Tina Goldstein: Secrets of Ilvermorny

Three

Tina followed the professor to the Thunderbird common room. She sat in a corner with her books, observing all the students that sat in the room. The red haired girl sat in another corner, as though she were hiding from everyone. Maverick sat on a couch; Gabrielle talking his ear off. Justine was also looking around the room, locking eyes with Tina at one point. She had cold green eyes and platinum blonde hair. Tina looked down at her book, almost like she was terrified she'd freeze if she looked at Justine's eyes for too long.

Tina gathered herself and wandered off to the dorms. When she opened the door, she looked into a room with six four-poster beds made with blue and red-checked quilts. She pet Lillian on the head, who hooted in response. Tina pulled on her pajama's and crawled into bed, pulling the covers over her head. At that, she fell asleep.

____________

When Tina woke up, her other dormmates were already awake, so Tina slipped out of bed and pulled on her school robes and walked out into the common room. There wasn't anyone in the common room at the current moment, so Tina left to go explore the school a little before breakfast. When she entered one of the main halls, she ran into Justine and Gabrielle standing together outside the boys lavatory. They must've been waiting for Maverick, because they didn't seem to be in any kind of hurry.

Tina smiled at them "Hi!"

Gabrielle looked at her and scoffed "Who are you?"

Tina didn't really understand her tone of voice, so she gave a small laugh and held out her hand "Tina Goldstein. You must Gabrielle."

Gabrielle looked at her hand, took Tina's pointer finger in between her fingertips and lightly shook it "Sorry. Not to be rude, but I only associate myself with people who don't look like-" she gestured to Tina's hair "-that."

Tina felt her hair a little, as if there were something wrong with it "What d'you mean?"

Justine stepped forward "She means-" she snapped her fingers at Tina's forehead "-she doesn't associate with people who don't care about how they present themselves."

Tina looked at them in disbelief "I don't understand. I do, too. Why do you care? You've never met me before."

Gabrielle looked back at Tina "Oh. Did your mom say that you looked pretty before you left?"

Tina couldn't think of a way to answer. The only thing she felt was her heart drop as she looked at the floor. She wanted to say 'She couldn't have if she wanted to!', but instead she said "Sure. We'll go with that."

Tina watched as they walked away. She turned to leave just as Maverick was coming out of the bathroom. He looked around for Justine and Gabrielle. After he didn't see them, he tapped Tina's shoulder "Where did-?" Tina pointed down the corridor. He smiled "Thanks-" he pointed at her "-Tina, right?"

Tina looked at him a little surprised that he knew her name. She smiled "Yeah."

He looked down the hall "Don't mind my cousins. They usually put people down when they think they can win." he leaned closer "Other people's low self esteem, makes them feel higher." he walked down the corridor and waved "Well, it was nice meeting you, Tina!"

Tina smiled a little as he walked away. At least, that was one person who thought she looked nice. Tina continued down the corridor herself, turning it to find herself in a nicely sized courtyard. She found the red-haired girl perched in a tree, turning small pieces of bark into stick figures that marched around in front of her.

Maverick was sitting down with Gabrielle and Justine, who were in the middle of a conversation with another boy with mousy brown hair and a crooked smile. From watching him, Tina concluded he must've been a third year, because he was definitely bigger than Maverick, but not by that much.

Tina walked through the courtyard and found her way to the library. She took in a deep breath and sighed. She loved that book smell and a library made her happy. But, she realized that she should really get off to the dining hall and that she could return to the library later.

At breakfast, students buzzed in excited chattering. Returning students caught up on each others summers. First years sat in their little friend groups they'd formed, very quiet. Tina sat near the end of the table by herself, unsure how to join anyone's groups. One of the professor's asked her name.

"Porpentina Goldstein." she replied.

The professor looked down at the notecards, flicking through them so fast, Tina was surprised she saw anything at all. At last, he withdrew a card from the stack and handed it to her. Tina smiled as she took it from him as to say thank you. When she looked through her schedule with anticipation; wondering what classes she had.

Schedule

1 Period

Charms; 8:30

2 Period

Study of Magical Creatures; 10:00

3 Period

Arithmancy; 11:45

Lunch- 12:15-1:20

4 Period

Herbology; 1:30

5 Period

History of Magic; 2:10

6 Period

Defense Against the Dark Arts; 3:00

Tina looked at her schedule, then up at the clock. She decided that she could eat in twenty minutes, then use the other twenty minutes to find the Charms classroom. Tina turned her head the other way when someone started to cry. It was Gabrielle.

"NO! THAT'S NOT FAIR! WHY CAN'T I BE IN CLASSES WITH JUSTINE AND MAVERICK!" she screamed. Tina laughed into her plate at the reason Gabrielle was so angry "THIS ISN'T FAIR!"

An older girl stood up to try and calm Gabrielle down "Hey! That's just how the schedule's were written, kid!"

Gabrielle slapped the girl across the face in anger "THEN FIX IT!" she shouted.

Maverick stood up and tugged down hard on Gabrielle's robes "Gabrielle! That's not how things work! She can't do anything about it!"

Tina looked back to her plate and began shoving her eggs around her plate, trying extremely hard not to laugh at the entire scene happening to her right. Gabrielle must've seen her shoulders shaking with laughter, because walked over to Tina and grabbed her schedule from her.

"Hey!" Tina shouted, jumping out of her seat and making a grab for her schedule "Give that back!"

Gabrielle kept it out of Tina's reach "This is exactly the same as Maverick's schedule! YOU SABOTAGED THEM!"

Tina grabbed at her schedule again "I have know idea you're talking about! I barely know him! Why would I want to be in all of my classes with him?!" she managed to snatch back her schedule from Gabrielle, but before she could walk away, she felt Gabrielle's hands on her shoulders before she fell backwards; hitting her head on the tables seat.

As she held the back of her head, she felt tears forming in her eyes. She stood up and ran from the dining hall. Running into the bathroom, she let it loose and cried uncontrollably.