9 | Where We Started

Seaside, California September 4, 2012

Lillian

I knew I was dreaming. It was almost realistic, I could feel the moist air from the rain, but something was different about me. I felt noticeably shorter. That, and I was in the middle of the woods at night. This felt like a horror film in the making. I heard the rustling of leaves from behind me, I turned quickly, my heart pace quickening in fear.

I waited silently, all I heard was my breathing, then, two neon blue eyes appeared in the brush in front of me. As they came closer, the sounds of deep growls followed each time I took a step backward. I turned in a flash, till something knocked into me, sending me flying into the dirt.

I felt sharp claws dig into my arms, then screams piercing through the air. But then the screams changed, to a distinct ringing sound.

MY eyes shot open, turning groggily towards my phone that was blaring the most annoying tune I could find. Groaning in protest, I hit the snooze button on the alarm. Why did I have to wake up so damn early?

I slowly pulled my coral comforter off me and yawned. Then my dream from last night flashed back into my mind. It was the same one I had been having for the past couple of days. Glowing blue eyes, something attacked me, and then I woke up.

But it started to happen that night after I saw Zach again at the park with his friend Scott. I hadn't seen him in seven years since his mother's funeral. Ever since then, I started dreaming about glowing eyes and claws, werewolves. I knew Zach was one as were his parents, but why was I dreaming of being attacked by them? My dreams never made sense anyway, I've had far worse dreams that I never wanted to remember.

I disconnected my phone from its charger, Cel had already messaged me 100 times. Mostly about how I had to come to pick her up before school. Her car had for some unforeseen reason decided not to start. Probably the battery, her car was old.

I jumped back out of the bed and glided to the door. I opened it, a slight creak escaping as I did so. The hallway was slowly being illuminated by the smallest rays of light that shined through the hallway window.

Seaside had several cliffsides, my parents had always wanted to have a home overlooking the vast ocean. We didn't have direct access to the beach, but a quick walk down the street led to a path that went down the cliffside. I always went there whenever I could.

I could hear noise coming from downstairs, my parents were already up getting ready for work. Today was the first day of senior year, and a part of me was excited. The other; realizing I had to find something to wear. That always took forever.

Thirty minutes later, I stood in front of my mirror that was beside the closet. My unruly hair was finally settled into loose waves. Hairspray was a godsend; I went through cans like crazy.

I had decided black skinny jeans, and a burgundy tank top paired with my favorite black cardigan would be just right. I went over to my dresser and pulled out my antique brass chained necklace, the chain was long. On the end, a teardrop-shaped fire opal hung down.

I've had this thing for as long as I could remember, the chain and the opal itself showed that it was old. I nearly wore it every day it seemed. It was the last thing my Nana had given me before she moved away to Colorado almost a decade ago.

Just as I went to walk out my door, my phone began to ring, the caller ID showing "Celly", along with a photo with her blue eyes crossed showing.

"Good morning!" I beamed.

"Hey! Can you believe it's our first day as seniors!" Cel cheered, squealing into the mic.

"It's been a long time coming for sure," I replied, grinning. "I need to talk with my parents for a minute, then I'll be on my way."

"Do hurry, I don't want to be late," Cel chuckled, "I'm surprised you're even ready this early," I grabbed my brown leather shoulder bag and slid on my black sandals.

"I know," I sighed, I had a record for taking my time to get ready just like Elle. Though she held the record for the length of bathroom time.

Making sure I had everything in my backpack, the heavy-ass textbooks, and other essentials, I made my way downstairs and smelt coffee coming from the kitchen. I left my bag at the bottom of the stairs and walked into the kitchen.

My mother sat at the large marble island, reading a magazine. Her blonde hair was tied up into a knot, her pajamas still on. She had her own interior decorating company. Our living room nearly changed at least twice a year. This time it was in shades of ocean blue and light gray.

My father was a lawyer; winning cases seemed to be a breeze for him since he could get anyone to confess the truth by just staring into their eyes. He had been born in Spain but moved to California when he was 14.

"Good morning sweetie," my mother smiled, then turned to another page of the magazine. I sat down on one of the white bar stools, reached into the basket on the island, and plucked out a banana.

"Good morning," I replied, peeling open the banana slowly.

"Are you excited for your first day?" she beamed, "I hope you got a good night's sleep."

"I guess you can say that I did," I chuckled then ate my banana.

My mother got up off the stool and got a cup of coffee. She pulled another cup out for me. I finished eating my banana and threw the peel away. Mom handed the cup of coffee to me and sat back down. My mind drifted off back to that nightmare, why was I having them?

"Is everything okay?" my mother asked, I turned to glance at her. Was I giving off that much of being worried over a nightmare?

My parents stopped practicing magic years ago, but my mother's ability to feel someone's emotions couldn't be stopped. The worry flowing throughout my body was bound to be discovered.

"I keep having these nightmares," I sighed. "Ever since I saw Zach at the park last Friday, they just started happening."

"Wait, you saw Zachary?" my mother exclaimed. "How is he doing?"

"He looked to be doing okay," I replied smiling. "He was taken with Cel like, almost instantly. It was so hilarious."

"Can't say I blame him, she is quite the character," my mother mused, but then turned serious, "But honey, those nightmares. What is in them?"

"Just flashes of stuff. Honestly, it isn't anything to worry about. I get weird nightmares all the time," I mumbled. My mother looked down at her coffee, she looked troubled by something as well.

"You're right," my mother agreed. "Well, you better get going! It's almost seven."

My eyes widened then my gaze darted to the clock on the stove. Cel was going to kill me. I grinned at my mom and gave her a quick hug. Right before I darted out my father came into the kitchen, all dressed up and ready to go to his office downtown.

"Bye Dad!" I yelled, then darted around him.

"Have a good day at school mi querida!" I heard him yell after me. Running to my car like a madwoman, I unlocked the door to my red Mini Cooper and tossed my bag into the back.

Classes didn't start until eight, but on our first day, Cel and I wanted to meet up with our cousins Amberly and Elle. They were like Cel and me, witches all descended from the Hathaway coven. We had all been born relativity around the same time, though Elle was the youngest of us. She was almost exactly a month younger than me. Cel and I had been born on the same day, Amberly five days behind us. We were all super close, but Cel had always been like my other half.

Cel also wanted to show Zach around as well since he had never been to public school. He wouldn't be the only new kid there; Elle's younger brother Kenny was also starting high school.

I remember my first year here. That horrible picture from 9th grade. Why did my mother have to keep it up in the hallway?

I almost sped sideways into Cel's driveway, she was already sprinting to the car, her long brown hair whipping back and forth from the wind. Out of all of us, she was the tomboy. It was quite rare to see her in anything but her favorite t-shirt and jeans.

"Drive!" Cel demanded as she slid into the passenger seat. She threw her bag beside mine and put her seatbelt on.

"Why are you in such a hurry? Are you wanting to see a certain someone?" I teased playfully.

Cel glared at me, "No!"

"Okay," I chuckled as I floored it.

It only took ten minutes to get to school from her house. To my surprise, many people were there early. A lot of parking spaces were filled.

Usually, I always parked right under the tree, but this time, some prick with a late 60s black Camaro was parked there. Cel eyed the car with curiosity as we drove by it, "Someone is retro."

Cel is obsessed with older cars. That, and 80's music.

I decided to park towards the back and I'm glad I did. I saw Amberly and her boyfriend Eddie already there beside his black truck. I pulled into the spot beside them and cut the engine off. Cel and I both got out. I leaned against my driver's door, Cel was looking down at her phone and texted someone.

"Hey, guys!" Amberly greeted me as she walked over to us, her dark blonde hair was pulled back in a braid. Being the flier for the cheerleading team, Amberly was quite short. The shortest out of our group, I wasn't much taller than her. Cel was the tree, she was several inches taller than us.

"Have you heard from Elle?" I asked her, Amberly shook her head. Cel appeared at my side, still texting away on her phone.

"Elle's mom is dropping her and Kenny off, I let her know where we parked," Cel muttered. Her phone dinged from a text message.

As if on cue, Elle's mother's minivan popped up into view, they had it for years. Elle's mother worked with my mother in her interior decorating business. They were very close, so much so we referred to her as our aunt. Elle and I had plans to also follow that path, we both loved the arts. Not theatre though, I could never get on a stage in front of people.

"You all have a great day okay!" Aunt Cynthia shouted to all of us, Elle and Kenny hopped out of the van. Then she peeled off out of the parking lot. Now everyone was here.

Kenny walked up to the Mini Cooper, his backpack hanging off his left shoulder.

"You ready for your first day of high school?" I asked.

"Hell no," he muttered. Elle giggled as did Amberly.

We all then walked together through the parking lot till we made it to the bowl that was in the center of the school. The concrete stairs descended to give it its bowl shape. In the middle was a huge oak tree. I had to get to my locker, holding all these books for different classes was killing my shoulder.

"I need to show Zach around, I'll see you guys at lunch!" Cel chirped, I gave her a funny look as she sauntered off.

Amberly sighed. "I should go see where Isabel and Maggie are."

"Then what was the point of coming early? I could've slept in Elle!" Kenny wailed at his sister.

Elle flipped him off.

I, however, agreed with Kenny. We all could have slept in since we came an hour early.

Amberly and Eddie left, leaving me standing there awkwardly with Elle and Kenny. Didn't Kenny have any of his buddies from middle school here?

I knew the best way to kill time. I turned to Kenny and grinned, "I can show you all the best spots to hide when you want to ditch class. Or do other things."

I knew Kenny partook in doing recreational things, one his mother and sister couldn't stand.

His blue eyes widened in awe.

"Lily!" Elle gawked.

I just shrugged, then gave her a big stupid grin. Kenny followed me eagerly with a fuming Elle behind us.

PEOPLE were scrambling everywhere, the first day was like this, freshmen getting lost so easily, this school was enormous. When the first bell rings, that's when the real commotion will start.

After I had shown Kenny the cool hangout spots, he found his friends. Elle and I left to go dump my books in my locker. She kept nervously looking down at her silver watch every few seconds. Her gray eyes were about to pop out of her damn head.

"Listen you can go to our class early alright, even though it doesn't start for another five minutes," I said as I shoved some textbooks into the locker and closed it. It was still heavy, why did every class need a textbook?

"You sure?" she asked. Elle was a perfectionist and a teacher's pet from hell. That and she had to be early or the world would end. Before I could reply Elle was already gone and out of the building.

"Yes," I laughed to myself. Then suddenly images that I had been dreaming about before flooded my mind, causing me to almost fall over. I caught myself before I tipped over.

"The hell?" I whispered.

The feeling of nausea started to well up inside me, my eyes darted in the direction of the restroom.

After an embarrassing few seconds later, and having a girl look at me like I was secretly pregnant, I quickly washed my hands in the sink. The bell was fixing to ring any second and I still had to go to the building adjacent to this one.

I looked at my reflection, my skin was noticeably paler than normal, but then again, I was always pale. I could never get a decent tan, I always burned. My eyes also looked brighter than usual, it could have been from unintentionally hurling a moment ago. I had to be getting sick.

I turned the faucet off, and grabbed the paper towels beside the sink, then glanced back at the mirror, till I noticed something horrifying. My eyes had faint traces of a glow forming in them, my jaw dropped when they suddenly became completely engulfed in an eerie-looking green glow.

"Oh my God," I breathed, gripping the sides of the sink with both of my hands, my entire body trembled. Then it just stopped. I was again staring at my normal green eyes. Why were my eyes glowing? The only time a witch's eyes would glow was when we got our magic when we turned 18. And they would never glow again.

I was 17, not 18! Was I adopted?

The most absurd things ran through my mind as I darted out of the bathroom and ran to class. I had to weave through crowds.

I saw Cel's dark-haired head coming towards me, she had Zach right on her heels.

"Hey, I'll see you later!" she shouted.

"Okay!" I yelled back. Right when I turned my head, I bumped into someone, nearly falling face-first into the cement, till I was caught and steadied by two strong arms.

I glanced up, realizing it was Scott.

"I am so sorry!" I shrieked.

I felt my face turning red from embarrassment. And when I mean red, I mean as red as an angry Tinkerbell. Then something cold shot through me, an image trying to conjure itself up in my mind.

"Don't be, are you good?" he asked.

"Yes, I'm just uh—" I froze. "I'm uh, awesome! See you around!" I added quickly as the last bell blared.

Elle was already sitting up front, portraying the usual perfect and dutiful pupil as I ran in. I took the seat beside her, and let my bag drop to the floor with a thump.

"Hey, you won't believe who is in art with us," Elle chuckled. She looked past me, her expression darkened. It wasn't one of our friends, they all despised art. My eyes narrowed when I saw who she was referring to.

Brandon Kaiser.

The first guy I had ever been with. A year-long relationship that was ruined when Eddie got him into football and popularity consumed him.

He thought dating Isabel Florence would be better since she was tan, tall, and beautiful. I looked like a sickly ghost compared to her. Our breakup was mutual, he had changed into someone I couldn't stand. Their relationship, however, went up in flames at the end of junior year.

He was too busy on his cell phone to notice me staring at him, his short-cropped brown hair and blue eyes were the same. The only difference was he had gotten taller.

I turned back towards Elle, and grimaced, "This is just fucking awesome. You wouldn't mind if I transferred to another class, would you?" I whined.

"No! He was an idiot to go out with that whore. Besides, you're too good for him," we both turned and looked at him. "Since when is he even into art?" she remarked a little loudly.

Brandon looked over at us after she said that. He and I have had art together for 4 years, though this year we were all put in the same class. I quickly averted my gaze back to the front of the class, my face turning red.

"Elle, I've been in art since freshman year," he retorted. "Hey Lil..." he added.

I wanted to cringe. Elle huffed and started to draw on her canvas.

"Hi," I muttered, then grimaced after I turned back to stare at my canvas. Elle glanced over at me, then started grinning. God, this year was going to make me go insane.

Later, as art ended and I went to my math class, I kept my eyes averted from everyone. What was I going to say to my parents? Did they know something I didn't? I just needed to get through the day without an incident.

Hopefully.