I Don't Want to be Here.

Bethany Cristi walked toward the entrance, her form stiff and rigid, betraying tension and maybe a little impotent anger as she strutted, the object of her ire a little harder to identify. A small, dark black backpack - one quite full with things - was slung across her shoulder, and in one hand she carried a medium-sized suitcase, her hand gripping the handle so tightly her knuckles turned white. Something was evidently off concerning her temper, an issue she was never so great at handling in the first place.

The problem was not so hard to explain - though in the dark haired girl's mind, it was little more than a paradox that had begun the day she came into existence. A short way to explain it? - she did not want to be here. Bethany couldn't fathom why anyone would - short of the freaks who had no other place to go. She wasn't different. She didn't need to be in a place that tames unnatural freakish people - she wasn't like them. Nothing was obviously wrong with her, she could do things everyone else could - was her small, insignificant little oddity meriting what would be countless years surrounded by freaks? The thought fostered an impotent anger, principally because she didn't know exactly who to blame; though her parents and the idiot headmaster would be on that list. The day her father had forced her to accept the application, 'for the greater good', Bethany had been in a rather vehement temper. Of course, now that she was indeed on campus, at the entrance of what she was disgusted by, that anger seemed to flare.

With an obviously disgruntled sigh, Bethany crashed herself against the gates, leaning down and sliding so she sat, her back against the bars. Her luggage surrounded her in piles, but the thirteen-year-old didn't bother to fix them. She could feel small tears - tears of frustration and confusion, maybe, threatening to rise. Unable to discover anything else to do other than enter the gate that she loathed, Bethany remained slumped and crestfallen, looking rather sorrowful and pitiable.

A young woman paused a few meters away from where Bethany slid down against the entrance, quietly folding her hands gently in front of her and resting them against the skirt of her school uniform, she looked at the new arrival with calm, but curious eyes. She already knew just a tad about this girl. Strangely enough, when she had been practicing her power the day before, she had sensed this initiate's arrival. She wasn't sure where she was from, or why she was here - but she supposed she'd appreciate a warm welcome; and the summer child was more than happy to give her one.

"Hello." The student walked up to her and said kindly, pushing a few strands of brown gently behind her ear - lest the breeze push it in her face. "You're Bethany, aren't you?" Despite the obvious dismay that Beth was in, she was still rather light and cheerful. "Welcome to Beata." With a soft smile, Alicia leaned forward gently and offered the girl a hand.

Bethany's head snapped as she heard a voice addressing her, suddenly turning tense as she glanced toward the girl whom she hadn't notice approach. The remains of what were tears on her cheeks were wiped away by a hand, an action encouraged by the embarrassment of being caught in weakness. Bethany was surprised at being caught unaware, yet her emotions were on high, anger replaced by confusion and a sad frustration, so she did not immediately snap a rude comment as she usually would have done, simply remained silent, as if she didn't know what to say. The dark haired girl didn't even inquire how she knew her name, for the few moments she glanced up, and hesitantly took the hand that was offered to her, finally coaxed by the kind voice of the girl.

Even if it were rather obvious that Bethany had been crying, Alicia simply blinked and kept her smile on, as if it didn't matter to her whether she had been or not - and of course, pointing it out would be rather rude of her; she loved to keep her first impressions on the positive side and was willing to wait until Miss Cristi could calm herself. The sudden change of lifestyle could very well be overwhelming, Alicia knew, and she didn't blame the girl for her reaction - although she didn't know everything about her, she felt she could still relate.

Gingerly, she shook the girl's hand. "My name is Alicia Vasquez. Its a pleasure." The girl's voice rang sweetly before grabbing onto Beth's hand tighter, helping her up onto her feet. "Please excuse me if I startled you." The summer added quietly.

Bethany was confused - worked up, maybe, but nonetheless consoled by Alicia's friendly attitude. Inwardly, though she might have been too distracted to acknowledge it, Bethany knew that her reactions should have been completely different, yet she appreciated the comfort while she was feeling a little lost. As she got to her feet, shaking slightly, Bethany nodded her thanks to Alicia.

She smiled softly, as if assuring the girl that she hadn't been crying - at the moment forgetting exactly who she was in the company of - and rubbed her eyes with one hand, as if doing so would prevent her from talking, as not to reveal her voice, hoarse from crying. Yet realization seemed to sink in, though slowly, and she found that the kind girl was a student at Beata Academy - a word she had loathed merely minutes before - and was therefore one of those freaks she seemed to hate...But instead of hatred surfacing in the direction of the polite girl, it was a small sense of fear that you only seem to find when you don't know what to do.

"I-I'm fine. Thank you." She stuttered out, her voice slightly scratchy, releasing her hand from Alicia's grip and placing it on her side. Bethany seemed flustered at being helped, an action the independent girl was not often subjected to. "Just a little out of place." She added softly, truth betrayed in her words.

The girl's creamy, brown eyes softened, nodding quietly. "I understand." She said, standing back up straight and returning her hands to where they were before - folding them gently and standing in a formal manner. "Its kinda strange, leaving everything you knew behind for the middle of no where; stuck with people with gifts aren't supposed to exist." Alicia frowned. By the sound of it, she seemed to think to herself these very same words quite often. What was even stranger was how she talked to Bethany, as if the seer had already known her for quite some time. "Or am I wrong?"

Bethany listened to Alicia, and acknowledged that she herself had thought along the same lines; yet instead of the sort of grim acceptance she found herself taking now, Bethany had felt an impotent anger - at herself, and those that subjected her to hate herself. She felt a certain politeness in her she normally didn't have as she nodded in agreement.

"Yes...I-I wasn't very attached to the idea of leaving - to be honest." She replied softly. "And now that I'm here...Well, I don't quite know what to do with myself."

Bethany was surprised at herself; astonished at how she was admitting her regret to attend their to a student, but most of all why she was saying anything at all. But she knew that at least, she seemed glad to be understood.

Alicia was all too happy to listen to this girl's concerns, pausing before speaking again - trying to pick out and find the right choice of words. "Change is always difficult. And this is about as big of a change as you can get." The young woman nodded quietly in agreement, stopping once again for a few seconds to gather her thoughts together. "For the most part, I think you'll quite like it here. Its not that different from a normal school once you get used to it." That had honestly surprised her. A bunch of freaks running around being all mind-controlly and setting things on fire; you'd think it'd be a disaster zone. But things here were surprisingly normal, the people were... They still were people, right? "The teachers are nice... And the students... Well, most of them..." Alicia couldn't hold back a shudder.

Bethany was partially surprised – not in the sense of assuming that Alicia would have been resentful of the school by her former words, but that the academy itself was presented as 'normal' by a polite girl who seemed anything but out of the ordinary, if you didn't include the streak of kindness that she didn't see in most others. Yet speaking to the understanding girl seemed to bring out a certain calm in her, and Bethany thought – maybe for a second – that she might learn to tolerate being at Beata, at least until she could find a way to leave.

Though slightly unnerved at Alicia's comment, Bethany nodded in acknowledgement. Just because a few students – and Alicia did imply that there were only a few – might be a problem, that was only so many, right? It wasn't as if Bethany was trying to be friendly with the whole school, in fact, she was sure she wouldn't try to be friendly at all. Alicia's words were something she probably needed to hear, but still...The standard 'normal' was subjective, and she only needed to hope that her new acquaintance’s perspective wasn't too far off her own.

“Maybe.” She decided quietly.