Silver Rose followed her nose all along the hallway from the locker rooms to the cafeteria, recognizing the scent of the perfume she was looking for.
It had all been going well at first, but when Silver pushed the doors open to the cafeteria, the trail split into three paths.
“Of course…” the girl wanted to hit herself in the face. “Multiple people would be using the same perfume…”
But then she remembered. The girl who hid her shoes was likely Sunny Flare or one of the others part of her group. That was a start. She just had to see which trail led to Sunny and her friends.
It was a little hard finding them in the crowded cafeteria, because of the smell of ambition, mixed in with the perfume scent Silver was trying to follow. Outside, it hadn’t been as strong.
After a few rounds around the cafeteria, Silver finally spotted Sunny and her group of friends, seated near the left corner, already busy with their lunch. The mulberry haired girl seemed to be busy laughing at something Sour Sweet had told her. Then she looked up, locking eyes with Silver, before quickly looking away.
Alright, Sunny Flare, Silver pressed her lips together and walked towards the table. Let’s see what you have to say about this.
The scented perfume definitely led to this table, and Silver was about to find out who was responsible for hiding her shoes.
“What do you want, Silver Rose?” Sunny Flare asked first, wearing an irritated face. “Can you not see we are in the middle of lunch?”
Silver closed her eyes for a brief moment and sniffed. No question about it. The perfume scent was coming from this table… and was strongest around Sour Sweet. Silver leaned against the lunch table and smirked.
“It’s not nice to touch other people’s property, you know.”
“Touch other people’s property?” Sunny raised her hands innocently. “Why, I would never. And Silver, it’s not nice to go about accusing people for things they didn’t do.”
“You lost something, Silver Rose?” Indigo Zap asked her.
“I know you hid my shoes,” Silver said, placing a hand on her hip. “Don’t try to deny it. I can smell your perfume on them.”
Sour Sweet seemed to squirm in her seat, but Sunny narrowed her eyes and stood up. “Look, Silver. I know you’re the new girl and all, and that you feel you have immunity for a lot of things, but I didn’t take your shoes, so stop your baseless accusations and go away. Pffft, smelling perfume on shoes, really…”
“That so? Then why is Sour Sweet looking so guilty for?”
Sunny turned to Sour Sweet and scowled. “Sour, stop adding to her ego! You’re making things worse for yourself!”
“I-I’m sorry, I-I…” Sour Sweet’s face changed. “I didn’t do anything wrong! Go accuse someone else!”
“Yeah, she didn’t take your shoes, so get lost, Silver,” Sunny raised her voice. “You think just because your mom is famous that you can just go around doing what you want?”
“You leave my mother out of this, you hear me?”
“Sunny, you’re taking this too far,” Sugarcoat pushed at her specs.
“Oh?” Sunny smirked, ignoring her friend. “Or what, Silver Rose? You gonna do something? On your second day at school?”
Silver Rose’s fingers curled into a hooked position, but then she mastered herself and turned away with a haughty sniff.
“You’re not worth it.”
“Yes, please leave. You know you can’t win,” Sunny waved and sat back down.
Silver left the cafeteria without eating, instead going down the hallway and stopping at a secluded spot, huffing and puffing as she thought about her conversation with Sunny Flare.
“Who does she think she is, saying these things about me?” she slammed a fist into the wall. “I should just rip her arms off and watch her squirm!”
Silver Rose had never felt this angry towards anyone before, not even to her mother. This was all new to her and she didn’t know what to do. She could feel her fangs throbbing, filling up with venom and easing out into the open, ready to bite.
Calm down… must calm down or I’ll do something I’ll regret.
The pink haired girl leaned her back against the wall and breathed in deeply. She just focused on the future. All she had to do was look forward. If she were to do something silly now, like injure the rude girl, her mother would never let her out of the house again.
Silver took one more deep breath before adjusting her uniform. She felt better, but she didn’t feel like going back to the cafeteria to see Sunny again, so instead, she stayed there against the wall and willed her fangs to retract. After a few moments, they did.
Silver looked up and down the hallways, and satisfied that there was no one about, sank down onto the crystal floor and closed her eyes, meditating.
“Ah… sweet solitude.”
Back in the cafeteria, Lemon Zest was giving Sunny Flare an uncertain look.
“What’s on your mind, Lemon?” Sunny Flare looked up from her food. “You’re giving me a weird look.”
“I was just thinking… was that really necessary? Chasing her off like that?”
“What, you have a problem with that?” Sunny tilted her head. Sometimes, Lemon Zest did seem to ask the strangest questions.
“I dunno… it just seems a bit harsh, especially if it’s only her second day and all.”
“She needs to learn her place,” Sunny waved her hand dismissively. “You saw what she did in PE. No one does that to me without recourse.”
“It sounds to me like you couldn’t handle a bit of competition,” Sugarcoat said without looking up from her book.
“Couldn’t-Couldn’t handle… couldn’t handle a bit of competition?” Sunny’s forehead turned a slight red. “I can handle competition just fine! She just thinks she’s special and I want to tear that down.”
“What I want to know is how she managed to find her shoes so fast,” Sour Sweet grumbled. “She found them way too quickly.”
“Where did you hide them?” Sunny asked her. “You probably hid them in a spot where everyone can see.”
“Why, I hid them in a shower cubicle. Way out of anyone’s view.”
“Well, apparently it wasn’t good enough,” Sunny spat at her. “Next time, pick a better spot!”
“There’s not going to be a next time, is there?” Lemon Zest adjusted her headphones.
“That depends on Silver Rose, doesn’t it?”
“Well, I think she’s pretty cool,” Indigo said idly. “She doesn’t act all haughty and high even though she’s the daughter of Ebony Wings. Man, what I’d give to get an autograph from her.”
Sugarcoat looked up from her book. “I didn’t know you were into Daring Do.”
“I’m not,” Indigo admitted. “But did you see Ebony Wings in Finest Fantasy and Manslayer’s Doctrine? She’s so amazing!”
“I saw it!” Lemon shook her hands. “It was great, but so were all the Daring Do movies! Ebony Wings is such a good actor!”
“Girls!” Sunny looked at the other Shadowbolts. “Off topic! We’re talking about Silver Rose here, not her mom! Now, her mom’s famous, but Silver’s just like everyone else, but she thinks she’s better.”
“Maybe she is?” Sour Sweet answered. “If she was a big fat cheater, of course.”
“Sour Sweet sorta gets it,” Sunny smiled and folded her arms.
“I know, right? There’s no way that was her first time with a bow,” Sour grunted and stuck a spoon into her pudding. “I mean, what did she do, watch me and copy my skills?”
“Psssh… Haha!” Indigo leaned forward and laughed. “Watch you and copy your skills. What, she can’t be that good. I wish I was that good, but even I can’t do that.”
“Whatever it is, if Silver does something like that to me again,” Sunny pushed at the sides of her hair. “It won’t just be her shoes missing. And you better find a better place to hide them, Sour.”
“Hoo boy, looks like we have a rivalry on our hands,” Lemon Zest said, fiddling with her headphones.
“It’s not rivalry if I’m better,” Sunny looked away. “She’s still new, but trust me, she’ll know her place soon enough. We’re the Shadowbolts, the best Crystal Prep has to offer, not Silver Rose.”
“Okay, if you say so…” Indigo said with a wink. “We worked hard to get to where we are. Just try not to lose your temper the next time she splits one of your arrows.”
Silver Rose walked down the hallways of her home, heading to her room, still playing back Sunny Flare’s words to her in her head.
She didn’t like it, but it didn’t mean she couldn’t come up with something smarter to say the next time. At the same time, Silver was also upset that she couldn’t deal with the problem the way she wanted to and that it had almost resorted to a fight. That would’ve been bad. Really bad.
She turned the next corner, walking right into her aunt’s bandaged arms, which wrapped behind her, pulling her into a warm comforting hug.
“I could smell it down the hall, Silver,” Psithyra said softly. “Something’s troubling you. What’s wrong, dear?”
“It’s nothing.”
“I doubt that to be the case,” Psithyra’s eyes gleamed with green fire. “You can tell me, sweetie.”
“Well… you promise not to get angry about it?” Silver recalled a story that her mother had told her once about the wrath that her aunt had visited on humans who slighted the royal family before.
Psithyra chuckled and held her niece closer. “I promise. Aunt Psithyra isn’t going to be mad with you.”
“It’s not me I’m worried about…”
“Is someone bullying you, sweetie?” Psithyra lifted her niece’s chin. “Come on, tell me what’s going on.”
“Well, it’s not bullying yet, per se…”
“Okay,” Psithyra flexed her fingers. “What did you get yourself into this time?”
“There’s this girl, Sunny Flare,” Silver finally told her aunt. “She thinks just because she’s one of the top students in school she can push people around. She keeps making fun of me and she thought that hiding my shoes was a good way to get at me. She’s so… so terrible, Aunt Psithyra. I don’t know what to do…”
“Have you tried biting her?”
Silver looked at her aunt in shock. “Y-You’re not serious?”
“Yeah, I’m not. But evidently, something has to be done.”
“That’s just it, Aunt Psithyra. I don’t know what I should do,” Silver buried her face in her aunt’s robes. “I don’t want to do something I shouldn’t. I tried talking to her about it, but I couldn’t come up with anything better but to beat her down. I didn’t, of course.”
Her aunt considered this carefully.
“Do you want to hear an old bit of wisdom from a commander during the Renaissance?”
Silver nodded her head.
“To defeat an enemy, you must first undermine his allies. Said by Commander Vespa.”
“Alright… but what does it mean?”
“It means,” Psithyra explained patiently. “That if you want to stop this girl, you’re going to have to take down her friends first. Preferably the nice way. We’re not running a war here.”
“Make friends with her friends?” Silver thought about it.
It actually made a lot of sense. Perhaps if the other Shadowbolts saw no problems with her, or even better, they enjoy her company, then Sunny would have no backup for anything she decided to play. It sounded like a really good idea.
“Ah, looks like you’ve figured it out, Silver,” Psithyra patted her on the back. “Good to see your attitude’s changed. You were rather upset when you returned home.”
“It’s because of you, Aunt Psithyra. Thank you!” Silver hugged her aunt tighter.
“Ooh, careful, careful,” the changeling winced slightly, but chuckled. “Your aunt’s still a little sore from her injuries.”
“Oops. Sorry, Aunt Psithyra,” Silver loosed her grip. “I’m really glad mother found you again. You always give me good advice.”
“It’s my job, dear, as the Queen’s Reaper. I’m meant to be the tactician of the family, after all.”
“True…” Silver nodded. “Well, I’d love to spend more time with you, Aunt Psithyra, but… homework.”
“Yes, of course, go on then,” the injured changeling stepped aside. “Oh, and about that bully. If you’d like, I can always help you come up with some clever comebacks. I’ve used plenty on your mother over the years,” Psithyra finished with a cheeky grin.
After a hearty dinner and all her homework, Silver Rose had a shower and changed out into her new purple pajamas. She had only received it yesterday from her mother for her new persona, one more piece of clothing to add to her spacious wardrobe, though, it was rather comfortable.
Her mother was out tonight, filming something for some upcoming fantasy film, so dinner had gone by rather smoothly.
As for her homework, Silver almost didn’t have any trouble getting it done. Calculus and Home Economics were the only ones she still had difficulty with, but she knew she would master them in time, just like most of her other subjects.
Silver noticed she didn’t work so well with numbers, but if she didn’t want another tutor on the weekends, she had to at least get a decent grade for it. As for Home Economics, the written work was particularly easy, but she didn’t quite know how to manage during the practicals.
“I guess that’s what happens when you have servants to cook for you, huh Mishter Schniffs?” Silver held up her stuffed toy and looked into its blue eyes.
The plushie’s head tilted to one side as she held it up in front of her face.
“It’s not a class you’ll be using anyway,” Mishter Schniffs said in her voice. “You won’t ever need to learn how to cook or anything. Your mother has it all covered.”
“Yeah, but won’t it be fun to be good at that? Imagine me in the kitchen, cooking for my mother and aunt. Plus, it’s something mother isn’t good at.”
“Well… that would be rather amusing, yes,” Mishter Schniffs rubbed his chin. “Well, I suggest you pay good attention in class then.”
“Of course I will, silly,” Silver hugged the stuffed toy closer, inhaling its aromatic scent. “That’s why I’m in school, aren’t I?”
“No,” Schniffs shook his head. “You’re here to learn to hunt on your own.”
“Oh…” Silver sighed disappointedly. “You’re right. That’s why I’m really in school, huh? Well, I’ve yet to bring back any love for my mother and aunt.”
“It’s only the second day, Silver. You’ll get it. You just need time.”
“Thanks for believing in me, Mishter Schniffs. I’m glad I have you around to talk to.”
“No problem, Silver. Now, I suggest you get some sleep. You’ve got another day of school tomorrow.”
“Okay,” Silver said and turned to the side to switch off her bedside lamp. Tomorrow, she was going to do her best to follow Aunt Psithyra’s instructions. “Goodnight, Mishter Schniffs.”
“Goodnight, Silver Rose.”