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The Mercedes e-class easily made its way down the quiet road, its sleek black finish and luxury interior seeming out of place amongst the peaceful wooded landscape. Its driver, who was dressed in a crisp suit and a plain black driving cap, drummed his fingers softly against the steering wheel as he tried to pretend that he hadn't noticed the awkward silence emitting from the back seat. The tension was palpable and almost suffocating, especially to the poor chauffeur who was new to the job and unused to such occurrences. He'd been told that the Abernathys were a very respectable family to work for but so far, Mrs. Abernathy had not spoken a single word to him aside from to point out some error in his uniform. Early on in the drive, he had briefly dared to look in the rearview mirror, only to be greeted by a contemptuous smile from the woman's daughter. It had been eery how her gaze perfectly portrayed all of her emotions in that one moment, which seemed to be a mixture of disdain, boredom and something more sinister. He'd found himself quickly looking away, spending the remainder of the journey with his focus fixed firmly on the road ahead. 

A couple of hours later, during which time Dave (as the driver was known to his buddies back home) had been contemplating on whether to find a new job, the car drove up to an impressive-looking victorian house. Of course, he had no idea what the family were doing here, save for the fact that it was some sort of party. He'd had to sign all sorts of waivers and legal documents when he'd been hired by them, and he'd half-joked to himself that it was like he was joining the secret service. Just as he was about to announce their arrival, Mrs Abernathy, or Cassandra as she was also known, chose this moment to finally break the seemingly never-ending silence. 

"Now Summer darling, you must be nice! I won't tolerate you making the others cry. Your sister has done so well to uphold the Abernathy reputation and I won't have you embarrassing us today of all days!" Her voice was sharp and stern as she turned to face her daughter, who begrudgingly tore her gaze away from the window. A lock of perfectly curled ginger hair fell across the girl's shoulder, only to be immediately pushed back in place as she opened her mouth to respond. 

[color=f6989d]"What are you trying to say, Mother? I'm [i]always[/i] nice."[/color] Summer aimed a well-practised and seemingly angelic smile towards the older woman as she spoke, her face not betraying the irritation that had immediately begun to rise up within her stomach. [color=f6989d]"It's not my fault if some people are just overly sensitive. But yes-.."[/color] She continued on quickly when she noticed her mothers expression faltering, not wanting to prompt yet another speech. [color=f6989d]"I promise that I will try and be on my best behaviour. I don't think I could live with myself after all, if I were to ruin your precious [i]reputation[/i]."[/color] Rolling her eyes, she quickly opened the car door before the driver had a chance to, smoothing out the creases in her yellow & white striped [url=https://i.pinimg.com/564x/bb/25/bc/bb25bcb9d5b1bd5c2858498afd3a4a20.jpg]dress[/url] as she stood up. Summer, after being given some unwanted advice from a certain sibling, had paired it with white heeled sandals and delicate pearls earrings. Unfortunately, she'd actually liked the overall look, something which only furthered her irritation. 

Her deep brown eyes glanced around the open space as the pair made their way into the throng of the party, ignoring whatever her mother was currently squawking about. She could tell that Cassandra wanted to force her into what was likely to be awkward small talk with some very old and decrepit looking witches, but instead, she darted into the bustling crowd. Summer felt her whole body relax as she strode out of her mother's sight, a smile tugging at the edge of her lips. Finally, she could try and actually enjoy herself. Her stomach rumbled but she decided not to get any food for now - she'd be chastised for grabbing anything more than a salad anyway. Although it was no longer competition season, and she likely wouldn't have time to participate anyway, her mother still acted like it was...probably just to annoy her. 

Pushing thoughts of food out of her mind as she strode past the buffet table, her expression fell when she saw her sister heading straight in her direction. [color=f6989d][i]Shit...[/i][/color] The last thing Summer wanted to deal with right now was Olive. She'd rather be burnt at the stake. But she was trapped between a rock and a hard place...also known as her family. In a panic and before she could really think about what she was doing, Summer had bitten into the soft pad of her thumb, ignoring the sharp pain that came with the appearance of bright red blood. When Olives gaze passed over where she had been, she would see a young witch with sharply cropped black hair and blue eyes push through the crowd, making her way to the initiates table. She might also have noticed that said witch was wearing the exact same dress as her sister (who had somehow forgotten to change its colour), if not for the convenient distraction of several young witchlings rushing to crowd round at her feet.
 
Her appearance quickly reverting back to normal, Summer sighed in relief as she strode towards the group of initiates. That had been far too close. As she sat at her allocated seat, she propped her designer sunglasses atop her head before turning to greet the others. Deciding to completely blank the person who was sat beside her (which happened to be Rowan), she smiled at the other two girls who were sat opposite her. [color=f6989d]"Hi Calypso!"[/color] Her smile was polite, although she couldn't help but let out a small chuckle as she looked Dakota up and down. [color=f6989d]"Oh...I almost didn't recognise you with your hair like that Dakota. You look...nice."[/color] If someone knew Summer, they would recognise this as her half-hearted attempt at being nice, although anyone astute enough would easily be able to see through it. In her defence, she [i]was[/i] trying, it just wasn't all that great of an effort. 

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