WICK

                      °•°9 yrs later•°•

The sounds of the bustling city could be heard, even from within the constructs of the school building, shielding its occupants from the startling heat; but reminding them of the months of freedom they were leaving behind. 

The remnants of the summer sun trickled through the open windows, illuminating students as they passed from the hall to their designated classes; some lingering a while at their lockers as they attempted to catch up on the months apart before succumbing to the ear-wrenching screech of the final bell.

Inside Mrs. Morlee's classroom the voices of students bounced from wall to ceiling as they each took their time indulging in each other's company; not yet ready to be indoctrinated back into the school's dull environment.

   One student's voice in particular rang out through the mass as her excitement rose; throwing her head back in laughter, she recanted tales of her break and various expeditions she'd taken. 

The young teacher just sat staring out the window, enjoying her last few moments of vacation time before she too would have to put on her school facade and carry on throughout the rest of the year.

It had been a surprisingly warm and dry break, one she'd spent lounging out on the boardwalks of Jersey beach; her now golden arms and shoulders were evidence of that. She'd almost thought about staying and leaving behind her not-so-special life for one on the beach, rather than behind a desk. The sun rays forever soaking into her skin, free from the ordinary. 

With one last glance at the summer sun, she rose to her feet, making her way to the front of the room, mom she plastered an easy grin on her face. Her eyes were on her favorite little troublemaker, Riley Legion. 

"Ms. Legion, if you would; I would like to do something productive today." Her voice was light and flowed around the room easily, causing the teen's eyes to quickly meet hers. A wide grin pushed its way onto the girl's face as she swung her legs over and around her desk.

"Yes ma'am." The girl huffed, puffing out her chest and giving her a single hand salute before pushing herself back off the desk and plopping into her chair, causing her head to snap back with such force her thick black hair seemed to swallow the poor student behind her.

The teen rushed an apology before beginning to tie her hair into a bun; as she began weaving the curly strands, she felt the seat next to her move, peeking over, she was met with bright eyes and a rosy smile.

"Ayo Leno!" She said chipperly, as she began wrapping the hair at the top of her crown, securing it with a scrunchy her friend handed her.

"Hey Lee Lee," She responded, her voice almost fairy-like as she watched her friend finish up her styling. "How was your morning?" She asked sweetly, Riley gave her a boyish grin before settling further into her seat. 

"It was good; I think I'm one step closer to teaching Orion how to fetch; now all I gotta do is learn to get him to bring his toys back!" She recalled lightly with a shrug, her mind wandering back to her stubborn black and white tomcat.

A laugh burst from the other girl as she beheld her strange friend. "Really Lee?" She attempted to pull the corners of her lips down as she persisted in her scolding. "Please tell me you're joking." She insisted.

 Riley finally met her eyes; her sleek gray gaze never ceased to take the other girl's breath away. 

Lennox recalled the first time she'd met the strange girl, she reminisced on how shy and reserved she'd been; never looking at anyone too long, as if scared they'd see the brewing storm clouds behind her irises.

Riley's shoulders gave an innocent shrug at her plea. "Why would I joke ‘bout RiRi? He truly is talented, dontcha agree?" She simply asked in response.

Lennox sucked her teeth as she began to stare down the side of her friend's face, her lips quivering as her serious facade began cracking. 

"Riley Legion, you are not wastin’ your dang time trying to teach that stubborn, old cat a trick he's probably too damn dumb to learn!" She huffed playfully, her mild annoyance being squashed by her amusement towards the weird girl that sat beside her.

Suddenly the girl swung herself around to face her friend; her stormy eyes seemed to glow with offense.

"Au contraire my dear friend," the young girl began; taking on a haughty voice, "Orion happens to be highly cognitive in his abilities, and if he were human he’d only be about twenty years old!" The teen defended loudly, catching the attention of her surrounding peers.

Lennox's face went still for a moment as she took in her friend's statement, "You forgot stubborn." She said, leaning back into her chair, as a lazy smile creeped onto the young teen's face.

"I'm sorry; I hadn't realized I was speaking with the goddess of perfection!" Riley exclaimed indignantly, "and I hate to break it to ya but even Gandhi had flaws!" The girl's gray eyes seemed to glow at the small grin that began to grow on her friend's face; both young women unaware of the attention the outburst had brought to them.

"G-gandhi? As in the all-wise and kind Gandhi, the most patient man ever to have existed, Gandhi?" The teen giggled, causing her to stumble through her question."That's the man who has flaws?" Her smile shined a thousand watts; which would explain the heat in the young girl's cheeks, as she waited for her friend's rebuttal.

"Yes! He was a racist pig! Now will ya' get off my cat, he's sensitive!" A few chuckles could be heard around the room as the crowd of students began to feed off the tangible energy emanating from the teens. 

Voices began to rise around them as others began to strike up their conversations regarding their mornings or their summer break.

Noticing the attention of the class dwindling, Ms. Morlee cleared her throat, listening to the students' voices cut off and watching as their heads popped back up to face her, a sign of her power over the class.

The small smile on her face was the only indicator of her approval before she returned to her desk to pick up a stack of thick papers, the new year syllabus: i.e the guidelines of what the students were supposed to learn by the end of the school year; however seeing as last year, the class had just made it past the American Revolution when summer break came in and snatched up her student's mindsets, she had very little hope for actually making it through the entire thing.

The sounds of the students taking their hefty stack of papers and passing the rest back filled the room as Ms. Morlee turned and began scribbling on the white board at the front of the room.

The teen's eyes stayed glued in place as she once again was captured by her thoughts, each one leading to three more; almost like a twisted maze. 

They haven't called. 

Each thought caused her pulse to jump, sending her fingers into their rhythmic dance across the fiberboard, Lennox turned towards her, her brow arching slightly. A silent question; "Are you ok?"

She nodded, giving a half-hearted smirk before her thoughts turned her attention to the small chunk of plastic, tucked between the folds of her overused school bag. 

Somethin's wrong!

  Her thoughts wailed in her skull, her leg began dancing in beat with her fingers. 

 Her thoughts came to a halt as the classroom door creaked open; a red-faced boy popped in with an apologetic smile, a member of the student council no doubt.

He exchanged a few words with Ms. Morlee before giving one last Valedictorian smile and disappearing back into the hall, predictably to the next classroom.

Voices bounced between the students as they waited for their teacher's commands. Morlee faced the class, her small smile stretching wide as she looked at them.

"Great news guys!" She began, her voice growing louder as she faked her excitement "The new books are in!"

Lennox shifted next to her friend, dropping her head down onto her folded arms.

"I need a few volunteers to go and get them, any takers?" The class remained silent; some students turned away from their instructor, in hopes that she'd see the back of their heads as an Uno skip card.

"C'mon guys, it'll be a chance to get outta class and stretch your legs a little bit?" She pushed desperately. "Please?"

Metaphorical crickets sang their songs as the students continued burying themselves, the girl gave an exaggerated sigh as her right hand raised, whilst her left looped around her friend's wrist.

 "Me and Leno can do it." She offered, getting to her feet and hauling her friend up onto her own. 

"Thank you Riley!" Lennox's complaints were drowned out by the young teacher's gratitude, "Noah and Will can help you two!" She stated brightly, her eyes sliding to the two young men, whose heads were turned the farthest away from the front. 

Both boys started to give weak, halfhearted excuses as to why they couldn't help before their objections caved, slumping out of their respective seats, they trudged to the front of the class.

The girl ignored the daggers her friend was glaring at the side of her face as she walked forward to claim the hall pass; grabbing it in her left hand, she spun towards the doo,- turning her head briefly towards Lennox to motion for her to follow with the two boys aimlessly trailing behind.

The girl watched the door close before she started walking, her footsteps echoing against the empty hall. 

"Uhhh, Lee?" Lennox's soft voice called out from behind her; her three peers stared at her questioningly from their spots outside their classroom door.

The girl looked back, her head cooked to the side like a confused pup. "What're you guys doin?" She called back.

"The office is this way," Noah finally pointed out after a moment of silence; beside him, Lennox could hear Will muttering something about it being opposite d, clicking her tongue at the two she focused once more on her now laughing friend.

"I know that," She chuckled, "I just thought I'd take the more...scenic route." She gave one last grin over her shoulder and continued her merry way.

The trio laughed as they caught onto what the girl was suggesting before shuffling forward, picking up their strides to match with their peers' leisure pace. The quartet easily broke up into pairs as the boys began talking about the newest seasons of some anime about pickup artists in a dungeon, for a moment the teen thought about joining in the conversation in hopes of gaining a new series to watch during the weekends.

Lennox walked backwards in front of her friend, keeping a safe enough distance to not trip over the other girl. "So what are we doing exactly?" She asked

"Ms. M gave us permission to 'get outta class and stretch our legs', so that's exactly what we're doing!" Noah and Will laughed- catching her bit before continuing their conversation. 

The girl watched Lennox as she went quiet, a familiar look crossed her friend’s face- causing her stomach to drop as if she'd been on a roller-coaster. The feeling seemed to double down as a surge of nausea began to churn her stomach as she noticed the girl's gaze softened. 

"So Le-" Lennox's sentence cut off as her steps faltered- causing her to tumble backwards; instinctively the girl steadied her, only to feel a shot of regret hit her as she watched pink flood her friend's cheeks.

"Thank you." She said quickly.

"No problemo Leno." Riley stated simply, looking at the passing classrooms. 

"Hey, we're close to Mr. Kabowski's class." The girl pointed out, referring to their cranky, old math teacher.

"You mean Satan." Noah corrected, giving a faux shudder of horror.

"Leave him alone," Lennox huffed out, rolling her eyes as she prepared to defend her favorite teacher. "He's really not that bad."

The sound of one of the boys snorting brought a smirk to the girl's face as the two launched into their own details on how terrible the man was; going as far as to debate the possibility of him being a retired Dementor that took heed as a math teacher, to suck the souls out of students for the rest of his days.

The girl listened to the conversation for a while longer before her thoughts once again took her back to the phone tucked into her bag. 

 Somethin's wrong. I can feel it.

"Whaddaya think Lee?" Lennox asked, jolting her out of her thoughts. The girl's eyes darted between her peers; noticing their shared attention was on her she furrowed her brow in confusion. "You didn't hear anything we said?" Lennox asked dejectedly. 

"I'm sorry Noxy, I was just thinkin’ ‘bout which book I'd leave out for Orion tomorrow," she began, "he gets bored if I leave the same book out too many days in a row." She explained, her eyes glazing over slightly as the words flowed.

The trio swapped uncertain glances before Lennox's soft laugh rang out. "You're so weird Lee." She chuckled, reaching out to wrap her hands around the other teen’s forearm, "c'mon we can't stall forever." The girls laughed as Lennox released her grasp on Riley’s arm, replacing her grip onto their hands before she twirled herself under their interlocked fingers- pulling her dazed friend towards the office as the group hastened their pace.

The hall curved inward before opening to a wide entrance with the office on the far right.

As the group crossed the entrance and entered the office the petite secretary looked up, smiling when she noticed the girl at the front.

 "Hey Tami!" The girl called out loudly, the young secretary laughed.

"Hello Ms. Riley, what can I help you with?" She asked, her eyes drawing slowly over the three other students that waited patiently behind the girl.

"Ms. M. sent us to get her books." The girl answered, gesturing behind her at the group. 

"Ahh, ok cool, just give me one sec, I just have to fill out a couple forms first, it's 'Morlee' right?" She clarified as she began pulling out blue forms, giving a promise to return before she went to the back of the office.

The dread the girl felt returned; filling the pit of her stomach, however, this time for a different reason. 

The spot beside her filled within milliseconds as Lennox began speaking once more. 

"So, uh Lee," she began hesitantly, "there's a midnight premiere for that new scary movie tonight, you wanna go? I know you like that stuff- especially since it's about curses and possessions and stuff." She tried, her eyes almost pleading the girl to say 'yes'.

The girl gave a hard sigh before looking back at her friend, the apology already showing in her eyes. "Sorry Leno, you know how Liv is; she doesn't like me out past six-thirty- let alone midnight." She explained for what felt like the thousandth time- she tried not to look awkward as her eyes desperately searched for the secretary, who would give her the leverage she needed to avoid the fast coming conversation. 

"Well how about I treat you to an early dinner?" She offered hopefully. The girl almost groaned aloud as she recalled the last time she agreed to one of Lennox’s early dinners, it had ended with neither of them talking for a week- not worth it.

"Len, you know dating isn't my thing," she began, already uncomfortable with where the conversation was veering.

"Yea, I know you said that before- but I was hoping that you changed your mind or something?" The girl shook her head at her friend's statement, causing her to huff impatiently but before Lennox could say anything else, the secretary popped back into the room with a cart of cyan textbooks. 

"Alright, I got them all right here for ya. Sorry, you can't take the cart though." She stated looking between the four students apologetically.

"That's completely fine." The teen answered easily, happy to get away from the ever so tense atmosphere, "alright, there are twenty-six books." She counted out, "that means half of us will be carrying six books and the others will carry seven- I can carry one of the extra books." She volunteered looking between the boys, both of whom avoided her gaze. “Of course.” She mumbled to herself, rolling her eyes as she wondered how it was their kind that overruled the nation.

It was Lennox who finally took up the role of carrying the final book, sending the teens back out into the hall. 

The two boys rambled aimlessly as they kept their distance from the two girls, the tension was thick enough to cut with a dull knife.

The familiar halls unfurled in front of the girl as her thoughts attempted to devour her once more until she felt the movement of her friend saddling up to her. 

"Lee?" She began softly. The girl waited, hesitant on which way the conversation was going to go. "Look, I'm sorry, I know how Liv is and I know it's not your fault. I just wish you could have a little more freedom." The statement was simple yet sent lava through the girl's veins as she thought of what she said.

Freedom. She'd given up thinking of such a life.

"I'm completely fine with being your friend, I'd rather forever be stuck in the friendzone than lose you completely." She finished looking towards her friend.

"It's fine Leno, I blame myself for being so damn perfect." She responded easily with a laugh causing Lennox to follow. 

The girl's laughter is cut off by the shrill ringing tone blaring in her ears, she was faintly aware of her friend's attempt to catch her attention or maybe it was worry for how tense she became, whatever the cause it went unanswered as the girl's legs began moving of their own accord.

Books still in hand the girl sprinted around the hall, the wind seeming to push at her heels, urging her, pleading with her. 

Faster. 

She complied with its silent request allowing her body to almost fly through the building, yet her mind remained on the phone, she was gonna miss it.

An unknown force caused the classroom door to slam open, causing a very unattractive clash to erupt through the once quiet halls.

The entire class jumped, swiveling around to see what had caused the commotion, the girl paid them no mind as she deposited her stack of books sloppily into the corner of the room. 

Morlee raised from her seat, finally recovering from the shock of the interruption. Anger flooded her face, turning it a cherry red color.

Yet the girl made no indication of caring, instead she was sprinting across the room to her designated seat to snatch her bag from a student, who'd probably been tasked with silencing the device, she yanked the zipper back, whilst simultaneously pulling the small phone out and accepting the call.

She began making her way out of the class as she brought the phone up to her ear, she ignored the calls of her teacher; demanding she return to her seat, as heavy breathing filled the other end of the line.

"What's wrong? What happened?" She rushed out, the voice that responded caused her to relax slightly as she began walking out the back of the building. 

As she crossed the football field a breeze sang through the air, whispering silent cries that caused fear to wash over the girl.

She turned around, sprinting back into the building.