Leena
I know it's been a long wait. I've had a lot of shit at school and what not, and it's sucked. But anyway, I'll update as much as I can.
IKyman
Kyle's a heart-to-heart kind of guy. Cartman's word for that would be: "fag". JK Ha, that's how I imagine Flabby Maddie! It's okay, Kyle doesn't dig the girls. KyCart, Style, K2, that boy's got all odds against him. GO KY! And thanks. I'm worried that this chapter may ruin it.
Xxforget-me-notxX
Creepy and awesome, huh? Crawsome? Ugh, that sounds like seafood. If you're imagining Wendy coming into your room with a giant knife, I think you should call in some professional help. Unless it's just some random dead celebrity.
KennyIsASexyAngel
Cute? Cute like a puppy or cute like Kyle's hat or Kenny's muffled language? Or cute like Kenny wearing Kyle's hat and talking in his muffled language? You're right on the nail there, Kenny is such a sexy angel. Maybe a devil though- he went to hell, did he not?
Hazel-Beka
The MSN names were fun to make up. And I actually went through the same thing Stan did. I typed it, I was like WTF, then I was like haha, and then I said that this wasn't the time to be perverted.
I'm glad I got the dream thing right! I was writing and trying to put myself in some dreamlike sequence. I finally got there when I got one of those chlorine tablets out of my pool and breathed in and out and in and out. Heeeheeeheee.
Same here. We girls always look like possessive weirdos if we freak out, but boys are too stupid to understand that you're not supposed to ditch a chick at her prom! Stan does need to work on his BF skills. He needs to take a frickin class.
Leena is just a little girl! What could possibly go wrong?
Oh my gosh, speaking of that! I went back to read ch1 of FFWF, and I was like *puke*! That was absolute shit writing! I'll probably look back on this next February and be like *puke* too. But I guess it's a good thing, 'cause it means I'm getting somewhat better.
This one is fun to experiment with the voice. It's not just the day in the life of a teenage boy. It's more... sophisticated, like you said. Like the whole thing's being written by Kadira.
I wrote this chapter, and then I just read your review "roses are the way to a girl's heart." I wrote "Roses are the key to the girls heart." Weird.....
Mean Girls was awesome! Janice was funny.
IC! Yay! My characters are never IC! I'm so happy! *huggles*
Thanks to everyone who reviewed. I love you guys like cream pie in the sky. Totally.
I don't know what to think of this chap yet. I'm tired and hungry, and I have no idea what I'm saying.
Chapter Three: The Garden- Stan feels a bit awkward.
Stan walked into the house quietly, trying his best not to bother his parents. They would try to talk to him, and he only had a half hour before he had to pick up Wendy.
The living room was empty, so he quickly padded across it and began climbing the stairs.
"Stanley!" his mother called, "Can you come in here for a second?"
He groaned and slapped his forehead. "Yeah, Mom!" Throwing his neck back in irritation, he slouched down the stairs and into the kitchen, where he'd heard his mother's voice. "What?"
She was looking through her purse a bit desperately. "Did you take any money off of this counter?"
"No," Stan replied honestly. He never stole from his parents unless it was beer or something that he wasn't supposed to be drinking.
Sharon looked at his face, searching for a twitch or falter that would indicate lying. "Well, I had about $40 sitting right here, and now it's gone."
"Wasn't me," her son replied in a monotone, anxious to take a shower before his date.
She sighed and nodded, deciding she believed him. When Stan noticed the empty vase on the kitchen table, he added. "But I did, uh, take your flowers for Wendy."
"What?" Sharon asked distantly, still searching the confines of her purse.
He groaned and repeated the statement. "I took your roses. I needed to give them to Wendy."
"Roses?" Sharon said, "Hm… I don't remember any roses, son."
"They were right there on the counter."
She shrugged. "Well, I don't remember. But that doesn't matter. Now go upstairs and let me find the money."
Stan nodded and retreated back up the stairs with a tiny smile on his face. He'd stolen the flowers and she didn't even notice! Not that stealing flowers was a huge deal, but he usually got busted for every little screw up he made.
But no matter, he didn't have time to linger on being a bad ass. He had a date to get to.
The day just got weirder and weirder. His date with Wendy had gone strangely. They had skipped the movie because Bebe had convinced her to watch it with her. Instead, they got some coffee at Starbucks. Wendy was acting nervous and shy, which was unusual for someone as outspoken as her. But the one thing that bothered him was what she was wearing. It was a pink dress that he distinctly recognized. Even though it was just an outfit, it still seemed eerie to him. Now he was home, and everything in his head seemed twice as strange. Especially Wendy.
Kenny had texted him numerous times, but Stan knew he was just giving him a guilt trip about not hanging out with him, Kyle, and Eric. Hadn't Kyle told him that they were cool?
And they were totally overreacting. Sure, it was the last year they'd go to school together. Stan had a football scholarship at the state college. Kenny had gotten a job as an assistant manager at Little Caesar's Pizza, but he was moving to Ohio so he could work at his cousin's place. Kyle was going to Julliard because he wanted to be a lawyer and he already had a scholarship, which wasn't a surprise to anybody. Eric was going to take some classes at Colorado Community College, and was the only one who would be anywhere near Stan. Unfortunately.
But it wasn't like they wouldn't ever talk to each other again. Phones were invented for a reason. Probably not that reason, but it had to be one of them. There was also e-mail and IM and Facebook and MySpace and Twitter and almost any other website had some way to communicate. Why were they acting like this was the end of the world?
He had to talk to Kyle. Kyle seemed the most upset about this, but unfortunately, Kyle never shared his feelings. But he'd been lucky with him this morning, so maybe he could be lucky again.
His fingers automatically glided across the phone on Kyle's cell number; even his body had memorized it.
"Hello?"
Stan cleared his throat. "Hey."
"Oh, Stan! Hi."
"Uhm, what's up?" He couldn't help but beat around the bush.
"Not much, just hanging out with Kenny."
Kenny? When the hell did he start hanging out with just Kenny? "Is fat ass there?"
"Nope. Just us. Aren't you supposed to be with Wendy?"
It almost seemed like a replay of last night's IM conversation. "Uh, she wasn't feeling well, and went home."
"Oh, that su… wait one sec." There was a pause on the other line, and he could hear Kyle laughing at something Kenny was doing. "Sorry. What were we talking about?"
"N-nothing. I uh… just had a question."
"Shoot."
Stan sighed and tripped over his words. "So, like, remember how you were, like, really pissed at me earlier?"
He could hear Kyle hesitate. "…yeah…"
"I was just wondering, like, what's the big deal? It's not like we'll never talk to each other again."
Now anyone could hear Kyle's pause; it lasted almost a whole minute before he said "You want to spend time with Wendy again, don't you?"
"What?"
"You… never mind."
Stan sighed. He hadn't answered the question. "But why were you so upset?"
"Just because… Stan, let's just forget it, okay? I just… I really… you know I… just… this is…"
He could hear Kyle getting increasingly agitated and stopped him. "It's okay, Kyle. I get it." A lie.
"Okay," Kyle didn't buy it either, "I'm gonna go. Me and Ken were kind of in the middle of something."
"Oh, okay. Fine. See ya."
Kyle clicked the phone off and Stan listened to the dial tone. Why wasn't Kyle open with him anymore? Why was he hanging with only Kenny? Why hadn't he been invited? What were they in the middle of?
He decided for the second night in a row just to sleep on it. It helped with the roses, so maybe it could help with his confusion.
It was snowing once again, but Stan couldn't feel the bitter cold. The crunching of the snow under his feet seemed to be the only sound in the entire area where he was walking. It was the alleyway where he'd met that weird girl. Everything was exactly the same, except something, something was different. The hair on the back of his neck stood up, and he looked around the vacant alley. It was too silent and too still. Like none of it was even real.
He strained his ears to hear something, and the silence seemed to build energy. It was like the loud screaming siren often heard before one passes out, except he wasn't woozy. The volume grew and grew until he winced against it and squinted his blue eyes shut.
"Hello."
Stan's eyes flew open and he jumped back. "Oh... crap... Lisa, yeah."
Leena looked at him with her head cocked to one side. "Leena," she corrected, her lips forming the smallest of smiles. "Why are you acting funny, Stan?"
"Funny?" he repeated, "I'm not acting funny, am I?" Just as he said this, he felt his left eye twitch.
She giggled and it seemed to echo endlessly through his brain. And as he watched, her laugh didn't seem to match up with her lips. "Did you see the pretty flowers I planted?" she asked suddenly, taking his hand and leading him to a small flowerbed behind Petal's Gifts. There were two dozen roses, planted in four straight rows of six. Each flower stood perfectly straight and each one looked almost exactly the same. "Do you like them?"
"Yeah, they're cool," Stan said distantly.
Leena bent down next to the plants and pulled out a watering can. "I named each rose. But I can't tell you their names, 'cause they're secret."
"Why are they secret?" Stan asked.
She looked up, her sparkling brown eyes serious, "I can tell you someday," she said, "But not right now. They're still growing."
"Hey, uh, Leena?" She met his eyes to show that she was listening. "You were right about how roses represent love and stuff."
Her pink lips turned up in a smile. "What makes you say that?"
"I gave them to Wendy, my girlfriend."
"Ooh!" she squealed, turning her full attention to him, "Tell me about her. What's she look like?"
Stan paused. "She's got black hair and blue eyes. And... she's... uh... tall." He gestured his arms to show that he was at a loss for words. "She really liked them."
"I knew it. Roses are the key to the heart." She turned back to her own roses. "My daddy had a big rose garden," she said distantly, "there were millions of them, as far as the eye could see. I used to imagine that I could lie on top of the little red petals and then they'd carry me away over the hill."
Stan blinked. "The hill?"
"Oh, there was a hill behind Daddy's property. The flowers went all the way up, and I always wanted to go over that hill. I used to think it was like a parallel universe. There were unicorns and ponies and bunnies, and a big lake where they all drank together."
He tried to veer his mind away from any thoughts of hippies and sighed. "That sounds cool."
She nodded. "It was. And Daddy used to name the roses after Mommy. There was this pretty rose right by the kitchen window. It always stood with just the tiniest tilt, and its petals stayed soft all year round. Daddy said that was my Mommy's flower."
"Where was your mommy?"
"She died when I was born," Leena replied, "Daddy said that I was her last connection to her."
Stan bit his lip before asking, "Where's your daddy?"
Leena stood up and looked at Stan. "I have to go, Stan." She gave him a tight hug around his waist, "Bye!" And just as suddenly, she skipped away, humming a Mother Goose rhyme.
Stan looked down at the roses with a clench in his stomach. What was up with Leena and her family?
He stared at the roses intently. That's when something seemed to happen. Just one rose, the one in the top left hand corner, seemed to become redder. He bent down and looked closer as one petal seemed to elongate at its tip. Just a little bit, until it fell like a drop of water. Except... the droplet was red. Another little red droplet began dripping off of the petal, and Stan caught it. That wasn't what water felt like... it was thick... like blood. Then the petal started dripping like rain, so many little red dots falling onto the fresh white snow. Stan tried to stop it and took the delicate petal between his forefinger and thumb. A small rip split the very end of the soft material, and the blood began pouring out of it as if it was a head wound. Stan felt himself become nauseous and wiped his hands off on the snow.
"FUCK!" Stan yelled as he sat straight up in bed.
I wasn't too happy with the way I did the Leena scene. It was hard to describe the weird blood roses the way I wanted to. There's a lot more describing Leena now, and she's a bit less distant.
Hope you like this, and I'll try to update quicker. Night!
-Lori
PS- I'm a princess.
