Chapter 1

Natasha and her friends try and help Olivia.

Staring up at the unusually clear sky gave her the distinct urge to fly.

Natasha knew that that probably wasn't a good idea, purely based on the fact that she had a tendency to be terrible at it. Olivia always insisted that there was nothing quite like soaring above the grounds of the academy, Natasha really didn't understand how anyone could feel anything but immense anxiety over falling violently to the ground. When this argument was brought up Natasha’s friends reminded her that there where extensive spells all around the school for stopping exactly that from happening. 

“You don’t really think that the school would be okay with putting tiny little children on brooms and letting them immediately crash into a tree do you?” Adam questioned from where he was threading small flowers through his friends curls that had spilled onto his crossed legs from where Natasha was lying on the grass.

“Well the way I see it,” Natasha replied, poking the fountain pen that May was practicing levitating, earning her a pointed glare as it fell to the floor with a small thud. “It’s sort of like being on a bridge and thinking that you're gonna fall. You know you’re safe but that doesn't stop you wanting to be anywhere but there.”

“Are you saying that bridges are scarier than vampires?” Olivia questioned as she looked up from her English homework.

“Oh no!” May said, cutting off Natasha on what may have been a quite rude denial of the fact that she did intact find bridges more unsettling that immortal blood sucking monsters, so loudly that several other people out on the field turned in surprise. 

“What’s wrong?” Natasha asked as she rushed to sit up, flowers falling from her hair. 

“It’s English next.” May replied, with a real sense of concern that was not met by her friends.

Adam rolled his eyes as Natasha fell back down in relief and confusion at the ridiculousness of what her roommate had just said. Olivia pulled one of May’s plaits playfully while feigning surprise “Oh really? I had no idea. It’s not like I’m trying to rush my homework for next lesson or anything. Oh wait.” Natasha was pretty sure that she was muttering Korean, which was a bad sign because the only words that she could say in that language were swear words and “I don’t know what your saying, I’m English.” 

“No, Olivia.” May sounded genuinely concerned. “You guys don’t remember?”

“Remember what?” Adam asked as he turned his attention to plaiting Olivia’s black hair that fell around her hunched shoulders. Natasha almost zoned out as she was transfixed by long brown fingers rhythmically twist silky hair.

“Miss Miura’s ill.”

The three students that hadn't been paying any attention to May all looked like they had been told that a puppy had died or something equally as heartbreakingly tragic. “Oh, Livvy.” Adam said as he wrapped his arms around Olivia. Natasha noted that they both looked a little spaced. “What do you want us to do?” he continued as he pulled out of the hug and took his friend’s shoulders in his hands.

“I can tell them, but I need to go get my jumper from my room first.” Natasha suggested quicky as she stood and wiped off the flowers from her school skirt, gathering her bag. Olivia had to use her hand to shade her eyes from the sun as she looked up Natasha. 

“Yeah,” May added enthusiastically, “and I can stay here and help you with your homework.” 

“O-Okay, thanks guys.” Olivia said. “What about Ben?” She asked with a panicked look to Adam who was still holding onto her. 

“He’ll be fine. He already had his name when he joined. Remember?” Adam reassured her while pushing the hair out from her face.

It was rare for anyone to see Olivia when she wasn't beaming and jumping around, the recent revelation on the teachers had caused her to seem dimmed and it was as if she where fading away, wanting to disappear. Natasha was pretty sure that there was a spell that could do that, if there was Olivia would probably know about it, but she didn't like thinking about that. 

She headed towards the Academy as fast as wouldn't draw attention to herself. The building had surprised her the first time that she had visited the school when she realised that it was smaller than she originally had thought, three levels of brick with high ceilings and old wallpaper with the occasional common room with a collection of victorian furniture and scattered spell books and pens. It had been a manor house and it was hard to tell what rumours where true when it came to the Academy’s building so that it was better just not to think about it. 

Natasha was pulling her hair back into a bun that was more suitable for the school, pulling out stray petals as she did so, when she heard her name being called out. She had just walked past the painting that she had enchanted to follow people with it’s eyes in year 10. She knew who it was without turning around. She didn't stop walking, she might have even sped up.

“Tasha!” He was right behind her now and she knew that he was gaining on her heels. He always had been faster than her. She only looked up at him when he was directly in front of her, blocking her from going up the stairs, great big wooden things that where surrounded by stray property and spell books. 

“What do you want, Lang?” She tried to hold a stare that she hoped looked vaguely threatening, it was harder to do when she saw a hurt look pass over Ryan’s face. She folded her arms in front of her, it made her feel like she had something separating them instead of the air in the short space between them. She glared even harder when he extended his arm out to her to touch her shoulder, so much so that he winced and let his hand drop. “Don’t you have Lackey’s to hang out with, they’d appreciate your riveting personality far more than I do.” 

“I’m pretty sure they’re snogging in the library, actually. You weren't that fussy about my personality last year. How long has it been again, a few weeks?” He looked distressingly smug at his own words as Natasha had to work a lot harder not to not react, when she dated Ryan she had become close friends with the two boys that hung out with him, Julian and Rohan had a ridiculous amount of tension and she was pretty sure that she had heard several completely separate groups of students betting on when they would  inevitably cave and talk about their feelings. She was having trouble restraining herself from correcting him, it had been thirteen weeks, he knew that, she wasn't going to give him the satisfaction. 

“Why don’t you go and join them?” Natasha continued, ignoring the last part of what he had said. She was somewhat relieved when his composure broke for a moment.

“I- um.” He looked confused, he had his mouth open and looked as if she had betrayed him, which she was pretty sure that she didn't need to feel guilty about. She had worn the same expression when she had been cheated on. He denied that strongly, always. He was wrong.

Ryan’s mother, Mrs Lang who always insisted on being called Meng, would probably start doing that thing where she muttered in Mandarin if she ever saw what he looked like most days, she was a lovely woman, a real shame that her son had to turn out to be such an idiot.

She cut him off from what he was about to say. “Seeing as you’re into that stuff now.” Ryan’s eyes had noticeably grown wide at that. He cast a nervous glance around the stairwell. He stepped closer to her but didn’t look as if he wanted to touch her anymore.

“I thought you, of all people, would understand.” he whispered to her under his breath as worry lines appeared on his forehead. He was really beautiful, in a tragic sort of way. 

“I understand perfectly well. Do you?”

“What do you mean?” Ryan questioned with an echo of a laugh, a hollow sort of thing that held no humour. It sounded half way between a laugh and a sob.

“It’s okay to be who you are, it’s just not okay to cheat on your girlfriend.” Natasha had intended to scold him but had just ended up yelling at him. It seemed to actually take him aback. He cast another concerned look around them. He looked as if he was going to start to say something but she cut him off before he could even start. “You can’t cheat on me, and then defend yourself by saying that my sexuality isn’t valid, and then act as if you’re the victim.” She watched him blink and swallow slowly, he actually looked relatively guilty for once and Natasha considered that a victory.

“Oh.”

“Yeah.” she said with a viciously sarcastic smile. “Now if you’d kindly back off so that I can go to my room, it would be great.” She shoved him with her shoulder as he failed to get out the way fast enough. As she reached further up the stairs she knew that he hadn't moved away rom where he had been watching her, the lack of recognisable posh shoes against hardwood floors, she decided to add a last comment to their conversation. “Not that you care, but Olivia needs me right now.” The last thing that she saw of his face was a concerned look and a rightfully guilt expression. 

“Why?”

“I don’t think that’s any of your business.”

It didn’t take Natasha long to get to her room and back down again. On the second floor she just had to head to the right hand corridor and along a few doors, her grey knit uniform jumper strewn on her side of the floor. It wasn't a big room, barely big enough for the two single beds, two sets of draws, and matching desks pushed against the far wall under the window. May was the tidiest roommate that Natasha had ever had, but that made the room sort of boring and gave it the appearance of being lopsided, she remembered when Adam and Olivia had shared a room and the excessive use of bright yellows, (Olivia) pinks, and oranges (Adam). It had been like walking into a sweets factory. 

Even though May normally caught people’s eyes first with her orange hair down her back and her pail skin, a true contrast to Natasha with her dark skin and curls just past her collar bones, May had an unusually plain room, a white duvet and some scattered school work and potions ingredients around where her laptop was resting on her desk. Natasha’s side of the room was another story, with mismatching pillows, a deep purple blanket thrown over her bed in an attempt to pass as made, with spells written on post it notes and water bottles along with some stray cups of coffee lay strewn across her desk. Paintings where stuck all over her side of the room, mainly her own work but she had several prints of some of her favourite Van Gogh and Romaine Brook’s works in prints between colour filled canvases.

She was just fixing her collar and ribbon tie over her jumper when she got back to the stairwell, she was relieved slightly to see that Ryan had gone from where she had left him. She got to the English classroom early, as expected, and was glad to see a young woman sat cautiously behind the desk. She tried to make her face look anything but the slight anxiety that she felt at that moment, the familiar jolt that made you want to shy away, as she walked into the classroom with a false smile.

“Hi, are you the substitute for this lesson?” It was unusual to get new teachers at the Academy, they had to have a very specific skill set.

“I will be.” She replied with a smile in return.

“Uh, my friend… she’s in this class with me and, um, the register might not have her written down right.” Natasha panicked ever so slightly when the teacher looked at her with confusion. “I want to protect her. She means the world to me.” The silence seemed to stretch on for an eternity.

“As long as you’re not making a jo-”

“I would never joke about this.” Natasha rushed to cut the teachers words off.

“What’s her name?” The stranger asked as she turned to the computer on the desk.

Natasha opened her mouth to answer automatically but stopped herself. “See that’s the thing,” she started to explain while she pulled up a chair to sit near the other woman, “She changed it; she had to.” To her relief she took that as an acceptable answer. 

“Last name?” she asked patiently while looking back over her shoulder at Natasha.

“Rhee. R-H-E-E.” She worried her lip as she watched her type in the name carefully. 

“So it’s that one? O-” 

“Yeah.” Natasha said louder than was probably necessary, but she didn't want to risk her friend overhearing that name. “Please don’t call her that, it makes her feel sad.”

“I understand, it’s fine.”

“Really?” Natasha asked while smiling bigger than she had done all day. She tried to hold it back but she couldn’t.

“Totally, my brother’s trans too.” 

“Thank you, thank you, thank you.” She leaned over and hugged the teacher with a laugh.

Reviews

[bluessadmood]

Again the style was nice ..neat..well written..
Only the pace the events are going is a little slow..ha ha..I was waiting for some surprises..tricks and bends here and there..I like always to be anxious to see what will happen in a minute..or the words will thrill me here and there..but that's me..
I am sure you must have your own plot..and must have planned this..on whole I liked this ..it's nice
Lovely write

[Mel Jayne]

Thank you so much. It picks up I promise haha