Amaris' eyes followed the trees moving past her car window until they lit up at the sight of the gates of Nevermore Academy from afar. "Bianca's mom said that you two might be in the same house together", said her mother, Linda. Linda and Mrs. Barclay had been friends since they were roommates at Nevermore Academy during their teen years. Despite this, Amaris rarely spoke to Bianca. "You two still talk, don't you?", Mrs. Goodwin asked.

"Yeah. Sometimes", Amaris replied, clearly being dishonest.

"I want this year to be better for you", Linda went on. "That means no more abusing your powers"

"I didn't abuse them", she argued.

"So, I just imagined that thing you did last year?"

During the previous school year, Amaris did a presentation in history class when a group of students were ridiculing her behind her back. Frustrated, she let out a loud scream that shattered a window and blew out some lights. It was a memory that she tried to shake off. "It won't happen again, Amaris said.

"Just try to control yourself this time", Linda told her firmly.

She sighed and turned to the window. The Goodwins were fairly well known by the Jericho community due to their wealthy background, but they chose to avoid them like most of the supernatural individuals. 

Principal Weems assigned her to a room in Ophelia Hall, across the hall from Enid.

Once she exited her dormitory, she walked past Bianca who stopped to catch a glance at her. "You're not going to scream at me, are you?", Bianca asked her.

"Very funny", she replied sarcastically.

~~~~

Amaris could feel everyone's eyes on her as she stepped out into the quad, but she did her best to avoid their whispers. She stuffed her hands in her pockets and hummed the Cranberries song, "Linger" to herself. There was one whisper that she heard that caught her attention. "Did you hear that Xavier Thorpe and Bianca Barclay broke up?", a girl told another female student in a conversation. Xavier and Bianca weren't always a perfect couple, but it came off as unexpected. 

Then, she snapped out of her thoughts once she bumped into Xavier, causing him to drop is color palette. "I am so sorry", said Amaris.

"It's okay", he replied, picking it up. He continued to swirl his paintbrush in her black paint before painting the mural. She took a step back to take a bigger look at Xavier's mural. It was a picture of a raven. "Aren't you one of Bianca's friends?", Xavier asked.

"No. We only know each other because our moms used to be roommates", she stated.

"I'm guessing you've heard that me and Bianca broke up".

"Yeah", Amaris sighed. "I'm sorry that happened"

"It's not your fault", he said. "Plus, it's not like it was going to work out anyway".

Amaris glanced back at Bianca who was chatting with other sirens by the fountain. Then, she looked back at the mural and decided to change the subject. "This is a nice painting", she spoke up.

"Thanks. I wanted to give it a more dramatic look"

"Well, dramatic is one of Nevermore's key traits"
"True", he grinned.

She didn't want to ask him how him and Bianca ended things, and he didn't ask her about her screaming in her history class last semester, but she was perfectly fine with it.