Author's Note:- Hi! Yes, it's been a while. (If you want to know why, my explanation is on my profile page!). Anyway, I thought of this story a while ago but I didn't pluck up the courage to write it until now. My other Tracy Beaker Returns story with my original character didn't go as well as I'd hoped, so I thought I'd try this. Elektra has always been very close to my heart – I don't know why, there's just something about her that I love – so I thought I'd give writing about her a go.
This is set after the last episode of Tracy Beaker Returns. It may run into The Dumping Ground too but for now I'm just going to use the break between the end of TBR and the beginning of TDG as my timeline.
Anyway, I hope you'll enjoy it!
-x-
Elektra had been feeling weird for over a week now. Of course, she didn't tell anyone about it. Living in Elm Tree house, her privacy was limited already, and she didn't want people poking her nose into this too. Besides, she was sure it was nothing serious.
The knock on her bedroom door made her jolt from her sleep – at the right moment too; she'd been having one of her nightmares. She knew how they all ended, but this time she'd been woken before the grand finale.
"Elektra! Breakfast!" She heard Mike call. If she had her way, she'd sleep until past noon, but there was a routine here. Not as strict as in Burnywood and the numerous other places she'd lived, but Gina and Mike didn't like anyone missing the 'most important meal of the day'. She groaned as she heard another, more rapid knock.
"Elektra, are you aw-."
"I heard you!" She snapped, as she sat up in bed and pushed some stray hair from her eyes. As soon as she opened her eyes, that weird feeling was back. She felt sort of…nauseous. Perhaps a stomach bug, she thought to herself as she rolled out of bed. But if she had a stomach bug, at least some of the other kids would have had it too, but they'd seemed fine the past few days.
With a sigh, she grabbed her towel, wash cloth and clothes, and headed to the bathroom, pushing Carmen out of the way, who was also heading in the same direction.
"Elektra!" Carmen whined as Elektra slammed the door in her face.
"I beat you here, squirt!" Elektra smirked to herself as Carmen kicked the locked door in frustration. "Deal with it." She kicked off her pyjama bottoms and her underwear, and frowned when she looked down at her underpants. Dry as a bone. Again. She'd been expecting her period four days ago, and it hadn't arrived yet. She wasn't too worried; her periods had always been a little irregular, but never this late before. She shrugged it off as she washed, dressed, and did her hair, throwing her clothes into the laundry basket and leaving the bathroom, where Carmen was still waiting.
"I was here first and you know it, Elektra! I'm sick of you pushing me out of the way to get what you want!"
"Ugh, loser." Elektra grunted as she made her way to the kitchen and sat down. The choices of cereal, toast and boiled eggs were already on the table, but Elektra suddenly wasn't hungry anymore. The very sight of food was making her feel sick again, and Tee and Tyler fighting over the milk was giving her a headache.
"SHUT UP! JUST SHUT UP!" Elektra got to her feet. She was used to the fights and usually blanked them out by thinking about something else – like writing poetry in her head, but today it was just impossible. It made everyone listen though. Everyone stopped dead, just staring at her.
"Elektra…" Gina was by her side and she was expecting a lecture, but instead, there was concern in Gina's voice. "Are you alright, babes? You look pale…."
"I-I'm fine…." Elektra stammered, before covering her mouth and running to the nearest toilet. Thankfully there was no one in there and she'd just made it on time. When she'd finished vomiting, she wiped her mouth and flushed away the mess, before sitting with her back against the door and waiting for the nausea to pass.
A few minutes later, there was a knock at the door. Damn there being no privacy in this place!
"Elektra? It's Carmen…Gina wanted to know if you're okay, and if you still want breakfast?"
"Tell her I'm fine, I haven't thrown up or anything, I'm just not hungry." The sound of Carmen's footsteps fading must have meant that Carmen was going to pass the message on, and Elektra felt safe to come out of the bathroom. All she wanted to do now was go to the living room, relax on the sofa and watch TV. As breakfast was still going on, no one would bother her for a few minutes at least, and she didn't have the energy to go all the way back upstairs to bed.
She flopped onto the sofa and flicked through the channels, finally settling on some cartoon. Not like she was focussed on it anyway.
"Didn't know Tom and Jerry was your thing, Mandy." Johnny laughed as he took the remote from her hand. She knew he used her real name to annoy her, but she didn't even have the energy to chase him, or even have a go at him, for that matter. Johnny clearly found this very confusing.
"Are you ill or something? Why aren't you beating me up?"
"Because, I can't be bothered." She breathed a sigh as Carmen and Tee sat next to her, and Johnny turned the TV over to something else.
"Elektra Perkins, can't be bothered to scream and chase us when she doesn't get her own way?" Johnny smirked. "Definitely ill." Elektra noticed Tee and Carmen move away slightly, in case they became infected by whatever illness she had.
"Shut up." She mumbled, letting her eyes fall closed as she listened to the normal noise of everyday life around her. Eventually, the noise turned into a buzz, and then went silent as she drifted into a deep sleep.
-x-x-
"Do you think she's really asleep?" Tyler frowned, walking over to the sofa's. "Or do you think she's faking? Planning some sort of trick? Pretending not to care about Johnny snatching the remote from her, but secretly plotting her revenge for when we least expect it." It did sound like Elektra.
"Poke her. See if she reacts." Frank said from the pool table. Tyler slowly moved closer, and gently poked the sleeping girl's shoulder. No response. This time, he tried shaking her, only to get a disgruntled groan and then continued her deep, even breathing.
"Oi, Mandy!" Johnny yelled from his place on the other sofa. Still, no response. "Nah, I don't think she's faking."
Carmen looked worried. "What if she's really sick? Maybe she needs a doctor…." Tee chewed her lip in agreement.
"I think Carmen's right. I mean, would she let Johnny get away with calling her by her real name if she was her usual self? We should get Mike and Gina."
"No!" Tyler exclaimed. He had that look in his eyes. He was planning a prank. "This is our one chance to get back at her without her even realising it. What if we draw on her face?"
"I think we can come up with something a bit better than that." Rick rolled his eyes as he entered the living room.
"Make up?" Tyler suggested.
"I was thinking more cream and toilet paper." Johnny suggested. "Come on." He left to get some, with Rick and Tyler following.
Carmen turned to Tee, and then placed a hand on Elektra's forehead, still cautious in case the older girl woke up and smacked her in the face. "She's sort of warm…I'm going to tell Mike and Gina."
-x-x-x-
"She's acting really weird, Mike. Johnny called her Mandy earlier and she didn't seem to care…she just sat there, staring into space." Tee explained.
Mike raised an eyebrow. "Doesn't sound like Elektra."
"And she did look ill this morning." Gina pointed out. "Where is she now?"
"She was watching TV until Johnny snatched the remote…then she just fell asleep." Carmen replied. She decided to leave out the part where Tyler, Rick and Johnny were planning to prank her.
"Well…just let her rest a little while, yeah?" Gina smiled a little. "We'll see if she wants to eat at lunch time. I'm sure it's nothing to worry about."
-x-x-x-x-
"What do you think of our handiwork?" Tyler laughed as the girls re-entered the living room. Elektra was covered in toilet paper, and they'd squirted whipped cream on top. Extra on top of her hair. They'd even added a cherry on top.
Tee couldn't help but snigger.
"She is going to kill you when she wakes up."
-x-x-x-x-x-x-
Author's Note:- Okay, it's not that great, but I hope you like it anyway. This is just the beginning though! It gets better, I promise. Please review!