The Chosen Four
The Lord of Candy
Helena Ocampo
I proudly dedicate this book to my loyal friend, Tracy Gong, who helped me bring this book to life.
Elizabeth
It all started in a cruddy day in my regular cruddy life. I was just sleeping in because it was Sunday.
Right? At least that's what I thought it was.
But then I was very rudely interrupted by a familiar voice.
"Lizzie! Wake up!"
"Huh?"
I rubbed my eyes and wiped the drool of my mouth. With my tissue.
I'm sorry, but I wasn't going to wipe it with my sleeve! Someone who is as dignified as I am would do the same thing.
Anyway...back to my naughty sister, Bianca.
My sister was pulling tons of random clothes from the drawer.
"Hurry! Put these clothes on! Just…pick something!"
I looked at my sister puzzled.
"What's going on?"
She just looked at me like I was some kind of weird alien living in her bedroom.
"It's Monday."
That's when I started to panic. I glanced at the clothes Bianca had picked for me and thought they were repugnant. I couldn't go to school dressed like that.
Especially after my crush, Parker Smith, had asked me out.
Yup! I was dating someone. TODAY.
So, I had to pick my clothes, and I am very picky. That's what my Bianca says all the time. You could tell because I'm a girly-girl.
And a model too.
You may be wondering:
Did I actually want to be a model?
Surprisingly, the answer is no. My parents just made me do it, so I just went with it.
Anyway, the clothes I picked were just…fabulous!
And girly of course.
Did my sister Bianca like it? (You guessed it!)
Nope! She hated it more than anything else in her entire life. For now…
Anyway, I was already heading out because I was really late.
But then Bianca called me.
"Elizabeth! Come here," she shouted, all the way from upstairs.
"Great," I mumbled.
"What is it?"
I hurried upstairs, praying it wasn't a disgusting insect. One thing I hate are creepy crawlers. They're just so nauseating!
Bianca held both hands behind her back.
"What are you hiding?"
She batted her eyelashes innocent-like and answered, "It's a surprise…"
"For goodness sake…"
That's when she showed it to me.
It was the most foul and horrific thing in the world. A beetle.
Ok, maybe most foul and horrific thing in the world, other than snakes and worms.
But still! I just hate it when they fall flat on their back and can't get up. Then they move their hairy legs.
Ewwwww! She held it in front of my face like it was a designer dress. Who did she think she was?
I was beyond disgusted.
I just gagged and leaped six feet away from it. I headed out the door and jogged to get to school quickly.
But something caught my eye in plain sight. I grabbed it and read it:
Yummyland, Yummyland
A world full of food
For many tearstained years
The evil king ruled
But this shall not last
For good shall prevail
And Lorice Man
Get ready to fail
One is the Rose Petal Princess
The Earth's beautiful flower
Is full of kindness and giving
But also, full of power
The Master of Fire
The world's brightest light
Is coming to burn the enemies
To bring what is right
The Keeper of Air
A lightning storm
One of the greatest warriors
Ever been born
Last but not least, a mysterious white healer
With a sadness beyond measure
Must risk her life
For the world's peace and pleasure
The Four Chosen
Stick together
Which make them better
Than iron and leather
I looked at it panicked and frightened. Who were the four chosen? I had so many questions. But all my thoughts were interrupted by my sister.
"What's up?" She asked.
"Not much," I replied.
But, oh, was there much going on. I decided to take it cool and keep walking.
I tried to take my mind of the prophecy but I just couldn't. My sister noticed my gray eyes. They change that color when I'm worried or sad.
"Sis, what's wrong?"
I tried to hide it by saying, "Nothing." Then I smiled warmly, but it soon faded.
"I can tell something is wrong."
And that's the thing. Bianca knows me too well.
"Look, just…I don't want to talk right now."
She nodded.
I like how comprehensive Bianca is. She knows when I don't feel like talking or when I do. And she always tries to make me feel better.
I think I wasn't worried about that anymore….
But the prophecy soon got bigger and bigger, creating a portal.
We tried to run away from it but it was too strong. It dragged us and swallowed us like it hadn't eaten for ten days.
"Ahhhhhhh!"
Instantly, we were already falling. It was taking forever to end.
When we arrived to the end, I glanced at our destination.
"Wow."
I wowed at it, with my mouth wide-open. It was one of the most beautiful things I had seen in my life.
From tiny spaghetti trees to huge rock candy mountains.
The clouds were made out of cotton candy, and there were licorice benches. Far from us there was a remote castle. It was made out of gummies and all the food you can imagine. It was beautiful beyond compare.
"Amazing."
But Bianca wasn't enjoying it too much. She was terrified.
I comforted her, "Bianca, are you okay?" I asked softly. She sat there still.
Something is coming, I thought.
Bianca suddenly burst.
"Is this your fault?" She wailed.
"It's nobody's fault," I answered calmly. But I couldn't take the guilt. One thing I hate is lying. I've been honest my whole life.
"Yes, it was me. I found a letter. A prophecy. It talked about The Four Chosen in Yummyland.
My sister looked around, and found a big sign made out of candy that said:
Welcome to Yummyland.
"This is Yummyland."
"What?"
"Yummyland."
I started to freak out. I wondered if The Four Chosen were here to defeat us or something like that, which is probably one of the most ridiculous thoughts I've had in like five years.
"What if we are the chosen ones?"
"Maybe we are, maybe we're not."
I guess we could be, but there's only two of us.
"HELP US!"
That sounded like two people I knew.
"HELP!"
Good. That sounded like Parker, the guy I was going on a date with this afternoon.
"AHHHHH!"
Now, that sounded like Luke. The guy who likes Bianca. He is crushing so hard on her!
But what if it was a trap? I still didn't know Yummyland well enough.
But it was worth a shot. I knew maybe if they were Parker and Luke, they could help us. Or find someone that could help. Or even find someone who could find someone that could help us.
Anyway… "Bianca, let's go."
"Where?" She complained wiping off the tears off her face. They had already dried.
She followed me as we circled the chocolate syrup lake, and the sparkling water creek.
"Wow, this place is beautiful," I mentioned. Because it really was. This world was magnificent.
"You might be saying that now, but you won't when we're getting eaten alive by god-knows-what lives here."
"Aww, don't be a party pooper," I joked.
She rolled her eyes at me so hard, I thought they were going to pop out and roll down the creek.
I ought to give that girl some manner lessons. It would really come in handy.
"SOMEONE HELP US PLEASE!"
Us. That could only mean one thing. There was more than one person.
Finally, when we get there…I see two very familiar faces.
"Parker?"
"Luke?"
I help Parker up. My eyes suddenly turn blue. One that is light and the other one a little darker. Different shades because I have heterochromia.
Parker brushes his shabby bangs and I can see his crystal blue eyes.
"I'm glad you're safe," he remarks.
"Me too. I really missed you and…" I gush and then start trailing off. I blush and suddenly my eyes turn pink. Light pastel pink and dark bold pink. Pink represents charm and romance.
I felt like there was a tension between the two of us. Parker starts leaning forward.
Was he going to…? Kiss me?!
SQUEEE! I had been waiting for my first kiss my whole life and now…
I wish this moment would never end. When we were close enough to kiss, my annoying and exasperating sister interrupted us.
My eyes turned a little orange, flashed red as I shouted, "You little brat!"
Then they turned my normal colors again: Crystal blue and emerald green.
I sighed. That idiot had to ruin everything! And there she was, still laughing about that with Luke.
I sat down on the licorice bench, thinking.
"What's wrong?" Asked Parker, giving me a pleasant and cheerful beam.
"Nothing. Just thinking a way, I could help. I seem helpless in this group."
I started sobbing, wiping my tears. My eyes turned a gray.
"You're not helpless."
I rested my head on his shoulder. I felt so much better. Maybe I wasn't so helpless. There were other ways I could help. Everything would be fixed and we would go home.
Sure, there were still tons of ways I could help.
Bianca
I really thought my big sis was too smitten with boys. To me, boys were just another creature. Besides, Luke teases me sooo much that I would want to march up to him and slap him saying, "This is for being and idiot! Slap! This is also for being and idiot! Slap! This is for teasing me at school! Slap! This is because I wanted to slap you again! Slap!"
Basically, you get it. I really hate Luke. So right now, I decided to take it cool and talk to him.
"Soooo…how's it going?"
Before he could answer, Parker yelled, "Hey guys! We need to set camp. Me and Elizabeth will make the tent while you go get some proper food to eat, if you don't mind!"
I sighed and pulled out my lunch box. I dumped out the food I was supposed to eat (expired paste, ick!), and went to the carrot and celery forest.
The forest ground was made from steak and there were mashed potato bushes, and lakes that held soup in them.
I turned and asked Luke, "How are we going to get the steak out of the ground?"
"I've got just the thing," he said to me. He pulled a pocket knife from his shirt pocket?"
"What?! How did you get that past your mom?" I asked.
He gave me a sit smile and said, "You'll never know. He was cutting pieces of steak from the ground and I was scooping mashed potatoes into four bowls.
As we walked back, Elizabeth and Parker were making the finishing touches to the tent. We sat down and ate our meals in silence. I saw Luke glancing ate me when he thought I wasn't looking.
That's weird. He usually smirks and gives me the "I've-got-you-now" face.
After dinner, I washed our bowls in a spring of sparkling water.
When I asked what else I could do, Parker told me to look around for us to sleep on, while he and Elizabeth were discussing how to get out of here.
I didn't think the discussing was the word. More like blushing and saying random stuff.
"So, Bianca…do you think we could use the gumdrop pillows?" He asked interrupting my thoughts.
"Yeah," I said, "we just need to cut them in half. Then I had an idea. I broke off a piece of a candy cane.
"Hey Luke, can I use your pocket knife?"
"Yeah, sure," he replied. I started sharpening the edge of the candy cane and made a blade. I fastened the handle with licorice and…ta-da!
It was a candy cane knife. I pressed my finger on the edge of the blade. My finger actually started bleeding!
"Woah, that is really smart!" He gaped open mouthed at me.
"It sure is. Here, make yourself one." I handed him his pocketknife and a piece of candy cane.
After we did what we needed, we went back to our tent. Parker was about to kiss Elizabeth. Luke cleared his throat.
"Ahem! We did what you guys told us to do! Sooo, did you guys figure out anything?"
Luke smirked and I was trying really hard not to bust out fists of laughter.
Parker glared at his little brother and Elizabeth gave me her "don't-you-dare" look.
I broke the silence by saying, "Guys, let's just get ready to go to sleep! The sun's already setting!"
I made the bed by cutting the Jell-O we got into a mattress shape. Luke then covered the Jell-O mattress by laying sugar blankets on top and placing the gumdrop pillows over it.
I told Luke to show our knives to them.
"Good idea," he exclaimed.
Elizabeth and Parker were already getting ready to sleep.
"Elizabeth…" I whispered softly so that I wouldn't wake them up, "look what we made."
I showed her my candy cane knife. She gasped, amazed by our creation.
"That's so cool! How did you make it?"
"I used Luke's pocket knife to shape it into a knife, and some licorice to fasten the handle. Not that hard, is it?"
She agreed.
Luke showed it to Parker too. He thought it was really cool.
After we showed it to them we went to bed.
I kept thinking about tomorrow morning. Maybe things would change and we would go back home.
What if we really never return? We would live here for the rest of our lives, I thought.
I covered myself with the sugar blanket, hoping things would get better eventually, and then went to sleep.
In the morning, I went to the spring of sparkling water and splashed my face a couple of times. That really woke me up!
I asked Elizabeth if I could use her comb (she carries one in her purse) and she said yes. Elizabeth even changed an outfit.
She told me that she had an extra outfit for her and me in her bag. I looked at my outfit.
"What do you think?"
I shrugged and went to put it on. The outfit Elizabeth had gotten for me wasn't too girly (I hate girly clothes) and it was my type.
After I changed, washed my hair, and put my hair in a braid, Luke was gaping at me with his mouth wide open.
"Do I really look that bad?" I ask.
"Yep," he nods in my direction and gives me a sour look.
"Why, thank you very much," I say sarcastically. "You look very charming too."
I jog off to meet Elizabeth, who has put on another disgusting and girly outfit on. (Ugh!)
Anyway, Parker and Elizabeth were blushing at each other.
"Okaaay…so what do we do now?"
Parker snaps back to reality, as if he and Elizabeth weren't about to kiss (which they definitely were).
Well explore this place called ummmm…what was it again?"
"Yummyland," I remind him and pat my new candy cane knife.
"Oh yeah," he says slowly, "Yummyland."
Elizabeth shoots me with a glare and I give her my "I've-got-you-now" look.
We pack ourselves some food to go and head on our way.
"We should really explore this place often," Elizabeth suggests. "It's really worth exploring. It's beautiful."
"I know sis. This is like the tenth time you tell me the same thing."
She rolls her eyes. As Parker and Elizabeth talked, I challenged Luke to a fencing competition.
We ended up in a tie and he says, "Not bad Binky."
"It's not 'Binky', it's Bianca."
"Fine," he smiles his annoying smile at me. "But I'll still call you Binky."
I really wonder if he does that on purpose. I'm about to ask Luke if he wants to do another fencing competition, when I hear cries of pain.
I run ahead and try to find the source of the noise, and in a few feet ahead of me, there it is. A rich, but evil looking man was beating a small child.
The man's eyes were as black as obsidian, with no human remorse or kindness in them. His face was as pale as a human when he was scared to death.
The man seemed to enjoy enjoying every cry from the poor child. I couldn't take it anymore. I ran up to him and grabbed the whip. I sliced it in half with my knife and helped the poor kid up.
I gave her an apple and told her to go find her mommy.
"Thank you so much," she said. She was about the same age as me. Thirteen.
"No prob."
Then I turned to the man. "Who do you think you are?" I spat at him. "You have no right to beat that poor kid up."
"Ahhhh…my dear, but I do," he replied. "Guards!" He snapped his fingers.
In a minute I had all he guards all knocked out. I grabbed him by his collar. By then Elizabeth, Parker and Luke had arrived to see what was going on.
"My dear," the man replied, "I am the king of Yummyland and my name is the Lorice Man. You will make a very powerful enemy today. I hope that you will live soon so I can see you a second time," he said with evil amusement.
"You're no king," I growled. "And, you'll certainly never kill me. I would have the honor to punch your teeth out."
"We'll see my dear," he replied as he vanished with a puff of smoke.
"Who was that?" Luke asked me. "And how did you take out all the guards by yourself?"
"I could tell you," said a someone behind us. "But first I must thank you for saving my grandchild from the Lorice Man."
We turned around and saw it was an elderly old woman. She smiled warmly at us.
"Ma'am," I ask politely, "could you tell us more about that man?"
"Tell you?" She exclaimed. "I can do much better than that. I presume you are travelers, right?"
"Yes," I reply.
"Then please come in. I offer hospitality to travelers and I will fill you in the Lorice Man."
She showed a house entirely made out of candy.
"Oh, goodness me," she suddenly said, "I forgot to introduce myself. I am Mrs. Baker and this is my granddaughter, Leila Baker."
Leila smiled pleased and said, "Nice to meet you!" She seemed delighted to meet us.
"I must thank you for saving my little one, she's my only relative now," she thanked us warmly. "Please come in and have some lunch. I'm sure you must be starving from all that walking," Mrs. Baker added. "Please seat and I shall fill you in the Lorice Man.
I sit down on a candy cane chair. I don't know who the heck that man was and I didn't really want to find out.
Elizabeth
Mrs. Baker sat down quietly on the candy cane chair. We quickly ate our dinner.
Yum! It was tomato soup with a baguette and some salad with cherry tomatoes, carrots, cucumbers and some chili powder.
"Is it good?" Mrs. Baker asked, tempted to know.
"It's delicious!"
"I'm glad you like it," Mrs. Baker claimed. "It means so much to me. I've been cooking since I was five years old."
"Well, it really paid off."
Everyone chuckled. As soon as we finished, Mrs. Baker cleared her throat, ready to begin.
"Ahem, may we begin?"
Luke, who was still eating, looked up to Mrs. Baker.
"What?"
Bianca glared at Luke and pointed to Mrs. Baker.
"Oh yeah, right," he said with a mouthful of some of the baguette dipped with tomato soup. He stood up and put it all away.
"Thank you, Luke."
We all looked at Luke, waiting for him.
"This evil man tried to kill my granddaughter. I only know it was because he hates humans."
I shyly looked up to her and timidly asked, "Mrs. Baker, why does the Lorice Man hate humans so much?"
"Oh, I was expecting that question!" Mrs. Baker burst.
"Well, you see, he used to. Until humans started taking advantage of Yummyland. The Lorice Man grew angrier and angrier. Now he rules Yummyland. He has been king for over 40 years.
"They say that the ones who defeat the Lorice may rule Yummyland one day. And now every human and citizen in Yummyland waits eagerly to escape and for someone to defeat the Lorice Man.
"Now that I think about it…did you find any kind of prophecy?"
I look alarmed. The prophecy I had seen earlier in front of our house.
"Nope," answered Bianca. I wanted to stay silent but I didn't want to lie to Mrs. Baker. Especially since she trusted us.
"Are you sure you didn't see one?" Mrs. Baker asked worried.
Before Eliza could answer I interrupted her by saying, "Actually, I did find a prophecy. About the Chosen Four."
"What?" Bianca shouted. "I thought you said you hadn't seen anything."
"Well I didn't want to stress you out."
Then Mrs. Baker cut in, "Bianca, it's not your sister's fault. I was the one that teleported the prophecy. I wanted to warn you."
Parker and Luke looked back and forth and listened to our argument.
"I don't believe it!"
"I mean, I've been trapped here so long…and you are…"
"We're what?" Bianca stroked.
"The Chosen Four," Mrs. Baker continued.
I was shocked to hear that. But I guess it would make sense for us to be the Chosen Four. We're four people.
I guess it wasn't that bad. But it was that bad for Bianca.
Bianca covered her face with her hands and ran. I followed her. Bianca was sitting on a licorice bench crying. And sobbing very quietly. I sneaked up to her. Not to scare her (duh!). I put my hand over her shoulder.
"Bianca, are you okay?"
"Does it look like I'm okay?"
Ouch! I know she was sad, but I didn't expect her to be that cold.
My eyes turned gray, I blushed and grabbed my arm. Bianca glanced at me. I had tears in my eyes.
"Look, I'm sorry, but why didn't you trust me? I'm your sister. Please don't cry."
"Me? I'm not crying!"
"Elizabeth…"
"I know…I'm really sorry."
I helped Bianca up as we headed back to Mrs. Baker's. Parker and Luke were already heading out.
"What took you guys so long?" Luke asked.
Bianca gave Luke a sour face. Luke smirked back.
It's so funny when they do that. I always felt like Luke has a crush on Bianca.
But me and Parker are madly in love with each other. We can't compare our love to Luke's towards Bianca's.
"We should probably head home," Parker suggested. I nodded like an idiot. My mind went completely blank. I stared at him and blushed. My face had turned completely red.
Parker put his arm around me. I smiled when he wasn't looking. I rested my head on his shoulder. The sun started setting.
Things were actually getting better. Or were they?
The Lorice Man suddenly appeared out of nowhere.
"Hello young travelers!" The Lorice Man said in a cheerful voice. "Are you ready to fight?"
Chapter Six: Elizabeth
Parker's first move was to protect me. The Lorice Man stood there quietly, waiting for the right time to attack.
"Don't you dare lay a finger on her!"
Outside, I looked like one of those yoga teachers. But inside I was having a heart attack.
Who knew Parker could be so sweet sometimes?
The Lorice Man smirked.
One side of me was like, "Aww…!" But the other side of me was more like, "Very tough guys, huh? Let me see you do ballet!"
I wouldn't say that in front of Parker though! Our love would be ruined. Or maybe he would laugh. Either way…
The Lorice Man suddenly disappeared again. He vanished like a puff of smoke. Again.
"What should we do then?" We can't let the Lorice Man escape."
Mrs. Baker ran outside, "Are you kids alright?"
We nodded.
"Maybe it's time you kids go to sleep," she suggested.
Bianca groaned and said, "Maybe it's time we should not."
"Watch it young lady! Don't disapprove of my instructions."
Bianca finally gave in. We all said our goodbyes and headed home.
We spent most of the time at our campsite trying to figure out how to stop the Lorice Man. We were the Chosen Four after all.
I fell asleep around 4:30 am. I had been starting to feel very shaky.
Before I completely fell asleep, I heard Bianca snickering.
"Do you guys ever wonder why Elizabeth has so many clothes?" Luke laughed.
I half-opened my eyes and saw Parker quickly flash and shoot Bianca and Luke a glare before they noticed.
My prince, I thought and sighed. I finally fell asleep around 5:00 am, and so did everyone else.
The next day, we kept practicing. I was doing a fencing contest with Bianca.
I decided to brought up the do-you-guys-ever-wonder-why-Elizabeth-has-so-many-clothes? thing.
"Why were you asking why I have so many clothes?"
"What?"
"Yesterday, remember? I was listening the whole time."
"Oh, I didn't know you were listening. I'm sorry."
"It's okay, but why were you asking?"
Bianca flushed with embarrassment.
"I was just wondering why you carry so many clothes in your purse. Or in your backpack."
I laughed. I didn't know it could have been the silliest question ever.
"OMG!" Yes, I can be sassy sometimes. "You see how I hate using the same clothes on the same day? Well, I carry them in my backpack and keep them in my locker and switch every day."
"You are really smart, sis. I always knew that," she complimented.
"Did you ever not?" I replied. (I told you I can be sassy sometimes.)
I suggested Bianca we got prepared and chose outfits.
"Seriously sis?"
I giggled. "Is it wrong to have fun once in a while?"
Bianca agreed to choose an outfit. The one we were going to use to fight the Lorice Man.
Luke immediately starts drooling. That boy has some serious love issues.
"Take off that disgusting outfit," Luke complains.
"Then why were you drooling?" Bianca asks, suddenly offended.
"I was just looking at the delicious candy!" He replies and nods toward it. Luke leaves and has the "I-didn't-make-a-good-impression" look on his face.
Then Bianca turned to my direction, "I understand that we got these clothes to make fighting easier, but how are we going to fight and destroy him? Luke brought his pocket knife, but we can't use it, can we?"
Then Luke appears out of nowhere.
He takes a dramatic pause and replies, "I know how."
He pulls a candy cane knife. Could that have been the same candy cane knife he had showed me the other day?
But then I recognized it. It was the same candy cane knife!
Bianca smiled and took hers out too. They both had the same wicked smile.
I was exhausted after that. Luke and Bianca had helped me and Parker our own candy cane knifes.
During that moment, Parker started to slowly lean forward. It was happening again.
Luke cleared his throat, "So, ummmm…are we done here?"
And our beautiful moment was ruined again.
We jog off to meet Mrs. Baker who was now cooking.
"Welcome kids!" We all wave at Mrs. Baker.
"Hey everyone!" Leila says cheerfully.
"Hi Leila," we all respond.
"Your house smells really good today Mrs. Baker!" I compliment.
"Must be what I'm cooking then!"
I squinted and saw Mrs. Baker was cooking some spicy noodles today. My favorite!
"It's my specialty."
We waited for Mrs. Baker to finish cooking our meals while we chatted with Leila.
"So, what's been going on with you Leila? Anything special or interesting?"
"Nope! But I have someone I would like you to meet."
She opens the door and says, "Meet Michael Brady. He's my friend. I found him when I got trapped here."
Well that sounded very similar to that time I found Parker and Luke.
"Hey Mike! These are my friends!"
We walked to the living room and sat down.
We all just introduced ourselves.
"We better go," said Leila.
We waved bye at Leila and Mike.
We devoured our meals as quickly as we could. Until I got really full.
"Kids, you're not ready to fight the Lorice Man yet. He's too dangerous. Listen, sometimes, it's better to just let it go."
I choked. Mrs. Baker. She called us to defeat the Lorice Man. She got us trapped us here to save them. Bianca had saved her cherished granddaughter Leila. And now she was giving up? I really wanted to slap the crap out of her.
"Listen, I'm not giving up."
Yeah right.
"It might be better I do it myself. You kids are young and have a long life ahead of you."
I sighed. I put my bowl of noodles aside and stood up to go take a walk.
I was so mad at Mrs. Baker. Why did I want to cuss so badly?
"I'm sorry Mrs. Baker but I really have to go," I said shyly but politely.
I put my bowl of noodles aside and sighed disappointed.
I thought about everything we had done. It wasn't much, was it?
But what about everything we were about to do?
Then Eliza went to get me. "Mrs. Baker wants to see you inside."
Mrs. Baker said she apologized and told me the whole story one more time.
"Yeah, I get it," I grumbled.
I sat down. There was an awkward silence between the five of us.
"But you wanted us to save you right?" I chimed.
"We-ell, yes," she stammered.
"And didn't you see how Bianca defeated all of the Lorice Man's guards?"
"Yeah…after all, we are the Chosen Four," Bianca chimed.
"Yeah, why else would we be chosen?" Parker asked.
"Ditto, ditto," said Luke.
Bianca gave Luke a sour look. The "is-that-all-you-can-say?" look.
But it was something at least.
Mission accomplished!
"I guess we can fight the Lorice Man now," I said.
"We sure can!"
We high-fived each other. I left and went to the sparkling water lake, feeling proud.
Mrs. Baker sighed and told everyone that training was starting tomorrow.
"Well, I hope you don't turn out to be bad."
I wasn't going to let her down. After all, we were the Chosen Four.
Bianca
The debate thing went really well. And we had been able to convince Mrs. Baker to let us fight the Lorice Man.
"You four sure are some rebellious kids," she had said.
That day we went to bed earlier than usual so that we could start training early.
"We can't let Mrs. Baker down. We're the chosen four," said Lizzie, my sister, with a yawn.
(Her real name is Elizabeth but I call her Lizzie.)
"I know," I said feeling kind of sleepy.
"'Night sis."
"'Night," I replied back as I slowly closed my eyes.
The next morning, we got up early.
Not too early though, but it was reasonable. Somewhere between 7:30 – 8:00.
"Morning everyone! It's going to be a great day! We can start training today!" Said my sister very cheerfully in her PJs.
"Yay," I said droopily.
"Come on! It's going to be great!"
"Sis, not everything is sunshine and rainbows, you know?"
She rolled her eyes at me.
"Morning Princess," says Parker.
"Hi Parks."
Then Parker gives Lizzie a peck on her cheek.
"Ew," I gag. "Couldn't you two do it somewhere else?"
"Nope," she smirks.
"Anyway," I say looking at my watch, the one Lizzie gave me for my birthday, "we better get going or we're going to be late."
I get dressed as fast as possible. I put on my skinny, ripped jeans and my purple sweatshirt.
"You look amazing," compliments Luke. "I think your sweatshirt really makes your eyes stand out."
"Umm…thank you," I say barely blushing.
While I put on my regular tomboy clothes, Lizzie is changing into some skinny jeans, a cute blouse, and some cute flip flops lined with rhinestones.
"What do you think Bea?" Asks Lizzie.
"Not really my style," I answer with a long sigh.
I head out the door with a sense of purpose and determination.
"We can do this sis," she grinned as her eyes sparkled and turn aqua blue, which symbolizes hope and good luck.
"Let's do it then."
We arrive at Mrs. Baker's and knock at the door.
"Well, hi there, kids," she says.
I was about to say hi back, when Lizzie quickly replied, "Hi Mrs. Baker! I was just going to tell you we are ready to start our training!" She said effervescently.
"Come in then!"
I sighed. It was always my older sis the one who was ever noticed. I never got to say anything.
I walked in bitterly, still without anyone noticing. Except Luke. The problem is that he notices too much.
"What's wrong Bea?"
"Just go away Luke," I murmured.
He walked away frustrated.
"Follow me kids," said Mrs. Baker.
As we entered Mrs. Baker's, a delicious aroma filled my nostrils with delight.
I glanced at the kitchen, and Mrs. Baker was cooking already.
"Smells pretty good in here Mrs. Baker!"
Mrs. Baker just nods calmly and replies, "Thank you Bea."
While Parker and Lizzie talk I stop by and see how Leila is doing.
Unfortunately, I quickly figure out that she's not here today.
"She went out a while ago. I hope she's okay," says Mrs. Baker distressed.
"Okay, thank you Mrs. Baker," I replied and glanced frantically. I just needed to see Leila right now. I wanted to talk to her.
"Alright kiddos," Mrs. Baker announced, "today I'm going to be training all of you. First of all, we're going to do fencing," she continued and pointed to some swords, laying on the floor flat.
The swords were all lined in a straight row.
"So you kids can choose anyone to practice with. Choose a partner," directed Mrs. Baker in the strict-teacher kind of voice. "GO!"
I glanced at Luke. He gave me a small and sit smirk.
I glared his direction, shook my head and crossed my arms. No way was I going to work with him. But then I turned and saw Lizzie was already working with Parker.
I sighed and motioned him to come.
"Okay, so let's start."
We were immediately outside and already training.
Elizabeth
We had convinced Mrs. Baker and we starting to train.
"Don't go easy on me," I told him.
"Sure."
And in a minute I was holding the sword down to his neck.
"Woah, you sure are one tough girl," he said as I helped him up.
As he stood up, I could see Bianca doing the same thing. I was amazed. She was a very skilled fourteen-year-old.
"Kill me if you want Bea."
Bianca raised an eyebrow and responded, "I'm not going to kill you," she said pulling the sword away from him.
"You know, you're hot."
She grabbed the sword and replied, "I changed my mind."
I giggled.