Here we are. No fancy titles this time.

Chapter number 1. Let's C, shall we?

...

Paris.

The city of love and lights.

What a serene city.

"YOU RASCAL COME BACK HERE THIS. INSTANT." 

"CAS THIS WAS ALL NEWT IT WAS NEWT ME!"

"I KNOW WHAT I SAW AND I WILL RUIN YOU FOR THIS CLARE CHARLOTTE LUCILLE LEBLUE!"

"Guys could you two move away I need to get popcorn from the kitc-"
"YOU LITTLE SCHNITZEL THIS IS THE LAST DAWN YOU'LL EVER SEE AND I SWEAR TO GOD I-"

"OH WOULD Y'ALL JUST LET ME SLEEP IN FOR ONE DAMN SUNDAY?!" Came a voice from downstairs.

So much for peace.

"AAHHRRGH!" Clare yelled as she fiercely jumped over the sofa and then on the 6"1' tanned dude with black hair and hazel eyes. "FEAR ME MORTAL, FOR I AM YOUR-"

"FATHER!" The trapdoor on the floor flew open and a messy-haired, middle-aged head appeared. His face had the same state of annoyance and disbelief as when you make a valid point in an argument with your Asian mom and she yells at you cause apparently you're too disrespectful and a serious shame to the family.  

The three teenagers stood still as statues. They had messed up big time.

His expressions softened by 0.00627435%.

"Guys seriously, could you three go a day without fighting?" 
"Nah" Came a reply in unison. Damn. 

"Well, at least y'all have one opinion in common. Go to sleep; it's 5 in the morning. Clare let go of Newt. Cassandra let go of that pillow. Also, what's up with your face? Why- oh. Nevermind. Don't wanna know, just wanna sleep."

The three exchanged glances and heaved deep sighs. The fun always had to end.

"Go on now, we don't have all day." And he went back down the trapdoor.

"Honestly speaking, I did enjoy that dare. Cas, you should start shaving, maybe you'd get a real moustache. You look drop-dead gorg-" 
Clare was disrupted by a flying pillow.

"Say goodb-" And smack.  Cassandra fell back with a whispery shriek, both hands over her nose.
Clare tried to wriggle away as far as she could when someone grabbed her legs. 

Newt.

"I love catfights"
"We'll show you catfights, my dude. For you, multiple times in a lifetime"

Newt's eyes widened as he fell face-first with a thud. 

Clare flinched at the sound and put her ear against the trapdoor. No movements. Nice.

A gorgeous maine coon, his fur dark as night- except for his 50 shades of grey mane- cat walked right beside her, using Newt's head as a bridge.

"Good work, bud." Clare said, putting her hand forward. The cat high-fived and they both nodded at each other.

"Clare I swear to god-" Cassandra started, but never finished after she saw the viridian, sincere and very intimidating pair of cat eyes straight ahead.
"I'll just wash my face and go to sleep. Night sis, night useless brother"

"Well it's technically morning my useless dumb sister"

"It's actually both so like yeah my useless, dumb, lovely mortals. Besides, hey, this was a mock drill for tomorrow. Say hello to no sleep."
"If Astrid wasn't standing there you'd be dead." 
"He is though. Too bad. *yawns* Adios."

Immediately, Astrid jumped, reaching just her shoulder when Clare caught him and helped him up. He curled up, like a black scarf around her neck.

Summer vacations were up. Last Sunday before school.
Though Clare wasn't fond of waking up early, Newt always got to her. Always.

Of course, like every good brother, he'd woken her up early morning and dared her that she wouldn't be able to draw on Cas's face.
Of course she took it.

I mean, everyone loves a good scribble on your sister's face, right?

So is the chance of a new start. Loved.

And there it was. Last year had been the first offline session in 3 years, since everyone was under lockdown due to COVID-19. Let's just say that things had been... good and bad. Two sides of a coin.
That's kinda what life is. Too bad it hit her a bit too early.

She'd met her friends after long.

She got taken for granted, ignored by that helpless, new girl from 5 years back whom she'd taught cursive and shown around and ensured she never felt lonely. Made her feel comfortable.

She made friends with that one girl who had falsely accused her of vandalising a guy's projects, and people believed her. Why? Cause he confessed his 'love' to her publicly.

But hey, our C made new friends. One, that was really good. Who really got her.

She'd found out her closest guy friend and crush was back. She'd got to know that the last online session though, but not in a very good way. This was one thing that couldn't be categorised into categories as narrow as 'Good schnitzel' and 'Bad schnitzel'. It happened to be Both of the above and None of the above. You know what I mean.

And so she sat on the living room's window sill, looking out at the starry sky, lacking a Sun which was submerged in the horizon.

She was happy after a long time, because this time it really would be a fresh start for her.
Just her and her best friend of 10 years and a girl she trusted a lot.
No toxic best friend, no gossipers. For the first time, section reshuffling actually felt... good. A chance for her to realise that her life could be less pathetic.

Of course she'd cried when she found out that that toxic best friend of hers, who was called Cydney by the way, ended up in D. That one section Clare has been rooting on getting. Because that was where he was.

One lesson she'd learnt last year, Cydney always got what Clare wanted along with what she wanted. 
And that guys really, really like drama queens like her and Sarah. No wonder they're all idiots. (Yes, including Newt. He's like the biggest one there is.)

And so she wound up in B.

Cool. She was fine with it now. She'll find some way. She always did. 

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" Clare whispered as she stared at the star of Paris- The Eiffel Tower.

Astrid, who had found his way to Clare's lap, didn't react to that. Classic.

Clare stroked his head gently and he purred. Took seconds before he dozed off.

She did too, right there, because when a cat's sleeping in your lap, you don't wake it. That's the code. And as a former cat, we are Illuminati. We rule the world.

...

So this one's short. I just wanted the first to be like, an intro, nothing much fancy. It'll get better, but hey, just stick with the back story for now.

Welcome to my life. Some things will get pretty unrealistic because this book is, after all, fantasy.

Though if I didn't add that it'll be just interesting enough.

Anyways, this update was sooner than expected. Can't say abt chapter 2 yet.

Stay Curious, Stay Miraculous!
Adios!💖

~Claretta✨🔪