Chapter Text
Most kids have their first day of school when they’re five. But not Laura Wilson - hers was when she was sixteen. Laura had been homeschooled her entire life, and, frankly, it was a pleasant experience. Her parents were research zoologists working in Africa, but when they got a tenure at an American university, the family decided to move. This meant Laura would go to a local public school.
“This is your lunch, OK? Now, I put a dollar in there so you can buy some milk. You can ask one of the big kids where to do that. You remember your phone number? I wrote it down for you, just in case. Put it in your pocket, I don't want you to lose it.” Laura’s mother said tenderly.
“OK. Bye!” Laura replied quickly. She rushed to school, and nearly got herself hit by a yellow school bus. “I’m okay. Sorry. I'll be careful” she said, just to reassure her parents. They drove away in their Jeep, unaware of what their daughter was to experience in the high school jungle.
After getting to the classroom, Laura saw a tall woman, to whom she tried introducing herself.
“Hi. I don't know if anyone told you about me. I'm a new student here. My name is Laura Wilson”.
The woman, however, turned out to be a girl. A rude girl – “talk to me again and I'll kick your ass.” – was the reply.
Perplexed, Laura decided to search for a place. Just then she saw an empty desk.
“You don't wanna sit there. The Morrigan's boyfriend is gonna sit there”, a blonde (with a black hair streak) girl in a white suit hinted. She was right. Laura could only observe in horror the said couple, who were now violently making-out. The next attempt was a fail, too.
“He farts a lot” the girl smirked, confidently pointing at a boy sitting in front of the empty desk. At this point Laura was restless and disillusioned – she was sure that her first day of school wouldn’t get better. And, in fact, it was a blur. A stressful, surreal blur.
First, Laura bumped into her teacher, spitting her coffee and donuts all over. Then, she repeatedly got into trouble for the most random things. “Don't read ahead!”, “No green pen!”, “No food in class!” and so on. Finally, Laura ate her lunch in the toilet, instead of choosing overcrowded cafeteria. When she came back home, she couldn’t even stand parents’ question about her first day – staying silent, she decided not to answer.
Luckily, the next day was entirely different. When Laura took her seat, she attracted the attention of her classmate – a hippie-looking redhead in long, white dress. The girl grabbed Laura’s hair and said in a dreamy, mellow voice: “I love your hairdo. It’s gorgeous”.
“Thanks”- Laura almost replied, before getting interrupted by the blonde stranger from previous day.
“This is Amaterasu, and she’s almost too straight to function. And I’m Luci” she introduced both of them casually.
“Hi. I’m Laura. Do you know where Room G is?”.
“Health, Tuesday/Thursday, Room G… I think that's in the back building.” Luci said in calm voice, but with a wicked smirk. Amaterasu took a second to think about this reply, but then added “Yeah, that's in the back building, we'll take you there.”
“Thanks.” Laura was filled with joy – she finally got her chance to make the friends that she was desperately in need of, and these girls seemed nice and helpful.
Amaterasu and Luci led Laura through the corridor (“Watch out, please! New meat coming through!”), the playing field… and they decided to sit under a shady tree. Confused, Laura asked about the back building, but all that she got was “It burned down in 1987”. Now, she was rather suspicious about the two’s intentions.
“Won't we get in some sort of trouble for this?”
“Why would we get you into trouble? We're your friends” Luci smirked. Laura had a feel of guilt for a moment, but it left her quickly, as she was wondering what she had missed.
“Why didn't they just keep home-schooling you?” Amaterasu was now asking Laura.
“They wanted me to get socialized”.
“Oh, you'll get socialized, all right. A little slice like you.”
Luci suddenly popped into the conversation, and Laura wasn’t exactly sure what that could mean.
“I’d appreciate it if you could at least be creepy in a way I could understand”, she said. “You're a regulation hottie. I’d even say intangible cunnilingus-worthy.”
Luci smirked… again. It seemed to be her trademark facial expression. And Laura wasn’t content with where the chat was going. Luckily, Luci switched the topic.
“In the name of all that is holy, will you look at Sakhmet’s clothes?” she said with a tone of disgust, while pointing at a blonde girl in ridiculously skimpy black outfit. The girl was surrounded by other teenagers, Laura even noticed someone with a laser pointer.
“Obviously all of The Pantheon stick together” Amaterasu sighed.
“What is The Pantheon?” Laura asked.
“They’re teen royalty. If Brockley was US Weekly, they’d always be in the cover” Lucifer started her explanation. “That one there, that's Sakhmet. She is one of the dumbest girls you will ever meet.”
The exact moment Luci said it, Sakhmet jumped onto someone, screaming “THE RED DOT!”.
“Amaterasu sat next to her in English last year.”
“She asked me how to spell orange” the girl winced with revulsion.
The crash with Sakhmet now rolled over a guy with Daft-Punkish helmet.
“And that little one? That's Woden. He’s totally rich because his father was an inventor or something. Woden knows everybody's business. He knows everything about everyone.” Luci said, while Amaterasu added “That's why his helmet is so big. It's full of secrets.”.
“He is also a gross racist with an unhealthy obsession about Asian girls” Luci whispered.
“And evil takes a human form in Baal.” Lucifer pointed at the guy, around whom all the buzz was centered right now.
“Don't be fooled, because he may seem like your typical selfish, back-stabbing, slut-faced ho-bag. But in reality, he is so much more than that. He's the queen bee. The star. Those other two are just his little workers.” Luci made a pause.
„Baal Hadad. How do I even begin to explain Baal Hadad?” she wondered.
„Baal Hadad is flawless.”
„He has a green Lamborghini.”
“I hear his hair's insured for $5000.”
“I hear he does car commercials.
In Japan.”
“His favorite movie is Varsity blues”.
“One time, he met fucking Tara on a plane.
And she told him he was pretty.”
“One time, he punched me in the face.
It was awesome.”
“He always looks fierce. He always wins Spring Fling King.” Amaterasu said. Laura furrowed her brow, and Luci rolled her eyes - “Who cares?”
“I care.” – Amaterasu replied immediately. “Every year, the seniors throw this dance for the underclassmen called The Spring Fling. And whoever is elected Spring Fling King or Queen automatically becomes head of the Student Activities Committee. And since I am an active member of the Student Activities Committee, I would say, yeah, I care.”
In response Luci stifled a yawn, but then handed Laura a handwritten sheet of paper with an immediate explanation: “Here. This map is gonna be your guide to Brockley. Now, where you sit in the cafeteria is crucial…”