Who Is She? | Jaz Anderson

• two •

Ayden stared at the building. It seemed so much more scary now that she was going to school there. Especially since she already knew Drew to be the self appointed Queen Bee.

Ayden tucked her blue curls behind her ears.

"I'm taking you to the principal's office. You need to talk to her, don't you?" Sadie asserted.

Ayden huffed. "Yeah. Let's go." She hooked arms with her siblings and Zia trailed behind them, eventually taking Carter's hand.

When they arrived, the principal looked up. "Miss Kane? What are you — are these the new students?"

Ayden managed a shy wave, as Carter and Zia nodded.

"Welcome! You need to inform us of your electives, then we'll assign you guides that have the same electives as you. I'll also need your names, if you will?"

Ayden looked to Carter to lead them forward. He sighed and turned to the principal.

"I'm Carter Kane... I'm doing the, uh... I play piano."

"Dad loved jazz," Ayden mumbled, remembering from when she was seven and what Amos had told her.

"Alright, I'll mark that on your schedule."

Ayden and Zia stared at each other, each trying to avoid having to talk next. Ayden grumbled under her breath as she lost the silent fight.

"Ayden Kane," she muttered.

"Sorry?"

"Ayden Kane," she repeated, louder. "I'm in jewelry making?"

"Thank you... and you?"

"I'm Zia Rashid. I'm painting."

"Wonderful! Miss Kane... Sadie — would you find Rachel Dare, Walt Stone, and Austin Lake? Mr. Kane, you'll be joining Jazz Band Three. Miss Rashid, you'll be with Miss Dare. And Miss Kane, Mr. Stone will be your guide for the rest of the week. These are your lockers and the locks. Set a code that you'll remember well."

Sadie pulled them back out and found the three people. "Rachel" and "Austin" were standing together, talking about something under their breaths when Sadie dragged Carter and Zia over.

They jumped and turned, forcing smiles.

"Hey Sadie," Rachel said. "Who are these guys?"

"This is Zia. You're her guide for the next week, have fun! This is my brother Carter, also have fun!"

Sadie dragged Ayden away before any of them could react.

Ayden blinked as they left behind the four, all with very surprised faces. Sadie dragged her all the way to their significant others, both smiling awkwardly at them.

"Lovely," Ayden said, wrestling Sadie off her. She had her sister pinned against the row of lockers with one hand easily. "Walt, you're my principal assigned guide. Jaz, please take her off my hands. She's killing me."

"Isn't she always?" Jaz teased. "Come on Sadie, let's head down to theatre."

They left Ayden and Walt standing awkwardly in the hallway. The bell rang and the two exchanged looks.

"I think that means we have to run to class," Ayden said.

"Yep." Walt jogged off, leaving Ayden to follow him. She followed him to a room clearly labelled Jewelry Making.

"But obvious, no?" Ayden asked.

"Bit British, no?" Walt responded, pushing the door open.

Ayden flushed. "I'm spending too much time with Sadie," she defended herself.

He grinned at her, holding her door for her to walk past. Jokingly, she bowed, then changing her mind and curtsying with an imaginary skirt.

She wrinkled her nose. "I think I'll leave that to Jaz," she decided.

He laughed. "Maybe a good idea."

She made a face at him, making him snicker again.

"Mr. Stone," the teacher said. Ayden almost jumped, realizing that there were three teachers, and the taller male one had spoken. "It's good to see that you're okay. Who's this?"

"This is Ayden Kane. She's one of the new students, and she's doing jewelry making with us."

"Hey, Walt?" Ayden muttered. "Where're the other students?"

"You make us six," he mumbled back, leading her over to a seat by the window. She sat down, him sitting on her right.

"That few?"

"Yep."

Ayden pulled a face. "That sucks."

"Definitely."

The teachers walked around, passing out the supplies. Ayden studied her bulky rings, judging the molds.

"For our new student, let's just go around and introduce ourselves," the female teacher said. "I'm Miss Lopez. These are my co-teachers, Mr. Douglass and Mr. Foster."

She indicated the teachers as she spoke.

"Miss Kane, please introduce yourself."

"Hi," Ayden said, having to repeat herself when no one could hear her. "I'm Ayden Kane."

"Mr. Stone?"

"Walt Stone," he sighed. "But you know me. I'm dating your younger sister."

Ayden snorted. "Public? Already?"

He responded with a soft grin.

"I'm — ow! Sorry — James Evans. And yes," he sighed as Ayden looked at Walt with a silent snicker, "I know my name is basically a Harry Potter reference."

"Fair," Ayden admitted.

"Kayla Savanna."

"Linh Tong."

"Like the Keeper of the Lost Cities character?" Ayden blurted. She covered her mouth.

Linh smiled. "Exactly. But technically —"

"I'm a hardcore fan," Ayden said, waving her off. "Their last name is Tong but they changed it to Song and never changed it back."

"Wow. No one knows that one."

"Yuh-huh. I'm special like that."

Linh gave her a timid smile, then the introductions moved on to the last person.

"I'm Raina Dean."

Ayden tilted her head to her.

Then Miss Lopez called their attention back to them. "If you couldn't tell, today we're finally using our molds! Miss Kane, you may want to take off your rings. Same goes for the rest of you wearing jewelry."

Ayden carefully took off her bulky rings, tucking her faience of Nephthys into her pocket carefully. The rest of her rings, she tucked into her bag. Not long ago, she'd spoken to Walt about turning her faience into a two finger ring. They'd gone with the idea, and now she had a ring that she fitted onto her left middle and ring finger.

It was strange to be taking off her butterfly ring without tossing it into the air, but she managed to refrain from doing so, treating it more delicately then the others.

Once everyone was situated, there wasn't much instruction before they were sent off to work.

Ayden couldn't help but feel surprised. It was actually fairly similar to magic training.

Maybe school wouldn't be as terrible as she thought.

🪄⛲️

Aww... she's growing.