The Unnaturally Green Girl...
Aurora had no way of knowing why this day would be so important; that today was a day she would never ever forget. She'd woken up this morning thinking it was just another first day at school, which would pass by in a blur, just like every other first day at school she'd experienced so far in her life. (And the added nausea-inducing excitement of applying for the Blue Fairy's course and getting her future started on the right track.) She was so busy thinking about the benefits of honing her magical talents that she'd never even thought of the people she might meet at this school. She hadn't considered that because she'd never had trouble making friends before; She was used to being popular and universally loved.
Here, that was no exception.
After picking up her schedule and signing up to be considered for the Blue Fairy's class, Aurora wandered toward the middle of the courtyard, looking a little lost. She felt people staring at her as they passed and pretended not to notice, acting like she was distracted by looking over the tiny paper that listed her classes. She scanned it for a moment, then nodded to herself when she saw that everything was in order. She folded the paper up and stashed it neatly in her jacket pocket, then looked around at the crowd of excitedly chattering students milling around her. She smiled as she watched them go by.
Then, the feeling of the eyes still on her became too much, and she turned in the direction of some of the people who had been staring. Pretty much everyone had at least looked Aurora over at some point. She was used to people staring at her everywhere she went. But she was also used to people looking away from her abashedly when she turned toward them. This group of surprisingly friendly faces responded differently, grinning and calling to her in greeting and waving her over. She smiled back as she walked over to them, the crowd of students between her and the group parting to let her pass. The head of this friendly group, a very pretty strawberry-blond girl with bright blue eyes, looked slightly taken aback by the crowd accommodating Aurora with a path. She raised one eyebrow, and her smile looked a bit more forced now.
Aurora couldn't help giggling as she drew closer. She pointed over her shoulder at the continually churning mass of bodies behind her. "Oh, aren't they sweet?" She asked the blond.
The blond nodded distractedly, laughing a little in return. "Yes, everyone here seems very nice so far..."
"I'm Aurora." Aurora said cheerfully, holding out her hand for a handshake.
The blond smirked and daintily gripped Aurora's hand, gently shaking it once. "Cinderella." She released Aurora's hand abruptly and folded her pale, slim hands in front of her uniform skirt. "But everyone calls me Cindy."
"Oh, that's cute." Aurora grinned enthusiastically.
Cindy looked temporarily put off by this comment, but responded with a tight smile of her own. "Yeah...it is." She stared at Aurora for a moment, then nodded toward the group of people gathered expectantly behind her. "These are my friends... Oh, they can introduce themselves." Cindy absently examined her fingernails and stepped aside to let Aurora greet the others. Aurora eagerly stepped forward to smile around at the group of friendly or slightly stunned faces.
The first to greet her was a girl with long auburn hair and pale blue eyes that twinkled as she smiled, and her hair was adorned with a crown of pink flowers. "My name's Giselle." She giggled a little.
The next person, a very tall and muscular boy with hair and eyes much like Giselle's, but wearing a red sweatband around his head, smiled easily and waved. "And I'm Hercules, her older brother."
Another boy with a build much like Hercules' smiled devilishly and spoke in an absurdly deep, sultry tone, "The name's Gaston, my dear." He started to flex his arms garishly.
"Gaston, your testosterone is showing." A blond boy with a slight stubble dead-panned. When Aurora laughed, the blond boy smirked at her and said, "I'm Phoebus."
Aurora raised her eyebrows. "That's a very interesting name."
"Yeah... It means, uh... 'Sun God'..." Phoebus shrugged casually. "No big deal..." He smirked again when Aurora laughed a second time.
The next boy, a taller, suaver individual with finely-coiffed brown hair, mocha skin and hazel eyes, grinned mischievously when he saw a gleam in Phoebus' brown eyes. "Whoa, Pheebs, mind your own testosterone levels, eh?" He chuckled and bowed deeply before Aurora. "My name is Naveen. I believe we went to school together before, but never got to officially meet..."
Aurora's eyes widened in recognition. "Oh, yes! I remember!"
Cindy looked at Aurora in disbelief. "You went to Naveen's private school?"
Aurora nodded. "Yes, in the North. Where did you go to school?"
"Well, most of us hail from the North. But most of us were also not well off enough to attend private schools..." Cindy said slowly, crossing her arms. Aurora couldn't help sensing a bitterness in her tone and shrank a little.
"Ah, Cind, would you leave the girl alone? No need to embarrass her." Another boy with shaggy blond hair said in a cool tone. Aurora turned to see him smiling at her. "I'm John. John Smith."
She nodded and smiled back gratefully. "Nice to meet you."
The two remaining people to meet were both raven-haired girls who couldn't look more different aside from their hair color. Though both girls were dainty, on resembled a slim porcelain doll while the other was a couple inches taller and more curvy and statuesque. The tinier girl's hair was styled in a short, curly bob that beautifully framed her round, child-like face. Her hair was adorned by a red silk ribbon, her deep brown eyes were wide and round like a fawn's, her skin was white like snow, but her cheeks were unnaturally rosy and her pursed lips were red like a ripe apple's skin. She smiled angelicly at Aurora and spoke with a high-pitched voice that resembled birdsong.
"I'm Snow White. It's so nice to meet you!" She chirped happily.
Aurora grinned back at her. "It's nice to meet you, too."
The last girl, who's hair was much longer and thicker than Snow's and held back in a simplistic style- yet adorned by a few ribbons and jewels- smiled sweetly at Aurora, blinking her darkly-lined, almond-shaped brown eyes once. "And I'm Jasmine. Nice to meet you, Aurora."
"Oh, and it's just splendid to meet you." Aurora assured her sincerely. She smiled around at everyone in turn. "All of you, really. And here I was worrying I wouldn't make any friends..." That last bit was a lie, but she didn't want to seem overconfident and set any of them off.
"Nonsense! A girl as pretty as you should never have any trouble finding friends!" Gaston said a bit too loudly. Then, his voice dropped to a seductive drawl. "Or maybe...something more..." He wriggled his eyebrows in a way that might have made Aurora laugh if she wasn't so creeped out.
Cindy rolled her eyes at his antics and flatly told Aurora, "Ignore him."
"Gaston's kind of like this with anything in a skirt, but he's pretty much harmless." Jasmine quipped, smirking up at Gaston, who had turned to give her a playful look.
Aurora giggled quietly and responded, "Good to know."
"Don't worry, hon. Of all the people to make friends with, you've found the best of the best!" Giselle told her exuberantly.
Cindy smirked and stepped in closer to the others. "Not quite yet..."
"What do you mean?" Snow White asked her with a frown.
Cindy looked positively conspiratorial as she said, "You'll never guess who's coming to Shiz this year."
Naveen quietly groaned. "Oh, I never should have told you! I knew you were gonna get all weird about it..."
"Weird about what?" Giselle asked. "Who's coming?"
Cindy grinned with pride. "The Prince Brothers, that's who."
There was a collective gasp from the others, including from Aurora. The Prince family was the most rich, prestigious, and influential family in Oz. They resided in the Emerald City; they were practically the Wizard's neighbors. And they had four young sons who'd been exclusively home-schooled up until this point.
Jasmine stared at Naveen in shock. "And you didn't tell the rest of us?"
Naveen sighed. "Well, they're my friends, you know? They didn't want there to be a big fuss..."
"Shouldn't have told Cindy, then." Phoebus smirked.
"Okay, but we don't want the whole school in a frenzy. Let's keep this to ourselves, alright?" John instructed the group.
Everyone nodded or muttered in agreement.
"Mum's the word." Hercules said, pretending to lock his mouth shut and throw away the key.
"So, when are they coming? Will we see them today?" Snow White asked Cindy.
Cindy shook her head. "No. They're family's vacationing in Neverland. They won't be here til next week."
Giselle groaned. "Oh, we have to keep this a secret and wait for that long? " She slumped and huffed dramatically. "I'll probably burst." Hercules laughed and patted her shoulder in mock-consoling.
"Well, it gives us a distinct advantage. If we're the only people who know they're coming, then we'll be the only ones who are prepared for their arrival. While all the other students swarm them like obsessive fanatics, we'll seem like the only sane, cool people around, and the Prince Brothers will practically beg us to be their friends." Cindy explained lowly.
Aurora frowned a little as she listened to Cindy's reasoning.
"You really think they'll want to be friends with us? " Hercules asked Cindy doubtfully.
Cindy scoffed and rolled her eyes. "Of course. I mean..." She dropped her voice to a whisper and nodded toward the other students in the courtyard. "...look at the competition."
Now Aurora was really bothered. Since when was making friends a contest? She decided not to say anything, because Cindy was obviously the leader of this group, and Aurora didn't want to get on her bad side. This did seem like the optimal clique to belong to... It could really help Aurora's position to be friends with the popular kids. And, despite her discomfort with Cindy's judgment of the other students...Cindy was kind of right.
"Besides, getting close to the Prince family could make it a lot easier for me to take the Blue Fairy's job, so don't screw this up for me, guys." Cindy finished a bit more harshly.
Aurora immediately perked up. "Oh! Did you sign up for the Blue Fairy's class, too?"
There was a moment of incredibly uncomfortable silence. Aurora's face slowly fell as Cindy turned toward her with an icy look on her face.
"Yes... Did you?" Cindy asked her in a dangerous tone.
"Well... Yeah. I mean... The Blue Fairy is, like, my idol, and the position's kind if my dream job... I know getting into the class is kind of a long shot, but just thinking of actually being the Blue Fairy's successor... It would mean a lot to me, and my family." Aurora explained nervously, noticing how everyone else was tensing up.
Cindy's stare didn't waver, and Aurora found her eyes locked on the challenging look in Cindy's.
"Right..." Cindy droned.
Aurora blanked for a moment. Then, a bright idea came to her and her face broke out in a smile. "Hey, wouldn't it be great if we both got into the class? Then we could help each other out!"
There was a long, quiet pause. The rest of the group seemed to be holding their breath.
Finally, Cindy smirked and replied coolly, "Yeah... Maybe we could."
The others seemed visibly relieved by Cindy's response, and the atmosphere immediately lightened. Aurora's grin grew.
Suddenly, there was a scream from across the courtyard, at the entrance. The group turned to see the students scattering, clearing the way to give Aurora and her new friends a crystal-clear view of what had everyone so frightened. Giselle and Snow both shrieked, while there were a few other audible gasps from the rest of the group.
Cindy's face drained of color. Her mouth hung open in horror as she whispered, "Sweet Oz..."
"What is that...that thing? " Gaston demanded.
Everyone was staring in shock or terror at the creature that had just entered the courtyard. It was strikingly tall and lean, gawky and stiffly holding its head up high as the eyes of every student around bore down on it. Most of its body was covered by thick, black scales that glimmered in the sunlight like a dark bird's feathers. But the face and hands were exposed, revealing skin a sickly green color. Most unnerving, though, was the pair of black, twisted horns that sprouted from the top of her hairless, scaly skull and towered toward the sky.
It was a really bizarre thing to see wearing a school uniform.
Aurora watched this poor being walk slowly toward the center of the courtyard, keeping a blank, expressionless face under the heavy scrutiny of over 100 people. While everyone else looked on in fear or disgust, Aurora just curiously watched her, not sure how to feel or what to think. Whatever she did feel for this creature, it wasn't the poignant hatred everyone else obviously felt.
Because, despite her appearance, this obviously wasn't a monster. It was a girl, who'd been born looking different.
Aurora had no way of knowing how important this unfortunate girl would be to her in the future.
