florence mize | district two | fin

Adrenaline laced her blood.

With the sickeningly satisfactory sound of burying her blade to the hilt into the dummy's chest, a smile cracked the armor of her face. She tossed a few stray strands of hair out of her face as she heard the buzzer go off. "Thank you, Mize. Your audition is now complete." She bowed to the table. The audition was merely a formality, because of course she would get in. Even if it was an academy as big as Brightman. This was a school careers like her dreamed of getting in, and only the best did.

She could hear Foreman's voice in her head. "C'mon. sis. Only real, honest-to-goodness careers like me can get into Brightman. No way you could ever do it." But he was wrong. He had to be. Because Florence Mize was a winner first. Before she was a teenager, before she was a career, before she was anything, she would always be a winner. No matter what it took.

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"You were born with the devil in you, Florence. You were born with the demon."

She fought the tears that kept swimming in her eyes. The devil? Her mother honestly thought that about her? Her own mother? Most peoples parents loved them, treated them like royalty. They were all convinced that their child was better than all others, but Florence Mize had a different story. Her own mother thought she was a monster, and she was only twelve. She had to be wrong, right? Florence couldn't possibly be what her mother claimed. She couldn't.

She clenched her fists at her side and trembled as fear, anger, and sadness all swelled within her. She wanted to prove her wrong. To show her she was a good girl. She wanted to prove herself, once and for all, to finally impress her mother and hopefully finally be free of her hatred. But a large piece of Florence wanted what her mother claimed to be true, just so she could bring her the same pain she had forced her to endure all those years.

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There it was, clutched in her older brother's hand, perfectly encased in a clean, white envelope with a wax seal that read "BRIGHTMAN'S ACADEMY FOR CAREERS." She yanked it out of his hands and ripped the side of the envelope open, dumping it's contents- a letter and a small, light blue plastic case with a zipper- out on the table in front of her. Her hands quickly worked to unfold the paper, her eyes feverishly sliding from line to line until her breath caught in her throat. She stood up and turned to her brother, who she was surprised to see wearing a hopeful expression despite their constant arguments.

"I..." It had been almost a month since her audition. Almost a full month since she showed a table of people that decided the fate in her hands, and there she stood. "I got in!" She squealed with cheer and her brother lifted her into the air, her dark hair falling over her shoulders and into her face. She heard footsteps, then saw the short woman with the same olive skin and coffee-brown eyes appear in the doorway. A single eyebrow raised itself into the air. "Foreman, give your sister and I a moment to speak." She never took her eyes off of Florence as she spoke, even as he gathered his things and nudged his sister on the shoulder one last time before disappearing upstairs.

"Well?" She asked, and Florence's eyebrows pinched together. "Well what?" "How'd you do it? How did you get into something as wonderful as Brightman?" Her mother's lack of faith was something she was used to by now, so she only laughed. "It's like you said, Mommy." The woman's face pushed her to speak more.

"I was born with the devil in me."

=================

She wore some of her best training clothes on the first day, eager to impress everyone. The place was huge, but only about fifty teenagers were in it, each fighting plastic dummies or sparring with one another. A total of about ten trainers stood at various stations, each barking orders at the few people holding weapons while all of the others watched from the sidelines. Her brother leaned in to whisper in her ear. "Don't worry, it looks easier than it is." She smiled, a genuine, hungry smile as her eyes surveyed the area. "Good. Wouldn't have it any other way." Then she walked further into the building until the man that sat in the center of the table the day of her audition approached her, the same emotionless expression on his face. "Miss Mize!" He cheered, but his voice had no humor. "It's an honor to have you working with us." After giving her a brief rundown of the rules- they were all boringly simple and customary- he turned to her. "Now, I'll just appoint someone to give you the tour," He said, and she prepared to speak, to say that Foreman could since he was her brother, but his voice already rang out to the crowd.

"Keifer!" A handsome boy with a strong jawline and breathtaking eyes jogged over and smiled at her, so she returned the favor. "Please show Florence here around, teach her the ropes." He nodded again. "Yes sir."

The "tour" was really more of him leading her around the building and talking to her, never bothering to point anything out other than how pretty she was. "Foreman is your brother, right?" It was so strange how minutes ago she wanted him to be the one to give her the tour so that she didn't have to talk to any of these people- (what was the sense in wasting her time with people that weren't ever going to be as good as her?) but now she wished she didn't know him. "Unfortunately," She said, and he smiled. "Eh, he isn't that bad..." She only nodded. "So, that's about it on the tour. I'd say you owe me." She looked at him in confusion. "I owe you? You barely even talked about this place the entire time." He laughed. "Yeah, well, it's hard to concentrate when someone so beautiful is standing next to you. So, you owe me. One date, that's all I'm asking for." She rolled her eyes and folded her arms together, stretching her neck as she raised her chin into the air.

"Fine, but be warned, I'm a psycho bitch."

O T H E R

odair

shay mitchell
"princess of china" - coldplay

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