Hi! Long story short, I wrote a lot for this! So only read if you have time!
River left Bubble Tea all happy inside. She had made a friend, if talking to someone and being genuinely interested in them meant you were friends. As she caught the bus home, she realized she hadn't told Nora she could watercolor paint. She had been too nervous: no one would like her stuff anyway.
River was a versatile artist. She was best at watercolor, painting nature scenes as realistic as they come, with her own charm thrown in. She could draw the style of her own country, anime, but she would sketch the characters in pencil on a canvas and paint in the colors, like they were part of her world. She had a sketchbook with her at all times, like Nora, only she would sketch things like trees, buildings, new ideas for a character. She pulled out her own book and flipped the page to where she had sketched some pears in pencil.
The bus stopped, and she leaped off. Her mother was waiting for her when River walked up the long paved driveway to their 2-story farm house. It was a farm house, but it had some Japanese-elements to it: overhanging shrine-like roof, lanterns, and the like.
"Hey, hon!" said Mrs. Ruse. She struggled to hug River, her belly in the way: she was pregnant, and with her last child too. She smiled at River, and River noticed that she may in fact be a siren. She was pretty enough, with glossy black hair and bright green eyes that totally weren't of a natural Japanese girl, more of a monster like a siren.
"Mum, are you a siren? A couple of kids at school today asked me what you were." River removed her shoes and stepped inside.
Mrs. Rise nodded. "I thought I had told you! Oh well, anyway. And your dad's a demon-werewolf mix. It was quite easy to seduce him," she giggles, but then adds quickly, "But he did actually fall in love with me, honey. No worries." River had raised her eyebrows, suspicious. Now she felt reassured.
River said, "I made a friend today."
"Cool! What's her name? And monster type?"
"Her name's Nora and she's a werewolf, I think."
Mrs. Ruse grinned widely. "Nice, honey. Oh, your sister got you some more canvases from the art store. And some sketchbooks." River's eyes lit up. Muttering a thanks, she ran up to her room.
River had a crash-and-burn moment halfway between working on a new painting. Her mother came up and put her in bed. When she woke up, she realized she was almost late for her 2nd day at school, then remembered that today she only had afternoon classes, because the parents and teachers were meeting up. Sure enough, her mother and father were gone.
She went to the school and pulled out a canvas. It was a special, magic canvas that could shrink and fit in her back-pack. Her dad's friend, a wizard, had enchanted it for her, and she was grateful. She set it up on her easel and pulled a stool across the way so she could sit. It was tall, so her head barely reached the middle of it. Mixing paint on her little palate, she set to work.
Nora arrived an hour before scheduled. It was lunchtime.
"Wow!" she said, spotting the canvas.
River looked around, a paintbrush clamped between her teeth. Frightened, she almost topped over, but she caught herself. Quickly, she placed all her brushes down in her art pack. "Thank goodness you're here!" she said hastily. "I got you something!"
Nora looked at her, thrown off guard.
"I know you like to sketch," said River, "so I brought this from home!" she pulled out a sketchbook with a silvery-white coarse cover.
"Is that unicorn hair?" asked Nora. River nodded.
"They have a ranch near here. But everyone think they're normal horses, cuz they removed the horses to be less seedy. You know, the whole 'monsters and humans co-exist' thing?" she looked at Nora eagerly. "I'd like you to have it!"
Nora glanced at it. "But aren't these, like, really expensive?" she said.
River nodded but added, "We make them ourselves. We have a ranch ourselves, but we use Brooks' unicorns' hair because ours aren't in season yet. The kind we have are best in the summer, cuz they're black unicorns."
"All the more reason," said Nora. "You made them, you should have it."
River handed it to her. "We can make more! Don't worry. I'm a farm girl."
"Eh?" said Nora, taking it gingerly and examining it. "Wow, this is well made. What other animals do you have on the farm? I mean, besides unicorns and the regular stuff." she added.
"We don't have the regular stuff. We have sea cows, though."
"Huh? Those manatee things everyone thought were extinct?"
"Yeah! They're just as good as normal, human-bred cows. Meat, milk, whatever, all the same, you just get it from a cow in water basically. They're huge, though. We also have phoenixes. Their eggs are awesome but very pricey, but our money is well worth it cuz they live forever!" River was really getting eager now. This was something she loved. She talked about all the creatures they had on the farm. Nora seemed interested. All the time River was making strokes on her canvas.
After a while, the school bell rang once, meaning 15 minutes to class.
Nora and River jumped, and River almost knocked over her painting. Hastily, she shrunk it and shoved it in her backpack. "I'll let you see it when I'm done!" said River, and Nora smiled. They walked off to class together.
River and Nora sat in different seats in the class. Class was boring, so no need to talk about it here. The only worth mentioning class was the history one, which was taught by a cocky, vain vampire male. He went on and on about what happened during the French revolution, his point of view. He was that old.
At lunch, River was bombarded again by Randy and Angelic and the last girl, Icybelle. They asked her how she was doing and if she'd visited the witch doctor yet. She said she hadn't, and they said that she should by the 2nd month of school, because that was when the teachers separated kids by type and taught them. Nora walked over and dragged her away.
By the evening, the principal, a tall lady, had gathered everyone in the gym and said:
"This first month is here so you may get used to life here. By month 2, you will be given a dorm with a few other kids, your same gender. If you want to be bunked with someone in particular, please come up to my office and sign your name along with whoever else you want with you. There are rules, so you may not get your request."
This went on, and on, and on, until River's mind started to wander and Nora had to shake her when it was finally over. They left and followed the line to the office to sign names. "Are you sure?" Nora asked when River signed her name and Nora's in the book.
"It's okay!" said River. "We're friends!"
Nora nodded but said, "Not what I mean. I'm a werewolf. Isn't it a bit unsaf-"
"Of course!" said Randy from behind. "On your turn date, they'll rather lock you in a private room or let you roam the halls until it's over!" he paused. "How often do you turn?" Randy said.
Nora shrugged and told him, but River didn't catch it. Randy turned to River.
"And you, being part winged-demon, you'll turn too, but only under certain circumstances, and only if you learn to control It do you become dangerous. You'll be fine!" Randy said, at the sight of River's distraught face. "Your teacher will teach you how to control it, in the classes."
"What type of classes?" asked Nora.
"Well, I've been here 2 years now. And no, only freshmen get to stay home the first month. Everyone else has to stay in dorms. Anyway, classes like co-existing, controlling, powers, etc. Just normal stuff. You'll get a schedule and everything. But lemme assure you, there's less hours than normal school!"
"Nice," said Nora.
"4 hours of classes, 2 hours of lunch or breaks, and the remaining 6 hours you're off. But sometimes at night there are extra classes. But don't sweat it. See you guys tomorrow," he said, "When they pick the dorm buddies!"
Hope you liked it ;)
