The first bell chimed, and quickly, everyone rushed to class. Chatter echoed around the halls as Ellie navigated her way through the hallways, flinching as students, tall and small, bumped into her shoulders.

Thinking she finally made it through the chaos, someone bumped into her from behind, causing all her books to fall.

"I'm so sorry, are you ok?" the male voice asked her.

"I'm good," she answered, picking them up from the floor. She turned to thank him, only to stop herself as she got a glimpse of his face.

Piercing icy blue eyes stared into her brown ones. She didn't realize she was gawking until he cleared his throat, bringing her back to reality.

"Oh, uh, sorry, thank you," she laughed sheepishly, her cheeks flushed, before turning away and walking ahead in embarrassment.

"Not that I care, but who was that?" Erik curiously came up to him and asked, pushing his hands in his pockets.

"I don't know. I bumped into her by accident," River explained truthfully. Erik nodded in response. His eyes glanced over the crowd of students, glimpsing a familiar face.

"See ya," he told his brother, and began walking toward the brown-haired girl as she was getting her things from her locker. She looked up and rolled her eyes at the sight of him.

"What do you want?" Drew asked, not wanting to bother with him today. He smiled innocently, wrapping his arm around her shoulder. "Just checking on my favorite girl. Is that a crime?"

She slowly removed it, glaring at him. "Your favorite girl, huh? Was I your favorite girl when you ignored me all night at Esme's birthday party to talk to other girls?"

He scoffed. "Other girls? You know you're the only girl I talk to," at that, she slammed her locker, the loud metal echoing through the halls.

"Listen to me, and listen closely," she began firmly, stepping closer to him as he peered down at her. "For the past four years of our relationship, I've had to endure you glancing at every girl that wasn't me. Flirting with every girl that wasn't me. Talking to every girl that wasn't me. Staring at every girl that wasn't me. Flirting with every girl that—"

"You said that alr—"

"I hadn't finished!"

He put his hands up in surrender, letting her continue. "I am sick and tired of being the third wheel in our relationship while you pay more attention to them than me. Do you know how insecure I felt? I thought that I wasn't prettier enough and that I was ugly. Heck, I almost got a nose job! I thought of every possible thing I could've injected my face with to look prettier than those girls, and even starved myself to look skinny like they were. But you know what I finally realized after that? I don't need to look prettier than other girls to feel beautiful, because I know I am pretty, and I know that I'm beautiful. It took wondering why I wasn't perfect enough for you to acknowledge me to finally accept that you were the problem all along," she finished, leaving Erik speechless, guilt lingering on his face. "We're done, Erik. Do you understand? We're over!" before he could say anything, she stormed off, leaving him standing there alone.

They've known each other since Primary School. They started off as friends first, until Erik, out of the blue, asked her to go out with him during Junior High. Neither showed interest in the other before, so it was a surprise for Drew and everyone else.

Since then, they have been on and off, breaking up every chance they got and causing her nothing but tears each time. Drew did most of the breaking up, while Erik always found someone else to replace her with. It got to where it became too toxic for her to handle, so she dumped him for good.

She knew one thing was for certain; she was not getting back together with him.

The fourth bell rang, indicating that one more bell was left before everyone should be in class. "Do you think anyone will notice?" Mia asked Ellie, a beanie covering her head as they sat next to each other.

To say the consequences of magic was not what she had expected was an understatement. Hiding under those chestnut brown curls were, in fact, snakes, but not the medusa kind.

"As long as the professor doesn't tell you to take the beanie off, then yes, you will be fine," Ellie replied, taking out her notebook from her book bag and placing it on the desk.

"I hope so," Mia mumbled, resting her head down on the desk, wondering what she did wrong to deserve such a consequence for drinking all the potion. Soon enough, the classroom began to fill with students.

Her head suddenly snapped up once she heard someone squeal.

"I'm so sorry," said a boy with dirty blonde hair standing in front of the doorframe, apologizing to someone. He had what sounded like a slight but subtle New England accent.

Mia and Ellie turned their heads to see who the boy was apologizing to, and their gaze landed on a girl with cascading waves of light brown hair, drenched in what appeared to be spilled coffee. "It's ok, a little magic will do the trick," the girl said, and took out her wand from her coat. She mumbled a spell and immediately the stain disappeared.

"Miss Borges, no magic allowed on school property! You should know better than that," a professor scolded. "Detention!"

She groaned in annoyance, shaking her head. "Sorry about that," the boy apologized again, laughing sleepily.

"Again, it's ok! Don't worry about it," she reassured, smiling kindly at him. "I'm Drew, by the way," she introduced herself, reaching her hand out to shake his.

"Nate," he replied, shaking her hand, his cheeks slowly turning red as her blue-green eyes stared into his. "Nice to meet you, Nate." They stood there for a moment, gazing into each other's eyes, until a sudden cough interrupted them.

Erik, with a not so cheerful look on his face, stood there with his arms crossed. "Am I interrupting something?"

Nate looked down at the floor, his cheeks flushed in embarrassment. "As a matter of fact, yes, you are. Do you mind? We were talking," Drew retorted, her patience growing thin with Erik and his constant jealousy.

He glanced at Nate, who was avoiding eye contact given the awkward situation he was in between them. "Whatever," he muttered, and walked away past them.

There was an uncomfortable silence between for a moment. "I guess it's now time for me to say sorry," she chuckled in embarrassment, pushing her hair back as it fell into her face.

"It's ok, don't worry about it," he replied, returning the reassurance. "Well, this is my class; potions. I guess I'll see you later? If we have any classes together, that is," she giggled.

He giggled as well, nodding, cheeks still flushed. "Bye," he said, and she repeated the response before he walked past her toward his first period class.

Soon enough, school began. "Ah, I see some fresh new faces here today!" the female professor exclaimed, looking at Mia and Ellie. They glanced at each other nervously, hoping she won't let them get up and introduce themselves.

"How about you both come up here and introduce yourselves?"

But they were wrong.

Fuck (Mia).

Shit (Ellie).

Mia gulped, standing up and walked up to the front, Ellie following alongside her. She glanced around the classroom at the students, hearing snickers about.

"Go on, we haven't got all day," she said, waiting patiently for one of them to speak up. Ellie's pulse began racing, and she didn't know whether to start speaking or let Mia do it. As she opened her mouth, Mia cut her off.

"Uh, hi, I'm Amelia Howard," she started. "I'm from here, Madison Wisconsin, and umm....yeah, that's uhh....that's all," she finished, and walked back to her seat. Thankfully, the professor didn't let her continue, but was oblivious to her discomfort.

It was now Ellie's turn. She could feel the sweat creeping up on her as she made eye contact with the students. "Hi, I'm Ellie, and I'm from Hayward, Wisconsin. I have..." she stopped for a moment, trying to remember how many siblings she had.

Dang it, how many again? Three? Four? Five?

I have brothers, right?

The whispers and snickers continued, making her even more nervous. "Three older sisters," she finally said, her stomach slowly turning with the urge to throw up.

"Thank you, you may sit down now," the professor ordered, and relief washed over her. She and Mia both glanced at each other, thinking: Thank god that's over.

Soon enough, it was time for lunch. Some students were eating alone, some were eating with friends, and some weren't eating at all. But only two of those students not eating were up to something mischievous.

Drew and Azzie found themselves in the library, a place they never thought they would ever be in. "There's a what spell?" Drew asked her friend, unsure of what she was saying as she flipped through the School's spell book.

"A teleportation spell. It can make you travel anywhere you want to go," she explained, desperately searching for it. "My brother used the spell so many times when he would skip class and used it again to make it look like he was there the whole time."

Drew processed the information, pondering on whether to go along with this solution. "And what if we get caught skipping?"

"We won't, because we're doing it after school ends," Drew became hesitant. "I'm not sure about this."

Azzie rolled her eyes at her friend's ambivalent behavior. "Come on! Don't you want to wish for anything? What's one thing you've always wanted that you couldn't have?"

Drew thought for a moment. There were a lot of things she wish she had but couldn't afford, despite attending such a rich school. She may dress rich, look rich, act rich, but she was far from it. Her parents lived off her uncle's money since before she was even born, having bought them a house until she arrived. Since then, if they ever needed anything expensive, they would ask him for the money to buy it. The perks of having a banker for an uncle.

However, Drew was not her parents, and certainly not her mother, whose only close relationship with her older brother was his financial status. But she did think about what she has always wanted, and answered, "Maroon 5 tickets. I know they just finished touring, but I would love to at least get a head-start for when they announce their next one."

Azzie squealed excitedly. "Then it's settled!" Drew had a bad feeling about the whole thing, but trusted her friend. Suddenly, commotion erupted through the halls.

They looked at each other before dashing through the library doors and toward the chaos, Azzie taking the spellbook with her. "What do you think is happening?" Azzie eagerly questioned as she pushed past the crowd.

"Probably another fight. We had a lot last year, remember?" Drew reminded her. They finally got closer, stopping in their tracks once they saw the cause of the commotion, their eyes widening.

"Impossible."

"This can't be."

"I thought they weren't real?"

Everyone whispered about. There, on the ground crying and curled up in a ball against the lockers, was a girl. But that's not what caught everyone's attention.

"Don't look at them, you might turn into stone!" someone rudely shouted.

"Nothing's happening to us. Are you sure she's really a gorgon?" Someone else doubtfully said, and they were right. Everyone stared at the snakes, but nothing was happening to them.

Azzie turned toward Drew, a mix of confusion and uncertainty. "Aren't we supposed to be like—stone by now?"

Everyone was perplexed, whispering amongst themselves. "Move out the way everyone, nothing to see here!" The headteacher, Mr. Kane, shouted as he demanded everyone to head back to where they were.

"Come here sweetheart, stand up," he gently picked Mia off the floor, careful not to let her fall. She sniffed a little, wiping the tears from her eyes. He picked up the beanie from off the floor and placed it back onto her head.

The snakes hissed loudly as he covered them up. "Come on, let's get to my office. There's a lot more at stake here than you think," he warned, which made Mia's heart drop.

They headed toward his office, Drew and Azzie looking along. "If she isn't a gorgon, then what is she?"

"Don't know and don't care. Let's just get to Europe while we still can," Azzie said, as she couldn't care less about what that girl was or who she even is.

"Europe?"

They turned their heads to see Cairo, a half-brid vampire from the Sanguivore coven. The coven's a group of vegan vampires who only feed on animal blood. At first, half-brid vampires weren't welcome in covens, as the pure-brid vampires thought they weren't real vampires. It took a lot of voting and convincing from the student board to accept them, but eventually it all worked out.

"Uhh....no?" Azzie lied. "I said euros. Yes, euros. We should go get some chocolate euros while we still can," she continued to lie, hoping he would buy it.

He knew she was lying, but decided not to question it and began walking away, but stopped and turned to ask her a question, which she beat him to. "For the last time, Cai, I will not go out with you!" she exclaimed, annoyed.

"Dang it. Well, I tried. Again," he murmured under his breath, turning and proceeding to away like before.

"He's just never gonna give up, is he?" Drew questioned rhetorically. "He will eventually. After all, they always do," she smirked, and Drew laughed, shaking her head at her friend.

"You're so mean," she said, still laughing. Azzie scoffed. "Please, it's my specialty to reject nerds," she replied, dramatically flipping her hair over her shoulder.

"Now," she began, reopening the book. "Let's do this, shall we?" and began flicking through the pages again. Drew furrowed her brows. "What about after school, like you said?"

"We'll be back in time until lunch is over. It's only fifteen more minutes left," she said, but Drew had doubts.

Azzie noticed her discomfort. "Seriously? Don't tell me you're backing out now? Don't you want those Maroon 5 tickets?" she reminded her.

Drew and Azzie have been friends since diapers, but there were times where she took her schemes too far and would get the both of them in trouble for it. This time, she wasn't going to give in, no matter how desperately she wanted the tickets.

"I'm sorry, Az. But fifteen minutes is too short of a time to do all of that," Azzie frowned, not believing her friend was standing her up.

"But it's just teleporting! We'll be quick—"

"Azealia, I said no!" she yelled angrily, making her flinch. Drew never called her by her full name, which meant she was being serious this time. "I'm sorry for yelling, but I just can't get in trouble because of you again. You will have to go alone," Azzie opened her mouth to respond, but Drew turned around and walked away, leaving her alone.

She watched as Drew walked away, her frown deepening. "Fine. I don't need you anyway," she whispered quietly, and continued to look for the teleportation spell. Once she found it, she took out her wand from her boots and cast it.

"Libeior Animarbus," and just like that, she was gone, a misty blue cloud floating in the air as she disappeared.

___

Plop

The sound startled a flock of geese swimming in a nearby lake, causing them to take flight. Rising above the surface, Azzie gasped for air, coughing up liquid.

She shivered, her skin pale and lips blue. Her brows creased as she scanned the unfamiliar surroundings. She fortunately remembered where she was supposed to be, and swam forward hurriedly, escaping from the cold water.

"Fuck!" she muttered loudly, squirming in discomfort as the drenched uniform clung tightly to her body, sending shivers down her spine.

She wiggled around, trying to free the wet uniform from its tightness around her, but failing. "Ugh! Come on!" she exclaimed in frustration.

Giving up, she let out a heavy sigh, feeling the tension leave her body as she closed her eyes. Deciding to take matters seriously, she opened her eyes again, determined to find a way out of what looked to be a forest.

Glancing about, she discovered a narrow pathway winding its way through the dense forest and decided to follow it. The forest was wide, with tall pine trees and a small little pond that had adorable ducklings swimming in it. The chirping of birds echoed throughout, creating a sense of peace.

She ducked after a bird flew close to her head, almost causing her to fall into the pond. Making her way through the forest, each step was a struggle as the wetness of her uniform weighed her down, causing the progress to be nearly impossible.

Suddenly, the crunching of leaves caught her attention. Startled, she snapped her head back, her senses heightened as she searched for any hint of movement.

Staying perfectly still, she listened intently, making sure she wasn't mistaking the sound for something else. After a few more seconds, she heard the noise again, this time, certain she wasn't hearing things.

"Who's there?!" she called, not getting an answer. "Come out, I know you're there!"

She paused, hearing a low growling sound. The low, menacing growl made her shudder involuntarily, her heart racing in response. The growling grew closer, and all she could do was stay as still as possible.

To her dismay, the growling transformed into the thunderous sound of running footsteps, and in an instant, she was gone, her feet darting through the forest with lightning speed.

She tripped over a twig, but that didn't stop her. Not even the uniform stopped her as she continued running, not looking back. She knew she had to get out of the forest quickly or else she was going to be a meal.

Without a second thought, she grabbed her wand and uttered, "Levitaem Draginius," bringing herself back to the hallways of the school. Breathless, she panted heavily, holding onto the wall for support.

The bell rang, signaling that lunch was over and it was time to head back to class.

I am never doing that again!

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Drew ain't taking no shit this chapter🤭

Also, I published last week but unpublished because I thought of a scene that could make it longer. But it was worth it, because I really enjoyed writing this chapter a lot😊

Lastly, I do edit the chapters once in a while, so if you see any mistakes or errors, please let me know! I'm saying this because just as I was about to hit publish, I went back and just as I thought, a whole repeated scene starting from the lake messed it up🤦🏻‍♀️

Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed🤗
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