Queen B - The Lights of Manhattan

The New girl

Ding-ding-ding-ding!

The annoying sound of my alarm clock wakes me up just as I dream of lying on the warm sandy beach in front of my house. Back home, in Santa Monica.

I slowly open my eyes and remember I'm not there anymore. I look around my new big room and lay down again. I push my head into the pillow and sigh. "God I miss LA". 

It's almost been a month since we've moved here and I still can't get the idea of living somewhere else than there. I somehow manage to pull myself together and crawl out of the bed. I walk up to the window and pull the curtains. I have to admit the look of the Manhattan skyline is breathtaking. We are in fall now and this early in the morning the City has a golden glow that is indescribable. 

When my dad got an opportunity to move back here, as a born New Yorker, he couldn't say no. My mom is a free spirit woman who used to live all over the globe so she thought of the idea as exciting. My parents are partners in work. Let's say they are...business consultants. And when they both agreed on the idea of moving to the east side, Sam and I had to tag along. Sam is my older brother, who is starting college this year, NYU was one of his options so this was pretty easy for him. So, basically, everyone was ok with moving except for me.

I just finished my sophomore year and was getting ready for being a junior. I suddenly had to forget my life as I knew it, my favorite places and my friends, and start a new life here. Which actually starts today. For the past month, I was unpacking my stuff, walking around and getting to know the City, going on my evening runs, and FaceTime-ing my friends back home at least 10 times a day. But today my real life here starts because it's the first day of school. My first day in school ever. The regular school to be exact, as I've been attending School of magic until now.

Oh, that's right, I didn't mention I'm a witch.

 Don't worry, I'm a good witch. And the rest of my family are. We are the Spellings and we belong to the Lights, witches and warlocks gifted with the White Magic. 

So I'm a witch starting regular High school in Manhattan. "That should be interesting," I think to myself.

With that thought in my head, I go to the bathroom to start my morning routine. After a quick shower, I come back to my room to get dressed up. My uniform is a dark blue and yellow plaid pleated skirt, with a white shirt and dark blue blazer. I put on my underwear, pantyhose, and the uniform, and then I take a look at myself in the mirror. I like how the uniform suits me. The skirt finishes right above my knees and the white shirt is tight enough but not too tight for my upper body. The colors of the uniform go well with my complexion. My hair is thick and straight, ashy brown, almost up to my waist. My eyes are deep brown and my lips plump and peachy. I think I look cute, but boys always thought of me as a looker. My body looks slim in general but my hips are a bit wider and I do have a booty. My boobs look good too. I do have my mom's and dad's good genes but I also like to work out and take care of myself. Which is a good thing actually because I also like food. Thinking of food, I hurry up and put a bit of make-up on, make a high ponytail of my hair and I head to the kitchen to have some breakfast.

After we sold our beach house in Santa Monica, we moved to an Upper East Side building in Manhattan, in a large apartment with lots of space. I was happy to have a big room with a private bathroom but all of us spent most of the time in our big open space kitchen, dining, and living room.

 That's where I just entered when I heard my mother's voice "Good morning sweety! Oh, don't you look lovely for your first day of school? Did you sleep well?" Mom says smiling at me. "I did. But I could have also stayed in the bed today." I say reluctantly while taking a seat at the counter. "God Bianca, stop being so dramatic" my mom teases me while she's filling a plate with pancakes and fruit. "I'm sure in no time you'll make friends and you'll love it here". She puts the plate with food in front of me and pets me on the back, then turns away and goes back to the stove to make more pancakes. My mom is a very good-looking woman, she looks like an older version of me, but an older version of me with shorter wavy hair and wearing Boho style while I like modern clothes. "Everything will be just fine," she says, "You might just give it a try, ha?" "Sure mom" I smile at her while trying to put a fork in a piece of pancake. 

At that moment my plate lifts from the surface of the counter and starts levitating towards the kitchen door. I look to my right and I see my brother smiling boyishly and moving his fingers in motion to bring the plate to him. "Sam! Give me back my plate!" I yell at him who is already leaning against the door and chewing on my pancake.

"Samuel, what do we say about using magic in the house?" Mom asks while crossing her arms on her chest. "We use our gift for making good and important things and not wasting it," we both say out loud as that is a sentence we've been repeating since we found out we were gifted. You see, both of our parents are High-ranked Lights, so we've both been trained to become their rank when we get ready.

"I know mom, I was just kidding," Sam says with a sweet voice so my mom immediately relaxes and smiles at him. Sam always had a way to get out of any trouble, and I must admit he can be adorable when he wants to. He is tall and strong looking, he has brown hair and bright green eyes just like our dad. Girls always liked Sam, all of my friends back home had a crush on him but, luckily, he just teased them because of that. He is 19 years old so he already gained his full powers from the gift. We gain our powers when we turn 18, and I have to wait just a couple of months to gain mine. 

Sam pinches my cheek jokingly and says "I'm sorry B. I just wanted to make you laugh so you wouldn't be such a grumpy head today." I softly punch him in the arm and smile at him "Now give me a new pancake" I tell him. 

We have our breakfast and we keep talking and laughing when dad enters the kitchen. "Good morning family," he says joyfully while he walks up to my mom and gives her a kiss. My dad looks just like Sam, only his hair is a bit greyish and he seems a bit smaller than my muscular brother. "Good morning my baby B, I hope you're ready for the first day of school?" "I am dad" I sigh. He comes next to me and hugs me around the shoulders. "Listen Missy I don't want to see that sad face." he says softly "Where is my perky, always smiling, Student President, Head Cheerleader, kick-ass Light witch daughter?" He smiles looking at me with his bright green eyes. "I don't know, maybe she's back home in Santa Monica," I say questioningly. My dad smiles and reassures me "Bianca, everything will be great, trust me. You're 17 years old, you have a whole life before you, you'll have a blast. And, also, you know the rule of our kind. The last two years of High school need to be attended at a regular school. If we stayed in LA, you would have gone to regular school there." "I know dad," I say and smile at him.

"But if I stayed back home at least I would I go to that regular school with my friends," I think to myself.

 I didn't want to burden my dad anymore. He was really excited to start our new life here and I knew their business obligations were very important so I might as well give it a try. I sigh once more and stuff my face with the rest of the pancake on my plate. "Oh right, I forgot," my dad says "My friend Brian McKenzie's sons go to your new school. They are our kind and they offered to accompany you there today. They should be there any minute," he says and takes a look at a big clock hanging on the kitchen wall.

"What!?" I try to scream with my mouth full and I quickly jump out of my chair. First time meeting someone from my new school and here I am all covered up in jelly. I run to my bathroom to wash my face and hands. I fix my make-up, put on my designer gold leather shoes and gold hairpiece to the top of my high ponytail, and I take a look at myself in the mirror once more. "You've got this B," I say out loud encouraging myself and that's when I hear the doorbell ringing. I take my school bag and I go to the door. My dad is there already talking to someone and when I get near I cough a bit so he moves to the right and I get to see two boys looking at me and smiling. "You must be Bianca. I'm Dean. Wow! It's nice to meet you, like really nice" the guy with curly blond hair and brown eyes says to me while the other interrupts "Omg Dean, you really don't know how to behave in front of a pretty girl do you? Excuse my brother, he doesn't know how to talk to girls. I'm Luke," the taller guy with messy hair and a boyish smile says. I blush at their words, especially because my dad is still standing next to me but I smile because they really seem nice. "Don't worry Sir, we'll make sure Bianca is safe and sound at our school" Luke says to my dad and then turns to me "We should leave now if you don't want to be late for your first day".We say our goodbyes and leave for the elevator " Don't do anything I wouldn't do" I hear Sam yelling from the kitchen. 

This is going to be the first time that Sam and I don't share school hallways. It's a bit odd but hey, maybe it's not such a bad thing. After all, at my old school, no one could even approach me without my brother's consent. I don't mind a little liberty of my own. With that thought, I leave the elevator and walk across the lobby. The doorman opens the door and I surprise when I see a huge limo parked in front of the entrance with the driver holding the door open and nodding our way. "You didn't think we would walk to school did you," Luke asks me "Welcome to Manhattan Miss, we do it classy here". I blush at his wordplay but then smile because he has a really friendly attitude, just like his brother. They look alike a lot, but Luke seems to be more outgoing than Dean. I get into the limo and take a seat across the two of them. I look through the window while we pass the streets of New York. "You know Bianca" I turn my head to Luke whose voice sounds so serious all of a sudden. "I'm sure your dad talked to you about it but I must warn you about some things at our school." Sure," I say and he continues "You know that this is a regular high school and most of the students are normal human beings, but there are also Shifters. We sense and respect each other but we keep a low profile and don't use our gifts in the school, ever." 

I am quite familiar with the laws and ways of our kind so everything that Luke is telling me seems understandable.

......

You see, all of the Shifters, and among them, the Lights, used to live in their own closed villages everywhere across the world and tried not to mix their lives with normal people. Those were old ways and thank God they ended a very, very long time ago when Shifters split into two orders: Conservatives and Liberals. 

Conservative Shifters decided to keep their ways, they kept living in their villages and interacted with others only when they really had to. The Liberals moved to the cities and co-existed with others. The biggest difference between Conservatives and Liberals was choosing their life partners. We believe that we are all created by and under the influence of one Superior being. God, Moon Goddes, the Higher One, call it how you want. I personally see it as a massive cloud of positive energy that takes any form it wants.

The last time it showed itself to my kind, it came in the form of Moon God, so we now refer to it like that. The Moon God chooses our soulmates or just “mates” as some Shifters say. I don’t like that term because it seems so animalistic and I believe there’s a lot more in that kind of commitment than raw s****l attraction.

One way or the other, Moon God doesn’t keep his influence inside the boundaries of a kind, there can be soulmates between different Shifters. But, the Conservatives reject those kinds of relationships and choose their own mates among their own kind while Liberals accept their given soulmates. So, you can tell choosing love is the biggest difference between the two orders.

Many people of many kinds of Shifters turned Liberals over the years but only the Lights have become exclusively Liberal. Meaning, there are no more closed villages of our kind, we have all been blended in the cities with normal people for many years now.

The main reason for that is actually the main purpose of Lights themselves. Keeping the eye on the Darks and protecting the world from their influence. The Darks are our Antipodes. Our kind used to be unified but a long time ago part of warlocks and witches crossed to the dark side of magic because of their greed and evil intentions, so the Darks have raised. They are just like us, but as you can imagine, they use dark magic and they mean no good. Through the centuries they have managed to put in control a lot of successful business companies, people, and politicians so they get to cause problems and energy changes, and they create chaos in the world.

The Lights have been successfully keeping up with them, mostly because of the dedication of witches and warlocks of the Highest rank, a group of powerful people to which my parents belong.

Other Shifters, at least those ones that are good-hearted and well-intentioned share our state towards the Darks, but there are always some who tend to stay indifferent for their own reasons. They are mostly Conservatives.

The one thing all of the Shifters, Conservative and Liberal, have in common, is keeping their gifts a secret from others. Exposing Shifter's existence to normal people would jeopardize our world order so all of the kinds of Shifters have an agreement on keeping our world a secret.

Every group of Shifters, depending on their place of residence, has their Leader, and among them we choose one President of a kind to represent our interests at the Senate of Shifters that is held once a year or often, when needed. Mostly to discuss ongoing events in Shifters world and to keep up with the Darks.

......

Luke keeps giving me information on our new school when I see the limo stopping in front of a big, old grey building. There’s a golden sign on the front saying “Manhattan International High School - since 1907".

“We’re here,” I say, more to myself than to them. “We sure are” Luke answers, opens the door, and holds them for me “Now let’s go, Miss, I believe we need to make an entrance”. Luke smiles and gives me his hand to help me get out of the limo. 

The moment I get out I can feel dozens of people turning their heads and looking at me. “New meat,” I think to myself and try not to give it any attention. I’m used to this kind of behavior. In my old school, my best friends Leiah, Mia, Sarah and I formed a group. You could say we were the popular girls or at least the girls that caught attention. Also, the fact that no boys could even approach me without Sam's consent, made me look untouchable. But, I don’t have that kind of surrounding here so I hurry up to keep next to Luke. 

Just before we enter the building my inner sense opens up and I notice a group of girls sitting on the bench on my left. I give a look at them and I sense they are also Shifters. There are three of them but I’m getting weird vibes so I can't really tell which kind they are. All three of them look good but they have too much makeup on, along with the false eyelashes and acrylic nails. I despise fake looks so I chuckle on seeing that. The girl sitting in the middle must have realized my looks because she quickly stood up and stepped closer to me. She has long wavy red hair and amber eyes which are looking at me in a very hostile way. I am close to come to her and ask her what is her problem but I stop myself because, hey, it is my very first day here and I haven’t even get inside the school yet.

Instead, I nod at her calmly but it pisses her off so she turns her back on me. “Oh well, things are already getting interesting,” I think to myself as I join Luke and Dean and we enter the lobby. 

The lobby is huge with very traditional decor. There is a massive staircase that leads up to the topper floors. I look up and it seems endless but I think I see the fourth floor as the last one.

Guys accompany me to the first floor, beacuse I need to make an appearance at the Principal's Office first. I thank them for all the help and we agree on meeting in the cantina for the lunch later.

I knock on the door of the Principal’s office. “Come in” I hear a woman’s voice as I open the door. It’s a big traditional wooden office with a desk in front of a big door. A woman is sitting and looking at me. She is maybe in her fifties but she is very good-looking. Her black hair is pulled in a tight bun and she has piercing blue eyes. She smiles at me but her eyes remain looking strictly at me.

“Good morning Madam, my name is Bianca Spelling and I am the new student here”. “Ah yes. That’s right, come in please,” the lady says. “My name is Mrs. Stewart, I am the Head of the Principal's office. Unfortunately, the Principal is not feeling well lately so he is absent. I will give you all the documents that you need to start your classes”. She gives me a handful of papers containing a list of the classes and all the school details that I need to know. “Bianca, we took the liberty of assigning you to all the advanced classes. I must say we were quite impressed with your recommendations from the previous school.” “Thank you Mrs. Stewart” I answer politely thinking to myself that my dad might have overdone himself this time at “modifying” my school records, as most of the classes I took were of Witchcraft, Dark defense and Spells. Mrs. Stewart looks at me for a few moments then says "All right. We don't want you to be late for your first class. I'm sure we'll have a lot of opportunities to talk again". She sees me to the door and gives me instructions on how to get to my first class. It’s an English class, in room 201 on the second floor. As I walk away to the stairs I look back again and I see that Mrs. Stewart is still watching me. It feels weird for some reason but I shake that feeling off and hurry to my class. 

I get there quickly but the class has already started. I knock once and open the door, twenty heads turn my way and look at me. I smile at them and turn to Professor who is holding the lesson. “Good morning, my name is Bianca Spelling and I’m the new student transferring,” I say.

As I finish my sentence I suddenly start feeling many different things at the same time. I get a very intense feeling of somebody watching me. I feel a heatwave going through my body. My heart starts beating fast and all of a sudden the light in the classroom dims and all the sounds stop. I can only hear my own breathing. Not knowing what’s going on I look at the Professor. He is standing motionless, frozen. When I turn my head I see that all of the students are just like him, standing like statues. All but one. In the last row of the classroom, I see a male figure, tall and strong, with two deepest dark eyes I have ever seen. He is looking directly into my eyes as I stay there speechless. His look and the energy between us are so intense I start to shiver and my breathing gets very heavy. It seems that it leaves an impact on him too because I can see his chest moving up and down really quickly. He starts to stand up, not breaking eye contact with me for a second. I look at him in complete shock and just as I open my mouth to say something, everything stops. All of a sudden I hear a lot of different noises at the same time, the light turns bright and there’s a commotion in the classroom. Everything came back to normal.

“Welcome Miss Spelling” I hear the Professor saying “Please do take a seat” he shows me to an empty seat in the third row.

Confused and still in a state of shock I barely manage to sit down. “Come on Bianca pull yourself together,” I say to myself and try to keep my cool as my hands are still shaking. “What the hell has just happened?” I think to myself. I take a look at the students in the classroom, they’re acting normal, no one seems to get that something unordinary has just happened. Some of them even start winking at me when as they catch my looks so I quickly turn back in my seat. I know where I want to look but I feel nervous to do that. 

After a few moments, I feel someone's eyes on me. I turn slowly to the back of the classroom and there he is again. Tall, strong, his hair is dark brown, very thick, and a bit messy. He looks boyish yet masculine at the same time. His lips are plump and his face has that freshly shaved glow. He is very cute but most of all he has the most beautiful dark brown eyes I have ever seen. I feel his look going up and down on my body, then he looks directly into my eyes and I start to shiver all over again. He notices it and frowns. What is going on, why is this so weird? At that moment a school bell rings so everybody starts grabbing their stuff and leave the classroom. I put my books into the bag and look at him again. He stands up and walks to the door. I get to see him better now. He seems very tall, maybe 6'2? At least it seems tall to me as I am 5'4. The boy's uniform, dark blue pants and blazer, and a white shirt suit him just fine. I can tell he has a defined muscular body because his blazer is really tight on his arms. I must admit he looks really good.

 Just before he exits the door, he turns around and looks at me once more.  We keep eye contact for a moment before he turns around and walks away. I keep sitting in my chair, trying to compose myself to leave the class.

I realize I’m already late for my next class so I hurry up and get to the next classroom, it is Advanced Science class and I’m happy to see a familiar face. Dean invites me to sit with him, we joke and I manage to forget what happened earlier, at least for a moment. As soon as the school bell rings it all comes back to me so I decide to find my locker before I join the boys in the cantina. I look at the paper with instructions and find out my locker number is 107. I take my time walking to the locker and I glance through the hallway to see if he is somewhere there but I don't see him. "Better,” I think to myself “I don’t know how I would survive another encounter."

I leave my books in the locker and head to the cantina. When I get there, Dean is already sitting at the big table in the middle of the cantina. I get lunch from the line and join him. We eat and talk when Luke approaches us accompanied by one boy and two girls. As soon as they come near us I sense their inner gift, all three of them are Lights. “Bianca, please meet Pete,” Luke says pointing at a guy with curly black hair, green eyes, and a big smile. Pete takes a bite of an apple in his hand and mumbles “Nice to meet you Bianca”, “Nice to meet you too” I respond and smile, turning my head back to the two girls standing in front of me “My name is Jenny” slim blond girl with the blue eyes gives me a big smile. “And I am Laura,” a beautiful dark-skinned curly girl says while taking the seat next to me “ We are really happy you have joined us”. “Thanks, guys” I return to them smiling. They are really friendly and I must say I wasn’t expecting that. We all eat together, talk and have fun.

In one moment I get that strange feeling again. Someone is watching me. The feeling is so strong I quickly start looking around me. The students at the tables seem to be eating and having fun. I look all over the cantina and then I turn around. There he is. Standing at the entrance of the cantina, there’s the guy from my English class. He looks so tall and strong. So powerful. Maybe it's because of his looks or because he is accompanied by three other guys who look almost as good as him. Almost. Because they are not as tall or defined or, well, as cute as him but still they all look impressive. I don’t know what is going on, but I see that he keeps looking at me, directly into my eyes, so intense, so overwhelming that I start to feel strange again. My heart is beating, my body shivers, and I start to feel...excited. But, at the same time, I feel so weak, so fragile, so...submissive? I never ever felt like this before. What is going on?!

I realize I need to look away before I fall on the floor. I manage to turn my head somehow and then I notice I’m still blushing. I quickly start to eat my food, hoping no one has noticed my strange behaviour. Luckily everybody is laughing at Dean and Luke who are having one of their brotherly arguments. Something really important, as “Who would win in a fight between Thor or Hulk”. I laugh at their arguments and start to feel cooler and better. 

At that moment Jenny raises her head, looks behind my back, and says “Oh good, the wolves are here”.