~Following Lauren~
'Those fucking idiots!' Lauren thinks to herself as she marches down the stairs, heading to her English and Incantations classroom. 'I mean, I expected this from Alexandrea, or even Matthew. But Juno, I never thought she could be so stupid!' Lauren continues to vent to herself, getting so caught up In her thoughts that she doesn't even register walking into class and sitting.
'I swear the next time I see them I'll-' "Lauren? What are you doing here?" Vice principal and head of English Irene cuts Lauren off, fork held to her mouth as she stares at Lauren in confusion. Lauren snaps out of her thoughts, bewildered by Irene's question.
"I'm here for class, why else would I be here?" Lauren questions, matching her teacher's confusion. Irene places her fork down and clears her throat "You're twenty minutes early". She says in a deadpan. Lauren blinks a couple of times, flips out her phone, looks at the time and slams her head on her desk.
"Lauren, since you're here, do you know anything about the large surge of energy that only recently stopped?" Irene questions, having placed down her lunch. Lauren drags her face off of her desk to look her teacher in the eye. "Yep, Juno and Alexandrea were fighting and nearly blew up the entire corridor" Lauren mumbles, still feeling tired from energy exhaustion.
At Laurens words, Irene jumps out of her chair. Lauren watches as her teacher grabs a pair of disgustingly tall stilettos and slips them on, pushing her height up to that of what should legally be classified as a giant. The older woman takes her hair out of her bun and grabs a curling iron.
"Umm… Miss, shouldn't you be going to get them before they try anything else?" Lauren questions, Irene continuing to smooth out any wrinkles in her clothes and lightly brushing her curls out. "Sweet, young, innocent Lauren. Soon you'll realise that you're allowed to have some fun in a job you hate. Plus, who doesn't love a good entrance" Irene explains, opening the door and flicking her hair over her shoulder. "This shouldn't take too long, but if I'm still not back when class starts, you're in charge" At that she struts out of the room.
Lauren hears a quiet "Fuck!" from Irene as the woman heads towards The stairs. Lauren Snorts quietly and flicks her hand, causing the door to shut. She digs through her bag and brings out her English and Incantations book, ready to go over the next few chapters.
Minutes pass as Lauren flicks through the pages that they will be reviewing for the week, skimming and re-reading pages she has practically memorised by now. The topic they're reviewing is one they all had learned the year prior, because it's still early in the term, it's just a refresher. She continues to skim through a page when, suddenly, a loud crash reverberates through the halls. Laurens concentration breaks, being pulled from her book. Lauren stares at the door, waiting for any more noise, when no more comes she resumes reading.
Just as Lauren Finishes the second last page of the chapter, she hears those God forsaken Stilettos echo throughout the hall. Miss Irene walks into her classroom. seemingly radiating pride as she struts to her desk.
Lauren, knowing better than to question what happened, simply continues to read to the last chapter which, at this point, is right as the bell rings.
Students flood into the classroom, mostly in groups, friends talking about their breaks or something along those lines, overall their conversations being irrelevant to the class. They're all more interested in talking to their friends than paying attention. It takes longer than it should've for the talkative students to settle down and collect their items from their bags for the class.
Irene had long already taken off the hideous Stilettos in favour of Black Sketchers that the young teacher would usually wear. She starts the class as soon as the students settle down. The younger teacher begins the lesson.
"Ok kiddies, today is going to be all about revising last year's coursework." Miss Irene says, the class letting out a collective groan. "Everyone, turn to the chapter on state manipulation. I know what you're thinking 'but miss, we already went over the basics on state manipulation last year'. Yea well, one I do what I want with my class and two, we never got to do any of the practical lessons I had planned" Miss Irene explains to the class, flipping her hair over her shoulder.
Great, another practical lesson Lauren rolls her eyes. "Alright everyone, clear your desks and leave only a pen. This should be pretty obvious but just do what we practised last year!" Miss Irene points towards the class dramatically as they start to follow her instructions.
Lauren tucks her book back into her bag but leaves her favourite pencil on the desk.
Miss Irene paces around the room, checking in on the students' progress. Everyone's a little more stressed with her being the vice principal and all, especially Lauren.
When Miss Irene looks in Laurens direction, the young girl summons her smoky grey energy and coils it around her pencil, with a light twitch of her finger shee lifts it into the air, This doesn't go unnoticed by Irene.
"Lauren, the task is to increase and decrease the weight of the object, not to physically lift it with your energy!" Miss Irene calls from the back of the class. Shit Lauren thinks.
She places the pencil back onto the desk, withdrawing her energy but leaving a small amount infused in the pencil. "Plotiras Stylo" Lauren speaks, her eyes slightly changing hue with effort.
The pencil floats from the desk, the residue energy from earlier acting as a conduit for Lauren to channel her magic. Her chest grows warm and her eyes flicker back to normal, the pen dropping to the desk from the lack of power.
"I would've preferred it if you left it floating for a bit longer, but that'll have to do" Miss Irene says, sounding slightly sad.
Lauren takes a couple of breaths, preparing herself to do the next incantation. She opens her mouth but is cut off by another voice ringing loud.
"Fylachtó epíplefsis"
It's one of the sporty boys, giggling with his friends. Lauren is confused for a second but doesn't have to wonder much longer, her amulet starts to lift from under her shirt. Lauren panics, trying to hold down the object with her hands but it keeps pushing up, it slips from her hands and over her neck.
The amulet barely slips over her head when Lauren suddenly shouts "Baris!". Her eyes shine bright and the amulet drops down over her neck again. Relief floods through Lauren as she tucks the amulet safely under her shirt.
"Class, what Lauren just did was use the incantation without having to use the add on. This is an ability you develop after extensive practice with a spell, the ability to direct its energy to what you want without needing to alter the incantation." Miss Irene says to the class, giving Lauren an appraising look.
Lauren nods at the praise, still shaken from nearly losing her most important treasure.
The rest of the lesson passes with no more incidents, Miss Irene using the peace as an excuse to finish her uneaten lunch. When the bell rings, signalling the end of class, all the students stampede out of the room. Lauren stays behind a couple of minutes, waiting for the groups to move on before leaving.
Lauren stairs out the windows as she walks through the hall, watching the heavy rain pour across the grassy field in between the school and the school's gym. She's about to turn her attention back towards where she's going but she spots someone she knows.
A young man is standing in the rain holding a silver energy shield above his head, he's walking towards another man who's sitting on the grass. What catches Lauren's attention is that the man sitting on the grass isn't being touched by the water, in fact the water is bending around him.
The most surprising thing being that the other man is Matthew. Why the hell is Matthew standing in the rain with some random guy Lauren thinks, this day has been very confusing for her.
Lauren's back starts feeling hot, almost burning, causing her to snap around. Pink sparks have formed behind her and are sparking erratically, they bend and contort into an almost circular shape, not quite forming a perfect circle.
Lauren backs away from the mass of energy when suddenly a body comes flying through, slamming Lauren against the glass and knocking her head. "Ah, Fuck" an all too familiar voice exclaims. "Juno? What the fuck?" Lauren shoves Juno off of her and scrambles against the floor, backing away from her not-friend.
"Shit I didn't go far enough, oh hey Lauren" Juno speaks, rubbing her arm as she sits up from the floor. "Did you just come through a portal? Juno, what were you thinking!?" Lauren screams, grabbing Juno and shaking her violently.
"Ever the hypocrite, don't act like you didn't throw Elora through a portal not even two days ago" Juno responds defensively, her tone sharp and annoyed. "and as for what I was thinking, I wanted to give my twin a little scare" Juno harrumphs.
"You know what, that actually sounds fun. Ok, I'll help you do your little prank or whatever" Lauren rolls her eyes and drags Jun up off of the floor. "Go on, create your portal, I'll do the rest" Lauren continues, lightly slapping Juno to hurry her up.
"jeez, no need to be such a bitch about it!" Juno squawks. She doesn't protest any further and summons her energy, it sparks and then… nothing. Lauren groans, she grabs Juno's hand, curling it around the bracelet. "Just push your energy into me" Lauren drawls. She summons her own energy as she feels Juno pushing her own through Lauren.
Lauren's misty grey energy forms a swirling whirlpool of energy, Lauren sees the other end forming behind the two boys and smirks. Without any warning she shoves Juno through, ready to watch the chaos unfold, Lauren stands staring through the window.
The other end of her portal forms behind the two talking boys, Juno flying through at breakneck speeds. Lauren snickers when Juno crashes into the two, getting soaked by the rain in the process. She can feel Juno's glare all the way from the fields.
'As much as I would love to stay, I really don't want to be around when she gets back up here'. Lauren chuckles at her own thoughts. She takes a steady pace through the halls, heading back to her room.
After successfully avoiding any more interaction with anyone, Lauren finally makes it to her room. She turns the handle to enter her room, before she can push it, the hinges snap and the door flops to the floor.
Letting out a sigh, Lauren flicks her hand, grey energy wraps around the door slamming it back into place. "That little-" Lauren starts but cuts herself off, she knows, despite how much she wishes to hate Elora, she has no real reason.
'Why am I like this?' Lauren thinks as she drops onto her bed. 'She doesn't deserve this, I'm putting her education at risk because of some petty jealousy. Tomorrow, find her, apologise and schedule your next tutoring thing. Got it you stubborn girl.' Lauren shoves her face further into her pillow, letting her muscles relax and allowing herself to drift from consciousness. Only to snap her eyes open again at the sound of screaming.
"Lauren! I'm going to fucking kill you!" A voice, surprisingly not Juno's, yells as they knock on the door.
It is in fact Matthew whose voice echoes from outside her room. 'The one time I actually get to bed at a reasonable hour'. Lauren groans, pulling her head off of her pillows and dragging herself to her door.
"It's open you idiot!" Lauren yells, her throat rough from sleep. "Oh" Matthew responds from the other side.
He turns the handle and Lauren takes a big step back, the door flops back onto the ground, revealing a flushed Matthew in the doorway. He stares, flabbergasted at the door. Lauren claps her hands in his face "Wake up, you wanted to talk, not me, so we're gonna talk" Lauren growels dragging Matthew to sit opposite of her.
"So, out with it already!" Lauren's getting impatient with Matthew's silence. He blinks a couple of times then takes a deep breath.
"I'm here… to convince you to forgive Elora." Lauren opens her mouth to protest but she gets cut off. "I know, I know, I have no right to tell you what to do but take into account that I'm not doing this for me, or even for Elora. I'm doing this of Marilyn" at that, Lauren stills, the words take a second to sink in but when they do her shoulders visibly relax.
"We all know how stubborn you can be, but Elora doesn't. She thinks you genuinely hate her and want nothing to do with her, when the rest of us know that it takes time for you to open up, especially to new people." Matthew speaks gently, it has a further calming effect on Lauren.
"You remember what you were like when you first met Juno and I, it was absolute chaos." Lauren sighs after taking a deep breath.
"I know…"