Hannah Gehman

Miss Smoker

09/20/09

Don't Forget

Victoria Agape was walking through the halls at Coates Academy. She knew what people said that Coates for outside the walls, rich kids that did horrible things so they got sent to Coates for it. The only thing is, she didn't do a horrible thing. Sure she got into crap while she was up there, but that didn't mean that she was a bad kid. Did it? Every kid has to get into something before they get old, don't they? Now, granted, Victoria just turned fourteen, but that means nothing! Right? "Hey, Vicky!" a voice called from behind her. It was the Coates bad bay, Caine Soren. He didn't have his usual posse of Drake Merwin or Diana Ladris, though.

"What?" Victoria asked, trying to keep her tone civil. She had never been a big fan of Caine, but she could him the fact that he wasn't that bad looking. She knew a few people that had crushes on him. But in her mind he was just mean and was never up for good conversation and he let Drake beat on whoever he wanted.

"Do you want to come with me to talk to Diana?" he asked sweetly, obviously turning on the charm for her.

"Why would I come with you to see your girlfriend?" she replied with another question. Caine shrugged and pulled her along the hallway to Diana. "Caine! Caine! Let go of my wrist! Caine!" she shrieked as she was dragged without relent. They stopped at a door and Victoria slapped his hand off of her wrist. "Don't ever grab me again!" She had completely forgotten all forms of civility by the time they reached the door.

Diana stepped out of the door when she heard the commotion outside. Her long, dark hair was pulled back into a tight ponytail and a song was drifting from the iHome on her desk.

"She was given the world so much that she couldn't sleep and she needed someone to show her who she could be. And she tried to survive wearing her heart on her sleeve. But I needed you to believe."

"What?" Diana asked, a smirk etched into the beautiful planes of her face. Caine grabbed Victoria's wrists and thrust her hands at Diana. "What do you want me to do? Hold her hands?"

Victoria shrunk back. She wasn't stupid and she could see the anger flashing in the older girl's eyes. "You know what I want you to do," Caine replied simply. Diana rolled her eyes, looked at Victoria's hands in disgust and then grabbed them. Victoria gasped at the sheer coldness of her hands. Then, as soon as she grabbed them, she dropped them.

"She's a three bar," Diana said simply. Victoria looked at Caine who had a small smirk on his own face. Her eyes were wide with fear at not knowing what was going on. "There. Can I go back to what I was doing now?"

Victoria could hear another snatch of the song in the silence.

"You had your dreams, I had mine. You had your fears, I was fine. You showed me what I couldn't find. When two different worlds collide. La da da da-a-a-a."

Victoria was gaining more understanding about Diana with each part of the song. Diana was looking at Caine with cold eyes, but there was warmth beneath that too. Caine was staring back at her with absolute warmth. He shook his head slightly and it was obvious that only Diana was supposed to see it. "Fine," she sighed. "Why don't you two come in so we can talk?" Caine nodded and shoved Victoria in after Diana.

"What's going on?" she asked shakily. She didn't necessarily trust Caine or Diana, but if Drake was there, she'd be out the door within five seconds.

"What's your power?" Ciane asked abruptly. Victoria's brows knit together as she tried to register what that meant. "Look, I can levitate things." He lifted Diana's bed with one palm extended. "Diana can read the levels of people's powers. Hence the three bar. Which means you're pretty powerful. So what do you do?"

"I zap-fry people," Victoria said, hanging her head.

"Elaborate," Diana said, rolling her eyes.

"I overheat them, they end up blowing up. If I keep them overheated long enough," she explained with a smug smile. Diana's eyes were wide and all you could hear was the music playing in the background.

"She was given it all watching from far away. She given a role, never knew just when to lie. And she tried to survive living a life on her own. Always afraid of life, oh. But you've given me the strength to find home!"

Diana looked at the younger girl with wide eyes. She could barely contain her astonishment. Caine had the same look on his own face. "How do you know? Have you tried it out before?" Caine asked, gaining his composure well before anyone else. Victoria nodded, tears filling her eyes and let out a soft sob.

"It was what got me in here. My older brother was making me mad. So I put my hands on him and that's when I figured it out. I didn't quiet kill him, but he died in the hospital a few days later." Victoria looked up at them with her dark blue eyes filled with tears. Caine looked at her with certain reverie at her confession and Diana looked absolutely disgusted.

"You got sent here for killing someone," Caine said as a statement, not a question.

"I didn't kill him!" she yelled, her eyes flashing dangerously.

"We heard you the first time, jeez!" Diana said under her breath. She looked at Caine with her brown eyes probing his face.

"Call Drake and tell him to come up so we can talk together. Tell him to bring Computer Jack," Caine said from by the window, not looking at either of them. "You can go now, Victoria.

Victoria nodded and left the room with the song playing her exit.

"You had you're dreams, I had mine. You had your fears, I was fine. You showed me what I couldn't find when two different worlds collide."

Diana's eyes bore into Victoria's retreating back. She wasn't particularly friends with the younger girl, but she had to admit that there were things that that girl could do. She turned to Caine with her eyes full of questions. "We can not let her go against us!" Caine said firmly.

"Well, obviously!" Diana had her phone up to her ear and was tapping her foot impatiently. "But what if she suddenly decides that she's too good for us?"

"Us? Being you, Drake and I?" Diana nodded slowly. "Well, then, we'll do to her what we did to the others that decided they were too good for us."

Diana felt her eyes widen at the nonchalant way that Caine said this. She heard a voice from her phone as though it was coming from a million miles away.

"Hello?" Drake asked. "Hello?"

"Drake?" Diana asked, relieved he finally answered the phone.

"Diana?! What are you doing with Caine's phone you little thief?" Drake bit.

"Relax big boy," Diana sighed, rolling her eyes. "Caine wanted me to tell you that he needed you to come up to my room to have a little talk."

"About what?"

"What do you think?"

"Do we have another victim?"

"Not necessarily. And bring Computer Jack!" Diana added upon thought.

"What number room?"

"507. Hurry up!"

Diana shut the phone with a resounding snap. She looked at Caine who was lost in thought. She pursed her lips and sat down at her desk. Letting her music wrap her in its warm embrace.

"She was scared of breathing. Thoughts in the dark, falling apart! I don't survive with you by my side. We're gonna be all right. (We're gonna be all right). This is what happens when two worlds collide."

Caine was drumming his fingers on the windowsill. He needed Drake so that the three of them could figure out what to do. And he needed Computer Jack so that he could write down how powerful Victoria was. He would say that he needed Diana, but she was in the same room as he. Technically they weren't allowed in the same room as each other without one other person, but their one other person was coming. "What are we gonna do?" Diana asked from the desk.

"What?" Caine replied in absolute confusion.

"What are we gonna do about Victoria?" she repeated. "She's gonna hate us as soon as we show her the others."

"As long as she's faithful, I could care less about whom she likes and who she hates," Caine replied simply. Diana nodded, fingering her iPod. "What is this song?"

"Oh. It's nothing," Diana said quickly.

"Come on. It's something. At least tell me what it's called," Caine coaxed.

"It's called Two World's Collide," Diana replied with a blush covering her neck and working its way up her cheeks. Caine nodded and continued to look at her relentlessly.

"And who is it by?"

"That is never coming out of my mouth," Diana snapped. Caine nodded slowly and looked up at the clock that was over Diana's door. It read 11:12 a.m.

"It's almost lunch," Caine stated, looking at Diana with knowing eyes.

"What if we just let them starve through one meal?" Diana asked quietly. She was greeted by silence that only the music broke.

"You had your dreams, I had mine. You had your fears, I was fine. You showed me what I couldn't find, when two different worlds collide. You had your dreams, I was fine. You showed me what I couldn't find. When two different worlds collide."

Drake knocked on the door to room 507. He had Computer Jack, a scrawny thirteen-year-old dork by his side. The door opened and Diana poked her head out. She rolled her eyes and let them in. He could tell what she was thinking. You're late. I told you to hurry. Now we have to go and feed the others!" He could just picture her saying that in her irritating voice. Computer Jack was looking around the room in reverie. He had probably never been in the girls' wing of the dormitories before. "We have a three bar," Caine said simply.

Drake could see Computer Jack pull out his little PDA and start tapping away. "Name?" he asked like the good little lackey he was.

"Agape, Victoria," Diana said. Computer Jack went back to tapping.

"Power?" he asked again in that rehearsed way of his.

"She overheats people," Cine finished. Drake realized that there was an undertone of music that was playing. Probably a stupid love song.

"When two different worlds collide."

Yup, definitely a stupid love song. There was nothing really special about the room, but Drake looked around it all the same. "So why am I here?" he asked harshly.

"Because her power is one of the best here. We have to figure out how to get her to stay on our side," Caine explained shortly. Computer Jack nodded vigorously.

"And how do we do that?" Drake asked, voicing the doubt at the back of everyone's mind.

"That's why we're here. But unfortunately, we have to wait until we feed the others so that we have longer. Because someone didn't hurry like I told them to!" Diana said, looking pointedly at Drake.

"Don't look at me! It was this punk!" Drake snapped.

"Oh, I'm sure! That is so like you, Drake! Putting the blame on others so you don't get hurt!" Diana snapped back.

"What did you say to me?"

"You heard me the first time!"

"Oh, did I really?"

"Look. You're so stupid you don't even remember two seconds ago!"

"All right. Break it up you two," Caine said, tired of their constant bickering. "We need to go get Victoria."

"Why are we getting Victoria?" Computer Jack asked hurriedly.

"Because she's coming with us," Caine replied calmly. Diana's eyes widened, Drake scoffed and Computer Jack almost dropped his PDA. "Let's go."

They all filed out of the room just as the song changed.

"A penny for your thoughts and a dollar for your insights. Or a dollar for your disaster. I'm just a painter drawing a blank. We only want to sing you to sleep. Your bedrooms bigger than this. Oh. We fit in the inside. Inside."

Victoria was lying on her bed with a book in hand. She was fervently reading and only stopped when a hard knock came at her door. She nearly jumped out of her skin with surprise. She quickly and quietly opened her door. To her surprise Caine, Diana, Drake and Computer Jack were all standing outside. She ran her fingers through her long, blonde hair and scanned the four people outside of her door. "Hello," she said shakily.

"Come with us!" Caine commanded almost harshly. Victoria nodded, having already learned not to go against what he said earlier that day.

"Where are we going?" she asked cautiously, meeting stony glares.

She walked next to Drake on their way downstairs. Even though the bully scared her, he was somehow calming compared to both Caine and Diana. She still had no idea where they wer going, but knew that she would come to no harm as long as she followed what Cine, Drake and Diana said. She walked stiffly because you never knew what could be considered wrong in this group. "So? Anyone knows what's for lunch today?" she asked in hopes of a conversation starter.

She received a cold stare from Drake, but that was about it. "That means no, princess," Drake said quietly.

Victoria almost said nicely but there was nothing nice about Drake. "Thanks," she muttered under her breath, but Drake was back to his cold stare. Her shoulders slumped with being ignored. They were going down dark steps and a flutter of nervousness brought her stomach up to her throat. She wasn't scared of the dark, but you never knew what could be hiding in the Coates basement.

"Why is it so dark down here?" Computer Jack asked.

"Turn on the light idiot!" Drake snapped back.

"Knock it off, Drake!" Caine practically yelled.

"Just let him do whatever he wants!" Diana snapped at Caine as a loud thump could be heard.

What was that?" Victoria asked shakily. Computer Jack flipped the light on and she could see Drake sprawled on the ground.

Drake let out a groan and picked himself off the ground.

Diana finished walking down the stairs and scoffed at Drake. It would be him that fell down the stairs. She rounded the corner and saw the twenty kids that were huddled around a feeding trough. They all looked at her as one. She looked at them each with disgust.

Each of the people was covered in a layer of filth. Their hair was filthy, their lips were chapped and the arm above the cement was rubbed raw. Diana daringly looked back to see what Drake and Caine had planned for the opposing side. She could see the fear and the disgust in Victoria's eyes. "What? Can't you handle traitors?" Diana asked her loudly.

"These aren't traitors!" Victoria practically shrieked in her face. "They're people! What do you think you're doing to them?!"

"We're doing to them, what will happen to you if you don't stay with us!" Caine replied harshly. Victoria took a step back, but kept her eyes fixed on him. "Do you understand what you need to decide?"

"Sure. You want me to decide between getting my hands cemented together or living freely, but not able to make my own decisions! I wonder what I'll pick!" Victoria bit sarcastically. Caine nodded and snapped his fingers. Drake rolled his eyes and Diana stepped up to him faithfully.

"Give them food. Now!" Caine turned to Computer Jack with thought clouding his features. "Mark that she's with us and not against us."

"Wait! I never said anything!" Victoria protested, looking from Cine to the others that were plastered.

"So, are you telling me that you want to end up like them? Hands plastered and not able to do anything?" Victoria shook her head vigorously. "Then you're with us."

Victoria thought about retorting, but then thought better of it. She looked back at the others and saw a few that she knew. There was Dekka, a girl in her class, Taylor, a few years older than her, Aliana, a girl that barely looked ten, and Aeron, a boy that Victoria had been crushing on since who knows when!

"Fine," Victoria sighed, hanging her head in shame. She trudged up the stairs by herself with her head hung and tears of shame running down her cheeks. She couldn't get the images of the scared children and teenagers out of her head. They had all looked at her as though she could somehow help them. Maybe she was a coward. But there was nothing wrong with being a coward! No one cowardly ever died!

"Hey, Vicky!" said a soft female voice behind her. Victoria turned and saw a familiar blonde head peeking out from behind a door. Brianna.

"Yeah?" she asked innocently.

"Did you just come from the basement?" Brianna asked urgently.

"Yes," Victoria said hazardously. "Why?"

"Come inside until Caine, Drake and Diana come upstairs." Brianna motioned her inside. Victoria complied and went inside the room. It was scarcely decorated, but what was decorated was hardly anything you would think to find in an eleven-year-olds room. It was all posters of runners, not barbies or princesses or unicorns.

"Wow," she breathed.

"Yeah. Obviously you have a power or Caine wouldn't be showing you his 'collection.'" Brianna scoffed at this. "I run. Fast. You?"

"I overheat them from the inside out," Victoria explained quickly. Brianna nodded and peeked out of the door.

"Okay. They're upstairs now. Do you want to hear my plan?" Brianna asked, her features lighting up with excitement. Victoria nodded and Brianna took off. "We're gonna sneak down there and you're gonna set them all free!"

"How am I gonna set them all free?"

"By melting the cement!"

"When am I doing this?!"

"Now! Come on!"

Brianna practically pulled Victoria down the basement stairs. When they got to the bottom, Brianna flipped the light switch and then rounded the corner to where all of the people were.

"I came back!" Brianna said excitedly. "This is Victoria guys! She's gonna get you all out of there!" All of the eyes widened with the words "out of here." Victoria looked at all of them and sighed. She stepped up to one of the boys that she didn't know and put her hands onto the cement tube. She thought about all of the things that had happened that day and felt a surge of anger force its way through her.

The cement quickly overheated and melted off of the boys hands. He twisted his wrists in surprise and examined all of the features of his hands.

"Go quickly before Caine comes back down," she breathed into his ear. He nodded and ran up the steps and down the hallway.

A few seconds later, Victoria heard Caines feet stomp down the stairs. He had the boy by the wrists and shoved him down. "Who set him free?!" Caine asked furiously.

Victoria stepped up and pointed at Brianna. "It was Brianna. She crushed the cement and then told him to go free. I was trying to stop her!" Victoria cringed at the easy way she ratted Brianna out.

Caine thought for awhile, but then grabbed Brianna by the neck. "I have a little project for you, Vicky!" he practically yelled. He brought the boy over to him and then grabbed his neck too. "Come here!" Victoria did as she was told. "Put your hands on him!" Victoria did as she was told. "Put your hands on him!" Victoria put shaking hands on the helpless victim. "Kill him!" he whispered into her ear.

Victoria gasped in surprise. She almost dropped her hands from the boy, but held on in cowardice. She thought of her brother and felt another wave of anger surge through her, with an undertone of sadness. The boy was shaking with heat and his eyes were rolling into the back of his head. He fell to the ground and Victoria shrunk on her knees beside him. She didn't take her hands off of him until he let out a final breath and one last nerve twitched.

"There," she whispered through her tears. "You have what you want. Now I am a murderer."

"Get Drake and tell him to bring whoever he can find," Caine told her as she ran up the stairs.

Victoria couldn't get over the fact that blood really was on her hands now. But she couldn't help thinking that it wasn't over. Somehow she knew that she would kill more people than she dared to think about.