The End of the Sky

Cionna Daray's Most Prized Possessions:

Baby blanket covered with tiny unicorns

The silver wrist watch her father gave her for her eleventh birthday

First sketch book given to her on the same birthday as the wrist watch

Bracelet made from seashells she collected at the beach at the age of seven.

Dragon necklace she received from her birth parents.

Chapter Two: Smiles and Peanut Butter

Cionna Daray took a small bite of her peanut butter sandwich, keeping her eyes downcast. The cafeteria room was filled with the buzzing of conversations and the sound of metal chair legs scraping the floor as they moved.

"-so then she was like, 'Well, Miss Elita, I am afraid I can only give you half credit for the assignment even if you do turn it in by tomorrow,'" Sierra snorted from across the table. At Cade's answering laugh, Cionna looked up, entranced by his smile. He had such an easy laugh…

Noticing that she was staring, Cionna looked back down quickly, but not before she caught Sierra's eye. "Hey Cionna," she said with an amiable smile. "How has your day been going?"

Horrible. My history teacher thinks I need a tutor, my physics teacher thinks I need to apply for a scholarship, and my brother thought it would be funny slip pineapple juice in my lunch when he knows I am allergic to it. At least, that was what she wanted to say. What she really said- or mumbled, actually- was, "My day was alright."

In truth, Cionna had never really liked Sierra. She was friendly enough, but she just seemed kind of… strange. No one should have eyes that dark; it just wasn't normal. That and the color of her hair gave her a sort of dark aura. So why Cade chose to hang out with her all the time was just beyond her. Cade was almost the exact opposite of Sierra, with his light chestnut hair and green eyes.

"That's cool. What did you think of the-" Sierra started to ask.

"Don't even bother trying, Elita," Nicki interrupted from the opposite end of the table Sierra sat at. "It's obvious Cionna thinks she's much better than you, even though she doesn't have a reason to be."

Cionna felt anger swell inside her, and bit back a retort. Nicki Jirair had been her enemy since fourth grade when Cionna had refused to play the prince in a partner assignment to portray a medieval prince and princess. Funny how stupid little childish arguments could make such an impact on future relationships.

Her fingernails dug into the fabric of her blue jeans underneath the table, but she still remained silent. Everyone at the table was now watching them now.

Nicki sneered at her, brushing dyed black bangs from her eyes. "What, don't have anything to say to that, Daray? Do you know why? It's because it's true. So if you think you're so much better than everyone at this table, why don't you just scr-"

"That's enough, Nicki."

Everyone, including Nicki and Cionna, turned to see who had spoken. It was Cade. His face was calm, his expression that of cooled irritation.

Nicki blinked, then regained her composure. "What are you, her protector or something? I wasn't talking to you, pretty boy, so just butt out."

Sierra opened her mouth as if to say something in defense of her friend, but Nicki cut her off so she couldn't get a word in edgewise. "What more proof do you need that no one wants you, Cionna? Even your parents wanted to get rid of you, and that was before you even learned to-"

At this, Cionna snapped. "Shut up," she said, her voice just over a whisper. Still, it contained all of the fury she felt pulsing through her at that moment. "You don't know anything about my parents, you bitch."

Nicki's sapphire blue eyes hardened, and her lip curled slightly. "Glad to hear that your vocabulary level went up a notch." Nicki casually examined her painted-black thumbnail, as if she had already won the argument. "Besides, admit it, you don't know any more about your parents than I do."

Cionna inwardly winced. That was true enough. Except… She started to say something, but once again Nicki talked over her.

"Oh yes, I forgot," she said with a falsely sympathetic glance. "You have a necklace. What, did your parents get it out of a cereal box or something?" Background noise was still ongoing, but all conversation had stopped from the eight at the table. Even Katie, who usually chatted with Jordan- her boyfriend- for the whole lunch period, was listening.

Despite herself, Cionna felt herself flush. That wasn't true, and Nicki knew it. The necklace was made of silver chain links, and from it hung a pendant in the shape of a dragon in flight, it's tail wrapped around a grayish orb. Still, she kept her mouth shut. If Nicki wanted to lie, that was her problem.

It was at that moment that Seth broke the tension. "Yo, Nicki, chill out." Cionna studied him with a frown. Since when had Seth interceded on her behalf?

He met her gaze with heavily lidded brown eyes. He usually looked like he was stoned, but when Katie had questioned Jordan about it, he had assured all of us that Seth was most certainly not on drugs. Still, one would never guess that he was the youngest one at the table by his height. He easily topped Nicki when he wasn't slouching.

That was just the thing about Seth, though. He had an air about him that he didn't care about anyone or anything, including himself. His hair was always an unruly mess of brown curls going every which way upon his head.

Nicki just pouted and leaned back in her seat, staring up at the ceiling. Katie began once more talking to Jordan, and Cade told Sierra a joke that made her smile. Cionna stared unseeingly down at her food, tracing the pad of her finger across the fake wood of the tabletop.

Once conversation resumed in volume at the table, she could once again hear every word spoken between Cade and Sierra.

"-and Dad forgot to pack half of my lunch," Sierra was complaining, gesturing towards her lunch bag.

Cade gave her a lopsided grin. "I'm afraid I can't offer you any of my lunch. It would be much to dangerous for the likes of you."

Sierra raised an eyebrow at this. "Uh huh. Since when has strawberry, chocolate bars, and Sprite become dangerous? Unless you're worried about my weight," she added with a grin.

Resisting the urge to roll her eyes, Cionna feigned disinterest to the conversation. She nibbled at her peanut butter sandwich, pretending to have a fascination with the school poster, which read: 'TODAY IS YOUR DESTINY. DON'T HAVE ANY REGRETS.' Cionna almost laughed. Her only regret for that day was her choice to read the poster. Turning back towards the table, she again listened to Sierra and Cade's conversation.

Cade grinned back, reclining slightly in his chair, which was no small feat, considering the metal backs of the chairs. "Your weight? Why would I worry about that? I'm more worried about your… er…. advances on unsuspecting high school students."

"…What the heck are you blabbering about?" Sierra asked, her expression that of puzzlement.

Cade sighed in mock exasperation. "Didn't you listen in Foods class? That day that Mrs. Ransford was in all likeliness drunk?"

Frowning in thought, Sierra slowly shook her head. "I don't think so… wasn't she talking about the properties of food that day or something? It all seemed like drivel to me."

"That was the one class her lecture wasn't drivel."

Sierra sighed, raising her hands in mock surrender. "Okay, I give up. Stop drawing it out and just tell me already."

A slow grin spread across his face, almost catlike, and he sat up straight once more. "Did you know that strawberries are an aphrodisiac? So is chocolate. So if you eat strawberries and chocolate you'll be like...ultra horny. So I was actually saving you from utter embarrassment by not letting you eat my lunch."

Sierra blinked. "What the hell." The three words in themselves were a question, but the way she said them sounded like a statement.

Cade cracked up, and after a moment Sierra followed suit. "You are extremely odd, you know that?"

His grin slowly faded, and the expression in his eyes as he stared at her was solemn. "I know," he said, searching Sierra's eyes in a way that made Cionna feel slightly ill.

It was at that moment that the bell rang.

-

A/N: Short chapter, I know. Sorry about that. It's mostly a filler chapter to get to know the second POV of the story, Cionna. Don't worry- there are only two POVs. There was sort of a hiatus in the middle of writing this chapter, so .

It's called… school. Ew, I know.

Anyway, so please review! The next chapter marks the end of part one! Then, in chapter four, you get to meet the dragons!

Question:

Which character do you find more likeable hencefar, Cionna or Sierra?

I know I haven't really done Cionna justice yet, or Sierra either for that matter. But I'm interested in knowing what you think.

Review Replies:

Never Knows Best: Yay, I am so happy you like it! I was really worried that you wouldn't. And dragons are coming!

BlackFieryPhoenix86: The quotes were made up by Never Knows Best. I rather like them as well; they should be fun to write. I hope I did justice to the quote for this chapter- I might have to redo it later.

writtenreality: Thanks! :3 I am debating on whether to keep those intro things for each chapter now that each point of view has been established. What do you think?

florida: Thank you for reading and thanks for point out the mistake. I will fix it as soon as possible.