Sierra awoke on the couch to something stirring next to her. She blinked a few times, allowing her vision to clear and the room to come into focus. She rubbed her eyes with the back of her hand, taking a moment to sit up properly. As she sat up, she noticed the source of the movement was Korkie as he stretched his arms, letting out a huge yawn.
"Woah, watch where you're yawning," She said, pretending to wave her hand in front of her nose. "That morning breath could kill someone."
"Morning to you too, sunshine," He said, tossing a throw pillow at her. "Did you know you snore? It sounds like a freight ship's horn everytime you take a breath." She squinted her eyes at him for a moment, before the two burst out in laughter.
"What time is it?" Sierra asked, folding over the blanket and standing up. Looking around the room, she noticed the sun was only barely peeking over the horizon.
"Almost 6." Korkie replied, heading over to the door and grabbing his bag off the rack. "I should probably get my warm ups on and head back to the Academy."
"Why in the world do you have to be up so early? And why would you wake me up so early on top of that?"
"Well, it's as they say couz, early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise."
"Oh really?" Sierra retorted, making her way into the kitchen to prepare a cup of caf. "Well it must not be true, you're the least wise person I know."
"Har Har," Korkie said in response, pulling out a bright blue jacket from his backpack. "But it's true, I really do have to get going. Friday's we get up earlier and work out, and I seriously can't be late for that. I'm still paying for the last time."
"Yet another reason I could never go to the Academy. I bet you nobody is going to even notice I skipped yesterday."
"Doesn't make it right, Sierra." He said, slinging his bag over his shoulder and approaching her at the counter. "I really think that if you put in a little more effort into being nice and following the rules, you might actually enjoy school." Sierra groaned, putting her mug on the counter and rolling her eyes at her cousin.
"Wow, great speech. Really moving. Y'know, you should give that same little monologue at my school. I think if people put in a little more effort into being nice to me, there wouldn't be such a problem."
Korkie sighed, putting a gentle hand on her shoulder. He gave her a sad smile, hoping that for once she could forgo the sarcasm and actually take his advice.
"I wish I could, Sierra. But you know, the only person you can control is you. If you go in there with a positive attitude, I'm sure people are likely to notice. Just give it a chance."
"I guess," She said, averting her gaze. "But I'm sure if you go into school late, people are also gonna notice."
Korkie gave her an incredulous look, before he cracked and broke out into laughter.
"You've got me there. I'm going now, but maybe I'll see you after school?"
"Sure, if I'm not catching up on lost sleep." She said, following him to the front door. "But... thanks for coming over last night. It was fun hanging out with you."
"Anytime!" He said, before he jogged down the steps and turned the corner out of sight.
Turning back into the house, Sierra shut the door and returned to her cup of caf. She couldn't get what Korkie had said out of her mind. She knew he was only trying to give her advice and help, but he made it sound so easy. As if walking into a room with a smile on her face would suddenly make people not hate her? He didn't know what he was talking about. Korkie had it so easy, his cheery demeanor attracted people everywhere he went. Plus, it's not like his parent was publicly associated with Death Watch. Sierra was grateful that he never judged them, but she knew that what Bo-Katan did made people weary of her. Not a lot of people even knew they were related, he never had to carry that burden.
Still though, she couldn't get over the fact that his advice had resonated with her. She was so used to deflecting emotional connections, using her humor or wit to get out of most things, but Korkie knew her well enough to see past that. He had a way about him of getting past her shell, and it was so frustrating! She wondered though, that even if Korkie was spouting the same pretentious rhetoric they taught him at the Academy, if there was any truth to it. What did she know? Being standoff-ish and cold certainly wasn't doing her any favors.
Sierra finished her cup of caf, contemplating his words. Maybe she would try it, just for today. She'd never tell him though, it would go straight to his head and his ego did not need any boosting. And today was Friday anyway, if it didn't work out she could go right back to stone-cold Sierra on Monday. After making her decision, she put her mug in the sink and headed to her room to get ready for the day. Even though school didn't start for another two hours, she decided to take her time this morning and pay more attention to her appearance.
…
A few hours later, Sierra walked up the path to her school, feeling an odd mix of emotions. She had taken the time to style her hair a bit, and put together an outfit that wasn't her usual plain blue pants and grey sweater. She decided to wear a white and pink floral dress from the deepest depths of her closet, despite the initial doubt she had when she pulled it out. She did say she was going to try and make today different… This dress was about as different as she could get physically. Now, she had to try and spend the day emotionally different.
As she walked through the hallways to get to her locker, she noticed the other students turning to look at her. Feeling all their eyes on her made her ears burn, as she tried really hard to keep from making eye contact with people. It was a fight to keep a smile on her face, but she held it together as she approached her locker. Quickly typing in the code, she pulled the door open and tried to ignore the whispers she heard from behind her. She grabbed a few holobooks she'd need throughout the day, hastily cramming them into her backpack, when she heard people approaching from behind her.
"Well well, look at this girls. She actually wore something feminine to school! It's too bad she's about as graceful as a Bantha." Sierra sighed, shutting the door and turning to face the girls behind her.
It was some blonde girl, who's name she never cared to remember, followed by a group of equally preppy-looking girl. They all stared at her, some with narrowed eyes and others looking her top to bottom with a judgemental smirk. Sierra really, really, wanted to say something snarky in response, but remembering what Korkie had said to her earlier, she took a moment to breathe before plastering the most sickly sweet smile on her face that she could manage.
"I'm glad you like it. Thanks for noticing." The main girl looked back at her, anger in her expression.
"Oh wow, you're actually being nice today too? What a convincing act! But you don't fool me, once a delinquent always a delinquent. I wonder where you stole that dress from? Oh well, I bet it'll be hard to run away from the messes you make in something like that."
"Would you just please leave me alone?" Sierra rolled her eyes, exasperated. This is exactly the kind of thing that happened to her that Korkie would never understand. She knew this was a bad idea, she might as well have worn a dress with a huge target on the back of it. Of course she'd attract attention, and she should have known none of it would be good.
"We've got places to be anyways, anywhere is better than being seen with a lowlife like you." She said, and with a flip of her hair she started to walk away. One of the girls in her entourage hung back a moment, holding a holobook in one hand and a cup of caf in the other. She looked Sierra in the eyes, smiled, and dropped the cup on the floor.
The top burst off of the cup, sending caf everywhere-including all over Sierra. Sierra gasped, feeling the warm liquid splash on her exposed legs as it dripped onto the floor. The girl made a fake-shocked face, looking at the cup on the floor as if it were an accident.
"Oh, oops! Hope that stain comes out." She sneered, before turning to follow the crowd. As the warning bell tolled, she kicked the cup in Sierra's direction as she turned, sending droplets of the cream-colored liquid everywhere. Sierra stared at her retreating form, shock and rage swirling about her. How DARE she! She was minding her own business, why did they have to antagonize her?! She felt the rage building faster by the moment, finding it hard to control the urge to chase her down and pummel her into the ground. Her fists clenched, trying her hardest to take a breath in, when suddenly it felt like a rush of energy burst from her. A trash can nearby tipped over out of nowhere, sending cans and papers skittering everywhere. A few flyers on the wall were also ripped away, floating down to the ground with a rustle as if a strong breeze had dislodged them. Sierra looked around, the sound of metal on linoleum bringing her back to the moment.
She looked around at the scene, caf on the ground and trash everywhere, and decided the best thing she could do was get out of there. Thankfully nobody else had witnessed what just happened, but she almost wished someone had just to confirm that she wasn't crazy. How had that just happened? It wasn't like any of the surrounding windows could open, so it wasn't a breeze… Sierra made her way to her homeroom class, wondering if maybe it was a gust of air from an A/C unit. She doubted it, but really, what else could it have been? She walked through the door of her classroom, getting to her seat just as the final bell rang.
At least I wasn't late… She thought to herself, as the teacher stood from her desk and silently counted the heads of the students. After logging everyone present on her data pad, the teacher looked out towards the classroom.
"Good morning, everyone, and happy Friday! I hope you've all had a good week so far. For today's exercise, I'd like everyone to stop and think about how important it is to be grateful for all that we have. I think sometimes we all get so caught up in negativity in everyday life that we forget to remember all of the positive things that we have. I'd like everyone to write an essay on a few things that they are grateful for, two page minimum. You have until the end of class to submit it." She tapped the screen of her datapad, and sent the assignment to the students.
Sierra stared at the datapad on her desk, as the notification lit up the screen. She scoffed to herself, thinking that if Korkie could see this moment he'd be so thrilled. This essay was the exact sort of feel-good, sappy nonsense that he loved to preach about. She found it hard to think about being grateful as she tried to discreetly wring out the bottom of her dress, using tissues from her backpack to clean herself up the best she could. She knew the bottom of the dress was stained, at least until she could get it into the wash, and thinking about that group of girls made her want to smash something.
It took everything she had in her to keep herself calm, trying to suppress the burning anger she felt, but she was able to breathe through the frustration and focus. This particular teacher didn't usually have it out for her, and she didn't want to cause any additional problems with a fit of rage. Sierra looked at the datapad intently, thinking of things she could write about. Instantly Korkie came to mind. Although his over-protectiveness often annoyed her, she realized that Korkie was really the only one she had ever had to rely on. Aunt Bo tried her best, but she was always so busy or tired she wasn't really available to Sierra much, and when she was home she was equally as dismissive and emotionally distant as Sierra when it came to feelings. She wasn't exactly popular at school and didn't have friends, and as far as she knew she didn't have any other family. Korkie was always there to cheer her up and hang out with her, he made her laugh all the time, and always pushed her to do her best. With a small smile on her face, Sierra began to write and her worries faded away.
Hey guys! If you've followed this story for years, I wanted to extend a huge thank you! I wanted to give a shout out to MyCookiemonster95 for the review they left around this time last year. Scrolling through my old stories I stumbled upon it and it inspired me to pick it back up! I might go through and do some major editing, there are a lot of continuity mistakes that need to be fixed. Honestly I'm tempted to give this story a 3rd revival! But that would take a very long time so I'd prefer to update in the meantime.