New Girl On Campus {Open}

[Tessa Andrews]

Tessa's luggage was on the way up to her room, courtesy of her family's driver. She didn't follow it right away though. She stood in the courtyard taking in the site. The school and the grounds were both very beautiful. She took in a deep breath, savoring the fresh clean mountain air and slowly released it. She felt a melancholy happiness settle around her. She was happy to be here, mainly because she wanted to learn about her abilities. Why did she have them? Where did it come from? Most importantly, how could she control it? She was only thankful she hadn't severely injured anyone. Small scratches and bruises here and there, but that wasn't severe. The melancholy came from the gut-wrenching, lack-luster goodbye with her father.

A small frown pinched her eyebrows as she found a bench to sit on, next to a bush. As she sat next to it she could feel the life in it, sleeping during the winter months. She looked around, and not seeing anyone out of the corner of her eye she reached out and stroked one of the frail branches. She felt a small surge of energy through her and couldn't help but gasp as the bush started to bloom with new baby leaves. She looked around again.

"I can't wait to see this place in the spring..." she mused to herself.

[Deleted]

"That was quite beautiful," Abe mused quietly, rocking on his heels from behind the bench. Arms folded behind his back, Abel fixed a crooked smile on his face, shrugging in feigned nonchalance. "Really, I'm jealous."

Hopefully he hadn't startled her. It certainly hadn't been his intention. In fact, he had been hoping not to be seen at all in his current state. His clothes, and not to mention his scruffy black hair was flaking loose leaves and grass stems, after he had taken an unplanned nap on the behind a dry plant. All he'd done was sit down for a moment, but he really must have been more exhausted than he let on, to have fallen asleep in weather like this. So embarrassed, he had planned to head home. He hadn't expected spying on this girl and her powers, but once he had he couldn't just walk away.

"Morning," he saluted with two fingers and a cheery wink, though still disorientated after his 'nap', he had absolutely no idea what time it actually was. "You're a student, right? I haven't seen you around."

[Tessa Andrews]

The words praising the beauty of the plant startled Tessa so much she let out a soft scream, jumped up off the bench quickly and spun around on her heels. Her heart felt like it was trying to hammer its way out of her chest.

She took a quick, steadying breath as she listened to him. "I agree, nature is the most beautiful thing on this planet. I can see why you'd be jealous," she reached out to pluck a leaf from his hair. "Though trying to get up close and personal with it like this does get you closer to being on the list of beautiful things," she finished, twirling the leaf between two fingers.

Now that her pulse was at a normal pace she felt her mood lighten. Attractive guys usually did that. She couldn't help but feel especially attracted to his crooked smile. "More like early afternoon but yah, I'm a student. As for not seeing me around, I'm new," she shrugged, as if being new wasn't an important fact. She reached out her hand to shake his, "I'm Tessa, Tess if you like."

[Deleted]

Abel took a short step back as at girl's scream, holding his hands up in surrender. He hadn't expected to frighten her that much. Fortunately for him, his words apparently registered and as she stopped. He lowered his hands and slipped them into pockets with a grin.

"Very humble of you," he teased, sticking his tongue out briefly with a laugh. "But I think there is beauty to rival it everywhere." Abe admitted shamelessly. He winced slightly, cocking his head in embarrassment as the stranger seemingly plucked a leaf off of his head. "Ha, fancy that. I didn't even notice. You have my gratitude." He made a gesture of his wrist, touching his left chest then tipping it towards her in a sort of half-bow, the smile still in place.

Flapping his hand lazily, Abe sighed. "Afternoon already?" There was disappointment in his tone, but he brightened at her news. Grabbing her hand enthusiastically with both of his, he kissed it quickly. "I knew it! It's lovely to meet you Ms. Tessa, my name is Abel."

[Tessa Andrews]

Tess raised an eyebrow at his statement. "You really think that? Give me one example of beauty that
rivals nature?" she teasingly asked, followed by a grin at his thanks. "You are quite welcome."

Despite the disappointment she heard in his tone about the time, his shake was very enthusiastic. She liked his energy. She especially liked the kiss on the hand. It was a classy move she hardly ever saw these days. "Does the school not get a lot of new students? Or am I doing something that screams new girl?" she asked with a tilt of her head. "And it's very nice to meet you too, Abel. I like your name,  it's unique. Though isn't that from the bible? Wasn't he like the goody two-shoes of the brothers?" She gave him a flirty smile.

[Deleted]

Rubbing his hands together, Abe massaged his fingers thoughtfully and grinned. "Books. Books and old buildings, especially old libraries," he informed her eagerly, nodding his head to himself. There was a certain beauty to old houses and buildings, each was grand and unique in its own way and design. Plus, most of them were supposedly 'haunted', which was all the more interesting.

Chuckling he released her hands and shot Tess a lopsided grin. "No, we get our fair share around her; but I'm good with faces and I take pride in knowing the name and face of every student around campus. I just didn't recognize yours," Abe laughed, sticking his tongue out in a teasing manner.

Cocking an eyebrow, he placed a hand on his hip and examined the girl with mock seriousness. "Goody two-shoes? I'll let you be the judge of that, Ms. Tessa, but I'm certainly not from the bible. I'm certain of that."

[Tessa Andrews]

"Hmmm, I'll admit they are mighty beautiful. You notice the older ones, the ones that aren't kept up constantly, have vines and bushes and flowers growing wild all over the place and it only ever adds to the beauty," she countered, though in a non-argumentative way.

As he released her hand she clasped them behind her back. "Well if I need help remembering names, I'll look you up," she replied with a grin. "Good to hear you're not from the bible. I didn't read much of it but it was hard to get into. I'm not much of religious person, more spiritual than anything." she paused, "Not that religion has much to do with anything...sorry I kinda rambled on. So how long have you been here at the school?"

[Deleted]

"But what about the ones that are? Like the Victorian State Library in Victoria, did you know that it opened in 1856, and they're still using it!" Abe rambled in excitement, his inner-nerd surfacing. His gaze turned dreamy, "I want to visit it some day, that and all the other old placed around the world." It was strange telling this to a complete stranger, but then, they weren't really strangers anymore. Perhaps it was alright.

His face softened as he smiled, pushing his thumbs into his pockets. "I don't think it matters what you believe in anyway, but religion is certainly interesting. That and all the old myths." he mused, shifting his feet. His chin tilted as he glanced at the sky, eyes squinting due to the sun. "So what brings you out here alone?" he asked casually, still watching the blank sky.

[Tessa Andrews]

Tessa couldn't help smiling at his enthusiasm as he continued about wanting to visit places like that all over. "Welllll, I guess they're okay. I think the people take something away from it though, but I digress, I'll leave you to your opinion. I'll find a way to change your mind, you'll see" she teased.

"Oh Myths! I've only heard about a few of them but their so much fun to read! I didn't get to far into that though, I got distracted by the pictures and wasn't so much into the words anymore," she said with a laugh. "I actually just got here, like seriously. My driver took my bags up to the room I was assigned and I got distracted by the courtyard here. What about you, other than taking a nap? I hope its not cause the beds suck so you sought out something better."

[Deleted]

"Well, people always manage to do that," Abe admitted with an amused smile. Something about the way she seemed less inclined humans as she was to plants interested him. "But sometimes you just have to look past that, you know?"

Abel, for better or for worse (considering his name) was infatuated with the old, the mystical and the legendary. Myths, the bible, ancient gods, it didn't matter; he loved them all. "The art back then was beautiful," he agreed with a crooked grin.

When he realized that she was in fact completely new, Abe snapped to attention. "Ah, my apologies Miss Tessa, I had forgotten. You don't need any help? I'll be more than honored to take you anywhere you wish." Of course he didn't want to seem incredibly pushy, it was just his nature to try and be helpful. "I was on my way back from the library, I fell asleep by accident to be honest."

[Tessa Andrews]

"Yah, you're right. As the saying goes, 'We all make mistakes, we're human after all,' or something like that," she replied. Tessa remembered life before her powers. She had stopped to admire a pretty flower here and there, but honestly she'd hardly ever gave plants a second look or thought. But after her powers awakened she started to think about them a lot. Which is obvious, considering her connection with them, but it slightly amazed and scared Tess at the same time at how much they were becoming a part of her life. She wondered sometimes if she should try and deny her abilities and make it go away, though she was highly skeptical that it would even work.

She snapped herself away from her inner thoughts and paid full attention to Abel again. "The library, huh? Is it as boring as it sounds? No offense but a room full of books where quiet is LAW is incredibly boring. When I study I usually do it with music. Helps me concentrate. I get unnerved by to much quiet." Tess did a random spin, she'd been standing still too long. "Well I don't really need help, I don't think, but I'd be happy if you could show me to my room. I'm in the co-ed dorm, room..." she paused, pulling out a piece of paper from her pocket and quickly glancing at it, "room 204." She looked back up at him with a grin, the paper being folded and shoved back in her pocket. "How about it, escort a beautiful lady?" she asked, holding out her elbow.