𝐒𝐰𝐚𝐧 𝐒𝐨𝐧𝐠 // 𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑐𝑦 𝑗𝑎𝑐𝑘𝑠𝑜𝑛 ＆𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑜𝑙𝑦𝑚𝑝𝑖𝑎𝑛𝑠

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐗𝐈𝐕.

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"𝑖𝑡 𝑖𝑠 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑠𝑜 𝑚𝑢𝑐ℎ 𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑓𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑑𝑠' ℎ𝑒𝑙𝑝 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 ℎ𝑒𝑙𝑝𝑠 𝑢𝑠 𝑎𝑠 𝑖𝑡 𝑖𝑠, 𝑎𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑓𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑟 ℎ𝑒𝑙𝑝."
— 𝐞𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐩𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐬

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"𝑮𝑶𝑶𝑫 𝑴𝑶𝑹𝑵𝑰𝑵𝑮, 𝑺𝑻𝑼𝑫𝑬𝑵𝑻𝑺," an older woman with red hair spoke to Evangeline's science class a few weeks into her education there. "I am Mrs. Lark, your new science teacher." Evangeline was confused at the sudden shift in teachers, but she didn't question it.

A girl at Evangeline's table named Tessa raised her hand. "Mrs. Lark, can we change seats? Our old teacher let us." she said pointedly to Evangeline, who had never even spoken a word to her. She wasn't surprised, because Tessa had always had it out for her.

Mrs. Lark eyed Evangeline, overwhelmed by her half-blood scent. "No, you may not. I'd like you all to turn your attention to the board," Mrs. Lark instructed, gesturing to the chalkboard where she had written down a science question. "Can anyone answer this question?" numerous hands shot up, Evangeline's did not. "Evangeline Clement?"

Evangeline looked up from her hands, startled. With wide and unsure eyes, she looked at the board, the written words floating off of the surface and rearranging themselves into jumbles she couldn't read. Evangeline blinked, her head hurting from focusing so hard. "I don't know, I'm sorry." she peeped quietly, embarrassed to be admitting that in front of a class that hated her.

"You don't know?" Mrs. Lark repeated, stalking towards her, resisting the urge to kill her then and there. "How disappointing. Anyone else?" Mrs. Lark continued with the lesson, her eyes perodically landing on the young girl in sixth grade, who was shamefully sitting quietly.

Evangeline suffered through the rest of her classes that morning and sat down alone at her usual lunch table without anything to eat and no extra money to buy a lunch. Tessa and her friends laughed at her as they walked by and Evangeline shriveled up in her seat, doodling on a piece of paper to pass the time. And then, a boy with dark brown curly hair and olive skin stepped in front of Evangeline.

"Hi. You're Evangeline, right?" he asked and Evangeline looked up, tucking her hair behind her ear.

She nodded. "Yeah. Hi."

The boy smiled. "I'm Arlo. I'm in your science class," Arlo stuck his hand out and Evangeline tenatively shook it. "Can I sit?"

Evangeline was surprised. "You want to sit with me? Did Tessa or Mrs. Lark put you up to this?" Evangeline's father was such a skeptical and conspiracle person that it wasn't a surprise she questioned Arlo's offer.

Arlo shook his head. "No. You just look you need a friend, and I could use one too." he shrugged, straightening his backpack straps.

Evangeline paused, thinking. "Yeah, you can sit." Arlo smiled and pulled out the chair opposite Evangeline, taking a bagged lunch from his backpack.

"Do you not have a lunch? You can share mine." Arlo offered once he noticed Evangeline had no food in front of her.

"No thanks. I'm not hungry today." Evangeline lied, hoping there would be something in her apartment when she made it home that night.