FicWad

Well isn't this just magical? I seethed to myself as I shut the door to my locker and headed to the first room listed on my schedule. I opened the door and saw rows of chairs. The plaque on the wall said in bright blue letters '2003-2008 Undefeated Jersey State Champions Choir Contest'.

So I was finally put in choir. Great. I liked singing. My mom on the other hand didn't. Only because I hexed a boy once when he heard me singing to him and he attempted suicide. That wasn't my fault he was nosy.

I could only hope I didn't start singing spells out like I used to the last time I was in choir. Choir was one of the few things humans got right in the world. We went through warm-up scales and I tried to hush the ring of magic in my voice when we started reaching the soprano/alto levels.

A tug on my hair made me gasp and reach around to rub my head. The teacher, who's name I'd been told, but sadly forgotten, was glaring at me. Uh.....”Sorry. Arm cramp.” I lied, moving my arm and tensing my shoulder.

There was a little laugh behind me. The ghost girl from my locker swung around and stood in front of the teacher. “I need to talk to you.” she said loudly, trying to be heard over the raising of my voice. I just nodded and after a few moments, she left. Before she went, she paused at my side.

“I'll be at our locker after school.” she murmured. I nodded slightly again and she went through the wall behind me.

Oh Isis, fuck my life! I have the worst luck! This is just perfect, just fuckin perfect! Here I was, supposed to be blending in with the humans and I got a haunted locker and a stalker ghost!

Fuck-fuckity-fuck-fuck-fuck!! I continued on the scales, my mind raging. My hands tingled and I clutched my music tighter, the little parer booklet curling in on itself.

Not here. Not- SHIT! The light above me flashed and went out. A girl next to me gasped and looked up.

I pretended to be shocked and copied her glance up. When I looked at her, she was staring at me. I realized my hair and fallen away from my neck, showing my scorpion tattoo.

She met my gaze, her eyes burning with questions. The teacher closed the session and told us that we'd pick up on page three once the light was fixed.

The girl gripped my arm tightly. I looked into her ocean-blue eyes and they sparkled. “Can I ask you something?” her voice was low for her to be part of the first sopranos. I nodded and she leaned closer.

“Could you see that girl? The one who was talking to you.” I gaped at her. She stared at me and I nodded slowly.

She clapped and jumped up and down. Once she'd settled again, she moved her jacket away from her shoulder to show her shoulder. And, tattooed there, was the goddess's symbol for power. A woman with upraised hands holding a crescent moon.

I blushed and held out my wrist, pushing my sleeve back to show her my symbol. Mine was balance, a crescent moon holding a star. She smiled and fixed her jacket and I dropped my arm, letting my sleeve fall back to cover most of my hand.

She held out her arm and I grasped it in the traditional greeting, grasping forearms. “Merry meet. I'm Lucile Comner. Unity,” she greeted warmly. I hesitated and relied slowly. “Merry meet. I'm Frank Iero. Unity,” we let go of each other and she led me to another door in the room.

Opening it, she gestured for me to go in. “This is one of the solo rooms for soloist to practice in while the rest of us go crazy out there.” she smiled, closing the door behind herself. The room had a piano in the corner and a few chairs stacked against the wall.

“I've heard of you, Mr. Iero. Your family's one of the strongest and oldest left in the world. It's a wonder that the other species haven't killed you yet.” she said thoughtfully. I smiled and leaned against the piano, playing with the keys. My fingers payed with a few notes and I came out with a pretty little cord.

I played that over and over. “I've heard of your family as well. Your all quite strong too. Or so I've heard from my mom and Granma. You're the first Comner I've actually met in person.” I smiled up at her.

She laughed and nodded. “We're nowhere near as strong as your family. But I guess we're up there. You're the first Iero I've met in person. And I have to say, from the stories I've heard about you guys, I thought you'd be scarier than this. Or at least a little taller,” she teased me softly.

I shook my head and actually looked at the keys I was playing. “We're Italian, so it's fine for me to be short. And besides, big thing come in small packages.” Lucile laughed and I though back over what I said and blushed a little.

“Not like that!” I nearly shouted, but she waved her hand at me and went into hysterics, ending up on her knees. “Oh! Oh! I know you didn't mean it like that but still! Just the way you said that whole sentence and then the small thing! Ah-ahahahahaha!!!!!” she started again, falling on her back.

I shook my head and watched her laugh, trying to resist joining in. but, I cracked and busted out laughing when she started to cry. “For the love of the goddess! You-you look like- like a tomato!!” I stopped playing and clutched my sides.

And before I knew it, I was on the floor on my back, looking at the white ceiling. I felt tears roll down my face and I wiped them away with my sleeve.

I sat up and made myself stop laughing. My sides were on fire and I was out of breath. Lucile sat up as well, her eyeliner smudged on her cheek from where she wiped her face.

“Er, come here,” I waved for her to come closer and ran my hand under her eye, catching the smudge and cleaning it from her bruised eye. She ran her hand through her hair a couple of times and shook it out.

“Find me at lunch. The bells getting ready to ring. Here,” she pulled her phone out of her pocket. “Number.” she demanded. I handed her my phone and we put our numbers in each other's contact list.

“Later Frankie.” she turned and opened the door just as the bell rang. “Later Lulu!” I called after her and caught my backpack by the straps, slipping it on and going out the back way.

Well, I now have a new witch friend and a stalker ghost at my new school. How could today possibly get any better? From across the hall, I spotted the neighbors. The two boys were leaning on lockers and smiling.

I noticed that their canines looked too pointy to be human. Oh great!! My neighbors are vampires! I'd rather live next to werewolves or shape-shifters and smell the zoo all day then live next to a family of vamps!

Well then. I passed them on my way to the door that matched the numbers on my paper and the one with black hair, Gerard I think, stopped smiling and watched me.

I opened the door and went into the room, sighing as I took my seat. The bell rang and Gerard walked in and sat next to me. Oh.....shit.

My face felt hot and I rested my chin on my arm when the teacher walked in, calling the class to attention. “I want you all to find partners for our next project. We will be putting on scenes from Romeo and Juliet. Now, open you books to scene one and I want....” his eyes roamed the room “Gerard to read the opening.”

Gerard cleared his throat and stood, his book in his hands. The whole class turned to look at him and I looked up and to the side. He looked like an actor and I thing I heard a few of the girls scattered across the room sigh.

But I knew what he was. His race had killed so many of mine. We were enemies. Nothing would change that.

Something pulled in my chest though, watching his face set in the mask as he started to read.

“'Two households, both alike in dignity. In fair Verona, where we lay our scene. From ancient grudge break to new mutiny. Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean. From forth the fatal loins of these two foes. A pair of star-crossed lovers take their life. Whose misadventures piteous overthrows. Doth with their death bury their parents' strife. The fearful passage of their death-marked love. And the continuance of their parents' rage. Which, but their children's end, naught could remove. Is now the two hours' traffic of our stage. To which if you with patient ears attend. What here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend.'” He smirked and sat back down.

Whatever he'd pulled in my was beating against my ribs painfully. I noticed that he kept shooting me quick glances while he read the part about the star-crossed lovers.

“Thank you Gerard. Now, can anybody tell me what that means?” the teacher said loudly. His voice was gritty and hoarse as he strained it compared to Gerard's smooth, powerful voice. Before anybody could be picked, the bell rang. The teacher sighed and called to us before we were able to escape from the room.

“Find partners today and we'll skip reading and you can pick what scene you'll do!” he bribed us. I sighed and shook my head, slipping my bag on again. A tap on my shoulder made me look over my shoulder.

Gerard was standing behind me. He smiled sweetly and moved to my side. “Hey Frank, I was wondering, since we live next to each other, if you just wanted to work together?” he tripped over the question.

Hell no! Was what I wanted to say, yell. But my mouth opened before I told it what to say. “Sure, Gerard. You can come over to my house and we can find a scene we both like.” I looked away quickly and shook my head a little.

What the fuck? What was he doing to me? “Great. I don't know about you, but I was thinking we could do the scene where Romeo kills Tybalt.” he said thoughtfully. I shot him a quick glance and his face reddened a little.

“I know this book really well. This is the....” he had to count on his hands “Eighteenth time I've read it. I even have a copy at home, so we don't have to borrow one from Mr. Charlton.” he explained. “Oh. Okay,” I shrugged and walked down the isle. He followed down his.

“So what's your next class?” he asked, looking at me with curios green eyes. I didn't have to pull out my paper. “Math.” my nose wrinkled. Math was one of the worst things in the world. Well next to getting caught by hunters.

“Mrs. Pewter?” he asked and I nodded. “Heading there myself actually. Oh and she's a mega-bitch just so you know. She catches you chewing gum once and boom! Lunch detention for a week.” he walked beside me, too close for my comfort but too far away for whatever was in my chest.

“Wow. She even sounds lovely.” I said sarcastically. Gerard snorted. “So what are you doing for lunch?” he asked, dodging a paper ball that whizzed past his head. He was asking me a lot of questions. I wanted him to stop, but then again I wanted to tell him everything.

“Uh....I'm going to be eating with my cousin, actually. We just found out that our granma's were sisters last hour.” it wasn't really a lie. All the witches are related by magic, so in a way, Lucile and I are cousins.

Gerard looked at the stairs we were going up. “Oh. Who's your cousin?” he asked, looking sideways at me. “Lucile Comner.” I said reluctantly. I hoped he didn't know enough about our families to know that the vampires had been at war with my, Lulu's and all the other major witch families about three hundred years ago.

“I know her. Kinda tall with dark brown hair?” I nodded and he smiled. “Yep. She's in my art class.”

I nodded and grinned. “Small world, isn't it?” I asked of no one. He answered anyway. “You have no idea,” he muttered under his breath. Even though I'd heard him clearly, I looked at him and blinked. “What was that?”

He looked up from glaring at his shoes and tilted his head. “Oh. Nothing.” he opened the door and we stepped inside.

When we left, the kids pushed out of the door and Gerard and I ended up getting crushed together. His hand brushed mine and a shock passed through me. He gasped, but I don't know if he felt it to.

We we shoved out the door and stumbled into the packed hall. “Well I have Spanish next. Later Gerard.” I waved and turned my back to him, walking quickly down the hall.

I felt his eyes on my back and the thing in my chest swelled and turned, beating against the back of my ribs. It was hard to breath and I felt like I was getting choked by a rope. Like the rope was around my neck, and Gerard was holding the other end.

Closing my eyes, I willed my chest to ease up so I could breath. When it didn't work, I sighed and opened my eyes, glaring at the door of my Spanish class.

The irony was just to much and I had to smirk when I realized they'd put my English class and Spanish class so close together in the day.

I sat down in the back again and the teacher stepped in, wearing a ridiculously short skirt and her shirt unbuttoned almost half way down her boobs. “We have a new student today.” her accent was so think it sounded like she said 'wee half a new shtudnent todaee'

Sighing, I waited to hear her mangle my last name. Shocking me though, she said it right, even with the accent. My head snapped up and I raised my hand. “Stand Mr. Iero.” I stood, noticing the little roll she put on the R.

“Tell us about yourself.” she waved her hand around the room and sat in her seat. I cleared my throat and, thanking the goddess that my granma was full Italian and didn't speak a word of English only Spanish I started speaking in fluid Spanish.

“Hola, mi nombre es Frank Iero y me gusta la música, leer, escribir, cantar, y apenas nadie casi todo mcuh tiene mi edad. Creo que la única diferencia es que mi papá me dejó y mi mamá cuando yo era pequeña y en realidad se llevan bien con mi mamá.” The teacher smiled and nodded. “Now translate that to English, Frank.” she said simply. I nodded and translated my few sentences.

“Hi, my name is Frank Iero and I like music, reading, writing, singing, and just pretty much everything anybody my age does. I think the only difference is that my Dad left me and my Mom when I was little and I actually get along with my Mom.” I looked at the teacher, who was smiling even wider.

“Very good, Frank! You may sit down now, dear.” I sat back down and she started class, speaking only Spanish. I never missed a word and the girl next to me looked at my notes, which I'd been translating in English and Spanish on two different papers.

The bell rang and my phone went off in my pocket.

SPANISH?

It was from Lulu.

YEP

KK W8 THERE

K

She came bounding up to me not two minutes after I'd sent her that last text and caught my arm. “Come on Frankie!” and she pulled me through the halls to the lunch room.