They had arrived the day before . They had agreed to take the bus to Snow valley, Boston wasn’t that far away.

"If they’re cute, then I have dibs on the eldest !"

"And if they’re not ..?"

"Then you got dibs on the eldest !"

Jubilee sighed. Boys can be soooo immature .

"Now kids, they’re sisters, so they’ll have each other but that doesn’t mean you can give them the brush off." Jubilee looked at her watch, how long was this freakin’ bus gonna take ? This station was cold, an the only luxury it had was a coke machine in the corner . there weren’t even any toilets .

"Ah here they are now…"

The bus emptied, but there were no signs of the two girls .

After 5 minutes the doors opened . A tall girl, of about 16 walked through the swinging door . She was wearing a denim miniskirt and a red sweater . She had long blond hair, and a figure to die for .

"Woah ! She’s mine !"

"Yeah, well, here’s hoping for the other one .."

Jubilee groaned inwardly . The last thing this school needed was another preppy bitch .

"Mr Cassidy." She said sweetly ."My sister’s just getting her stuff ."

She batted her eyelashes over at where the boys were standing, earning the immediate contempt of the female students .The doors swung open again, and the students waited with baited breath . A taller , skinnier girl walked in laden with luggage (Authors note- This kids, is what we call alliteration !)she was wearing a Black sweater with the word ‘Loser’ emblazoned on it , over a calf length black skirt with lace edging . This was topped off with a pair of Dm boots with purple laces, and an interesting, noted Monet, collection of jewellery, comprising of a whole load of necklaces, bracelets, and a spiked dog collar . Her died Black hair was made obvious by the conspicuous blonde roots .

Finally! Jubilee triumphantly mumbled .Finally we’re gonna have some fun round here !

"Nice eyeliner ."

The black clad girl gave Jubilee a relieved smile .

"Thanks . Took me long enough to do ."

"Oh man !"

Everett grinned at Skin .

"Good luck ‘amigo’."

Jonathan stared at the girl for a while, then at her sister. Then back at the girl.

‘Is that possible?’

"Is what possible Jono? That one girl has so much black in her wardrobe? That all the metal detectors haven’t gone off?!"

‘Uh . . . .actually that two sisters can be so different.’

"Isn’t that some kind of cliché?"

‘Oh, yeah.’

The blond sister skipped up to Mr. Cassidy and smiled sweetly.

‘Like poison’ her older sister thought. ‘The bottles so cool . . But it smells like crap . . . . .no wait . . she smells nice . . .inside it stinks.’

The dark one strolled past the others and turned to Mr. Cassidy. She looked at him through her glasses.

"Mr. Cassidy I take it? I’m Gloria Kelly. This . ."

She turned in disgust to the evil little sprite beside her

"This is my sister . . .Eve . . .Kelly. I’m the eldest though."

Cassidy smiled politely at the girl in front of him. He looked at the other girl. She was happily chatting away to the boy’s, showing no interest in her older sister. Gloria sighed, would it be rude to ask for another dorm than her sister? How about another country ?

The car journey home was a noisy one for sure . Eve sat in the front seat being fawned over by Skin and Synch .

"So you can stretch anything ..?"

Paige and Monet glared at her from where they were sitting beside chamber, and quietly bitched .

"Has that girl got no shame ?" Paige hissed .

Gloria and Jubilee sat in the back seat .

"This is so cool, I mean, everyone here is just so dull! You’re gonna add a little bit of colour to this place ."

Jubilee rambled on, not noticing that the Goth had stopped listening to her long ago . Instead she was carefully checking everyone out , trying to figure them out . She had this so far, ‘Chamber’ (God, ‘chamber’? What a shitty codename .) had a massive crush on the country bumpkin, Paige , who was greener than a Christmas tree . Monet (now there’s a name .) was a bit of a snob, skin was a massive flirt, Everett was too much of a gentleman , and ‘Cassidy had a Dad complex . She sunk into the chair realising that she had just left her best friends behind , in favour of a place where she would fit in no more than she ever did .

Eve, on the other hand, was happy as a pig in shit, as it were . There was nothing she liked better than having at least 2 boys trailing on a leash behind her . She didn’t realise it now, but that was the type of behaviour that would require therapy in 10 or 20 years .

The journey was over surprisingly quickly .

"Nice place ya got here . Very ‘Sweet valley high’ ."

Paige paused in the realisation that this was the first either of the 2 girls had said to her .As they were introduced to Emma Frost, Eve actually giggled out loud at the sight of the white leather clad woman . Gloria looked at the floor hoping that the woman who was to be her headmistress wouldn’t see her laughing . ‘Fashion is a substitute for personality’ she kept repeating .

"Now children" Miss. Frost was obviously peeved at the girl’s reaction to her.

"I’m Emma Frost, the headmistress here, if anything happens report it to me. If you do anything . ."She glanced at Gloria, getting the wrong end of the stick . . "Out of order . .You will answer to me. That is all."

Gloria kept her eyes on her purple shoelaces. ‘Not one for speeches eh?’

She reluctantly drew her eye’s up to follow the other girl’s as they approached the stairs. She decide to take a look at the halls that surrounded her. It was quite a nice looking place, very Victorian the deeper you go.

They came to the girl’s dorm, and congregated into a large circle in the hall.

‘Please don’t make us share a room. Please don’t make us share a room. . . .’

Eve blessed herself silently.

Gloria glared at her. ‘Family? Bah ! Why spend your life with a bunch of people that would gut you in your sleep anyway? I know I would if the law changed.’ She thought sarcastically .Jubilee, sensing the mood, in an uncharacteristically mature move, volunteered to share with Gloria .

"Y’know, if you want . It’s the first on the left ."

While the girls wrangled over the rooming arrangements, the boys on campus were busy discussing the new arrivals, in the basement of the boys dorm .

{ Y’know, you people ought to stop judging on appearances .}

" Man, you only need to look at them to figure out that one’s whacked ."

" Yeah, chica looks loco ."

Chamber gave his friend a look approaching disgust .

{Just ‘cause the girl dresses in black doesn’t make her a trouble maker . The way I see it , Eve’s the bad seed . It’s all in the name Besides, you could at least try to get to know the ‘gel before you make judgements . None of us have even talked to her yet .}

"…Just ‘cause you prorobly got a crush on ‘er …" Angelo trailed off, realising that he had said that out loud. Jonathan looked like he might jump his grey-skinned friend . The ugly situation was disrupted by a knock on the door . A black-hared, blonde-rooted head popped through .

" Um…"

She looked around .

"Have I interrupted anything ?"

" No, chica, nothing at all . What can we do ya for ?"

" Guthrie suggested that we all get to know each other over the centuries old tradition of coffee and TV . Anyone remotely interested ?"

Everett and Angelo had to admit that she had that goth nonchalance thing down pretty well . And unlike her sister, she might have some sort of sense of humour.

{Well, I have problems ingesting coffee, but TV sounds fine. The rest of you okay?}

There was a nonchalant chorus of ‘Whatever’. Gloria elegantly traipsed down the hall. She really didn’t want to waste her time impressing them. That was the sprite’s job. Naming that child Eve was definitely some sort of an omen.

‘You’d think that such strict Catholics would have more sense. They might have well named her Delilah..’

She took a glance back at the others behind her. Just because she acted like she wasn’t listening didn’t mean she wasn’t. It was a talent that she had acquired from years of eavesdropping on adults.

{Look, she hasn’t slit our throats yet. I don’t think she’s that trouble making . . .Y’know . .type. It wouldn’t kill you to be nice to someone different Angelo. She’s a mutant like us, and we need all the friends we can get }

"Y’know, Jono’s got a point Angelo. Anyway Eve might look nice, but that doesn’t mean she isn’t the devil-child. I mean . .Look at Monet."

Gloria continued to look uninterested. Maybe some of them had more sense than to just look at someone’s appearance. She didn’t mind being thought of as evil.(It was kind of empowering actually.).What pissed her off was thinking that that little slut was nice. Just cause she looked like an angel. Bitch.

‘Don’t get yourself angry Gloria, it wouldn’t be a good impression if she murdered her sister on their first day. No matter how much you want to.’

She opened the door to the living room and poked her head through.

"The males are here."

Eve jumped up excitedly. If Gloria had made no friends at least Eve had made herself a lot of enemies. She reminded Gloria of a small, excited dog.

Instead of bothering with her vacuous sister, Gloria turned her attention to the television. Always the cynic, she preferred reading to that little shiny thing in the corner.

"Jerry Springer?"

"What can I say? Ya got cable, ya use it."

She stared at the tiny Chinese girl sitting at her large black foot. Why did she volunteer to share a room with her? She was at least four years younger than her. Besides, she looked like more of Eve’s type. She tried to smile at her, nicely. She tried to pull her lips to the right shape. . . .

‘;Aw dammit.’

She decided not to scare the child and nodded politely. She seemed decent, she had potential per-se. Gloria took another glance at her evil sister. She was sitting in the centre of a circle of boys. Paige and Monet were glaring at her. She didn’t notice. Or she was just ignoring them .Then again, Eve had a low capability of noticing anything that didn’t happen in a one metre radius. Wrapped up in her own thoughts as she was, she didn’t notice the leather clad English man sit down beside her .

{‘Ello ‘luv .}

"Er.. hello. And you would be … who, exactly ?"

{Jonathan Starsmore, pleased to meet’cha .}

"So Jonathan, what’s this place of yours like anyway ?"

He was surprised at how friendly she could be, after her initial quietness . He proceeded to give her the low down on the schools curriculum, and how the school as of last Monday, had been open to the public on, well, schooldays.

"Cool, well not so cool actually. I don’t have good Karma with school. Toilet flushings."

The Englishman winced in sympathy, sure they didn’t have those sort of things in England, but he got the idea.

"So, how you get along with the others? I mean the other ‘normal’ students. Not to be rude or anything, but you kind of look like . . .urm . . .My type of person."

[Oh, I keep my distance, I don’t get that much hassle. Sides I hang about with Skin and Ev. Most-a-the-time.]

Gloria looked at the interesting patterns on her nails for a minute.

‘Well, at least it’s not as uncomfortable as I thought it would be.’

Chamber was admiring the swirls on the rug.

They sat for a minute in the silence occasionally broken by cries of "You mother fucker"! from the TV set.

"Sooooo . . . . . Ya like . . . ..leather hmmmm?"

The interesting conversation about fetishism was interrupted by Jubilee screaming "You DOG!!!!"

The others congregated around he TV set, mesmerised by the little figures gashing at each other in Technicolor. They sat there staring at the all powerful TV set. Gloria thought it was reminiscent of ‘Village of the Damned’

Eve’s face was suddenly lit up by a flash from the screen. Gloria shuddered back in fear. Her Grandmother had told her about changelings. Little devil babies swapped for real children. She had always wondered how she and her sister could be so different. She had an image of someone swapping a tiny version of herself with Eve. She should have checked for numbers on the back of her head when she was born. Sure, they looked alike, but they had always been the ‘good’ and ‘bad’ ones. Gloria always got the crap for everything that Eve did. People believed her more readily than they would herself. Maybe it was because of Gloria’s unsettling ice blue eyes, but that little shit had been pinning crap on her since she could talk . Gloria knew when that bitch was lying, no-one else could though.

{Gel, are you listening to me ?}

She was woken from her thoughts by Jonathan’s . . .err . .thoughts.

{Gel? Gloria?}

"Oh, right. Sorry, you were saying . .?"

{I was saying, you’re in some of my classes right? Well, if anyone’s y’know, givin’ you hassle . .you can . .y’know. . Always sit beside me . . .if ya want..}

Gloria was confused for a moment, no stranger had ever been this nice to her, apart from her mates, most people treated her like an annoying cockroach. Was he tricking her?

"Umm . . ."’Think Gloria!! Uhhh . . .I hope he’s just not coming on to me . . .Uhhhhhh . . "Yea, fine . .Y’know . .Whatever . . . . ."

"Get up Gloria."

Sleep. Nice warm sleep.

"Get up Gloria."

Ignore the voice. Just a nice warm cuddly bun . . .

"Gloria!"

A blond rooted, black haired head popped up from underneath the fluffy covers. Her makeup was off and her hair looked like something had died in it.

She looked just slightly peeved at Jubilee’s shaking of her to get up. She curled up her lip in annoyance.

"What?! Has the world ended?! Has Bill Clinton declared himself gay?

Has here been a law passed that everyone has to get up by the time of . . ." She looked at the bedside alarm clock. "Seven Thirty?!!! . . . . I guess that’s farmers runnin’ this country . . . ."

Gloria hauled herself out of her nice warm bed, to face the world . Se looked out of the window . The rain was coming down in torrents, and the sky was a threatening dark grey . Not a good sign … a crack of lightning lit up the sky , followed suit by the roar of thunder . The lights flickered for a moment before gong out completely .

" Hey, well at least schools off ."

Somehow that didn’t comfort her .

{So mate, what would you think if I asked Gloria out ?}

Angelo looked at his roommate like he was insane.

"Do I need to respond to that ? Like I said before ‘chica looks muy loco’."

{Is that what you thought about me when I first came?! Gee, thanks Amigo.}

"That isn’t what I meant . . ."

Jonothon and Angelo continued to glare at each other. They stood in the quiet drumbeat of the rain against the window. It was slowly driving Jonothon mad.

KRACK-A-BOOM !

The two boys were shocked by the sound of thunder, and watched as the lights flickered like a dying match before going out completely .

"*Sigh*, this is gong to be a long day ."

The pupils seemed to congregate outside Banshee’s office, with a growing sense of anticipation as to whether they would have to go to school today .Jonothon and Angelo were the last to arrive .

{What’s goin’ on ?}

"Paige has gone in to argue our case, for a ‘storm day’ off ."

A lot of the students were still in their pyjamas, Gloria included . She hadn’t got her make up, or jewellery on yet, and was standing around in a Marilyn Manson long-sleeve and a pair of (Duh !) black bottoms . She was wearing some thick rimmed glasses, and Angelo couldn’t help but admit that there was a resemblance between her and her sister. Eve, incidentally had been there since the first crack of thunder . Ages ago . Her pink silk pyjamas were not keeping her warm one bit . She kept to the back, away from her sister . She couldn’t remember the last nice thing her older sister had said to her, it was always, always derogatory . She smiled . Gloria would die of shock if she knew that Eve knew what the word derogatory meant . She walked over to Angelo and Everett, somehow she found it soothing to hang around boys all the time, it was a well needed confidence boost .

Angelo saw her coming and ducked for cover behind Jono’s back .She looked nice, but she was WAY too clingy .

"Hiding?"

He turned round to face Gloria and Monet .

"Yeah, you caught me out . Just don’t tell Eve where I am, huh, girls ?"

Gloria gave him a look that just screamed ‘I was right!’ .

" You know Espinosa, you really oughtta learn to test the water before going for a swim ."

"Eh ?"

"I think what my cryptically sarcastic friend meant was ‘I told you so’ ."

"Oh … so I guess I’m … sorry ?"

" For what, for flirting with my sister ? Ah, it happens all the time, Don’t worry about it ."

He frowned . He never realised how annoying sarcasm could be.

In the corner, Eve stood in the shadows . God she hated her sister . She was always right , had she ever made a mistake in her life ? Except for … She laughed inwardly, now there was something that could be used as a bargaining chip .