Sierra has spent the past two days wallowing in self-pity. News about her throwing a girl across the classroom with just her mind has spread across the student body. Rumours were created, sometimes so exaggerated that she wanted to hit someone with a hardback book. Some people even went as far as to saying that Devina Harris had merely pointed out that Sierra had gained weight and provoked by the statement, Sierra tried to kill Devina.

Sierra can't believe people are actually buying it. She had heard Day Blackwood and Alec Bacani talking about it too. And right now, the boys hadn't done much to gain brownie points in her books.

After hearing the rumours, Sierra had thrown herself into assignments. More determined than ever to prove that she isn't a bully or a redhead that is only concerned with her appearance.

People are doubting her academic skills based on the makeup she wore. On what planet did that make sense? Even rumours at her civisal school seemed logical enough (even if they were accusing a fourteen year old to be pregnant just because she was absent for a day).

Sierra wants to slap herself as she lifts her sweater to examine her body. Maybe she has gained some weight. Her eyes search her reflection in the mirror. Sure, she doesn't have a flat stomach, but it is just a thin layer of fat. Even if it is thicker, Sierra knows that it isn't anyone's business.

When she finds herself criticizing her thighs - that look like Texas when she sits down - and her average sized breasts, Sierra drops the hem of her sweater and glares at her reflection. How dare she criticize her body? Isn't she the same girl who gave a speech on body sizes in high school?

She is Sierra Kingsley, Valedictorian and Captain of the cheerleading team. She is the daughter of Aileen and Robert Kingsley. She is a witch. A controller Witch. And she is so much better than this.

Sierra huffs, shoots her mirror a haughty look, grabs her purse and makes her way out of her dorm and down the stairs into the lounge.

The green and silver lounge is mostly occupied of third years, basically everyone that Sierra doesn't know off. She breathes a sigh of relief when she realises that Gideon Cromwell is once again not in the room. Being a second year he probably had a different schedule which she wasn't complaining about. It made it easier to avoid him.

With the intention of spending the day pampering herself, Sierra makes her way towards the academy gates. One of the campus caretakers stands before the closed gate, with a long scroll of paper and a pen floating in the air beside her.

"Hello, Winter," Sierra greets the fifty year old woman with a smile. From the moment that Sierra had first seen the caretaker, Sierra had envied the woman's long raven hair. Sierra herself had tried to grow out her hair, but she had failed miserably. Not just because it took forever to get past her breasts, but also because how difficult it is to handle when it did. Her hair is too thick for its own good.

"Morning, Sierra." Winter grabs the pen in the air and Sierra watches as she scribbles her name down on the paper with her messy handwriting. Sierra tries not to let her distaste for the untidy handwriting show on her face.

As Winter opens the gates, Sierra walks out, with an enthusiastic bounce in her steps.

"Sierra! Wait!"

Sierra turns around, surprised to hear her name being called out so desperately. Her eyes roam around the hedges and the carriages that are lined up. She turns around and her eyes land on a huffing Noah, whose knees are bent and his arms rest on them as he tries to catch his breath.

"Noah?" Sierra replies, his name coming out as a question. The question in her voice isn't due to not being able to recognize the boy, but more out of surprise of seeing him there. The skin between her brows crease when she considers the possibility that something had gone wrong.

"Is everything alright?"

Noah glances up at Sierra, his mouth open and his eyebrow raised while he tries to catch his breath. He notices the foreign look on her face, as if she is trying not to laugh or smile.

"What? Yeah, should they not be alright?"

"Of course not!" Sierra answers back, unable to comprehend what is going through the boy's mind.

"Well, why did you ask then?"

Sierra folds her arms, and huffs in annoyance.

"Because you are running and I just thought something might've happened."

"Oh," Noah says, straightening up. Grudgingly, he adds, "Oh, ohh. I suppose that makes sense."

She rolls her eyes, and looks around at the carriages, trying to mask how offended she is. She is Sierra Kingsley, she always made sense.

She taps her feet impatiently on the grass and asks, "What did you need anyways?"

"I wanted to ask if I can join you," Noah replies, his eyes roaming around the area, landing on everywhere but her.

Sierra narrows her eyes suspiciously. She isn't sure if she likes Noah Woods, he is nice enough, but he is different. When he shifts from one foot to another, she considers that maybe - just maybe - different isn't a bad thing.

She lets a small smile tip her lips.

"I would like that."

Sierra waits for a second or two until Noah takes a few steps and joins her. Together they walk towards the carriage that is just lining up. Once inside, they are finally able to stop shivering, but Sierra notices the tremble of his hands every once in a while. She glances at the coat he is wearing, he is only wearing one. Even though Sierra herself had only adorned one coat, Noah's one isn't nearly as thick as hers. Sierra makes a mental note of it, and stores it in her brain. The carriage lets out a groaning sound letting the pair know that it is about to start.

"Have you ever been in one of these?" Noah asks, glancing at Sierra nervously.

Sierra shakes her head.

"Nope." When she notices the anxious manner in which Noah's eyes are darting, Sierra feels the need to add, "It's a carriage though, I'm sure it's going to be fine."

The carriage gives a lurch, and then it is off. And it is everything but slow. Sierra shares a bewildered look with Noah who looks terrified and ready to piss himself. She instinctively reaches out, grabbing the metal handle beside her and Noah reaches for her arm. His grip is so tight that Sierra worries that the flow of her blood may stop soon. Her hair flies back and she feels the air pushing back her cheeks. Unable to keep her eyes open any longer, they snap close.

And then it stops.

Sierra gasps, and she hears Noah cough. Her eyes slowly flutter open, realising that the carriage has indeed stopped. She glances at Noah, who is pale - so very pale. So sure that her body is about to fall apart, Sierra cautiously stands up and exits the carriage, almost falling over when her feet nearly collapse. When Noah joins her, he looks ready to throw up. Now Sierra understands the sick looks on the faces of the Luxines on their first day after exiting the carriage.

"Be right back," Noah chokes out before he goes running into the bushes to, what felt like, vomiting his guts out. With a quick mutter of a mouth cleansing spell, Noah walks back to Sierra.

When standing together, the pair finally look around them. Western Veneficia definitely lives up to its hype. Tall buildings, some that look modern and others that resembled ancient palaces, towered over them. Witches with prams, holding hands or sometimes busy on their cellular devices. The Town of Witches is bustling and so very alive.

They stand in an area surrounded with carriages and right next to them stands a brick, red wall. Noah had heard about The Red Wall back at home. It's the tallest wall made by witches, and as Noah stands at the bottom and looks up, he can't figure out where it ends.

"So much effort to separate Western Veneficia from the Witch Port," Sierra mumbles, taking notice of where Noah's eyes were frozen.

"I never understood why the Witch Port was called the Witch Port and not something freakier and darker considering how sketchy the place is," Noah adds, turning around and watching more carriages pull in. He is surprised to see so many people exit the carriages looking unaffected.

"Well, I suppose it's because of how the Witch Port wasn't always such a shady place."

Noah hums in agreement and shifts his eyes to Sierra. "Where to first?"

"Let's find out," Sierra mutters cryptically and begins walking into Western Veneficia. Rows of stores stand before them with alleyways branching off and leading into more stores. The enter an alleyway called 'Perrington Place' and Noah's eyes widen, amazed by everything they land on. Sierra pulls Noah into Blue Moon, a store Sierra describes using the words: 'tumblr as fuck'.

Next they entered Helga's, a jewellery store so expensive that Noah questioned using their bathroom three times before he used the one in Sigil, a printing store. They walk pass 4th Hour, a club that was closed at the time, and pass The Circle. Noah opens his mouth to inquiry about The Circle when he spots the sign for three free therapy sessions.

Noah glances at Wicked West, a store with the latest fashion for elderly witches before he follows Sierra out of Perrington Place. Then, he finds himself following Sierra into Portman Way. Sierra stops at the entrance, her eyes roaming past Black Forest, Sand Witches, Witch's Brew, and Sizzling Cauldron. A line of food stores, and amongst them were Manor, a prestigious store with over the top decorations for houses, and Tick Tock, a store for watches. Sierra backs out of the alleyway and she drags Noah past Coven, Elixir, and Wiccapedia.

Before Noah can react, Sierra's dragging him towards a red and white shop - The Broom Closet. Once inside, Noah and Sierra both look around with matching looks of awe. Some students of the academy stare at the never ending racks of clothing and other products with fascination and enthusiasm whereas other older students walk around grabbing and checking price tags as if a daily routine. Which isn't wrong, Sierra assumes that trips must be a weekly privilege.

As Noah catches sight of Sierra's thick wallet, he tries not to dwell too much on how light the pocket of his faded denim jeans feel. Sierra starts off, her stride full of purpose and Noah can't help but notice how enthusiastic she is. With the thirst of knowledge she walked with every day, Noah would've never pegged her for finding pleasure in such materialistic things such as shopping.

However after twenty minutes of being dragged around the same store and being constantly shoved into the changing rooms by Sierra followed by random pieces of overpriced clothing being chucked at him, Noah Woods has come to a conclusion: not only was Sierra Kingsley bossy and demanding but she was also absolutely mad.

By the time they walked out of The Broom Closet, Noah couldn't believe that Sierra had tried so much and despite liking so many of her selections, she had refused to buy any of them. Not even the white knee length dress that had left Sierra reluctant to walk back into her changing room. Noah had to admit that it was a pretty dress. It was a simple white dress that flowed out from her waist and though it looked plain and modest from the front, the back had cut outs in the shape of triangles at different angles.

Scanning around Western Veneficia, several store signs pop out and catch their interest. Elixir stands right next door, it's blue sign lighting up and catching Sierra's eyes. She nudges Noah, who glances at the medical and potions store and scrunches his nose in disapproval. With a disappointed sigh, Sierra's eyes bounce over Coven - the IKEA for witches - and brush past Witch Wagon, knowing that Noah won't be interested in going into the potions store.

As Sierra skips over Plumpkin, a store for oversized witches, her eyes land on Quills and Ink; her favourite stationary store, and then on Wiccapedia. Despite Sierra's persistence to go to Wiccapedia which Sierra claims to be 'Every reader's paradise' Noah convinces her to go into Black Forest.

And so back they go into Portman Way. Noah notices the line of restaurants and cafes and points towards Sizzling Cauldron. Sierra can see the bright lights floating in midair and magical operating bar. Deciding to compromise, she suggests Sand Witches. The cute and cozy cafe sits next to the most famous bar known to Witches - Witch's Brew. Noah nods in satisfaction and they make a note to visit later.

With only a foot inside Black Forest, the smell of sugar and chocolate engulfs them. Sierra tries to look reluctant and unimpressed just so she won't give into Noah, but all it takes is for her eyes to land on the variety of chocolates, cakes and pastries for hearts to appear in her eyes. The awed expression on her face not going unnoticed by Noah. He shoots her a smug smile and tugs her around the shop so she doesn't stand at one spot too long and drool over anything.

Walking out of the shop, Noah props the chocolate danish that Sierra had insisted on paying for. He closes his eyes and sighs.

"Now this is real magic."

"Wrong," Sierra replies, her thumb wiping away at the chocolate that stained the skin under her lips. Noah freezes mid-step and looks at the girl beside him in horror and disbelief. "This is real magic."

He glances at the white ball between Sierra's fingers. She nods her head towards it and Noah takes it and drops it into his mouth. The first layer of white chocolate melts into his mouth, soon to be replaced with a crunchy layer made out of hazelnut. He chews through a layer of chocolate and macadamia nuts before dark chocolate melts into his mouth like lava. And he realises that Sierra is right - once again.

Noah peruses the redhead with realisation. Maybe, just maybe, Sierra Kingsley could be best friend material. But Luke still had a higher chance of getting into Minerva's pants by the end of the semester and at the rate they were going, Luke would deem himself a lucky man if he could even get her number by the end of the year.