ACT ONE, CHAPTER SIX
Andi the Teenage Witch

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

     FOR THE REST OF THE DAY, ANDI'S GRANDMOTHER WAS TEACHING HER CONTROL. Andi was instructed to sit still and close her eyes and breathe slowly. She never saw the point in meditation but that was before her grandmother told her she was a young witch with so much magic that it was breaking through her grandmother's binding spell.

     "Once you feel calm and focused, control will easily follow," her grandmother said. "And once you are focused, don't let anything break it."

     Andi opened her eyes and there was a line of salt on the table. The grimoire was open to a page with the incantation and she knew that her grandmother wanted her to recite it.

     "What is the point of this?" Andi asked while looking at her grandmother.

     "This is a spell that's used to help new witches learn. If you can do this, you'll be able to move up," she said and Andi sighed.

     "I've been here for two and a half weeks now and I'm just learning spells."

     "Focus."

     She looked at the line of salt and the words on the page written in an ancient language. She recited the words written on the page and the line of salt ignited. The flame was small but Andi was still surprised that she was able to do it. It may have been silly that she was shocked over something that seemed like nothing to more advanced witches such as her grandmother but she never knew she was capable of magic. Like many other people, she didn't believe in magic. Not until she moved in with her grandmother and started learning all about witches and magic.

     "I really did that," she said as her grandmother put out the flame.

     "You might be more powerful than I initially thought. That much power and no control is a recipe for disaster," her grandmother said.

     "How powerful do you think I am?" Andi questioned as she sat up straight.

     "About as powerful as any other young witch your age. Maybe a little more once you have it all under control," her grandmother replied and Andi bit her lip.

     Her grandmother continued to teach her the simple things until dinner was ready and it was time to eat. After dinner, Andi went upstairs to her room and changed her clothes. She put on a pair of black tight fitting shorts and a grey tank top and pulled her hair into a ponytail. She went into the bathroom to brush her teeth and went back to her room when she was done and collapsed on her bed. She turned the lamp off and didn't even bother to get underneath the blanket and fell asleep.

     The next morning, her alarm went off at six thirty and she groaned as she pressed the snooze button. She lifted her face from her pillow and pieces of her hair had fallen out of her ponytail and stuck to her face. She got out of bed and walked to the bathroom and she cringed at her reflection in the mirror. She applauded the kind of people who could wake up in the morning and not look like they got hit by Hurricane Katrina.

     She took a quick shower and washed her face and brushed her teeth before going back to her bedroom to get dressed. She put on a pair of distressed flare jeans and a black graphic tee shirt with a parody image of the Mona Lisa chewing a piece of bubblegum. She tucked the front of her shirt into her jeans and she put on a pair of plain running shoes. She ran the bristles of her brush through her hair and decided to leave it out but put a white scrunchie on her wrist in case she needed or wanted to pull it back. She made sure her bag had everything she needed and went downstairs. Her grandmother was pouring a cup of coffee and noticed Andi at the bottom of the stairs.

     "You remind me so much of the young women from the nineties," she said and Andi smiled.

     "I'll see you after school, Grams," she said as she hurried out the door and grabbed her bike.

     She made sure her helmet was on properly and started pedalling to school. She was glad it was Friday but she had a feeling that her grandmother was going to use Saturday and Sunday to teach her more about the magic she possessed. When she got to the school, she locked her bike in the bike rack and put her helmet inside her bag before going into the building.

     "Miss Nicks," Andi turned around and saw Mr. Harris standing in the hallway as he called her over. She quietly walked over to him to hear what he had to say.

     "Yes?" Andi asked, not sure where this conversation was going.

     "I'm afraid since you weren't here before, you didn't take the chemistry exam so I am giving you the chance to take a makeup exam," Mr. Harris said.

     "So, when is this makeup exam?" Andi asked as she looked at her chemistry teacher whose face held no emotion.

     "I'm glad you asked. In fact, this coming Monday is your only chance to do the makeup exam," Mr. Harris said and Andi's stomach sank.

     "That only gives me two days to prepare."

     "Well then I guess you better start cramming."

     When Mr. Harris walked away, Andi sighed audibly. How was she going to study for a chemistry exam on top of homework from her other classes and prepare for her other midterm assessments while learning to control her magic?

     "Sabrina the Teenage Witch made this look so much easier," Andi mumbled to herself as she went to her locker to put her stuff away and get to class. When she slammed her locker shut, she nearly jumped when she saw Isaac standing there, towering over her five foot two frame. "Can you not sneak up on me like that?"

     "I didn't mean to scare you," Isaac said with a little shrug while his hands were in his pockets and Andi scowled.

     "You're six feet tall."

     "Actually, I'm six foot three."

     "Not to mention that you scratched a couple of lockers with claws and let Erica threaten me," Andi said as she started heading to class.

     Isaac sighed. To be completely honest, he had a lot of nerve to even walk up to her after what Andi witnessed in the hallway the day before. She saw claws but she didn't see much else so he was sure she didn't quite come to the conclusion of what he really was as well as Erica.

     "I saw you talking to Mr. Harris. What exactly did he want?" Isaac asked as he walked alongside her and she sighed.

     "I wasn't here for the chemistry exam so I need to take it on Monday," she said, deciding that there was no point in pretending he didn't exist.

     "But that only gives you two days to prepare," Isaac said with his eyebrows pulled together.

     "I assume you've been a student here longer than I have so this should not be a surprise to you," Andi replied as he turned her head to look at him and he simply chuckled at her response.

     "What surprises me is that he was nice enough to give you this chance to take it after everybody else did. If you want, I can help you prepare for your makeup exam," he said and Andi paused for a moment.

     It wasn't like she was completely lost but it wouldn't hurt to have someone help her out to make sure she was absolutely ready. On the other hand, how would she explain to her grandmother that she wasn't going to be able to work on her magic over the weekend to make time for homework and studying? Or better yet, how was she going to tell Isaac, a boy who was still kind of a stranger to her, that she was supposed to be learning how to control her magic over the weekend while she was supposed to be studying? How did TV shows make these things look so easy and glamorous? Not to mention that she didn't want to be alone with someone who could literally scratch through metal with claws.

     "While you are very nice to offer, I'm sure I'll be just fine," she said with the kindest smile she could put on.

     Isaac nodded while Andi headed to her economics class. Eventually, Isaac had to part ways to go to his own class. When Andi got to her class, she didn't see her economics teacher. She didn't think much of it as she sat down and opened her binder. Instead of Mr. Finstock walking into the room, it was a pale, redheaded woman with blue eyes that could pierce into your soul, and not in a good way. Andi's stomach did somersaults and she couldn't help but get an uneasy feeling. She assumed it was probably her "witch senses" acting up but she couldn't be too sure.

     "Unfortunately, your teacher was ill and had to leave early so now you're stuck with me," the woman said as she leaned against the desk. "Somebody's going to have to catch me up because I have no idea what we're doing."

     Andi sighed as she tried to forget about the feeling she had and paid attention. She continued as if it was any other day only with a last minute substitute teacher. Even though the woman, whose name was Mrs. Argent, didn't know what they were learning at first, she caught on and the rest of the lesson went smoothly. The feeling and Andi's gut lessened but it never fully went away. Once the class was over, she packed her stuff and walked out. As she passed the principal's office, she noticed that the door was open and instead of Principal Thomas sitting at the desk, there was an old man with very little hair. She halted her movements and wondered to herself why she never noticed him around. The man looked up from the desk and Andi's heart jumped when his eyes focused on her.

     "Can I help you, young lady?" the man asked and Andi sucked in a deep breath before she could muster up a response.

     "Where is Principal Thomas?" she asked and the old man smiled.

     "He hasn't been here for a while due to a family emergency," he said and Andi nodded. "Interesting hair colours you have."

     Andi muttered a quiet "thank you" as she tucked her blonde hair behind her ears.

     "You should probably get to class," the man said.

     "Right, Mr..."

     "Argent."

     "Mr. Argent."

     Andi nodded shortly before she continued walking to her next class, which happened to be Mr. Harris's chemistry class. She sighed as she remembered that the pale moody man only gave her two days to prepare for the makeup exam she missed but pushed that aside as she walked into the room. She sat down at a random lab bench near the back since there was no seating plan and wrote down the date at the top right corner of her notebook on a blank page. She felt a presence next to her and turned her head to see who it was. Her stomach flipped when she realized it was Isaac who decided to take the seat right next to her.

     "Are you following me?" she asked as she opened her textbook.

     "Oh, hell yeah," Isaac said with a sarcastic smile and Andi tilted her head as she gave him a look that meant that she was not in the mood for his games. "I'm kidding. I just like talking to you."

     "Why? I have no social skills whatsoever and I doubt your girlfriend would appreciate you following me around like a lost puppy," Andi said as she turned to face the blackboard.

     Isaac was confused about what she meant by his "girlfriend" for a moment before he thought about who she could possibly be talking about. "Erica is not my girlfriend," he said, completely denying her comment.

     "I never said anything about Erica," she replied as she moved her eyes to side glance at him. She nearly laughed when she saw the confused look on his face and decided to clarify what she meant by her words. "I assumed someone like you already had a girlfriend, especially since you were gone for a while and then came back looking like the rebel bad boy from the movies that preteen girls lusted over."

     Isaac chuckled as he shook his head and rested his weight on his elbows. "For the record, I do not have a girlfriend," he said and Andi only scoffed.

     "Girlfriend, no girlfriend, I really don't care," she said as she shrugged her shoulders.

     "Are you always this charming?"

     "Wouldn't you like to know."

     The two teenagers stopped talking when they saw Mr. Harris walk in, ready to get right into the lesson. Andi focused on taking notes as quickly as her hand could write and didn't pay any attention to the boy sitting next to her. Maybe it was foolish of her to assume he had a girlfriend or any sort of romantic relationship with anyone for that matter based on what he looked like. Or maybe it meant that she would be made certain that she couldn't afford to think about him in such a way if he did happen to have one. At the end of the day, she needed to focus on two things. She needed to get ready for midterms, including her makeup exam, and learn to control her magic under her grandmother's guidance.

     Another thing that occupied her mind was what she saw the day before. She couldn't come up with any logical explanation for why Isaac had claws that were able to slice through metal. The only thing she could think of was Isaac having some long but pretty strong fingernails but when she glanced at his hands, his nails were perfectly trimmed and weren't long at all. She needed to ask her grandmother about it when she got home but she didn't know how to approach the topic.

     And of course, she couldn't forget what they said when they realized that she saw more than she should've. Erica was saying that Andi knew too much but Isaac told her that they couldn't kill her for it. He couldn't help but wonder if Erica would've actually killed her if Isaac wasn't there. Or maybe Isaac was going to kill her himself. All because she saw something she couldn't even understand, let alone explain to anyone else. But if she was going to get an answer from her grandmother, she was going to need to explain to her what happened as best as she can. Only then will Andi be able to start understanding what was going on in Beacon Hills.

━━━━

     Andi could've sworn that when the bell rang, she was already out the door and heading to her next class. She didn't see Erica or Isaac up until lunch time and she kept herself alert as she walked to the cafeteria. She didn't take Allison up on her offer to sit with her and Lydia but this time she figured she could. Besides Lydia's narcissistic attitude, what was the worst that could happen?

     Once Andi paid for her food, she scanned the place for the table where the two girls were going to be sitting. She recognized Lydia's strawberry blonde hair and green eyes but stopped halfway there. She stood there for three minutes reciting in her head what she would say to them when they would ask her why she even thought about sitting with them. Allison couldn't exactly ask her that considering she was the one who put the offer on the table but Andi could never be too sure. She swallowed her doubts and moved forward until she was standing over them and they were both looking at her, making her palms sweat.

     "Mind if I sit here? You offered yesterday but I didn't take you up on it so I figured I would do that now," Andi said with a nervous smile, hoping they wouldn't turn her away to sit alone for another day.

     Allison smiled as she pointed to the empty seat and Andi sat down with her tray on the table. "I was thinking that maybe you two could try this whole thing again," she said while looking between Andi and Lydia.

     The two girls looked at each other for a brief moment before Lydia rolled her eyes. Andi looked at her small bowl of poutine before taking a bite.

     "I do like your hair," Lydia said and Andi looked up while she still had poutine in her mouth.

     She looked at Allison who only smiled encouragingly and then she looked back at Lydia who sat there with her arms crossed. She swallowed her food so she could say something without the girls thinking she was being rude.

     "Thanks," she said but she didn't know what else to say. Was this how people made friends? She couldn't remember for the life of her how he and Loretta became friends since it was such a long time ago so she couldn't recreate what she did at the time. Unable to think of anything else to say, Andi simply said, "Your hair is nice too."

     Andi didn't know what she was doing. Appearance wise, Lydia looked like she could fit the queen bee type and she even had the attitude to go with it. Allison was a beautiful girl as well, even though she wasn't as much of a diva like Lydia. Meanwhile, Andi was sporting a nineties inspired look with light wash flare jeans that were torn at the knees and a graphic tee shirt and plain shoes. She got tired of having her blonde pink and blue streaked hair in her face so she used the scrunchie on her wrist to tie it back into a messy ponytail.

     "Are you okay? You look a little conflicted," Allison said and Andi looked at the pale brunette.

     "I just got a lot on my plate," she said casually with a little shrug.

     Allison nodded and changed the topic. She asked Andi what it was like in her hometown, what the people were like and what her old school was like. Andi kept the answers simple but didn't give away too much. To answer Allison's questions, she told her that she liked her hometown, the people were just like any other people and her family agreed that she would stay with her grandmother in Beacon Hills for as long as they saw fit. At this point, she wasn't really friends with these girls so there was no reason to tell them why she was really in Beacon Hills or what the people at her old school were truly like. The more people she interacted with at Beacon Hills High School, the more questions she was asked and the more questions she was asked, the harder it was getting to obstruct the entire truth. Who was going to believe that there were witches living in their town?

     Once lunch was over, the three girls headed to class but had to eventually separate. She didn't really interact with Lydia as much as Allison, who Allison was pretty much the only thing that kept the two blondes civil with each other. Granted, Lydia was still a little rude like she was when they initially met but Andi didn't feel like arguing with her or anybody for that matter. She just wanted to get the day over with and go home. Ever since her grandmother told her about her family history, witches and magic, she was less interested in anything else and put all her focus onto adjusting, learning control and keeping her grades up in school. She was only a sophomore and she didn't feel like a normal kid anymore and she didn't see a future where things were going to feel normal. After this, nothing was ever going to be the same again.