Luhan wiped the droplets of sweat that rolled down his forehead. He continuously dribbled a basketball as he shifted his balance from one foot to the other. His best friend Kris grinned smugly at him as he shielded the boy with his much larger frame and longer limbs.

“C'mon Lulu~ you gotta try to make a pass some time.” The dragon teased. “I'm waaaaiting.”

At the sidelines of the basketball court a large group of girls sporting their gym uniforms cheered and squealed as they screamed out the werewolf and dragon's names in awe.

“Go Luhan-oppa!! You can do it!”

“No way! Kris-oppa is the best at basketball! There's no way he can beat the team captain!”

The wavy-haired boy stepped to the right to try to get past the taller blonde but the latter was too quick in his movements as he swooped a hand down and captured the ball in his hands, dribbling it in the opposite direction. This action caused Luhan to trip and fall backwards on his back with a loud Thud. He winced slightly at the minor discomfort while girls screamed out their concerns.

“Damn it...” The werewolf cursed to himself.

Kris skillfully dribbled the ball down the court. After spotting his target he bent down and then launched himself as high in the air as possible. Halfway up, large scaled wings emerged from his back, flapping powerfully and giving him an extra boost. With a resounding Swoosh Kris successfully dunked the ball into the basket and landed gracefully back down, earning loud squeals from the girls who were spectating. His name was heard in repeated echos throughout the gym as they cheered over his win.

Hearing approaching squeaky footsteps, Luhan's gaze met with Kris' as the the elder smiled down at him and held out a hand to help him up. He gratefully took it and the taller hoisted the other back onto his feet.

“Good game, man.” Kris grinned self-righteously. Luhan rolled his eyes.

“Yeah yeah... whatever. You're lucky today's class had us playing basketball. If we were playing a real man's sport like soccer then I would have handed your to you on a silver platter.” The other chuckled.

“Except that you'd probably keel over and die from having touched silver in the first place.” The two young men just laughed together and proceeded to start their next game.

Bom sat all by her lonesome against the gym wall. Clad in another black hoodie and long track pants, she held her hands up to her ears to shield out all of the shrieking that was going on. She chewed her lip in annoyance and tugged her hood lower over her face in a sad attempt to try and block it out further.

Why are those girls being so noisy? I don't get what's so impressive about a couple of sweaty guys tossing balls at each other—or whatever that sport entails...

She was brought out of her thoughts when a slightly familiar and cheery voice called out to her.

"Bom! Is that you?" She looked up and spotted what she vaguely recognized to be the girl who tried to get her to speak earlier this morning. Dara.... was it? This girl really doesn't give up does she? Before she could escape the peppy girl was already bounding up to her with a few new anxious faces in tow. This girl was quite the friend-magnet wasn't she?

"I'm lucky you're so easy to spot Bom! Do you always wear such large hoods?" Dara asked once she stopped in front of sitting girl. Her new friends stood nervously behind her, frightened to be in such close proximity with the gloomy girl.

"Mm." Bom simply nodded. She didn't know what to say to this girl. Or rather, how could she let her know that she wasn't interested in forming any kind of new friendship with her? Apparently the silent treatment doesn't work according to what she experienced this morning.

Her eyes darted around as she desperately searched for a way to excuse herself before she was forced to converse with Dara.

Luhan took noticed of the new student who was once again pestering the dark girl. He chuckled and gestured over to them.

"Hey check it out, the new girl is trying to talk to Park Bom again. She really doesn't know when to quit does she?"

Kris glanced in the direction he was gesturing at and raised a brow. "You're ting me. Are you telling me there's someone out there who's crazy enough to want to hang out with that black hole?"

"Yep. She just transferred into our home room so she doesn't realize what she's gotten herself into."

"That poor tortured soul."

"Who are you guys talking about?" A tall teen with an upbeat grin walked up to them.

Park Chanyeol
16, Phoenix, often called the "happy virus" as his positivity is easily spread,
is a bit clumsy and struggles to control his fire casting powers

"New chick in Luhan's class." The fire bird looked across the gym to see what this new person looked like. When he spotted her his eyes bugged out and his mouth formed an 'o'.

"That girl is in your class?? Dude, she's hot! Do you think she has a boyfriend?"

"I'm not sure... But she's not my type anyways so I don't really care to find out." Luhan replied and Kris nodded in agreement.

"She looks too innocent and pure for me. I prefer my women to be more y and daring." Kris said while his lips.

"Well do you at least know what kind of a monster she is?" Chanyeol and Kris stared at Luhan expectantly.

"Hmmm... actually I don't think I do. If I remember correctly she refused to disclose that information when she first showed up for some reason. She said something about attending a human school before this but that was about it. Judging from the way she dresses though I wouldn't be surprised if she was a fairy or something." The tall boy nodded.

"So how about another round?" Luhan asked, changing the subject.

"Uhhh.... I'm gonna have to pass. I think a certain little fox is calling my name..." Kris replied while hungrily eyeing a pretty little Gumiho within the crowd of cheering fans.

Chanyeol scowled in disgust, "Spare me the details, bro."

Kris shot the other two a lecherous grin as he saluted them goodbye with two fingers and started making his way over to the group of young women, their screams getting louder as he approached.

"What about you?" Luhan turned to face the other boy.

"Sorry, but I think I'm gonna go and try to talk to that new girl..." Before Luhan could protest he was already jogging his way over to the petite girl, leaving him all alone with just a basketball in his hands. He, Xi Luhan, abandoned by his friends for women. Oh the irony.

Bom tensed as she spotted a tall, lanky figure also beginning to approach her, Dara and her group of friends. There were too many people around her for her liking. However, what she didn't realize is that this approaching tower would soon become her savior.

“Hey there.” Chanyeol held up a hand as he flashed Dara one of his perfect smiles.

“Hello there.” Dara turned to face him and replied with one of her own dazzling smiles. Chanyeol thought he could feel his heart get caught in his throat. She was just too cute.

“I''m Chanyeol, I heard you were new to this school...?” He began as he held out his hand.

“Sandara Park. But you can call me Dara!” She answered, grabbing his hand and shaking it briefly. The phoenix's cheeks turned noticeably darker, making Dara giggle at how adorable he was.

“So... h-how are you liking it here so far at Illyria...”

Bom rolled her eyes but instantly grasped at this opportunity of Dara being distracted by the tall stranger to slowly but surely crawl her way away from the group. She scooted her way through the gym on her hands and knees and stood up when she thought she was at a safe enough distance from Dara. Weaving her way through the crowd of squealing female students she sighed in relief when she finally made it out the double doors. What a huge relief it was to finally have gotten out of that noisy place. She had to remember to thank that big-eared boy whenever she got the chance. Wiping the light sweat that beaded on her forehead with her forearm, she began walking down the hall to the locker room so she could change.

Walking past a classroom, Bom paused when she thought she could hear some faint, muffled sounds.

“Hm?” She turned her head and looked at the door. What was that?

Curiosity getting the best of her, she peeked into the small window of the door. She couldn't really see anything so she crouched slightly and opened the door a crack to see if she could catch a glimpse of what was going on. Finally, she could hear the sounds a bit louder after listening in a bit closer.

“Ohhhh Kris!! Yes!! Right there!”

“You like that, Baby?”

“Oh Kris yesss...! Harderrr~”

...eh?...Ehhh?!

Bom's eyes nearly popped out of her skull as she fell backwards unceremoniously onto her , alarmed at what she had witnessed. While she couldn't see much, she made out the back of a head of dirty blonde hair and the distinct shape of large dragon-like wings that flapped at a certain rhythm—a rhythm she didn't even want to begin guessing at what it was. She shook her head and felt her face flush a deep crimson. Not wanting to get caught peeping on such a private affair, she scrambled to her feet and made a mad dash for the locker room.

***

Grrrrowwwwl....

Bom pressed a sleeved hand over her growling stomach. Luckily it was already her favorite time of the school day—lunch. Just a bit of a walk further and she would finally make it back to her safe haven where she could enjoy her lunch in peace.

Finally arriving at her destination she slid the door open and closed it behind her after she entered. A soft sigh escaped her lips. It had been a long morning... She looked up, re-energized at the sight of the humongous library that the Illyria Private Academy provided access to.

“You look terrible Unnie. What happened to you?” A younger girl with short red hair spoke from across the tiled floor.

The dark-haired girl looked down at the young witch that stood behind the counter in the center of the library. “You will not believe the day I've had Minji...”

An aid for the library, Gong Minji was one of the few people whom Bom felt comfortable speaking around. She had no trouble sharing her thoughts and feelings with the younger girl as they shared much in common. They both loved books and reading, as well as spending time in the dim, peaceful library that rarely anyone visited. They also shared a love for increasing their knowledge of ancient magic and monster lore so they often shared about their findings in the ancient texts that they borrowed from the library.

The young witch gave her a surprised look, “You mean something actually happened to you for once?” Bom nodded sorrowfully as she walked up to the front desk.

“Someone tried to talk to me today. That's the first time in a long time that that's happened. It caught me completely off guard.” She lifted her backpack onto the counter and began shuffling through its contents.

“Seriously? Who would be brave enough to talk to THE dark mistress known as Park Bom?” she joked.

“She's new. Mr. Kang introduced her this morning. She sat by me and tried to befriend me and everything, can you believe it?”

“Well you can't blame her... she doesn't know anything about you and your reputation at this school...”

“Oh she knows now. But even after someone tried to warn her about me she tried to approach me again in my gym class..”

“Wow, that girl must really be brave.” Bom gave her a miffed expression.

“Luckily some weirdo with a goofy smile came up to her and I was able to get away.” Minji giggled at the older girl's small victory.

“And then when I left there was...” Bom stilled as a blushed crept it's way to her cheeks once again that day, recalling what she had witnessed on the way out of the gym.

“Was...what?” Minji inquired, tilting her head. It was odd to see the older girl get so flustered.

“N-nothing.” Came Bom's quick reply. She didn't feel the need to taint the younger girl's innocent mind with the details of the activity she had nearly walked in on. Finally finding what she had been searching for throughout their whole conversation, Bom pulled out the dusty old book from this morning with a satisfactory “Aha!”

“Ah, did you finally finish that one Unnie?”

“Mhm.” Bom nodded. “It was really interesting. There were a lot of things in there that I wasn't aware of yet.”

“Did you have any luck.... finding that thing you're looking for?”

Bom frowned, “Unfortunately not. Such a shame, this one seemed to contain a lot of information on the matter, but nothing specifically helpful to what I need.”

Minji nodded sympathetically. “Don't worry Bommie-unnie, I'm sure we'll find the answer soon in one of these books.” The girl gestured to the hundreds of thousands of aged books that lined up on the tall bookshelves around the library. Bom looked up with a hopeful gaze in her eyes.

“I sure hope so. If not... I'm not sure if I can guarantee the safety of the students here on this campus...”

Bom lowered her head stared down at her fabric-covered hand. She narrowed her eyes and clenched her fist.

***

Here is the next chapter everyone! I hope you're all liking it so far. I apologize for any errors/typos. Please stay tuned for the next chapter~ Until next time!