Sisterhood

“Charms and Etiquette is a must for ladies…” A teacher who was wearing a light lilac day gown said as she explains the topic for the day. “Ladies, we need to learn that we are born to be demure, light as feathers, charming, gorgeous...”

Jessica rolled her eyes as she grunted. She rested her chin on her knuckles as she boringly listens to what the teacher have to say.

“When time comes, you will all be married, have children, and all of you need to be a good wife. More so, our lesson teaches us grace and poise. As-“

Jessica suddenly slammed her hand on her wooden table. “I’m sorry?? Married?? I am allergic to men…”

The teacher gasped. “I’m sorry? Ms. Jung…what on earth?? Be proper!”

Everyone was shocked as well. Yuri, Yoona, Seohyun, Sooyoung, Sunny, Taeyeon, Hyoyeon, and Tiffany didn’t know what to do but just watch Jessica and her icy words.

“This…this is insane…” Jessica sad as she grabs her notebook above her table. “You know what… here’s something… Grace? Poise? Charms? Etiquette??? Why can’t we be just normal? Why do have to be…proper? And Have this this…” Jessica threw her velvet fan over to her bag. “Fan, handkerchieves…or what so else all the time??”

Everyone was speechless. It’s just how the world is…How women are supposed to be.

“Here’s what I think we are, women are being down rated, degraded, steppes on by men, we have no rights to vote, we have no right of speech, we can’t voice out anything that we want…and more so all we have to do is…obey our husbands…” Jessica stated truthfully. “Am I right?? We’re just an object here by men, and we can’t even go to school. I mean our school is just this charm school that teaches us how to sew clothes, how to take care of the household, what it’s like giving birth, what to do with babies and how to care for them… gawd! We don’t have a life!! We can’t even learn business and science and so…Women are also human beings!!”

“ENOUGH!!” The teacher shouted.

But Jessica continued. “NO!! LISTEN TO WHAT I HAVE TO SAY!!! I DON’T WANT TO BE TRAPPED…I DON’T WANT TO GET MARRIED…THE HELL I CARE IF I SCREW MY FAMILY’S NAME AND PUT IT TO SHAME…I HAVE MY OWN DREAMS AND I WANT TO MARRY THE PERSON I LOVE…NOT BEING BET ON…CAN’T YOU SEE?? DO YOU KNOW HOW MEN TREAT WOMEN UNFAIRLY?? TO THE POINT AFTER TWO YEARS HERE IN SOSHIFIED ALL OF US IN THIS CLASSROOM WILL BE GOING TO THIS BALL AND THERE WE WILL BE BET ON AND THE HIGEST BET THAT WE WILL RECEIVE WILL BE THE MAN WE WILL MARRY…IS THAT EVEN OKAY??”

“Jessica…this is who we are…we can’t do anything about it…” The teacher said. She knows Jessica has a point.

“THEN I WILL CHANGE IT…” Jessica said angrily. “CHARM SCHOOLS TEACH US THINGS THAT YOU SAY ARE GOOD…ETC…SHOWERING US WITH WORDS OF WISDOM LIKE Women should obey their husbands etc. etc. WELL DAMN… IT’S NOT EVEN WISDOM, its STUPIDITY! MEN TREATS WOMEN DIFFERENTLY…WOMEN ARE JUST USED AS AN OBJECT, SOMETIMES SLAVE NOT A WIFE…MEN BEATS WOMEN WHENEVER THEY WANT AND GOODNESS WE CAN’T EVEN DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT…When a woman doesn’t want to have with the husband she can’t even say no because the husband would beat her. Let’s face it…Men owns women…it’s their choice if they misuse us or use us well.”

The teacher sighed. “You can’t do anything about it because the society says so!”

“WATCH ME…” Jessica took her bag. “I REFUSE TO ATTEND THIS STUPID SUBJECT…” She walked out of the room and left everyone.

The teacher sighed as she shook her head. She closed her eyes and pinched her nose bridge.

“Ms. Elizabeth…Jessica has a point…” Tiffany said sadly.

The teacher nodded. “I know…and I’m not mad at her, she’s just fighting…even I hates our status…”

“So does it mean…you’re not sending her to the office?” Taeyeon asked.

Ms. Elizabeth smiled. “No…because a teacher shouldn’t wrong a student who is right…Let’s dismiss even if it’s not dismissal time.”

~Dorm 25~

Jessica slammed the wooden door shut as she entered her shared dorm room with Tiffany. Yes, Soshified is a dorm school for girls ages fifteen up to eighteen. She took off her lacy itchy blouse, her layered skirt, her petticoat, her corset, and only leaving herself in her skirt knickers. (Skirt knickers are like silk camisole in our present time but they are usually cotton. But during 1800-1900’s it is one of the undergarments of women for their day dresses or gowns besides of brassieres and under wears.)

Jessica usually dresses this way when she’s at home in her room or alone in the dorm. She hates the fashion simply because everything was complicated, there were too much layering’s or skirts, then petticoats, sometimes crinoline cages for balloon gowns (the under metal to use for under skirt to make it look like a balloon), and then hard corsets that makes you breathe seemly, you can’t move freely and all you could do is just stay still. Jessica hated it. She untied her hair that was in an up-do and left it in a messy curl over her shoulder. Her eyes started to sore and tears were spilling onto her cheeks endlessly. Jessica wiped her tears away when suddenly a pair of arms wrapped against her waist.

Instead of stopping from crying, Jessica cried the more.

“Now now…” Tiffany said as she cooed Jessica.

“Tiffany…take me away from here…”

“But where are we going??”

“I don’t know…escape me…”

“I-…I don’t know how…” Tiffany said. Her eyes were caught by Jessica’s rose pink lips. Oh my gawd…I’m sinning…Forgive me… Tiffany looked away but Jessica cupped her face back.

“Jess…stop…” Tiffany finally let go on Jessica’s waist.

“Fany…”

“Sica…I know…you know…we both know that I like you…I care for you more than a friend. You’ve been telling me it’s wrong, well…it is wrong because we’re women and later on we’ll get married and so…our parents shouldn’t know about this and-“

Jessica broke off Tiffany’s words by kissing her deeply. She locked her lips against Tiffany’s. Tiffany wanted to break away but she was magnetized by Jessica. She nibbled Tiffany’s lower lip and she bit it making Tiffany groan a little. Both of them could taste their lipsticks. “Ss..s…stop…” Tiffany managed to say. She pushed her away. “Let’s not do this…Jess-“But again Jessica kissed her and this time she wasn’t playing nice. “Nn…no…seriously…” Tiffany struggled.

“Why?? If I’m going to get married someday and waste my life…I want you to take my first…” Jessica said to Tiffany. Their lips were now messed up, their lipstick were smeared and it was a mixed color of her rose pink lipstick and Tiffany’s crimson lipstick.

“HUH?!” Tiffany made a step backwards, slightly away from Jessica. “BOYA?!!!?!?!”

Jessica nodded. “You heard me…you take it…you break it…I’d like to be meaningful for once, I feel worthless…and my ity is something I don’t want to put to waste. I want to do it with someone who loves me…”

Tiffany’s brows met. She was slightly offended. “Someone who loves you? But how about me?? Jessica…if you’re taking mine and you don’t love me…might as well as forget it.” She sighed as she shakes her head. “Before you say such things… you just want me to be your first to get back to your future husband that he married someone whose not a …you’re being rebellious…second, I know I like you…but Sica…don’t use me as a pain killer or pain bouncing machine…talk to me when your senses are back…” Tiffany said as she wipes her smeared lips with her delicate fingers that have sheer pink nail polish.

“The reason why I’m willing is because you always mess up my lipstick and not my mascara…” Jessica said.

~Taeyeon POV~

A lady in dark green dress ran over the green pastures of Soshified. Her dark ominous hair were curled and styled beautifully like those of Victorian times. Her lacy gloved hands held onto her dark green skirt with lots of petticoats underneath as she ran towards a girl who was wearing a pastel yellow day dress. She was holding a white lacy umbrella as she walks gracefully.

“Sunny!” Taeyeon called out. Sunny turned. “Hey.”

“Where are you going?” Taeyeon asked.

“I was just having some fresh air…I’ve thought hard about what Jessica said about women though…” Sunny said sadly. She was wearing a small decorated hat pinned over to her up-do hair, on her earlobes are a pair of tear drop pearl earrings from the Jung family’s Stonehenge Jewelry, and like Taeyeon she was also wearing a lacy white gloves. Both women were holding a fan but Sunny has a book with her.

“Oh…you know…Jessica is right about women. Should we try fighting for our rights? Isn’t it time for change?” Taeyeon asked.

“How? We’re just teenagers and women don’t go in rallies and like our teacher said…Society says so…”

“Ergh…this is unfair if only-“ Suddenly Taeyeon tripped over. She fell onto the ground caused by a root of a large tree that was slightly raised above ground.

“Oh my gosh…are you alright?” Sunny asked. Holding her laughs back, she helped Taeyeon to get up.

“Ya…go on laugh all you want…” Taeyeon said as she brushed off the dirt from her skirt. “Darn that root!!” Taeyeon went back to check on the root that made her trip.

“HAHAHAHAH!!” Sunny laughed hard.

“Curse you root!” Taeyeon said. But suddenly both of them stopped and stared at the root.

“Tae…something’s underneath the root…” Sunny said.

“Let’s see…it’s sparkling??” Taeyeon commented.

Both ladies bent over the root and they dug the rough ground using their bare hands. They dug and dug and dug until…

“Oh my goodness…” Sunny expressed. “Bless my soul…”

“It’s a book?” Taeyeon pulled the book out from the dirt and it has a mark of a star in the middle. There was a circle beside the star. Taeyeon flipped the pages of the book and it was full of weird stuff such as spells and all. As she flipped to the end of the page there was a list name of girls from different year. There was Soshified 1834, 1856 and lastly 1886. “Maybe these are the people who own this book before…”

“Taeyeon…let’s put it back to where it belongs…I think it’s a bad idea…” Sunny said.

Taeyeon nodded. She placed the book back under the root and she dragged Sunny away.

Little did they know… The circle beside the star suddenly moved engulfing the star so it will be in the middle of the circle.

~8:30PM SunYeon Dorm~

Every evening, the girls would huddle up inside SunYeon’s shared dorm room. Sometimes the girls sleeps together in a dorm room of any member, like tonight. The girls were wearing their evening dresses, some were long sleeved and some were puffed sleeve, evening dresses has a ribbon tied under the part and the skirt flows down from under the chest down to the feet. (Like this if you couldn’t imagine: http://media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/26/01/1b/26011ba8ea0318e60c55e91f320743a0.jpg)

“So did everyone brought their pillows and blankets?” Hyoyeon asked.

“Neh…” Everyone answered.

They were sitting on the floor over the bed cushions. Sunny and Taeyeon brought the cushion down to the floor and the YoonYul twins added their mattresses since they were the nearest to Sunny and Taeyeon’s room.

It was so dark inside the room with only the lamp to light.

"So what do you guys want to do?" Jessica asked.

"Ahh...Secrets...let's tell secrets...If we are to get married...what kind of guy or better yet who among the bachelors in town do you like?" Hyoyeon asked.

Jessica glared. "Not planning..."

Yoona laughed and giggled. "Me too...I don't know..."

Yuri smiled. "Then...who do you like, Yoong?"

"Moolah...." Yoona playfully said as she leaned her head against Yuri's shoulder.

"I know who you like..." Yuri smiled as she stares over to Yoona who was leaning against her.

"Who?" Yoona asked as she stared up to Yuri.

Yuri giggled and whispered to Yoona's ears. "Me..."

Suddenly Yoona burst into laughters. "HAHAHAHAAH!!! Omaigash!!"

Everyone suddenly covered their faces and they wanted to throw away the YoonYul twins due to their cheesiness. "STAP IT! if you two are just going to be cheesy the whole night, might as well as get a room on your own..." Hyoyeon said.

"I love you Yoong..." Yuri said as she affectionately rub her nose against Yoona's nose tip.

"I love you too unniieee!" Yoona answered in her aegyo tone as she affectionately shook her head so their nose tips would rub.

"Oh my gosh...Oh my gosh..." Tiffany commented. She laughed as she clapped her hands together. "I can't take it anymore..."

"Why?? Are you jealous??" Jessica teasingly asked. "Do you want me to love you too??" Jessica who was beside Tiffany suddenly bit her shoulder.

Tiffany frowned. "YAH!! look!! your saliva!!" She said.

Jessica batted her eyelashes.

"Ladies...if only we could do this outside...I mean laugh out loud, chat all we can, run, jump, be dorks, to eat whenever we want, no manners, no poise..." Taeyeon sighed. "We could only do these things inside our rooms..."

Seohyun pouted. "It being a lady..." Seohyun said as she spread her blanket over her legs and to Hyoyeon's legs.

"Thanks..." Hyoyeon smiled as she kissed maknae's forehead.

"Unnieee!! HUGGG!!!" Seohyun said as she hugs Hyoyeon and finally rest her head over Hyoyeon's lap.

Hyoyeon smiled as she placed an arm around Seohyun's upper body. "Are you sleepy now my baby?"

"Ahnee..." Seohyun answered.

“Hmm..Tae…what’s this??” Sooyoung asked as she lifts up a book from the side table.

Taeyeon tilted her head. “What’s that?!?!?!?!" Taeyeon suddenly realized what it was. "Sunny…” She tugged onto Sunny who was also scared. It was the book that they found underneath the root earlier. "How did that end up there??" Taeyeon asked Sunny.

"Moolah..." Sunny answered scarily. She held onto Taeyeon's hand tightly and hugged her. "Don't touch it!!" Sunny said to everyone.

But no one listened. “What’s that??” Everyone placed the lamp above the book to light it. “Omo…is this for real??” Tiffany asked.

“Should we try it??” Yoona giggled.

“Guys…we shouldn’t play things like this…” Seohyun protested.

“Pshh…I don’t think it’s even real…” Yuri blurted.

“Yeah…I think this is a joke…” Hyoyeon added. "Spells and enchantments?? Come on...we're in the 18th century...who believes in craps like this..."

“If it’s a joke then let’s do it…” Jessica dared.

“Come on, don’t be a joy killer…” Sooyoung laughed to Taeyeon and Sunny. "This is just nothing..."

Jessica flipped on to the next page. The first page was entitled Activating Powers. “Okay, it says here to sit in a circle if you are already okay with the people who you wanted to be with in the sisterhood sacred circle…Hold hands together…get a candle…and say these words…” Jessica said as she reads the book.

“We don’t have a candle…” Yoona said.

“The lamp quick…” Tiffany placed the lamp in the middle. “There…”

“Okay…let’s hold hands…” Sooyoung said.

“Then…let’s say this together…” Yoona said as she held onto Yuri’s soft hands and Seohyun’s.

Powers of the untold sisterhood,

Witches of the times,

From blood to blood,

Ashes to Ashes,

We call upon your grace,

Open us the light of ways,

Blood to Blood,

In sisterhood we pledge,

Never to break the circle,

Or death will part our edge.

Ashes to Ashes,

In death shall our enchantment reap…

Our powers to be used and keep.

Wisely and not for wicked.

Blood to Ashes.

We now call upon the powers of the past sisterhood,

We make this sanctified vow.

The girls stopped and waited on what will happen. They waited and waited…There was a brief moment of total silence…and...nothing happened. Literally nothing happened. They were still there sitting in a circle positioned holding each other’s hand with the lamp in the middle.

“Psshhh….” Sooyoung scoffed. “See??”

“Nothing happened…” Hyoyeon said. “I told you it’s just a joke…”

Everyone broke off their hands and Seohyun finally closed the book. “I guess…it’s just nothing then…” Seohyun felt relieved.

“Let’s go to bed…there’s class tomorrow…” Tiffany said as she grabbed her pillow and her blanket.

Seohyun placed the book back above the side table and scooted in between Hyoyeon and Sooyoung. Taeyeon and Sunny were like the mother and father of the clique so they slept in between their seven children. Taeyeon was next to the wall by the left side beside Yuri who was snuggling next to Yoona who was beside SooSeoHyo and finally the JeTi and on the other side was Sunny.

“Night everyone!” Sunny said as she placed the lamp beside her.

“Night!!” Everyone answered.

Nothing may have happened physically but little did they know the five pointed star on the front cover of the book became nine pointed stars, and they successfully accessed and open their magic circle.

The Art of Charms...Or Seduction?