didn't make the mistake of declining him. "You're welcome, Sabrina. I'll see you and the others tomorrow."
She waved him goodbye, purposefully drawing it out to keep herself from facing her cousin. It was a useless move knowing Ambrose wouldn't be gone that easy.
"New boyfriend?"
"No. New classmate."
"He can't be both?"
"Spare me, Ambrose." Sabrina walked past him and stopped by the door. "Are you going to be like this for the rest of the year?"
"I'm going to be like this until you confess to aunties what you did or you solve the problem that comes with your meddling with time."
"Ask yourself if there's even a problem to be solved!"
"Why should we wait for the consequence to pop up? You already know what will happen. Don't tell me you want it to reach Apocalyptic level first before you do something about it—oh, wait, that's probably your play."
Sabrina shook her head in defeat, grudgingly stomping her feet on her way upstairs.
Ambrose didn't even know that it wasn't about the throne of Hell at all, that what motivated her was that bleak future with the deaths of her family and friends.
He didn't know, and Sabrina had no intention of letting him find out.
Rosalind dreamed.
She was in the forest at the outskirts of Greendale but deeper into the woods where the trees were taller and thicker and the daylight could only pierce thinly through the thicket. How she recognized the location despite not reaching that far before and with the eerie lighting of purple and neon green that clashed horribly with the shadows of the wilderness, she didn't know.
There was a clearing in the middle of it all, surrounded with stone formations. At the center, she could make out three people, two of whom were two tall guys and one cloaked female. They were looking at something above, and there followed a monstrous howl and groan that reverberated in the air.
The dream ended right when she was about to see what horror it was that hovered above them.
Rosalind sat up on the bed drenched in cold sweat. It has been a while since her last nightmare if this one could be called that. She buried her face in her palms tiredly, thinking back.
While she was too far in the dream to see one of the man's and the woman's faces, Rosalind recognized the other person in an instant.
It was Jack.
TBC