Warren Hall: Freshman Class

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Rowen blushed as Reeve and Zora looked at her shocked. “What-what did I do? I only used a spell.” The blonde girl said softly as they reached Reeve’s dorm room and a familiar voice replied, “Yeah, but Rowen. If Reeve, Zora or even me used that spell, nothing would happen. Time manipulation is a very powerful ability. Do you know how many witches have wished to do what you can?” Stephen intoned, stepping out of the shadows. Rowen frowned at him.
“How’d you know I sped up time?”
“Easy. Mind reading,” the dark haired teen replied. Rowen groaned and Reeve grinned.
“Nice dude!”
Stephen shrugged modestly. “It’s not a big deal. What IS a big deal though is that Vivian’s back,” he stated and Rowen frowned.
“How’d you know that? Did Reeve tell you?” Stephen rolled his eyes.
“Rowen, anyone with medium abilities in the surrounding counties could tell you that much!” He shook his head and gave Zora a friendly smile.
“Hey Zora. I bet this kinda sucks for you, huh? First day at a new school and your two, no three assuming you and I are friends, have a evil ghost to deal with, huh?”
Reeve rolled his eyes and looked at Rowen.
“Hey, come on! I’m gonna go get lunch for all of us.” With that, the two walked off, leaving Zora and Stephen alone.

[Zorayda]

Zorayda stared in surprise as Rowen modestly brushed off her abilites, obviously not aware of how great her magic was. Before the violet-haired witch could comment, Stephen stepped out from seemingly nowhere.

"Meep!" Zorayda squeaked in surprise, blue eyes wide, as Stephen began talking and saying how amazing Rowen's ability was. She nodded her head vigorously in agreement, still trying to calm down from the older boy's sudden appearance.

'Does he always do that?' she wondered absently. From in her mind, Dax yawned in answer, reminding her that she was yet again using rhetorical questions. Then Stephen mentioned mind reading, and Zorayda's eyes got even wider, if that was possible. What if he 'heard' everything she said all the time?? That would be extremely embarassing. Especially since she thought he was rather good-looking and smart and--

'Oh, shut up!' Dax grumbled from in her head, annoyed. 'I don't want to hear your stupid girlish fantasies running rampant around here while I'm tryin' to sleep.'

'Oh... sorry, Dax...'

He grumbled and went back to sleep instantaneously.

Zorayda was so lost in her own thoughts (and Dax's commentary) that she nearly missed when Stephen addressed her.

"Oh! Um, yeah..." she said tentatively, reminded again of Vivian the ghost. It was rather scary, but she'd forgotten it until Stephen brought it up again. Then Reeve waved and left, smiling and saying something about getting lunch.

"Bye, Reeve! Seeya in a few," Zorayda said cheerily. She put her hand down after waving, suddenly realizing that she'd been left with Stephen. Alone. All of her cheerful confidence was wavering as she stood there, not knowing what to say to an obviously cooler, older individual.

'I wonder what he's thinking...' she mused to herself as she allowed herself quick, nervous glances. Hopefully he didn't think she was boring... she didn't really want him to leave.

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Stephen grinned at Zora. "Whatcha thinking about? Cat got your tongue?" He joked. He really was wondering what the purple haired freshman was thinking about. He sighed. "In a way, I wish I didn't skip a grade," he mused mainly to himself. "Then I could be a senior this year...I really do this this school,"

[Zorayda]

Zorayda jerked in surprise at the sound of Stephen's voice and blinked up at him, her lashes brushing her cheeks rapidly as she attempted to calm herself.

"Oh, just... you know, worried about Rowen's ghost problem." She frowned and hugged her books tighter to her. She really was worried about her new friend, but she'd told a half-truth--what she was truly thinking about would definitely need to remain private from Stephen. Definitely.

She listened to him speak wistfully of the school and nodded.

"Yeah, it's really an interesting place... you must be really smart to have skipped a grade," she acknowledged. "I... well, I'm a bit of a nerd, so I do pretty well in my studies," she admitted, blushing a bit.

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Stephen shrugged. "Nah, I'm not that smart. I just, unlike Reeve, will study when it suits my purpose and not wait till the last minute or just copy off Rowen." He smirked slightly
When Zora mentioned Vivian, he nodded, frowning slightly.
"Yeah...that ghost is a really pain."

[Zorayda]

Zorayda snorted quietly in disbelief when Stephen denied being intelligent. Everything about him screamed smarts, including the way he spoke and his self-confidence when telling Reeve when he was wrong about something. She allowed her lips to curl up slightly when he talked again about Reeve. Apparently those two had a rivalry thing going on.

Getting back to Vivian, Zorayda nodded solemnly. "It seems you've had trouble with her before. Reeve mentioned that you two can control spirits or something, so it shouldn't be to hard to handle her, right?" she asked timidly, curious to know how powerful he was and to reassure herself that the ghost wouldn't harm her because Stephen could protect herself and Rowen.

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" In theory in shouldn't," Stephen agreed and sighed, "Sadly around here things never go as planned. As for controlling spirits that a different matter all together..."
Shaking his head, he scowled when his dark hair fell in his face. Swishing his bangs to the side, he grinned at Zora. "Reeve and Row take a long freaking time. God. They might've gotten lost! As for having trouble with vivian before...
Yeah, I have... I was the one who summoned her in the first place," Stephen smiled sheepishly.

[Zorayda]

Zorayda tilted her head as Stephen spoke, noting the dark scowl as he tried to hide it. This past of his must really have bothered him... she tried smiling reassuringly, though she truly didn't know anything about his bouts with spirits or ghosts.

She nodded and snickered softly when he mentioned Rowan and Reeve, wondering where they'd gone.

"Yeah... Maybe something came up? Hopefully not..." Zorayda's voice trailed off, leaving the unspoken hanging in the air.

'Did they leave us alone on purpose...? she wondered, remembering Reeve's smirk earlier. As Stephen brought up Vivian once again, she put a hand over her mouth in surprise.

"Oh, jeez! Whyever would you do that?!" She said, half-awed and half-horrified.

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Stephen looked away, not wanting to meet the purple haired girl eyes. 'It wasn't one of my brightest moves," he admitted, smiling ruefully. He shook his head, remembering his freshman year and all the trouble he caused. His past words rang in his ears, 'Don't you get it Rini? There is no good or bad. Only power. I have Power,'
He frowned, knowing how stupid he had been...and maybe still was.
"I'm not really sure why I summoned her," he lied. In all truth, he remembered it all too clearly, but he wasn't in the mood to share.
"Well, well, well. So we meet again," a familiar voice said softly and Stephen spun around, standing in front of Zora in what later he realized would have been classified as a protective way.
"Vivian," he spat. "What are YOU doing here?"
The ghost smiled. "Isn't it clear, Stephen?" Her voice was mocking and then she looked at Zora with interest. "Hmm...so you have a girlfriend..."
Stephen blushed. "Just shut up!"

[Zorayda]

Stephen looked away, not wanting to meet the purple haired girl eyes. 'It wasn't one of my brightest moves," he admitted, smiling ruefully. "I'm not really sure why I summoned her."

Zorayda nodded, stepping closer to Stephen and putting a hand tentatively on his back, since she couldn't quite reach his shoulder without stretching awkwardly.

"Everyone makes mistakes," she said softly, more to herself than to Stephen. She remembered how she'd scared her non magical parents, made them fear her, made her own little sister afraid of her abilities...

A female voice, ethereal and strange, suddenly interrupted Zorayda's thoughts, and she took her hand off of Stephen. She heard a low growling noise and was confused for a second until Dax spoke up.

'It's that ghost! She's powerful and dangerous, I can feel it,' the cat said from within her mind. She felt a strange feeling and her mind went fuzzy for a moment, and then the black cat was at her feet, back arched and fur bristled, growling at a haunting figure.

Zorayda immediately stepped backwards unconsciously at the vision of such a terrifying ghost. The girl was giving off waves of malice, her expression vicious and mocking. Zorayda took in a sharp breath as Stephen stepped between her and the ghost.

'He... he's protecting me?' she wondered briefly, and her opinion of him suddenly skyrocketed, even in that moment of fear.

"Vivian," Stephen spat. "What are YOU doing here?"

The ghost smiled. "Isn't it clear, Stephen?" Her voice was mocking and then she looked at Zora with interest. "Hmm...so you have a girlfriend..."

The blue-eyed girl blushed furiously at this statement, out of both anger and embarassment. How dare this... thing... come out of nowhere just to taunt them? Why was she being so unreasonably mean to them?

"H-hey, you should leave him alone!" Zorayda yelled, sounding much braver than she felt. Dax backed up the strength of the statement by hissing and growling, now standing in front of both Stephen and Zorayda.