Chapter Text
Chapter 1: More than that
Rachel slammed her locker shut with more force than required. A particular group of boys had been particularly brutal towards her today. She sighed, shutting her eyes as she remembered their cruel words.
"Goth!"
"Witch!"
"Dyke"
She could feel the hate and fun radiating off them in waves. They shoved her and tripped her up, she had split her lip against the hard steel water fountain by the gymnasium, where no one went in between classes.
She groaned inwardly. Great. She'd be late for philosophy again.
She was sick, sick sick of it. Of them. Of this. "You'd better be careful," she snarled. "Or I might really curse you."
They snickered. She could hear screams. A dying woman.
"Rachel? Rachel?"
She could feel the familiar foreboding prickling in her palms. Oh no. She couldn't.
"Hurt them," the voice urged,
"make them burn, make them pay!"
"No," she muttered. She fought it.
"No?" The voice asked, "they've caused so much pain to us."
"NO!"
she shouted this time until the roaring screams in her ears and the pulsing in her palms died down. Her clouded eyes regained clarity, her vision coming into focus again. And it was gone. As fast as it had come.
She lay there slumped against the doors of the gym.
"C'mon, let's go,"
she heard the unsettled voice of one of her tormentors, and then hasty footsteps squeaking the shiny floor.
It's getting stronger, she thought.
Rachel walked into the bathroom, went to the rusty tap and twisted it, so she could splash cold water on her face. She felt a hot flush spread up her neck and pressed her cold hand to it breathing deeply. It had been a long day.
She was disturbed by the creaking of a stall door opening and she lifted her gaze to the smudged mirror where bright green eyes met her own. The new girl. Koriand'r.
Sweet and pretty, Koriand'r had launched herself towards the popular girls, or rather, the popular girls had launched themselves towards her, Rachel couldn't tell.
She hastily washed her hands to have something to do.
She scrubbed the blue ink doodles of feathers and pentacles off her fingers, whilst Koriand'r stood beside her, washing her own hands, which were doodle free, a bracelet with a silver charm of a flying saucer dangling on her wrist.
Rachel could feel the other girl's eyes burning into her. She turned off the tap and tucked her short purple hair behind her silver studded ear.
Koriand'r breathed in and Rachel felt like she was about to say something.
"Kori! Come over here and help me with my makeup!" A girl's commanding voice summoned Koriand'r from outside the bathroom.
Rachel watched her as she made her way away from the sinks.
Koriand'r twisted the paper towel dispenser to dry her hands. It was empty. It was always empty. Not understanding she banged it with stubborn brute force and something like a smile tugged on Rachel's lips.
"Kori!!!" The voice was getting impatient now.
The girl sighed, shook her head, wiped her wet hands down on the pleats of her purple skirt.
"Coming Blissa," she replied heavily, although her gaze lingered on Rachel.
When she left Rachel took a breath. She thought she had known the kind of girl that Koriand'r was, the kind that didn't acknowledge Rachel's existence. But maybe Rachel had gotten it all wrong. Maybe this girl was more than that.