Droplet

Chapter 2

"Get up Vic, we have school today!" Alyssa shouted while banging on Vic's bedroom door.

"Dude, calm down. I'm up, and I'm already dressed. I was just finishing the breakfast that was so graciously brought up here to me." Vic sighed and put the tray on her nightstand. She picked up her backpack and skateboard, and stepped out to where Alyssa was waiting. 

"Are you serious?"

"What?"

"You're actually going to skateboard to school when we have someone to drive us?"

Vic rolled her eyes, "Yeah, I'm going to skateboard. It's finally warm enough. I've been waiting for this for months. You got a problem?"

"No, it's just... You're not at all ladylike, and I worry about you sometimes."

"Well don't. I'm not like your family. I'm just here until I can afford my own place. Of course, that probably won't be any time soon because I'm not allowed to get a job."

Alyssa scowled at Vic. "You're unbelievable. My family goes to all this trouble so you can stay with us and all you do is complain!"

"You don't even do anything for me! You literally gave me an empty room and food, and that's it. I know you can afford it; I'm probably not even putting a dent in the budget!" Vic turned and marched out the front door.

Alyssa followed and watched her as she stepped onto her skateboard and disappeared down the sidewalk. 

"You should really be more polite to your friend," a voice startled her, "She feels bad about being a bother to your family sometimes. She also doesn't have half the freedoms you do, nor does she have a mother." Alyssa's driver spoke quietly. 

She nodded and followed him to her limo. She slid into the back seat and considered what her driver had told her. It was true that Vic wasn't allowed to do much of anything, but they were providing her with a place to stay. She didn't have the right to complain... did she? 

The ride to school was only five minutes, and Vic was just arriving as Alyssa stepped out of her limo. She waved to her driver and walked into the school. A couple of her friends were already there. She joined whatever conversation they were having. Vic's friends never showed up on time, so she just went right to her first class. 

"Hey Vic. Early as always," her geometry teacher, Mr. Smith, greeted her. 

"Yeah. How are you sir?"

"Good, and you?"

"I'm alright. A bit frustrated with Alyssa though."

"Ah. I heard about some stuff that happened yesterday. Water mage huh?"

"Yup."

"Alyssa bothering you about it?"

"Yeah." Vic sighed. 

"Hey, It'll be alright." 

As much as Vic hated geometry, she had to admit, her teacher was pretty cool. She was always ten minutes early for class, so they chatted a bit in the mornings. 

Pretty soon the bell rang and kinds started filing into the classroom and finding their seats. 

"Alright students! Take out your textbooks and turn to page 215. I want you to read chapter 27, then complete the work I have written on the board. You're welcome to work in groups and listen to music, as always." Mr. Smith smiled then turned to his work. 

"Hey Vic," her raven haired friend slid in the seat next to hers. He looked up at the board, then wrote something in his notebook. "Let's see. So if y=mx+b, then x must be seven, right?"

"How did you get that Josh? I got twelve." Vic showed Josh her work in her notebook.

"Oh. You're right. I added instead of subtracting." 

They finished the work with a couple minutes to spare.

"So... You're a water mage..."

"Yeah."

"Cool. I guess now people won't pick on me 'cause I'm friends with you." He smirked and stretched out in his seat.

"You're not totally freaked out by that?" Josh was scared of everyone and everything. Vic wondered why he was cool with her being a feared and powerful being with the ability to destroy whole cities with a single motion of her hand. 

"Nah hon, I've known you for years. I trust you. Besides, I know too much about you for you to go and betray me." He laughed. Then snorted. Then laughed because he snorted. He did this all the time. 

Put simply, Josh was an absolute dork. He was short and shockingly thin, very pale, and not even a little muscular. His dark hair was long and covered his wide, green eyes. If you didn't hear his deep scratchy voice, you'd probably assume he was a girl. 

"I guess I won't have to worry about healing you when you get in fights while standing up for me. You can just get water from the water fountain and crush them with it," Josh chuckled.

Josh was also a mage. He was a healer, but he wasn't very powerful. He could mend cuts and burns, but not broken bones or torn muscles like most healers. 

"Nope. I'm not using my magic for stuff like that. I want to prove to the Martins that I'm responsible enough to be allowed to use magic and get a job. I'll still beat people up for you though," she smiled. 

Just then the bell rang and Vic was off to art. It was Vic's favorite class because she had the freedom to do whatever she wanted, since she was in advanced art. At the moment, she was working on a black and white painting of her favorite band. 

Her art teacher was a bit eccentric. He was always excited, and a bit jumpy. He was super short, couldn't have been more than 5' 4" and he was completely bald. As Vic walked into the art room, he greeted her with one of his signature, startlingly wide smiles. 

"Sup Vic! You gonna finish that painting today?" he asked, eyes bright with excitement.

"I think so. I just need add some finishing touches, but it's pretty much done. Do you mind if I take the rest of the period off if I finish?"

"No problem! I can't wait to see the final product!" He turned and skipped, yes, literally skipped, to go talk to another student. 

Vic went to the drying rack and pulled out the drawing board that her painting was taped to. She found two small brushes and got just a bit of white paint, since that was all she would need. After about ten minutes of adding highlights to the painting, Vic decided that it was done. She carefully pulled the tape off of the drawing board and paper, then took the painting to a bulletin board and pinned it up under her last painting, which was a watercolor. She smirked. She'd used magic for that when no one was looking so that she could get more precise lines. 

The rest of the day was fairly boring. Vic got a few more awkward stares and whispered comments than usual, but she expected that now that people knew she was a water mage. She had no friends in any of her classes, so she just daydreamed through the rest of the lessons. 

It was Friday, so she met up with Josh and her other two friends Cass and Quinn to go get ice cream. They did this every Friday afternoon, whether they had school or not. 

Alyssa watched them on their skateboards from inside her limo as the driver pulled out of the parking lot to take her home.