Alright so it took me awhile to write most of this, but I figured: Might as well update Trigger before An Animal's Heart. So I sat down and made myself write this, and it turned out even longer than I first thought! I hope this comes along quite this easy every time! :D Anyway, I hope you enjoy, even though it's not as cute as the prologue...Nowhere near as cute...
Chapter One
14 years later...
A tall brunette girl walked into Zeke's diner. Her long chestnut hair was in a braid. She plopped down on a stool and slung her grey backpack onto the floor beside her. She rested her elbows on the counter as Grace spotted her.
"Meda!" she exclaimed, running to hug her adoptive sister. "You're back!"
"Of course Grace. I couldn't leave Handler's Corners forever," Meda replied.
"So how'd it go this time?"
"As usual I had no luck. I couldn't find my parents, and nowhere felt like home to me."
"Nowhere feels like home to you, because your home is here," Grace insisted. Meda grinned.
"I guess so. I still can't shake the feeling that I don't belong here though, and I still can't remember anything before waking up on the Salt Flats," Meda said. She hadn't been able to just sit still in Handler's Corners; she travelled because she wanted to know who she really was, who her parents were, and where she really came from. She wasn't having much luck with it though. She couldn't find even a hint of where she'd came from, and it bothered her.
She sat back down as Grace brought her a milkshake. The two then proceeded to argue about paying for the milkshake; Grace insisted she'd pay, while Meda told her not to be ridiculous and that she'd pay for herself. While they were bickering, a group of 8 people entered the diner. Meda turned to look at them curiously. Sure, Grace had told her all about this one group who always came here on a regular basis ("They're basically the best customers; they come in here every day, though Stanford is quite a pain," she'd said). Meda quietly wondered who this 'Stanford' was out of the group.
She soon found out when the royal redhead began to hit on Grace. Grace just rolled her eyes like always, turning and retreating into the kitchen.
"It's just a matter of time before she accepts," Stanford told himself.
"Face it Stanford, she's way out of your league," Zoom laughed. Grace returned a few minutes later, bringing the large group their usual order.
"Thanks Grace," Vert called as Grace turned. She nodded with a smile, and sat down beside Meda; there were no other customers in the diner.
"So are you curious about them?" Grace asked.
"Nope," Meda answered simply, focusing on her milkshake. "Couldn't care less." Grace smirked; knowing her adoptive sister—who was curious only about her origins—she could tell Meda had some interest in the Battle Force 5.
"Well the redhead is Stanford," the waitress began harmlessly, causing Meda to look up. "He's royalty, though he won't let you forget it," she whispered with a giggle.
"He sounds annoying," Meda said with a shrug. Grace shook her head lightly.
"Oh, he's not that bad. His heart is in the right place, most of the time. He's just a bit...Overbearing," she whispered. If Stanford heard her now, his ego would just inflate to the size of Kentucky.
"If you say so, Grace. Who's the guy who laughed at him?" Meda asked. Aha, Grace thought. She really was interested in them, just as I thought.
"His name is Zoom. He's a Muay Thai fighter," the waitress explained. "Why? Do you think he's cute?"
"Huh, as if," Meda snorted. "I was asking a simple question, sheesh. Don't jump to conclusions like that."
"Alright, alright," Grace laughed. Meda never did have much of an interest in boys, after all. "Well the girl is Agura, she's pretty cool," the waitress continued. Meda nodded, taking a slurp of her milkshake. The brunette glance over at the group, and noticed Spinner was sort of bouncing around.
"Who's the bouncy one?" she questioned, looking at Grace for an explanation.
"That's Spinner. The big guy beside him is his little brother Sherman. Spinner's pretty hyper while Sherman's like the exact opposite," Grace explained. Just then, Spinner managed to knock over his soda, the soda spilling over the edge of the table into Tezz's lap. The Russian glared at the older Cortez brother, who cowered beside Sherman. Sherman just rolled his eyes.
"Sorry Tezz," Spinner whimpered.
"Vhatever," Tezz grumbled.
"The tan one with the accent is Tezz," Grace whispered. Meda scowled a bit.
"His attitude is...I don't know what word I'm looking for. I just know I don't like it," the brunette grunted. Then she noticed Vert.
"Who's the blonde?" she asked.
"Which one?" Grace laughed. Meda's brow furrowed for a moment, before she noticed the big pale blonde beside Vert.
"The smaller one," Meda muttered. Grace smiled.
"Well that's Vert. He's a pretty good guy," she answered. "Last but not least, the big guy beside him is named A.J. He's from the Yukon, and I hear he's really into sports," the waitress finished. She smirked as she noticed her adoptive sister gazing intently at A.J. "Sis, you're staring," she commented lowly. Meda shook her head, snapping out of it. She spun back around and finished off her milkshake.
"Hey Grace, who's your friend?" Zoom piped up.
"This is my adopted sister, Meda," Grace answered. Meda faked a smile.
"Hi," she said cheerily. "Grace told me all about you guys."
"Oh really?" Stanford asked. "Did she tell you that I'm 189th in line for the throne?"
"No," Meda answered, "And as much as I'd hate to sound rude, I don't really care about it either." Stanford just turned on his heel and stalked back to the booth the rest of the group sat in. Grace took Meda by the wrist and led her over to be properly introduced to everyone.
"Guys, this is Meda," the waitress said. Meda rolled her eyes.
"Don't you think they heard you when you said it to Zoom?" she asked. Grace just gave her a small shove.
"Be nice," she warned, and the other girl just stuck her tongue out at her.
"Well it's nice to meet ya," A.J. grinned. Meda glanced at him quickly. She would never admit it to anyone, but maybe, just maybe she found him a little cute. It was the eyes, she concluded. Those eyes looked soft and sweet and she just thought they were to die for. The way his hair flopped sort of in his face looked kind of good too, and anything but a wide smile would look just wrong on his face.
Then Meda realized she was staring, and she coughed into her hand. She looked anywhere but at his face, not wanting to make eye contact with him again.
"Yeah, nice meeting you too..." she muttered before going and retrieving her backpack.
"Oh stay a while," Grace insisted.
"You know I don't like staying in one place too long," Meda answered. Plus I don't really want to stick around and sort of get to know that cute—no he's not cute!—guy and find out he's got a girlfriend or something, the brunette thought. As soon as the thought ended she wanted to punch herself; why would she care if he had a girlfriend? I don't, she assured herself. I just don't want to get caught staring and have them think I'm creepy or one of those airheaded girls who falls for a guy as soon as she meets him, and I'm certainly not one of those girls.
"Oh come on, you just got back and you haven't even been in here all that long," Grace complained. "It's not like you've got anything better to do anyway, right?"
Meda cursed in her mind. Of course Grace would play that card, everyone knew there wasn't much of anything to do in Handler's Corner. The group was watching them, sort of interested in whether Meda would stay or not.
"I kind of wanted to go for a drive," Meda lied. Since she had just gotten back, she really had no desire to just drive at the moment, but she was hoping her adoptive sister wouldn't call her out on that lie.
No such luck. "Don't give me that. I know how you get when you come home, you don't want to drive for weeks on end. Then you just decide that you want to hop in that truck of yours and before anyone knows it, you're gone again," Grace frowned.
"Gone where?" Vert asked, his eyebrows lifting.
"Oh, she goes off to wherever she feels like. We don't know where she came from, see, and she really wants to find out. So she just gets up and leaves from time to time, only to come home God knows when with no success. She doesn't even call!" the waitress exclaimed. "She doesn't get that we worry about her," she shot a look at Meda. The roamer just shrugged, inspecting her nails and not paying attention.
"So I forget to pick up a phone and say, 'hey guys, I'm in the middle of Europe right now'," Meda said. "No big deal."
"Except we worry sick about you until you just show up one day. Like you did today," Grace retorted. "I'm always so scared that you're not going to come home one of these times."
"Don't be foolish. I'm always going to come home, sheesh. Is it so wrong for me to want to know where I came from and who my parents were?" Meda snapped. "I'd be able to stop travelling so much if I just knew, you know."
"But what if you get into a car accident or something? What if your truck gets stolen or you get robbed or..." the waitress trailed off. Meda rolled her eyes.
"Grace, come on. Yeah, I know you worry about me, but I can take care of myself. I've done this dozens of times. I always come home safe and sound and in one piece, and you're the only one who ever chews me out about it!" Meda huffed.
"Mom and Dad miss you so much that when you come home, they don't have the heart to growl! I only chew you out because I don't want to lose my sister!" Grace shouted, her eyes beginning to water. "Nothing, I repeat NOTHING, in this world is ever guaranteed, Meda! You don't know if you won't get into a car accident or get hurt, and you can't even be bothered to pick up a phone and let me know that you're alright!"
Meda's eyes narrowed. "You're such a worry-wart! You've always worn your heart on your sleeve too, and you're only going to get your heart broken that way! You'll see! And have you ever heard the saying 'If you love something set it free, if it comes back it's meant to be'? Well let me be FREE!" she roared. With that, she ran out the door. Grace stared at the door for a minute or so before tears flowed down her cheeks. The Battle Force 5 made room for her to sit down and she did, unable to stand any longer. The waitress sobbed and Stanford rubbed her back comfortingly.
"There there love, everything will be alright," he said gently.
"Sh-she's always...So aggressive...I-I don't un-understand why...Th-that's not...Not how w-we were brought u-up," Grace stuttered. Stanford didn't dare say anything about Meda; after seeing that bombshell be dropped, he knew any comment about her adopted sister would only upset her more and if there was one thing Stanford Isaac Rhodes the IV would not do, it was upset Grace. He pulled her into a hug; he didn't do it to try to make a move, he simply saw that she needed it right now. Grace didn't protest or try to pull away from him, she just sniffled and cried and felt slightly comforted by him holding her. The rest of the Battle Force 5 sat there a bit awkwardly, and A.J. didn't know what to think; Meda had seemed kinda nice and he would have liked to get to know her, but the way she'd snapped at her own sister made him unsure. He stared out the window of the diner, not even noticing the dusty red pickup truck pulling out.
Meda pulled out from the diner parking lot, and got on the road. She floored it immediately, heading for the salt flats. After a bit, she stopped the truck and got out. Looking back, she could barely see Handler's Corner. She glared down at the sand beneath her, wanting to throw herself onto it.
"Why can't you give me a hint of where I came from!" she hollered to the flats. She kicked a rock, still angry but losing steam. The drive had helped for that, at least, even if she hadn't really wanted to drive. After that fight, she just couldn't be near Grace. "I wanna go home!" she screamed, "but I don't know where home IS!"
Meda spent the rest of the day on the flats. She didn't want to have to deal with people; people who knew where they came from, who knew where their families were, knew things like that that Meda didn't. She also didn't want to think about how Grace had probably cried after the fight, and before she knew it she found herself wondering if any of those people she'd been introduced to had comforted her. And suddenly it was like a fist had been driven into her gut hard; how could she do that to Grace? How could she do that to Grace over and over and over again? What was wrong with her? Grace was her best friend, her sister. Meda was soon bawling, feeling terrible for Grace and being so angry with herself.
I've been a selfish brat, she thought. I've never thought about how my leaving makes Grace feel. I just keep thinking of myself, and only myself.
Meda hopped out of the bed of her truck, where she'd been sitting for the past while. She jumped in the driver's door, started the vehicle, and drove—this time slowly—back to Handler's Corner, where the idea of apologizing to Grace yet again threatened to make her sick.
Well there you go! I'm sorry if I made anyone upset by ruining the picture of two happy little girls that you were left with at the end of the prologue. I'm pretty happy with this, though.
And Meda is obviously in denial about thinking A.J. is cute. Review!
