Alina slammed her front door shut, cursing through the piece of toast she held in her mouth. Her fingers hooked itself through the key ring in her pocket and she dragged the bunch of keys out, their metallic jingle sounding in her ears. Using her other hand, that had just swung her bag over her shoulder, she ripped a bit of toast, chewing and swallowing, as she locked the door.
Turning the key in the lock, she stuffed it back in her pocket. Time was ticking. But for some reason, she paused and glanced up at the sky, all her thoughts on pause.
The next moment, she had unfrozen and started brisk walking down the street, chastising herself. She didn't know how or why, but her mind was probably glitching, considering how she had turned her alarm off lazily more than thirty minutes before, taking for granted that Richard would appear and wake her up himself in the next minute.
"Korū, come on! We have one minute." Hikari towed her twin brother down the road, a few blocks from their new school. Her hand was wrapped around his wrist as she glared back at him, her feet pounding on the concrete as they ran. "We're gonna be late on our first day."
"Hey watch where you're—" Korū started as he tried to slow down and yank her towards him, but he had reacted too late, and their momentum caused them to collide with someone in front of them, sending the three bodies to the ground as Korū tripped over his sister. "Oof."
"Get off me, moron." Hikari growled, shoving Korū aside. Standing, both of them checked themselves for any scrapes, and Hikari noticed a shallow one on her forearm that would heal before the day was over. Satisfied, they turned their attention towards the person they had crashed into.
She was tiny, and couldn't possibly be more than five feet tall, Hikari and Korū noted in surprise, exchanging looks. She smelt like werewolf, and her entire being exuded confidence and power that was impossible for wolves her size to gain in most packs.
She obviously belonged to the upper ranks.
"Sorry, are you alright?" Hikari asked cautiously.
Alina glanced up at her and smiled, calming her racing heart down from the shock of getting bowled over by two werewolves about a head taller than her. Her aching knees told her that a bruise might form for a few hours, but her jeans told they were largely fine. "Yeah, I'm okay. You?" She asked despite already knowing the answer, having watched as they took stock of any injuries.
"Yeah, we're good," Hikari returned the smile with a grin of her own, but it quickly faded. "Crap, we're gonna be late!"
"We already are." Korū commented sullenly.
Alina stared for a moment as she watched those two queer people take off in the direction that she was headed in, and started running after them.
A few minutes later, the three of them stopped in front of the school gates.
"I think my lungs just exploded." Korū grumbled.
"Exercise more." Hikari rolled her eyes at her brother, who was six seconds younger than her.
"I exercise more than you do."
Alina watched in amusement as the two argued somewhat quietly in rapid-fire Japanese, taking in the sight. They were obviously siblings, with startling emerald eyes and matching black hair. The girl's hair went down the middle of her back, her tips dyed a royal blue.
"Do you go to school here?" Alina interrupted. Once again, it was a question to which she already knew the answer.
Hikari glanced over at her, "Yeah, it's our first day."
"This is gonna be one heck of a year. We're already five minutes late." Korū glared at his older sister.
"I'm new here too." Alina replied, "Wanna hunt for the office together?"
"Sure," Hikari didn't hesitate. "I'm Hikari, and this idiot here is Korū."
If looks could kill, Hikari would be dead.
Alina let out a laugh, "And I'm Alina. Come on, let's go."
The three then ventured into the school, bravely embarking on the first challenging task of the day: finding their way around.
"This is amazing," Korū muttered as they got lost for the third time in ten minutes. "How big is this fucking place?"
Hikari sent Alina an apologetic smile, "He's a pessimist," she said awkwardly, shifting her weight from foot to foot as they got their bearings from the entrance to the building once again.
Alina chuckled. "I can live with that." She looked around. Most of the corridors were empty, the reason being that everyone else was in class at the moment. She peered down the next corridor. It looked familiar, maybe because they had just been walking around in circles. As her gaze panned upwards, she caught sight of the overhead signs, pointing them in the right direction. She had to hold back a snort at how unobservant she had become. Runt.
If she was going to stay this distracted, she might as well retire right away.
Focus.
The twins followed Alina's gaze.
"How did we miss that?" Hikari sighed.
They followed the signs, and Alina let out a huge sigh when she realised that they had walked by the office at least once without realising it.
Hikari pulled the door open for the others to enter. Korū huffed and walked in, his expression somehow making him look like a pissed-off cat. At least they were finally at their first destination of the day.
The lady behind the desk raised her eyebrows and said, "Good morning. How can I help you?"
Alina stepped forward and introduced the three of them. "Sorry we're so late. We got lost on the way here." She conveniently left out the part that they were already late before they even got lost.
"Hold on a moment, I'll go get your things." The lady turned around and disappeared for a few moments, coming back victorious, three folders in her hands. She gave them one each, telling them what documents they contained.
"What classes do you have?" Hikari asked Alina as they exited the office.
"Almost everything's with the two of you." Alina was holding Hikari's schedule in one hand, her own in the other.
"English next?" Korū asked, peering over her shoulder.
"Yep." Her eyes swept across the room number and frowned. "Time to get more lost."
The sound of the bell pierced through the air, and students started to flood the hallways.
"This place has so many more people than our old school in Japan." Hikari muttered, eyeing the vast amount of people walking and talking. Some were giving them queer looks, wondering why they were just standing in front of the office, while others either didn't notice them or ignored them.
"We should have asked Ms Olander for directions. If we do it now, it'll be awkward." Alina sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. "Can't believe that didn't cross any of our minds just now."
"Who?" Korū questioned. Alina wondered if he was perpetually grumpy.
"The person in the office." Alina rolled her eyes as she caught more people staring at them.
Hikari shifted her weight around nervously. "We could wait for this place to clear up a bit. Then it would be easier to ask someone for help."
"Bad idea. They'll be rushing to class even more than they already are. For some reason, being late for class makes people snappish." Alina pointed out. Just as a person started to approach their spot, where they were huddled.
"Hi, are you guys new?" The girl asked cautiously, eyeing the seemingly odd trio. Something about her blonde hair and dark chocolate eyes struck Alina as familiar.
"Oh, hey." Hikari called out, willing herself not to stutter, "Yeah, we are. Could you show us around?"
"Of course. I'm Linda Jones. Nice to meet you." She gave a small smile. "Grade twelve?" She appraised the people in front of her and took a step forward, her scent finally reaching them. Werewolf.
"Yep." Alina nodded, smiling back, her jaw clenching slightly, her eyes darting around as she handed the stranger—Linda, her schedule. "The three of us have the next class together."
"Great." Linda read the schedule, her eyes going to the clock that hung above the glass doors behind them. "I have English too, the exact same class as you. Let's go, we're already going to be late. We'll drop by your lockers later."
"Thanks." Hikari piped. Goddess knew her energy was going to burn out within the next five minutes. Korū merely grunted in response, while Alina's posture relaxed by a minuscule.
Linda grinned again, and led them through what seemed like a maze of hallways, before finally entering a classroom just as the bell rang. She hurried them to some seats at the back that were fortunately still empty.
"Hey, I never managed to get you names—" Linda started, but the teacher interrupted her, strolling into the class, one minute late.
The teacher greeted them, before her eyes wandered to the three new students. Alina sank into her seat as the inevitable happened. "Seems like we have some transfers! Will you introduce yourselves?"
"Uh, hey. I'm Hikari Hitagaki." Hikari gave a timid wave.
"I'm Korū." The boy glared around the class.
"Alina Moore." Alina said with faux confidence and nonchalance. A mask of slight boredom shielded her, and her fingers twitched with the urge to twirl her pen. She stared back as classmates turned to glance at her. What were they thinking? What did they see?
She was startled by the anxiety she felt. It was something she thought she had gotten over years ago.
But she was out of her element, preoccupied with her own thoughts.
Even as class finally started, no one realised that Linda's mouth had dropped open in shock.
All Alina could focus on were the thoughts that ran rampant in her mind, having broken out of their safe.
She wasn't ready for this.
She wasn't.