𝘊𝘏𝘈𝘗𝘛𝘌𝘙 𝘛𝘞𝘖

(the cursed witch, act one)

THIS WAS THE TIME OF DAY WHEN NINA WISHED SHE COULD DO MAGIC.

High school.

Or was purgatory the right word? It had to be a curse placed on her, one that forced her to repeat a terrible first day at least four times a year before moving to the next year and repeating the same acts.

If magic were in her daily criteria, life would be a hell of a lot easier, especially while you are surrounded by teenagers who seemingly don't know or understand what a shower is.

It also didn't help that she couldn't, well wasn't allowed, to drive anymore which led to Natalie having to drive her to the wretched building that she was sure Satan built specially for her.

"You're being dramatic again," Natalie told her as they drove into the school parking lot earning looks from the student body who stood by their parked cars.

"How would you know? You can't read my mind," Nina retorted as she stared down at her lap to avoid the curious stares.

"You're my daughter, of course I can read your mind. I know that right now you are thinking of how much you would rather be eating ice cream as you watch this place burn till the only thing left of it is dust and I know you are debating opening this door and jumping out of the car which is why I currently have the child lock on."

Nina's eyes locked with a boy who stood across the parking lot, and she could have sworn she saw him laugh at her mother's words. Shaking her head, she looked back at her mother, "You're wrong. I was thinking about jumping off a cliff and being eaten by mermaids."

"Mm," Natalie muttered with a smirk as she parked in front of the doors. "Well, have fun getting eaten by mermaids, Nia. If you do, document it. I've always wanted to see a mermaid."

"You're a terrible mother."

"And you are terribly dramatic. Get out of the car before I kick you out."

Her eyes locked with the boy's once more and the grin had never left his lips as he watched the mother and daughter from across the lot. "If I get murdered by the creepy guy over there it's on you," Nina muttered before grabbing her backpack and exiting the car.

Her arms were wounded tightly around herself as she walked up the steps towards the lobby's front doors. She could feel eyes on her back, and she knew it was every student who stood in the parking lot.

Small towns sucked. One little change and everyone had to know everything.

It was the middle of March, the middle of the semester, which was arguably the worst time to switch schools. It was going to be hard to fit in, these kids had years to make friends, find their clicks and find their way to their classes without getting lost five times.

As she got to the top of the staircase, a girl with glasses approached her with a friendly smile on her lips. "Hey, you're the new girl, right?" she asked, her smile never leaving her lips.

Nina slowly nodded, unsure of what to say to the unusually happy girl. "Yeah... I guess." She already felt uncomfortable. Maybe it was just the cold though.

"I'm Angela," she introduced as she held out her hand for Nina to take. Her smile had yet to leave her lips which made Nina feel less uncomfortable – clearly, this girl didn't care that Nina was awkward.

"You're not the only new person today, though. If that makes you feel any better."

Nina tried her best to smile. "Right, yeah, I think my mom mentioned that. I completely forgot." Her nerves had dimmed slightly. Perhaps, the other new girl would soon show up and take the attention off of her. Or they could deal with it together.

Realizing she had yet to introduce herself, she glanced back at Angela and offered a small smile. "I'm Nina, by the way."

Angela offered her yet another kind smile as she glanced towards the doors. "Did you need help finding the office? This place is like a maze." Nina nodded and Angela quickly began to show her the way before leaving for her first class after the warning bell rang.

"If you need help finding anything else, just look for me," Angela told her before she disappeared into the mass of students, leaving Nina alone by the office doors. When her eyes left Angela's retreating body, she looked into the office and saw a brunette girl standing by the desk with a staff member.

Nina let out a relieved breath when she heard the girl ask for a schedule and map. She had to be the other new girl. Nina stared at her for a moment, choosing if she was nice or not and whether or not she wanted to deal with getting yelled at, and decided to approach her.

She pushed the glass door open before slowly entering the office, still slightly unsure of her choices. The office lady, seemingly, decided to choose for her and smiled as she met the teen's nervous eyes.

"You must be Nina Evans. I was just telling Ms. Swan about you." Her eyes cast back down to a few papers she had been sorting before lifting them onto the desk and gesturing her hands in Nina's direction.

As Nina grabbed them, she sent a quick glance at them and noticed they had her schedule and locker information.

"Nina, this is Isabella Swan. This is her first day as well." Nina looked to her left and saw Isabella smiling unsurely at her, a smile that Nina quickly matched with the same level of awkwardness. Great, so they were both awkward.

This could go one of two ways. They would both be far too awkward to even speak to one another, or they would become amazing friends. Or they were both secretly serial killers, but that was far less likely – in Isabella's case, not so much for Nina's; she had already almost blown up a school.

"Just Bella," the brunette corrected, earning a small nod from Nina.

"You two girls should stick together today," the woman told them. "Your schedules are just about the same if not for a couple of classes. It might make your first days a little easier and more enjoyable."

Nina looked at Bella and saw her nod before she nodded herself. "Sounds good," she muttered before opening the door and holding it for Bella who whispered a quiet, "Thank you," as she walked through.

"What's your first class?" Nina asked as they walked aimlessly through the halls, attempting to follow the maps they had been given.

"Gym," Bella answered with a shudder. Her distaste for the class was obvious, not that Nina was much better, she outwardly groaned when she saw that she had the class as well.

"I'm guessing you have the same?" she asked with a small smile at Nina's reaction.

Students still populated the halls and their laughter cut into their conversation. They were all practically glowing with energy, something Nina didn't understand since all she wanted to do at that moment was go back to sleep.

As they walked through yet another hall, a boy ran up to join them. "Hey, you're Isabella Swan and Nina Evans? The new girls." When they nodded, his smile widened, "Hi, I'm Eric, the eyes and ears of this place. Anything you need? Tour guide, lunch date, a shoulder to cry on?"

Nina smiled at him, one of her first real smiles of the day. He was strangely nice, and not in a fake way either, it was genuine.

Bella coughed, and yet another look of uncomfortableness appeared on her face. "Uh, I'm really more of a suffer-in-silence type."

Eric stared at her for a moment, his smile dimming before it brightened once more. "Good headline for your feature. I'm on the paper, and you're news, baby, front page."

Nina glanced between the pair, her heart dropping to her stomach at the thought of being plastered in a newspaper. It sounded like a nightmare.

"No, we're not," Bella quickly stuttered out to Nina's delight. "You... Please don't have any sort of..."

"-Woah. Chillax. No feature," Eric told them, seeing how neither girl liked the idea.

"Okay, thanks."

"Cool," Eric told them before walking off in a different direction to his next class.

When Nina and Bella turned back to keep walking towards the gym, they sent small smiles to each other. "Thank you for that," Nina told her, "I think I would die of embarrassment if they put me on the front page."

"I'd be digging my own grave right about now," Bella said with a small chuckle. "You don't like being the center of attention? I would have thought you would have. You're stunning."

Nina hummed in appreciation, "Thank you, but no, definitely not. I think I get enough attention by being the new girl almost every month."

"You do this a lot? Moving?"

"Yeah, my mom's job makes her move around to different locations and instead of leaving me, she brings me with her," Nina quickly explained the same excuse she had been using for the last five years.

"I couldn't imagine doing this more than once," Bella muttered. Nina shrugged, "You get used to it after a while. Come on, we're going to be late."

Bella sighed as she followed Nina before they walked through the gym doors, both girls instantly grimacing when they saw the nets that had already been set up. "Volleyball, great," Nina muttered. "I'm going to have a black eye before second period."

A chuckle left Bella's lips as the teacher began to explain the rules before sorting the students into groups. While Bella went to attempt to convince the teacher not to let her play, Nina stayed silent and decided it was best if she stayed in the back and avoided any confrontation.

A few minutes passed, and Bella was sent back to the floor before joining Nina once more. "He said try not to hit anyone and good luck," Bella told her, just before the teacher blew his whistle, signaling the students to begin playing.

Luckily for them, they were on the same team. Unluckily for any other person on their team, they were on the same team. Nina and Bella were seemingly the worst players on the planet, neither one of them having actually hit the ball except for once when it hit Nina in the forehead and smacked towards the next player who bumped it across the net.

"Mother fucker," Nina muttered as she held her head.

The ball came towards her again, but this time Bella moved to hit it. She saved Nina but managed to hit another boy who stood across the gym. "Ow," they heard the boy exclaim, causing the two girls to wince.

Bella, deciding to apologize, quickly walked over to him with Nina trailing behind her. "I'm sorry. I told them not to let me play."

The boy shook his head so quickly Nina could have sworn he had whiplash. "No way. No, no, no. That... That's... You're Isabella, right?" he asked, stuttering miserably as he stared at Bella before risking a glance in Nina's direction. "And... Evan?"

"Nina... Nina Evans," she answered, slightly offended, at the same time Bella corrected, "Just Bella."

He held out his hand in their direction, "Yeah. Hey, I'm Mike... Newton."

Nina smiled at him, deciding against being a bitch and choosing to stay silent for the rest of the awkward conversation. Before Bella or Mike could say anything else, a girl came running over.

"She's got a great spike, huh?" she asked teasingly, earning a soft laugh from Mike and Nina. "I'm Jessica, by the way." Her eyes moved between Nina and Bella before switching to Mike. Nina could sense the slight jealousy that she held. "Hey, you're from Arizona, right?" she asked, turning her attention back to Bella.

"Yeah," Bella answered.

"Aren't people from Arizona supposed to be like, really tan?"

"Yeah. Maybe that's why they kicked me out," Bella told them before Mike began to laugh, and because he did, Jessica did too.

"You're good," Mike said through laughter as he pointed in Bella's direction.

"That's so funny," Jessica said with a false chuckle before Bella and Nina walked away, both choosing that time to sneak away from the conversation.

"That was terrible," Bella whispered.

Nina grinned, "It could have been worse. Everything could always be worse."

Bella looked at her, "That's depressing."

"It's true," Nina said with a smirk, causing Bella to chuckle. "I guess you're right."