"I can't do it today." Lily Owens shook her head as Musa tried to pull her out of the bed by her feet. "I don't want to go!" She yelled, causing Terra, Aisha, and Bloom to enter the room. "Please tell Musa to stop trying to make me go to class." She sat up in the bed, clutching her blanket to her chest.

Aisha moved closer toward's Lily, kneeling down next to the bed. "Come on, Bloom had an even worse night. Everyone found out she was a changeling." Bloom let out a groan, walking back out of the room. Lily crinkled her nose; Bloom in no way had a worse night than Lily. "If Bloom's going, so are you, sweetheart." Lily sent Aisha a glare.

Terra sat down at the end of Lily's bed. "Lil, it's not going to be that bad. You'll just go to class, and then you can come right back here and sulk."

"But I can't see either of them." Lily spoke, referencing to both Riven and Beatrix.

Musa took Lily's hand, moving it away from her blanket. "You can't ignore him forever." Lily shook her head. "You like him too much."

*

At lunch, Bloom and Lily sat in Aisha's new office. Headmistress Dowling's assistant, Callum, had gone missing, and Aisha took over his job. Bloom suspected that Callum knew something about her real parents. "You haven't found anything." She questioned her friend.

Aisha rummaged through some of the drawers for any information, shaking her head. "I've only been at Callum's desk for two days, Bloom." Aisha's tone was harsh. "Also, I'm kind of doing you a favor, so maybe try to be grateful?"

Bloom raised an eyebrow as she sat down in the empty chair next to Lily. "Oh, come on. You didn't take Callum's job for my sake." Lily looked down at her phone, seeing the video from the night before all over her instagram feed.

"Weird, because I remember you-"

"Making a helpful suggestion?" Bloom cut off her roommate, smirking.

Aisha rolled her eyes. "Begging me to volunteer so I could snoop for info on your past."

Lily raised her finger into the air. "Yeah, I remember that too." She chuckled, her gaze returning to her phone.

"Okay, that does sound like something I might do, but you jumped at the chance to get brownie points with Miss Dowling." Bloom noticed Lily staring at the video, so she grabbed her phone, shoving it into her pocket. "And, you don't get to sulk over this video anymore. Yeah, it sucked, but you've got to move on." Lily opened her mouth to argue, but Bloom pressed her index finger against her lips, shutting her down.

Aisha let out a sigh as she sat down at her new desk. "Bloom, I'm really not sure that I can help." Bloom bit the inside of her cheek, glancing down at her hands. "Okay, so these files seem to go back to Miss Dowling's start as headmistress." The girl explained, setting her hand down on a pile of files. "Everything else must be archived somewhere."

Bloom leaned towards Aisha's desk, setting her palms down on it. "Or shredded because Dowling loves withholding information." She ran her thumb against her bottom lip before continuing. "Even if I can find a little bit about Alfea back then, I can maybe piece together why Rosalind left me-"

"I'll keep looking." Aisha cut Bloom off. "Promise." The water fairy nodded before looking around her office. "I have to read all of the files in this place anyway." She looked down at the bowl of soup that Bloom had brought her. "Thanks for this, by the way. I mean, since you're using it as an excuse not to eat in the canteen, it's the least you could do." Aisha made eye contact with Lily. "Lily, here, just showed up without any offerings whatsoever." She raised an eyebrow, causing Lily to scoff, shoving a peanut into her mouth.

The redhead rolled her eyes. "So, people are talking about me being a changeling. So what? It's not the weirdest thing about me."

Aisha nodded. "True. They don't know how bad your snore."

Lily nodded, sitting up straighter in her chair. "I can even hear it in my room. Bloom, it's bad." Bloom's eyes widened, not realizing she had ever snored before.

The door opened, and Musa walked inside the office. "Sup? Is Bloom still pretending she's not upset by the gossip?" She sat down in the chair next to Lily. "And is Lily still pretending she's not madly in love with an asshole?"

"Still pretending you're not dating my cousin?" Lily groaned, bringing her knees to her chest.

Another person walked into the room, and it was Terra. "Who's pretending what?" Musa's eyes widened. "Apart from Stella pretending that she's not dreading being outshined by her mum all day."

"Who cares?" Lily groaned, throwing another peanut into her mouth.

Musa crinkled her nose, not used to seeing Lily in such a bad mood. "You two still fighting?" Lily nodded in response.

As silence grew between the five fairies, Bloom looked around at all of her friends and sighed. "You guys don't have to do this. You don't have to rearrange your breakfast plans just to sit with me like I'm some loser mess." The redhead chuckled after she finished.

"I had no other plans besides listening to Driver's License in my bed, so thanks for getting me out of the room." Musa flicked the back of Lily's head, trying to get her to stop talking. "Ow!" She gasped, sending a glare to the mind fairy.

Bloom sent Lily a smile. "Guys, I'm fine." Aisha and Musa exchanged a look, obviously not believing her. "I'm going to go- uh- finish my poison paper before the assembly, so..." She stood up from her seat, grabbing all of her trash from her food. "I'll see you later." Bloom left the room.

Musa's eyes glowed red. "For the record, she's not fine."

*

Lily sat in between Terra and Musa as Stella's mother strutted onto the stage. She dimmed the lights, signaling the beginning of the assembly. "I still can't believe she's Stella's mum." Aisha mumbled, leaning towards Lily.

Terra nodded her head. "I know, right? Massively powerful fairy, zero ego, boss goals. I bet it drives Stella crazy." She looked at the blonde girl sitting in the front row.

"Trust me, Luna has an ego." Lily let out a groan, leaning back in her chair. Her gaze moved around the crowd, seeing where Riven was, but he was no where to be found.

"There we are." Luna spoke up, causing the students to quiet down. "I uh- always had a love-hate relationship with assemblies when I was at Alfea. Lived getting out of class. Hated being lectured." The Queen of Solaria spoke as Lily noticed Musa and Sam began texting each other. "But I'm not here to lecture. I'm here to treat you like the adults you are... to talk about the Burned Ones." Some students let out gasps before Luna continued her speech. "It's only natural that some of you aren't very interested in what happens to our realm. It had been years since the last one was sighted."

Terra looked towards her roommate. "Musa?"

"What?" Musa questioned, her head snapping up from her phone.

The earth fairy's eyes returned to Stella. "What's Stella going through right now? She's miserable, right?"

Musa let out a sigh. "Please wait."

"Most of you have heard from your parents about what it was like before the people of the Otherworld..."

Lily noticed Miss Dowling entering the rows of students with some kind of magical object in her hand as Luna continued speaking, and she furrowed her eyebrows. Musa's eyes began to light up. "What the hell?" She frowned, her eyes following the headmistress. "This assembly isn't just about the Burned Ones. Something up."

"For decades, families and villagers suddenly torn apart by one of these monsters that left our world in chaos."

Almost blocking out Luna's speech, Lily turned to Musa. "What did you pick up exactly?" She asked the empath.

Must glanced back towards Miss Dowling before her attention returned to her friends. "Dowling's anxious." She answered Lily. This was obvious, however. Everyone in that room could tell Miss Dowling was anxious.

"Well, her assistant did die." Aisha nodded.

"But Silva's on high alert, too, like there could be a threat anywhere." Musa continued, her eyes on the specialist instructor.

Terra looked back towards her father. "And my dad?"

Musa shrugged. "He's scared, like uber-scared."

Lily sat up straight, remember something from that morning. "Earlier he was making something using the stones they use in the Vessel. It tracts magic, and now I guess Dowling has it." She told the three other fairies.

"Conflict is on the horizon." Lily's attention moved back to the speech. "We are tracking art least five Burned Ones throughout Solaria." The girl's eyes widened as she heard Luna's words. "The threat is serious..." Students around them began to mumble to each other. "And growing. It's time for all of you to pay attention."

*

After the assembly had ended, the four suite mates moved to a corner, allowing Musa to be able to feel their teacher's emotions. "They're still on edge." Musa frowned as Miss Dowling left Mr. Silva and Mr. Harvey. "Whatever they're doing it's not going well."

Terra looked towards her friends, leaning her back against the column behind her. "I just find it hard to believe that they'd have some big ulterior motive." Lily nodded, her eyes finally moving from the teachers.

"I don't want to believe it either, but-" Aisha spoke, her arms crossed.

Musa looked up to the water fairy, cutting her off. "People have more stuff going on than you'd think, especially parents." She spoke, causing Aisha to stare at her blankly. Her eyes began to glow red and Sam caught her eye, a smile appearing on her face. "I'll see you back at the suite." Musa left the three fairies.

Word Count - 1761
Edited
Author's Note -
Hey guys! Sorry it's been a couple day since my last update. I've just been really busy with school and haven't been able to sit down and write a chapter.
Also sorry that this chapter is not very exciting. But it's nice for Lily to just have some time with the girls.
Please comment what you want to see in future chapters, and do not forget to vote!
Have a nice day, lovelies 💕