Normally I put Author's notes at the end but I feel I owe anyone still reading an apology for taking so long to updates this story, I know a lot of people asked me to update sooner, but I knew this would be a very important chapter for developing Freya's Character, and rewrote it several times before I was satisfied that she portrayed the initial emotions about going back to school that I thought were both plausible and helpful to the plot, I hope you enjoy this chapter. I once again apologize for the long wait and open my review box to criticism and input as I do value the opinions of those who read my stories. Happy reading my dears:

~PtbK

Chapter 7:

Freya POV:

My steps were heavy on the stairs as I slumped down on my first day of school the others were up, like when Alex started school Henley was excited.

"Oh no you don't, march right back upstairs young lady."

"What?" I looked at Henley disbelievingly, "Why?"

"You are not going to school like that, march missy!" She wheeled me around and all but pushed me back up the stairs, I heard my brothers and Jack and Merritt Laughing behind me.

"Henley what are you doing?" I asked grouchily as she walked into my room with me and pulled the chopsticks out of my hair, letting it fall free.

You are not going to school dressed like that on your first day!" She scolded, "You need to make a good impression, and Danny gave me permission so don't complain to him,"

"I am so not in the mood for this!" I grumbled, "I already graduated high school, I'm a freaking engineering prodigy, I don't need to take driver's ed! I already can build a full sized working engine from scratch and I know how to drive, clearly!"

Henley giggled and tugged at the base of my shirt, "Off, the jeans are fine, make you butt look good, but the hoodie and sports bra is not working,"

"I don't care Henley… this is what I normally wear," I argued, "It's comfortable,"

"But not flattering,"

I made a face, "The boys won't look at me anyway…"

She raised an eyebrow at me and touched my cheek, "You're pretty, and your smart, they'll look at you,"

I shook my head but let her instruct me, "So what do you want me to wear instead?"

"This," She pulled out a normal bra, and a t-shirt that cut low and clung tight to my thin frame, showing off my curves. "Change and hurry, then meet me in the bathroom."

I sighed and slipped on the black fabric, at least she hadn't put me in anything to frilly, then walked to the bathroom, she had decked it out with her rolling chair from her desk. "Sit dear," She said.

I rolled my eyes at her and flopped into the chair. Immediately my hair was tugged behind me so it hung down past the chair, "There is so much…. How long did it take you to grow it out this far?"

I shrugged, "I don't know, like ten years or something like that, I wasn't growing it out on purpose I just never had time to get it cut, so my mom would trim it when it got to uneven at the ends."

Henley hummed in response as she ran a brush though my hair, The feeling was calming, it was something my mom had done for me.

I felt her doing something with heat behind me but I was turned away from the mirror so I couldn't see it, "What are you doing?"

"Curling your hair," She said.

"Why? It's so long that'll just look like a mess," I huffed out.

"Not like a perm dear, loos curls, and pulling part of it back," She assured me, "It'll look fine,"

"If you say so…" I shrugged.

Forty minutes later I was coughing up hairspray as she drowned my hair in it. "There," Henley said spinning the chair around.

I waved my hand in front of my face to get the spray to dissipate and froze when I saw my reflection. It was weird, My hair had been left down in the front, in soft loose curls, in the back she had wrapped it around the ponytail a few times before letting the curls hang loose, so it looked shorter than it is. "Um… wow…" I said.

"I'm glad you like it, now let's turn you back around," She swung the chair so I faced away from the mirror and held up a makeup brush with something on it.

"Uh… can we not… I mean the hair is already kind of a big step… so makeup to would be… to much…" I said, I didn't want to offend her, but I really didn't think I could handle makeup as well.

She opened her mouth to argue with me when Danny came in. "We need to leave soon," He told us.

"Fine, saved by the bell Fey," She said.

I stood from the chair and turned to look at my brother. His eyes widened in a way I didn't really understand, "You look really nice Fey," He said.

"Now if only it didn't take forty minutes," I grumbled as I wend downstairs for breakfast.

"Fey! You look like a real girl!" Alex said as he sat up in his chair, Jack turned around to look at me and offered a smile.

"What do you mean a real girl? I'm a girl every day!" I point out.

Alex shrugged, "But you don't look like a real girl! Real girls wear makeup and do their hair pretty and weir tight clothes, you never do, so you look like a tom-girl."

"Tom-boy," I correct.

"Tom already is a boy," he argued.

Jack and Merritt laughed at my brother and I slumped next to the other teenager to eat my breakfast. "This is stupid, I'm just going to get the driver's ed credit and petition to be re-awarded my diploma.

Jack shrugged, "You may like it,"

"This will be the first time in a while that you'll be with kids your own age," Merritt pointed out, "Make some friends."

"Danny told you to say that," I called them out and they Laughed with me.

"Guilty as charged." Jack said.

"lets go Fey, your… second…. First day of high school awaits."

"Terrific," I rolled my eyes and slumped out to the garage, Danny's car was sleek, a 'chick magnet' a bit out of place in the town we were in but not so much as to attract obvious attention. It was parked between Merritt's motorcycle and Henley's sheik convertible. All the cars were good and reliable, newer models and I knew that their management group had bought them for my brother and his fellow magicians. I slid into the passenger seat and Danny drove. "Do you have your permit?" He asked.

"No," I said. He gave me a look and a glowered at him, "What? It's called Google, I know the rules of the road and all that crap. And clearly I know more about cars than you or any other 'licensed driver' I know!"

He sighed, clearly not wanting to argue with me this early in the morning. "I know Fey, but you need to take the class, and you need to get your license, we are going for your permit this weekend."

I let my shoulders rise up as I slumped into the seat and scowled at the dashboard.

He shook his head and ignored my pouting the rest of the way to the school. I had a homeroom, like a freaking middle schooler. I swear those are the most pointless things ever. I couldn't stand the fact that I was even back in this eight-hour nightmare. I hadn't really realized how adapted I was to my college schedule until it had been interrupted when mom died.

Mom. I hadn't had a chance to even mourn her yet with all of this going on.

"Miss Atlas?"

"What?" I asked, well aware I was a being a bit of a bitch and not particularly caring.

"Fey…" Danny's voice breathed out. He was uncomfortable. Good. If I had to suffer through this I was going to take him with me.

"Here is your schedule and a school map. You're on the first floor for advisory."

Advisory. "Great. Thanks." My tone was clipped as I let Danny pull me out of the office. He frown at me, "Come on Fey, this is a good thing, you were going to have to transfer colleges anyway and that's hard to do in the middle of a semester…"

I glared at my brother. "So what? It would still be college! It wouldn't be this cesspool of educational backwash."

He rolled his eyes and tugged on my sleeve to make me follow him as he grumbled in frustration under his breath. I knew that there weren't a lot of things that got under my brother's skin this way, apparently I had the ability to be one of those few things. "Mrs. Patel?" He asked when we entered the room.

A sunny Indian woman looked up at us. She was young, a bit to young in my opinion, but I had been around the older end of my college professors for the last semester. "It's just Miss." She said. "You must be Freya Atlas and her brother Daniel?"

"That's us." Danny said.

"It's a pleasure to meet you. I'll be your homeroom teacher." She shook my hand and I squeezed hers until she stopped.

"Well the other students should be arriving soon and then you can choose a seat. I'll show you your locker and you can put your things away."

I nodded and Danny sighed, "Um… you were made aware of her… situation?"

Miss Patel nodded, "Yes, that sounds frustrating, I'm sorry you have to do this all over again. They've put you in Drivers ed next semester and it'll be all sorted out for you to graduate."

"Next semester?" I seethed as Danny's hand came down on my shoulder. "I asked to be put in now."

She smiled, seeming to think I had made a joke. "They can't put you into drivers ed half way through the semester."

"Then why am I here now?" I snapped.

"Fey just put up with it." Danny said. "Please,"

I glared at him and he met my gaze with one of his own. "Fine." I spat.

He left the room after I refused to hug him and my increasingly annoying teacher guided me to the lockers. It took me a few tries for the combination to work and I cursed in annoyance under my breath.

Back in the homeroom people had begun filtering in, the few people in the room glanced up when I entered before beginning to whisper to each other. I made a b-line for a desk in the back of the room and slumped into it.

A while later a pretty girl with short cropped hair sat down across from me, I almost didn't notice her because I was so absorbed in the music I was listening to and blueprints I was drawing. She tapped the table next to my notebook I looked up. "Oh, hi…" I said.

She smiled at me and hesitated before talking slowly. "I'm… Ann… are you new here?" I noticed a twist to her dialect, she either wasn't from here or something impaired her from speaking perfect English, but it wasn't to an extent that made her hard to understand.

I reminded myself to be pleasant and nodded. When I spoke I was a bit over aware of my own New York accent. "I'm from New York, I just moved here."

She stared at my face and smiled. "It's nice to meet you."

"You too," I said before glancing at the clock, there was still twenty minutes left in homeroom. "So, what do we do till this is over?" I asked.

"Some people study," She shrugged, "Most of them just talk…"

I glanced around the room, taking in which people were doing which task. "And what about you?" I asked.

She pulled a book out of her backpack and smiled. Lord of the Rings. "Never read it." I confess. She looks shocked and pushes the book towards me, "It's so good though! I thought everyone had read it!"

I smile and shake my head at her. "I think everyone has just seen the movies. I know most of the kids at my old school avoided the books like the plague."

She smiled nicely at me before opening the book and reading. I noticed a free-flowing handwriting sprawled across most of the pages in a rainbow of colors. This was clearly not the first time she had read it.

"Jesus…" I mumbled. Realizing I'd accidentally said that out loud I looked for a sign she had heard me; finding none, I went back to my blueprints.

When the bell rang Ann looked up at me and smiled. "What's you're next class?"

"Math?" I guessed before pulling out my schedule.

She stuttered slightly before asking quietly, "What?"

I looked at her curiously before repeating my answer, "Math."

"Oh. I have that too… Mr. Shepard?"

I nodded and she smiled broadly, grasping my hand. It was the first time I noticed how short she was; she couldn't be more than five feet. "Great, I'll take you, you can sit by me!" Her smile faded as she caught what she'd just said and quickly slurred out, "I mean only if you want to!"

I laughed lightly, "No, that would be great."

AUTHOR'S NOTE No.2:

I realize I have not updated anything else, again I'm sorry, but here is where all of my stories lie:

Two Tricks: Back on track, I'll be trying to update more frequently

Pit's Demons: ON HIATUS: lack of inspiration, PM with suggestions

Hittachin Triplets: ON HIATUS: A few options for direction but I have yet to write one in a way that excites me

Circus of Justice: ENDED: I had meant for it to just be a one shot, I shouldn't have tried to continue it in the first place. I may delete chapters and bring it back to being a one shot.

New Beginnings: ENDED: I'd had a direction when I started, but I lost it. If I find time I will rewrite it, if I can't it will probably be removed from the site.

James' Little Sister: COMPLETED: I think I ended it in a good spot, May add another chapter if I get good inspiration for a slightly cleaner ending.

Children of The Forest: ENDED: this was dependent on me updating once a week as new episodes aired. I was not in the position to do so at the time. Will probably be removed soon.

Sheer Kingston Installments: UNDER CONSTRUCTION: Once I have a little more time I'm going to upload rewrites for Childhood friends and Reunions and Resolutions. This could potentially include the addition of a third installment based on the invasion series.

~PtbK