\Randoms: chapter 1:
Only hours after Tally Youngblood had pinged her friends and informed David, he crashed. Watching him sleep, she could see what he really looked like, minus the exhaustion lines and the crooked teeth –his mouth was closed. This brought back semi- pleasant, semi-unpleasant memories.
Zane. Her 2nd love. Her most passionate, most… perfect love. Dead, all because of her.
She felt a strange warmth on her cheeks, and realized she was crying yet again. She had just discovered she could cry, and she did not like it. She let out a sob, caught the tears that came with it, and flicked them to the ground.
She thought over the last couple years, and confirmed that what had happened to Zane-la was the worst thing. More tears came with just the thought of his nickname. Yet, she couldn't stop thinking about it. She didn't want to stop. She knew that when she found someone she could trust, and when the right time came, she would admit that she had actually killed someone. Whether she meant to or not, it was true.
She was leaning up against a tree, looking up, wondering what was up there.
She didn't know why it happened, life had given her fame, but she knew it would never mend what she felt about Zane.
She asked herself why she was still thinking about this and told herself to stop.
"Stop it! Do you want to start crying again?!" she hissed. Great, she thought now im talking to myself.
David stirred, and brought her attention back to him. She smiled, remembering their first kiss, hers and his. The path to him had been clear. As if stepping stones were put there just for them. In her imagination, she fell. The betrayed sting struck her once again, remembering what she had done to Shay.
What if someone had stole Zane from her? Or worse, what if Shay had stole Zane from her?
A cold finger struck her back, and she decided her nerves weren't ready for more fright.
She directed her attention once again to David. What if she had climbed back on that stepping stone, finished the walk,-which included not burning that stupid necklace that had destroyed the whole smoke in well, smoke. She would have stayed with David forever, Shay would have gotten over her feelings, and she never would have become pretty, or special. For a moment, she imagined that life, her and David, no Zane, together forever in the smoke. Nobody would have known about the lesions, and Zane would still be a crim. In new pretty town, with his friends, who knows? He might have met someone else. And for once, Tally didn't care about that thought. She knew she would always have David.
She felt like screaming, Davids face was making her crazy. He had an effect Zane never had, manipulation. He was perfect for her. But then again, so was Zane. WAS. Ugh. She was crying again. But this time, she gave in. Her head fell into her hands, and the tears formed a puddle around her nose. The nanos in her skin were stinging, trying to figure out what was going on.
"Tally? Tally, whats wrong?" David asked. She was relieved to hear a familiar voice, that wasn't hers.
"What isn't wrong?" Tally answered.
She reached out for him at the same time he did for her, and gathered him into a hug.
They remained like this for hours, unable to fall asleep because of the electric memories between them two, both of their minds on the same topic, the past. Tally broke the never ending silence.
"David, this is nerve-making-" She said, then wished she hadn't.
He interrupted her with a kiss. She pulled away immediately. The special anger rising up, but this was David. He was a random, and she was so… special. She remembered the last time she had these thoughts, Zane and hers last kiss. She remembered what these thoughts had brought her to. Definitely not a reward. So she pushed the anger back down.
"Not yet david…" Tally said, but the uncertainty creeped back up into her voice. Her exhaustion taking the best of her, letting her emotions play across her face. Her fake all-power mood was screwed.
"Then when Tally?! Im tired of waiting, I fyou doint want me then don't pull me along! But I know you do! Zane is dead Tally! Its not like its rude or something! Whats your problem?!" David screamed. The sun was rising, and so was Tally's anger. But sadness over took it. Which meant a lot.
"Are you trying to make me cry AGAIN?!" she said.
"So that's why you were crying…" instead of looking mad, Davids face returned to her favorite expression, deep in thought. One word came to Tally's mind. Manipulative. " Yes Tally, in fact I am!"
Tally knew she looked like a cartoon. She slumped, like a dead tree, sadness overtaking her, and collapsed. She couldn't take anymore. Even with her special senses, she needed sleep. But, David caught her mid-air. And…. Kissed her.
Tally didn't fight. She couldn't, but not because of her exhauastion. No, davids surprise had woken up the nanos inside her, and she felt as if she had just woken up from a 12-hour sleep. She didn't fight because she didn't want to. She did the exact opposite actually. She locked her hands around his neck and he grabbed the back of her head, dizzy, but he managed to pin her up against a tree. Tally, was kissing him fast, and would have worried about her strength compared to his, if she cared. Zane and her had never been alone, like this. Not without the city interface more than a kilometer away. And now she was certain, David wouldn't be an alternative, he would be her life. She had their whole future planned out. Tally seriously knew she loved him now. If she didn't, could she really feel like this? Or did this happen all the time to pretties, with random people? Tally felt small, like she had no experience. But she was Tally Youngblood. Everyone wanted to be her, and she could name thousands of guys off the top of her head who would kill to be in Davids place right now. Her fame gave her confidence, and she paid attention to not hurting him. But, that's when she realized, they had let down their guard, big time.
And, that's when the laughter came.
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Ok! Lets get this straight, I come to find my best friend and my ex-boyfriend to tell them how stupid they are, and I find them kissing so much, their on the verge of killing eachother! HA! A normal friend would be a bit mad, no scratch that, more like pissed! But me, im used to it! Im friends withTally Youngblood after all! The queen of betrayal! How could I even doubt it would happen again?! HA!" Shay stood before them. She actually seemed in hysterics at first, but nope she was angry. "in fact," she continued. "im not alone." She had a serious expression.
"Shay, were not stupid. In fact, were going to keep this planet hovering." Tally half-expected shay to pounce, and people to come out of no where. Just in case, Tally squeezed davids arm, and they both inched to their hoverboards. Still recovering from the intense heat only moments before.
"Yes Tally. This planet does need help hovering, but not from you. I believe you've done enough." Tally realized that shay really had made a great special circumstances agent. Then Tally recognized that same expression from her last seconds as a pretty, right before shay had turned her special.
"Now!" Tally screamed to david. They jumped on their special hoverboards, and rose into the air, at the same time shay rose, with Fausto behind her. Yes, Tally thought, were even.
Shay made the first move, landing a blow with the back of her hand on Davids left arm. That's when Tally realized Shays plan, she would go to David, knowing Tally would try to protect him. But Tally knew better, David could defend himself.
Fausto's board was heading straight for Tallys head. Tally angled her board, just so the lifters couldn't reach iron, and flicked off her lifting fans with a flex of her index finger. She dropped at a dangerous speed, that was increasing every second. And on top, Fausto was falling even faster than her, and was right above her.
She realized she had seconds to get out of the way. She flexed her index finger once more, and stopped side- hover boarding (a skill she had obtained in Andrew Simpson smith's village even without a hoverboard, just one of Tally Youngbloods many rare talents). She smiled. When her lifters reached iron, she immediately strained her board to the side. She missed decapitation a 2nd time by centimeters. She rose back up to Shay and David, leaving Fausto falling, knowing he would recover soon enough, but wouldn't fight again. He was a coward. Adrenaline rush took ahold of her. Once Tally reached Shay, she rammed into her, trying to knock her off her hover board. But Shay was prepared, and she rammed into Tally as a rebound. Tally fell, tumbling head over heels, trying to keep some dignity by not screaming. But, David gave in to Shay's master plan, and chased her down, trying to save her from the catch from her crash bracelets that would rip her arms out. She already felt the magnetic lifters in them begin to pull.
David fell very, very fast, threatening to fall off his board the whole way down. Tally knew it would make everything worse if they both got their arms pulled out of their sockets by those stupid crash bracelets. Tally cursed, but prepared herself for the bogus pain. The old saying reminded her of another one, icy. Tally was still a cutter, and if she bit herself right now, she could probably save one of them from a total blackout. She brought her teeth to her arm… grateful that her razor-sharp special teeth fit together so perfectly… she interrupted her own thoughts and bit down hard. It helped A LOT. Once that icy feeling came, she realized that had all happened in milli-seconds. She looked up with shining teeth to find David's hand inches away from her face, but he missed. He cursed, and dropped faster. He stumbled, but was human after all. Tally closed her eyes and braced herself. She looked down, to find David laughing as she landed in his arms. He had actually saved her!
The hoverboard's lifters found iron inches above the ground.
"David! You ssaved me! Your….. ahhhhmazing! I…I…." Tally was at a loss for words.
"Don't word puke." David said with a smile and closed the short distance between their faces to kiss her. When they pulled away, Tally was still in his arms. She looked up and saw Shay and Fausto flying away. Why?
Tally wished for the hundredth time that she was still a bubblehead, best friends with Shay, and Fausto. With Zane, and David could get on with his life.
But, Tally was the 'queen of betrayal' and the most famous person in the world. So, she knew that no matter how hard she tried she wouldn't get her old life back.
So, Tally decided not to try, and locked her eyes with David's once again.
Randoms: chapter 2:
"David. Make some PadThai please. And stay many klicks away from the SpagBol!" Tally said with a smile on her face. She still grimaced though, no matter how hard she tried.
"Hey, keep your opinions to yourself." David replied chomping down on his breakfast of SpagBol Tally had been unaware of.
"Ugh." Tally said. She shook off the memory and climbed up a tree. She was the lookout. David and her had set off that same morning. They both knew that they couldn't stay in the same place for that long of a while. Shay knew their location, and obviously wasn't very happy with them.
She scanned the treetops once more, looking for any sign of a hoverboard. She flicked her infrared on and off, still seeing nothing. She flexed her ring finger and turned on her skintenna. Shay and Fausto's were off, so were everyone else's. Tally turned hers off also, grateful that nobody had been on the same channel as her, so no one knew their location, just yet.
"Nothing, and no one." Tally informed David, as she climbed down the tree.
David sighed.
"Do we really have to run like this anymore? If anyone wanted too come after us they would have done it already." David countered.
This time Tally sighed, and shook her head.
"No. David, were not bulletproof. And if we get another ambush like that one we wont be ready."
"We are to ready! And like I said, they would have come already!"
"David we've only been traveling for three days."
"And that's more than enough time for another ambush!"
"I guess you're right. Im really tired." Tally replied. She yawned, as if on cue, grabbed her PadThai and sat down next to David.
Tally couldn't stop thinking. David had fallen asleep about 3 hours ago. Her special senses failed her again, giving her and her mind too much time alone. Of course Zane reached her mind once again. That's when her train of thought stopped dead in its tracks.
She had cut herself last week. When she promised Zane she never would again. Her moms old saying struck her.
Break a promise, break a heart.
She felt her eyes watering. Her chin began to quiver, and she quickly wiped her eyes.
She felt like she was crazy. Zane was dead, and she was worrying about a promise she made to him almost 3 months ago! She sighed, which brought more tears to her eyes. This time, they flowed over and the nanos began to work again, leaving a stinging path where the salt of the tears had been.
She felt a hand wipe them away.
She hadn't even noticed that David had woken up.
"Stop thinking about him!" He said. He looked like he was begging her. She knew what his mind was on, the memories of heartbreak, seeing her and Zane. Tally was a monster! She didn't even look twice at him then.
"Im not." Tally lied.
"Are too." He argued.
Tally's tears were coming in buckets now. She was crying for Zane, her old friendship with Shay, the fact that she would never see her parents again (one she hadn't thought about before), the tortured expression on david's face, and the stinging in her face was worse than ever. But, her tears kept coming, and she just stared at David's face, making it worse. Then something distracted her.
A shiny tear ran down Davids face. She finally realized how much it hurt to see your love cry.
Tally wiped the tear away.
"No! David no don't cry!"
Before he could respond she kissed him.
That confusing feeling returned worse than ever because his lips tasted of tear-salt. Tally had to pull away to cry harder, but she still hugged him.
And they fell asleep like this, in a n embrace. They didn't wake up for over 12 hours. If David did, he didn't show any sign of it.
When Tally woke up she still hugged him, not wanting to wake him up. But, the sun was fully rised and it was getting hot, so she roused David and pulled back. She picked up her PadThai again and realized that she hadn't even touched it the night before, and she was starving. She attacked the cold food, desperate.
She looked up to find David laughing at her. His face was still red from the night before. Tally felt the biggest relief ever, both from the food, and from hearing his laugh, seeing that her last memory of him was his tear-streaked face. She laughed back.
"Sorry about last night. I overreacted." He said, looking really ashamed.
"Not at all." Tally replied, licking the sticky spices off her lips. David laughed once again, and Tally smiled.
Then they heard a rustle in the leaves up above. Tally's reflexes had always been great, but never this great. She threw her PadThai, and was at the top of the tree in no time at all.
She scanned the treetops, but didn't see anything. She flicked on her infrared, and looked around, she saw a white hot object moving toward them, but ignored it. It was too small to be a person, so it must be an animal. Although, it was REALLY hot…
She flicked on her skintenna, but everyone elses was off. She flicked hers off too, grateful yet again that their location was still private. She hopped down from the tree.
"nothing and no one." Tally informed David, it was what she said every time she came down from a lookout.
"YES!" David screamed, he put his hands into fists and raised them. He seemed truly… happy.
He sat down, leaning up against a tree, and stared up at the sky, a brilliant smile on his face.
"you're happy." Tally stated the obvious, laughing. She sat down beside David, and stared at the sky.
"What the…. OH MY GODD!" David screamed louder than ever.
Tally's head whipped down to David's leg. There, in fornt of them, was an overheated hoverboard, nudging David's leg.
"Stupid thing." A familiar voice stated from the bushes. The figure that the voice belonged to stepped out from the trees. "It gave me right away!"
"PERIS!" Tally screamed, and ran up to her old friend, and gave him a hug. She hugged him for about 5 minutes straight, until David called her name.
Tally pulled back, looked into Peris' eyes for a minute, then turned to face David.
"David, this is my one and only best friend forever." She said with joy.
"Hi…" Peris said nervously, like he was hiding something… "I hope you know ive been here since yesterday. God, Tally I didn't know you could be so mushy! It was kind of… dizzy-making."
Tally stared at him with disbelief.
"You sat there and watched that?! The kissing, the crying!? You sat back and watched that?" she was trying so hard to rewire herself. It wasn't working so well. The razors had already returned to her voice.
"Tally." David put a powerful hand on her shoulder. "Calm down."
Calm down?! Tally thought. What? Was he proud?!
"Hi, im David." He said,
"HI David." Peris replied . So like him, Tally thought.
"Well. Its nice to know an enemy could have been hiding the bushes the whole time!" Tally ran off into the trees. She had to cut herself.
Break a promise, break a heart. The stupid saying echoed in her head. She walked back in the clearing.
She grabbed David and kissed him, right there in front of Peris, he deserved it! It only took a peck for the icy feeling to come. She pulled away and squeezed her eyes closed shut. David leaned toward her, very, very, confused.
"Bubbly?" Peris asked.
"No! icy." She answered. Razors in her voice clearer than ever.
She opened her eyes, sighed, and folded her arms. She looked at David who was looking at her, baffled. She winked at him, and he relaxed, shook it off and laughed. Peris looked like he was about to puke, for some reason.
"So? Why are you here?" she asked Peris, who looked very surprised that she could rebound so fast.
"Tally, I was a coward. Im her to stay. I want to be… icy? Isn't it?"
Tally laughed. She laughed so hard she started to sweat. Yet, she kept laughing.
"Peris! Oh my gosh, you're funny-making!" his face was completely serious. "You cant be serious?!" she moved one hand to her hip and used the other one to tap peris on the cheek, as if slapping him. It might have been to hard. David laughed, and peris rubbed his face. "Are you drunk?!"
"No! Tally im perfectly fine! I really am! I'm serious. I was a coward. And I regret it. Let me stay." He tried to sound demanding, as if he scared Tally one little bit.
"No! First of all, im sorry but youll always be a coward. You admitted it to! Peris, you caused me to land thousands of kilometers away from the ruins, and just about killed me! Who knows? The new smoke might never have been caught if you had come. No, if you hadn't chickened out. Second of all, only specials are icy. And you don't have an inch of the courage it takes to be a special." Tally stated the facts clearly.
"Yes, I know that's all true. But what else do I have to do? The mind-rain is over!"
"Peris, you're a bubblehead! Go drink champagne or something!"
"Actually, well take you back to the city. We could use some more food… and toilet paper." David butted in.
Peris and Tally groaned at the same time. And nodded their heads at the same time. They were best friends, after all.
"Im sorry. That was mean." Tally said,
"But true." Peris replied, "You probably just want some alone time with your BOYFRIEND!" Peris leaned closer, teasingly and made kissing noises, then he sat down, obviously tired.
Tally stuck her tongue out at him, then sat down by David, grabbing his hand, just to get on Peris' nerves.
Peris laughed. Then closed his eyes.
Tally did the same, though she knew she wouldn't fall asleep. She was hoping she could get through this one night without crying. She rested her head on David's chest, with her eyes open again. David started to stroke her hair. Tally looked at Peris who scoffed at her, then turned away. Tally felt David relax, and decided to try to sleep. She had a long journey to the city coming up, after all.