Chapter 4

The Prank and the Party

I was actually looking forward to school today, despite remembering the taunt I received from Daneira, I wasn't too worried. In fact, I was such in a good mood, I strutted around in my underwear once I woke up and then woke the whole house up by singing as loudly as I could. I didn't even have that awful nightmare where I was naked last night either! Life is good! I was singing in the cold shower, brushing my teeth while trying to sing again, and washing my face with clear water – yes, I just splashed it over my face trying to imitate those Clearasil adverts where the girl shows her sparkly skin routine – and failed. I ended up having a wet fringe. I washed the lens of my glasses and tied my hair into a ponytail. Then I opened my wardrobe and stuck on my v-top with sleeves that went up to my elbows and new denim pants.

I opened my bedroom door, and walked to the long spiral staircase. Then without thinking twice, I sat on the staircase handle bar and swooped down on it because my denims seemed smooth enough to slide down. I fell on my face in the ground once I reached the end, and attracted my brother's attention.

"Hey, look, fat sis trying to – " Jimmy said.

"Pull a stunt off The Jackass – " Billy said next.

"Movie." They both replied in unison.

I shook my head in disbelief. "I can't believe you watch things which are for very mature people."

"We are mature."

"Yeah right. You don't even know what puberty means yet."

"We're 7, not 4."

"Nana, remember to put the child block on their TV upstairs again!" I yelled.

Then I caught sight of Eurydice sitting on the sofa watching dieting programmes on the TV in our huge lounge, and I practically pranced over.

"You okay? You're not always as cheerful as this before." She asked as she made room for me to sit down. "Tell your older sister what happened on your first day of school. I'm sorry I didn't get the chance yesterday – you know why."

The fact that she always goes to her boyfriend's after work?

"I met guys." I said optimistically.

"Oooh, are they nice?" She asked.

"Yeah, and I also met a cow too."

Her expression didn't seem to have changed.

"Her name's Daneira. She said I was fat, do you think I'm fat?"

Eurydice looked away slightly. "Well…. Sort of…. Not really…. A little."

"Oh." I said with a small frown.

"Don't take it personal."

There was a short silence.

"PLEASE! YOU GOTTA HELP ME!" I broke down on her lap and began sobbing. "I don't want to called fat ever again! It was so hurtful and mean! You're a fitness instructor, can you help me, sis?"

"Sure I can but you have to follow my training program, and if you want to make a start, I suggest you walk or run to school today."

"Okay. I got it!" I exclaimed with my fists clenched. "Today will be the day that I will begin losing weight – and begin wearing a corset!"

Jimmy and Billy looked at me as if I was some kind of loser, Laney blinked in her seat as she fake-fed her pony her cereal, and Nana paid no attention to me since she was trying to stop the pan from overflowing with boiled water. Eurydice stayed in her seat.

"Nana!" I shrieked, pointing to the old woman. She turned and gasped. The pot sort of wheezed and coughed in protest as Nana managed to stop it from bubbling.

"What? You frightened me!"

"Today, I will be taking… (Dramatic pause) the sandwich." I spoke quietly.

Nana gasped again. "But what about your usual lunch?" She asked desperately.

"I won't be needing that anymore, because I will be…. Dieting from now on! You must refrain me from the meat and pies you make and bake so brilliantly – but I must – for my own good!" Then I did another overreacting pose in the spotlight and my brothers shook their head in disbelief.

"She's gone mad." Jimmy said sadly.

"Most likely." Billy agreed.

"How long do you think she'll last?"

"The diet?"

"Yeah, you idiot. What else?"

"Hmm. I'll give her a day."

"I'll give her up to interval."

--------------------

"Must… eat…. Food… in…. cafeteria… help… me…please."

What a surprise. I was practically being dragged by the legs by Hilary and Miriam away from the sweet smelling, mouth-watering aroma of the fries in the café during lunch with my hands outstretched wanting to grab some chips and stuff them into my mouth silly. My sandwich didn't serve as much as a meal – Nana only slapped some peanut butter on brown bread with cut-off crusts stuffed in a sandwich bag in a container. I did manage to run/walk to school, but that was because I met Johnny on the way, it turned out he had taken the bus to get here, and stopped just outside my neighbourhood to walk, so we walked together. He seemed a bit friendlier in the mornings. He told me that the rest of the guys lived in a different neighbourhood and were taken to school by a lift from Ray – who could drive a car.

"What about Kai?" I asked thoughtfully. "I thought he was one of your friends."

"He is." Johnny replied. "But he walks to school instead, accompanied by Tala. They're best friends."

"Oh."

Well – back to my current situation… Back at the cafeteria…

"CHIPS! I'm so hungry! Let me eat them!" I chimed on and on and on and on and on as I got dragged outside with the others since they never bother to eat inside. Most of the guys had gone to play football again – including Johnny, Michael (a guy I met this morning who was the best baseball player in the school), Miguel (another guy who is in my Biology class, he was my partner for measuring our pulse rates after doing some exercise), Tyson and Max. Pyrrha and Julia had gone to the pitch with them. So the only ones left here was Hilary, Miriam, Raul, Tala, Spencer, Rick and Bryan.

"Is that what you ever think about? Just food all the time?" Said one of my bodyguards – yes, the guys are still following me around – well for the whole week anyway until I get used to this place.

"Not really." I replied with my hands behind my head as we lay on the soft grass admiring the hot sun thousand feet high above us in the sky.

"You're not still mad over that comment Daneira made, are you?" Miriam asked.

"Actually, I am. Pissed, but not mad."

I just realised that one of my bodyguards had turned into a boy named Kai, who happened to be sitting down on the grass beside me.

"Hey, when did you get here?" I asked him.

"None of your business."

I wasn't really offended.

"Come on, Kai, be nicer, she's new for Pete's sake." Someone moaned.

I wonder if he did care that I was new here.

Kai took no notice and continued staring at overlarge bottom shaped cloud that was floating towards the sun.

Guess not.

I watched how his short grey hair ruffled in the wind and looked back at the sky. A couple of minutes later, someone moaned again.

"This is getting boring, wanna go down to the pitch and laugh at Mr Blackreid's maroon boxers he's wearing today?"

"Okay!" And everyone left, except me… and Kai – only I didn't know he was still here. So I took the time to close my eyes and relax. We just stayed there, staring at the sky for god knows how long. It was very awkward, mind you. Well since I wasn't exactly sure he was still there, I got the creepiest feeling that someone was watching me endlessly and constantly opened my eyes and checked my surroundings, and somehow I ended up avoiding his part on the grass. Somehow I had also shrunk up in my spot and ended up holding my knees to my chest on the ground – it wasn't a comfy position, mind you. And it was boring. Maybe I really should've looked at this unknown PE teacher who wears shorts to school only that it looks like men's underwear? He finally spoke up.

"… I heard what Daneira said to you."

I leapt several millimetres from my spot and my face slowly began to turn a shade of red. "R-R-Really?" I stammered.

He grunted.

"What?"

He grunted again. "Nothing."

"No really, you said something, what was it?"

"I said it was nothing." He snapped, and then he lay almost beside me and we both watched the butt shaped cloud float towards the cloud that looked like a toilet seat – so the butt was sitting on the toilet seat.

"Hehe, look at that." I giggled, pointing to the two clouds. "Ain't that funny, Kai?" I looked at him. He was asleep – or so it seemed. I shut my mouth and rolled back onto my back.

"Keep talking."

I blinked, and then shrugged. "You know what? I find it really funny, you know, because you see, I was expelled, you know, from my old school, you see, it was Episcopal academy, fabled to be filled with rich snobs, you know, well I'm not that rich, you see. But I do live in a mansion, with my stupid little brothers and little sister – they're triplets, and my older sister, you see, and we live together in the big house my mum and dad left for us, and we've hired a nanny and the house is a total downright mess yet it always seem so practical empty and – "

"I didn't say talk that much."

"Oh." I said quietly. "Sorry."

Then I stayed quiet.

"So, anyways as I was saying. I had friends."

Then I paused.

"And they weren't so great." I paused again.

"But still, I talk to them on MSN."

Another pause.

"But they're hardly online."

Pause.

"I think they're avoiding me deliberately."

Pause.

"They've probably blocked me."

Pause again.

"Must you do that?" He asked, opening on eye to look at me. He seemed annoyed, and so was I. This 'not-talking-too-much' thing wasn't working out for me.

"You said not to talk that much." I replied.

I thought I heard him chuckle slightly, but I think I heard wrong, though his frown had sort of turned into a small visible smirk – or maybe I was imagining things because I could also see a light shining on his face that made him look… angelic…. However I didn't find anything angelic about Kai at all either. He was more into the 'cool' category. Then I smiled slightly.

"Are you Daneira's boyfriend?"

He didn't reply. Except the smirk was gone. I gulped. Maybe I shouldn't have asked him that.

"Nuo! I just got a message, you're invited to Lee's Barbecue Party on Saturday!" Julia was waving to me.

I sat up. "Who's Lee?"

"He's Ray's best friend! Everyone in the class is invited. Oh yeah, Daneira's looking for you in the back entrance hall!"

Kai sat up.

"What does Daneira want with me?" I said with my eyes narrowed slightly.

Julia, who was standing at the foot of the hill we were lying on, shrugged. "I don't know. I just heard. Are you coming down? I'll come with you."

Hesitantly I tried to step my way down carefully, but ended up tripping, and I rolled downwards. Thankfully Julia's feet stopped me before I could roll straight down.

"You okay?"

"I'm fine, let's go." I looked back at the hill.

Kai had disappeared.

I shrugged, and then followed Julia back into the school.

"She said she's waiting for you somewhere here." Julia and I stared off around the empty corridor, and then suddenly, from behind me, I was pushed roughly forward. I screamed, and everything seemed so fast it was in slow motion for me; I could see Julia's shocked face as she saw me flying forward almost towards the ground, and I could see this lightly coloured piece of wire that was in my way. I ended up tripping over it, and something fell. A yellow bucket landed over my head covering my eyes, and I could feel something wet and slippery fall inside my shirt and down on my lap as I landed hard on my bottom on the floor, and soon, I heard distinct laughing.

"Oh my god!" Julia screamed and she immediately lifted the bucket from my head and tossed it away. "Nuo! Are you okay!"

My hair was wet, and I smelled horrible… of fish… I just realised I did have a fish in my mouth and I spat it out. My clothes were wet, drenched in fish-essence soaked water. The fish was still alive! I shrieked and cleared my mouth as fish flapped and flailed their bodies around me helplessly.

I blinked me eyes; Daneira was there, pointing and laughing at me. Her other friends were also here too, staring at my stupid wet form laughing.

Laughing.

At me.

I felt funny – in the way that I had mixed feelings, of terror and sadness. I didn't know how to explain much f it, but I sniffed, and then, tears began forming in my eyes – so I guess that could. I couldn't see the people who were laughing because my vision was so blurred and my hair was messed up and over my face.

"Come on, Nuo, let's get out of here." Julia swore and cursed heavily at Daneira as she helped me up. "You bitch! Why the hell did you do that to Nuo!"

Daneira sneered at us both, backed up with her cronies. "Because."

"Because what?" Julia shouted angrily.

I was crying, although it was shown clearly because of the quantity of water that was pouring down my hair over my face. "Julia…. Let it go…." I mumbled.

"No, I will NOT let this go." She said to me calmly. "What did Nuo ever do to you!" Julia demanded to Daneira.

She simply crossed her arms. "She," Daneira pointed accusingly at me. "Is a boyfriend stealer."

I coughed. I gulped. I swallowed. Then I gritted my teeth.

"I AM NOT!" I suddenly roared at her fiercely. "YOU TAKE THAT BACK! How dare you slander me as a 'boyfriend stealer'! Who'd wanna be your boyfriend anyway!"

By the time I finished screaming that out, I was breathless, but I felt good. I slapped my hand over my mouth. I didn't realise that how loud I had roared that out. Staring at Daneira'sexpressionless face made me feel a bit relieved. She recoiled in shock and blinked her eyeshadowed-eyelids. "You! How dare you say that to me!"

Julia was suddenly pushed out of the way and I was sure Daneira was going to slap me hard as she approached me. Her fist was raised slightly near my face.

"What's going on here?"

Everyone turned to face the new voice.

I thought it was Kai, but it wasn't.

Why would it be him anyway? After all, I hardly speak to him much.

"Oh, it's you, Brooklyn. You're here at the right time for once." Daneira exclaimed cheerfully. "You can watch me slap this bitch silly."

People turned back to me and continued laughing. Daneira cornered me.

"Go get her, Daneira!" People chanted.

This boy at the end of the corridor where we had been earlier was staring at us, with soft cobalt eyes and crimson hair that flared messily around his head. Then he stared at me, and I didn't look at him – well I couldn't since Daneira was blocking much of my view with her huge shadow. Julia paid no attention to him and ran over to my side in slow motion, as Daneira's hand was about to smack down on my unsuspecting cheek. I closed my eyes. My feet were glued shut together and I was practically frozen there on my spot, my eyesight totally shut down – with a fish flapping in my pocket helplessly.

"Stop it, Daneira. Haven't you done enough?"

I thought it was Julia who had saved me – but it wasn't either. The voice was masculine. So much disappointment….

'Brooklyn' was standing in front of me with his hand clutching Daneira's outstretched bare arm.

"Brooklyn, let go! I need to teach her a lesson!"

Brooklyn didn't smile and I was for once, still standing there like a total idiot blinking blankly. Thankfully, Julia pulled me away and quickly led me out of the corridor – apparently everyone was transfixed in staring at the pair who were staring each other down. Brooklyn was taller than her a little – but Daneira was wearing high heels so I assumed Daneira was much shorter in height.

"Hey! I'm not finished with you yet, Nuo!" Daneira screeched as she pulled her arm free from Brooklyn's grasp and proceed in following us.

"Leave her alone." Brooklyn ordered calmly, and funnily enough, Daneira stopped walking and stood there as Julia and I made our way out.

"This is all your fault, Brooklyn! I thought you didn't resort in violence!"

"And I don't tolerate with people who resort themselves in violence, Daneira."

Daneira was quiet, but then she grabbed one of the fish on the ground, and hurled it in rage. The fish soared in the air, still writhing helplessly and splat on the ground near the crowd, struggling to breathe. "I'll get you one day, Nuo Yung, you just watch me! I'll get you at Lee's Party on Saturday!"

----------------------

You may all begin your sympathy towards Nuo, but this is only the 'start' of my story. You'll see that Nuo will get the best of Daneira soon. Oh yes, thank you for the reviews, unfortunately I don't have much time to give responses….. they're fun though!