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Chapter Two: Jazmine

After trudging through the tangle of weeds near her front door, Azlyn made it to the front steps, and walked on her way to school. When she passed her wolf, Ace, he barked a greeting. Ace was small wolf, with a white face, and black and white body. His ears had white insides, and his legs were half white as well. Really, he looked like a regular husky, or something like that, so no one questioned him.



Azlyn stopped to rub him under the chin, and he nuzzled her hand. She handed him a small chunk of meat that she grabbed from the fridge earlier, and he wolfed it down. (Pun unintended there) She patted him on the head, and walked away, with him whining after her. She turned to face him.

"Ace, I gotta go to school. We'll play when I get back, okay?" She put on her pleading voice, and he huffed, and laid his head down. She walked over one last time, and petted him again.

"Good boy." He gave her what could be called a smile, and she continued on her way to school.

Walking down the pavement, Azlyn spotted Kylee walking with her boyfriend, Ashton. She went to walk over to them, about to yell a greeting, when a voice caught her attention.

"Aunt Clarity, I didn't want to go to this school in the first place, there's no way I'm going to have fun." A girl stood on her doorstep, arguing with her mom. She was at a moderate height, wore ripped, tight, and black jeans, and a black t-shirt with 'Black is not Sad' printed on it. Her hair was black, and fell to her mid-back, just like mine. The only difference was that her hair was dyed halfway, with a cool turquoise color.



Her black backpack was slung over her shoulder, and bracelets hung on her wrists. I could just make out some scratches on her wrist, and she seemed to be trying to hide them.

Her aunt listened as her niece complained, but wouldn't budge.

"Jaz, you know you have to go to the school. I say have fun in the sense of 'don't get into trouble', and 'make the best of it.' I'm sorry that we had to move, but you need to deal with it."

The girl huffed, then sighed, and turned to walk away. She saw me looking at her, and turned her face. I was almost mesmerized, until I heard Kylee's voice.

"Az! Over here!" Azlyn turned, shaking her head, and went to join her and her boyfriend on the other side, the dark girl pushed to the back of her mind.

At school, the teen girl shoved her stuff in her beat up locker, only grabbing the school chromebook, binder, and a Stephen King novel. 'It', apparently. I'm almost finished with that one, she thought as she tucked it behind her binder. Azlyn walked to her first class, Math with Miss Namir. She slid into her desk, right in front of Kylee, and right next to Avery, the nerd of the class, other than Azlyn herself. She slid out 'It', and continued the story.

While Azlyn was reading, the shy girl from this morning walked in the classroom, followed by Miss Namir. Azlyn's teacher stood in front of the class, but the girl stood behind her, probably not wanting to face the eighth grade math class. Miss Namir cleared her throat, and brought the girl forward.

"Class, this is Jazmine, and she's a new student here at Irving. I expect you to treat her with respect."

Someone raised their hand, and a voice rang out.

"Is your name like Jasmine from Aladdin?" Spoke Ashley, the cartoon nerd.

The girl shook her head.

"It spelled with a z, actually." Muttered the girl.

Ashley fell silent, and Jazmine walked from the front of the room to her apparent seat.

Next to Azlyn.

Jazmine was very attentive during class, and seemed to like math, like Azlyn. Maybe I can introduce myself later? The teenaged girl thought. After the bell rung, Jazmine gathered up her things, and practically raced out the room. It kinda worried Azlyn. Is she scared or something?

After a few classes, Azlyn realized that Jazmine had the same schedule as herself, so at lunch time, she walked away from her usual table with Kylee and Ashton, and joined Jazmine at her empty one.

She's shaking, staring down at the table, since she has no lunch, and when Azlyn reached out her hand to touch the other girl's shoulder, she flinched violently, and then cursed under her breath. She dropped something on the table, probably forgetting that the other teen girl was there. Azlyn looked at the object she now realized is dripping a stream of blood, and sees it's a razor. She stared at it, suddenly seeing more of herself in this strange girl.

Azlyn looked at her again, and saw that she's cradling her wrist in her good hand. She approached her, and the latter flinched again, but this time Azlyn grabbed her good wrist, grabbing her tray of food in her other hand. She dragged Jazmine by her good wrist, and lead her to the exit. Az dumped her tray of untouched food into the trash can, and pulled Jazmine behind her. Turning the corner, the girl pulled the other into the bathroom, and sat her on the floor, pulling out her wrist.

Jazmine drew her wrist back when Azlyn let go, but she wasn't done. Azlyn went over to the sink, and wetted a paper towel. Bringing it over to the other girl, Azlyn gave a small warning-"This may hurt a bit."-then slapped the paper towel onto the latter's wrist. Jazmine let out a squeak of pain, and tried to yank her wrist back, but Azlyn held fast.

"I'm not going to take you to the nurse, but you should get some medical treatment."

Jazmine looked at her quizzically, and then Azlyn drew from her pocket a roll gauze. She also produced a small piece of padding, and laid it across Jazmine's cuts. She then wrapped the gauze around the latter's wrist, and placed a piece of surgical tape to hold it in place. Azlyn stood up.

"Well, that should hold it until you can get more serious treatment at a later time. That's the best I can do for you know. See you in class." She spoke, and turned to leave.

"Wait!" Jazmine called out. "How did you know what to do, and why did you have those things with you?"

"You and I have more in common than you might think." Azlyn spoke almost dryly, but her tone was laced with pity.

Jazmine approached her. "Well, thanks, I really-hey, what's up with your eyes?"

Azlyn turned her face away, akin to what Jazmine did this morning.

"I have Heterochromic Iridium. It makes my eyes two different colors.



Azlyn hid her eyes, but Jazmine spoke up.

"I like them. They're pretty." She smiled at the heterocromic teenager, and the two of them exited the bathroom.