The Apprentice's Apprentice

Part 2

Cora fought her locker open. She could already tell the black metal box was going to be the bane of her existence this year. Inside it, the shelf was dented and there were remnants of the stickers the previous user had apparently coated the whole back of it with. She grimaced but hung up her bag after grabbing one of the binders out of it.

As she kicked the door closed and then was forced to yank it open again as she realized she'd left her lock inside, Cora heard footsteps approach. She glanced up and smiled at Zoe. Her friend looked her over and nodded her approval. "At least you're in a shirt with actual style even if you did wear the same jeans you always do. Not that I should complain. I just walked up the stairs behind Heather. She's wearing a skirt that's as wide as some belts I own! With a thong. I mean, I like girls and all but I could practically give her a gyno exam when she was ahead of me."

"Zo!" Cora cried even as she fought back laughter.

"It's true. She dresses like a hooker and you know it."

"The last thing you want is to have her hear that and decide you're in love with her or something. Think how fast that would spread."

Zoe shuddered. "No thank you. I have better taste than that. I like my girls with self-respect."

"You say that like you're not completely stupid about Moira. Don't pretend you actually look anywhere but at her like that."

Her friend shrugged but blushed as she leaned against the locker beside Cora's. "You're just jealous that my girlfriend's awesome," she said as she watched people pass by.

Cora rolled her eyes but said nothing as she struggled with her locker's door. She only listened with half an ear as Zoe called out to various people. "Hey Ryan, you got wicked tanned!" "Love your shirt, Natalie, where'd you get it?" "Ha! I like your old haircut better, Warren."

The last brought a frown to Cora's face as she finally jammed her locker closed. She turned to look at Zoe, but her friend was too busy waving at Emma to notice. Cora knew Ryan and Natalie, they were both in their grade, but she hadn't ever heard of Warren before. She wrinkled her nose. He was probably in one of the lower grades. Cora knew that if their school hadn't been so small, she wouldn't have known all the students in her own grade, let alone any of the others. But with only eighty of them and after four years, Cora did know everyone by name. Well, their first names at least.

"I swear sometimes you know the whole school," she said as she mirrored Zoe's position.

Her friend snorted. "That's because you barely interact with anyone besides me at school. I mean, you're not unfriendly, but you sure as hell don't go out of your way to meet new people. I seriously think at times if we hadn't known each other since we were five you wouldn't talk to me much either. You're kind of a loner. And by kind of, I mean hugely."

"Thanks," Cora replied sarcastically. "Glad to know you think I fit in so well."

"You just need to get out there and talk to some more people. And not about your weird anime shit. You can talk about movies and music and stuff like that."

"See, the problem is every time I try to talk to people about stuff like that, I realize we have nothing in common. The last time I tried to talk to a group of other girls all they talked about was makeup and tanning. I don't use makeup much and only tan by accident, so I didn't really have much to add."

Zoe sighed and shook her head sadly. "This is why you need a boyfriend. You need someone to introduce you to other things. Things normal people do. It'd do wonders for your social life too. Just think of how many people you could meet by hanging out with his friends."

Cora rolled her eyes again. Zoe was like a terrier sometimes "I'm not letting you set me up with anyone so you can knock it off."

"Oh, come on! You know I'd never set you up with anyone who hadn't been given my official seal of approval."

"I need to get you a new hobby. One that doesn't involve messing with my life."

Zoe tossed her head. "I'm not messing with it, I'm trying to improve it."

"Bull-" Cora was cut off by the bell ringing. She and Zoe shared a look before they smiled and separated to their respective homerooms. Cora could only hope there'd be something in Zoe's new classes that would keep her from obsessing about Cora's non-existent dating life.