A/N:
Date 4-12-17

Hey everyone! Sorry for not publishing in a few days.

It's probably going to take a few days for each chapter from now on because I'm writing longer chapters than in the first book and I'm reading the chapter after typing it to edit. Plus I've been busy.

This chapter isn't as short as I said it would be. I said it'd be around 2000-2500 words, but it's longer than that.

Word Count: 3381

Now on to the story!

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Chapter 2: Preparations

Adrian stands in the middle of the aisle staring at all of the school supplies. "How does anyone know what they're supposed to get?" Adrian muttered to himself.

Adrian was already regretting his decision to go to school this year. This is for Ivie. The voice inside Adrian's head reminds him.

Last night when Adrian was talking with Ivie, Adrian had been thinking about how he didn't want to have to wait every day before seeing her. Ivie would be going to school while Adrian would be sitting around at home or he'd be at work.

Adrian thought it would be best to pass himself off as a senior, since most people assume he's around 18 years old. That means that he won't be in most of Ivie's classes because she's a junior, but at least he'll see her in a few classes and at lunch.

Adrian could even get himself into her homeroom class, since their school has mixed homerooms where it doesn't matter what grade your in.

And that's why Adrian is now debating what school supplies to buy. Adrian told Ivie he'd be going to school with her, and she told him they don't get a school supplies list until school starts. Then the teachers could tell everyone what they need for each class.

So Adrian grabs the essentials and checks out. Adrian figures he can get the rest later or ask Monique to do it if he's busy.

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"I can't believe he'd do that for you!" Vanessa exclaims, practically squealing in Ivie's face.

Ivie rolls her eyes at her best friend. "It's not a big deal. Everyone goes to school."

"No they don't! Especially not him. How many times has he gone to high school? And how long has it been since the last time?" Vanessa asks, crossing her arms and readying for an argument.

"I don't know, Vanessa." Ivie says with a sigh. "I didn't ask."

"So you're okay knowing hardly anything about your boyfriend?" Selynn questions Ivie, although she uses a curious tone instead of an expected judging one.

Ivie lets out a frustrated groan and flops on to the couch, but knowing Selynn means well. Ivie just wishes that Selynn's question didn't complicate things.

"This is my first relationship. I don't want to push for more info than he's ready to give. I don't want to be a pushy girlfriend." Ivie explains to her best friends.

"Yeah, I get it. I'm not exactly an active social person when it comes to guys." Selynn says with an unconcerned shrug.

Vanessa is glad that being single doesn't bother Selynn, especially since Vanessa isn't too shy in that area herself. Sure she gets nervous, but Vanessa can fake confidence well enough.

Thinking of guys reminds Vanessa of the one she's interested in now.

When Ivie found out from Lena that John got hurt trying to help Mason, she told Vanessa and Selynn. Being the do-gooder that Vanessa is, she had to go see if John was okay.

So just a few days ago Vanessa visited John to make sure he was alright. Putting her trust in John, Vanessa told him that she knew about magic and heard what happened with him.

John claimed that he used a big spell that he's never used before and it drained his magic, but he's okay now.

After talking a little while longer, Vanessa decided to make her move.

Vanessa smiles when she remembers what happened...

"I know that everything's been really crazy lately, but I remember you saying at the beginning of summer that you'd like to hang out sometime. Would you still like to do that?" Vanessa asks John confidently without a hint of a blush.

"Yeah, I'd like to hang out sometime. But can it be after school starts? My parents are in town right now and I'd like to spend some time with them before they have to leave again." John says, staring into Vanessa's eyes uncertainly.

"Yeah, that's fine." Vanessa says quickly. She definitely understands.

Vanessa thinks about how her parents are always at work, where they work with Lena and Ivie's parents as scientists. They all have different specific areas of science they explore, but they work well together.

That's when John's parents arrive home. "Johnathan! We're home!" A female voice calls out, presumably John's mom.

Vanessa stands up from the couch quickly with John following close behind.

John's mom walks in looking like the kind of mother who is weirdly fashion forward. Kind of like a model. And she's definitely beautiful enough to be one with her perfect flowing blond hair. Now Vanessa knows where John gets his good looks.

Mrs. Caster's presence makes Vanessa feel self conscious, which is a new thing for Vanessa considering she's not easily shaken like that over someone else's appearance.

John's mom stops suddenly at the sight of Vanessa standing next to John. "Well who's this?" She asks in a nicely curious tone. The slight squint of her eyes is the only indication that she is unhappy.

"This is my friend, Vanessa." John answers in a neutral tone. He speaks to his mother in a way that suggests he doesn't believe he'll be in trouble for anything, like his mom never gets on to him. Vanessa knows this must be because his parents are usually gone.

"Do you two hang out a lot?" John's mom asks him, then turns her head to include Vanessa.

It seems a bit depressing to Vanessa that John's mom would have to ask that. A parent should be involved with their child's life.

Vanessa knows that John's parents are gone to protect him and his sisters, so that no one can find and use them for their magic. But it's still really sad.

Vanessa opens her mouth to speak but John steps up first. He's quick, almost as if answering simply is a reflex for him around his mother.

"No mom, she just came by to see how I was doing since I was sick." John replies. Vanessa wonders why John is speaking in code. Vanessa knows what really happened, but does his mother not know?

"That's so sweet of you dear. Will you be staying for dinner?" She asks Vanessa, not missing a beat.

"No ma'am. I have to get going now. I need to make sure everything's ready for school tomorrow." Vanessa holds her breath, hoping she didn't say too much and sound like someone who blabs their mouth all the time out of nervousness.

But John's mother smiles at Vanessa. "Alright then. I'll see you some other time for dinner?" Vanessa is surprised at how polite and dignified Mrs. Caster seems. Not that she thought anything bad of John's mom.

"Sure." Vanessa says with a small smile of her own. She wonders if she should've added ma'am or thanks for the offer or something.

"Bye John." Vanessa says as her cue to leave.

Vanessa blinks, slowly coming back into reality only to be greeted by Ivie and Selynn staring at her with amused faces.

"Did you have a good time up in that head of yours?" Ivie asks with a smirk. Vanessa notes that Ivie's getting to be more like Adrian every day.

"Wow. Is snarkiness contagious now?" Vanessa snaps back.

Ivie only grins, luckily not getting defensive at Vanessa's outburst. "I must've caught it from you."

"No you didn't!" Vanessa yells, playfully shoving Ivie off of the couch.

Ivie lets out a grunt before jumping up to attack. Usually Ivie would push her back, but that is definitely not what happened this time.

Ivie smiled brightly at Vanessa with a huge smile, shoving her hand into the empty space in front of her. "What are you doing?" Vanessa asks, getting slightly worried at the mischievous glint in Ivie's eyes as she stands up quickly.

Ivie doesn't reply with words. Suddenly vines wrap around Vanessa, pulling her down and trapping her on the couch.

Selynn's eyes widen. "Ivie!" Vanessa looks up with panicked eyes, barely able to see the image of Ivie with neon green hair and cold green eyes through her panic.

"Ivie." Vanessa chokes out in fright, not comprehending exactly what's happening.

Vanessa forces her eyesight to clear, which reveals that Vanessa had only been imagining Ivie as vine girl. Ivie looks like herself.

The vines release Vanessa and she realizes that the vines hadn't been there to hurt her. Just to scare her. Vanessa glances over to see Selynn who has a slight smile on her lips and her eyes are avoiding Vanessa's gaze.

Vanessa's eyes snap over to Ivie with a scowl. Ivie lets out a loud and obnoxious laugh, bending over with her hands on her stomach. Really!?!

Vanessa breathes in deep to calm herself, then she hears Selynn start laughing along with Ivie.

Before Vanessa knows it, she's laughing along with them, unable to control her breathing. Unable to even breathe at one point.

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Mason knocks on Lucas' bedroom door hesitantly. He decided to come apologize since Lucas hadn't talked to him since the paintball game.

"Lucas? It's me." Mason calls out. No one answers so Mason tries again.

"Lucas. I just want to talk." Again, there's no reply.

"I'm sorry! I'm stupid. You know that!" Mason speaks to the closed door.

After a minute of silence, Mason tries opening the door, only to find it locked. "Really?" Mason says in frustration.

"Okay, I get that you're mad. But I won and it doesn't matter that I won by teaming up with you only to trick you in the end. The opportunity came up so I took it. Get over it already!" Mason snaps out.

"What are you doing?"

Mason spins around to meet a pair of judgeful eyes.

Jerica stands there, staring at Mason with skepticism. "I was just... uh..." Mason finds he can't speak as his eyes widen and his cheeks flush from embarrassment.

Jerica sighs in understanding. "He's still not talking to you?" Jerica asks Mason, giving him a sympathetic look.

Mason shakes his head, turning to stare at the door again.

"I thought what you did was awesome. Totally not in your nature, but that's why it was awesome. Like you said, Lucas should get over it." Jerica says with an eyeroll. She always has picked on Lucas more than Mason.

"Thanks." Mason mumbles. He actually feels really guilty about what happened. Mason feels awful for snapping like that and saying Lucas should get over it. Those are rude words to use, no matter how they're said. And Mason's tone was certainly rude.

Jerica walks over to the door and bangs her fist against it multiple times. "Lucas! Get your butt out here or I'll eat all of the ranch Doritos!"

Mason gulps at the thought of Lucas racing out of his room to protect his favorite chips. Jerica shouldn't ever threaten Lucas with that.

The one and only time Mason ate the rest of the Doritos, Lucas made sure he learned his lesson.

Lucas traded out Mason's favorite cookies for dog treats which look exactly alike, traded out the regular milk for almond milk which makes Mason burp constantly for a week, and he put a shot of vanilla which Mason hates in the cup that Lucas knows Mason always uses for milk. And Mason was gullible enough to fall for all of that.

That also caused Mason to be jumpy for a few weeks, which is a horrible feeling, if you didn't know that already.

In conclusion, do NOT mess with Lucas!

Mason snaps back into the present to realize that Lucas still hasn't come out of his room and Jerica isn't anywhere in sight. Shoot.

Mason spins around in the hallway, searching for Jerica. Then Mason listens to Lucas in his room.

But the thing is, there's no noise coming from inside. At all. Mason doesn't hear footsteps, breathing, or a heartbeat.

Mason wonders why he hadn't thought of listening in earlier. "Jerica!" Mason yells through the house.

"What?" Jerica asks, coming around the corner into the hallway from the living room and kitchen area. "I told you I was getting the spare key."

"You did?" The words slip out before Mason can stop them. Mason mentally cringes at himself. The least he can do is pretend he'd been listening to her. But of course, Mason doesn't think fast enough to do that.

Jerica glares at Mason, then goes over to Lucas' bedroom door to unlock it.

"He's not even here!" Jerica snaps as she shoves the door open.

Jerica spins around to accuse Mason. "You knew that, didn't you?"

"What? No!" Mason immediately answers. But Mason did know, he just forgot because Jerica was distracting him.

"I mean yes, but no!" Mason tries to amend his mistake, but he only makes it worse.

Jerica storms off, leaving Mason to brood over the fact that both of his siblings are mad at him now.

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"Can you believe you're going to be a junior this year? Looking back, it must have all went by so fast." Lena says in awe as she sits on her couch beside Lucas, their fingers intertwined and holding on like she never wants to let go.

Since Lena is a year younger than Lucas, she is going to be a sophomore this year.

"I wish I was a senior already. Not that I'd want to leave you stuck at school when I'm gone." Lucas tells Lena with an avid smile.

"Why would you want to be a senior? Aren't you at least a little bit concerned about the future?" Lena questions Lucas.

Lucas gives Lena a sidelong glance. "Not really. I just don't think about it. I wish it was senior year because seniors always have the most advantages. Everything seems better for them."

Lena tilts her head to the side in a concise way. "But aren't they super stressed? Not everything's rainbows and sunshine for seniors. We should live in the present. Enjoy what we've got." Lena squeezes Lucas' hand for emphasis.

Lucas grins at Lena, staring into her eyes and admiring her thoughtfulness. "You're right."

Lena gives Lucas a beatific smile and lightly bumps her shoulder against his. "Yeah I am."

Lucas laughs at Lena's arrogant comment and she joins in.

"Hey, you know you're much better than those seniors." Lena says after they calm down again.

"Oh yeah?" Lucas wonders what Lena could mean by that. Did she just say that because of their relationship?

"Yes. How many of them can say that they're werewolves? I bet zero." Lena smirks at Lucas causing Lucas to laugh again.

"And how many young women can claim the title elemental angel? That's pretty cool too." Lucas replies, guessing that was the right thing to say based on the huge grin spreading over Lena's face. Not that Lucas was shooting for flattery.

"You think so? I may have a few tricks up my sleeve." Lena says with a sly smile.

"You've been working on your magic? Show me!" Lucas exclaims in an enthralled way.

Lena laughs in a way that could almost be described as a giggle, but not in the girly way that some girls use when they are fake laughing. "If I had known you'd be so stoked, I would've mentioned it earlier."

"Why would I not be when you're being so ambitious?" Lucas teases with a broad grin that Lena finds adorable.

Lena loves that Lucas is letting go for a moment, not worrying about all of the problems that could arise because he's a werewolf. A lot of things can go wrong with that, but Lucas is calm and actually happy right now. It warms Lena's heart to see Lucas like this.

"Alright." Lena says, releasing Lucas' hand and standing up. Lena takes a step back so that she's not so close to Lucas and the couch.

Lucas gives Lena a supportive smile, which makes Lena want to abandon the magic to kiss him instead, but she doesn't think that's what Lucas intended.

Lena focuses on imagining her feet glowing like they usually do when she uses levitation on herself.

Lucas remembers the first time Lena tried using her magic. Adrian was there and he had Lucas let loose his wolf side so that his eyes glowed gold and his claws came out. Through Lucas' golden eyes, he saw Lena's feet start to glow.

Lucas does the same thing now, but he doesn't have to growl or roar or tap into his anger to make his eyes change colors. Lucas recently figured out how to make his eyes gold without inadvertently getting himself angry.

So Lucas takes a breath, closes his eyes in slight concentration, then opens them to reveal his once brown eyes are now golden.

Lucas sees that Lena is floating inches above the ground, so that her feet are level with the couch cushions that Lucas is sitting on.

This time, Lena's tennis shoe clad feet aren't the only things with a faint glow. Her hands are also surrounded in a pale white shine.

When Lena attempts going higher, she makes it around an inch before the glow suddenly disappears from around her.

Since Lucas was paying attention to the glow and saw it fade away quickly, he was able to react immediately.

Lucas jumps up and catches Lena just as she falls. Lucas cradles Lena to his chest, not having any trouble holding her due to his werewolf strength.

"Thanks." Lena utters a bit breathlessly. Her eyes are wide and staring into Lucas' still golden eyes in amazement.

"Anytime." Lucas says clearly and boldly. Who knew Lucas had it in him?

"Not to rain on your parade or anything..." Someone says from behind Lucas and Lena.

Before the person can say anything more or even blink, Lucas puts Lena down and pulls her behind him with a protective growl.

"Woah! Don't go all wolfy on me or I'll get out the vines. Then you'll be sorry." Ivie says with a snarl.

Lucas relaxes and recedes his claws when he sees the intruder is Ivie.

"Sorry. Didn't know it was you." Lucas says in an uncaring tone. It's one of those sorry not sorry moments.

"Anyway, I was gonna say that you guys should stop whatever that was." Ivie says, insinuating something that Lucas doesn't feel like thinking about too much. She can think what she wants.

"Because Mom and Dad will be home soon and I doubt you'd be happy with them finding you like that." Ivie finishes what she had been saying.

"Okay thanks." Lena says with an eyeroll directed towards Ivie.

Ivie just walks away, presumably up to her bedroom.

"You should go, Lucas." Lena says with her eyes downcast, her joyful mood suddenly dissipating into thin air.

"Right. See you tomorrow." Lucas says before heading for the front door.

As Lucas leaves Lena's house and walks towards his own, Lucas thinks about what just happened.

Lucas' mood deflates as he realizes that Lena doesn't want her parents to know that they're together.

Lucas makes a mental note to ask Lena about that tomorrow at school. Of course he'll say it in a different way that won't come off as offensive to her or like he's being defensive.

Tomorrow is their first day back at school, and this time they'll be a level grade higher.

Lucas, Mason, John, Ivie, Vanessa, and Selynn will be juniors. Lena and Jerica will be sophomores. And Adrian will be a senior.

It's a big step into the future, considering the fact that everything will be harder with them being supernatural beings now.

Little do they know how it's going to change drastically and become more difficult than any of them have predicted.