AN~ HOLY FAIL! I realized while editing that I completely cut out a chapter and don't know where it went! So I'll just tell you what happens 'cause I can't (AKA am too lazy to and can't remember how it went) rewrite it. The English grades were amazing. Blah. And then we cut to Sabrina getting tortured by Smirt 'cause the marking Period is almost over and she has to teach the class for a day, and then goes to teach English class.
Grimm Grinn: I don't normally reply to anonymous reviews, but yours was just too awesome NOT to reply to. THIS is the kind of review EVERYONE'S should be based off of! Thank you. Now, on to your points:
Point number one: Yes, it has sort of dropped off. In the next chapter, Sabrina will have to come out of the closet on being an everafter, after which it will become more of a focal point in the story. Also, while it is why this became a story, it is not THE main point, though you're right, I'd kind of forgotten about it. My bad.
Point two: I plan on it. I love Red myself.
Point three: Thank you so much! I'm glad you think this is worth reading, although I doubt I have legions of screaming fans. :)
Teaching English class was actually much easier than she'd expected. There were very few questions asked, and she had either known the answers or been able to ask Snow. She had Snow fill out the form on the way out of class.
"Are you going to give it to her today?" Snow asked.
Sabrina shook her head. "I thought tomorrow morning-"
"Tomorrow's Thanksgiving, Sabrina." Snow said. "I doubt you want to find Smirt here when you could sleep in for once."
"It is?" Sabrina blinked at Snow. "I guess I'll give it back to her at lunch, then." She said, and headed for her history class.
She sat through the study of Texas's statehood absently, not quite paying attention. Thankgiving already? It hadn't seemed like it could be that late. But then again, they had gotten through a lot of work in most of her classes. And the Beast had given them a test the other day, and a packet-
She rummaged through her backpack, finding the packet. It was a quiz on the rules of various sports, which raised another question: How had she not seen this coming?
"What's got you so worked up?" Puck asked, once class was over.
"It's Thanksgiving tomorrow." Sabrina replied, getting up and heading for the door.
"Yeah, and...?" Bella said, holding the door for the other two.
"Thanks." Sabrina said, passing her. "Nothing, really. I just didn't think it was that late in the year. You realize that next week Daphne and I'll have been living here for a year?"
"That's awesome!" Bella said. "We should throw an anniversary party or something!"
"With what time?" Sabrina asked, heading for the lunch line. "I'm not even really planning on taking time off of schoolwork for Thanksgiving. When do you expect me to party?"
"Grimm, you need to lighten up." Puck said. "You work too much, you're gonna kill yourself if you don't take some down time."
"I'm fine." Sabrina rolled her eyes.
"Right." Puck said. "Which is why you collapsed last night right after dinner without even getting up from the table, why you have huge dark circles under your eyes, why even though you eat a lot you're still rail thin, why you're awfully pale-"
"Oh, shut up." Sabrina glared at Puck.
"He's right, Sabrina." Daphne said. "You're working yourself to the bone. You look sick."
"I'm fine." Sabrina half-shouted. "And getting as much of this schoolwork done as fast as possible is more important than being healthy."
"If you get sick, you'll miss a lot of school." Red pointed out.
Sabrina gave the whole table a death glare without saying anything, and fell upon her food with a single-minded intensity that mimicked Puck and Daphne.
The rest of the day passed by relatively uneventfully, until they got home and headed off to begin their homework.
"Hold it!" Granny called.
The kids all stopped. You didn't mess with Granny when she shouted that way.
"There will be no schoolwork in this house this weekend." Granny said firmly. "None at all. And don't give me that look, Sabrina. Tomorrow's Thanksgiving, so we'll be getting ready for that- Charming, Snow, and Mr. Canis will all be visiting- and Sunday is the anniversary of when Sabrina and Daphne moved in. We'll be having another party then, and I don't want any homework done until after that party!"
"But-" Sabrina protested.
"No buts!" Granny said firmly. "You need to take a break."
"I have a whole test for gym, an English assignment, and history homework!" Sabrina said. "I can't do all that in one evening! Can I please work on homework tonight, and just take tomorrow off?"
"Fine." Granny said. "But I want you in bed by ten."
"I can live with that." Sabrina replied.
"Good." Granny said. "Now, I have some cookies for you in the kitchen, if you'd like to eat them while you work."
"Chocolate chip?" Daphne asked hopefully.
Granny nodded, and the kids ran for the kitchen. They worked together on their gym questionnaire, getting additional answers from what the adults knew, while eating the cookies. By four thirty, the cookies were gone, and they had finished as much of their gym homework as possible, though Sabrina planned to meet with the study group sometime and get help from them, and they were free to move on to other subjects. As the English assignment had no due date, they decided to complete History first. It took longer than usual, as they were at the end of a section, and there was a set of chapter review questions, so they didn't finish that until after dinner, when Sabrina and Puck began working on their English project.
They had almost finished the book when Sabrina realized the time and headed for the bathroom. She passed the sign that read:
'No one may use the bathroom for more than half an hour at a time, and no one may take more than one shower daily unless there is an emergency. No using showers before five in the morning, from six to seven, from eight to nine, or after ten. Puck must shower at least once a week. Thank you, Granny.'
and entered the bathroom to complete her evening routine, which she'd done for so long that she didn't even usually have to be fully awake, simply running on autopilot to get ready for bed. After preparing for bed, she considered going down to return to work, but decided against it. Too close to ten o' clock.
"Goodnight, everyone!" She called, heading for her bedroom.
"No more English homework, then?" Puck asked, sounding relieved.
Sabrina shook her head and pulled off her sweater, shaking her wings out. "That reminds me." She said, "You know that spell that lets your wings through you clothes?"
"Yeah..." Puck said blankly. "What about it?"
"I need it." Sabrina replied. "It's really hard finding clothes that work around my wings, or that fit over them, or that I don't mind slicing to let them out. If it's some secret fairy thing, I'll understand, but..."
"No, no, it's fine." Puck said. "I just don't know if you could do it. I mean, you're magic, and a fairy and all, well, kind of, but you weren't born a fairy, and I'm not sure you can do spells without a wand."
"But you know the spell, right?" Sabrina asked. "So you could do it, couldn't you?"
"Yeah sure." Puck said. "I'll need your clothes, and your wings."
"Let's go in my room, then." Sabrina said, heading for the stairs.
"Not with the door closed." Henry said in passing.
Sabrina rolled her eyes. "Dad, we're not going to do anything. We're not even together."
"Yeah, no thanks." Puck said, making a face.
Sabrina winced, glad that she was behind Puck and he couldn't see her expression. She followed him upstairs and, leaving the door pointedly open, turned to Puck.
"How do we do this?" She asked him.
"Get out the shirts and stuff you want me to spell, lay them out somewhere, and I'll get started."
Sabrina rolled her eyes at his commanding tone, but went to the dresser to get her shirts, putting them all on the bed. After they were situated, Puck pushed her into a sitting position on the floor with her wings spread out on the bed behind her.
Sabrina put up minimal fuss over the rough treatment, secretly glad that he was touching her, and tried to turn so that she could see what he was doing.
"Stop squirming." Puck muttered. "This is way easier on someone else. I don't have to turn around and mess with something that wants to stay right behind me this way. Thank you."
"Ummm... Sure." Sabrina said, still trying to see what he was doing.
Puck finally sighed in exasperation. "Would you stop? Every time you move your wings, I have to start over!"
Sabrina made a face. "But I'm bored!"
"Well, read a book or something!" Puck said. "Just stop trying to watch me!"
"How about I read our English book?" Sabrina suggested.
Puck made a face, but sighed. "Fine. I can listen and work at the same time. Stay." Pointing at her commandingly, he went to get the book.
He returned a few minutes later, tossed the book in her lap, and set about working while Sabrina read out loud, attempting to ignore the tingles she got every time he touched her wings, which was often. She continued to read until the book was finished, and then tried to sit still for a few more minutes while Puck finished.
"All right, you can move now." Puck said, stepping back. "Wait- never mind. I didn't do the shirt you're wearing."
Sabrina made a face. "Drat. I like these pajamas, too."
Puck said, blushing slightly, "Well, I could always spell them, too. But you might want to take them off first."
Sabrina turned red. "Yeah, that sounds good."
Puck stood there for a minute while Sabrina turned redder and redder.
"Well?" She finally asked.
"Well what?" Puck looked at her blankly.
"Are you leaving?" Sabrina demanded. "I'm not changing while you're in here."
"Oh." Puck turned equally red. "Right. I'll just... be going now. Call me once you're changed."
"I will." Sabrina told Puck's retreating back. She changed quickly into a big T-shirt that said Bermuda on it, blinking at the feel of her wings sliding through the cloth, then called, "Okay, you can come back in now!"
Puck entered the room, took the pajama shirt from Sabrina's hand, and said, "Stay still."
Sabrina stiffened, still standing, and waited while Puck did whatever it was that he did to her clothes, trying to keep from squirming as she was suddenly attacked by itches and other discomforts.
"Okay, now I'm done for real." Puck told her, handing back the shirt.
"Thanks." Sabrina took it back, and headed for her bed, gathering up her other clothes. "Goodnight again."
"Night." Puck responded, leaving the room.
Once he was gone, Sabrina shoved the clothes in the dresser and sat down on the bed with a sigh. Why couldn't she get him out of her head? She treasured every time they touched, every word he said to her, even the insults. How pathetic was she? There were hundreds of other guys she could have a crush on, why him? Why not someone who, say, didn't live with her?
Except... did she want to stop liking him? He was funny, and fun, he'd saved her...
When she realized what she'd been thinking, Sabrina immediately picked up a book and began reading. She was not going down that train of thought again.
The next morning passed in a blur of cooking and cleaning, something Sabrina would normally save for Saturday, but was glad to have out of the way all the same. While she waited for Mr. Clay, Snow, and Charming to show up, she reacquainted herself with the idea of relaxing.
"You look perplexed." Daphne told her, sitting next to her on the couch.
"I think it's actually bemused." Sabrina replied, sliding her feet in. "Perplexed is like confused. Bemused just means I'm thinking."
"All right, bemused, then." Daphne said, settling down into the couch cushions. "Why are you bemused?"
"I kind of forgot what it was like to relax." Sabrina responded. "It's interesting. I'm having a hard time not planning out the English project Puck and I have to do. Or figuring out when to meet up with the rest of the study group to work more on the gym packet."
"You work too much." Daphne said lazily.
"So I've been told." Sabrina responded dryly. "If I take a nap will you change your mind?"
"I might." Daphne said, "If you watched a movie with me. Or played a game."
Before Sabrina could answer, the doorbell rang.
"That must be Snow." Sabrina said with relief. "I'll get it."
"Hi, Sabrina." Snow said when she answered the door.
She walked into the house, followed by Mr. Clay and Charming, the latter of whom gave her a stiff nod, while Mr. Clay smiled warmly, an expression Sabrina had never seen before. It was a nice smile, she decided, responding in kind as she followed the rest of the group to the kitchen.
"There you are." Granny said cheerfully. "I was wondering when you would show up! Hello!"
There were greetings all around, and then they headed for the dining room, which had been packed with all the leaves that would fit on the table, as well as a folding card table, and all the chairs from both the dining room and the kitchen, as well as one from the living room. They all crowded together around the food, sat down, and listened while Mr. Clay said grace. Sabrina wasn't sure how she felt about that. Did she believe in God anymore? Could God and magic exist together? She'd never been a big churchgoer before her parents disappeared, and now...
Still, she said 'amen' along with the rest of the table, and began serving herself, starting with the beans, which were directly in front of her, and passing them to Puck, who was on her left, to receive the turkey from Mr. Canis. She concentrated on eating for the first while, not taking part in, or even really paying attention to, the conversation around the table until Uncle Jake mentioned school, at which point she looked up, interested.
"What was that?" Sabrina asked him.
"I was just asking Snow how much more we would need to put in to go to her school next marking period." Jake said. "Now that all of you will be done with the teacher certification class, Ms. Smirt can start teaching us adults, and a little extra training never hurt."
"Many of the everafters I've spoken to are planning to sign up, also." Snow said. "They'd like to catch up on what they never learned, since when they were school-age, it wasn't such a big deal."
"I believe it would be a good idea for all of us to go." Granny said. "We can take the teacher certification and catch up on other classes this marking period, and maybe we could teach something for the last two. Snow, what would we have to do to all go?"
"Nothing." Snow said. "You all helped with the building process, and donated more than I had a right to expect. You're paid in full, at least until we need something else. Like a teacher."
"Not me." Sabrina said. "I've been in front of a class enough for a lifetime, thanks."
"That reminds me." Snow said. "You all need a replacement for teacher certification next parking period."
"What is there first period?" Sabrina asked.
"Hamlin has a World History class then." Snow said. "You'd be a marking period behind, though."
Puck shrugged. "We could make it up later, though, couldn't we?"
"And it would get it out of the way- or at least mostly- for our history class." Bella said. "Then we could be done with history that much sooner."
"Sounds good to me." Sabrina said.
"All right, then." Snow smiled. "What about you two?" She asked Daphne and Red.
"What can we take during eighth period?" Daphne asked.
"Do you have an art class?" Red asked hopefully.
"I'm afraid not, sweetie." Snow said sadly. "I hope to have one next parking period, but until then... I could give you another English, another history, or another study hall. Nothing else would really be useful, and we don't have any fun electives yet."
"What do you think?" Daphne asked Red. "History or English?"
"History." Red said. "I don't like it very much, so it will be nice to get it out of the way."
"Daphne shrugged. "That works. I like history, though."
"All right then." Snow said. "I'll fix it up for you!"
"Pass the turkey?" Sabrina asked Puck.
Puck gave it to her, and she served herself, listening to Henry ask whether the adults would have to go for the full day. Snow replied that no, they woldn't, but it was recommended, and Granny changed the subject, asking Charming how the fort was coming along.
"Quite well, actually." Charming replied. "We've got quite a nice setup, with solid walls spelled to protect us from anything short of a nuclear bomb, a moat, and several sets of spikes. We have all the necessary buildings, and we're working on indoor plumbing and a heating and cooling system."
"Notice he didn't mention people at all." Mr. Clay muttered to Sabrina dryly.
"I was getting to that." Charming sent Mr. Clay an irritated glance.
"What's going on with them?" Veronica asked.
"Well, what people we have- which isn't many, yet-" Snow said, "Are just happy to be safe, and have absolutely no intention of joining any army whatsoever. Even the Merry Men just want to enjoy themselves. Everyone hears two years before fighting, and they all think, 'no need to worry about it now,' not 'two years to prepare!' Except the kids. Everyone at the school is full of purpose, trying wonderfully hard to get ready. I'm proud of them."
"I'm disappointed in the adults." Mr. Clay said. "We've barely even got a passive defense system, and we have no active defense or attack system at all."
"Well, that's cheerful." Veronica said. "Let's talk about something happy, please? It's Thanksgiving, after all."
The conversation moved on to other things, and they spent a happy afternoon first talking and eating, then watching a football game, before Mr. Clay, Charming, and Snow went home, promising to be back Sunday for the party celebrating the first anniversary of Sabrina and Daphne living with Granny.
Sabrina slept most of the weekend, playing games and watching movies with Daphne and Red during the rest of the time. Red tried get Sabrina to draw with her, but after Sabrina protested for half an hour that she couldn't draw, then gave in and just drew a picture to prove it, Red gave up and decided to find someone else to draw with. Sabrina also caught up some on her work with the family journals, though she had yet to find out what exactly the Sword was, and hung out with Puck and Bella, just enjoying Puck's very presence, and having discussions on any number of random things with Bella.
Thus, the weekend passed quickly, as good times do, and suddenly it was Sunday, and the first of the guests were arriving.
"Come be social." Puck told her once he found her on the porch roof.
"I will." Sabrina replied absently. "I'm just saying goodbye to the weekend."
"You're what?" Puck raised his eyebrows at her.
Sabrina smiled. "Well, it's been really nice having the time off, not working myself crazy. I hadn't realized how tired I was. After this, it's back to work all the time, at least until Christmas break."
"You don't have to work this fast, you know." Puck said, sitting next to her on the roof.
"Yes I do." Sabrina said. "We all do. Two years sounds like a long time now, but that's two years to get through all of high school history, English, and gym, and still have time leftover to actually get some useful information out of those classes. It's nowhere near enough time to prepare."
"You worry too much." Puck said lazily.
Sabrina rolled her eyes. "Don't you care at all?"
"I try to let things work themselves out." Puck said. "Besides, if we all worried as much as you, nothing would get done."
"So you aren't worried at all?"
"I am." Puck said. "Just not as much as you. And we'll get there. I overheard the adults talking about how we're through eighth grade in the important subjects. If we keep going at this rate, then we'll be done with like, a year left for English. And with history..."
"True." Sabrina replied thoughtfully.
Puck grinned. "See? Nothing to worry about. Now let's go party."
The two went downstairs and joined the group in the house in eating unhealthy snack foods, drinking soda, socializing, and generally having a good time. They discussed normal things like sports, politics- it was slightly odd, hearing an everafter talk about the voting results and what they thought about the president- and the weather, as well as how Sabrina and Daphne had grown since they moved in, how they were settled, and other things like that. The subject of the Scarlet Hand and the upcoming war was completely ignored.
After most of the guests had left, the study group met and discussed the gym packet, answering more of the questions and working on various other assignments, mostly in English and history, though there were a few science and French assignments. After Sabrina and Puck had finished the basis of their English project, they headed home, and Sabrina went to bed early to prepare for the second marking period.