Making friends

Serena slammed shut her locker and bolted to P.E. She bumped into quite a bit of people, and her wings took several blows, but they were made of steel to her. She was very meticulous about not flying in the halls so she wouldn't get sent to the principal's office. As Serena approached the arched doorway leading to the yard, the tardy bells chimed. She groaned and ran faster, tapping into her powers. In her mind, she thought that if she got there before a minute passed after the bell, the coach might not notice her tardiness.

Serena arrived at the meeting ground for P.E and noticed that nobody seemed to have changed. All the princesses still had their dresses or fancy clothes on, and the princes were still wearing their suits. The air buzzed, full of varying conversations. "Alright everybody listen up," roared the coach, standing tall over the group of little cliques. Everybody shushed each other and turned to her. "Today is gonna be a free day, you can do what you want!"

"Booo," cried Serena. Everybody turned to her with blank expressions. She seemed confused. "What," Serena said, throwing her arms up. Then everyone went back to conversing. Serena was left standing in place awkwardly. After a long while of uncomfortable standing, she got the idea to spread her wings. She unfolded her wings and took off into the air. "Woohoo!!" Serena spread out her arms as she tore through the air.

Serena did four horizontal spins before doing three loops in the air, then she slowly descended to the ground and folded her wings. Most people overlooked her, but some were interested. A smug-faced prince strided over to her. "Who are you? You seem new." The prince had an australian accent. "I'm Serena and yes, I'm new. What's your name?" Serena was still grinning with excitement. "I'm Arlen. Hm...Serena...? What a strange name."

"Well Arlen isn't too hot of a name either buddy." The prince scoffed and scrunched his face. Serena had clearly angered him. "Who are your parents?"

"My mom is Heather and my dad is the king of costumes."

"Costumes? Seriously? You must be joking."

"Excuse me?! I'm not joking! I don't care what you think of my kingdom but it's royalty and i'm staying here whether you like it or not!"

"I think you're a smuppet!!" Arlen stomped away from Serena.

"What's a smuppet," Serena mumbled. Serena noticed a mob of girls to the left of her, she quickly became curious as to what they're all drooling over. She glided over to the mob and tapped one of the girls on the shoulder. The girl whipped around. "What do you want," she asked.

"Um, what are you all looking at?"

"Seriously? You must be new here, I'm Ivy, daughter of Katherine the queen of owls." Ivy held out her hand.

"Owls?" Serena shook Ivy's hand.

"Yeah, I know, it's weird, but she's still royalty you know? You are?"

"I'm Serena, daughter of the king of costumes and yeah I totally understand what you mean. When I tell someone about my kingdom they genuinely think it's a joke."

"Yeah! It's kind of annoying, right? I mean why would we lie about our kingdom? People are gonna find out eventually so why lie? And so what if we have a weird kingdom?"

"Uh heh yeah, lying would do nothing. But uh how would people find out?"

"Well people talk and some people have resources so someone will find out and word will get around"

"Oh...haha ok yeah that sounds like that'll happen at this school. So um what's everyone looking at?"

"Thatcher Rene, his father is the king of Iron, doesn't sound like much, but he's SO handsome!"

"Seriously? That's what everybody's mobbing up about? I thought there was a dead body."

"If there was a dead body they'd all be running away."

"Yeah, I guess you're right." Serena was examining the mob again when she saw the guy from the music room standing next to the mob, clearly annoyed. "Who's that?" Serena pointed at the guy.

"Him? Why do you wanna know about him?" Serena shot her an angry look. "Fine. That's Dayton Rene, Thatcher's brother, he's not as charming as Thatcher, and he's more nerdy and quiet than Thatcher, I also think he might be jealous of his brother."

"Why wouldn't he be? His brother gets all the girls."

"He's also kind of sketchy because he has every period with his brother except first, and he's never in second period, nobody knows where he goes at that time." Serena got a little nervous.

"What's his second period?"

"Swimming."

"Really? I have swimming second period also."

"I didn't see you there."

"Uh...that's because uh...I had to get the rest of my schedule sorted out with the principal"

"Oh, okay." Then she went back to trying to get a glimpse of Thatcher through the mob. Serena walked over to Dayton, wrapping her arms around her stomach. She approached Dayton and he pretended not to notice her. "Uh, hey. Dayton right? I-I'm Serena." She held out her hand.

"Yeah, Dayton. Serena? Aren't you the girl that has the costume parents?" Dayton shook her hand.

"Yeah...I know, it's weird."

"I will admit it's a little weird but you could also have a lot of fun with it."

"Really? I mean yeah, I guess you could. I wasn't expecting you to say something like that, how...nice of you?"

"Don't be so surprised, I'm not like my brother, some would say I'm a wannabe Thatcher. I hate him though, always so narcissistic and he never was fond of me."

"I don't actually know your brother, I've heard a girl named Ivy say nice things about him though."

"What? What has she been saying?"

"That he's SO handsome!" Serena mocked Ivy. After Serena heard what she sounded like, she giggled a little. Dayton smiled at the quick expression of joy.

"They've got him all wrong, they're playing into his tricks. Why am I the only one who sees him for who he is?" Dayton huffed and turned away.

"You're not the only one, I don't know him but I trust someone who lives with him more than someone who's hypnotized by his charm." Dayton turned back to Serena and she gave him a hopeful smile. He slightly grinned.

"Thanks. Uh, would you like to maybe ha-" Then the bell rang, cutting him off. They both turned to face the school. When the bell stopped chiming, Serena whipped back around.

"See you later Dayton. It was nice meeting you!" She jumped into the air and soared over to the opening of the school.

"Nice meeting you too," Dayton mumbled, annoyed. After P.E Serena was off to Royal Manners class. As she approached the opening to the school, Serena descended to the ground and started walking. She knew where her next class was, so she went straight there. Serena had the urge to fly again, so when she got close to the door she took off. She zoomed through the door and flew high up in the classroom, overlooking the seats and people. She found a seat she liked and landed in it.

Then after she took her seat, the teacher started talking about how ladies must never have their elbows on the table when they eat. Serena didn't bother to listen to the rest of what the teacher said because it all just sounded so ridiculous to her. Finally the torture ended and she headed to lunch. She ran out of Royal Manners class and she could hear the teacher yelling at her through the walls that ladies shouldn't run. Serena laughed and continued running.

She was lured to the cafeteria by the sound of many different conversations happening at once. She walked over to a table with two chairs and sat down. Demons don't have to eat, they can but they don't need it to survive or keep them going. Serena didn't want to just sit there and do nothing, so she decided to go organize her locker. She walked all the way to the locker area. She put in her combination and opened the locker.

When the door swung open a note fell out. Serena picked it up, unfolded it and read it. After reading it she gasped, crumbled it up, ran over to a trash can and violently threw it in. She looked around for anyone who looked suspicious. She didn't see anyone acting out of the ordinary. Serena spent five minutes organizing her locker before slamming it shut and running down the halls. She turned a couple corners and darted into the first room she came across. She whipped open the door and slammed it shut behind her.

She realized she ran into the room swimming class was held. There was a giant deep pool in the middle of the room, tiles covering every surface of the humongous room. A couple benches were scattered across the room, a towel on each of them. Nobody was in the classroom, Serena got lucky. She made sure the bench she was going to sit on wasn't wet before sitting on it. She dropped her backpack next to her and put her hands on her head, staring at the ground. She was trying to wrap her head around the note, she couldn't believe it. It absolutely frightened her.

"Uh hey, what're you doing here," asked someone. Serena jumped and she quickly put her hands firmly on the bench on either side of her. "Woah, sorry, didn't mean to scare you. Although you already seemed on edge." Serena let out a sigh of relief, realizing it was Dayton. He was standing in front of her with his arms crossed.

"Y-Yeah, I am."

"Why? What happened?" Dayton took a seat next to her and Serena turned her body to face him. Serena was still shaking a bit.

"Well, I opened my locker and a piece o-of folded paper fell out, I unfolded it and what it said just absolutely t-terrified me." Serena looked at the her trembling hands. She put her hands between her legs to keep them from shaking. Dayton looked genuinely concerned.

"What did the paper say?"

"That whoever wrote the note knows who my parents actually are and what kingdom they actually rule."

"Woah woah woah...you're lying to everyone about your parents and your kingdom?" Dayton was confused and a little mad. Serena looked up from her hands at him, wide-eyed and looking nervous.

"Well...kind of."