· Kali's POV

I slipped out of the door to the café with Ashley and Rebecca at my heels. We were talking about everything and nothing. As it usually is with girls. "I can't believe that Professor Ediltrude assigned us a paper over the weekend, I mean really? Doesn't she know that everybody has plans?" Rebecca complained her normally cheerful demeanor, notably absent.

"I know right?" Ashley agreed before continuing, "Seriously, the Profs were kids once she has to know that no one's going to do the assignment."

"At least not until Sunday night anyway." I said laughing. They both laughed and we all smiled as we walked down Main Street, Magix. It was a Saturday so the three of us had decided to ditch our homework and grab something for lunch. The little café we went to was nice, and rather retro. With checkerboard floors and a, fake, jukebox. We continued to chat as we walked into Aberzombie and Witch. Rebecca promptly headed over to the clearance section while Ashley went to look at accessories. I started rooting through one of the stands looking for a red version of one of the display items. I had just found it when I looked out the window to see Lindsey and some of her friends sprinting into an alley. The smile melted from my face.

"Ash, Becca. I think we should shop more later. There's something we ought to go checkout first." I called across the store my voice steady, too steady, they could tell that something was wrong. Rebecca came out from behind one of the stands, and Ashley set down the dark teal stilettos she had been looking at and walked over.

"What's up?" she asked her tone concerned. I didn't answer instead I just headed for the door, the two of them following along. They seemed to sense that something big was about to happen, and as we turned into the alley across the street they moved to flank me.

I suppose it figured really. We had embarrassed Lindsey at the dance and since she couldn't get at me, yet she tried to get back at him. Sam was standing there with Will, Eric, and a few fairies I didn't know. They weren't fighting yet, but you could tell that that was where it was going, and that Lindsey would undoubtedly win. Witches outnumbered the little group two to one. Eric was at the front of the group stalling while trying to find a diplomatic solution, but you could see Sam and Will, who was looking unusually serious, ready to draw their weapons. The girls with them were keeping quiet, a good move as they would only piss Lindsey off, but you could tell they were ready to fight any minute. I'd say it was time someone diffused the situation.

"Oh." I practically purred my voice condescending, "How cute. Picking fights again Lindsey, darling?" My voice was mocking and cruel as I walked towards Lindsey, the witches in my way parting like the Red Sea. She turned on me and glared viciously, annoyed that I had interrupted her fun.

"Why? Do you want to join?" She asked her voice dismissive, as if I wasn't worth her time.

I raised my eyebrows and snorted slightly, "Why bother. Two to one odds aren't even a challenge." I paused to prepare for my next retort, "Honestly, I can't imagine why you think you need so much backup to take out this little crew. Scared that you can't handle it, dear heart?" I said causing her to snarl angrily, but I continued, my voice mocking, "Are you afraid of the big bad fairies?"

Her response was angry and half-feral, and if I wasn't schooling my expression, I would have smiled. I had been taught a long time ago not to let my anger get the best of me. After all, overly strong emotions are just a weakness, only good for manipulation. She was losing her temper and she would pay for it in a minute.

"The only one that should afraid is you." She hissed, and I smiled, knowing that it would infuriate her.

"I can't imagine why. After all, we all know how this will end." I said cheerfully, mentally laughing as she practically shot steam out of ears. A blast of electric blue lightning came flying from her hand at me, but I turned it aside easily and it crashed into the wall of the building beside me, dissipating. "Temper, temper Lin. Someone will think I'm actually getting to you." My voice was back to a quiet purr mocking and overconfident. We started to circle each other, hostile, ready to fight. As we walked, Sam and his friends were soon behind me and I glanced over, silently trying to tell them to get ready to run.

This was it. The fight we'd been moments from starting for the last two weeks. She would fight, but fail, and I would be thrust into the spotlight, so it looked like we were both about to lose, really. Lindsey was riled, obviously pissed, short black hair hanging in her face from where it had pulled out of her high ponytail. Her blue eyes were livid, infuriated, she was absolutely willing, in fact, even eager to knock me out of the sky. I was calm, just like I'd been taught. I kept my cool, kept my head, and watched for her to show a weakness. It wasn't long before she did.

Lindsey again tried to blast me and I dodged before launching a fireball at her with my right hand. It went wide, but that had been the point. It had been close enough to her that she dodged unnecessarily terrified of losing, and the crowd had to dodge to avoid being charbroiled. This made a good distraction for my left hand to magically pop the lock on one of the side doors. The little group of fairies and heroes headed through with Sam giving me a last glance. By the time Lindsey and the others were refocused on the fight, their would-be victims were gone and I was attacking. She fought back as well as she could, and in fairness, she was good. Very good even. No one could deny that, but I wasn't your run of the mill schoolgirl. She grew up throwing petty hexes at the girls who hated her for being a witch. I grew up sparring and training to be as dangerous and capable as possible. I was trained, she learned. It's not exactly surprising that I'm out of her league.

One last bolt of lightning from her and I decided that I had given the others plenty of time to run. It was time to end it. The other witches put their backs against the walls to avoid the fireball I launched at Lindsey. Although, fireball is a bit of a loose term. It was more like I sent a wall of fire that filled all, but the very edges of the alleyway at her, sending her flying out of the alley to land haphazardly on the sidewalk, beaten. I smirked and as I walked past her to leave I kneeled down next to her half-conscious and whispered, "Didn't I tell you to watch you temper, doll?"

The other witches were obviously riled up as they whispered and cashed in their bets. I walked out of the alleyway with all the poise and arrogant grace that had been drilled into me as a child, but Ashley and Rebecca came with me. Ashley eager to talk about the fight and Rebecca eager to get back to shopping.

"So are we headed back to Aberzombie, then?" Rebecca asked eagerly.

I shrugged and then pasting a false smile on my face said, "I actually need to run down to the Apothecary. I can just meet up with you guys later."

Ashley protested assuring me that, "We can come with you if you'd like."

I could feel my phone start to vibrate in my pocket, although it was too quiet for them to hear. I needed to lose the lackeys, stat. "Oh, don't worry about it we can meet up later." I told them. They shrugged and headed off while I ducked around the corner and answered my phone. A now familiar number sprawling across the top of the screen.

"Hey, Princeling." I asked. Sure enough, Sam's voice answered me.

"Hey Kali." I smiled happy to hear from him.

I then answered, a touch mocking, a touch pleased with myself, "'Bout time you called, Princeling." I could tell that he was smiling even through the phone as he defended his innocence saying that he'd been busy.

"Hey, so… thanks for the save. We all appreciated it. I was uh, just wondering if you'd let me buy you lunch to say thanks? We are all headed to that little pizza place on 2nd and Elm." I grinned, pleased if a little surprised. I had just eaten with the girls, of course, but it had been a light lunch an hour and a half ago so I was sure I could manage a slice. Especially in good company.

I answered happily, "A smart girl never turns down free food. I'll meet you guys there in 5, 10 minutes."

His response sounded relieved, as if he thought I'd tell him to take a hike, "Cool! I'll see you then." I said goodbye as well and headed towards the pizza parlor. I knew the place, Ashley had showed it to Rebecca and I last weekend. The pizza was excellent, and the location even better. It was right off Main Street, which kept the walk from CT short. It only took me a few minutes to get there. I walked in to find the others already sitting down.

"Kali. You finally made it." Sam said smiling happily. I grabbed a seat between him and one of the fairies. That one had dark hair and tan skin with a notably practical clothing style. No heels, no spaghetti straps, no skinny jeans. Just a dark green t-shirt over jeans and tennis shoes. I had the feeling I would like her. The two girls next to her were also… distinctive, but not so much my style. One had magenta hair of all things and wore ungodly amounts of baby blue and neon purple, all designer and modern, of course. The other had dark brown skin and hair. She wore a modest blue sundress that seemed to scream 'girl next door.' Oy vey.

The practical fairy turned towards me brushing long black hair out of her way impatiently, "Thanks for the save by the way. I'm Lily."

"Kali." I answered pleasantly shaking her hand.

She then introduced me to the other two, "Little-miss-popstar here is Aria," she said pointing to the purple one, "And the goody two shoes of the group is Mira." She said pointing to the 'girl next door.'

"Goody two shoes, hmm? Why aren't you dating the red head?" I asked motioning to Eric, who even I already knew was straight laced, with a slight laugh, although my eyes made it clear that I was teasing.

Will smiled and laughed loudly before saying without the slightest hint of self-consciousness, "Now I remember why I like you so much. I've tell them that all the time!" he was just happy, pleased, and comfortable, without the slightest hint of worry. A rather startling contrast to his more serious attitude earlier.

Eric rolled his eyes and gave a long-suffering sigh, "And I tell you, all the time, that we've known each other since we were kids, I see her as family, and we are never going to date no matter how 'incredibly goody-goody' our theoretical children would or would not be." See what I mean? His answer was diplomatic and didn't even hint at true annoyance. What a goody two shoes.

We all talked, and ate, and talked some more and it was fun. Really fun, it was kind of weird. Okay, full disclosure. As you've probably figured out by now I've never really had much for friends. I mean, there have always been lackeys like Ashley and Rebecca, and I've always had things to do and people to see if I so chose, but I've never really had true friends. No one I was really close too.

I suppose the cause has two parts. For one, I spent all my free time being tutored in witchcraft by my mother and my aunts as a kid. I didn't have time for friends. For another, I was trained to see people as… chess pieces, really. I'm older now, I've gotten past a lot of what I was taught, but that doesn't change the fact that I have to remind myself that the people around me are… people. Not pawns.

This was different though, in a good way, I thought while Will made a joke at Lily's expense. She glared at him, secretly trying not to smile, but I think we could all tell she wasn't really mad. Just amused, and a little exasperated. A mixture of emotions that seemed to show up in Will's presence often. Everyone here was… nice. They all wanted to spend time with one another; not one of them was just here because they needed the others. Coming from someone who grew up on Whisperia and then went to CT, It felt weird. I suppose as absolutely ridiculous as it is, I haven't often seen people who were really, truly friends. Not like this little troupe of goody-goodies.

I glanced over after I heard Aria ask me something, "Hmm?" I asked not sure what she'd said.

She smiled before repeating the question, which I answered. She was… hard to get a read on. Decidedly. Her outfit was modern and fashionable, a trait that normally annoyed me, but she didn't act near as ditzy as I would have imagined, although she kept making cow eyes at the waiter who had started to stutter every time he opened his mouth. She seemed to find that funny. Her outfit consisted of a baby blue pencil skirt and a bright purple blouse. It was like business casual if you were going to a rave. Strappy purple heels and a white belt with a bow on the side completed her, pretty, but wildly impractical outfit. She was girly and illogical, but at the same time, her voice and expressions were honest, real. She didn't feel fake as one would assume from someone looking like her. (Yes, I do know what 'assume' does. Thank you very much.)

I smiled again, listening quietly to Eric as he tried to defend himself against the combined weight of Mira, Aria, and Will as they all teamed upon him to tease him about his date next weekend. I turned, and without much though, leaned up against Sam. He stiffened surprised at first, but then he slipped his arm loose and wound it around my shoulder while we returned to watching Eric's love life be dissected in public. Lily gave me a funny look, as she was the only one that had noticed how we were sitting, but she didn't say anything about it. The others were too engrossed in their argument to pay the slightest bit of attention to us. It was all nice. Really nice, but foreign.

It was about time the boy called me.