Apple and Cinnamon
1
~Welcome Back, Kornielia Kane...~
"Koriiiiiiiii~ If you don't wake up soon, you're going to be late!"
She could hear her brother's grating morning voice through the bedroom door, to which she responded with a groan.
Well...I guess I was going to have to face this anyway...
She thought to herself...
She had been dreading this day...
She had been out of school for a while...given some unsavory circumstances that had occured that kept her out of it...
Because of it she had to complete her year away-
But atleast she still passed.
It was a new year now however, and her brother Andre was starting to get more busy with the Cafe-
He couldn't be around to teach her, and they didn't quite make the cut for him to pay for an at home teacher so...
Back to to public school it is...
She sighed.
But...will it be all right...this time around?
She sighed groggily as she fumbled herself out of her bed, wrapped up in her star print bedding.
Andre could hear the noise from downstairs, and began to grow concerned...
"Kornielia? Are you all right sis?" he called up to her, "What are you doing up there?"
"Yeah, I'm good!" Kornielia groaned through the floor, "Just...getting ready for school..."
Thoug according to the thumping in the cieling that her brother could hear from down stairs...he couldn't help but wonder if she was truly ready to face High School again...
The young brunette fumbled towards her boudoir...hands slamming and pressed to the flat surface, knocking over the make up she had collected there. Though...
It had been awhile since she had actually used any of it...
She reached up to run her fingers through her long sandy brown hair, like she usually did every morning-
Oh...right...I've cut my hair since then...
She thought to herself.
It was less than half the length it ussed to be, now...
She reached a finger up to softly touch around the dark circles under her eyes...and scratch at the star tatoo on her cheek that her brother let her get for her birthday...
Her eyes glanced over the faded photo booth photps stuck up around her mirror...narrowing slightly as they landed on a few of a cheekily grinning charmer of a boy with blonde hair and sharp hazel eyes...
Smiling so brightly with her...
or rather...the girl she used to be.
The one who would have never dared thought of coloring her hair...
Or marking her face...
The girl who let her hair grow long...
And used to wear a soft blue sun dress that would match her boyfriend's shirt-
Well...her boyfriend at that time, anyway-
Kinda crazy to imagine now that I actually used to be like that...
She thought to herself.
...That we used to be like that...Nathan-
"Oh Shit I better hurry or I'm gonna be SUPER late!"
And lord knows Mr. Student council president will definitely have some things to say about that-
XXXXX
"Ahh yes, Ms. Kornielia Kane..." the Principal hummed...
Though...gussing by the way she eyed the girl slowly showed that she hadn't quite expected...this...
"...So good to see you again...happy to have you back."
"Uh...yeah...thanks..." she said awkwardly, lightly scratching at the star mark on her cheek.
"Right, of course, all that is left for you now is to meet with Nathaniel about your remaining paper work..."
Kornielia twitched at the mere mention of that particular name...
Yeah...she knew she was going to have to face him...eventually...
But she still certainly wasn't ready for it yet...
"...You...do remember where the Student Council Room is...don't you?"
"Oh- right...no worries... I got it." Kornielia responded defensively as the Principal pulled her back to earth.
"Very well then." she smiled, "Once that is settled...come see me."
"Yes ma'am."
XXXXX
Well...that part was relatively painless...
She thought to herself.
Now for the hardest part...facing Nate...
She trudged slowly down the hall dreading her thoughts, as any sort of mention of Nathaniel still brought back flash memories that she wasn't too keen on holding onto...
and yet...for some reason...she still did.
However...a commotion just ahead of her caught her attention...
It looked to be a group of three girls...pushing around a relatively smaller boy-
Must be a new student...
she thought to herself.
Though- being technical, despite having gone to the school before the...incident...
She still technically counted as a new student now too...
Either way...bullying is so not cool...how pathetic...
she sighed.
Ah well...Suppose I better go lend a hand to the poor guy...since it doesn't look like anyone else is gonna do it...
She carefully stepped to the scene, catching the poor kid as he stumbled back...a startled young boy, blinked a few times over and looked up.
"Hey! What gives!" the leader of the pack huffed...
But Kornielia didn't pay her any mind...yet.
"You okay...?" she asked the boy as she helped him stand.
"Uh...y-yeah..." he said softly.
"So...what's happening here, kid?" Kornielia asked.
"HEY! DON'T IGNORE ME!"
The leader of the pack huffed again.
Clearly the queen bee.
"So...what's your name?" asked Kornielia.
"Uh...it's uh...K-Ken...K-Kentin-"
"Ken, huh?" she said softly.
The boy's was so soft and quiet, she didn't quite catch his correction-
"My name's Kornielia...but...you can call me Kori, okay?"
"K...Kori..." he seemed...absolutely stunned by her.
Maybe he wasn't used to people actually being nice to him or something...
she thought to herself.
"Wait...Kornielia Kane...?"
Kornielia twitched and finally shot a glare at the group of girls.
"Yeah what about it-!?" she huffed at them, and then froze stiff, when she realized the leader of the pack was none other than Nathaniel's own sister...
"...Amber..."
The blonde seemed just as stunned by Kori as she was by her at first-
Though it only lasted a second before those gem like eyes shot daggers at her.
Amber...we used to be best friends...
Kornielia thought to herself.
Though I guess...after what happened with me and Nate...I can't expect you to be on my side right now huh?
She sighed.
"...Really Amber? Stealing money from people? Have you really sunk so low...?"
"Tch...whatever, Like it's any of your bussiness anyway!" the blonde huffed flipping her fingers through her hair as she and her two friends strutted off...
"You have a lot of nerve coming back here..." she hissed in Kori's ear in passing...
Which certainly didn't help her case in anxiety at this time.
She heaved a heavy sigh as they passed, slowly turning her head back to Ken.
"...Sorry about her." Kornielia said softly as she fumbled into her pocket and pulled out her star print pouch.
"How much did she take...I can reimburse you if you want..."
"O-Oh no...I couldn't take a lady's money...!" the boy whined softly waving his hands.
Heh...how cute...guy's got chivalry...
She chuckled.
"Well...if you insist I won't make you." she said softly with a smile, while tucking her pouch away.
"But...if she bothers you again...let me know."
"Uh...Th-Thank you, Ms. Kornielia..." he sniffled.
"Just Kori is fine." she said softly, "Anyway...I have to make my way to the student council room so...later, kay."
"O-Okay...later!" the boy waved...suddenly all smiles.
It brought a little bit of lightness to Kornielia's chest...
Just that small act of kindess seemed to make his day...and that didn't feel to bad...
XXXXX
It seemed the Delegate's office was quite a busy place today...
Kornielia was foced to wait in the hall as she the Student Body President was taking care of another student...
The door swung open softly and out walked a fairly stunning young woman...
She was so tall...and had an air of mystique about her. Her long- clearly dyed, purple hair flowed behind her...she had long slender legs, a fairly nice shape to her...and eyes like emeralds. She stopped momentarily, having caught a glimpse of Kornielia...and flashed her a smile in passing...her heels clicking down the tiles on her way.
"Okay I can help whoever's next now if you're ready-"
"Oh yes, that's me." Said Kornielia, responding to the all too familiar gentle voice sounding through the door after regaining her composure-
She had to take in a few shaky breaths in order to mentally prepare herself upon entering the Delegate's office.
"Name's Kane..."
"Ah yes that's right I did see that name..." he said softly rummaging through his papers.
Kornielia couldn't help but chuckle.
It seemed Nathaniel was still as busy as ever...
"Kane...Kane...kane...? Kane...Kor...nielia..." he froze softly over the name, his hazel eyes softly gazing up as realization hit him, taking in the girl who now stood before him, wearing an awkward smile.
"Long time no see...Nathan..."
To be Continued