YEARS AGO
Parent-teacher days have always been chaotic affairs. From the endless small talk and niceties to the rush and pre-planning, to say nothing of the tempers and child-centric anxieties that could flare up at a moment's notice.
And that was just at ordinary schools.
As with everything at the Salvatore School For The Young and Gifted, Parent-teacher days were heightened by the dangers and uncertainties of the supernatural.
But in the end, all present were united by one mission: a safer and more certain future for their children—the future of the world's supernatural community. And that mission was enough to overcome centuries of adversity, to bring parents together from far and wide.
Except for the parents of one child.
Nolan stood on his toes, peering as far as he could over the bannisters of the lobby stairway. He had been standing there, on and off his feet, for the better part of two hours, awaiting the arrival of one man.
He hadn't shown up last year, but surely his dad had to show up this year, right?
But as the hours passed and the morning light faded, so did Nolan's hopes. By the late afternoon, the boy no longer stood with his arms around the bannisters but sat on the floor, his arms around his knees.
He wasn't coming. Again.
The pain and rumbling of an empty and disappointed stomach broke the last of Nolan's resolve, the boy stepping down from the bannisters and into the foyer, amongst the adults.
Some of the parents ignored Nolan, others moved aside to make room for him in the Great Hall, beaming at him with those fake smiles that adults liked making.
But the rest turned themselves and their children away from Nolan, glaring at the boy as though he were a leper.
Nolan shoved his hands into his pockets, the adults' gazes like acid on his skin as he marched down the hall.
Did they know about that explosion at the Old Mill last month?
As soon as that thought crossed his mind, Nolan's ears caught some of the conversations around him.
"Is that him?" a man asked.
"Yes." a woman beside him hissed. "Evil little brat."
Nolan bit his lip, hunching his shoulders as if to raise them over his ears.
"How the hell did this shit even happen?" another adult asked in a hushed whisper, squeezing their son's shoulders protectively.
"My kid almost got burned!" another complained shrilly.
Nolan whimpered, his head hanging lower.
"I thought this school was supposed to be safe!" a man complained in a voice just above a whisper. "What the hell are we paying this Saltzman guy for anyway?!"
"Shush!" the man beside him hushed. "The kid might hear you!"
By now, the eyes of nearly every parent were upon Nolan. The boy bit his cheeks to stop his eyes from welling up, when suddenly, another child appeared in front of him.
"Hey, Nolan." the girl smiled, her two front teeth missing. "You look real unhappy, what's wrong?"
But before Nolan could answer, a woman in a black pantsuit appeared. She put her hands on the girl's shoulders and turned her away.
"Stay away from my daughter, you little brat!"
Those last words hit Nolan like a blow to the heart, the final hammer swing to the dam of tears that he had been trying so desperately to hold back.
As his eyes burned and his vision blurred, Nolan broke into a run, fleeing as far from the adults as his little legs could carry him.
*Sniff, sniff*
Nolan rubbed his eyes on the backs of his sleeves, sobbing quietly behind some hedges near the lake.
Tears burned in the child's eyes anew as footsteps echoed from behind.
Nolan hugged his knees as he felt a person approach. "Leave me alone, Ms Tyg, I don't wanna talk."
"How about to someone other than Ms Tyg?"
A feeling of surprise shot up Nolan's back as the stranger spoke. The hafu boy turned around, holding a hand over his face to block the sun from his eyes. The blinding rays disappeared, but the stranger's radiance persisted: a youthful woman with glistening brunette hair, olive skin and a bright smile.
Nolan swallowed as the woman pushed a lock of hair behind her ear and strode over to the boy's side, sitting on the grass beside him.
"Having a bad day?" the woman asked, her smile unrelenting.
Nolan said nothing.
"Did you want to talk about it? I'm not your school counsellor, but I can still listen to you and hear you out."
Again, Nolan said nothing. He shirked back a few inches, which only made the woman smile more, with the lightest snicker.
"Okay," she said, raising her hands in mock surrender. "We don't have to talk. We can just sit out here and watch the gardens, or play with the flowers."
She reached over to the garden bed to Nolan's left, pulling out six small flowers.
"I'm sure Dr. Saltzman won't mind if I take a few flowers, right?" the woman winked.
She reached past Nolan and into the flower bed beside him, removing a few daisies, her smile persisting.
Nolan watched her cautiously as the woman started knotting the flowers together, as if she were plaiting hair for a ponytail.
Ms Tyg had shown the kids in his class something like this before, 'flower daisy chains', she called them. The others had a lot of fun, almost tearing up the whole garden for flowers, but Nolan had struggled to make even one.
Nolan hung his shoulders, sagging his head deeper into his knees.
Just another thing I can't do... he thought glumly.
"Hey, come on, what's making you sad?" the woman asked, finally looking away from her flowers.
Nolan didn't look at her. "...I don't want to talk."
"I didn't say you had to." the woman smirked. "I just wanted to know what's got you so upset."
She knotted the last of the flowers together, forming a neat chain.
"...Sometimes it helps to talk, y'know?"
They sat in silence for almost a minute, the woman making another daisy chain as Nolan stared absently at the grass.
"...No-one here likes me." the boy finally said. "They're all scared of me. They hate me."
The woman lifted her right knee, resting her arm and head along it as she looked at Nolan. "Why do they hate you?"
Nolan's small frame stiffened, holding his knees closer as if for protection.
"...I can't control my magic." he confessed. "I can't use it. And sometimes it comes out of me and blows things up. Or breaks rooms. Or hurts others."
The woman said nothing, Nolan failing to notice her sympathetic gaze.
"I've heard the others talk about me when they think I'm not listening..." Nolan said, his eyes burning again. "T-That they think I should be sent somewhere else. That they think I'm different. T-That I'm-" he choked back a sob. "That I'm not a witch..!"
Nolan sniffed again, wiping his eyes with the cuffs of his sleeves as the woman looked on.
"I just..." the boy whimpered. "I just wish I wasn't me. I wish I wasn't different..."
"Don't wish that." the woman told him. "Don't wish that you weren't different. 'Different' doesn't always mean 'scary', it can mean 'better' as well."
Nolan hunched his shoulders. "Easy for you to say. You're nice and pretty and an adult. Everyone probably likes you..."
The woman chuckled once as she lifted her hand, her pale olive skin gleaming in the sunlight before turning slightly darker.
Nolan's eyes went wide as the woman's hand changed, the skin turning hairier and her delicate fingers growing long black nails.
The woman seemed amused by Nolan's reaction, smiling as the boy looked on in a bewildering mix of wonder and terror.
"...You'd be surprised." the woman said. "I was born a werewolf, but went through some...changes after I had my little girl. Now there are some people who don't think I'm a werewolf at all."
Nolan was silent as the hair on the woman's hand retracted. As she pulled her hand back to her knees, the woman nudged Nolan playfully with her shoulder.
"...Guess we both have that in common don't we. Being different from who we were born as?"
At last, Nolan met the woman's eyes, holding out her hand with one of the kindest smiles the boy had received in a long time.
"My name's Hayley. What's yours?"
Something caused Nolan to pause. He didn't know whether it was the brightness of the sun, the warmth in Hayley's eyes and words, or just the woman's beauty, but something about her made Nolan relax and freeze up all at once.
The witch swallowed, parting his damp, tear-ridden lips as he answered her question:
"Nolan?"
PRESENT
Noel frowned. "What?"
The memory of the sunny school grounds and Hayley's smiling face disappeared, swallowed by the dim of Emma Tyg's office.
Emma sat across from him in a low leather chair, her golden skin illuminated by streaks of noontime sun creeping through the blinds.
"You drifted off for a moment." she said, giving Noel that neutral therapist 'smile'. "I asked you to think of the last time you felt like you had someone you could trust yourself around. A positive role model in your life?"
Noel sighed, resting his cheek on his left fist. "And?"
"And," Emma persisted. "Did you think of anything?"
Hayley's face lingered in Noel's mind a moment longer before he willed it away.
"...No." he lied.
Emma pursed her lips, tapping a finger thoughtfully against her crossed legs. She had never expected getting the students at this school to open up easily, but she didn't expect such resistance either.
And Noel was Exhibit A, a boy with such cold, impenetrable walls that he almost gave Hope Mikaelson a run for her money. At least Hope would get defensive when backed into a corner, throwing Emma a few details or admittances in the process.
However, there were no such concessions with Noel. Even when talked into a corner or caught in a lie, the hafu youth wouldn't yield an inch.
She fought the urge to sigh.
But she couldn't give up yet. Alaric was counting on her to find answers to the mystery of Noel's past and heritage - something that could provide the key (or at least a direction) into figuring out where his meltdowns came from.
But Noel was the only one with those answers, which meant only he could lead Emma to them. It was like depending on your enemy to tell you how to undo him (though she refused to see Noel in that manner).
"So you have no recollection of a positive parental figure in your life?" Emma asked. "None whatsoever?"
Playing along with the patient's lie. It was an old therapist's trick but hopefully one that Noel wouldn't see. She didn't need an answer to whom he thought of (averting his eyes before answering was a dead giveaway), she just needed to prevent him from any mental pivoting.
"Story of my fucking life." Noel scoffed, slouching forward and leaning over his knees. "And the same one we've been talking about since I was dumped in this place..."
'Dumped in this place'. Emma thought.
Dumped. It was a colloquial word, but synonymous with garbage or discarding. Clearly, Noel wasn't happy about his 'enrolment' into the school.
"Can we talk about something else for a change?" Noel asked, as if he could read Emma's thoughts.
"Alright." Emma acquiesced, readjusting herself in her chair. "How about we talk about your fit yesterday?"
Noel groaned, throwing himself backwards in his chair. "Something! Else!"
But Emma persisted. "That was your fifth meltdown in less than a year. Your second in a week. When you were a child, you would have one or two a year at most."
Noel shrugged, his eyes glazed with apathy. "Growing pains?"
Emma tapped her finger against her knee once again. "I'm starting to get the notion that you aren't taking this seriously. Need I remind you that your last fit nearly destroyed one of the Magic classrooms?"
Noel rolled his eyes. "I broke a few windows and knocked over some tables. That's not even close to 'destroying' a classroom."
The boy scoffed again.
"Besides, if you want to talk about destroying a room, you should ask Lizzie about that shit she pulled in the kitchens-"
"Stop deflecting." Emma cut him off. Her voice was gentle and composed as before, but with a noticeably firmer edge. "And you know full-well that Lizzie has bipolar disorder and a chaotic magic bloodline."
Noel rolled his eyes. Emma was being unusually firm today. He had never paid much attention or put much focus into these sessions, but Noel had paid just enough attention to know that Emma usually let his deflections and tangents slide.
But today, she had chastised him twice in only two minutes. Why? Had she finally run out of patience? Or was she working a different angle?
"Let's circle back to what happened in the forest yesterday." Emma suddenly said. "With that Dragon."
Noel's eyes narrowed. "How the hell did you-"
"It doesn't matter who told me." Emma told him, again with that firm voice. "I want to hear your side of it. You were in the forest. You, Hope and Rafael had tracked down Landon Kirby. What happened after that?"
Noel folded his arms, sighing in surrender as he looked up.
"...We found that pube-haired thief," he grumbled. "Cornered him in some old cellar. Hope was about to give him a very deserved magic ass-kicking, when Dr Saltzman ran in, freaking out about some fire-breathing woman."
"The pyromancer." Emma nodded.
"Yeah, her," Noel shrugged. "We all rushed outside to find that knife Kirby stole and..."
Noel trailed off, his gaze lowering again.
"And then?" Emma asked.
And then... Noel let Emma's words ring in his mind. And then...
"...I-I don't remember." he finally answered. "The next thing I know, I'm waking up on the ground, right as that woman turned into a Dragon and, well you know the rest."
Emma sighed disappointedly as Noel's posture relaxed. Why did she get the feeling that Noel wasn't telling her everything?
The witch was about to push the issue when a monotone ringing suddenly filled the hallway outside.
The end of first period.
Noel stood up immediately, tucking two books under his arm and starting for the door before Emma could dismiss him.
"I should also let you know," Emma called out. "Dr Saltzman wants to see you in the library. Lizzie, Josie and Hope should already be there."
Noel groaned so hard that he almost felt something rupture in his throat. "Of course he does..."
Emma pursed her lips. "You know that this is a safe place, don't you? If you have trouble with anyone or anything you-"
"I can come to you and talk about it..." Noel groaned. "Yeah, don't take this personally, Emma..."
He opened the door and stepped into the hallway, his hand still on the brassy door knob.
"...But I don't want to talk to you about it, okay?"
Emma clenched her jaw as Noel slammed the door shut, a coldness washing over her shoulders like a shawl of ice.
...This was going to take some work.
Noel sighed as he entered the library, the knot in his gut tightening as he met Alaric's eyes.
"Nolan," the headmaster acknowledged him tersely. "So nice of you to finally join us."
Noel rolled his eyes. Noel! My name is Noel!
"Well, sorry I took so long coming here from the other side of the school during the second-period rush. Maybe if I didn't have to go to that bullshit therapy session today, I could have been here faster."
Alaric ignored him and leaned over beside a glass display cabinet, his burly arms folded as Hope and Josie glanced at him uneasily.
"As I was saying," Alaric continued. "I volunteered everyone at the game, so stop complaining. You're lucky that it's just community service and not actual jail time."
Noel rolled his eyes. What sort of insufferable 'community' bullshit was the school up to this time?
"Context, please?" the hafu boy groaned.
Josie sighed as she sat on the backrest of a study chair. "Some stuff happened at the football game yesterday. Now Dad's punishing us."
"If by stuff," Alaric reminded her. "You mean nearly exposing us to half the Mystic Falls community, then yes, stuff indeed happened."
"Are we talking like full-on exposure?" Noel asked dryly. "Or a small slip-up? 'Cos honestly, Doc, it's a little hard to tell with how pedantic you are..."
Alaric shot Noel a look when suddenly, Lizzie spoke up:
"Can I at least offer a rebuttal in my defence, if it pleases the court?"
This ought to be good. Noel snorted to himself.
"First of all," Lizzie said, lifting her nose. "I was provoked. My response was totally proportional considering the levels of abuse that I was forced to endure..."
Noel and Hope groaned in unison. "Levels of abuse"? What the fu-
"...And secondly, if anyone should take the blame, it's Josie."
Noel almost laughed. "Damn..."
But Josie didn't see the humour. "What?!"
Lizzie took a step back from the stair railing. "I'm sorry I totally cracked under cross, but if you had just let Kaleb catch the ball-"
"You'd still be in trouble." Alaric said tersely.
"But nice job throwing your sister under the bus." Noel and Hope said in unison. The two exchanged an amused look as Josie glanced in their direction.
"...Thank you, guys." the Siphoner mumbled, her cheeks a pale red.
"Speaking of, the bus leaves in ten minutes and I expect all four of you to be on it, working together today, harmoniously and without drama. End of debate."
He emphasised those last words with a sharp glare at Noel and Hope, the two rolling their eyes in perfect unison.
"I wasn't even at the game." Hope added quickly. "Why am I being punished?"
"Ditto." Noel said. "I mean, I'd rather sit reverse cowgirl on a cactus bed than go to a football game, but I'm not sure that's enough to punish me with 'community service'..."
Alaric met their challenge with another glare, albeit a less veiled one.
"You both know what you did. All right, now go, all of you. Come on!"
Josie pursed her lips and walked away obediently, followed closely by Lizzie. But as the blonde Saltzman walked past, she gave Hope and Noel a smug, delighted smile, as if she had discovered the most tantalising gossip.
Noel dug his nails into his shirt sleeves, desperately trying not to shout some choice (potentially magic) words at her.
And as soon as the door slammed shut, the boy opened his mouth:
"This is bullshit."
Alaric didn't even turn around. "Your opinion and language are both noted, Nolan."
"Consider them seconded as well." Hope said. "Seriously?"
"What part of what I said needs translating?" Alaric questioned, keeping his back to them.
"How about the whole 'punishment' part? 'You know what you two did'? Really?"
Alaric's jaw tensed as he turned around.
"Because all I remember us doing," he pointed between himself and Hope. "Is saving your ass from getting turned into the world's most ungrateful pile of ash."
"Is that what you call losing control of your magic again?"
Noel frowned, falling silent as his headmaster glared at him. The witch glanced toward Hope for sympathy, but the Tribrid avoided his gaze.
"You nearly blew up the entire forest." Alaric continued, his hands on his hips. "It's a miracle that no innocent bystanders or trail hikers were hurt, let alone us."
Noel grit his teeth. "I keep telling you, I don't know what happened. One minute, we're coming out of that root cellar, and the next minute, I wake up on the ground!"
"I know." Alaric told him, his eyes softening the slightest amount. "But that doesn't change the fact that we risked exposing ourselves at a very bad time."
A gnawing sensation grew in Noel's stomach. He knew it wasn't his fault (not entirely, at least), but he still couldn't help but feel some responsibility about this. And even after all that, after losing control and the chaos he woke up to, the Dragon still got away.
"Then why not just keep us at the school?" Hope asked. "We fought the Dragon with you, so why not let us help you with the research too?"
"Dorian has a Masters Degree in Library Science." Alaric told her. "I think the adults have it covered."
Noel raised an eyebrow. There was a degree for how to find books and study? Talk about a cash grab.
And why did Alaric keep playing the 'adult' card like this? The adulthood certainly didn't count for shit when the Dragon attacked them; when Alaric had to run and hide while Hope fought it.
Hope mirrored Noel's frustration, her porcelain nostrils flaring as she stepped forward. "That's not fair. You only play by the grown-up rules when you don't need something from me."
"Or when you want to shut down what we have to say." Noel added.
Alaric sighed as he folded his arms. His face softened, but the steely resoluteness in his gaze persisted.
"I am spinning right now, you two. And I can't drag you or anyone else any further into this until I figure out what is going on, okay?"
Hope sneered.
"So right now, I need you both to be kids keeping a dragon-sized secret today, until I get some answers or get a clue on where this thing ran off to. Understood?"
"And what if the dragon comes back?" Noel asked, putting his hands in his pockets. "Decides that it wants that knife bad enough to hit us while we're in the Town Square?"
Alaric's jaw tensed again. Noel had a point, as hesitant as he was to admit it. They had no clue how dragons would react as a species; whether they acted on strategy, instinct or emotions like pride.
And that wasn't even counting the knife as a factor.
The dragon had been obsessive. Would it really risk attacking Noel, Hope and civilians in broad daylight to get the knife back?
"...We'll cross that bridge if and when we come to it." Alaric decided.
Noel scoffed under his breath and stormed out the door, swearing under his breath.
Great! Not only did they have to deal with a giant flaming dragon, they were stuck playing defence against a giant flaming dragon!
Noel's grumbling reached a crescendo as he stomped down the stairs, anger rolling off him like heat from a blast furnace.
Noel told them not to bring Landon into the school. He told them to keep Landon under surveillance. He told them to keep an eye on them as he left the school. And each time, Hope and Alaric ignored him!
Now look at us! Noel thought. Running around with our heads up our asses while a dragon was off licking its wounds somewhere, probably getting ready for a Round Two! Fuck!
The hallways and stairs disappeared in a blur of anger and fast-paced steps, until, before he knew it, Noel found himself in the foyer.
An uneasy feeling trickled down the back of Noel's mind and into his spine, recalling the memories he revisited during Emma's session this morning.
...I hate this part of the school. Noel said to himself.
Before his foot could even caress the foyer floor, Noel heard a footfall from the courtyard, Dorian's shadow obstructing the morning light.
"And here I was thinking I'd have to come and get you." the man said mirthlessly. "Don't want to miss the b-"
"I know you're riding some kind of smug, smartass teacher high right now, Dorian." Noel cut him off. "But I am really, really not in the mood to take more crap from teachers today."
Noel expected some retort from Dorian, some remark or threat of further punishment. But the man stepped back, his eyes wandering over Noel carefully.
The witch boy wondered if Dorian could tell what he was feeling, that venomous rage bubbling up in his body like a chemical fire. Noel was no stranger to fits of anger and "oversensitive emotions" (as Emma had called it). And today? Noel felt halfway to lethal.
But Dorian held his ground, looking Noel dead in the eye.
"Just get on the bus, Nolan. We have to be at the town square in ten minutes."
Noel moved towards the bus, sighing contemptuously as the gravel crackled under his shoes and Hope emerged from the foyer.
"Finally she shows up." Dorian remarked as Hope scowled at him. "You want to give me some attitude as well, or are you going to save it for the trip into Mystic Falls?"
Dorian's remark just poured more fuel onto the irritation and rage building in Noel. Without another thought, the witch whirled around, snarling, giving his anger full rein over his words.
"Why don't you tell her that Landon Kirby is on the bus? That'll make her get on quicker."
The words had left Noel's mouth before the boy considered their weight or sharpness. He paused, ready to take them back, but Hope had already heard them.
The girl's nostrils flared, her gaze almost murderous as she stormed after Noel. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?
Noel didn't say anything as he stepped onto the bus, ignoring all the derisive whispers from those aboard as he saw near Kaleb at the back.
Kaleb's eyes widened as Noel approached him and MG. "Man, you're here too?"
Noel sighed as he slumped onto the seat beside Kaleb, giving the vampire a weary look. "You know, I'm all about that community spirit..!"
Ugh, just saying those words made Noel want to gag.
"But I thought you weren't at the game?" MG asked, leaning over the back of his chair.
"I wasn't." Noel answered tersely. "I was helping Saltzman chase down that wolf and his little boy toy, Landon Kirby and then we got thrashed by a fucking dr-"
A sharp coughing sound came across the aisle from Noel. He looked to see Hope sitting a seat down and to the left of him, rubbing the front of her pearly neck as she coughed dramatically.
And giving the mother of all death glares.
Noel sighed as he took the Tribrid's hint. "Look, just forget it..."
He half-expected Kaleb to push the matter, but the vampire just shrugged, putting on a pair of headphones. "Whatever you say, bruh."
The faint beat of pop music rumbled from Kaleb's phone as Noel put his head back, his gaze meeting another's on the overhead mirror.
Josie.
The siphoner sat two seats back from Noel, her soft, caramel brown eyes causing a warm fluffy feeling to bloom in Noel's chest.
Even amongst the chatter around them, even as Dorian called out for head counts and the bus disembarked, Noel and Josie kept their eyes locked on each other's reflection; the moment feeling like it could stretch on forever.
...Until Josie relented, giving Noel a half-hearted smile before talking to a brunette beside her.
The sudden absence of Josie's face left a subtle but dull ache in Noel's heart, like a sunlit flower's warmth cut off by an overhead cloud.
The boy sighed as he stared into the space ahead of himself.
Today was going to suck.