Smiling and waving as they left the small – only one in town – bakery and headed down the main street, Jess let her expression drop as she frowned at the box in her hands.
"You really think that's a right bribe to make up for going there unannounced… again?" Alisaie asked suspiciously, frowning toward the other box in her hands. They, thankfully, left their bags in their lockers at school, but still, it will be quite a trek with those across the forest.
"Who doesn't like cake?" she replied with a question if still frowning. Having no clue if the shapeshifters did like sweets, and if yes, what kind, they picked a piece of every type of cake available – which despite the small size of the bakery, was actually quite a lot. She finally sighed and smiled sheepishly toward her friend – at some level still quite… blown away that Alisaie seemed to like to hang out with her. "And Miss Nowak makes the best pastries in the world!"
"If you say so…" the white-haired teen chuckled at her as they neared the edge of the forest. "I did see there some things… I never saw before, I admit. Plus, she looked quite excited when you told her why we need so much… I mean, other than the fact that you spend there a small fortune, Jess."
"Well… Miss Nowak is actually the twins' aunt," she remarked calmly while they stepped off the even surface of the street and onto the path between the trees – trying to pay more attention to the ground under her feet and not ruin their gift by tripping over a root. "On their mother's side, I mean. She moved here three years ago, after – from what I heard – divorcing her husband, who apparently was a right bastard. Ms. Mallory – Raha's and Damon's mother – nearly dragged her here and, to get her to stay, suggested that her sister should open a bakery with Polish pastries. That's most of what you saw in there."
"…huh?" Alisaie's white eyebrows shoot near her hairline, and Jess grinned involuntarily.
"They were both born in States, but apparently, their parents emigrated here from Poland, and Miss Nowak was taught by their mother many different types of recipes that you can see only there, Ali. Not to mention all the nifty Slavic mythology she knows, as apparently, their father was somewhat of an expert in the field. I used to spend hours in the bakery as a kid, picking her brain for all she remembered from his bedtime stories until she actually lend me his research… and I think that's part of the reason why I got so obsessed with all kinds of myths, you know. And… learned Polish," she deadpanned in a tone that made her friend snicker.
"You just said she moved here three years ago, though?" Alisaie said innocently, and Jess sent her a narrowed stare. "And now you say that you were 'a kid'?"
Jess just rolled her eyes, then scowled toward the box in her hands, taking a deep breath.
"Ah… I was in a pretty bad place at the time," she said softly, refusing to look toward her when Alisaie hummed with confusion. The path was just wide enough to let them walk side by side, and now she kind of wished it wasn't as her face grew hotter. "You know how those girls at lunch talked about this whole… Raha/Brett, situation, yeah…?"
"Mhmm… and you said you hated someone picking on others for not returning their… interest?" Alisaie moved slightly to bump their shoulders delicately. "Come on.. out with it – what got you down suddenly?"
"I mean…" she trailed off and tossed her a look from the corner of her eye before looking forward again, feeling her face only grow hotter and internally thankful for her choice today in heavy makeup. "…don't tell me that you didn't yet hear rumors about me, Ali."
"That you're obsessed with supernatural… duh!" Alisaie replied in a teasing tone… then sighed. "Sorry, just kidding. You mean about how… you like girls? Just to be clear: I really don't think there's anything wrong with that, Jess…"
"That's the thing…" she sighed with resignation and finally looked at her, feeling her lips tilt downwards. "…I don't. I mean, not that way, you know?"
"Huh?" Alisaie frowned. "But then why…? I mean, people in our class are pretty convinced about that…?"
As much as they were sure that she befriended Alisaie right away because she was crushing on her, she thought, pretty much seeing that in her friend's blue eyes. And probably 'someone' was sure to warn her about that, too.
"Eh… it's kind of a pathetic story," she hummed, looking toward the box in her hands again. "And you don't have to believe me… but you know Gina, yeah? The 'popular' girl from our class…" And her antithesis, really. The blonde, blue-eyed cheerleader was a bane of her existence, seemingly determined to represent the stereotype to the letter.
"…yeah?" Alisaie nodded encouragingly if her expression was unreadable when Jess looked toward her, and she didn't have to ask to know without a doubt in her mind that Gina at least tried to get to her, too, at some point. Probably make the white-haired teen avoid her… like most of the others did for the last three years.
Growing up in a small town like theirs had the downside of everyone around knowing everything about you.
"We used to be… best friends," she muttered, looking ahead again and grimacing. "Up until three years ago, I mean. Inseparable, pretty much, since as long as I can remember… until she tried to kiss me," she didn't dare to look at Alisaie, hearing her loud air intake. "And I tried to be… polite about shooting her down, you know? Like… she was my best friend – or so I thought, and we did everything together. And it seemed okay at first… but the next thing I know, she's telling everyone around us that it was me who… ah, tried to force herself on her. I got the whole… speech about consent from the school's counselor, and suddenly… nobody wanted to listen when I tried to explain. I guess… Well, I figured that I really hurt her feelings, and that made her…"
"…that doesn't make it right," Alisaie said quietly, and she sighed, nodding without looking at her.
"Anyway… Suddenly I had no friends, and everyone looked at me like at… the villain, you know? Because how could I first attack my best friend and then try to shift the blame… right?" she knew her tone dripped with sarcasm, so she cleared her throat and shook her head. "Nevermind. What I'm getting at is… well, I was pretty miserable, and I guess… in an attempt to eat away my feelings, instead, I ended up obsessed with mythology. Slavic, at first – obviously. Then… all the others. I guess growing up next to the lair of shapeshifters – especially when they seemed more like a myth than reality – didn't help either. And it was… you know, something to focus on instead… of that whole situation. I never wanted to leave here… even when it got pretty lonely. Then because of it I met Damon, sort of, and I know you don't know him very well… yet, but he's like… you know, completely doesn't care about what others think, yeah? Other than his brother, I mean, and it was… nice to have a common interest with someone again. And that he didn't… judge, and all. Or so I thought at first, but then… ah, one day, I gave him a book he asked for, and then out of nowhere, he grabs my arm, and he was like… 'I'm sorry that they're dumb enough to believe that you were at blame'… just like that. Then goes into a whole fucking rant about the manipulation tactics and how… obviously Gina made herself popular by earning sympathy at my expanse and… I'm just standing there, slack-jawed and all. Everyone always said about how fucking smart he is, but I guess… It was the moment when it really, really hit me. And I think… Well, until then, I think I really didn't realize how much I needed someone to… see it. To acknowledge that it wasn't my fault…" she trailed off with a sigh, smiling sheepishly at how tight her throat felt. She cleared it, then continued. "And I guess when you joined our class… with all the rumors going about what happened… I thought that you may use a friend… as much as I do. So… no, I don't have a crush on you," she finished lamely and finally looked at Alisaie, who remained silent throughout her rant. "…disappointed?" she snarked.
"Just regretting that we have those boxes, so I can't hug the daylights out of you," her friend replied with a serious expression, shaking the box in her hands delicately. "But mostly… I'm sorry you had to go through that, Jess… and next time I see Gina, I might be tempted to smack her over the head – hard – to beat some sense into her, hopefully."
"Thanks, but I think… I'm actually better off after all that," she smiled, relaxing as she looked forward again. "Ah… and we're almost at the border," she frowned, spotting the characteristic mark of claws on the base of tree in front of them. They stopped as they reached it, looking at each other hesitantly. "Do we… I don't know, go in?"
"I don't see a bell to ring anywhere," Alisaie snarked, looking between the line of the marked trees. "Do you?"
Jess laughed if nervously, stepping from one foot to the other as she tried to decide what to do. Previous time it seemed easy to pretend confidence and march right in… but now…
They both nearly jumped in the air hearing a sudden noise in front of them – the rustle of the thick foliage – then she felt the blood drain from her face when a fucking massive feline beast emerged from between the brush, looking between them with an almost smile on its muzzle.
I'll never get used to seeing them, ran through her head as the big cat, covered in a lovely, silver coat of fur, neared them, its… his bright, blue eyes focused on Alisaie.
"Themis," her friend breathed under her nose, and when Jess looked between them, Alisaie's face was completely red, and her eyes huge.
"Alisaie," the beast purred, then… changed to the familiar-looking teenager, who bowed toward them elegantly. "Jess. It is lovely to see you both again," if he definitely didn't sound or looked surprised by that. "If I may offer you my company further in…?"
"Yeah, sure…" she said, holding up her box. "We bring gifts this time!" she hoped her pretended cheer covered her nerves.
"Ah…" Themis frowned slightly, then almost unnoticeably sniffed the air and then grinned brilliantly. "…human food? It smells very… sweet and tasty."
"What did I tell you…?" Jess deadpanned toward Alisaie. "Everyone likes cake!" she crooned triumphantly.
