He was a surge of lightning tearing through the night she owned, rattling her ground like thunder, challenging her strength, bewitching her to hold on tighter.
She was fire possessing the threat to silence his demons, wrecking his walls, shattering...
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HARD SOMETIMES ruel 0:00 ───|────── 0:00 ↻ ◁ II ▷ ↺
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On an early Saturday morning, under the sad sky hooded with loaded clouds, with the coldest of breezes forcing all nature to drum harmoniously with its blows, the students of Auradon High stood. A fair majority of grade twelve was lined up in the parking lot, paired up with their groups of friends equally noisy and excited. Coach Webber stood in the very front of the three rows alongside two more supporting teachers who'd been unlucky enough to have their weekends sacrificed against their will.
It all added up to one thing – it was camp day.
"Listen up, you morons!" Webber yelled out, using his shrill whistle to command his students into silence when his voice didn't work. "I had my weekend planned out perfectly fine - far away from you imbeciles and yet here I am, in the same vicinity as you all."
With everyone's attention successfully drawn and engaged, he continued, "Here are some ground rules,"
"One, this camp is not an invitation to get frisky with your classmates. You're all brothers and sisters here, don't make me tear you apart. Two, if any of you bother me with the stupidest things such as wanting to take a leak during the bus ride, I'll respond by dropping you off in the middle of the road and leaving you there. So when we stop at the gas station for a ten-minute break, weigh your options carefully. Three, even though your safety is my responsibility, if any of you fools get lost at the campsite, I promise you that I will not spend my valuable time finding you. Headcount yourself and make it to the bus on time while leaving if you don't want to be forgotten,"
Coach looked at everyone expectantly, smirking in satisfaction when everyone hummed in obedience. Students, while having love for their coach and respect for his serious wit, knew better than to take his words as a joke. Webber always meant what he said.
"Great. Now, Mrs. Darbus and Mr.Lane were kind enough to accompany me in the tedious task of keeping you all together," the coach began, turning around to look at the two mentioned teachers.
Mr. Lane was peacefully dozing in and out of sleep as he stood there drowsily, his head lolling downward. Mrs. Darbus, on the other hand, was fiddling with her pair of grandma glasses that had gotten stuck in a strand of her hair. Coach gave the pair the funniest look ever like he couldn't believe that he had two whole days of this, wondering just how big of a sin he'd committed for having earned a punishment like this.
"You know what, whatever," Webber gave up, grumbling under his breath, giving rise to a round of suppressed laughter from the teenagers. "Load on, come on, get your annoying little tushies in!" he instructed for everyone to head toward their respective busses.
He'd very conveniently lined up all students with travel sickness for Mr. Lane to be in charge of in the first bus, so there wasn't much for him to worry about.
Nyx boarded the school bus and looked around for somewhere to sit. However, the very next moment, she had been shoved into the nearest seat that happened to be the very first one in the right-side row. A gust of chatting and squealing classmates followed, everyone in the cheeriest of moods as they caught a place for themselves and their friends.
Nyx shifted over to the window side to leave the seat next to hers empty, highly doubting that anyone would sit in it. Still, she did so just in case someone was left with no other choice. It did come in use, for a large sack was dumped carelessly in the vacant spot next to her, making her smile with a frown.
Nyx wondered why the girls had carried such bulked-up duffle bags with at least one extra sack. It's not like we're moving, it's just for a single night, she thought. At least the seat's taken, she told herself.
Right after everyone had settled down, coach Webber stood at the very front and, to everyone's surprise, took a headcount. "I'm just checking to see which one of you lot I don't like. I see a few so better watch out," he dismissed, making everyone roll their eyes and chuckle quietly.
Then, two figures climbed in, gathering everyone's attention and earning an unimpressed glance from the coach.
"Boys, of course! Fetish for a grand entrance, I see?" Webber greeted with sarcasm.
"Good morning, coach, there's nothing like seeing you all bubbly first thing in the morning." Warren grinned while saying.
"In the back, Hudson, your buddy too," Webber instructed, pointing two fingers at both the boys he was addressing, moving out of the way to let them pass.
Warren spotted Nyx and rubbed her shoulder comfortingly, sending her a smile to say hello, which she returned with one of her own. His golden curls were slightly wet, sprawled on his head in a mess, the silver of his eyes clashed beautifully with the mulberry hue he was wearing, his signature dimple sitting charmingly on his cheeks.
Behind him was Azriel, looking like he'd rather be anywhere but here as he followed his best friend closer to this undesired mess he'd been dragged into.
He looked down at Nyx. The intensity of his elemental eyes, the weight of his gaze, sent her into a momentary state of unawareness, making her heart thud a little harder, knotting up her breath in her throat, clogging her senses. He wasn't wearing his signature white bandages today, but the sleeves of his baggy sweatshirt were pulled down to his fingers, leaving Nyx to marvel at how well he wore the deepest shade of green. That was all he did to acknowledge her, and before she knew it, he was gone.
The golden boy's friendly greeting and the raven monster's wordless one had sent a trail of hushed whispers among everyone present on the bus. They wondered how the forlorn had managed to earn their attention without even having to try too hard for it.
Warren and Azriel were forced to take the seats in the very back and as per the coach's demand. People had specially made space for the pair the moment they stepped on board. Unfortunately for the two, not only were they far away from the only person they wanted to sit with, but their seats were around the most chaotic group of their batch.
Nyx let out a quiet sigh, noticing Webber do the same but rather loudly and more obviously as he slumped in the front seat across from her. She pulled out her earbuds from the pocket of her wide-leg jeans and sunk lower in her seat, resting her head against the window and admiring the hooded sky. The first song in her playlist drowned out the commotion her fellow peers had already begun making once the bus started moving.
Nobody bothered to even spare a glance at the lone wolf of Auradon High, forgetting all about asking her to join in on whatever they were doing, uncaring to the girl who sat all by herself.
Nyx didn't mind a night away from home – a house with walls that echoed only her voice. She didn't mind escaping the living corpse of her mother who found countless ways to avoid her daughter, or even her father who was too busy in a state far away from his family because he'd chosen work over them.
A pained smile crawled its way to the nyctophile's peach lips as she silently wished for Jane, or even Isaiah and Louise, to be here so that she'd have someone to have at least one bit of the fun that her schoolmates were busy having.
