chapter 3

Sunlight flitted through the room, much like the opening to a fairytale book. Dust was floating through the air and settling slowly onto the hardwood floors of the sleeping inhabitant room. Small snoring was heard from under comforters as the person was unknowing to the figure watching them from the door. A tall figure that seemed to hold a dark aura as it glared at the person beneath the layers of covers. The figure walked over to the bed, a water bottle in hand as it stood impatiently by the full sized bed. He counted down to ten when her alarm would go off - which she turned to snooze. He then dumped the cold water onto her sleeping form, earning a yelp in surprise from how chilly it was.

His sister popped her head out of her covers, her bright red curly hair knotted as her brown eyes glared up at her older brother. She rubbed the sleep from her eyes, her sleep shirt was soaked and he couldn’t help but laughing at how rough she looked. “Jackson!” She yelled. “I’m going to kill you!” Her brother tore off, away from his little sister’s wrath to begin getting ready for school - the whole reason as to why he had abruptly woke her up. The girl cursed at her brother’s retreating form. Coward. She thought as she smiled, already plotting her revenge against her brother before walking over to her old wardrobe to pick out an outfit to wear to school.

Her family wasn’t exactly “new” to Merced - they lived here when Dahlia was eight, and her brother was ten. Dahlia didn’t remember much from her hometown, but Jackson had told her stories about when they were little and would go to the creek with some of his friends and try to catch minnows or frogs. Dahlia would crinkle up her nose, as she couldn’t imagine herself doing that - but at the same time, she could if she was with family. Her parents had taught her and her brother that family was important, and to always be open and honest with one another. Dahlia didn’t know what she would do without her family if something were to happen to them, or her. 

Dahlia opened the wardrobe that had chipping pastel purple paint on it, showing an array of clothes that she has accumulated over the years from every phase that she entered and exited with pride. She picked out a black dress that would reach below her knees, and the sleeves would stop around her shoulders. Because of this, she also grabbed a pastel blue tank top that would go under the dress, and some knee-high matching socks. After getting dressed, she slipped on some worn out battle boots, and began to work on fixing her messy hair that had turned into a bird’s nest overnight. After combing through it, and using leave-in conditioner, she was finally able to bound down the stairs to the kitchen where her mother had made their small family breakfast before the first day of school.

Mercedes Everette was a kind woman in her mid-forties, with the same hair as her daughter and sparkling green eyes that made her freckles seem like stars whenever she smiled. When Dahlia was born, she received her mother’s hair and freckles, but her father’s eyes and tallness - as she was three inches taller than her mother, but still a foot shorter than her eldest brother. Despite her mother’s short stature, and general good naturedness, she wouldn’t hesitate to fight for something that she believed in - no matter what she had to do to prove her point that she cared. “Good morning, honey.” Mercedes said gently to her daughter, before setting down some pancakes in front of her daughter. “It’s good to start the day off right, with a good breakfast.” Mercedes kissed the top of her daughter’s head before moving back to the stove to cook more of the fluffy goodness that she had mastered over the years.

Dahlia didn’t hesitate to dig in, as she still had a while before attending school. She watched the stairs for her older brother, as they would be taking his truck to go to school that was roughly fifteen minutes away from their house. Not that long of a drive, but a drive nevertheless. Jackson came down stairs, dressed in a light blue button up and some dressy black jeans and loafers. Jackson was always wanting to impress those around him, as he was used to being in the spotlight from their previous school. Star quarterback, who also received decent grades and would have a full ride to any school of his choosing. That was while they were out in California - now they moved back to Alabama, where he practically threw that away as not many big schools recruited from small towns. 

Dahlia stuck some pancakes into her mouth, chewing as her brother grinned at her. This early morning’s antics entered her mind and she glared at her brother before sticking her tongue out at him. “You have commited a crime against Skyrim and her people, what say you in your defense, traveler?” She demanded as her brother just laughed at her antics. Their mother put pancakes in front of Jackson, before scolding him for waking his sister up.

“You don’t even know what I did!” He said defensively.

“You grabbed a water bottle from the fridge, Jack.” Mercedes said with a roll of her eyes. “I may be your mother, but just because I act deaf to you two fighting doesn’t mean that I’m blind to your pranks.” She said before winking at her children and cleaning up the mess that she made while cooking. Dahlia and Jackson felt their mouth drop open at what she had said, as they didn’t expect their mother to say something like that. They both knew that they got their smart mouth from someone, but they weren’t sure if it was their mother or their grandmother. Apparently both of them are extremely sassy. “Hurry up you two, or you’ll be late to your first day of school.” Mercedes called over her shoulder - a look at the clock over their mother’s head revealed that they only had twenty minutes before school started.

The two siblings scrambled to get their bags before piling into Jackson’s Tahoe truck, to which he tore out of their gravel driveway - speeding to get to school as Dahlia was cursing him up one side and down the other about how late they were. “Well if someone hadn’t decided to sleep in late, we would be getting there a lot earlier!” He shot back at his little sister who pouted before turning to look out the window. He looked over at his sister, who seemed to have a forlorn look on her face before he felt remorse crossover his face. “Listen, I know that you’re anxious about starting a new school - and upset that we had to leave our friends behind in Santa Monica, but this should be a homecoming. We lived here before, surely there will be someone to recognize you.” Jackson said gently.

Dahlia looked over at her brother, a smile fighting it’s way onto her face. The one thing that she loved about her brother was that he always managed to cheer her up - and he could pick up on her bad moods, and why she was so angry or upset. Her mother was also good at it, but her brother would more or less pick up on it a whole lot quicker than she would. Which is scary, since your mother is supposed to be the first friend that you have when you’re born, but Dahlia’s has always been her brother. “Thanks, Jack.” She said softly. “Hopefully today won’t be terrible and I can make some friends before the day is up.” She said with a slight shrug. Jackson snorted at this, causing Dahlia to raise an eyebrow. “What?”

“You’re scared you’re not going to make friends? Okay - weirdo.” He said jokingly. When he saw that his sister had a weird look on his face, he decided to elaborate. “Doll, you’ve always had this weird energy that would draw people to you - ever since you were a baby. It was a comforting thing, that’s why Granny would rather babysit you than me, I was always a hectic child.” Jackson explained to his sister. Dahlia just shrugged, before looking out the window of the moving vehicle. Dahlia always did make friends easily, but she always thought that it was because she was an extroverted individual. Dahlia didn’t know anything about “energies” or “auras” that her brother would always rant about whenever someone would listen to him.

Dahlia thought that her brother must have been psychic or something in a past life. Silence settled over the two as Jackson pulled into the school’s parking lot - minutes away from the bell ringing. The two siblings quickly searched for a parking spot, and parked next to a small Cavalier that was on the furthest part of the lot before getting out and sprinting towards the school’s front door. Once inside, they stopped at the office as they were informed to do so when the principal had called them to welcome them to the school. After picking up their schedules, they were given a school guide by one of the student office assistants that was waiting patiently for them.

The girl was short and slender, with lilac dyed hair that framed her heart shaped face in beach curls, going down below her shoulders. She had nearly translucent, pale skin with wide deep green - almost brown - eyes that were seated perfectly on her face. They held a glimmer of mischief when she saw the two siblings, and for some reason Dahlia felt like the shorter girl was familiar. And though she couldn’t place her finger on it, she didn’t fail to notice how her brother shuffled his feet uncomfortably - his gaze going anywhere but on her. A faint pink tint dusting across his face that would have Dahlia laugh aloud if she wasn’t in a room full of strangers. Could it be that her older brother already had a crush on someone? They only met for a few seconds. “My name is Violette.” She introduced herself smoothly, her eyes lingering on both of their faces for a while. “You both must be the new transfer students - I hope that you’ll fit in quite comfortably among the other students.”

Dahlia and Jackson were shocked by how she spoke - like she wasn’t exactly their age, but from her looks she appeared no older than seventeen. Dahlia inspected the girl carefully as she guided them down the hallway - she didn’t fail to notice a scaly tail hiding under the end of her short sleeved shirt, and what appeared to be a lizard head poking up through the collar of her shirt. Perhaps a pet lizard? Or one that she had seen on the ground and was planning to take home? Nevertheless, it wasn’t any of Dahlia’s business if that was what Violette was going to do. But still - she couldn’t help but notice how ancient the lizard looked, not the common garden lizard that you would see trying to get sun, but run away if it saw predators. It’s scales were a light gray and blue, leading Dahlia to believe that this was perhaps an exotic lizard that Violette didn’t like to leave home alone for whatever reason.

To each their own, she supposed.

Violette stopped in front of two bright blue lockers that were in a line of other lockers - the numbers read 563 and 566, she handed them two locks and keys. “You two can decide who gets which locker - it doesn’t really matter as long as you tell the office by the end of the day.” She gave them a gentle smile, the sudden air of formality gone as something gleamed in her eyes when she looked at the two siblings. “Now, what are your schedules so I can direct you there - and not give you too long of a tour, unless you want to waste most of your day.” She said, bouncing on the balls of her feet. Violette reminded Dahlia of an imp - or an elf, a mischievous creature that liked to plot pranks against anyone and everyone that she crossed. However, Dahlia wondered if Violette might also have a caring side to her as well.

“The short tour will be fine” Jackson spoke up for the two Everette siblings. “After all, it would probably be better for us to introduce ourselves to our classmates on the first day - right, Doll?” He asked his little sister gently who nodded gently. Violette’s smile widened as she motioned for them to follow her, and they traversed down a narrow hallway that would lead them to the various classrooms that they would be attending with their classmates. She showed them the science classes, where the students gaped at Jackson and Dahlia like they were a new specimen to be studied before the teacher barked at them to get back to work. She showed them the band room, where loud music pounded against a closed door and made Dahlia wince. She also showed them the history classrooms, English classrooms, library, and the lunchroom.

“If you ever want to have lunch with me - just let me know, I have second lunch.” Violette said - nodding towards Dahlia’s direction. “I’ll more than likely see you more often since we’re in the same grade, and your brother is a senior. However, with that said, seniors have the ability to pick their lunch schedules for both semesters, while sophomores don’t.” Violette explained carefully to Jackson. Dahlia’s eyes lingered over the yellow paper that had her schedule printed out in black ink, and where the lunch break was at - she had seen that she had second lunch. Upon peering at her brother’s schedule, she was slightly devastated to see that he had first lunch. Crap. She thought heartbreakingly. She at least wanted to have lunch with someone she knew - and while Violette was friendly enough, she didn’t want to impose on the girl as if she had to babysit her through her first day of school.

“Oh dang, we don’t have lunch together.” Dahlia said and she noticed how Violette seemed to snort at the word that Dahlia used. Dahlia quirked a brow at the teen before the lilac haired girl just merely shrugged before giving her a dazzling white smile. Violette was a weird character, that was for sure - but she also held a sense of welcoming that drew Dahlia in to her. “I guess, if you don’t mind - could I have lunch with you?” Dahlia asked the girl, batting her eyelashes and looking up through the tops of them at the girl. The girl didn’t falter from Dahlia’s obvious flirting techniques, but just gave her a cheeky smile and threw a peace sign before agreeing with the taller female. 

“It’s alright with me, Captain, as long as you don’t mind to sit with the rowdy kids.” Violette teased back. Dahlia could see her brother visibly tense at the meaningless flirting that was happening between the two girls. Dahlia felt slightly guilty that her brother had developed a crush so quickly on Violette - a girl who appeared to not be her brother’s type on the outside, but when you would dig deeper in Jackson’s personality, you would find that he’s just a big nerd interested in things that would make people question the football loving giant. “I mean - we all sit together, me, Andrew, and Michael. We’re a real hoot when the three of us get together - and not to mention, if we have a fourth member, we might do your initiation by the end of the day.” Violette teased Dahlia.

Dahlia laughed with the girl, and Jackson seemed to have relaxed as he read the situation as Dahlia just trying to make friends on her first day. Which can go one of two ways - flirting with the first person she sees as a joke, or yelling at them because they said something that pissed her off. And since it was the first option, he could see this day going a whole lot better versus if she had picked the second option. His eyes met with Violette’s, who gave him a wink before waving them off - shoving her hands into her jean pockets and going back to the office while the two Everette siblings were left to go to their first class of the day. 

Alone.