Breaking The Ice (Gwen/O)

[Atticus Tuck]

Like, high school. Atticus felt a mass of uncontrollable and very unfamiliar emotions fighting for dominance in her stomach like two young dragons over the last meat scrap. It was exhilerating to say the least. She had tried to prepare herself the best she could, but being isloted from the current world for centuries and just now emerging back into civilization could leave some of her knowledge about current teenage fads and such to be desired. She had a "touch phone" in which she had played with endlessly since yesterday to figure out how to work it, it scared her a bit at first-confused her, made her see red, but she at least knew how to accept calls and send "text messages"-sort of.

Atticus was both excited beyond belief to be going to a human school, and also a little insulted by it. BEing stuck with ridiculous humans like they were on the same level as her just made her want to roll her eyes and stomp her feet and just have her own little dragon tantrum. But, it was one of the requirements by her parents if she wanted to continue living here, so she would just suck it up. How bad can a bunch of teenage humans be? She was a dragon afterall!

Atticus strode down the nearly-empty hallway (she had arrived quite early due to her anxiety to not be late) with her head slightly tilted up and shoulders back, trying to look as confident as ever and not meeting any of the early-birds' eyes as they scrutinized this "new girl", whispering to their buddies. Of course, she could hear every word, but it didn't mean much to her. They were only humans, she was the dragon here, they'd figure out soon enough to just stay out of her way unless they wanted to be a tasty snack. Though, dwelling on that now Atticus recalled her mother lecturing her about "Dragon Manners", a.k.a "Don't eat the other students."

Pfft, Atticus thought with a disdainful sniff. "All of these kids look terrible tasting anyway."

The air smelled of perspiration-gross-, more perfumes and colognes-only it seemed much worse than adults'-, nose-burning cleaning supplies, and other scents Atticus could not yet identify. After an annoyingly slow detour to the Main Office, recieving her class schedule and locker number and combination, Atticus set off to find her locker to put away the excess supplies she was having to drag around. The lockers seemed ridiculously tiny to Atticus, but she managed to shove in two of the three binders she was carrying along with the small lunch bag she had packed for herself (which consisted of nothing but watermelon, the only human food she could really stomach) before finally shutting her locker-a bit harder than neccessary- and spinning on her heel, and had barely taken a step before colliding right into someone. The force made Atticus's short-lived non-tripping streak break as she went backwards, landing painfully on her rump.

She uttered a low, growling curse as she fixed her icy gaze on the victim-to-be who had just embarassed her on her first day-but something made her stop as she looked over the student curiously.

[Gwendolyn D. Mattias]

1st period was a blur to Gwendolyn who couldn't focus on anything but the boy who stood up for her the day before and how her slip with the two bullies seemed to have cost her the two friends she had. Lori and Jean still talked to her, but they kept their distance at the same time. It wasn't like before when they took every opportunity to run into each other and gossip, and her phone buzzed often with random texts. Gwen would be miserable if not for Yukki. She had homeroom and two classes she shared with him to keep her from dwelling on things. Gwen found that things evened out. She lost, but she also gained. Still... it weighed on her mind.

The bell rang and Gwen's eyes flicked to the clock on the wall. It felt like she'd just walked in and the bell immediately rang signaling the end of 1st period. Where had the hour gone? She looked down at her notebook and saw that she'd taken notes, but couldn't remember what she'd written. She took a minute to read the notes and was satisfied that she managed really good notes somehow. Gwen grabbed her coach bag and stuffed her book and notebook inside preparing to depart. Her History teacher Mrs. Drumthaket walked over and placed a hand on her shoulder to stop her. Gwen looked up at the older brunet.

“Is everything okay, Gwendolyn?”

She asked, concern etched in her facial features. Gwen smiled at the thoughtful gesture.

“Yes Mrs. D. I'm fine, why?”

Her teacher went on about how Gwen was her favorite student and how in the last day or two, she'd noticed a change that concerned her. Gwen smiled, genuinely touched at her concern. She assured her teacher that everything was fine and it was just the pressure of adjusting that had her mind occupied. Her teacher looked about to make sure all the other students had left and confided in Gwen that she understood her anxiety and that she was there to help if Gwen needed or wanted to talk about anything. She went as far as to say that anything she confided would be strictly between the two and that she would not do anything without Gwen agreeing to the course of action. Again, Gwen smiled and thanked her for her concern and promised to do just that as she left the classroom. She was still waving and looking at Mrs. D as she stepped through the door and made a left out into the hallway.

Gwen suddenly found herself falling on her bum, the air knocked out of her. She closed her eyes at the sting of the impact with the floor, hands flew back to brake her fall so her head wouldn't hit the floor. When she sat up she was looking at a blond girl with unusual blue eyes. “Ouch!... Like, what gives?” She stated at the girl after gasping for a breath. An unknown scent tickled her nose. Gwen wasn't too sure, but she thought she heard the girl growl. Her own brown eyes widen slightly as her senses caught up with her. The girl had a scent she couldn't place. Like nothing she'd aver smelled before. The scent was exotic. An unexpected smell of feminine overtones with a mellow tang of honey and hot metal?. Thats as close as she could get to guessing but she couldn't put a finger on it. Not unpleasant, but something in her urged caution.

Gwen found she was frightened by this, but at the same time curious.

She sat up on her heels reaches out a hand to the blond girl. Just cause she smelled funny doesn't mean Gwen can neglect her manners. >>You're a Mattias. Act like it!<< she could hear her Leo's voice echo in her head. It was practically her fault anyway. She managed a smile, weary of making yet another enemy.

“I'm so sorry. Are you ok?”

[Atticus Tuck]

Like, what gives? Don't humans watch where they're going anymore? Atticus thought bitterly, ut it was more of an afterthought as she inspected the student. Blue eyes scanning over the girl's unusually firey hair, seemingly familiar brown eyes, fair skin. . . And that scent. It wasn't just normal teenage hormones was the first mental note made. Atticus realized this girl couldn't be the age for high school, could she? She was younger, but that wasn't all that set her apart from the mass of teens now passing by in their close-knit groups, eyeing the two girls on the floor as if they were total weirdo. This girl who was extending her hand out, she had the faint scent of the outdoors, the heavenly smell of dry autumn leaves that Atticus adored, like this girl perhaps went into the forest on occasion?

Atticus sat, shell-shocked for a moment before slowly taking the girl's hand and let herself be helped up, unlike she had when she took her fall in the park only a day ago. Atticus had never experienced. . . what was it called for humans? Deja vú? Yes, that's what the young dragon felt at that moment. This was now the second time she had stumbled in front of a werewolf! Atticus hoped this wouldn't be a reoccurring thing when meeting weres.

The girl's eyes, they were almost exactley like Leonardo's! Perhaps it was a werewolf thing, having brown eyes? Atticus had not met too many werewolves in her days-only two now including this girl-so she wouldn't know.

Atticus's ears finally registered the question, "Are you okay?" She gave a curt nod before brushing off her extremely worn jeans and reajusting her messenger bag on her right shoulder before offering a lopsided grin. This time I'll make sure to act, like, cool around a werewolf. I won't freak her out like I must have Leonardo.

"Like, I'm okay. It's all good." Atticus waved away the girl's apology with her hand. "I just can't, like, stay on my two feet for too long anyway. No harm done." Atticus would be lying if she said her heart wasn't soaring like it had its own pair of wings. Her second werewolf! And this one was near her own (human) age! That instantly made it easier to become friends, Atticus had read a teen magazine that said so. Her nose twitched, as it always did when she was storing away a scent into her mental filing cabinets to remember for later.

In a quick, jerky motion Atticus shoved her hand out towards the girl. "Atticus Tuck. I, like, just moved here. Pleasure to meet you." I wonder if we'll have any classes together? Or if there are any other werewolves posing as teens around here? Or maybe, like, vampires!

[Gwendolyn D. Mattias]

Gwen rose to a knee and then stood, her hand still extended to help the blond up. The girl below her just stared with what Gwen could only guess was a curiosity in her gaze. Gwen's own eyes were fixed on the blond girls. It was something about those eyes... She'd seen dozens of blue eyes on humans before, but something was different somehow. She couldn't place it, just like she couldn't place the scent. Gwen could always tell a human from a vampire from another werewolf. The girl staring at her was.... “other” somehow.

Finally the girl raised her hand and took Gwen's. Gwen pulled her to hr feet, again noticing she looked surprised and then... Gwen mentally shook her head, deciding she was analyzing things too closely. She was at school, not one of her brother's training sessions where they taught her all these useless skills.

Gwen giggled at the girl. She noticed that the girl did not have her school uniform on. >> Is she new?.. Maybe she can't find the logistics office.<< she thought, remembering her own first day. She seemed good natured and of good humor and had the valley girl twang down to a tee. Gwen sighed mentally remembering her former friends at the middle school.

All of these feelings and questions didn't show on Gwen's face. She was a Mattias and had learned the art of controlling her expressions and demeanor when she wanted to. She wasn't sure why instinct told her to do this right now. Maybe the fact that she couldn't place the girl into a category.

“I know, right? This is my second time bumping into someone in as many days. It was worth the bruise though. I've made a friend both times.” She said, taking the girls hand and shaking. “Gwendolyn Mattias, The pleasure is all mine” She said with a giggle.

Gwen picked up her bag and slung it over her shoulder.

“You must be on your way to logistics for your uniform. I couldn't find it my first day a week ago either. I can come with you if you like. I have a study hall this period.” Gwen offered, shaking her hair out and back into place with her other hand.

Something wasn't right. Gwen couldn't turn off the conditioning. She wasn't even talking like herself. More like what was expected of her at home. She liked her own valley girl twang, thank you very much, and wanted to be herself.

[Atticus Tuck]

One word came to mind describing Gwendolyn: adorable. It might have been just Atticus's mind self-consciously comparing Gwen's young face to the mess of acne-faced teens, but she couldn't help but think of how cute this girl was-making Atticus smile despite herself. Was it possible for werewolves to be so charming? It was a very clever way to disarm anyone, seeing as this girl would be the last person for anybody to suspect being anything other than human. That brought back the memory of meeting Leonardo, how he did not believe Atticus to be anything but just a "little girl playing childish games" to which she found extremely infuriating, but perhaps it could have been taken as a complement of sorts-a way of saying her own guise was believable. Annoying, but possible. As Atticus focused on other passing students, she realized something else-most were giving Gwen some rather unpleasant looks, like they were expecting her to jump out at any one of them with tooth and claw. Did they know? No, it wasn't possible, they'd look much more terrified or respectful if that were the case. Then that raised the question, what had this innocent looking werewolf do? Maybe high school kids could just sense "difference". Atticus had read that being different in high school could be fatal to your "social life", whatever that was.

"That would be, like, really helpful. Thank you. I actually, like, completely forgot about the uniforms." Atticus let out a small laugh at her foolishness. "It's, like, awesome to meet such a friendly face on my first day." She tried to smooth down her wild mess of hair-and failed-before nodding once. "Like, lead the way."

Atticus tugged at her black T-shirt hem, feeling so out of place among the uniformed students she couldn't stand it for much longer. She noticed a slight differ between the looks being shot her way between male and female. The girls eyed her cautiously, curiously, with disdain, like Atticus was a threat waiting to happen-the hard look in their eyes were just daring Atticus to challenge them, which wasn't the brightest thing to do to a dragon. The boys, on the other hand, seemed to be scrutinizing her, looking her up and down, sizing her up deciding silently whether she was worth the trouble of pursuing. It was off-putting to say the least, being judged so quickly by so many people who didn't even know her name yet. Would it be like this the entire year? Well then, Atticus thought haughtily, Like, I'll just have to make them remember me and know who's in charge. Humans can be, like, so ignorant to the food chain.

[Gwendolyn D. Mattias]

There was tension so thick that Gwen didn't have to look to see the looks everyone was giving her. She picked up more than enough words of the conversations around her to know that the two b*tches were talking and the rumors had spread about what happened the other day. Couldn't be helped. There were allot of witnesses even if the two girls were keeping their mouths shut.

Gwen's smile never wavered. She was used to it, and besides, they only win if she let them get to her. She wouldn't give them that satisfaction. She did what she always did. She ignored them and went about her business. She shut them all out so that at this moment in time, it was just Atticus, herself, and Yukki, who never left her thoughts.

>>Yes. You are lucky<< Gwen thought to herself almost cringing internally at the memory of “her” first day. Everyone thought it was some prank that the cute little middle schooler was pretending to be a high school student. They laughed even harder when they found out it was no joke. If that wasn't bad enough, Lucia made it a point to visit every one of her classes to have a private word with each one of her teaches. Her classmates were dumb, but not stupid. Hushed jokes about Gwen's “Nanny” spread quickly.

It was non negotiable after the hit on her and Leo the week before. Her only victory was convincing her father that Lucia was compromised and to assign a new bodyguard. The new guy, Antonio, kept it low key by taking on the guise of a Janitor's helper. There was no such position, but a generous grant to the school's athletic dept. by the Mattias family and viola!.

Gwen never let them get her down. She was determined to win everyone over one way or another. Just two came around and became her friends. Jean and Lori. She hoped they will come around to her again

“Like yeah. I get that allot. Its just not in my nature to be lame.” She replied to the compliment. Gwen started to walk and Atticus walked next to her.

Gwen pushed those thoughts away. None of that had anything to do with the here and now. Atticus was almost a dream come true. She looked to have accepted Gwen as a peer, not questioning what the “little girl” was doing there in their uniform. Her smiles reached her eyes, so they were genuine, and the extreme valley girl twang was to die for. Gwen just liked her, even though that nagging instinctive feeling kept smacking her on the back of the head reminding her to be careful

“So.. You mentioned Like, you just moved here. Where from?” Gwen asked casually. She wanted to get to know the girl. Maybe that felling she was getting would go away.

[Atticus Tuck]

Atticus fell into step with Gwen, making sure to meet every single human's eyes who tried to walk through her and her new possible friend-looking as if they were braced to give the younger girl a good shove for no reason Atticus could see. Needless to say, locking eyes with a dragoness-even a young dragon-is not the most pleasant thing, especially when she's under a great pressure of newfound emotions. They all quickly moved aside, dropping their gazes but harsh whispers reached Atticus's ears, making her frown slightly. Like, when did humans become so disrespectful? She took a deep breath through her nose, and instantly regretted it. Let's just say enhanced smell plus an entire building full of hormone-crazed teenagers is not a good combination. She let out a slight cough of surprise, mentally deciding to never inhale through her nose in a high school ever again.

As more and more teens began spilling out into the halls, Atticus's ears started ringing slightly at the noise. Was it always like this? How could Gwen stand it? Well, she probably had gotten used to it over the years. With the best of her ability, Atticus tried to shut out the unwanted gossip and squeals and conversations and focused just on Gwen. "Like, my parents, Rogwink and I moved down from the mountains," she explained giddily, still in slight disbelief that her parents had actually agreed to moving away from the safety of the ring of mountains. "We lived there ever since I was born, but it was only us four. My parents decided to move us down here because of. . . " Atticus paused for a brief moment, racking her brain for the lie she had thought up for Leonardo. She blinked. "Oh yeah, my parents wanted me to have more chances in life. Because, like, it's sort of hard to do when you're stuck in the mountains with only your two parents and a marten. That's who Rogwink is, by the way. My best friend, he's a clever little marten, always bringing home anything shiny he can find!" She giggled-yes, giggled-despite herself. Metioning her friend, she thought of how lonely he must be, stuck at home without her. Her pleasant mood faltered slightly, and she sighed. She shook her head quickly before smiling again.

"Sorry, like, this is my first day being away from my family and my first actual day of school so I'm a little nervous."

Atticus gave a slight shrug, and noticed a sign come into view. "Logistics". That was the office Gwen had said Atticus needed to go to for her uniform, which she wasn't too happy about being forced to wear. She would have much rather worn her more comfy black T-shirt, worn jeans, and dark jean jacket than be shoved into ugly sweatervests and skirts(?).

[Gwendolyn D. Mattias]

Gwendolyn walked with Atticus, listening to her story. She started to notice the students coming towards them were not acting themselves. Conversations hushed and stopped as they passed. No one bumped into her or made any jokes about her size or age. It was as though they were unnerved somehow. Gwen's smile slowly lessened. She glanced at Atticus and noticed the thing she was doing with her eyes.

Gwen said nothing. She just walked along and listened to what Atticus was saying. She analyzed every word for a clue or slip of some sort. The girl next to her talked, looked, and behaved like a teen girl otherwise. But Gwen knew she wasn't. She was.... Other. That's the only word she could use to describe her.

As they came to the logistics and supply office, Gwen stopped. Atticus was about to step open the door and step though.

Gwen's hand came up and grabbed Atticus's arm bringing her to a stop as well. There was no one else in this hall at the moment. The logistics office was at the end of a dead end hall.

“Wait... Atticus” Gwen blurted as she stopped her

She knew Atticus was probably staring at her now wondering why she was stopped. Gwen couldn't look at her. She was looking down at the hand that gripped Atticus. Gwen's smile was gone. Her expression was neutral.

“I want to thank you for being so kind. I'm really glad we bumped into each other and all. I was really hopping we could be friends.” She said, trying to put her feelings into words.

“But I know you're not human. Neither am I.” She took a deep breath. “ before we can be friends.... we need to be honest with each other.” She brought her gaze up to look into the blue eyes of Atticus.
“What are you?....” She whispered.

There was no going back now. Something was about to happen. She didn't know how exposing Atticus like this would make her react.

[Atticus Tuck]

Atticus was just about to step through the door into the supply office to claim her uniform, to give Gwen a goodbye for now but make sure to keep her eye on the girl throughout the day-for more reasons than one-when Gwen suddenly took hold of her hand, stopping her. She stared curiously, wondering what could have been wrong. Her sweet smile had dropped, and she was now stone-faced, like something troubling was weighing her mind at that moment. Atticus raised her eyebrows slightly, feeling a little anxious. "I was really hoping we could be friends." This made Atticus's neck go red slightly just because of how straightforward that was, how unexpected. It made her feel like she had just found a stash of glittery trinkets in her own backyard, that one line brought a big smile to her face. It didn't last too long though. Gwen wasn't finished talking, and the last line made Atticus blink in surprise at how familiar this scene was. It was nearly like the park. . . with Leonardo. How weird, this whole meeting with Gwen was like the run-in with Atticus's first werewolf. It brought a giggle to the young dragon's lips, and she took hold of Gwen's shoulders-gently-and beamed.

"Like, I'd love to be your friend too, Gwen. And you're, like, right. I'm definitely not one of these weak humans. I'm a dragon. And, like, I already know you're a werewolf, right?" She gave a reassuring smile.

Atticus couldn't believe her luck. Her first ever real friend in high school was none other than a werewolf, and wanted to be her friend. She knew Atticus was different from her, not human, but she was willing to overlook it, just like Atticus. That made her just feel all. . . how does one explain the emotion of pure joy? Well, for a dragon, it was like the first full flight through the sky, no limits to where she can go, no rules, just her and the clouds. She briefly pondered if Leonardo could be considered a friend. Her meeting with him did not exactly go as planned, seeing as he turned out to be a huge stick in the mud with awful dog-breath (what? Atticus, bitter? No..) Though she still adored him for being a werewolf, it was obvious who she would spend her time with when she could. At least Gwen wouldn't call her a child and act as her superior. She quickly shoved away her annoyance for the Dog-Breath and focused on the little werewolf before her.

"I have a question though. . . how do you, like, stand the smell?" Atticus scrunched up her nose, even though now that they had reached a fairly empty hallway the scents still lingered from decades upon decades. It was almost unbearable to the sensitive-nosed dragon.

[Gwendolyn D. Mattias]

Gwendolyn started to study Atticus while she spoke her feelings. The girls facial expressions, Tone of voice, body language, everything. It was what she was trained to do. What all Mattias were trained to do. To analyze their rivals and dissect them in order to gage their true intentions and feelings beyond the facade they hid behind. This would give her the advantage over her foe. Allow her to manipulate and gain control of any situation.

Gwen was ashamed of this. It was almost as if she'd been brainwashed. The “conditioning” as she liked to refer to it became instinctive so that she didn't have to even think to make it work, It just happened and it made her sad most of the time. She couldn't deny it had its usefulness with strangers, but doing that to friends and people she already trusted saddened her. Gwen didn't want to analyze everything. That was what her father and brothers always did. Especially Leonardo. It was forbidden to use on another family member by her father, so it didn't happen with them. It was still something of a mystery to Gwen, the whole Alpha dominance thing.

Gwen had already formed a hypothesis that linked this as an abnormality that was the cause of the dysfunction in her family and was the cause of her misery at home.

Gwendolyn almost squeezed the arm she was holding tighter. She mentally shook her head and willed her brain to stop. She didn't want to analyze anything. She just wanted to be normal. She didn't want to manipulate anyone or any of that stuff. Thats what the adults did, and maybe when she became an adult it would be useful, but not now. Then it just stopped.

Before her was the girl named Atticus. She looked to be around 14. Blond hair and blue eyes. She was the second peer in this school to show her kindness and treat her as an equal. She was not human. But neither was Gwen. So did it really matter?

Atticus's giggle and hands at Gwen's shoulders brought her back to the here and now.

"Like, I'd love to be your friend too, Gwen. And you're, like, right. I'm definitely not one of these weak humans. I'm a dragon. And, like, I already know you're a werewolf, right?" Was her response to Gwen's question.

Gwen should have been unnerved, but she wasn't. She should have balked at something so ridiculous, but she couldn't. She should have cursed herself for shutting down the skill that would have told her if Atticus was lying, But she didn't. She had no reason to think Atticus might be lying. Instead she found herself awed by the revelation.

Gwen didn't know a thing about real dragons. All she knew was what she read in her DragonLance books, the few dragon movies she saw in the theater over the years, and the stuff of books, faery tales, and dreams.

Atticus knew Gwen was a werewolf, so she must have met others. This would be her first meeting a Dragon.

“Like, Oh My God!... A real dragon?...” She said totally surprised. Her signature smile was back bigger than ever. “That's amazing! I've got like, a million questions, but not here” She said glancing left and right. “And yeah, I'm totally a werewolf.” She gushed excitedly. >>I can't believe I have a dragon for a friend!.. But what's the family going to say?. Do I even tell them?.<< Her mind was going a mile a minute.

“Its a acquired taste. You get used to the common smells after a while.” She giggled then seemed seemed to sober as she thought. Gwen was supposed to be practicing how to desensitize her sense of smell. One of the things she seemed to totally fail at. Or maybe it wasn't a fail. Maybe it was just that she didn't think it was a smart thing to do. Her sense of smell made reading people so much easier than the whole body language thing.
Still.... certain members of her family would be angry with her if she didn't learn proper control.

Gwen shook her head and pushed all that nonsense away. There was no time for it. >>A Dragon!!! YAY!!<<

[Atticus Tuck]

Atticus beamed, the excitement of her bubbly new friend mirroring her own. She didn't expect her first friend to be a werewolf, and one so adorable and charming too! She twitched her nose again, wondering how she would ever get used to this stench, how could humans smell this awful? She supposed she shouldn't complain too much, maybe they couldn't help it. Humans could be funny creatures at times. Atticus nodded excitedly at Gwen, before glancing behind her to where the door the led to the office waited. She sighed. "Like, I suppose I should go get my uniform. . ." She scrunched up her nose in distaste, not particularly pleased by being forced to dress the way the humans who ran the school wanted her to. She was perfectly content in her slightly large black T, extremely worn blue jeans, black combat boots, and jean jacket. It might not have been very "stylish" asmost teens say, but it was comfy. I guess it can't be helped. She sniffed before grinning. "After I get my uniform, maybe you can, like, help me navigate my way around the building? Like, I haven't the slightest clue as to where my classes are," she admitted, crossing her arms.

Atticus gave Gwen a small wave before slipping inside the office. It had a lighter smell, not as bad as the rest of the building, and marched up to the desk where a young woman sat doing paperwork. Minutes later, Atticus stepped back out into the hallway where the were waited, her uniform in her arms. She stared down at it, as if it were the uniform's fault the place smelled so rank before glancing back at Gwen. "Like, could you show me where one of the restrooms are? Apparently I have to change into this thing before, like, going to my next class."

She looked down the hall to where huddles of kids milled about, some messing with their cell phones, some doing last minute homework, some gossiping or making plans, and a few couples walked about holding hands. It was a little odd, seeing how these teens seemed to be completely different in attitude compared to the ones Atticus had come across the other day while she was exploring the town. The teens here seemed to be stiffer, more nervous, trying to melt into the background or for some bask in the limelight. Humans can be so interesting, Atticus noticed. This high school could be an exhilerating experience afterall, especially with a new werewolf to help Atticus around.

A tiny afterthought popped up. Don't forget about the watch. Atticus inwardly rolled her eyes. Oh yes, the watch. The other werewolf's very pretty watch. Just yesterday, Atticus had "accidentaly" "stolen" Leonardo's watch, but as soon as she reached home she was met by her parents, who, after a bit of questioning, ordered her to return it to him as soon as possible. It wouldn't be too challenging to track him down, though, since Atticus knew his scent. Currently, the watch was in her messenger bag, safe from harm.

Atticus pushed away the reminder. She could worry about returning the watch later, right now she wanted to spend her first day without any bothers. Hm, I wonder if I'm allowed to eat my watermelon during class?

[Gwendolyn D. Mattias]

Gwen smiled at her new friend then giggled. Atticus really didn't look too thrilled about wearing a uniform. Her facial expression at the mention of continuing into the office spoke volumes.
“Oh, they're not that bad, really. Have you even seen the totally hideous colors at Ipswitch public schools? Its the next town over, and I probably would have gone to the god-awful all girls school, Villa Victoria if that was my other option.” Gwen said seriously as she opened the door to the office for her. “And like, yeah. I have some time. I'll be right here.” She said waving back at her.

As the door closed behind Atticus the sound of a man whistling could be heard off to he left where the hallway Gwendolyn was in intersected with the main hall within the school. She turned her head to look in that direction and saw a man swishing a dust mop across the floor. He had the standard navy blue jump suit uniform of the janitorial staff which included tan workboots that were out of place because they were new and not worn.

Gwendolyn leaned back on the wall next to the door to the office. She crossed her arms at her chest and crossed her legs returning her gaze to the wall across the hall. That man was no Janitor. Not really. He performed the duties of one, but his true purpose was to watch Her. He was a highly trained bodyguard in the employment of the Mattias family.

Gwen shouldn't have been surprised to see him there. Ever since the hit at the restaurant additional security measures were enacted. Gwen never had a bodyguard following her before. This was going to complicate things. There was no way to tell what he'd heard or seen. She would have to assume he had.

“She's not a threat, Antonio” Gwen said, not looking in the man's direction. He pushed his dust mop past her and stopped to wipe sweat from his brow. He didn't look at her either he simply whispered.

“se lei è davvero un drago, devo riferire a tuo padre”(If she is indeed a dragon I must report this to your father)

Gwen stiffened. He heard everything. She had to stop him from reporting back. She'd tell them in her own way. She wasn't going to loose another friend, damn-it!

“io lo proibisco!.”(I forbid it!.)

“molto bene, signora.”(Very well my Lady)

“draghi sono molto potenti. Spero che tu sappia quello che stai facendo” (dragons are very powerful. I hope you know what you're doing)

The man inclined his head and continued to whistle while pushing the mop around and heading back out to the main hallway. Gwen relaxed a bit and shook her head. >>I can't keep this from them. I really hope Atticus still wants to be my friend when she finds out hos screwed up my life is.<< She pondered as the bell rang and the main hall filled with students.

The door opened and Atticus stepped out into the hall looking down disapprovingly at the pile of uniforms in her arms. Atticus looked her way and Gwen leaned away from the wall and walked next to her “Sure, but like, the student restrooms are disgusting. I've got a better idea” She swung her Coach Bag Coach Bag around and fished inside for something. In her hand was a key with the words “Master. Do not copy” stamped into the tarnished brass of the handle.
“The teacher's lounge gets cleaned twice a day. Follow me”

Gwen explained to Atticus that she was proud of the key in her possession. It was a tradition that a male and female student would inherit a master key to the school to be used for whatever purpose they wanted. The key would be passed down once the person in possession of it became a Senior and was to graduate. Gwen found out about the key her first day since it was the hot gossip going around the freshmen students. Finding the girl who was in possession of it was easy enough. For Gwen anyway. And tradition was broken when the still freshman girl passed it on to Gwen. But no one would know. And it only cost her the Coach bag she was admiring. The same as Gwen carried now.

She finished her tale just as they reached the door to the lounge. The bell rang again and Gwen was sure all the teachers were in their classrooms. She knocked on the door and when there was no answer, she unlocked it and walked in.

The lounge was a large room with plush carpeting, couches, a table with chairs and a kithenet fully stocked. A 50'' LCD TV with DVD player was tuned to the latest Maury show. There were sweets, cake, and coffee already out. Near the back were the doors to the mens and womens restrooms.

"We have maybe 40 minutes before lunches start.”

[Atticus Tuck]

Atticus was more than unhappy about being forced into itchy, stiff clothing articles, but she quickly shoved the feeling back, telling herself that having to wear the crime against adolescants five days out of seven for six hours a day-that was the correct numeral required to attend school per week, was it not?-was a miniscule price to pay for the freedom of living amongst the rest of the food chain like she'd wanted to for so many centuries. She would get used to the minor setbacks of blending into the human society soon enough, she mused. How difficult could that be? Nothing she couldn't handle, obviously. She was a Dragon! Acting like a little human would be a piece of cake.

Atticus trailed after the young were, listening to the redhead's tale of how she came to aquire a "Master Key" which possessed the ability to unlock anything and everything in the building and was only one of two preseented to the "Fresh Man" of the school. Fresh Man? What kind of title is that supposed to be? And if it's a "Man" why does it apply to the females? She fought the train of thought from progressing any further, for she was sure she would probably lose her mind trying to fathom the terms humans have created. She nodded slightly, finding the ritual rather interesting despite the questionable titles of the different ages. Quietly taking in the school building as they walked, surveying the halls that she would be walking through for the next few years as a student. It was an odd feeling. She couldn't quite put it into words. After living her first few centuries of life in the mountains, only knowning about the rest of the world from stories told to her by her father, creating theories of how she pictured the humans to look and act like based off of said tales-which were slightly inaccurate-, and the hopes of meeting beings of her own kind.

"We have maybe 40 minutes until lunch. . ." Atticus blinked, that long? How annoying. She shrugged it off, giving a lopsided grin of gratitude to her newest friend before shuffling towards the female's room to change. After double-checking that the seeing-red-inducing tags were in the back, and that she had not missed any small details of the uniform that could quickly become major in this strange foreign envorionment, she took a brief moment to stare at her form in the mirror. She snickered, as if sharing an inside joke with her reflection, before snatching up her bag and slipping back out into the Teacher's Den-which she could not help but notice seemed to be more well managed than the rest of the school. The adults must be rather important to have such a cozy-looking room dedicated to them.

"Alright," Atticus said returning her focus to the young girl. "Like, where to next? They gave me this paper, it has a list of the room numbers and names. Like, do they really expect anyone unfamiliar with the layout to be able to navigate the school with just some numbers and letters? Humans are really. . . ." She trailed off, not being able to produce a better-fitting word to describe the habits. She held out the sheet towards Gwen. A sudden thought popped into her mind: I wonder what Gwen looks like as a werewolf? Maybe I could, like, ask her later.

[Gwendolyn D. Mattias]

From what Gwendolyn could see Atticus was exactly what she claimed to be. A girl who believed herself to be a dragon that only recently started to integrate herself into the human world. She saw no signs of deception or lies. All she could see in the girl was a child like awe and wonder. An innocence that she only saw when looking into Alice's eyes. Her niece was just 4 yo and Gwen had not seen her in several months since her brother Michelangelo lived in Italy and visited just a few times per year. Gwen hated analyzing people. This wasn't business, this was her personal life. But what choice did she have? Atticus was a dragon. Gwen was not 100% sure, but she'd never ever smelled anything like what Atticus smelled like. 'Stupid Antonio.' she thought to herself. But how could she ignore the warning? He'd said that dragons were very powerful, and thus dangerous. Especially to Gwen who was too young to shift to wolf according to what daddy told her. Gwen would have to keep her eyes open until she was sure that Atticus was not a threat.

'A dragon....' Gwen was having trouble containing her excitement even with the worries of the unknown. She had so many questions she wanted to ask. But would it be rude? Would Atticus get annoyed? And most importantly, was it safe to do so with so many humans about? Gwen tended to draw attention just by being there. Everyone wondering what a middle-schooler was doing in HS uniform. Or pointing and saying something about "the midget". Most annoying being the perverts who stared at her with a wierd expression and smile. She couldn't quite figure out what that meant. She only knew that it made her uneasy. Whatever they were thinking or whatever their intentions, it was not good.

Atticus returning from the female locker room brought Gwen out of her thoughts. She smiled as she said. "Oh My God! You're just, like, so cute in that. I mean, the uniform is kinda, like, blah, but it just works with you." Gwen giggled then noticed Atticus staring at the lavish furnishings in the lounge. "Daddy insisted on mom joining the PTA. She, like, saw the state of the lounge while on tour the day before school started and, like, decided to make a few donations." Gwen answered the unspoken question evident on Atticus's face. She knew better than to tip her hand at being able to read people, but this wasn't business. There wasn't anything at stake or anything, and it really wasn't that difficult even for a normal human to see that Atticus was curious about what she saw.

Gwendolyn giggled again as Atticus went into a short rant about the schedule she was given. Gwen took the schedule Atticus gave her and looked it over. "So you really haven't been to middle school?" She asked knowing that it was where students first encountered classes held in different rooms, unlike in grade school where one teacher taught everything in the same classroom. "Like I said, I'm in a study hall this period, so, like, I'll give you a tour and walk you to your classes." She offered. As Gwen turned to lead the way, there was a click at the lock and two male teachers entered the lounge. Gwen showed no outward sign of distress. She put her hands behind her back to hide the key she held in one of them and quickly stepped forward to address the men. "Good morning, Mr. Ashford" She greeted the tall man with the sandy blond hair. She smiled, beaming up at him. He was her english teacher from 4th period. The other teacher she did not know. Only that he was shorter than Mr.Ashford, stocky, and had the military crew cut that only the athletic department employees wore. She knew him to be the boys gym teacher even before the stench of sweat and adrenalin hit her.

Before he could answer, the gym teacher who had turned red-faced with anger stepped forward and blurted out: "What in blazes are students doing in our lounge!? How did you-" He looked ready to say much more but Ashford put a hand on shoulder to stop him. "Ron!" and leaned in to whisper in his ear. Gwen's ears picked up every word. "Her parents are the ones who donated our new furnishings." Ron's eyes widened in surprise. He glanced at Gwen and then looked at Atticus. "Oh, uh, Miss Mattias." he said to Atticus. Gwen sighed. The man would probably politely remind Atticus that her little sister was not allowed in the building and especially in a high school uniform. Ashford pulled the idiot behind him and addressed Gwen. He was obviously smarter than the dimwitted gym teacher and noticed that Atticus had uniforms in her arms and must be new. "Miss Mattias" Ashford stressed smiling at Gwen. "I see you're showing a new arrival around the school. Carry on then." The gym teacher groaned and put a hand to the back of his head and rubbed the stubble there. He looked so totally embarrassed that Gwen just giggled. She took Atticus's hand and pulled her along before either of them would remember that the door was locked when they walked in and how give thought to how the girls could have gained entry.

"Gosh, that was close" Gwendolyn said once they were down the hall and around a corner. She came to a stop in front of the lockers where she'd bumped into Atticus. She figured she would want to put the extra uniforms away. Gwen pulled out her phone. She wanted to get the dragon's number before she forgot to later.

[Atticus Tuck]

Atticus blinked twice as the young girl complimented her. She wasn't quite sure how to react. Sure, her parents had given her praises plenty of times, so why did it seem different receiving it from someone she'd just met? Sometimes she really wished she hadn't been isolated for so long, so she wasn't as naïve as a hatchling who'd just been born just weeks ago. But the young dragon could not deny the pride that swelled just slightly in her chest at having her human form considered cute, and in such unflattering clothes as well. She nodded at Gwen's explanation of the extravagance of the den, drinking in every detail she could about the girl. That's how you become friends, isn't it? She wasn't positive how the ritual of forming friendships went, but skimming over some teenage magazines she came to the conclusion that you were supposed to learn as much as you could about the person, and give compliments, and take long trips to buy trinkets and clothing. . .

"Middle school? Nope," Atticus replied with a shrug. What an odd name, then again, it seemed like everything around here had interesting titles that made little to no sense to the teen. She had only taken a step as she began to follow Gwen, before the door swung open revealing two adult males. Atticus froze, caught off guard. How had she not heard them tromping up to the door? Had she been that absorbed in her conversation with Gwen? She felt embarrassment well up in her stomach, what on earth was wrong with her? She was so glad that no other dragons had been present to witness her lapse in focus due to a werewolf's compliment on her human form's appearance. Atticus's self-scolding was interrupted in mere moments, however, as the brick-faced male began barking about the two girls being in the den. Atticus felt her temper flare up. How dare he address her in such a tone! Gwen as well! If he only knew how powerful the two teens were, he'd surely be groveling at her feet. The calmer male cut the brick-faced one off with a few whispered words, apparently directing them at Gwen. The "Ron" individual's face flushed, as he began stammering an apology to Atticus, who stared back blankly. Like, Mattias? That definitely is not my surname. So it must be Gwen's, huh? Gwendolyn Mattias. Hm, I'll have to remember that.

Once again, the calmer male adult spoke some sense with respect towards Atticus's redheaded friend, allowing the two girls to continue on their way. Atticus trailed after Gwen, keeping her eyes locked on the brick-man's as she did breaking her gaze once the door was shut behind them. In that moment she made a swift gesture with her hand in the Den's direction, a gesture she'd seen her father preform rarely in situations of extreme annoyance.

The two arrived at Atticus's locker once more, where Atticus had first met the girl only about an hour or so ago, Atticus mused. She began placing her clothes into her locker, removing the brown paper bag currently containing her lovely watermelon. She glanced at Gwen, noticing she was pulling out her phone. That made Atticus realize something, wasn't another trait of friendship exchanging cellular information? Atticus's lips became an "o" as she dug into her pocket producing her own cell phone. She looked at Gwen, scrunching up her nose slightly as she thought about having to figure out how to add numbers into the thing. Her mother had been the one to add the necessary numbers before-hand, and Atticus had possibly given the instructions to Rogwink to chew on, so she was currently clueless. She bit her tongue in annoyance. She'd figure it out. She was a Dragon, no obstacle was too large for her!

Atticus frowned slightly, then finally looked at Gwen, helpless.