Serene's view

"Lu, I'm serious, you need to stop staring." I whisper as quietly as I can. We're in Physical Education right now, the only class I'm dreading.

Two reasons: One, this is the only class I'll share with my sister. Two... I hate sports. I stink at pretty much everything, and Jenna rocks. She joined Tourney, Fencing, and Archery her Freshman year before the school told her to leave spots open for other kids. Since then she's been able to wiggle her way into two others---Combat Magic, and Cross Country. She's not taking them this year, to focus on school, but the fact that she was in them at all is infuriating.

Lucy whimpers, watching Finn talk animatedly to a petite girl in a filmy green tutu dress with gold converse. That has to be Eleanor. Those two are as inseparable as their parents. She looks about the same as I remember her. Airheaded and bubbly. I glance at Lucy again, and she's still watching Finn.

"Lu. Lu. Lucy." I snap my fingers in front of her face. "Snap out of it!"

"But he's so..." She sighs, trailing off.

"REENEE!" Someone suddenly yelps. I cringe, Lucy finally looking away from Finn to watch me pitifully.

I risk a glance behind my shoulder to see my sister bounding toward me. Everyone in the room instantly stops what they are doing to watch my sister, who has a wide grin on her face as she slams into me, hugging me tight. In front of everyone. In a packed gym.

I'm never living this down.

Jenna lets go of me, beaming. "How's your first day been so far?"

I readjust my simple blue dress, thankful that it's the first day, so we don't have to wear the blue-and-yellow gym uniform. Blue shorts, yellow T-shirt. Classic, simple, and very uncomfortable. "Fine." I say bluntly. I glare at her, but she remains oblivious.

"Great! You wanna come hang out with me and my friends? We'll make sure you don't mess up or anything, since it's your first day."

The room, which had been dead silent, suddenly buzzes with laughter.

I grit my teeth, balling my fists at my sides. "I'm fine, Jenna."

She grins, clicking her tongue happily. "Okie doke! See you later, Reenee!"

I turn away from her with finality. I hear her footsteps retreat back across the gym, wishing everyone she meets a good day. They all respond alike, because she's Nessa. The popular one. Everyone's friend.

Lucy lays a sympathetic hand on my arm. "I'm sure she didn't mean anything by it." She whispers softly.

I slowly unball my fists, breathing hard in an attempt to control my fury at my stupid sister. "Yeah. I'm sure."

"Ree. Hey." Brietta's voice joins, wrapping her arm around my shoulder. "It wasn't that bad, Ree. Honestly."

"Was it?" I demand quietly, then wince at my tone. I never talk to my friends this way! I sigh, shoving away all my humiliation. "Sorry. Just... let it go. Okay?"

Lucy smiles feebly. "Ha. The cold---"

"Don't. Say it." I say sharply. The last thing I need is another reminder of my family right now. In those three words, I feel my emotions flicker a little, anger bubbling in my stomach. My hard-earned control strains inside my mind, and my powers boil underneath my skin.

Brietta pinches me. Hard.

"Ow!" I yelp, my anger evaporating, instantaneously replaced with annoyance. "What was that for?"

"You had this, like, dark look in your eyes." Brietta says, tugging on her hook charm. I register with surprise that she looks frightened, something I rarely see in the daughter of Harry Hook.

"It was a little freaky." Brietta continues.

Lucy nods feverently. "Don't ever ever ever make that face again, okay, Ree? You looked ready to... seriously hurt someone."

I blink in surprise. "I did?"

They both nod. Worry grips my chest at their concerned expressions. My eyes skip past them, looking around the room nervously. Nobody seems to have noticed, but I do lock eyes with one boy who is watching me intently.

I vaguely recognize him, but I don't recall his name as of this moment. He has dark skin, Egyptian-like, with an enchanting color of brown eyes and black hair. Unlike everyone else in this large gym, he is talking to no one, leaning against the wall casually with his hands in his pockets. It's only when I notice the lamp charm hanging around his wrist that I realize he's Hayder, Jane and Omar's son.

"Yo. Ree. Hey." Brietta snaps her fingers in front of my face. "We didn't mean go straight to a dumb-crush-face."

"What?" I shake my head. "I wasn't doing that."

"Um, yes, you were." Brietta insists, placing her hands on her hips. "Your face is all pink now."

"Is it?" I ask vaguely, not entirely listening, trying to find Hayder again. Hayder barely shifts his position, so he's no longer facing my group, but his eyes are still on me. When I don't look away, the slightest smile plays on his lips as he slowly raises a hand from his pocket and waves.

My hand moves on it's own to wave, but then a loud whistle cuts through the room, searing my eardrums. Lucy and I both flinch, while Brietta (who was trying and failing to figure out who I'm looking at) and Hayder calmly start to gather with the rest of the upperclassmen in the center of the gym, around the Auradon Crest.

"You guys coming?" Brietta asks, flashing a smile. "First day of P.E. is the best. You guys get to do Icebreakers!"

"I'm sorry, what?" Lucy squeaks, but Brietta simply smiles and joins the Sophomore group. I notice Hayder join her silently, not giving me a second glance.

"Mom's the one that pushes these every year." Danielle, the daughter of Evie and Doug, sighs as she goes to join Isla, Max, and Janessa. She flicks her brown-blonde hair (which is stylishly pulled back in a falling-apart way) out of her eyes as she stares at the Freshmen pitifully.

"Probably because she likes team-building." Her brother, Evan, nudges her. He basically looks like a twin of the teenage pictures of his father, bow-ties and all.

"Do you know what's going to happen?" I ask Danielle and Evan.

Danielle shrugs. "Your name, for sure. Your grade. Probably your favorite color or movie or something like that after. Don't worry though. As long as you just say something, it'll move on to the next person and no one will remember what you said two seconds later."

"Please tell me this is a nightmare and I'll wake up in two seconds." Lucy moans, gripping my arm painfully tight.

I pat her suddenly-clammy hand reassuringly. "I'm sure it'll just be the tell-your -name Icebreaker."

"Okay!" Evie and Sera walk out of the teacher's office. My Aunt Sera is really supposed to be the only Coach for P.E., with Jay helping occasionally, but Jay's probably giddily setting up Tourney tryouts for tomorrow. "We're going to start with all the Freshmen, then the Sophomores, and so forth." Sera says. "Say your name, grade, your favorite book, and one interesting fact about you!"

Lucy whimpers. "Pick out a nice grave for me, Ree."

"Calla lilies, sunflowers, daisies, and African violets, I know." I say as gently as I can.

Aunt Sera cracks her knuckles eagerly, scanning the Freshmen before settling on one. "You. Tutu girl. Then we'll continue down the line, 'kay guys? To the right."

I instantly look to my left, where Eleanor is daintily fluffing her tutu three people down from me.

Fantastic.

Eleanor takes two steps forward and curtsies neatly. "My name is Eleanor, the Freshman daughter of Endora the Enchantress and Chad Charming. My favorite book is hard to choose, but my favorite series is the "Fairy Realm" books by Emily Rhoda, and an interesting fact about me is that I used to live in Scotland until just recently when my parents decided I should experience their school and sent me here for the next four years."

She curtsies again as polite applause can be heard around the room. I notice my sister chattering quietly with Max and Isla, not paying attention to anything that the next few Freshman say until it comes to me. Isla happens to glance over and nudges Jenna, then they both raptly pay attention.

I inhale deeply, trying to steel myself from whatever may happen in the next two minutes. "I'm Serene De Vil, and I'm a Freshman." I purposely leave off my parents. Anyone who doesn't know the last name "De Vil" has no business wondering who my parents are. "My favorite book is the entire Narnia series, particularly The Last Battle." I hesitate, trying to think of something interesting about myself. "And, um... I got to visit Neverland this summer."

As I step back, I notice that a buzz has gone through the room. Multiple kids, particularly Seniors and Juniors, are whispering to Jenna, who is laughing and nodding. A flicker of suspicion flares up in me, and I can feel the skin on my face heating up, but then Lucy is stepping forward and I focus my attention on her.

"Ummm... Hi." She stammers, giving a wave. I hear a snicker coming from someone, but I can't quite pinpoint who. Lucy deflates at that one noise, trembling as she tugs on her shorts.

"Um. I'm L-Lucy. Um." Desperate, she glances back at me, but I just smile as encouragingly as I can.

The only bad thing I can say about Lucy is that however shy her mother was, Lucy is a thousand times worse. She didn't start going to school until first grade, because doctors said she wasn't mentally prepared, and Brit and Gil were too scared to try anything that might hurt their only kid. By the time they realized how stupid that was, Lucy was far behind, and didn't make friends at all that year. Second grade she finally got the courage to scream at me that she liked my hair, then dive behind a couch. We'd been best friends ever since. But that doesn't change the fact that Lucy is shy to the point that she nearly faints at the mere thought of talking to someone other than her friends or family.

Lucy inhales deeply, trying in vain to calm herself. "Um. My favorite b-book is..." She hesitates, flushing bright red. I know what her favorite is, but she doesn't like admitting it. "Lord of the Rings, J.R.R Tolkien."

Someone whistles. "Big book!" That exclamation is preceded by a smacking sound, and I catch a boy next to Brietta rubbing his shoulder and glaring at her. She just brushes her hair off her shoulder and nods at Lucy.

My Aunt Sera smiles at Lucy. "Lord o' the Rings, huh? You seen the movies?"

"Only about a dozen times." Lucy mumbles softly.

Sera laughs. "Same. Although I've never bothered reading the books."

Lucy's eyes widen in shock. "You should! The books are amazing! They---" She trails off quietly as she remembers the amount of eyes watching her. "Nevermind."

"Don't ever be afraid to geek out, kid. I'm a hardcore Princess Bride-nerd, myself." Sera chuckles. "Nothin' wrong with lovin' somethin' so much ya annoy everyone around ya. Got a fun fact, or ya okay with movin' on?"

"She can go." Lucy gestures vacantly to the girl next to her, who starts in surprise then steps forward introducing herself as Marie-something-or-other.

I catch hold of Lucy's elbow. "You okay?"

"I hate gym." She sighs, crossing her shaking arms over her stomach. "I feel like I'm about to puke."

I give her a side-hug. "Sorry, Lu."

She hiccups. "Not your fault."

An idea occurs to me suddenly, and I grin at her. "Well, hey, at least she didn't make us say our favorite movies."

We both giggle quietly, hiding our laughs behind our hands. "Sea of Monsters." We both chant together.

Lucy hiccups again, this time from an overload of giggles. "We are traitors."

"No." I argue. "We only like watching it because then we can---"

"---point out every flaw, I know." Lucy's eyes sparkle. "You successfully cheered me up, congratulations."

"And THAT concludes our Freshmen!" Aunt Sera suddenly crows, making Lucy and I jump. "On to..." She stomps her feet in an imitation drumroll, "SOPHOMORES!!! But, sadly, since we're running low on time, Sophomores and up have the option to say all of this. If you don't wanna, just say your name and move on. Please and thank you!"

Lucy, who almost never gets angry, suddenly glares at Sera with the fury of... well, hellfire. "Why. Didn't. We. Have. That. Option?" Lu seethes quietly.

I snort, rubbing her shoulder. "Because we're the Fresh Meat."

She huffs out through her nose, batting me away. "Fine. True. But it's still stupid."

"Of course it is, Lu." I know better than to disagree with my friend when she's in one of her moods.

Evan is the first Sophomore, and he grins at all of us. "Hi! I'm Evan, I'm a Sophomore, my favorite book is probably A History of Auradon, because who doesn't love reading about all the crazy stuff that happened when we weren't here?"

Aunt Sera laughs. "Ya really are ol' Dougie's kid."

The Sophomores after Evan one by one step out and say their names. A few here and there choose to say their favorite book, but most stop after their names. Until Brietta.

Bri steps out, flips her hair behind her shoulder again, and then smiles brilliantly. "Hi! I'm Brietta, the only child of Harry and Audrey Hook, my favorite series is Sky Fall by Shannon Messenger, and my fun fact is that if you argue that Vaudra wasn't meant to be, I will kill you! Thank you!" She bows dramatically, coming up fast enough to flip her hair over her head and smack the people behind her. A murmur of laughter runs through the room. I can identify at least fourteen boys (Max included) who are watching her with their jaws dropped.

Lucy giggles. "Same Bri."

"Same Bri." I say, amusedly shaking my head.

Sera coughs, bringing the class back. "Okay, thank you, Mini-Hook," Brietta practically glows with that praise, "and, next...?"

"Hayder." He doesn't step out, so the kids next to him both shuffle backwards to give him the spotlight. The grandson of the Genie has a totally poker face as he recites, "I'm the eldest son of Jane and Omar, my favorite series is the Chronicles of Narnia," his eyes glint with satisfaction as I gasp with a huge grin. Nobody ever likes Narnia! "And my fun fact is that I have a few powers to grant wishes and cast spells from my grandpa and my mom."

"I wish I had a pony!" Someone yells. Everyone laughs except Hayder, who rolls his eyes and steps back, gesturing for the next Sophomore to go.

I watch him for a second too long. It's amazing he kept his cool then. If someone had so blatantly teased me like that, I'd probably be apologizing for accidentally blowing all the lightbulbs out.

Hayder seems to realize someone's eyes are still watching him and not the overly dramatic boy who went after him, and his gaze is suddenly on me. I give a very-unlike- myself squeak and turn away, ignoring Lucy's giggles. 

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Because I'm not posting often anymore, I'm spam-posting chapters now. Probably at least two more coming in a few minutes.   :)

Also sorry these are so long. Be prepared, this book I'm taking my time with, being careful with development, so it'll be a little long. 

(although probably not as long as Elicia's ice. SEVENTY CHAPTERS, WHAT WAS I THINKING???)