I rubbed the sleep from my eyes, got up, fixed my hair, and threw on my clothes in auto pilot, not thinking about much of anything accept how nice it would be hanging out with my new friends today, and how mean Naida is. It was when Naida entered my thoughts that I remembered everything.
Crap! I do not wanna go to school today! No way do I wanna deal with all the rumors, all the stares, all the awkward silences. It would be like my old school all over again. Except, instead of “Oh, poor Aurelia, that weird quiet girl with no parents,” it would be “Oh, look! There's Aurelia! Her dad's the king!” Ugh. Today is gonna be horrible.
I, by no means, wanted to go, but I knew Cordelia would force me too. I had already gotten the speech about how neophytes and Nocturnals both had amazing immune systems, and basically never got sick. Plus, tonight, we are going to the Fair. I was actually excited about that. Plus, I wanted to see Alex again.
So, I braced myself, and then I walked down the stairs. Cordelia got the brownies and gnomes to gather me a quick breakfast, and asked me if my stomach felt any better. I said yeah, but it was a lie. My stomach felt like it was filled with stinging bees. Again, what's so wrong with butterflies? Why can't I just get those, not angry killer stinging bees.
School passed by quickly, but predictably. I heard some pretty crazy rumors about me, some made me angry, some made me laugh. My personal favorite was that I was a princess-in-hiding, and that Naida was a spy for some opposing team that found out about me, and Sasha was her (now get this) sidekick. Like, something out of a cheesy super hero movie. Come on people, at least be original.
Before I knew it, lunch was here. I didn't feel like eating at all. Actually, just thinking about all those taunting stares, particularly Naida's, made my stomach roil with nausea, so I did what I always did during lunch at my old school. I spent it in the library. I pulled a random book off the shelf, and curled up on a beanbag in the vacant sitting area, and lost myself in the plot.
Actually, I was so lost in the plot, I hadn't even heard the library door open. I felt the eyes on me right before I was hit with swirling emotion of the auras. I looked up into the eyes of Tina, Jane, Ethan, Sasha, and Alex, and saw the multiple emotions that pooled within them.
“I thought we would find you here,” Ethan said, almost smugly, pulling a beanbag up next to mine.
“And we didn't want you to be alone,” Tina finished, as she pulled a beanbag up across from me. They arranged the bean bags into a little semi-circle, and nodded. Alex pulled one up on the other side of me, and Jane and Sasha flanked Tina.
“Well, thanks guys,” I said, for lack of anything better to say.
“And, I think we all have something to say,” Tina said, smiling firmly at the others. They all nodded and looked back to me.
“Oh?” I said.
“We all have secrets. It's only right that you know at least one of ours, since we know one of yours,” Tina explained.
“We will either leave as better friends, or this will just make things awkward as crap. Please tell me none of y'all will blab,” Jane said, looking pointedly at Tina.
“Me? Have some faith, please,” Tina said defensively. We all laughed, which broke the nervous tension that had gathered around us.
“So, who goes first?” Ethan asked, glancing around at everyone.
“You,” Alex said. “Unless you have something to hide, that is.”
“I'm not hiding anything! I think if anybody was hiding something, it would be you.”
