"Look on the bright side, Taranee; at least you get a break from cafeteria food for a while."

Taranee Cook gazed dejectedly at the half-eaten steak on her bedside table. She placed a hand on her stomach, which was making its opinion heard, and managed a grimace. She glanced up at the sound of a suppressed giggle and locked eyes with Irma Lair. The brunette reached across her friend's bed and grabbed the tray, setting it on her lap. Picking up the plastic fork, she speared a piece of the already cut-up meat.

"It can't be all that bad –" she raised the fork to her mouth and bit off a small chunk. She chewed slowly…once...twice…before spitting it back onto the plate. She frowned, blowing a lock of brown hair out of her face " – ok, it's worse."

"Irma, could you do that outside or something?" asked the third member of their group, a tall blonde. Irma shot Cornelia Hale a death glare, but she nevertheless set the tray down at her feet. She brought her hands up behind her head and stretched, several of her joints popping in the process. Across from her, Cornelia let out a shudder.

"And would you please not do that around me? It just doesn't sound natural."

Irma shrugged. "As natural as the hair on your head, beauty queen." She muttered, her arms folded across her chest.

Taranee raised an eyebrow, clearly confused. "What does that even mean, Irma?"

Again, Irma shrugged; Taranee sighed before reaching down and picking her dinner up off the floor. Groaning, she began to pick at it, careful to avoid the piece that Irma had spit out. Beside her, Irma laced her fingers behind her head, slouched down in her chair and put her feet up on the foot of Taranee's bed.

"So who wins the 'bad food of the month' award, the hospital or school cafeteria?"

Taranee's only response was a hardy chuckle before quickly disguising a gasp of pain as a yawn. Instantly, Cornelia was at her friend's bedside, ready to help in any way she could. Taranee held up her hand, shooting a winning grin at the blonde girl.

"I'll fine, Corny. Really; just a little sore."

Cornelia continued to look concerned. "Taranee, that creep hit you hard enough to send you into next week. Be glad you're not hurt worse."

Taranee folded her arms over her chest, glowering at her blonde friend. "I am glad, Cornelia, but something's still bothering me –"

"Besides the two broken ribs and concussion?" Irma asked, interrupting Taranee and causing both her and Cornelia to yell "Irma!"

"What? I'm just trying to – "

"What you're doing is not helping us. Now would you try to be serious?"

Irma's only response was to fix Cornelia with an icy glare and stick out her bottom lip. Cornelia smirked at the brunette.

"What's this: Irma Lair at a loss of words? I'll alert the presses."

"And who was telling me to be serious? I think she was blonde, on the tall side, in love with a certain rebel leader…know anyone like that, Corny?"

"I asked you not to call me that, Irmy!"

"Guys, this really isn't –" said a new voice from the corner. Both girls rounded on its owner, a small Asian girl.

"Stay out of this, Hay Lin!"

Hay Lin shrank back a little from the two combined voices, leaving Irma and Cornelia to continue their argument. The Chinese girl began to move one of her fingers in a circular motion, slowly at first, and then faster and faster, creating a powerful gust of air, which she directed at her two friends. The gust wasn't strong enough to knock either of the girls over, but it did distract them from their argument as they instinctively raised they arms (arm, in Irma's case) to protect their faces. The miniature gale only lasted a few seconds, dissipating almost instantaneously, leaving the two girls looking windswept, their hair standing out at various angles. Cornelia let out a shriek.

"Oh, you so did not just do what I think you did!"

Irma raised a finger. "Um…I don't know how to tell this, Cornelia, but you hair has passed on to another life."

Cornelia rounded on her friend, her hands on her hips. "Oh ha ha, Irma." With that said, she reached up and began trying to flatten her bangs, without much success. Suddenly, a sort of cough filled the room, followed closely by a strangled sounding yelp, and then a quiet but audible "ow."

All three girls turned to stare at Taranee, who was holding her sides and clenching her teeth, obviously in pain. Three concerned "Taranee!"s reached her ears as her friends leaned over her bed, determined to help. Taranee let out a gasp before she sunk into her pillows. Her breathing began to slow and she managed to simper up at her friends.

"Laughing hurts."

Cornelia reached down and took her friends hand, squeezing it gently.

"It's only been a week, Taranee. Broken ribs take, like, six or seven to heal."

Taranee stared up at her friend in disbelief. "Six…or seven weeks?"

Cornelia nodded sadly. Hay Lin grabbed Taranee's other hand, which caused the dark skinned girl to shift her attention.

"Don't worry, Tar-Tar. We'll come and visit you every day."

"She's not going to be in the hospital much longer, Hay Lin." said Cornelia at the same time as Irma's "Tar-tar?" which caused neither girl's statement to be heard. Both girls glared at each other and looked like they were about to argue again, until…

"Do you guys know where Will is?"

At their leader's name, the three girls sitting around Taranee's hospital bed exchanged looks with each other. Taranee looked from one to the other.

"Should I be worried?" She asked.

Cornelia lowered her gaze to the floor. When she spoke, her voice was hushed, as if Will could hear her.

"Will hasn't been acting right all week; she's been avoiding us, making excuses not to hang out with us, and – "

"– and she never answers her cell phone anymore." finished Irma. Cornelia shot her a look, but decided to let it go.

"Every time we try to get close to her, she always has something else she needs to be doing. I mean, has she even visited you?"

Taranee let out an exasperated breath. "Only once, right after I first woke up."

"See?" said Cornelia, "That's exactly what I'm talking about. She's acting like she doesn't want us around anymore."

Taranee raised an eyebrow, "So…should I be worried?"

Cornelia, Hay Lin and Irma exchanged looks with each other. Hay Lin nodded down at her friend.

"So where is our oh-so-fearless leader now?" Irma asked the room in general. Surprisingly, Hay Lin answered.

"I called her house before we came here. Her mother answered and said that she had gone to the pool."

Cornelia snorted. All eyes in the room turned to look at her. The blonde made no attempt to hide her distaste with their leader.

"Who does Little Miss Selfish think she is? Is swimming laps more important that visiting your friend in the hospital?"

"Maybe she just wanted to wash away her problems, Corny." said Irma, winking at her friend. Unfortunately, this caused Cornelia to round on her instead.

"Oh, that's very funny, Irma. In case you haven't noticed, but you're not exactly in one piece either. You have just as much reason to be angry."

"I AM angry, Cor-ne-lia! But I'm not angry at Will. She did the best she could."

"She messed up, Irma! Because of her, both of you got hurt!"

Cornelia was on the verge of continuing when she felt Hay Lin's hand on her shoulder. The small Asian girl gave Cornelia a squeeze before addressing Taranee.

"What about you, Taranee? Are you mad at Will?"

Taranee shook her head.

"Not in the slighest, Hay Lin. No it's true." she said as Cornelia snorted. "I don't think for a second that anything that happened was her fault. And I'm not at all surprised that she isn't here. I mean, think about it; she has to deal with her mother dating our history teacher, which means that he mom finds out about every single thing Will misses at school, not to mention she has to deal with most of our Guardian problems."

"What are you getting at?" asked Cornelia, her anger beginning to wane.

"Isn't it obvious, Corny? Will is blaming herself for what happened to Irma and I."

-----

Will Vandom loved swimming; she loved the feeling of being weightless, the way her skin wrinkled up after spending too long in the water…hell, she even loved the chlorine smell of the pool. But what she liked most about swimming was how she could leave her problems behind her. It seemed that whenever she dove into the water, all her cares, worries and anxieties would just wash away. But, more importantly, swimming was something that took her mind off of her failures.

It seemed like everything she did lately blew up in her face. As the bearer of the Heart of Candrakar, the other girls considered her to be their leader for whatever reason. They had come to trust in her judgment, to follow her orders, and to listen to her advice.

But why?, Will thought to herself, why do they believe in me? Can't they see that I am no good?

She pushed off from the side of the pool and began to slowly swim down one of the lanes, reflecting on everything that had happened the past week, more specifically one day in particular. The same day that had been on Will's mind every second of every day for a week.

Ok, so I knew that Narissa had probably set a trap for us, but I couldn't…I didn't relieve…it was too late.

Will reached the other side of the pool, but instead of pushing off and finishing her lap, she grabbed the side of the pool with one hand and covered her eyes with her hand. Her body shook as she began to cry, the tears mingling with the pool water on her face.

All of those people…two of my Guardians…

Will was pulled out of her mind by the beeping of her cell phone. She pushed off and began to swim, hand over hand, towards the pool ladder closest to her towel, sitting on one of the poolside benches. Pulling herself out of the water, she walked over to said bench and grabbed her cell phone off of her towel. She flipped it open and read the screen.

Six missed calls and five text messages. Ok, check call history…three missed calls from Irma, one from Cornelia, one from Hay Lin, and one from MOM!

Will could feel her heartbeat increase and her muscles tense; her mother never called her cell phone unless it was an emergency…or if she was in trouble. Will let out a angry huff and, snapping up her towel and wrapping herself in it, she stalked off to the locker room. As she walked, she flipped her phone back open and began to check her text messages.

The first, from Irma, simply said 'Call me'.

The second, also from Irma, read 'Will plz call me'

The third, and last text from Irma, said 'Will im worried plz call'

The fourth, from Cornelia 'u can avoid us if u want, but visit taranee'

And the fifth, from her mother 'will come home now!'

Will could do nothing but stare at the last message. Her mother never texted her, much less put punctuation in her texts…hell no one put punctuation in their texts. Will flipped her phone closed and pushed open the door to the locker room.

-----

"So you're saying that you couldn't see his face?"

Taranee reached up and pushed her glasses back to a comfortable position on her nose. "Of course I couldn't see his face, Hay Lin. He was wearing a mask."

"So how are you sure it was a 'he'?"

Irma put her hand over Taranee's mouth, cutting off her reply. "Come on, Hay-Hay; did those shoulders say girl to you?" Hay Lin looked at the ground and muttered something that sounded like "Idnt ee 'im."

"Um…could you repeat that please?"

Hay Lin raised her head and, in a small but audible voice, said "I never saw him, ok?" Cornelia chose this moment to make herself heard.

"How could you not have seen him?"

Hay Lin shrugged. Cornelia turned towards, and addressed, Taranee, who was cleaning her glasses with a soft cloth that she always kept in her case.

"It wasn't Frost, was it? I seem to recall him having a little problem with us."

Taranee shook her head.

"No," she said simply, "It wasn't Frost."

"What tipped you off? The absence of the big red rhino?" asked Irma, earning her another glare from Cornelia.

"Irma, could you please try to be serious?"

"Hmmf. Ruining my fun…" grumbled Irma. She learned towards Taranee and whispered "It was the absence of the big red rhino, wasn't it?"

"Yes, Irma, that was part of it," said Taranee ("Yes!" exclaimed Irma, pumping her fist in the air).

"But," Taranee continued "I've also been inside his mind. I know what his thoughts feel like. I know it's a cliché, be he is evil. He thinks about violence all the time and almost always it's directed at us. That…man we fought a week ago…he felt different."

Irma grabbed Taranee's shoulder and squeezed, ignoring her friend's squeal of pain.

"What do you mean different, Taranee?"

"I mean different, Irma. I only got, like, two seconds to see into his mind before this happened." She gestured to her bandaged head and chest.

"Well," said Hay Lin from her corner, "If he's not evil like Frost, then maybe we should –"

"Try talking to him?" interjected Irma, "I'm sorry, Hay Lin, but I have a strict 'no talking to masked men' policy. Dad's orders."

"And besides, I never said he wasn't evil, I just said that he was different. He just gave off a different vibe."

"And what vibe was that, Taranee?" asked Cornelia in a hushed voice.

"In a word?" Taranee gave her friend a sad smile, "Danger."

-----

Will opened the door to her apartment twenty minutes later. She was still slightly out of breath from the subsequent bike ride from the Heatherfield Sportsclub and climbing three flights of stairs. The lights were still on when she opened the door, but she could not see her mother anywhere in the front room or the small part of the kitchen that was visible. Will took off her coat and threw it on the floor on her way into the adjacent room.

"Mom? I'm ready to – " Will started, but halted mid sentence when she saw that the kitchen was empty. She turned on her heel and walked back across the living room to the stairs. She began to climb, one hand on the railing. Maybe she's already in bed, Will thought, Even though it is only like eight p.m.

Will reached the hallway that led to her and her mother's rooms and started to walk towards the end of the hall, where her mother's door was. She, of course, noticed the light that was shining out from underneath her closed door.

Funny, she thought, My door was open when I left…who's in here…MOM?

Out load she screamed "MOM what are YOU DOING IN HERE!!?"

Susan Vandom jumped, literally jumped, in surprise and spun around so fast she appeared to levitate. She smiled, unconvincingly, and waved at her daughter.

"Hi, Will." She turned her gaze away from her daughter (although her head did not move) as if searching for an excuse somewhere in the room. Not finding one, she settled for "Um…you're home early…"

Will held up her phone. "You told me to come home, remember?"

Susan brushed a stray strand of hair out of her face. Her only response was a nod. Will held up her hand.

"But just because I'm not home doesn't mean you can go in my room!"

"Will, honey, I was – "

But Will suddenly wasn't in the mood to listen. "I don't care what you've got to say! This is my room; GET OUT!" she screamed the last two words so loudly that Susan winced, but quickly recovered and rounded on her daughter.

"Fine! But we ARE going to talk; count on that." Shaking slightly, she pushed past her daughter and out of the room. However, she found herself feeling guilty almost immediately, so she did an abrupt about-face, determined to reconcile with Will, at least for the night.

Will, on her part, had grabbed the door handle and waited just until her mother was out of the room before slamming it shut with all of her strength. Unfortunately, when Susan had turned to try to reason with her daughter, she grabbed the inside of the door frame. And when Will slammed the door shut, the edge of the door beat into her mother's hand, actually breaking the skin and effectively ending all thoughts Susan might have had for being civil.

"What the FUCK, Will?"

On the other side of the door, Will froze; the shock of what she had just done starting to sink in.

Oh my god! Oh my god, mommy, what have I done? She thought to herself, tears welling up in her eyes. She slowly inched the door back open to reveal her mother, a look of distress on her face. Will forced her eyes to travel downward; what she saw made her put a hand over her mouth to stifle a scream. Her mother had wrapped a handkerchief around her injured finger, which was stained red with blood; a small pool of the red liquid had already dropped onto the floor. Will raised her head at the sound of her mother's voice.

"What happened to you, Will?" Susan Vandom's voice was soft. "You used to be my baby. I remember when you would tell me everything that was wrong in your life." Will felt tears beginning to well up in her eyes.

And with that, Susan turned away from her crying daughter and began to walk towards the stairs. Will quickly made to follow her.

"Mom, I – "

Susan again spun to face her daughter. When she spoke, her voice was harsh and commanding.

"It's your room, Will…stay in it! I'll deal with you in the morning."

And now Will could feel the tears flowing freely now, accompanied by a few sobs, which Susan pretended to ignore as she descended the stairs. Will brought a hand up and wiped her eyes dry before she quietly shut her door. As soon as it closed, she slid down it until she was sitting on her floor.

I can't anything right! She yelled at herself as the tears not only continued to fall, but actually increased in volume, everyone around me is suffering because of something I've done! I didn't want to be their leader!

…

I didn't want to their friend!

…

Will stumbled to her feet and ran to her bed, collapsing on it. She screwed her eyes shut and began to sob.

I didn't want to be her daughter!