More than meets the eye
Mkay, this is the side story I said I would start. The main pairing here is Robina/Valencia, and this should lead right up to Battleon High. Remember, it's still set in BH universe, but before. And Robina is OOC, but she gradually slips into her normal personality. This is set in their freshman year at BH. Maria should be in their year too.
This will gradually start from a hatred between Valencia and Robina, to friendship, and then to romantic.
Disclaimer – I don't own these characters. Maria and Natalya are in this chapter, and they belong, to Xenolord.
Valencia whistled cheerfully, hands in her pockets, as she strolled along in the mall. Grinning, she wandered around. The mall in this city was HUGE! Way bigger than any mall she had ever been to while she was still in Krovesport.
Taking a left, Valencia paused, to examine the clothes on display in one window. There was a pair of leather pants on display. Quickly, she did some mental math.
"So that would be…" Mumbling to herself, Valencia's face brightened even more. Running into the shop, she talked to the clerk, and the pants were taken out of the window.
Proudly, Valencia came out with a new pair of pants, and money to spare. Looking up, she quickly memorized the name of the store. She was about to move, when something else caught her eye.
Right next to the store, was another. With a mannequin (THOSE THINGS MOVE AT NIGHT!) modeling light blue jeans, a tight dark pink shirt, and a pink bandana.
It looked like just the shop, where her roommate would….well, shop. Valencia's smile faded slightly, at the thought of her popularity crazed roommate. Ever since they're little ditty (check BH: The musical) a few weeks ago, they did indeed, loathe each other.
Taking one last look at the outrageously pricey pink clothes, she scoffed, and walked away, to the food court.
Once she reached there, she quickly bought an ice cream. Licking at it absent mindedly, she didn't realize until 5 minutes later that some one was calling her name.
"Valencia!"
Whipping her head to the side, she saw Maria Despair.
"Get your ass over here!" She yelled crudely. Valencia winced, as she saw that all the people in hearing range turned to look at Maria. Some women with children were glaring venomously with her, and mumbling to themselves. Looking at one, Valencia could see that she was mouthing 'teenagers.'
"Nice going Maria." Natalya hissed at her sister. Maria just laughed nervously, and tried not to make eye contact with anyone but Valencia.
Shaking her head in disbelief, Valencia waited until most of the people had stopped staring, and moved over to their table.
"Yo." She greeted, as she pulled out a chair, and sat down in it.
"Hey." Maria said back, as she sipped from the coke she had ordered. Looking over to the other girl, she noticed Valencia staring at her intently. "See something you like?" She smirked, waggling her eyebrows.
Valencia rolled her eyes. "Don't flatter yourself Maria. It's very unbecoming."
"Don't even use words like that with her, I doubt if she understands them." Natalya snorted. Maria glared at her, before opening her mouth.
"I know what it means!" She exclaimed. Natalya raised an eyebrow. "Tell us then, go on."
"Um…"
Valencia and Natalya snickered. "Shut up!" Maria yelled at them, her cheeks flushing.
"Honestly Maria, sometimes you're as dense as my roommate." Valencia laughed.
"Who's your roomie?" Maria asked, as she poked her sister in the side for laughing at her.
"Ms. Popularity." She replied, as she jerked away slightly, to avoid being poked by Maria herself.
"Robina Hood?"
Valencia nodded. Natalya crossed her arms, and leaned back in her chair, looking thoughtful.
"Robina, huh? I remember her. Haven't spoken to her, since grade 8, before I got here.."
Valencia arched an eyebrow. "What was she like back then?"
Natalya closed, her eyes, trying to remember. "Well, I do remember that she sure as hell wasn't like she is now."
Valencia looked interestedly at her. "Really?"
"Yup." She nodded. "Actually, I remember a very quiet, and actually quite smart girl."
"You're kidding." Valencia turned to look at Maria, to confirm if it was true. Maria nodded.
"Nope. But there was a couple of things in particular that stood out about her to me though, even before."
"And what's that?" The violet-haired girl asked.
"She was very kind, very polite, and very, VERY insecure about herself. Give her a compliment, and she wouldn't believe you."
"Interesting." Valencia observed, taking in the thoughts. "She doesn't act like it, I assure you."
"Like I said, she is, or was, very insecure." Natalya replied, as she rested her chin on her hand. "But I don't know what she's like now."
Valencia rolled her eyes. "She's snooty, bratty, and popular, and she seems to get kicks out of taunting new students and unpopular people."
"Do you know that for sure?" Natalya countered.
"Well, I've seen her and her groupies taunting some of the other people mercilessly." Valencia pointed out. That was more than enough evidence for her to believe that she was.
"But do you know if she really enjoys taunting others?" The elder Despair asked her.
"W-well, how am I supposed to know that?" Valencia cried. "I can't just walk up to her, and ask her, 'hey, do you enjoy berating on those who have a lower social status than you?"
Maria snickered at this, but Natalya shushed her. Natalya looked off thoughtfully. There was a full five minutes of silence, before Natalya spoke.
"Next time you see her, do something for me." Valencia rolled her eyes, and opened her mouth, but the other girl placed a finger on her lips. "And, no, don't give me any of your sarcasm. I want you to actually do this." Valencia nodded sullenly.
"Next time you see her, check her eyes. And no, don't you dare laugh Maria." She cut halfway through, as she saw her younger sister about to start laughing again.
"Now, check her eyes. As they say, windows are the eyes to the soul-" Here, she stopped again, as she pushed Maria, who's was giggling, out of her chair. After sitting up straight in her own chair again, she continued.
"And take note in what you see in them. A person's eyes can reveal things about them you might not have known." She finished, looking pleased as she got through the last time without any interruptions. Valencia nodded, but only paid half of her attention. Why should she care about her worst enemy, and roommate?
There was a quiet settling between the two. Valencia was playing with her hands, and Natalya was still congratulating herself on her little mini-speech. Suddenly, Maria popped up from the floor, and pushed Nat out of her own seat.
Pointing at her, she laughed heartily, then quickly ran away. "You can't catch me!" She yelled over her shoulder.
Valencia watched, as Natalya stood up calmly, and brushed herself off. Standing still for a moment, she saw Natalya sprint after her, screaming "Maria Despair, you get back here!"
She could only shake her head and laugh, as she got up from her own chair, and ran after the two siblings.
Valencia came back later on in the afternoon (it was around lunch when she was at the mall). She had had a lot of fun with Maria and her sister, looking around, being shown the best spots in the mall, looking through things at stores. Although, they had been thrown out of 5 of the stores.
Speaking of stores…she grinned, as she looked at the bag she had had from earlier. Clutching it fiercely, she ran over to the small bathroom in a separate part of the room.
After a few minutes of rustling her clothes, Valencia smirked at herself in the mirror. The pants fitted perfectly, just as they had in the store. Twirling around, she modeled them for herself, before nodding in satisfaction. She scanned her eyes over the countertop for a small pair of scissors, that was usually kept there. Seeing it, she reached for it, but stopped, her hand hovering over them.
Right next to the scissors, was a bottle of lotion that Robina always used.
'But do you know if she really enjoys taunting others?"
Valencia's smile faded, and quickly turned into a scowl. Grabbing the scissors, she quickly brought them to her hip, and cut the tag off of the hip. Dropping the scissors once more on the table, she walked out of the bathroom.
'Why should I care if she enjoys it? It's the fact that she does it, is what's bad.' Valencia muttered to herself, as she flopped down on her bed.
'Was very, VERY insecure…'
"Damnit Nat! Now look what you've done!" She screamed. The only answer, was the thud, as she banged her fist on the nearby table.
Sighing, she closed her eyes. Why couldn't she get Natalya's words out of her head? Why should she care about what she said about Robina? Hell, why should she care about Robina at all?
All of these questions, and many more swam around her head. Opening her eyes, she stood up, and walked out of her door. Maybe a little dinner would help clear her mind.
The small bell above the door tinkled, as Valencia walked through the door. She sighed with content, as she looked around.
Along with teaching P.E at BH, Yulgar Tavern owned a small restaurant, with a couple of beds for guests. It was probably one of the most popular places for people to eat, since the food was affordable, yet delicious, and the people were friendly.
She walked over to an empty table, and it wasn't long, until a lanky, blonde teenaged boy came to her table.
"The usual Valencia?" Hans asked her. Valencia nodded. Hans smiled, and scurried off to another table, to get another order. Even though she was new to Battleon High, that didn't mean she hadn't been in Battleon before. When she was younger, she would go with her father when he went away sometimes. If they ever went through Battleon, they had always stopped by The Tavern, for a meal. Eventually, she had been there so many times, that Mr. Tavern had memorized her order by heart.
"Here you go then." Valencia was pulled out of her reminiscing, when Hans, (Yulgar's roommates, cousins…something) put her food in front of her.
Valencia smiled at him gratefully, and began to dig in. She enjoyed her meal, for a thorough 10 seconds, before she heard the tinkling of the bell again, and the chatter of a large crowd.
Looking up, she swallowed her last bite, before a sour expression was on her face. No, the food wasn't bad; it was the fact that Robina and her groupies had walked in.
They quickly took a few tables, which were located close to her. From Valencia's table, she had a clear view of where Robina was sitting. Judging by her posture, Valencia was pretty sure she hadn't noticed her yet.
Hans quickly came to their table, with a notebook and pencil in hand.
Speaking to all the tables he jotted down what they wanted, and ran off to the kitchen.
As he left, Valencia saw one of her classmates. That classmate was quiet, and preferred not to talk much. That gathered the attention of the groupies, as they liked to pick at him for it.
"Well, well, look who it is!" One of them called out, as they caught sight of him. He froze, as he heard the groupies' voice. "It's the amazing anti-social freak!"
Her classmate bit his bottom lip, but stood firm. Walking over to another empty table, he sat down at it. They jeered at him, and threw insults his way.
"Go back home, ya pansy!"
"It's amazing who they let in schools these days!"
The insults kept coming, but he didn't say anything. He just sat there, stiffening up a little more each insult. Finally they stopped, and just began to laugh at him.
Robina was laughing along with them.
And no matter how much she didn't want to, she looked into Robina's eyes.
And there sure as hell wasn't any twisted pleasure in them.
Yup yup, first chappie, all done! I'll type another one soon!