Zodiacs - Bad to Good

2: The First Morning

Cancer's POV

I'm not used to being near a lot of people. I've never had a ton of friends. It's really only been my brother and me. Well, besides our dad, but Pisces has always had a grudge against him. It's made this experience all the more odd. I don't know how to act around all these people. We're all strangers.

I was the second one awake this morning. The first was Aquarius, and he was cooking breakfast. He seemed kind of upset, but it might just be because he's quiet.

I took a seat behind the counter and yawned. I don't think he realized I was there until I said, "You okay?"

He turned to face me, a pan of eggs in his hand, and answered, "Yeah. I'm fine. Just new place and new people. It takes some time to get used to, I guess."

I nodded in response. I saw a loaf of bread on the counter, so I took a slice and popped it in the toaster. I decided to try and make some conversation while I waited for it to be ready.

"How come you're up so early?" He asked me before I could say anything.

"I don't know. I always wake up kind of early." I replied with a small shrug, "I could ask you the same."

"I get nightmares." He answered nonchalantly.

I struggled to find a response, but settled on, "Oh. I'm sorry...."

"Sorry, that made things kind of awkward, didn't it?" He said, turning around again to face me. He had this little smile on his face. His hair was messy and he was wearing plaid pajama pants and a plain white tee. I was wearing the pajamas that I was provided in the duffel bag: a baby blue shirt and long, soft pajama pants with mini snowflakes on them. I suddenly became conscious of my childish clothing.

"It's okay." I said, shaking it off.

"Cance, you're up already?" A voice said. Pisces.

Aquarius and I jumped a bit at his words, and I spun in my chair to face him.

"Uh, yeah." I awkwardly laughed.

"Hey, Aquarius." Pisces said, and took a seat next to me behind the counter. Aquarius turned around and went back to cooking his breakfast.

"Hey, guys!" Leo skipped over, sitting on the other side of me.

"Hey, Leo." I smiled.

"Cancer, your toast," She nudged me, "it's burnt."

"I forgot about it!" I exclaimed, and quickly picked it up and dropped it on the counter.

"I'll eat it." Sagittarius suddenly said from behind me, "I love burnt toast. Where's the jelly at?" He picked up the toast and walked to the end of the counter.

"Here." Leo slid the jar of grape jelly to him, and he popped it open and lathered it over the burnt bread.

Everyone began to gather around the kitchen, one by one.

"I smell eggs!" Libra said, poking a fork into Aquarius' eggs and taking a bite while his back was turned.

"I wanna make some toast, too. Someone hand me the ketchup." Gemini said.

"What's the magic word?" Aries teased.

"Ugh. Please." He rolled his eyes, and Aries handed him the bottle.

"Why do you need ketchup?" Taurus asked.

"To put it on my toast. Duh." Gemini answered.

"Ew. I hate ketchup." She stuck out her tongue. A few people gasped in response.

"Hey, me too!" Capricorn high-fived her.

"Do we have cereal? I want lucky charms." Virgo asked.

Scorpio threw him the box, and once he poured it in the bowl, she began to pick out and eat the marshmallows.

"What do you think you're doing?" He snatched the bowl away from her reach.

"Come on, the marshmallows are the best part. Plus, its tax because I handed you the box in the first place." Scorpio laughed.

Sagittarius' POV

It seems so... normal here. All these people are like me. It's different than living in the outside world, surrounded by people who only judge you. Being here almost makes me forget we're all criminals.

But there's always that thought lingering in the back of my mind: training. We'll have to train soon, and as much as I'd like to say that I'm ready to go out and fight an opposing, dangerous gang, I'm not. I don't think any of us are.

I think they're giving us the day to relax and get to know each other. Besides, it'd be difficult to start training as a team when you barely know each other.

"I can't be holed up in here for very long." I sighed, "This place is going to get old super quick if we don't find somewhere else to go."

"I agree. I want to go swimming." Libra said.

"Swimming! That's a good idea! Should we try and ask someone if there's a pool nearby?" Leo asked.

"Don't bother." Ms. Carina said, standing at the door. We all turned to look at the woman, who seemingly showed up out of nowhere. "There's one outside of the building. If you don't put up a fight, the bodyguards will lead you to it. Oh, and there should be bathing suits that were provided to you in the duffel bags. I'll tell a guard to come up, and you'll let him know when you're ready to go." She explained and left, leaving us to get changed.

We rushed to our separate rooms and got dressed. When we got out, there was a guard standing ready to go, his arms crossed over his chest.

Down the stairs we were lead, and then we were finally brought into the bright sunlight that we had been without for the past 2 days. It was in a large, open backyard of the tall building we had emerged from. It was fenced in so that we couldn't leave. 

I mean, I probably could hop it, but I have to admit, I kind of don't want to. I'm starting to like it here.