Hello folks!
Attention:
I have finally managed to get a grip on the whole season 1 timeline and am now considering going back and editing the mistakes… Your thoughts?
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RandomWeirdGirl and jayesdms, thank you for the wonderful reviews :D You made me update fast!
Enjoy!
Chapter 11: Nicknames
"No way!" Simone complained with a laugh.
"Why are you doubting me?" Dan complained, raising his arms in a questioning motion. He was following the witch. "If I say I can do it, I can do it." The two entered the kitchen, the warlock rushing after the witch.
"I'm just saying that it is highly unlikely that you know the whole way to Beacon Hills by heart." Simone grumbled, grabbing a pre-made sandwich and pushing herself onto one of the stools. Dan came to the other side of the counter, leaning on his elbows and smirking.
"Highly unlikely is not impossible." He smirked even wider. "And let me tell you…" He paused dramatically. "I've already done the impossible." The warlock bragged.
"You are so silly sometimes, Dan." The young witch shook her head, giving up. Simone then paused, smirked as well, an expression that utterly confused Dan, as it wasn't a usual one on her face. The teen leaned in. "Say, do you have a candle?" She asked.
"That's beside the point…" The warlock sounded confused, but he did reach into one of the counter drawers, getting a small, black candle and placing it in front of the girl. "Which spell are you doing?" Of course he knew, Simone thought. After all, which witch asked for a candle without wanting to do a spell.
"Just a simple good luck on my necklace gem." Simone slipped the pendant off of her neck before holding it up, showing the warlock the swinging ice blue gem. "You have a light?"
"Sure." Dan trailed off at the end, snapping his fingers to light the candle. "You should be careful with luck spells, Simone. They can be rather-" The warlock watched as the witch placed the swinging gem above the flame, chanting as it circled around the heat. "Unpredictable." Dan finished, already regretting that he had allowed her to do the spell. Hell, she wasn't even listening to him.
Simone finished her third chanting and then blew out the candle, breathing in the smoke. "There we go." She grinned at Dan happily. And who was he to squish all that happiness. Dan let out a sigh, placing the candle back underneath the counter. "I'm going after school to my friend's place, to work on a project." The witch explained. "And there's this other girl coming, who really doesn't like me, so I felt like I needed some more luck, right?"
"Right." The warlock shifted as he agreed with her uneasily. He could remember his own first good luck spell. To say that it had backfired would be an understatement. But, before Dan could interrupt Simone's oblivious eating, Eve came downstairs, putting on the only apron they owned, a pink one.
"Oh, you look cute!" She commented before planting a kiss on Dan's and then Simone's, full of food, cheek. "I was right to choose that jacket, right?"
"It's a hoodie." Dan and Simone said at the same time. Before she could react, he managed to tap her arm and yell. "Jinx!" She tried to pass it onto Eve, but the woman already had her fingers crossed.
"It looks like a light jacket to me…" The older witch complained, pouring oil onto the pan to start frying the bacon for the guests. She had put together an outfit the night before for her Goddaughter, and they had left on a hanger. The teenager had insisted wearing a loose band T-shirt, rather than the tight one that Eve had picked, much to her Godmother's disappointment. "Don't you two need to get going?" The witch asked.
"Shoot." Dan commented, grabbing his keys and stealing a piece of bacon from the pan. "Well, now I can show you."
"Show who what?" Eve wondered out loud, slapping Dan's hand once it went for the pan again. Simone rolled her eyes, slipping of the barstool and getting her bag.
"Daniel believes that he knows the road from here to Beacon High by heart." She said flatly, unamused. "Completely." Eve seemed to be thinking about it for a second. "You think that he does?"
"Well, he has driven it so many times." Eve said softly as Dan's smirk widened.
"Oh, come on!" Simone groaned. She went for the door, not waiting for the smug warlock. He managed to catch up to her once she reached Tomoe. Not like she could've gone anywhere without him anyways. Dan tossed the teen a helmet, putting his own on and then sat onto his bike. Once she was on as well, he turned to her, smiling.
"Look, I'll prove it to you." He said. "I bet that I can drive the whole way with my eyes closed." The warlock bargained.
"That's ridiculous, Daniel."
"I dare you." The warlock was adamant. "Cover my eyes with your hands." He said, turning the key and revving the gas. "I dare you, chicken." He made a flapping motion with his elbows and let out a couple of suspiciously chicken-like sounds.
Simone snapped.
If Mrs. Jones could see her, the woman would kill her. And then probably bring her back just to kill her again. Simone was gripping the bike with her legs as tightly as possible, so that she wouldn't fall off. Her whole body was pressed against Dan's, her cold, trembling hands covering his eyes around the helmet. The warlock, on the other hand, was driving, without missing one sign, one turn or a single bump. He was executing a perfect ride, and the witch was in complete disbelief.
She really didn't know what had come over her. Simone was by no means a girl who liked extremes. Maybe it was because of her recently charmed good luck necklace? But, she doubted it. There was something very wrong with her. It was like she had gone insane and her body was making random decisions without asking her mind first.
Then again, it was fun. More than fun. It was exhilarating. She was having an absolute blast. Dan was driving slower than usual, probably because she was behind him, terrified of falling off. She could see in his confident turns that he knew the road. He knew exactly what he was doing. Yet, her body was still flooded with adrenaline, her fingers shaking. Simone was smiling widely at the insanity of the situation.
Before long, as the Inn was quite close to the school, Daniel stopped just before entering the parking. When his legs touched the ground, Simone allowed her hands to fall as well, her whole body shaking from the aftermath of the extreme ride. Dan turned, smug.
"I win." He told her with a grin.
"We are both insane." The witch exclaimed with a shaky laugh, handing him the second helmet back.
This wasn't going as planned. Simone had expected everything, the boring lectures, the annoying teenagers, the added homework and the irritating chatter. But, she hadn't been prepared for the afterschool lacrosse. She had thought that they would be going to Harley's to do their group work, but it turned out that she had planned to watch the boys practicing first. She'd told them something about her friends being on the team and pushed Simone and skater girl to the stands.
"Harley?" Simone called out, getting the black girl's attention. "Who are your friends?"
The girl didn't move her eyes from the field where a bunch of guys were literally murdering each other over a ball. But, she extended her finger, pointing at the person in the goal first, listing. "The guy in the goal, Danny. He's very cool and quite a catch, but he's gay, as most guys like that are."
"Ouch." The skater girl inputted, flinching as one of the guys got knocked off of his feet completely, flying to the ground with a loud sound. "That looked rather painful, no?"
"And this is just practice?" Simone murmured, but skater girl obviously heard her.
"You should see the games." She laughed. "They tend to get pretty brutal." Simone cringed as yet another player flew onto the ground, his shot being stopped completely.
"That's also my friend, Jackson. At least I think that we're friends." Harley said, ending her sentence with uncertainty in her tone.
"The one on the ground?" Wondered the teen witch, worried.
"The one doing the slamming." Laughed Harley. "And, the one on the ground as well. But, that's Scott. Him, I'm definitely friends with. Like, since diapers." The girl turned to the teen next to her, finally taking her eyes off the court. "Don't you know him? He's in our Chem class as well?"
"Oh…" The blonde witch looked out at the field, trying to make out the face of the player who was picking himself off the floor. He seemed to be in pain.
"Oh, and I also know that guy on the bench, Stiles." Harley added, pointing at the awkward looking teen who was bouncing his leg up and down nervously. "He has a lot of classes with Scott. They are best friends."
"He is weird." Skater girl said without skipping a beat. "Jumpy."
A brief exchange of glances between Simone and Harley brought the end of that conversation. They stayed silent until the end of the practice, watching and cheering. Surprisingly, the game was over quickly, and many shouts from Coach Finstock later, Harley stood, clapping as the players walked away towards their changing rooms.
"Shall we?" Asked skater girl, leading them away from the bleachers with an annoyed face. As soon as they were clear of the grass, she threw her skateboard on the ground and jumped on it, doing a couple of simple tricks just to pass the journey.
"Oh, come on, Rory, it wasn't that bad." Harley complained. After she received an eye roll she smirked. "I remember when you used to play lacrosse, you know."
"Oh my God, no!" Skater girl jumped off of her board, turning around and looking just about ready to pummel someone. "We do not talk about that, Harley!"
Harley's house was wonderfully normal. In all honesty, it reminded Simone of her own home, back in Colorado. She supposed that the small amount of time which she had spent at the Inn was making her rather homesick. But, between magic, preparing the shop for work and welcoming different guests Simone hadn't had the chance to properly go through a 'homesickness phase'. She had had a couple of moments where she had stared at her phone longingly around one or two in the morning, wondering if she should call her family. But, she had always deemed it too late to wake them up.
Harley's mom, a pretty woman in her forties had welcomed them in before rushing off to a second shift at work. She was a nurse at the Beacon Memorial, a nearby hospital. The three girls had gone up to the teen's room to begin working. It was much girlier than the young witch had expected, full with a pale pink cover on the bed. The black girl had shied away, getting flustered and telling them not to mind the old sheets.
Unsurprisingly, their schoolwork lasted less than an hour and pretty soon Harley had brought some snacks and drinks and the girls were looking through the yearbook from last year, introducing Simone to the population of Beacon High. The witch was quite surprised to find out that Miss Griffith's first name (which she had been feeling too awkward to ask about) was Aurora, which she shortened to Rory. Unfortunately for her, the editors of the book didn't care much, and they had put the whole name.
"Look at this." Rory exclaimed with a huff of exasperation. "They allowed him to do it, why not me?" The skater girl threw the book over to Harley, who was sitting next to Simone on the comfortable bed. The two looked over, noticing the picture immediately. After all, it had a couple of scratched out sentences underneath it, where the boy had signed his name and good wishes. In the end, it read: Stay awesome, and then a shaky arrow looped to the name under the picture. Stiles.
"His name is Stiles?" Asked Simone, frowning. Who in the world named their kid Stiles? She wondered. Harley laughed, falling back onto the bed and Rory simply gave a snort.
"Hell no. That little bitch has some weird ass name. But, his last name is Stilinski, so, they call him Stiles." The girl explained, cussing a bit too much for the witch's liking. The last name did ring a bell, among all the other surnames that she had recorded into the Inn ledger. Stilinski, she wondered and then remembered. The Sheriff of the town was named Stilinski. And, as Dan had said, and she had seen, his son was her age. Her year, even.
"Nah, he calls himself Stiles." Harley laughed. "Everybody else just caught on."
"You mean, people who know that he exists." Rory turned in the computer chair, going to the laptop on the desk and typing away into the YouTube. "He's a real weirdo."
"You'd be surprised by how many people are friends with him, Rory." Harley had gotten mad. Simone could feel it. The magic in her head was thrumming at the upset mood in the room, watching out for danger. But, the black girl did nothing more than glare at the skater girl. When she got ignored, she spoke once more. "He's a good guy. We've been friends for ages."
"He's a good stalker for Lydia Martin, you mean." Rory laughed out.
"He's my friend." Harley's tone had taken a dangerous edge and the skater girl got up, not even looking at them as she grabbed her glass.
"I need some water." And she went out of the room and towards the kitchen. Harley huffed, closing the yearbook and obscuring the strange expression that her childhood friend had made on his picture. She turned to Simone next.
"I'm sorry about her. Other people at the school are much friendlier, I promise." The black girl placed the yearbook back on its shelf, sinking into her computer chair. "Rory is a bit weird, though." When the blonde didn't say anything, opting to twirl a lock of her hair in silence, the black girl continued. "She's adopted, you know, so she has some issues. Apparently, her folks got a son shortly after they took her from the orphanage. She's always had some behavioral problems."
"I see." The witch said, not really sure what else to input. Was this gossip? She didn't know. Harley seemed like a really nice girl to her, not someone who would badmouth a friend. Then again, Rory didn't really seem like she was the black girl's friend. In fact, she didn't seem like she was anyone's friend. She had one too many opinions and swear words on her tongue.
"Shall we finish this part and then call it a day?" Harley smiled, showing her white, perfect teeth. "After all, we do have until Monday and I'm not really in a rush to do this assignment." And just like that, the awkward and uncomfortable atmosphere in the room was gone. Simone felt the thrumming in her head ease off and she, too, let out a small smile.
"I'll go get Rory."
The teen witch found the tan skater girl doing the small amount of dishes that the three had dirtied, along with a few leftover pots from the Harlowes' lunch. Rory turned as soon as she heard her enter and then turned back to finish her rinsing.
"W-we decided to do some more work and then call it a day." The blonde awkwardly said, twiddling her thumbs. "Is that ok with you?"
"Whatever." The skater girl huffed, drying off the dishes and putting them in a neat pile on the counter. Simone leaned on the doorway, crossing her legs at the ankles and waiting for the other teen. There were a couple of minutes of silence that made the witch uncomfortable as Rory dried off the dishes. Then, with a sigh, the tan girl turned to her. "Look, I was a bitch to you. I didn't know you were new." She said as if that explained everything. "I hope you like Beacon Hills regardless of my assholeish welcome."
Simone managed a small nod, a little relieved. "It's fine, don't worry." She then managed a tiny grin as she thought of Dan and Eve. "Beacon Hills is pretty cool, I must admit."
The smile that Rory gave her was well worth the pain of the first day and the detention.
The next day after class, Simone wondered into the school's library, searching for a book which was needed for her assignment. As she browsed through the shelves, looking for the right title, she noticed a shifty, familiar teen, stressing as he read on the floor. He was sitting crisscross, different books open around him, his leg bouncing.
Just as Simone approached him, his row of books really, the teen slammed his book closed, getting up. He was murmuring something under his breath. As soon as he turned around, Simone managed to realize why he was so familiar. It was Stilinski. The Sheriff's son. He almost crashed into the witch and then stopped, opening his mouth soundlessly. He looked a little distraught.
"Sorry." The boy managed.
Simone felt her face coloring and she looked down, finding her Dr. Marten's interesting. "It's nothing." She said. "It's not like you crashed into me or anything." The witch side-stepped him and walked to the shelves, quickly finding the book that she was looking for. She pulled it off of the shelf, opening it and sitting down on the ground as well. She could feel the gaze of the boy behind her, building a pressure in her head that had nothing to do with magic. The girl hurried to copy the couple of sentences which she needed for the assignment.
"I'm Stiles." The teenager behind her finally said, coming to sit back in his little circle of books. Simone glanced back, a blush still on her cheeks.
"I know." She told him, and red splotches appeared on his cheeks, as if he was shocked that she knew his name. "Simone."
"That's a pretty name." He looked ready to punch himself in the face after he said it, making Simone giggle. Why in the world did she produce that noise? She asked herself. She most certainly did not laugh like that in front of Dan. It was like… she was trying to be cute.
"I don't like it much." She said, still looking at him through the curtain of her hair. "It's old fashioned."
"It is a bit of a grandma name. Not that you're a-a… That came out wrong." He decided on, finally dropping his head into his hands. "Sorry." Simone couldn't help letting out a laugh and immediately got shushed by the nearby students, blushing even more. Yet, the grin that Stiles gave her was worth it. She recalled that Rory had told her how Stilinski was a strange boy, but, she didn't really care. It was an endearing kind of strange. "Hey, I got a nickname." The teenager said once more, and then explained further nervously. "You know, cause I prefer not to be called by my name. So, it's just Stiles."
"I know." The witch repeated. "I've never been given a nickname, though." She shrugged and went back to her book. The conversation died there and Simone cursed herself. Here she was, talking to a guy, finally, and nothing. She had killed the conversation once more. The magic responded to her emotions instantly, thrumming in the back of her head. Simone cursed herself, but then caught sight of the blue gem of the necklace lying on top of her band shirt. "What are you reading about?" She asked Stiles, glancing at his pile of books.
The boy shifted nervously, closing the book instantly and scratching his head. "N-nothing. You know- er- wolves." He seemed to regret saying that and shut his eyes briefly. "Just… you know… wolves." When the girl tossed him a questioning glance, he continued. "You know that girl that was killed?"
"A girl was killed?" Simone closed her book, turning fully towards the boy, interested. Her mind had immediately gone to the hunched shape in the darkness, illuminated by lightning. "How? When?"
"Why did you think that we have a curfew?" Stiles seemed genuinely shocked.
"Curfew?" Eve had told her nothing about curfew. Then again, it wasn't like Simone really went anywhere except the school and the Inn. She was always accompanied by Dan or Eve and both of them were capable in the art of magic. It would be really difficult for an everyday, non-supernatural killer to catch either of them off guard.
"Yeah. There is one for everyone under eighteen. Two joggers found a body in the woods. It's still a Jane Doe." Stiles explained. Simone figured that he knew the details because he was the Sheriff's son and nodded.
"That's awful." She said. "That no-one misses you enough to notice that you are missing." Now, that statement killed the conversation. The two teens sat in morbid silence for a moment. Then, Stiles's phone buzzed and he jumped a bit, fishing it out of his pocket and reading the message. Simone, too, seemed to snap out of it and closed her book. She got up and placed it back on the shelf, before turning to leave. "I need to go, sorry. It was nice meeting you."
"Yeah, uh, nice meeting you, too!" Stiles got shushed as Simone was leaving the rows of books with a smile. Sure, she's told Dan that she wouldn't get involved with the Stilinski boy, but there was surely no harm in being friendly?
It was around nine in the evening and the forest around the Inn became dark and quiet. Not completely, of course, as there were always nocturnal animals flying or running about, hunting. If you stood on the porch of the Lighthouse Inn, you couldn't see a light on the horizon, as the villa had been built in the middle of the forest. The trees were tall enough to obscure any lamps or houses nearby, leaving you feeling like you were alone. Alone in the darkness. Alone in the forest. Simply, alone.
Simone could never stay for long outside during that time of the evening. She would get this antsy feeling, like she was being watched and stare at the shadows for longer than necessary, hoping to make out any sort of a shape. Then she would hurry inside as soon as she looked away from the darkness, as if the lack of her gaze would release the monsters onto her.
Luckily, she hadn't had the watering duty that evening, trading Dan for dishwashing. The guests had all finished dinner and gone to bed or were taking their showers, so the downstairs was free for the owners to dine. Eve had just set the table when Dan came in, washing his hands and inviting Simone to sit down for dinner with a wink. She blushed and lowered herself into her seat.
The first couple of minutes were filled with simple conversation about the food, passing dishes and giving different sauces where they were needed. Soon, Dan complained playfully how he had almost finished their new shop in the center and that all that was left was to stock it properly. Simone had volunteered to help him do that during the weekend, if she didn't have a lot of homework. And then, Simone couldn't really hold her tongue for a moment.
"Aunt Eve, can you tell me about werewolves?" The teenage witch asked timidly. It had been her first question that she had asked herself, out loud, since she had arrived. The first topic that she had suggested. Daniel looked from one witch to the other, seeming mighty uncomfortable. Eve's fork, full of zucchini, slowly lowered itself back onto her plate.
"Why are you asking about them?" The witch wasn't smiling. Somehow, there was something in the air that Simone couldn't quite identify. It was like an energy. Something strong. Something wild. And it made goosbumps appear on the young girl's arms and legs, making her feel cold.
"I was just wondering." Simone said, shrugging as if she wasn't interested. Daniel continued eating. Eve smiled at her Goddaughter, but the young witch didn't feel any comfort. There was no warmth in that smile. It wasn't welcoming. It was simply… cold.
"That's a pretty dull topic for the dinner table, Simone." Eve laughed, going back to her usual self. "Why don't you tell us how your classes went today? Any cute boys?"
As Simone began talking about her day absentmindedly, she couldn't help but notice the way that every single thing about her Godmother, once genuine and warm, now seemed as icy as the Antarctic Ocean.
That's all folks!
Interesting info for the chapter:
- Aurora was not the first child that the Griffith's adopted, she has a brother in college
- Scott, Stiles, Harley and Lydia went to the same kindergarten
- Daniel used to street race when he was younger, he wanted to be a professional racer
- Simone believes that one can find almost all answers in a library
Onto the lovely reviews!
RandomWeirdGirl: Hahaha, I'm glad that you're enjoying the story that much :D Sometimes I read other people's fanfiction and get depressed by just how much I have to improve still…
Rory Griffith is actually based on a friend of mine who is a real assbutt. While I love her, she is also rude and genuinely a rule breaker. But, there is always a reason why, and we will get to that as well :D As for her being friends with Simone, probably :P
Thank you so much for complimenting my descriptions :D I really like doing them, as well. They tend to write themselves out somehow.
That's amazing… African languages-wise, I've only heard some of my friends from Kenya speaking Swahili, which was beautiful. I feel you about the spelling, though. In Serbian, it's the grammar that's all messed up. I have no idea how to explain why something is said the way it is hahahaha
I have no idea about Greek (I've only heard it a few times), but Latin isn't that hard to learn. There are a bunch of online courses, as well. But, if you're planning the whole 'Supernatural demon summoning' level, it's pretty difficult to get there. I took one year in high school and I know some grammar and quite a few idioms.
Japanese is absolutely beautiful to learn. The writing is a pain, though xD Anime? Oooooh… I can't choose! I love One Piece, though. Also, man, Amatsuki, Nurarihyon no Mago, Reborn, Naruto, Bleach… Man, I can't pick one xD What about you?
Good luck on your exams!
jayesdms: Hey! I'm so glad that you left me a review :D I'm happy that you are enjoying the story despite the lack of Stiles and other cannon characters xD I'm painfully slow.
Keep in mind that the story is told from Simone's perspective, so, she finds her mother really irritating, hence, the reader gets that vibe. Mrs. Jones has her great, motherly moments, but she often makes seemingly bad decisions in order to protect her child. I'm glad that you got mad when she didn't let Simone pick out a familiar, that was the reaction that I was aiming for :D
Eve and Sheriff? We will see.. Eve is a huge flirt, hahahaha
Dan sees Simone as a sister, I guess. Or a cousin. Anyways, she is family to him. Simone, on the other hand, sees Dan as a pretty cute guy and has a little crush on him.
I'm glad that you caught the little AC2 reference :D I love Ezio! I enjoy playing that part of the series the most :)
Thank you for saying what was bugging you :) Unfortunately, I am keeping the Stiles crush on Lydia, as it is a big part of his personality, sorry. But, all Stydia will be platonic in this story :D
As for Simone not interacting much with the cannon characters, it's because the season hadn't started until a couple of chapters in and I needed some time to build the OC with you guys. Now, you guys can see how Simone was before meeting the Beacon Hills gang and how she changes throughout the story.
The reason why she didn't notice him at school was simple. She has met so many guests coming in and out of the Inn, written their names and hung out with them. Those are all new people to her. Also, she has only seen Stiles once, from a distance. The likeliness of her seeing him at school, no matter how small, and noticing him were tiny. I didn't want to go for the cliché. So, as soon as she met Harley and Rory, she could meet Stiles as well :D I hope that this explains my thinking? And why I was dragging my metaphorical feet so much hahahaha
Keep the critique coming! That's what makes me love writing :D
