So this is going to take place after the last chapter in J'adore les Serpents. Its written by Kristinaexpressive and I, and we will be switching back and forth. So there will be two stories to keep up with. This is from Kristina's POV.
CHAPTER 1
"Marisa?" I murmured. She was lying on the ground next to another guy, clutching a bunch of roses to her chest and smiling happily.
"What's up?" asked Evra, craning his neck to look behind him.
"Who's that guy?" I inquired.
"Oh, that's Darren. He's my best friend here at the Cirque."
Still shocked by seeing Marisa here I nodded distractedly and stood, pulling Evra with me. We walked over and I saw Marisa sit up, her bright eyes wide with curiosity. She hastily hauled Darren up with her.
Now we faced each other awkwardly. It soon melted when Marisa flashed one of her warm smiles and said, "Small world, huh?"
I laughed. "Yes, very…"
"Well, I'm Marisa, by the way," she said happily, holding out a hand to Evra. I noticed she had a bandage around her wrist.
He glanced uneasily at her. "You don't mind touching me?" he asked skeptically.
She smiled and looked at me. "When you're best friend has an obsession with snakes, you kind of get used to it." With that she grasped his hand and shook it firmly. Evra smiled.
"And anyway, I had to put up with her love of spiders," I said teasingly.
Darren gaped at her. "You like spiders?"
"Yeah! Why?"
"I do too!"
Marisa laughed. "Holy crap, could we be any more compatible?"
I introduced myself to Darren.
Suddenly I yawned. I turned aside, trying to hide it, but Darren saw me.
"Hey Evra, I think you should take Kristina to bed," he said.
"That's what she said…" Marisa murmured, grinning at me. We exploded with laughter. The boys stared at us, confused, but we didn't even bother to explain.
As I yawned again, Evra led me back to the tents and caravans and into his tent. He allowed me to sleep in his cot. When he stretched out on the floor I peeked over the edge at him.
"Why aren't you sleeping in the other bed?" I asked.
Evra glanced at it. "Oh that's Darren's."
A voice drifted in from outside.
"Hey mom I'm sleeping over at Kristina's. That OK?" Darren and Marisa entered the tent, the latter holding a cell phone to her ear. "Yea…OK. Love you too, bye."
I reached for my own phone and gave my parents a quick call to let them know I was "spending the night at Marisa's house."
I looked at Marisa, only to find her arguing with Darren.
"No, I think you should sleep in the bed." Darren said.
"What if I don't want to sleep there? What if I want you to be happy? And you can't be happy if you're sleeping on the ground." Marisa glanced at Evra who shot her a dirty look. "Sorry," she mumbled.
"Yes and I care more about you're happiness than I do mine so just get in the bed!" Darren said, frustrated.
But I knew Marisa. She could win any argument, and eventually she'd have her way.
Evra sat up and whispered in my ear, "They sound like they're already married." I giggled.
"Then let me sleep on the floor," Marisa said. Her eyes flashed coldly, and I could tell she was getting frustrated. Even if it was her parents, her voice turned condescending and she could be pretty harsh. Either Darren caught the look, or he respected her enough to listen to her, but he sighed and slipped under the covers, turning his back to the rest of us.
Evra kissed me quietly goodnight, and I was somewhat surprised when Darren didn't do the same. Marisa appeared genuinely hurt as she lay down on the ground. But I didn't think it any further because as soon as I closed my eyes I was asleep.
***
The next morning I awoke to the smell of sausages. Groaning, I sat up and stretched. Nobody else was awake. I noticed with a smile that sometime in the night Marisa had gotten tired of the hard ground and gotten into bed with Darren. He had his face buried in her brown hair.
I poked Evra with my foot. He stirred, mumbled something, and opened his eyes. I smiled at him. "Morning," I whispered. He opened his mouth to reply but I put a finger to my lips and nodded at the pair across from us. Evra glanced at them, and shook his head, smiling. Beckoning me with his hand, he led me out of the tent. While walking we passed a few other performers I recognized from the shows, and they greeted me openly. Eventually we arrived at a fire pit, where Rhamus Twobellies—a man who literally had two stomachs and could eat anything—fried sausages over the orange flames.
"Ah, Evra! And friend, I see!" He bellowed.
I blushed as Evra put his arm around me. Rhamus laughed as he handed us each a sausage. As we sat on a log and munched greedily on our breakfast meat, Darren and Marisa arrived. They each grabbed a sausage and sat beside us.
"Mr. Crepsley has some chores for us, Evra," Darren said.
"Who's Mr. Crepsley?" I asked.
"He's an old vampire, also Darren's mentor," explained Evra. I nearly choked on my sausage. "You're a vampire?" I asked Darren.
"Well, half. So I can still go out in sunlight and I'm not as strong or fast as a normal vampire."
"Wow!" I said.
"Anyway, so you girls are going to be on your own for the day."
Marisa and I leaned forward and smiled at each other. "We can manage," Marisa said.
"We always do." I replied. We laughed.
As soon as we finished eating Darren and Evra headed off to do whatever wacky chores Mr. Crepsley had planned for them.
Marisa and I decided to sunbathe in the field. We sat in silence for a while.
"So, how did you meet Evra?" she asked.
I told her everything that had happened. Afterwards she told me all that had happened with her and Darren.
"And that's how I got this," she held out her wrist. So that's why there was a bandage!
The day passed by quickly. We talked and talked, and didn't see the boys until sunset.
As the sun dipped below the horizon and tie-dyed the sky red, orange, and purple, we headed back to the tent. When we got there we found Darren and Evra changing into their performance costumes.
"Come on," Evra said. He already had his white robe on. He grasped my hand and escorted me through the backdoor of the theatre. I found myself backstage. Peeking through the blood red curtains, I saw people already milling about in the seating area.
"You and Marisa can watch the show, if you want," he said quietly. I nodded excitedly and dashed back to the tent.
"Where's Marisa?" I asked worriedly when I saw she wasn't there.
"Went to call her mom," he muttered, busy fixing the tie of his dusty, cobwebbed suit.
"She's going to be a handful," I advised. "You sure you can handle that?"
Darren gave up on his tie and met my gaze. "I think I found that out last night," he said. "If I didn't like her I would have given up then. But I like that she's stubborn. She's not a conforming push-over like most other girls these days." He paused. "You don't seem like one either."
I thanked him. Just then Marisa walked in and I told her what Evra had said.
She kissed Darren (for "good luck" so she said), and we sneaked around to the front of the theatre. We obscured ourselves in the crowd of babbling people trying to get in. Mr. Tall was taking tickets. He gave us one look and waved us through.
We headed to the very front row. Settling in our seats, we began to talk eagerly, excited to see the two guys we liked in the show. And we were together this time!
Suddenly someone sat next to Marisa, stretching out like a cat. Marisa was kind of in the way, but I could tell he had blonde hair, about our age, with lean muscles and wicked green eyes.
Marisa pulled out her phone, typed something, and handed it to me.
Dang he's hot! It read.
I smiled and nodded.
"Hey," the boy said to us.
"Hi," Marisa replied. She was always a very skeptical person, and she never trusted anyone right away.
"What are two girls doing here?" he asked.
Marisa bristled. "What, you think girls like us can't handle a freak show?"
The boy seemed a little taken aback, but he quickly shook it off and grinned wolfishly.
"I'm Kristina," I said, before things got nasty.
He looked at Marisa expectantly. She hesitated. "I'm Marisa," she finally said.
He grinned that grin of his again. "And I'm Steve, nice to meet you."