Mince | sky x oc

Ch. 2

Present Day

She has not had first-day nerves since she was twelve. She will not be ending that streak when she's seventeen.

The lawn is covered in returning students and new ones alike. From her vantage point, which is standing right next to the gates with her bag and luggage, she can see that it's a mix of specialists and fairies. Standing here makes her stomach roll just a little, especially as she catches sight of other second-year fairies. She has to turn away, in hopes none of them come over and speak to her. She's unsure on if she'd be able to handle someone speaking to her right now.

She spots a red-head, lost in the crowd. She's wandering around as if it's her first time on land, and Jade has half a mind to go over and ask if she needs any help. Yet there's someone else who's approaching her, and he's got some height and he's blond.

It's Sky. Of course it is.

They're cordial. Or they were, last year. They had to have been when her mother's close to his parental father figure. You've got to make the new generation of fairies and specialists friends. Gotta make sure they work together.

It had blown up on everyone involved, just a little bit.

She's watching him approach the lost girl now, and she can't even help herself from skipping forward, clapping a hand on the her shoulder and smiling welcoming. Seeing as Jade has an inch or two on her mum, she's got at least four over the other girl. It helps her smile down, and behind her she can almost feel Sky's stutter-step. His hesitance.

Good. She hopes he chokes on his own spit.

Blue eyes turn to look at her in confusion, and Jade has to curse her own spiteful impulsitivity. Standing here now, she's got almost no idea of what to do. What to say. Looking at the other girl has left her floundering from the intense heat of her gaze.

"Are you lost?" she asks, dropping her hand off of her shoulder. She places it into her own pocket. "You look a bit lost."

"I don't need your help, thanks," the first-year replies, pulling her suitcase closer and Jade can only smile. Not at her actions. No, because just behind her she's heard Sky turn on his heel and go back to whoever he'd been talking to before.

"It's good that I haven't offered it yet, then, isn't it? Not that I was going to."

It's a lie, and they both know it. Thankfully, the awkwardness of her denial seems to break any tension.

"Sorry- I'm just."

"Overwhelmed? Surprised? Excited? That's how it feels, walking through there the first time. The gates."

"Did you read my mind, or something?"

Jade hasn't read her mind but the accidental dig still lands, piercing right through her sternum. She shouldn't feel so bad about not having read her emotions. But she feels bad anyway.

"No, can't do that yet," she says, "One day, maybe."

It's so obviously a joke, but the other girl's mouth drops before shutting close, and her eyes don't hide any of the shock that she's so valiantly hidden from her face.

Which is interesting, to say in the least. Maybe a fairy was up high in the family tree, or her parents had been trying to hide their Otherworld identity. Or she wasn't versed on those who wield the Mind. Or she's one of Silva's scouted specialists. Looking at her, she doubts the specialist part. Not enough muscles.

"Really?"

"Maybe."

This conversation feels awkward, and as they stand there, Jade clears her throat. It's as her mother said that day in her office. She's got a blank-slate with all of the new students.

"Are you a fairy, then?"

A verbal dam bursts.

"I am! It's just- you know it's crazy. I never thought I'd say that. It's like those kid stories that parents used to read us to go to bed, right? All about magic."

"It's the opposite for us, really. I learned about people without magic to send me to sleep."

The girl looks at least somewhat surprised by this, and she looks at Jade like one might a bug on the ground. It makes her feel weird. She imagines that this weirdness isn't far off from what a person unused to fairies might feel standing in a school of them would feel.

"You did?"

"Yeah. You're gonna have to get used to being called a fairy, though. There's a lot of us around here."

"I hadn't noticed."

"Really?" She can't help the sarcastic twitch to her own mouth. "Might need to get some glasses, then."

"Maybe."

She's just opening her mouth to respond, to maybe even help the red-head around, but there's a burst in the bubble as one of their phone pings. Her own ringer isn't on, but Jade still checks her own phone just in case. There's no notification's waiting for her.

"Oh that's- that's mine. You wouldn't happen to know who Stella is, right?"

Jade does. Jade knows Stella for the same reason she knows Sky. Parents in powerful places, and the requirements that come along with that. Jade knows that Stella is a woman who plays her tune as a vain psychopath, and that standing in her way is as good as wrangling an eel with one hand tied behind the back. She knows that Stella talks behind people's backs whenever she can, and that she misunderstands boundaries as being stuck up.

She nods.

"Oh! Good! She said she was by Alfea's gate waiting for me, but I got bored and wandered off. Then you found me."

Jade stops listening there, instead casting a look over the courtyard, skimming over anyone who wasn't blonde, constantly annoyed, and hiding snark behind their teeth.

"Right there," she points, having to lean just over the red-head. Stella's looking directly at the two of them with her mouth held thinly, and Jade's pointing hand dissolves into a waggling of mocking fingers disguised as a greeting.

The fairy underneath her takes a step in that direction and hurries off without a thank you. Jade doesn't let herself feel too bad about it.

She pulls herself together, and valiantly doesn't think about Sky. She hadn't seem him when looking around the courtyard. It doesn't matter. She brushes her hands off on her coat and makes her way to the dorm rooms where she imagines her new suite mates are waiting. The first-years.

The first-years her mother had pushed for her to room with, because second-years would bring up too many wounds, apparently.
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AN: whats up. hope its good. 🤞 first and foremast happy holidays & since its the day merry christmas to those who celebrate