Chapter Text
Valkyrie Cain had always despised older authority, ever since she was little, ever since she was taught by mortals, and of course it was never really their fault.. but she just hated listening to people who assumed they were above her. And of course, nobody could ever be above Valkyrie Cain.
She looked at Corrival Academy and squinted, as kids like her flew past swiftly along the big trail to the main part of the school, she stood as firm as a statue, entertained by aggravated sighs and confused looks that she was gifted every time someone attempted to push past. Apparently it wasn’t just the teachers who thought they were above her...
She pushed the thought back and grinned as she took everything else in, the sixteen-year-old inside of her angst filled mind screamed boredom, but the mage inside the rest of her was purely ecstatic. She looked around, her black ponytail flipping against her neck, but nobody was there to tell her where the hell she needs to go first. Then she frowned, to the far left of her, stood an angry but pretty blonde with a long bob cut arguing with her parents. She was in full uniform and Valkyrie wasn't.. Maybe she should have changed on the car ride over...
“Keep your voice down, Tabitha!”, which was what Valkyrie assumed to be the girl’s mother, hissed in an arrogant but fancy London accent, “For the lord’s sake..”, she muttered.
“Don’t call me that! I’m literally not called that, because that’s literally not my name! God, mum.”, the girl hissed back, now looking more embarrassed than mad. Her voice was exactly like her mothers, minus more spunk and attitude.
“Now, you listen here, young lady-”, An important looking man spoke up, clad in work clothing that wasn't built for 2020, presumably her dad.
“Young lady?”, the girl gaped, “Young lady? It’s literally the 21st century, dad, what the hell, and for God's sake, my name is-”
The two began to overlap in speech, Valkyrie couldn’t exactly make out what they were saying at this point. The girl’s father put his hands on his hips and shook his head, a classic dad move that for some reason, Valkyrie’s had never quite managed to get the hang of.. “Just go. Just go, and you can take your own things up to your-”
“Yeah, yeah I will take them up myself, you know why? You know why? Father?” Both her parents sighed and looked at each other as the girl, Tabitha, was struggling with her bags, dropping on and then the other as consistently as she didn’t want to. She groaned and grumbled, then caught sight of a boy who appeared to be older, maybe two or so years above, Valkyrie guessed.
“Xander! Finally, bro-”, she sprinted quick as hell past Valkyrie, almost making her fall backwards, and leaped into her brother’s arms.
He was tall, blonde and had the most beautiful endearing eyes that Valkyrie had seen in a while, okay she had to be honest, the most beautiful and endearing eyes and face and body that she had seen ever. He laughed as he faked a few grunts pulling her up into a hug, “Your getting pretty tall Tabbie, God..”, he wore a gold shiny badge saying something leadership-y on it.
“Yeah, I’m like so tall, also did you know that Dad’s making me lift all of my things into my room all by myself, all the way?”, the girl side eyed her dad menacingly.
Her brother, Xander, hesitated, then looked at their father, “ Uh… that true..?”, he muttered, and locked eyes with the father, he immediately looked back to her, “ You know what? Why don’t I help you part of the way, yeah? The head of year mess can wait, alright?”
She screamed and grinned, “ Yes! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!” He put her down, and they went over to her things, his parents nodded and thanked him and they hugged, his dad whispered something to him and he nodded, they shook hands warmly, and then he jogged over to help his little sister with her bags.
“Jesus, Tabbie what did you even take for Easter break, nobody was going to steal your things while you were away, yeah? No matter how much the girls hate you.”
“Ugh, don’t remind...”, the girl’s eyes floated to Valkyrie, and Valkyrie’s widened as she was almost being studied, the girl grinned and stuck her tongue out. Valkyrie smiled back, laughing.
“-You better have your planner with you,” her brother reminded.
“Right, yeah..totally..”, she replied half dissasociated, and flicked her head back to her brother, going into the building, laughing.
Valkyrie hesitated to enter herself, her hands grabbing at her loose black jeans, and her anxiety that she hadn’t felt for so long, flooded back into her veins. She wanted to cry but laugh at the same time, she wanted to call her mum and hug her baby sister while making up unbelievable stories from her old school to prank her dad… weird, so many different emotions at once.
“Man… I mean yeah she’s fit but…”, somebody was behind her, and Valkyrie turned and frowned. There were two boys who looked around her age, as well as looking nerdy as hell. The one on the left with the spiky hair and trainers wore a star wars t-shirt, the other wore a full suit with a bracelet hanging off his skinny wrist. He was also a lot taller... and a lot less Irish.
“Um…you talking about the blonde or me?”, Valkyrie retorted, grinning nonchalantly as possible.
The one on the left frowned, “What, can’t be both?”
She laughed, “Gee, I’m swooning.”
They both grinned and the tall one in the suit held out a hand, Valkyrie wasn’t sure what to do with that…most kids her age asked for her snap- and even they were faking it, “Donnegan, Donnegan Bane,” He spoke with a cute London accent, not too dissimilar from the blonde girl from before, “Lovely to meet you.”
She smiled and shook it somewhat awkwardly, “Valkyrie, but it’s Val to the people I like.”
“Cool,cool, say, you got many of those?,” the shorter one queried.
“Naw, that’s why most of them call me Valkyrie.”
They looked at each other and grinned again, she didn’t like that but it was funny, “Well Val,” Donnegan said, leaning forward ever so slightly.
“-We’ll see you around,” The other finished.
“If you’re lucky..”
They both feigned a chortle like those two old bitchy muppets and left, both carrying their backpacks by the handles. The shorter one’s was suspiciously clinking with every footstep he took, the taller one hit his shoulder, and laughed.
A girl with waist length cherry red hair that was tied back into a big braid and a purple piped blazer suddenly popped into her peripheral, and she had a warm smile, she was wearing one of those leadership-y badges like the guy from before, “Are you lost? Or just waiting…”
Valkyrie smiled, “Oh, just waiting, folks dropped me off like a while ago so…”
The girl grinned widely, “Well then! Welcome to your exam filled unhealthily caffeinated nightmare! You must be our new starter in year 10, you need a manual and school planner right?”
“Oh well I’m actually not sure if i'm meant to-”
The girl was already rooting around through her arms of guides and important looking paper things- though her haste and clumsiness was making them appear less so.. She pulled a thin pamphlet out with a thick binder bearing the school logo and ethos, she handed them to Valkyrie without looking up from her phone that had just appeared in her hands, “Right, so seeing as you’re the only new person who’s starting here after Spring break I’m going to assign you a roommate…”, she tapped her phone and flipped her head up and grinned again, “Okay, all done! It should all be in you student planner- make sure you don’t lose it or you’ll get spontaneously combusted by Professor Bliss!”, she nudged Valkyrie with a laugh then went dead serious.
“Okayyyy… Well I’ll just go in then”, Valkyrie replied with a bit more haste than she really anticipated.
“Uh-huh,” The girl replied, on her phone again, looked up then smiled genuinely, “Welcome to Corrival, Valkyrie.” She frowned,
“Um, how did you-”
The girl was already gone, rushing up towards the boy that the blonde was with who’d just appeared out of the front entrance, and they kissed for a while. Valkyrie wondered how long the two had been together… there seemed to be a lot of passion. She shook her head and tried to erase the image from her mind as she walked into the old bricked building, it was strange, she seemed so hesitant at first, scared even, but as soon as her thick soled boots touched the marble stone in the reception, she felt this strange sense of belonging.
And Corrival welcomed her in…
After dragging a brand new bag up three flights of pure rock, Valkyrie finally arrived at the girls dorms, sighing as she tried to rummage for the information guide that held her room number and literally everything else that she needed to access, on reflection. She took the already broken spiral planner out, holding her bag between her thighs as she rifled through it, ignoring the strange stares she got from a group of passing girls that looked like they had just finished starring as bullies in a 2000s Disney channel hit series. They wore tiny skirts and their boxy blouses instead were fitted and cropped a bit too high. So were their skirts. She ignored the laughs, she ignored the jabs.. and she ignored the scoffs.
Just like she did at her old school… Wait, no. This wasn’t going to happen, she wouldn’t let it. She wouldn’t let a bunch of freaks ruin her life, not again.
She turned, smiling, “Hi! How are you? So sorry, I’m new here and I wasn’t exactly updated on the school dress code… are all the girls forced to dress like they’re on Baywatch Hawaii, or is that like just personal choice?
They all stared, the main one with waist length hair that looked like it had been straightened just a bit too much looked her up and down, smiling with ungenuine warmth, “Sorry?”, she said with an American accent that sounded way too fake to be real, “Sorry, I literally was not listening to like, a word of what you said!”, she replied, laughing in a weird breath-y way that Valkyrie did not like.
“Oh, sorry I probably wasn’t being direct enough, apologies,” She smiled, and put on a plastic Kardashian accent, “Is it low key normal to dress like, um, oh god, I forgot the- Hookers?!”, Valkyrie added a feigned confused grin at the end.
“What…the…hell did you just say?”, the leader asked.
Valkyrie gaped as innocently as possible, “Oh, my god, no I didn’t mean to offend anyone here, I was just curious, you know, first time here and all. I mean… Is it even allowed?”
They all seemed to ignore that, another one spoke up and walked up to her, “Did you just mock us?”, she asked in a rough British accent, handbag slung around the crest of her arm. She was at least a foot smaller than Valkyrie, and didn’t have much gravitas about her.
Valkyrie hesitated, “I’m sorry, what was that?”
“No, no girls… we won’t retaliate to…um… God what are people like you called? Kooks? Nutters? Creeps?”
“I prefer the term character but..”, she replied, trailing off as she put her planner back into her bag.
“Well… fuck off…”, one of them said, she had a light Irish accent that sounded sweet rather than intimidating.
“Yup, I’ve got uniform research to be getting on with!”, she left them and began to walk along the corridor, tracing her finger on all the doors as she passed, hips swaying and ponytail swishing perfectly, “Bitch..”, she muttered under her breath, sighing as she got to the 23rd door, and knocked lightly.
There was a voice from inside, and Valkyrie bit her lip and went in, smiling sweetly when she saw a pretty girl with dark raven hair studying at her desk.
“Oh, hi! I’m Val-” She looked up, her makeup was perfection, her eyes were beautiful, and her necklace that hung over her uniform was exquisite..
“I know who you are, your new…”, she looked her up and down, “ I don’t love your outfit.” Valkyrie looked down at her jeans and t-shirt, “Oh! Well, I’ve always sort of been more for practicality than-”
She laughed slightly, “I don’t want a conversation…?”
“Style.. Okay, that’s absolutely fine, would you ever be like, be available to show me around a bit or…”
The girl sighed loudly and shook her head as she gathered up her CPG guides and left.
“Well okay then…” Valkyrie looked around at the girl’s side of the room, the walls were blank white with the exception of neat study timetables and revision posters. Her bed was so plain and boring that Valkyrie almost mistook it for her own bit of the room. Her own was completely empty apart from an old looking chest by the foot of them bed that was the same color as the bed frame. She threw her things down and looked to the side of her. It was almost the polar opposite from the rest of the room, sheer curtains hanging from the bed frame with indie band posters that Valkyrie loved on the inside, floral printed bedding that looked like it cost a fortune, finished off with silk pillows and cute stuffed animals lain sprawled out over the pink comforter. On the floor below it, there was a fawn print shag rug, with a pair of pink Onitsuka tiger flats discarded onto it.
Beside the bed there were two different suitcases that had an element of style about them, and beside those, there was an old timey vanity with a oval mirror and draws that looked like they’d been opened and shut too many times. But with all that, Valkyrie was most drawn to the cool ass leather boots under the desk, the attention to detail… the embroidery was simply beautiful to her, and weirdly, the fact that they didn’t go with anything else in that area, the pink, the white, the floofy tule…it was kind of sick. She didn’t know where it came from, Valkyrie was suddenly filled with a lovely warm feeling that she never in her life had experienced before… she felt like she was about to gain the best, loving friend ever.
“Hi,” A voice came plainly from the door, the blonde with the hot brother stood in the doorway, smiling awkwardly and waving slightly, “ I like your outfit..”, she smiled cutely.
Valkyrie grinned, “ You’d be the only one..”, she wore a guns n roses shirt, the kind with the skeletons on it, “ People in this school are mean.”
The girl nodded, smiling again and flopped down onto her bed, “Um… yeah, they’re all like that, well.. mostly. Once they hit our year all of the girls get bitchy. Well…most of them at least.”, she sighed, then sat up, “What’s your name?”
“It’s… It’s Val.”
“Val…”, she played with the name for a bit, then grinned, held her hand out and straightened, “My name is Tanith.”
Valkyrie frowned mentally for a moment, why did everyone keep doing that? She shook her head then looked at her for a moment, then jumped at her, hugging. Tanith exclaimed, and laughed awkwardly, Valkyrie automatically shot back.
“Oh my god, I do not know why I did that,” She laughed.
Tanith giggled, “You… haven’t had many friends have you?”
“Um, no actually, most people at my mortal school thought I was kinda loud and really…really weird.”
“Oh”, she said, looking surprised. “I’m not! Weird, I mean, well maybe like a little but, like not in a bad way.”
Tanith looked at her for a few seconds more, the laid back, “Eh, who isn’t these days. Apart from the girls who go here, obviously.”
They both laughed, and then Valkyrie grinned, “ Also I thought your name was Tabitha.”
Tanith scrunched up her forehead, and then Valkyrie grinned and stuck her tongue out. Tanith immediately realised, “ Holy shit, that was you! Wow…sorry, when I’m around my parents I get a bit bitchy…”
Valkyrie gawped, “Not you too!” They both laughed, and Valkyrie began to feel that nice feeling again, they talked and talked and then Tanith helped her to decorate her side of the room because she had spare fairy lights in her trunk, as well as some hot boy band posters. Once they were done, Tanith offered to give Valkyrie a tour without prompt and she gladly accepted…
“Okay so, these are the dorms, as you know…”, Tanith walked down the old stone corridor that wasn’t as cold as it was before when she was walking through. Valkyrie was nodding along and smiling thorough her new friend’s talkative demeanour, which she didn’t really mind too much at all. It was nice. Tanith paused as they got to the staircase, and pointed behind them to a huge door just before all of the other dorm doors carried on, they were sectioned off from the other’s though.
“ Those, are the showers but right beside them are the boys dorms andddd… I don’t go there, you shouldn’t either, the waters cold and it stinks.”, she looked at her, “My brother’s girlfriend lets me use her private one though, head students have really unfair priorities but at least I get to use most of them! Feel free to ask whenever you want…or enter at your own risk.”, she shrugged, then grinned as she pulled her arm down the staircase.
“Okay, just a quick few things you should probably know before we enter the somewhat more public zone of the school-”
“Um, okay-”
“- First off, do not be late to class-”
“That’s kinda obvious Tabitha…”
“-Oh no, no I mean do not be late to class, the teachers will… you know what? I’ll let you find that one out for yourself! No time to explain.”
“Helpful!-”
“- Number two, don’t put your hand up, you’ll get called a nerdy twat by the boys, and the girls will literally eat you alive…okay not literally but they will not be on your good side, OK?!”
“Got it-”
“- C, never push a 1st year.”
“ Are they going to like, attack or something?”
Her hair flicked around her face when she looked at her, “What? Oh, no it’s just mean.”
“Oh, okay.”
When they reached the bottom of the staircase, a teacher walked past, he was tall, broad and extremely terrifying looking – and Valkyrie never found people terrifying..
Tanith nodded to him, and he nodded back respectfully, and when he passed, she pulled Valkyrie into a corner, “That…”, she whispered, “ Is Mr Bliss… but you need to call him Professor Bliss or he’ll stare at you so coldly you’ll totally die from hypothermia.” “I’m sure that’s not true…”
“- Okay, lastly do not contradict anything I say…” She leaned in intensely, “ I know things…”, she frowned, “Oh, shit no, that’s Saracen’s thing ...”, she rolled her eyes.
“…Wait, who?”
She laughed like it was an inside joke, “Um, you know what? You’ll meet him later… he likes to make an um impression on certain girls, just a warning.”
Valkyrie grinned, then Tanith took her hand again and dragged her, then they ran the opposite way to where Mr Bliss went. They passed windows bigger than Valkyrie had seen in her life, which were on a wall that stretched out onto the left side of the corridor. She tried to look in, but it was strange, she just…couldn’t. Even if she could.
“Oh, God…”, she held her head, her eyes wide open.
“Oh, yeah… best not to look in there when the windows are off, you’ll get used to it,"said Tanith
“That true..?”, She replied, her headache fading, but the confusion still there, “What even is it?”
“ The assembly room, they use it for meetings sometimes, big ones… nobody actually really knows what they talk about… the head students do though but it’s probably boring as hell anyway..” Out of the silence that had occurred between them, a big sounding clock went off in the distance, even though they were still in the school building.
Tanith gasped, “Oh, shit… what time is it…?”, She got out her phone and sighed in annoyance, “ Look, I have to go but feel free to keep looking around if you like, I’ll see you back in our room”, she said, jogging away, “-And try not to get lost!”
Valkyrie just stood there and tried not to look like an idiot while she processed everything that’d happened to her.
Looking back, It wasn’t quite as bad as she’d thought..