Sides of a Mirror

5- Burns

First chapter with the school and background characters! Let's go! These are much longer, considering they go to class and all.

School. The one place where Leo could truly escape her disgusting mother and do what she wanted to. It was beautiful, a private school named Celestial High. The gardens were lavish, the pools were crystal blue, and the building itself looked like something straight of a fantasy novel. Leo sighed, not like she'd read many of those.
As she entered the hallway, Leo was immediately surrounded by a mob of followers.
"Leo, can I sit with you at lunch?"
"Hello, Leo. How are you?"
"Leo! I need to talk to you!" Oh my god! Leo thought, rolling her eyes.
"No. Hi! I'm fine. What is it?" She answered in quick, snappy answers.
"Are you running for student council?" Wait? What! Leo stopped abruptly, pacing back to the student that'd asked her that.
"Student? Council?"
"Yeah! You'd make a great president!" President! My god these people are crazy! Leo shook her head.
"No no no! I'm not even close to qualified for president!" Leo was a theater kid! Not even on the debate team at best! She spotted a sheet tacked on the school's bulletin board. There, two students, both brown haired, one male and one female, were scribbling something on it. As they left, Leo spotting their almost identical green eyes. Siblings? She guessed. Someone pushed Leo from behind.
"Come on! Sign it!" Leo stared at the paper. It had several student council positions on it, and at least ten lines for names. Under President was the name Capricorn. Under Vice President was the name Virgo. Both had the last name Emeren. Siblings then. Leo could feel her peers ushering her on as she stood nervously in front of the board. Somebody shoved and pen into her hand, and, in a moment of clarity, she stepped away from the board and handed the pen back to its owner.
"I'm not cut out for it." Then she firmly walked away from the crowd.

Lunch. Leo walked over to her usual table. To her surprise, she saw the two students from this morning, along with a third (which she assumed was their sister) also there.
A fellow theater student, Libra, waved friendly at her. She smiled and looked at the new students. He motioned for her to come sit,!mouthing; 'I'll explain once you get here'. She plopped down at the table. Now, she could clearly see the last girl's eyes. They were a mossy green. Leo also noticed the boy from earlier was staring curiously at her. She stared back and he laughed.
"Hey, I'm Capricorn." Leo nodded. So he's running for President then.
"Leo. I saw you at the student council sign up. President, eh?"
"Yup! My sisters encouraged me. They say I'll do great, but..." One of them, with dark brown hair and bright green eyes, nudged his elbow.
"Of course you'll do great, Cap! Remember how well you did in middle school?"
"Yeah, yeah. You and Taurus are exaggerating that!" Ah, so that was Virgo and the other was Taurus. Right.
"No we're not!" Taurus (Leo assumed) argued. She seemed the sweetest of the bunch. Though, there was a concealed pain in her eyes. Leo, being chased by others for years, and with her siblings, was good at noticing those little things.
"Hey, Taurus, right?" The girl nodded, Leo's voice dropped to a whisper, "Are you alright? You seem, distracted..." Taurus' eyes widened. Capricorn and Virgo were also staring. Oops! Guess they heard me too... Leo wasn't good at being quiet.
"Can we talk to you, in private?" Leo nodded at the strange request. Virgo led her and Taurus to the gardens, slipping between the bushes to a hidden fountain. They all sat, Virgo staring straight at her.
"How did you know?"
"Know what? That she's hurting? It's quite clear of you look close enough... And I've dealt with that too..."
"What do you mean, dealt with it too?" Taurus had her head tipped in confusion.
"I... Have a bad home life." Taurus rested her head on Virgo's shoulder. Leo took a deep breath, "I have this ability to read people like that, sorry!"
"No, no. It's fine." Taurus got up, running to who knows where.
"Where'd she go?" Leo was alarmed and very confused. Why had the girl suddenly bolted?
"I don't know..." Virgo beckoned Leo to go back to the table, which they arrived at a few minutes later. Taurus was back, but she looked drained and a bit sick. Leo decided not to ask, for fear she'd say the wrong thing.

Leo was back from her theater practice. As she got closer, she could hear screams and manic laughing coming from within. Oh god! She kicked open the door to find Aries and Sagittarius both kneeling on the floor. Aries was clutching her arm, Sagi staring furiously at their mother. Leo ran over to them, wrenching her arm out of her mother's grip, which grasped at her as she ran by. Aries slowly peeled her hand back, revealing a bright red mark. When Leo's hand neared it, she could feel heat radiating off it.
"What. Did. She. Do." Sagittarius pointed a sharp finger at their mother's hand, gripping a red-hot iron. Oh no, she didn't! Leo thought, enraged. Oh, yes, she did! Leo roared in fury, her hand lashing put at her mother's arm. To the surprise of them all, three slashes, all black rimmed with burned flesh, were left after the strike receded.
Burning rage filled Leo's vision, she vaguely saw golden flames dancing along the ends of her fingertips. She kicked off her slippers, feet touching the soft carpet. Leo leapt, no, not lept, pounced, onto her mother. Her eyes glowed bright gold, almost like the flames licking her fingers. Leo's feet dug into her mother's legs, pinning her to the floor. She raised her hand to scar her mother's face like she'd done to them so many times-
"Leo, stop!" Sagittarius shouted before Leo was able to scar their mother. He grabbed her arm, his other hand gripping her shoulder.
Leo crawled, still shaking with rage, away from Jupiter. She deserves it, she deserves it! SHE DESERVES IT!. This lime echoed over and over in her head, and it took Leo all her willpower not to leap at her mother again.
"Don't be like her!" Leo stopped, her mind cleared. She stared, shocked, at her hands. What? Fire flickered from the ends of her fingers. Reaching up to run her hands through her hair, her fingers met two furry objects. Ears? Her gaze went to her back. A tail? What the? Aries gasped, taking a picture. She showed it to Leo. There, on her upper back between her shoulder blades, was a glittering gold symbol.
"It's the Leo symbol. Of the constellation!" They all turned to face each other. Sagi spoke first.
"Do you know what this means?"