The Storm

Return

Things were quiet like they'd always been. The school hadn't moved an inch, railway tracks still passed under a nearby bridge leading into open country, and the park still had a broken slide. In top of this Reyna's house hadn't changed a bit. It stood exactly as they'd left it all those years ago.

"Rey you have school. You need to get going." Hylla reminded, grabbing her younger sister's backpack and tossing it to her from across the room. She'd noticed Reyna's blank stare as she gazed out the window. It was clear that despite her assurances, Reyna was nervous.

"Right. Senior year. How wonderful." Reyna sighed, catching the bag with ease and slinging it over her shoulder.

"Don't be so dramatic. Things will be okay," Hylla promised, grabbing her shoes and sitting down to slip them on.

"Right. I doubt anyone's going to remember me." Reyna mumbled grabbing her lunch off the counter.

"They'll remember us Reyna. People always do. That's what happens in small towns," Hylla sighed. It was true, as much as they tried the two girls couldn't avoid their father's name. That's what happened when your dad was the crazy man of town. Sure, he'd served in the war, but no one remembered that. He was just nuts. Not a hero or a veteran. Which mean he didn't get to die an honorable hero. Instead he passed as a man burdened by demons he couldn't fight.

"Thanks." Pausing, Reyna gave Hylla a quick hug before at stepping outside. The highschooler was met with warm autumn air and a bright sun. Grabbing her bike, Reyna pedaled quickly down the road.

As she rode, cars crawled by at a slow pace as  they occupied the small high school parking lot. Only a few kids in Half Blood County were lucky enough to have cars. It would have been a pain in the ass to be car-less if everything wasn't so close together. In truth, you could walk to most places.

Racing onto campus Reyna pushed hard on the breaks leaving tire tracks across the sidewalk. Slipping easily onto the bike rack and slapping a lock to the post, Reyna headed for her first period.

She'd been back in town for about a week but this was her first day of school. She and Hylla had managed to lay low but that would end in due time. Nothing stayed quiet in Half Blood County, and in all honesty Reyna wasn't prepared for the amount of attention her appearance would draw.

"Hey. Um....I'm here to pick up my schedule." Reyna adjusted her backpack nervously as the front desk lady studied her with an intense scrutiny. Reyna could practically feel the judgement burning in the woman's gaze as she was silently handed a sheet of paper.

Glancing at it, Reyna realized that she didn't know any of the teachers at all. It seemed like the ones she'd once known or had heard of were either fired or they'd moved on with their lives. A bit ironic, she thought.

Navigating the halls wasn't hard. The school's layout hadn't changed at all. Still the same two story building it had always been. With the one story arts building off to the left. First floor, room 219. Reyna scanned the numbers above the doors until she finally spotted the correct one. Great I start my day with math. Joy.

Reyna wasn't bad at school, in fact she was really good at it, but that didn't mean she actually enjoyed it. The homework was always annoying, the teachers could be a bore, and she hated how time consuming school was in general. What was worse, homework wasn't allowed to be completed in class. Half Blood High's teachers were the type of people who refused to give in class time to work on assignments even if the lesson was done twenty minutes early.