Hello my readers! How's your week going? Here's chapter 4 of Just Another Girl! This has been one of my favorite chapters to write so far, so I hope you enjoy it!
Oh, and I have some special shout outs! Thanks to AllAmericanSlurp and Vampire Girl for never failing to review my stories! You guys are the best and I can't tell you how much your kind words mean to me! (Don't forget to go check out AllAmericanSlurp's stories when you're done with mine; her stories are some of my absolute favorites on the site! Highly recommended!)
Anywho, on with chapter 4! I don't own Lab Rats, just April and the story.
* * * Chapter 4: Anger Issues * * *
"Hey, April!" Bree called to her friend from down the hall. April smiled and ran over.
"Hello, Bree!" April replied as she ran up to Bree.
"You know, my brother didn't tell me much about what happened with the two of you on Friday."
April blushed. "Well, there's not really much to tell. We went to see Planet Wars . . ."
"Wait," Bree interrupted. "He took you to see Planet Wars? After I told him not to?"
"Why would you tell him not to take me to Planet Wars?" April asked with a frown."It's only my favorite movie saga ever! I told him I wanted to see it."
"Oh." Now it was Bree's turn to blush. She quickly recovered by asking, "What else did you do?"
Her friend shrugged. "Not much," she admitted. "I showed him one of my favorite places to go and think, under a bridge in the park. We talked for a little and . . ." April paused biting her lip.
"What?" Bree said, raising a suspicious eyebrow.
"Nothing!"
"Come on, what did you two do?"
"Nothing!" April insisted. But Bree could tell that she was trying to hide a smile.
"April," she said slowly, "in all the sci-fi excitement of the night, did you two ever . . . kiss?"
April's face turned an even deeper shade of red. Bree took it as an answer to her question. "You kissed!" she squealed. For a second Bree paused, trying to decide if she should be happy for her brother or disgusted.
The smile April had been trying to hide broke free and took over her entire face. "Okay, so what if we did?"
"That would be Chase's first kiss! Aside from the wall." Whoops. Probably wasn't the best thing to let slip. April shot a strange look at Bree, but she shook her head and went back to smiling.
"It was my first kiss too!" she said, trying to hide the excitement in her voice.
"That is so cool!" Bree said, deciding to be happy for her brother.
The bell rang. "Time to head to biology," April said, shouldering her backpack. Bree smiled and followed her friend. Her brother's first kiss. How could he not have told her?
Bree tapped her pencil. Ten more minutes. Man, she was not a fan of biology! All this talk of cells, organisms, and organelles made her want to puke. And it was so confusing! Sometimes Bree envied her brother's super-smarts. This stuff was a breeze for Chase.
Apparently it was a breeze for April too. She was furiously scribbling notes in her notebook. Her handwriting was pretty and there wasn't a doodle to be seen on the page.
"Alright, class!" Mrs. Field said. "I'm going to assign you partners for a new project. The project will be to research a symbiotic relationship in the animal kingdom and give a presentation about it. It is due in three weeks. You'll need to do a lot of research about it." The teacher began to rattle off pairs, "Kayla and Will, Caitlin and Gregory, Matthew and Robert . . ."
Hmm, who would Bree want to be paired with? There were some obnoxious boys that she wouldn't want to work with. Perhaps one of the smart kids. Maybe she would get lucky and be able to work with April.
". . . Bree and April," Mrs. Field finished. Woohoo! She got lucky! "Spend the last few minutes of class discussing your plans. Talk about which animals you'd like to do and plan when you'll meet. This will require a lot of working together. Begin."
April got up from her seat and came over to Bree. "I guess we're partners, huh?" she said with a grin.
"What, am I not good enough for you?" Bree asked, pretending to be offended. They chuckled.
"So what relationship would you like to do?" April asked.
Bree furrowed her brow. "I can't think of one off the top of my head."
"Me neither. At least, not one that I would enjoy performing research on," April said.
"Why don't we get together later? You could come over to my house or I could go over to yours . . ." Bree paused when she saw the color drain out of her friends face. She raised an eyebrow.
"Uh, why don't we go over to your house," April said nervously.
"O . . . kay," Bree said slowly. "Today after school work for you?" April nodded. "Great. I'll see you then!"
Chase was pulling some books out of his locker when he heard his name being yelled. He turned around to see Leo running towards him. "Leo!" Chase called. "What's wrong?"
"Trent!" Leo screamed, pulling Chase between him and the older football player. Chase gulped as he realized who was standing in front of him.
"Hi Not-Dooley," Trent said with a smirk. Chase glanced past the boy to see most of the football team standing behind him.
"Hi Trent," Chase said nervously.
Trent grabbed Chase by the collar. By this time Chase had learned not to resist. "You know, I was just thinking, we need some more tackling dummies. Would you like to . . . volunteer?"
"No, I'll pass," Chase said uncomfortably, trying to wiggle free. Trent's grasp only tightened.
"When I said volunteer, I meant that you'll have to do it whether you like it or not," Trent said with a sneer.
"Hey!" a voice called from down the hall. "Let go of him!" Amazingly, Trent did let go. Chase, who was unprepared for the release, fell to the ground.
"Who said that?" Trent demanded.
"Me." To Chase's surprise, April stepped up. She walked over to Trent with a frown on her face.
"Hey, I know you!" Trent said. "You're April. You always hang with these freaks." The quarterback gestured to Chase and Leo.
"Those 'freaks' are my friends," April said coldly.
"Aw, does little baby need his girlfriend to come save him?" This comment was directed at Chase.
"I'm not doing this to 'save them.' I've seen the chaos you cause and I'm sick of it."
"You can't do anything about it, princess," Trent sneered. "Hey, you're a real nerd, aren't you? All smart and stuff? So here, nerd, do my homework."
Chase stood with Leo by the lockers as Trent handed April a stack of papers. Chase felt a shiver go down his spine when he saw the glare April was giving Trent. She moved closer, standing toe-to-toe with him. It was a funny sight, April being nearly a head shorter than the football player. She looked up at him with a cold, dead gaze.
"No," she said stubbornly.
"Did you say no?" Trent demanded.
"Yes, I believe that was the word I uttered to you."
"How dare you say no to me!"
"I will not do your homework. You cannot force me to."
"Or really? Are you going to stop me?"
If looks could kill, Trent would be long dead. April looked ready to tear him limb from limb. She took a few deep breaths and replied, "No. I'm not going to fight you, if that's what you want. I refuse to do your homework and I refuse to fight."
"Aww, look, she's a coward too!" Trent said mockingly.
"Should I step in and help her?" Chase whispered to his brother.
Leo shook his head. "I think she's got this under control."
"Look, you have no idea who you're messing with." April's voice was so dangerously low it made Chase shudder. He had never heard her talk that way. "I've dealt with guys much worse than you."
"And yet you're refusing to fight."
A small, slightly surprised grin passed over April's face for a split-second. "I'd back down right now if I were you," she said quietly. "You're stepping into dangerous waters, my friend. I'm warning you right now, don't push me." With that she turned and started to walk away.
Trent raised his voice and announced, "Hey, everyone! All hail April, nerdy queen of the cowards!"
Chase watched April's face as he said that. Something about it changed. For a second her eyes closed, and when she opened them they looked . . . different, somehow. Cold and deadly, even more so than before.
"Hey!" she growled, turning back to Trent. "Want to say that again to my face? Or better yet, my fist?" She held up her fist to make a point.
Trent leaned down so he was at eye level with her. "All hail April, ner . . ." Suddenly Trent was up against the lockers, holding his cheek. April had a smug smile on her face, her right fist raised.
"Get her!" Trent shouted to the other football players. They all moved to tackle her, but April dropped to the ground. Sweeping her leg out, she proceeded to knock down some of the closest football players.
April stood up and used an impressive show of martial arts to take down the other football players who were still standing. Chase's mouth fell open a little in surprise. She seemed almost as good as him, and he had been training with Mr. Davenport for years!
"She looks kind of looks like you do when you turn into Spike," Leo whispered to Chase. This caused Chase to raise his eyebrows a little.
Once she had finished with the other football players, April walked back over to Trent and grabbed him by the collar. She shoved him into the lockers. Hard. "Don't you ever ask me to do your homework again!" she growled. Trent nodded, his eyes full of fear. April lifted him – with surprising ease – and threw him to the ground. He scrambled off, along with the other football players, leaving April grinning.
People in the hallway began cheering. April was breathing hard. Not like she was out of breath, but like she was mad. Then she closed her eyes again. When she opened them, they seemed much softer. She looked around, slightly terrified, and charged out of the school. Chase immediately ran after her.
Chase found April sitting against a tree outside of school. She didn't look up when he approached, but she said, "Hi Chase."
"Hey," he said, sitting down next to her. "So . . . what just happened in there?"
"I'm . . . sorry you had to see that," April said slowly.
"And what exactly was it that I saw?"
"You . . ." April gulped, "you could say I have anger issues. Can we just leave it at that?"
"But . . ."
"Chase, I can't really explain it right now. I promise I'm not going to suddenly lash out at you. I'm not one of those kids who gets mad and goes on a wild rampage. There's a reason behind my behavior. I-I can't tell you right now, but I just need to trust me."
April turned to look at Chase for the first time since he had come out of the school. They stared at each other. They began to lean in. Then Chase realized that they were sharing their second kiss.
As they pulled away, he whispered, "I trust you."
"Thank you." April began to get up. "We should probably get back to school."
"Yeah," Chase agreed. "See you soon!"
April grinned and chuckled. "Sooner than you think. I'm coming over later!"
How was that? I'll never know unless you review! So do us all a favor and type up your thoughts in that review box at the bottom of the page! Pretty please with a power pellet on top? Oh, never mind. Those taste like dog treats. XD How about pretty please with whipped cream and a cherry? That work better?
A few questions for you:
How did this chapter affect your trust in April? Do you think Chase should trust her after that?
What do you think about April going over to the Davenport's house? Do you think something will happen?
How about April getting that mad? What do you think happened there?
Review people and let me know what you think!
(Fun little note: Anybody like the Disney channel movie, Cloud 9? Well, when I was typing this chapter I was trying to think of names for the research partners in Bree and April's biology class. I typically have two strategies when it comes to making up names for unimportant characters: I pick the first name I think of, or I hit a random letter on the keyboard and try to type up a name that starts with that letter. I used the former method to come up with the name "Kayla." Then I hit the letter "W" and thought, "Oh, Will!" Then I noticed that I had paired "Kayla" and "Will" together, and I thought, "Oh my gosh those are the characters from Cloud 9!" I don't know if anyone noticed that, but I did it entirely on accident! I left it in there to be funny. Sorry for the long note, just a little trivia!)