POV Seraphina

When I was first told that we had been given a mission further away, I hadn't given it much thought.
But never in my life would I have expected that our trip would go to the smallest town ever.
Forks didn't even have a population of 3500 and who names a town after the cutlery fork?!

It quickly became clear to me that our arrival would bring a huge wave of curiosity, rumors and intrusiveness with it.
In such a small town, our arrival probably spread like a wildfire already and I hated that thought as much as opening presents in front of the whole family alone at Christmas, while they didn't take their eyes off you for even a second.

During the car ride, I stared out the window and surveyed the surroundings.
My long blonde hair fell softly over my shoulders, framing my face perfectly as I clutched my bag tightly.
On the side of the road I could already see some students with whom I would soon go to the same school.
My hand slowly reached up to my neck, just to find a necklace with a small crystal, which I grasped.

I closed my eyes and tried to get my nervousness under control.
It's only for a little while and then we're out of here, simple as that.

I opened my eyes again when I felt a hand on my leg, giving it a reassuring squeeze once.
When I looked to the left I saw Aaron behind the wheel.
"Don't panic Phina", he said softly to me, flashing me a small smile which I immediately returned.

Aaron had a relaxed grip on the steering wheel and didn't seem at least a bit strained. He completely calm ignored even the current glances because of our unique car.
His trademark leather jacket fell casually over his shoulders, giving him an aura of 'badboy' as we liked to call it.

"How can you be so calm", I laughed a little and looked ahead again.
"It's simple. We're going to stick to the deal and everything will go smoothly", Aaron explained, and I went over everything we'd discussed in my head.

I sighed and looked back at Aaron and gave him a nod.

Aaron, Micah and I were relocated to Forks to clear the area of ​​so-called "shadows".
The Headquarter got a message that there was an increased number and our team was sent to investigate.

While Aaron and Micah's main focus was on the mission, I had to think about how long we were going to be here and hoped that nobody would discover our secret.
Being away from home for an extended period of time meant we had to enroll at the local school in order to not attract too much attention, which particularly bothered Aaron.

Of course they wanted us to play happy family so that we would be more believable.
At first I was almost looking forward to the new school, since I had only attended the Shadowhunter Academy myself. But after I realized that the town was practically a crumb, the nervousness grew in me a lot.

Eventually, making other people curious and wanting to know more about us became a whole lot more dangerous. That's exactly why Aaron wanted us to keep to ourselves, even though I was looking forward to making at least a few new friends.

Aaron parked the grey car a little further to the edge so we didn't have to get out directly in the crowd and then looked back at Micah and me.
"Let's go then", he said and we all rolled our eyes and started laughing.
It was no secret that the 3 of us weren't particularly happy about our current position, but we still hoped to make the best of it.

I got out of the vehicle as gracefully as I could and almost immediately the crowds started whispering and I got nervous again, but didn't dare to show it.
The most important point in such cases is to downplay the whole thing and ignore it as best you can.
After a while, as Aaron said, all the turmoil dies down and it gets easier.

I looked through the crowd and finally stopped by a group which, like everyone else, were eyeing us.
They were all very pale and seemed to be a separate group as they didn't bother to be talking to all the other students.
Maybe they also don't want to be bothered by those nosey people?

I couldn't watch the group any longer, when I felt a hand that belonged to Aaron on my back.
He looked silently through the crowd and then said, "let's go."
With his arm around me, we walked off with Micah in tow, who must have been trying to block out the commotion the very second we arrived, and made our way to the school's entrance.

I felt like someone was staring at me, almost as if to burn a hole through my head, as we started walking, but quickly pushed that thought aside once we got to the entrance.
We're the 'new ones', of course people will stare!
With one step away from the front door a boy with black, longer hair came up to us and gave us a friendly smile.

"Hello and welcome to Forks, I'm Eric! You must be the new addition, right? May I take a photo for the school newspaper...", but he didn't get any further since he was interrupted by Aaron, who gave him an annoyed look.

"Sorry we don't have time for this, if you'll excuse us", he said monotonously, pulling me with him as he squeezed past Eric.
I looked back at Eric again and gave him an apologetic look, which he accepted with a slight grin and a shrug.
I hoped from the bottom of my heart that Eric wouldn't be mad at us. Peeing right on someone's leg the first day isn't such a good idea, especially if the person appears to be working for the school newspaper.

I turned back to the front and then looked at Aaron with a disapproving look, "Aaron! You could have said that nicer."
He just shrugged his shoulders and we went on to a lady who was supposed to give us everything important like timetables and information about our locker.

"Hello dears, what can I do for you?", she asked nicely and before Aaron found another unfriendly approach I quickly spoke up, "Hello, we are the new transfer students and we were told that we could pick up everything we need from here."
She gave me a friendly nod and then asked, "Your names, please?"
"Aaron Gray, Micah Moore, and Seraphina Moore", I quickly gave our names and she entered the information into her computer.

"Ah yes", she said after finding us in her program and handed us our schedules and locker numbers.
"If you have any other questions, I'm always here to help", she said to us, and I thanked her again on our behalf.

"What do you guys have in the first lesson?", I asked, looking at my schedule and then at Aaron and Micah, who were also starting to study theirs.
"I have math", Aaron said annoyed, then looked at Micah and me.
"I have history", I said, and then looked at Micah, who looked at us with a sigh.
"I have english", he then said and looked at his plan again, "can it be that we have almost nothing together?"

We compared more closely and then looked at each other.
"Well we do have sports together and Micah is in art with me", I tried to lighten the mood and immediately earned a raised eyebrow from Aaron.

He had told me before we arrived that he hoped we could at least have a few subjects together so we could keep to ourselves.
However, it was clear to me from the start that this would probably not work out, since we came in the middle of the school year and would therefore be put into classes with still free spaces.
"We can still do homework together", I murmured and Micah put a hand on my shoulder.

"Don't worry little sister, we'll manage and as I see we all have a few free periods together", Micah said encouragingly and I nodded to him.
Micah has always been more of the quiet type.
When he was with Aaron or me, it relaxed him a bit, but overall he doesn't want to be in the center of attention as much as I do.
However, when it came to protecting his family, no one could stop him, which he had already proven; also quite the shock for others because of his normally passive input.

"Okay, we'll meet in the cafeteria during the lunch break, until then good luck", Aaron said, looking at the clock, and our group broke apart to put everything that was not needed in the locker.

Of course, they weren't really close either, so I went looking for my number.
I entered the code and then put away all the books except for History and English as I only had those two subjects before lunch.

I tried to ignore the many stares from the other students, hoping that this commotion would subside soon.
I would definitely prefer it if everyone just ignored me, it would definitely make my life easier.
With that in mind, I packed the two books in my backpack and closed my locker again.
I wanted to set off to find the right room and since I was completely new I would probably have to search first.

I looked to my right and saw Aaron surrounded by some girls looking absolutely annoyed.
A grin was immediately plastered on my face and I bit back a slight laugh at the sight.
Aaron has always been a magnet when it came to girls. He just had that aura of uncertainty and attraction that many seemed to like, even guys.
Finally, with a light tap on my shoulder, I turned away from the scene in front of me and met almost golden eyes.

In front of me stood a young man, his posture admirable, who had wavey honey-blonde hair and was almost a head taller than me.
A slight smile graced his lips as he looked at me and he seemed to take me in.
"Hi, my name is Jasper", he said softly, still looking at me, "you're new right?"
I quickly composed myself and smiled back, "yes, that's me. I'm Seraphina, but you can also call me Phina."

He smiled a little more and looked at me almost lovingly, which surprised me a little since we've only just met, but maybe I just interpreted his gaze wrong.
"Seraphina... that's a really nice name", he said quietly and only now did I notice his slightly southern accent, which I thought really suited him.
There was something appealing about Jasper, and not just because of his incredibly handsome looks.
Like he wanted to lure me in and never let me go.

My cheeks flushed a little and I hoped he didn't notice.
"Thanks Jasper", I said softly.
Right after I said his name, he looked at me almost penetrating and had to swallow.
His golden eyes seemed to have darkened a bit, but that probably had something to do with the light. It seemed like he wanted to hold something back, as if his next action was hanging by a thread.

"And who is that?", I suddenly heard a voice behind me, only to feel an arm around my waist seconds later.
Jasper tensed visibly and I could see his jaw clenching.
I thought nothing of it and guessed that Aaron's appearance must have made him uncomfortable since he was never particularly friendly to outsiders.

I looked slightly behind me and could see Aaron looking at Jasper coldly and letting his gaze wander over his body.
"Oh umm, that's Jasper", I said quickly, almost feeling the tension between the two of them.

"Jasper...", Aaron said continuing to stare at him until he took a step closer to Jasper and glared at him, "stay away from her."
With those words he pulled me with him and Jasper was left in the hallway.