CHAPTER 2: I WAN'NA BE LIKE YOU
It was little after a week since Jill Bones was ripped from her home in Crittenden, Kentucky after receiving an odd inheritance from her late grandfather. Eight days after falling through a strange magical door into the world of Twisted Wonderland. Eight days of being a student in the prestigious Night Raven College. Eight days of nonstop worry and agitation, thinly veiled under a mask of contentment.
Oh, it wasn't all gloom and doom, she had to admit. Getting to be part of a Disney-esque magical world was exciting, and she even had her very own Nightmare Before Christmas dorm to live in! She had friends, she had powers of her own that she was starting to figure out, and every day seemed to bring something new. And Dire Crowley, the head of Night Raven College, had promised he would spend his every free moment helping to find Jill a way back home. So really, she should stop worrying!
It was the dawn of another school day. Jill put on her Hallowgrim school outfit and her grayish makeup, then pulled her dark hair around her shoulder, tied in an orange ribbon. Breakfast was a quick slice of cinnamon toast, though her "boss", Grim (short for "bossy direbeast") nearly ate the whole loaf. As soon as Jill was ready, she waved goodbye to the ghostly trio and raced Grim down the stone steps onto campus. The lawn was slowly coming back to life, and little pumpkin seeds were strewn everywhere; soon they would become a massive patch. Ace Trappola and Deuce Spade were already at the bottom, and Jill immediately threw her arms around both their shoulders in a greeting hug once she approached them.
"Morning, geeks!" Jill sang.
"Jill, cut it out! Hugging as a greeting is weird!" Ace scoffed, though he didn't remove Jill's arm.
"What do you mean? I hug my friends at my old school all the time," Jill said, finally stepping back.
"Well… no offense, but you said that most of your other friends were girls," Deuce explained. "It's a little different for guys."
"Ah." Jill blushed. "Oh, well… I mean, how would I know that? I'm not a guy!"
"Yeah, as you keep reminding us…" Grim muttered.
The four of them walked towards the main Night Raven castle like they did every day. They were lost in typical banter for a moment—Jill was still trying out different clubs, there was a history test this week, Grim was bragging about greatness that he still hadn't earned yet…
"Hey, you must be lost!" yelled a raucous voice. "Prissy Princess Academy is on another island!"
It was an Octavinelle student with dark hair and a stocky build; Jill knew he was a first-year named Cecil Seymour. It wasn't the first time this guy heckled Jill just for existing. Ace, Grim, and Deuce all turned to glare at the offender in question.
"Wow, princess," Jill said dully. "How clever. It must've taken you all morning to come up with that one."
"Why are you even still here? You don't belong here!" Cecil snapped. "Night Raven is for boys!"
"I didn't have a choice—" Jill argued, ready to explain her circumstances for the umpteeth time. But the other three moved in front of her.
"Oh, get over it and find a real problem to worry about!" Ace snapped at Cecil.
"You're protecting her?" Cecil scoffed. "Figures. She can't fight her own battles, can she?"
"Do you seriously want to fight Jill? How pathetic do you have to be?" Deuce cracked his knuckles.
"If you're gonna mess with my hench-human, you'll have to deal with me!" Grim added, getting up on his hind legs.
"…Ugh, whatever. Not worth my time. You're lucky you have little knights to protect you, princess!" And then Cecil finally went on his way.
"Thank you," Jill sighed. "His body language seemed pretty aggressive. He might've actually tried to hurt me if you hadn't stepped in."
"Sheesh, why does everyone have it out for you? You're a girl in a school for boys, big deal!" Grim huffed. "He's like the third guy that's tried to pick a fight with ya this week!"
"I've noticed," Jill harrumphed. At this point, she had mentally organized the student body into three separate groups. There were the gentlemen, the boys who would speak nicely to her and offer to help her out sometimes. Then there were the neutrals, like Ace and Deuce, who just treated her like anyone else. But the third category was the bullies, the guys that seemed to have a genuine problem with Jill. Whether it was simply sexism or some other factor, Jill didn't know, but it still sucked.
"Are they really that upset about Jill breaking tradition?" Ace asked himself. "I mean, I heard that there was a female student here a long time ago…"
"…No, I don't think it's about upholding tradition. If that was the case, these jerks would also go after Grim, since he's the first direbeast student," Deuce said, a dark tone in his voice. "But they know Grim would breathe fire on them. Instead, they go after Jill because she's weak… and they love picking on the weak."
"You really have a way with women, Deucey," Ace said dryly. "But yeah, you might be right."
"You are right." Jill sighed. "I can't throw a punch, and my magic is still pretty weak. I need to find a way to defend myself…" The goth proceeded to wrack her brain. When she first established Hallowgrim and adopted the Pumpkin King as her patron, she wanted to try and act more like him. She had to be confident, suave, powerful, and on good days, she could pull it off. But on days like this, where jerks would heckle her and even try to pick a fight… her mask would slip, revealing the scared Kentuckian girl that just wanted to go home. There had to be a way to fight back…
"What about your signature spell, 'Fright Master'?" Grim asked. "It can scare people away, right?"
"Ah, but it doesn't work on braver people, or anyone who might be expecting it," Ace replied. "She's tested it out a few times… on me and Deuce, no less!"
"You both agreed to that. It's not like I use that spell for fun," Jill corrected him. And then a lightbulb flickered in Jill's head. She clapped her hands. "Braver people… that's it! Deuce, you can help me!" she announced.
"H-Huh?" the spade-eyed student blinked. "I can?"
"Yeah, anytime something happens, you always look like you're ready to throw hands!" Jill said. "You must know a lot about fighting! We can spar, and you can teach me about self-defense! You know, for when my magic isn't enough!"
Ace cackled. "Jill versus Deuce. Oh, I'd pay to see that."
"My money's on Jill," Grim said with a smirk.
"Shut up, you two!" Deuce said, then he sighed heavily. "Listen, Jill… I'm sorry, but I can't. I can't hit a girl, even for teaching! It just wouldn't be right!" he insisted.
"But… I want to be a fighter, like you," Jill muttered.
Deuce glared at her. "I'm not a fighter. I'm just a Night Raven College student. Now let's get to class before we're late."
He ran ahead of the group, cutting off all conversation.
"Well, that was weird," Ace commented.
Author's Notes: It may be cliché, but several vignettes do have the students deal with bullies in NRC. I think being the Smurfette and changing an old dorm would ruffle quite a few feathers, so much of Jill's early school life will be learning to assert herself and proving that she is a worthy Night Raven.
