SWNOVELS Chapter Miss Marked
I awoke in the hallway in the dark, confused, in pain and so so tired. “What, the?” I sat up, and sensed Cassandra was still hanging about, “Cassandra?”
“Sorry. It was a late night and I was exhausted, after the day we had? Surely you understand…”
Surely I understood? Ugh, I was so done with this. “Are you going to tell me what happened? One second I was being thrown and the next, I was in a void of consciousness…”
“Yeah, I’m actually not sure what happened there… but Pierre wanted to talk to me.”
“Why?”
“Just warning me to stay away. That’s all.”
I could feel Cassandra’s indifference. “And will you? Stay away from the Steinhearts?”
“For now.”
Great. That sounded promising. I grit my teeth, “any reason I’m in so much pain?” My arm was throbbing. I looked down, but in the dark I couldn’t see anything.
“Um, don’t be too mad.”
“What did you do?”
“You might have gotten a tattoo last night…”
“Oh my god. My mom is going to KILL me!” I groaned, throwing my hands over my face. “Cassandra, you’re pushing the line. If you push much more, people are going to notice that there’s something wrong with me and-” my cellphone buzzed, it was sitting on the floor beside me, so was my purse. “Ugh. I can’t do this right now.” I picked up the phone and flipped it open- “Weird. That’s Mels number.”
“Maybe you should answer it.”
“You think?” Mel had yet to answer any of my texts even though I knew she was back in the city, and had at least the next two weeks off, yet I stared at the screen, watching it ring, contemplating ignoring it.
“Cass, I know how much you miss her— just answer it. Isn’t it time to put aside grudges and frustration? Think about how much time you have left, spend it with those you love.”
Damn it. I hated it when Cassandra was right. I sighed and picked up the call. “Hey Mels.”
“Cass! I’m so glad you picked up…”
“I wasn’t sure if I was going to but-”
“I’m sorry Cass. I might have overreacted when we last talked.”
“Maybe just a little.” I slumped back against the wall. “Why are you calling Mels? It’s really late.”
“I know. I couldn’t sleep. I was—I am,” I heard her giant sigh through the phone, “I’m just used to a much different schedule from when I am at work. I’m often up into the really late hours.”
“I remember.”
“I’m going stir crazy— Look I know tomorrow is officially the first day of school, and the last thing you want to do is to stay up… but any chance you’d want to grab a coffee at Breka?”
“The cafe that’s open twenty four hours?”
“Yeah, there’s one on West Hastings street, like a ten minute walk from us.”
“Us?”
“Yeah. I might have gone for a late night drive… and I might have parked outside your place, hoping you’d be up…”
“Aw, I missed you too.” I grabbed the purse from the ground and pushed myself to my feet with a grunt. “On my way out.”
“Great! I’m in the silver Toyota Matrix, I’ll flash my lights if you don’t see me right away.”
“Thanks. See you in a minute.” I snapped the phone shut. Dang, I really hurt. “Cassandra, when I get home, we’re having a serious conversation about putting tattoos and such on me without my permission.” She didn’t reply. I glanced at the time on the phone, three in the morning. “Lovely.” Guess I wasn’t sleeping tonight. I looked over my shoulder, the house was quiet, I was a little shocked that with Cassandra just dropping me on the floor no one had woken and found me there. I was also a little grateful, mom was definitely going to be furious I’d gone and gotten a tattoo. I left the house, the air outside was so cool on my skin, it was refreshing, after sitting in the hot hallway for who knows how long. I blinked, it was strange that I could see better in the darkness then I used to be able to, but I had no explanation as to why. I skipped down the stairs and paused on the sidewalk, looking up and down the street. It was quiet, so quiet, with only the sound of the breeze, and some crickets. A few feet away car lights flashed at me, right, Mels. I made my way over to her car, and she popped out, and ran to give me a hug.
“I really did miss you!”
I stared at Mel, it had been so long since I had actually seen her in person, she looked different— older. “Are you okay Mels?” Her face looked drawn, as if this wasn’t the first time she had gone without sleep, and her skin, normally brown from the sun was pale and pasty, almost alabaster… something wasn’t right.
Mel laughed, and hooked arms with me, “I’m fine! I promise! A little tired, obviously, and I’ve been stuck inside most of the summer, but I’ll live. I have the next three weeks off, and I’m going to make sure I rest— but I wanted to check in and see how you’ve been doing!”
We started walking along the street, I wasn’t sure I believed her but I wasn’t going to push my luck, especially when this was Mels reaching out. “I’m alright.” I lied.
“And the nightmares?”
“Gone.” Which was really odd. I had a feeling I had Cassandra to thank for that, which was one thing I was grateful for, probably one of the very few at this moment. “And my mom and Ray are doing great too. They actually dropped some pretty crazy news on me the other day…”
“Oh yeah?”
“Yeah, mom and Ray are having a kid.”
“Woah— that’s pretty big news.” Mels pulled us to a stop and turned me to face her, “you sure you’re okay? I know how you feel about Ray…”
“I’m actually okay.” It was odd, but I was. As long as the baby wasn’t a girl, I’d be fine. It had to be a boy, it just had to— Cassandra and I had worked on finding a way to end this curse… it would all be moot if-
“You don’t look okay.”
“Hmmm? Oh, I was thinking about something else. School stuff. Don’t worry, I swear I’m cool with the baby thing. Mom deserves happiness.”
“And so do you.”
We started to walk again, crossing the empty street onto Cordova. “There are so many coffee places down here!” I tried to steer the conversation onto something else, anything else…
“Yes, and they’re allllll closed.” Mels gave my arm a quick squeeze, teasing me.
“I know, I know, I’m addicted to coffee.”
“Addictions are bad, you know.” Mels face and voice turned serious.
“Mels, I was just talking about coffee-”
“Yeah, I know, but you have to be careful Cass. Even a coffee addiction can turn into something more deadly.”
We were almost at Howe street, there were a lot more people about here since we were entering a hotel district. I ignored Mels, she sounded crazy, besides what did I know about addictions, other than coffee?
“Seriously Cass, you have an addictive personality, please be careful.”
“Is that what you’re worried about? I am always at the library reading, studying, and sure I drink a lot of coffee, but beyond my ‘addictions’ to studying and coffee I am the world’s most boring person, and in no danger of adopting more addictions. I promise.”
“We’ll see.” Mel whispered so quietly I almost didn’t catch it.
The crosswalk sign beeped, so Mels and I walked across the street, Breka was in view now, and it was bopping. I was surprised at how many people were either sitting on the cafe tables outside or in the cafe. Mel and I made our way into the cafe, and under the lights I could finally see this tattoo that Cassandra had gotten us— I gasped, it was HUGE. The tattoo started at my elbow, roses on a chain of ivy with thorns, and wrapped around my arm in a descending spiral until it hit my wrist, where it tailed off. I threw my arm behind my back as if I could hide it from Mel, I should have grabbed a cardigan.
“Coming?” Mel was already at the end of a long line of customers. I nodded and headed over to where she was, again noticing things about her that didn’t add up, her clothes hung looser on her than before, and her hair, while magnificent, hung so long, it looked like she hadn’t even had it trimmed in a year… she turned and smiled at me, her brown eyes soft and caring, but under them dark circles showing how exhausted she was.
“Mel?”
“I’m not sure I have a job to go back to.”
“What? Why?”
“Cass— I work for some very powerful people. I told you one of the last times that we were prepping for the twins’ birthday party?”
“Yeah,” wow that seemed so long ago, that conversation, was it really only what? Almost a month ago? “And how does that make you lose your job?”
“Cass, I-” Mel bit her lip, as the line moved and we were closer to the till. “Maybe we should figure out what we want.”
We both turned our attention to the pastry case, which was full of every kind of treat imaginable. I hadn’t been to Breka in a while, even though I loved that it was open late, and their pastries were so good, they always made me drool. “I’m going to have the Earl Gray cream puff and a large mocha.”
“YUM. I think I’ll do the same.”
The barista at the counter was a very goth guy with long brown hair braided, large spacers, black eyeshadow and eyeliner— and the apron over his hopefully work approved goth clothing made him appear to have stepped right out of the Barbie movie. “Hi, what can I get for you?”
I glanced at Mel, who was trying to keep a straight face, “Um, hi Toby. Can me and my friend get two large mochas and two Earl Gray cream puffs?”
“To go?”
“Nope, for here.”
“Great…. that will be twenty four dollars even. Cash or debit?”
Melanie pulled out her purple wallet and a stack of cash. “Cash,” she counted out the exact change and handed it to him. “Thanks.”
“Can I grab your name for your order?”
“Mel.”
“Got it, you can pick up your order at the end of the counter. Thanks.”
We walked over to the end of the counter and stood with the growing line of people also waiting as the poor baristas worked both bars and another barista was grabbing all the pastries. I looked over at Mel, she still looked unhappy.
“So you were saying? You might lose your job?”
“Yeah.” Mel looked around, as if someone might over hear us. “I was supposed to go home last week to start my vacation, but the girl I watch? She’s been having a rough time lately.” Mel sighed, and looked lost, so deep in thought that I almost wondered if she remembered I was still standing beside her. “Anyways— she asked me for my help with… let’s just call it a break.”
“What do you mean break?”
Mel pulled me closer and whispered in my ear, “I helped her run away.”
I gasped. “You what?” No wonder Mel thought her job was in jeopardy. “Mel— how could you?”
“Extenuating circumstances.”
“Order for Mel?”
Mel and I surged forward into the crowd to grab our drinks and pastries and then we found an empty seat, tucked away in the corner of the shop. “Look Cass, I don’t expect you to understand, but WOAH!”
I suddenly realized that my tattooed arm was fully visible to Mel, since I had grabbed my pastry in one hand and the mocha in the other. “Oops.”
“Okay, little miss, ‘I’m boring,’ talk to me. When did this happen?”
“Um, yesterday?”
Mel grabbed my arm, “I want to see!” And almost instantly dropped it. “Um, Cass?” Her brown eyes flickered from my arm to my face, “Is there a reason you have that specific tattoo?”
I shrugged, I had no idea, Cassandra had picked it, but I didn’t know if it meant anything, I’d have to ask her later. “Honestly,” I lied, “I was dared to get a tattoo-” I glanced down at my arm looking for anything I could say honestly about the tattoo, “and all I told the guy was that I loved ivy, and roses and this is what he came up with.” I shrugged, “why? Does it mean something?”
Mel frowned, “Where did you say you went to get this tattoo?”
Yikes, time for more lies. “I can’t remember, something about floral-”
“And who did you go with?”
“Look Mels, I know you have your own opinions about my classmates but-”
“Which ones?” Mels hair fell over her face giving her a very creepy vibe, almost like she could have stepped out of the Ring or some other creepy story…
“Violet and Irene.”
“Those idiots.” Mel hissed, “they know better.”
“Okay Mels, something is clearly bothering you. I’m too tired to try to figure it out like some cryptic puzzle, so how about you just tell me what the big deal is, huh?”
Mel took my tattooed arm and stared at it, “This isn’t just a random design Cass, this design is the birthmark of a very powerful house, ancient— supernatural family… and it’s tattooed on your arm.”
I suddenly felt very ill, what had Cassandra done? “Um, which family?”
“The one I work for.”
The Steinhearts? Okay, Cassandra was in big trouble, hadn’t she just told me she was going to try to stay away from them.
“Cass, you okay? You don’t look well.”
I took a giant gulp of my mocha, which burnt its way down my throat. “Yeah, I’m fine.” SO many lies tonight… When had I gotten so good at lying to those I loved? Cassandra was a bad influence. I took a bite of my cream puff. “Well,” I mumbled inbetween eating and sipping my mocha, “I had no idea.” I shrugged, but Mel didn’t look convinced. “So, what are you going to do?”
“About?”
“I might have gotten tattooed with some kind of family crest or whatever, but you helped a child run away… that’s illegal last I checked. How come there isn’t some kind of amber alert that went out? You’d think that-”
“You’d think that there would be one, yeah I know.” Mel looked around the cafe suspiciously, her gaze falling on a group of teens in the opposite corner, who reminded me of students at Acroft, she froze, as if she was in some kind of trance. “They would have, but they already know where she is. Plus, it’s best if their kind didn’t send out alerts— it kind of puts them in the spotlight a little too much, and they usually deal with their own things in house. I’m sure they have people already-”
“Mel?” She blinked and looked at me as if I was a ghost. “Mel, you’re scaring me, what’s wrong?”
“Nothing.”
I looked down at my phone again, the clock flashed four in the morning at me. Great, two and a half hours till my alarm went off and I had to be up for school. I sighed, “well I don’t believe you. You want to keep secrets, great, good for you, but don’t say nothing is going on. Where did this girl run away to?”
“I sent her to those who I knew would help her.”
“Loving your cryptic answers.” I was distracted by the group of teens in the corner, for some reason I felt like I knew some of them, or one of them? I turned and stared at them, just as Mel still was. It was a group of the randomest people, some punks with blue hair, vampires? Some who reminded me of Flimheart with his beady marble eyes, and a girl with blonde hair laughing as she reached out and touched, I gasped. “Mark?”
I don’t know how, but it was as if he heard me from across the cafe, his head shot up and our eyes locked. What was Mark doing with that crowd of misfits? Mark leaned over and said something to the blonde girl who frowned, he nodded at the others in the group and made his way across the cafe to where Mel and I were sitting, pulling up a chair and plonking down into it, grinning at Mel, and tossing a nod at me, but not really looking at me.
“Mark, where have you been? You’ve been missing a lot of school lately…”
“Hi Mel.” Mark muttered ignoring me. “It’s been a while since I’ve seen you. How’s life beyond Acroft walls?”
“Hi Mark.” I glared at Mel, who shrugged. “Yeah, it has been a while. Good to see you.”
“Good to see a living breathing human.” Mark replied, casting a glance my way as if that was supposed to mean something, but as he went to look away he saw my arm and snatched it. “This isn’t funny.” He hissed, “What possessed you to get-”
“Mark, she doesn’t know.” Mel interrupted.
“And that’s half the problem.” Mark spat as he dropped my arm like a hot potato.
“Why are you here Mark?” I tried to redirect.
“I was avoiding you and your-”
“Mel doesn’t need to know.” I cut him off. Perhaps we all had secrets that shouldn’t be shared.
“Right— well, I have been avoiding certain,” he paused, “truths. Spending time with people who have nothing to do with my family, who aren’t going to— you really haven’t told her?”
“Told me what?”
“Mel, I-”
“Damn it Cass, whatever you’re not telling me, you-”
“It has to do with my nightmare. You remember the one…” Mel nodded, “Well, it turns out, Acroft and I were fated. And not in a good way.”
“What are you talking about?” Mel leaned in, “Mark, what is she talking about?”
“Hssssss….” Mark threw his hands over his face, “If only I didn’t know what you were talking about. If only…”
Suddenly I realized Mark wasn’t just talking about me, “Mark, what have you done?”
“A thing I swore never to do…” Mark moaned, curling over his chair.
I grit my teeth. “So, who did you doom to die?”
Mel gasped as if finally turning a page in her mind had caught her up to where I was, and what was happening. “Wait— Mark, you marked someone?”
Mark didn’t reply, he just moaned.
“And Cass, you’re, you-”
“Yes, I’m marked.”
For a few minutes no one at our table spoke, I pretended to trace spots on the table, not looking at Mel or Mark— instead sipping my mocha occasionally and finishing off the giant cream puff. A voice startled me from my purposeful avoidance.
“Hey Mark, you coming back anytime soon?”
I snuck a peek at the speaker, it was the blonde girl who Mark had been sitting with before he’d spotted Mel and I.
“Bella— look, I’m kind of in the middle of something. I’ll head over after I wrap up here.”
“Sure, I guess.” The girl, Bella, flounced back the way she’d arrived in a way that very much reminded me of Irene.
“That was her, wasn’t it?” Mel bluntly asked.
Mark nodded. “She’s a transfer student, Annabelle, starting school in the morning at Acroft. God knows, I didn’t mean to— we just hit it off, and we were laughing and joking and I… I thought of how nice it would be to have her at my side, always— and I reached out to stop her from tripping on her own shoes, and that’s when… God, what have I done?” Mark looked over at her, this girl, who now shared my fate.
“What are you going to do Mark?” Mel asked, seeming to know more about this topic then I would have liked. “You’ve marked her. If you take her, she’ll die, but if you don’t...”
“Don’t worry about it, Mel. You just worry about the fact that your bestie here is doomed, I’ll fight off my own fate for as long as possible.”
“And how do you plan to do that, and do your job?”
“Look, I’m handing over the reins of my position to Toph next fall. This school year, I just have to avoid her unless we’re in groups, for as long as possible. Besides, I got the most random message from Vik yesterday, looks like I have a project, so I’ll get out of a bunch of school.” Mark shrugged, just then his phone buzzed, he pulled it out of his pocket and flipped the small silver phone open scanning the screen, “speaking of, duty calls. Gotta run, but have a great first last day of school, Cass.” Mark pulled himself together and slunk out of the cafe, even as Annabelle scanned the room for him.
“Wow.” Mel shook her head. “And you couldn’t have told me?”
“And said what, Mel? You’re working at some fancy house, I never get to see you— and oh, hey, my nightmares, they involve the devil and having his demon child- oh, and the best part? Having this demon child will KILL me? Sure, you would have believed me…”
“Okay, I get it. I wasn’t around. And you’re right, it sounds insane, but Cass— you have to remember, I went to Acroft, I know way more than you’ll ever know, and I understand that weird is everyday here— things, people, the supernatural? It’s all there wrapped up in the secret that is Acroft High. I was groomed for my position, and now? Now I don’t know what to do! I helped a vampire run away from home, so best case scenario I run away and have lost my job, the only job I was prepared for, and now I find out my best friend is destined to die? Cass, you should never have gotten involved with supernatural beings.”
“Mel, you don’t even know the half of it!” I hissed back, suddenly furious. She had no idea that I had no choice in the matter, that my ancestor was the original Cassandra, and I wasn’t ever going to tell her. “Look, you should just take care of yourself, seeing as you have issues of your own to deal with.” I pushed myself up off my chair, I’m going home.”
“Cass please!” Mel also stood up, “we rarely get to see each other, can’t we at least be civil?”
“Walk me home?”
Mel nodded, scooping her cream puff into her mouth, and taking a swig of her mocha, we left the little cafe behind us. I tried to see if Annabelle was still there with those other people, though ‘people’ was putting it lightly, but I didn’t spot her or the group she’s been with. I looked down at my phone to check the time, almost four thirty, by the time we walked home it would be almost five in the morning. I sighed, as Mel hooked arms with me and we made our way back towards my house. It was misty out, the moon was hidden now, but when I took a deep breath I swear it smelled like fall— the smell of leaves about to fall off branches, and wet dirt and fresh grass… Those smells were almost as dear to me as the smells of old books. It was too early for sunrise, but it wasn’t as dark out as before, and under the street lamps I watched the mist curl around buildings or waft through the air like octopus tentacles curling and twisting, reaching for something that wasn’t there. Any other time I would have said it was romantic— but right now it just creeped the hell out of me. When we finally reached my house, I invited Mel in, and we headed straight for the kitchen, where we made another pot of coffee, and Mel busied herself with making a large breakfast, which took up the better part of an hour, at the end of which Ray wandered into the kitchen, looking shocked and not quite fully awake.
“Ahhhah… Good morning ladies!” Ray adjusted his glasses on his face, “I didn’t realize that anyone was up yet, or that we had company. Good morning Melanie, it’s been a while. Are you in town long?”
“Three weeks, and yes, it has been a hot second since I’ve been over, glad Mariah didn’t move anything, otherwise making breakfast would have taken twice as long.” Mel giggled, and I wished I could adopt her carefree vibe, especially since I knew Mel also had a lot going on in her life. “I figured, first official day of school for Acroft High was a big day I didn’t want to miss for Cass.”
“Ah, yes. The first day of your last year.” Ray grinned.
How apt those words were, Ray would never know. Mel cast a glance at my tattoo, and I jumped. “Sorry Ray, I’ll be right back, going to grab a cardigan, it’s a little chilly out.” Slash mom is going to KILL me… ugh, Cassandra, why did you have to complicate my life? Annabelle’s face flashed through my mind as I dodged out of the kitchen and into my room to grab a cardigan. Annabella was one of the reasons I had agreed to Cassandra’s plan in the first place, to save other women who became marked just like me, just like all the women in my family. I threw open the wardrobe and took out a green cardigan, throwing it over the white dress. It would be warmer later, but for now, this would hide my tattoo nicely. I could hear conversation wafting from the kitchen, sounded like mom was there too, I glanced at my alarm clock, six in the morning. Wow, I’d been up all night. I gave myself a once over in the mirror, my dark hair needed a brush, and my face looked as pale as Mels, but at least I didn’t have bags under my eyes, that was a win, considering I hadn’t slept. I ran to the bathroom and picked up a brush. I ran it through my hair, before washing my face and brushing my teeth— these few normal, human things made me feel more alive. I smiled at my reflection, “This is the best it’s going to be today, and that’s okay.”
“We make our own futures.”
“Cassandra?” I called out, but she was gone. I wanted to tell her about Annabelle, and how technically she was mismarked after all, Mark had never meant to mark her, but that would have to wait, I could hear mom calling my name. Sighing, I left the bathroom and made my way back into the kitchen.
“Cass! You look lovely this morning.”
I smiled at my mother, wishing I could say the same, but she looked tossed, sleep deprived and worn out. “Thanks mom.”
“It’s so nice to see you and Mel hanging out again.”
Yeah, it was.
“Mel, are you taking Cass to school today?”
“I can if you want me to!” Mel tossed in my direction as she chomped down on a piece of toast.
I had this distinct feeling I was forgetting something, like I already had plans, but I wasn’t sure if I did… must be a Cassandra thing— Perhaps she’d arranged for someone to pick me up, and if she did it was probably Violet, so I shook my head, “no, we were up late last night, how about you go home and get some sleep.”
Mel nodded, “sure, but please try my scrambled eggs before you head out!”
There was a knock on the door, “I’ll get it,” I mumbled as I watched the scene before me with a twinge of sadness in my heart— it was so nostalgic, mom laughing with Mel over something stupid, even Ray, at the stove, they were my family, and soon enough, in less than a year? I’d be dead to them. I opened the front door, “Oh!”
“Hi Cass! Did you forget I was picking you up for school today?”
I stared at Violet, yup, Cassandra had made plans, and yet again forgotten to tell me about them… good thing I had made an educated guess. “Yes, but that’s okay. Want to come in? I just have to grab my purse, mom and Ray are in the kitchen if you want to grab a coffee or say hi.”
“Hi Violet.”
I spun around, Mel had followed me from the kitchen, and she didn’t look impressed as she chomped down on the rest of her toast.
“Melanie. I got the package you delivered.”
Package?
“It’s in good hands, so maybe stop with the besmirching.”
“I would but I’ve seen Cass’ arm.”
“Ahhhh, so this is about the tattoo that Cassandra INSISTED she get?” Violet calmly replied, “look, I tried to talk her out of it, but she was pretty determined. Perhaps you don’t know your bestie as well as you thought you did.”
“Violet!” I hissed.
“Perhaps you should take care of yourself now,” Violet continued unphased, “I hear Steinheart is unimpressed, and searching for his daughter even now. Seeing as no one knows that we’re involved, we’re safe, but you? Tisk Tisk, Vincent went after her, he knows you were involved. I’d run and never look back.”
My mother chose that moment to walk into the front hall, “Ahhh Violet, pleasure to see you again! You taking Cass to school?”
“Yes, we were about to leave but Cass was going to grab her purse.”
“And here it is!” Ray came striding into the hall, and I suddenly felt hemmed in, claustrophobic because I had no control and these people weren’t helping, I took a few breaths in and out as Ray passed me my purse.
“Thanks Ray!” I finally made myself say.
“We should really be heading off. Don’t want to be late on our first official day of school!” Violet linked arms with me and pulled me out of the hallway, closing the door behind us. “You okay there Cass? You look a little green…”
“That was just a lot.” I mumbled as I followed Violet down to her car. “And you know it.”
“Sorry,” Violet got into her car, and I slid in next to her. “I didn’t mean to come across that way, it’s just, Mel dumped a problem on my family, and it’s kind of a lot to deal with. Viktor is still dealing with it, although Mark is helping him out now.”
I contemplated telling Violet about everything Mel had told me but decided that was probably a bad idea, so I didn’t, instead, I turned on her radio, which blared out old jazz tunes. Figured, Violet had always struck me as a classics type of girl.
“So— same dress as yesterday?”
“Oh, yeah. I fell asleep in the hallways when I got home last night, and Mel called me. She wanted to grab coffee, but then we got talking and we stayed out all night, so I didn’t really have time to change.” I looked down at the white dress, it was cute though, and perhaps a little too summery for the first official day of classes, but it was too late to go back now.
“No worries, I was just curious.”
We spent the rest of the drive in silence, listening to old jazz, but the drive was only ten minutes, and the closer we got to the school the more cars I noticed, all heading the same way we were. I was shocked that by the time we reached the brick wall that was around Acroft we were actually stuck in a line of cars all waiting to turn into the school. I stared out the window of Violet’s sedan as we finally pulled through the gate and headed up the drive. The entire first parking lot was full, and there were people everywhere, so many people. I didn’t know which way to look. We inched our way through the pedestrians to the second parking lot, which was almost full as well— the sedan like a pebble in a sea of neon haired humans. When we finally parked, Irene waded her way to us through the crowd.
“There you two are!” She shouted over the hum and buzz of the students. “I thought you’d never get here!” Irene hooked arms with Violet and I and pulled us through the maze of people. I felt short in this crowd, comparatively, completely trusting that Irene and Violet had a clue where we were headed. When Irene finally stopped tugging us, I realized she had brought us to an empty fountain in the quad, which she quickly climbed and helped Violet climb before reaching her hand out to me, “come on, you can see more from here!” I took Irene’s outstretched hand and she pulled me up, into the empty fountain. We stood, the three of us in the upper bowl of the three tiered fountain, over the heads of all the students.
“And what happens if they turn on the fountain?” I tried to shout above the noise of students chattering and car motors.
“Then we get soaked, silly.” Irene rolled her eyes.
The view from here was spectacular, I could see all the way down the drive to the gate, where cars were arriving and leaving, and people were walking up the hill… so many students, I’d had no idea Acroft High was so populated and popular. I spotted Annabelle arriving with two older people, both blonde with brown eyes, they looked kind, they must be her parents. Annabelle hugged them and disappeared into the crowd. I’d have to tell Cassandra about her at some point. We probably would have stood in the bowl till after the bell, but professor Flimheart, who I didn’t notice at first, was heading towards the fountain and shouting at us, pointing his finger and wagging it. “Um guys?”
“I see him, Cass. Time to go!” Irene jumped down the tiers of the fountain as if she was playing hopscotch, Violet following closely behind. It took me a little bit more time than Violet or Irene, and Flimheart was so close on my tail, I was sure he was going to catch me, but luckily the fountain had other ideas, springing to life right as Flimheart reached out to grab my arm. I jumped backwards, screaming bloody murder, because I was wearing white, and we all know what happens to think white material when wet. I moved into the thick of the throng of students and wove my way to the school building as quickly as I could, not even checking to see if Flimheart had gotten doused.
Violet and Irene were waiting in the lobby of our building, laughing. “Welcome to your first day!” Violet chucked. Yes, the first day of my last year, here’s hoping I didn’t start the school year with detention.