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REVENGEMagenta had been waiting at my house when I had gotten home and then we had run to the post office and printed of 150 copies of the photo.
We stuck them all over the school while everybody was still hanging out the front of the school.
I swore to myself that I would not try and hide from Lash because what I had done was just retaliation. In fact we were even. The plan to hide hadn't made any sense seeing as I had all my classes with the male any way. But I now had a growing feeling of apprehension in my stomach.
My reasoning that we were even didn't matter any more because I had a feeling Lash wouldn't be viewing this in a very logical way. In fact what's to say he didn't grab me right then and there and thrust me head first into a toilet bowl.
I began thinking crazy optimistic ideas like maybe he hadn't seen it. Impossible! Everybody was already talking about it. Or perhaps he didn't know it was me. Another lunatic thought. In fact over all I'm surprised he hadn't chased me down with a rocket launcher yet.
The first class was in the mad scientist lab, which meant there would be lots of fantastic little gadgets lying around that Lash could use to kill me with. Oh I had to stop being ridiculous. Lash was not going to kill me….
I was definitely getting a seat near Will or Warren.
Medulla was letting us in the classroom when I slowly turned the corner. I saw Lash push his way into the classroom.
"Nice knowing you," Magenta said clasping my shoulder.
"Magenta!" Leila scolded.
"It was your idea," I accused.
"Was not!" Magenta countered and ran inside before I could say anything. I slunk inside the classroom and lowered myself next to the bully unconsciously leaning back, preparing for a verbal attack.
He wasn't even looking at me. He didn't talk to me the entire lesson. In fact he spent the entire time staring moodily at his desk.
He was like that all day, which really confused me. What was wrong with the bully? The pictures had mostly been pulled down but there were still no consequences.
"What is going on?" I demanded to my table in general at lunch.
"Maybe he's seen the error of his ways," Ethan suggested.
"More like he is biding his time and then bam he's gonna be all like up with his revenge," Zach offered.
"Thaaaaaaaanks!" I snapped sarcastically.
"I agree with Zach," Warren muttered not looking up.
There was dead silence as we all stared at the quiet rebel. I blinked a couple of time to make sure I had heard correctly.
"Nobody move I want to memorise this occasion," Will demanded. It was a very odd moment when Warren ever agreed with Zach.
"Ok you can move again," Will said, waving his hand.
"What I was saying is Zach's probably right. Lash likes revenge!" Warren grumbled, clearly wishing he had remained stoic.
"So are you volunteering to be my bodyguard?" I asked batting my eyelashes. I was trying to win them over with my female willies.
"Sure we'll look after you, Mindy," Ethan promised.
"Don't take this the wrong way but I was more directing the question at Warren, Will or Leila," I stated apologetically. Magenta just shrugged but Zach and Ethan looked offended.
"What I mean is you guys are great for defence and stuff but when it comes to kicking the crap out of Lash… well I want him snapped in half or roasted," I explained.
"Well we all have your back," Will said.
"Thanks!" I gushed. Then the bell rang and they all bailed quickly for PE leaving me alone at the table. Well this was dandy! They said they had my back and then when it came time to walk the empty halls they left me. I realised the longer I stood there the less people were going to be in the halls so I made a quick dash for the corridors.
There was not a soul in the corridors.
"What the hell is happening?" I asked out loud, "Did you all band together, figure out I didn't want to be alone and bolt to class?"
"Maybe they knew I wanted a word," A voice said from behind me. I didn't get a chance to turn around before a hand seized my upper arm and yanked me into a cupboard.
The storage cupboard was cramped and there wasn't enough room to stand separately so most of our front bodies were pressed together. I'm lucky he was angry with me other wise it might have been an interesting situation. One that maybe I wasn't totally adverse to.
OH MY GOD! How could I even think such a thing! What the hell was wrong with me? I wasn't supposed to be terrified of him then all of a sudden attracted to him in a very extreme way! It just wasn't right!
Now I couldn't look him in the eye where before I had been glaring angrily at him all full of self-righteous rage ready to tell him to go jump off a cliff. I was also leaning as far back from his as possible so as little of our bodies was touching. I hoped he interpreted this as intimidation rather than sexual attraction because I would never live that down. Also it would be handing him ammunition for his next attack!
He picked up on my discomfort. "What?"
"I just got hauled into a cupboard and you're asking me what's wrong?" I snorted. Men! They had no idea!
"You're acting like I'm standing here naked or something," Lash sounded cranky. I gave a quick squeak and looked determinedly at the ceiling. Why did he have to bring up nudeness?
"Carry on I'm listening," I invited while biting my lip. My words came out in a strange breathless hissing noise.
"What they hell were you thinking with the pictures?" He drawled.
"Uh revenge mostly," I stated incredulously.
"What for?" He sounded genuinely perplexed.
I couldn't believe that he had no idea. In fact I was that shocked I managed to face him again. "The coach Boomer incident and for being, in general, a very big wanker," The words died on my lips. I was just making this worse on myself! The ceiling was quickly becoming familiar.
"That was a private incident. There were only a few people who knew about that. The whole school saw that. Haven't you heard of let the punishment fit the crime? You should have gone for a more intimate vengeance."
He said intimate so smoothly. I wish he's stop talking and let me out of the cupboard. My hormones weren't coping. He had noticed my strange behaviour and relative silence and was staring at me with a quizzical look on his face. He looked quite cute when he was being quizzical.
Ok don't think about Lash. Don't think about Lash. Don't think about Lash. Think about someone else. Think about…. Warren. Think about Warren in his PE uniform. Do not think about Lash AND Warren.
"I have to get to PE," I croaked. My face was on fire and I was making a conscious effort to breath.
"Yeah we have save the citizen today don't we?" Lash said casually. Only I knew he wasn't being casual at all. I could the see the germ of an idea filtering across his face as he contemplated all the marvellous possibilities of humiliation.
I nodded and avoided eye contact. He flung the door open and I scrambled out and down the hall as fast as my legs could carry me.
I joined my friends late on the stands and glowered at them.
"What?" Will demanded. That seemed to be the question of the day didn't it.
"What happened to having my back?" I growled. There was no reply but they all became very interested in what Coach Boomer was saying. Save the citizen is the only part of Sky High that you didn't have to with your partner, which actually made no sense to me at all.
The point of the partnership system was so we could fight crime together but when it came to actual hands on practical we went with whoever.
Lash and Speed stood in the middle of the floor with the citizen dangling over a metal grinder.
"Speed, Lash who do you wanna be?" Coach Boomer called.
"Villains," Speed answered confidently. The crowd groaned.
"There's a surprise," Magenta muttered.
"Who do you want to pick?" Boomer continued. There was silence as an evil grin spread across Lash's face. I knew immediately what was up.
"How bad is it gonna be?" I asked Warren who was sitting next to me.
"With your power? You're gonna be decimated," Warren replied. See that's why I liked Warren. Straight forward with no intention of sparing my feelings on any level.
"Damn I need to develop my power," I mumbled, "And get tattoos."
"You're not wrong," Warren agreed with a grin.
"We pick Lauren," Speed picked his own partner.
"And Minny," Lash pointed at me.
I stood. "It's freakin' Mindy you stupid dumb… idiot!"
See what I said just then? Well that's what I would have said to him in class under my breath and he'd give me an amused look like he wasn't taking me seriously. But unfortunately it wasn't class and I hadn't just said it so he could hear. The whole crowd "ohed" excitedly and Lash narrowed his eyes.
Why can't I just shut up? I met Lauren's eyes as we hesitantly stepped into the ring. She looked terrified. She could roll the hell out of the way at least.
I went to stand by her side and whispered, "We are screwed."
"Yep!" She nodded.
"We can't beat them with our powers so lets just leap at them and kick the hell out of them," I suggested.
"That's a foul," Lauren gasped.
"I have a feeling there are gonna be a lot of fouls." I grimaced.
"Here's a plan," Lauren began, "I'll transform into a ball and you throw me at the citizen. I'll unmorph, grab the citizen and try and swing it to the side."
It sounded like a very reasonable plan, "What do I do?"
"Keep them distracted," Lauren said.
I always get the hard job! I looked at Lash who was stretching his muscles. I thought this was ironic as he could extend at will and didn't need to warm up.
"On my whistle," Boomer instructed. There was a short sharp blast and the game started.
Lauren went into a ball form and I hurled her towards the citizen. Speed intercepted her. I cursed. There went our plan but I had my own issues. Lash's arms were snaking towards me slowly. I spared a quick glance for Lauren who had literally back flipped out of being a ball. It looked friggin awesome and forced Speed to take a step back.
At that point Lash grabbed me and pulled me quickly toward him. He looked like he was gonna tie me up in his arms and just wait for the game to be over. I dug my heels into the wooden floor so he had to at least strain to pull me in. When I was within arms distance from him I raised my arm to hit him in the nose.
He grabbed my arm with both of his. I instinctively pulled my arm back, stretching his out. I recognised that this was actually an opportune moment and let my arm relax. He hadn't been prepared for that as my fist and his arms whipped back in, smacking him in the head.
I broke free of his grasp and made a run for it. The crowd was cheering and I distinctly heard Leila scream some encouraging words. Lash was protesting to Boomer, calling it a foul but Boomer said that as far as he was concerned Lash had hit himself in the head.
Lauren was rolling across the floor trying to dodge Speed who was a blur of movement. He caught her with his foot and she sailed through the air and bounced to a stop at my foot. I picked her up and went to throw her at the citizen again but Speed collided with my shoulder and sent us both reeling.
The crowd had started counting down from twenty as I stumbled after Lauren to try again but Lash prevented me from throwing her again. He tripped me and I landed flat on my back. I winced as my head snapped back into the wooden floor. My whole body ached and there was a collective intake of breath from the crowd as they observed my pain.
Lash didn't stop there he used his long arms to hurl me into the air sending me flying into the dumpster near by. I don't think I dented it with my body as much as it dented me. There was no give in the prop and I crumpled to the ground, absurdly contemplating how he had the strength to send me flying.
Speed was bouncing Lauren repeatedly as the count from five began. Lash bent over me and with a big smile he said, "Five… Four… three… two…one." The time sounded and my citizen got munched. I didn't really care about the citizen. It was a dummy and couldn't feel pain.
Me on the other hand.
There were dark spots in front of my eyes as I struggled into a sitting position. It was an effort to keep myself upright. I felt light headed and my body was tingling with a mixture of adrenalin and pain. I felt tears rise in my throat. I really was battered.
Lash had done a victory lap but had moved to be next to me again, going to his knees. There was a hush in the audience as it dawned that I really was hurt.
"Mindy, are you right?" Lash asked. His face was serious. I answered by sliding down to the ground resting my cheek on the floor. Boomer had jumped down from his high chair and was running to see if I was ok.
I felt like fainting. Like I was walking that fine edge between awake and dark. Most superheros had a higher physical tolerance of pain. They could get slammed into dumpsters and not even blink. But I was no super hero. I had a pathetic little power and a pathetic weak body.
"Get the nurse," Boomer commanded. He looked worried and I knew why. Sky High hadn't seen anybody sustain very serious injuries in save the citizens for years. It made me feel ashamed and as if I didn't belong here.
There was noise to the left and I realised that Lash had just been sent flying into the glass by Will. Warren's hands were on fire and he was advancing on Lash, who staggered to his feet. He didn't get a chance to burn the bully up because at that moment Principal Powers appeared. I don't know what happened next because the nurse came and all I could focus on was the slightly eccentric woman's gentle voice.
I did decide one thing though. I really hated Lash!
AN: I love all of you who reviewed! seriously it is fantastic! Constructive criticism is always welcome! Thoughts on final scene... too dramatic? Too unrealistic? let me know please!
MD666