Here is Ch4. Hot off the press. Note this my friends, Raven has very good control over her emotions. She isn't a teen anymore. She has honed her skills. lol. enjoy!
Disclaimer: i wish i owned something other than Adrienne and Eric.
this chap is over 5,000 words!! omz
Chapter 4
Outside the Cafeteria
We had arrived in front of the cafeteria with Rich and me in the back of the group. The others walked through the door but Rich stopped me. "Can I talk to you for a moment?"
I nodded and he led me to the side of the building. I looked up at him, "What is it, Rich?"
He smiled nervously and got down on one knee, "Rachel Roth, will you be my girlfriend?"
My heart skipped a beat and started to race. I stood there, stunned, for a second and then snapped back into reality. I looked down at his cute spiky hair and crystal blue eyes and his kind smile and decided my answer in a raced heartbeat. I smiled, "Yes."
He grinned and stood up. We leaned in and kissed. We broke apart and walked back to the cafeteria, hand in hand.
We strolled over to our table to discover we had a new table-mate. She was tall and brunette she had a nice tan and black eyes with a strange glint of red. She was very pretty, thin, muscular. And I suddenly realized who it was. The girl in charge of Super Affairs at NMS. Rachel or Adrienne. Adrienne. Except she looked older, even taller, and very different looking. Our table had divided into girls and boys. There was an open seat next to Jinx and I walked over to it. Adrienne had pulled up a chair and was sitting at the end of the table. She had a chicken Panini in front of her and a glass of water. I grabbed a salad, small sandwich, and a mug of tea and sat down next to Jinx.
"You're going out now, aren't you?" Adrienne asked what seemed to be the universal question.
I paused a second to build the anticipation among the four girls, "Yes."
They squealed and congratulated me. I waved them off, "Shut up! What are you doing here anyway, Adrienne?"
She smiled, "It's kind of a long story."
"We've got all the time in the lunch period! Go right ahead," Terra joked.
Adrienne laughed, "Alright. So, you guys probably don't know this, but Diana, Wonder Woman is the daughter of two of the Greek gods. Artemis and Ares," we nodded, appreciating the new info. "So I'm her half sister. Artemis is my mother and Hephaestus is my father."
I was surprised to tell you the truth. There were a few things that were a little hazy. One, Diana and Adrienne looked nothing alike. Two, HUGE age difference. And lastly, Artemis was a virgin. I mentioned this and Adrienne responded, waving a hand to dismiss it, "That was then. Mom kind of went back on that promise a long time ago. Way before Diana. Peer pressure I guess. Sadly, I inherited my father's dashing looks," she joked.
We laughed and she continued, "Anyway. Diana offered to let me come in the afternoons and weekends to take some classes to get prepared for later. I've been coming since third grade. I faked a terrible sickness to get here earlier. Diana doesn't mind though. She says high school is something worth missing, most of the time." Karen and Jinx snorted. Terra and I held our laughter at bay. Adrienne smiled, "I don't agree with her though. My eleventh grade year has been quite enjoyable."
"Eleventh grade? I thought you went to the middle school," I said.
"I'm seventeen. I just have to report to the middle school whenever someone needs to go up during the week."
"Oh. So what's been so good about eleventh grade?"
"Yeah, pray tell?" Jinx asked.
Adrienne blushed, "I don't know."
We 'ooo'ed and Karen said, "Oh, it's a boy. Go on tell us. We won't say a word."
We nodded in agreement and Adrienne sighed, "Fine. Well the thing is that he's here. Right there with the guys actually," she pointed to a tall, muscular boy sitting at the other end of the table. He had short dirty blond hair and beautiful brown eyes. He was wearing a black tee-shirt and blue jeans. He had black sunglasses resting on his head and was laughing and talking.
"He's cute," Jinx murmured.
"Hey! He happens to be my boyfriend, Eric."
"Whoa. Good job, Aid…" Terra muttered.
"Why's he up here?" I asked, turning my attention back to Adrienne (I'm gonna call her Aid now).
"He's Superman's son."
I froze. Superman had a son? "Who's the mom?"
"Woman named Louis Lane," Aid said and bit into her sandwich. "Superman's givin' him the same deal Diana's giving me. The one catch is that we have to find people to room with for the weekend. Anyone want to volunteer?"
"You can stay with us," Jinx volunteered and I nodded in agreement.
"Awesome. So where are you guys headed to next?"
"Strategies," I said and munched on my salad.
"Me too! Wait, let me see your schedules."
I handed her mine and her eyes got big, "Whoa. You guys too? They didn't tell us there were more."
"What?" I asked.
"You guys are the future JLW too?"
"The what?" Karen asked.
"Justice League of the World?"
"Uh, yeah, I guess," Karen replied.
"Cool beans. This is going to rock. I thought Eric and I were the only ones. That was a little stupid of me," Aid admitted.
"So, why are you here?" I asked.
"You see this Panini?" I nodded. "Do you see any on any of the other tables?"
"No,"
"You can make food appear?" Terra asked in awe.
"No. You'll figure it out later," Aid chuckled.
"So what's the story about Eric?" Jinx asked.
"He goes to Northside too and we've been friends since about first grade. We got really close after we started going here together. We've been going out since the beginning of the year. He's got his dad's powers and his mom's too. She was Superwoman for a while," Aid sipped her water thoughtfully.
"Wow. Quite a pair you two are. Anything happen yet?" Jinx questioned suggestively.
Aid pushed her head down toward her food and we could all see the cherry red blush form on her cheeks. We all burst into laughter and she joined in after a second. I glanced at the clock on the wall and stopped laughing, "Time to go girlies."
We all caught our breath and got the boys out of their chairs. Aid introduced us to Eric as we walked out. He seemed nice enough. But only time would tell. We walked out of the cafeteria and into the sunny afternoon. Aid had drifted over to Eric and they were chatting up a storm. The boys were clumped together talking so us girls talked about the young couple we were observing.
"She's pretty cool. Daughter of the gods. Does that make her a god too?" Jinx asked
"I think so. That's so cool. We're friends with a god!" Karen exclaimed.
"Look at them! That boy is crazy about her," Terra looked over at the two.
Eric was poking Aid in the side and she was gasping for breath she was laughing so hard. Eric stopped and slid his arm around her shoulder. They were grinning like crazy. I rolled my eyes, "Kids."
"Like you're much better?" Karen said bluntly.
"Look who's talkin'!" I joked.
We all laughed. We all knew that we acted ridiculous around the guys. We talked and laughed all the way to Scream Hall. As we passed through the doorway I pondered the ominous name. Our group trooped into a yellow and black striped hallway. Florescent lights lit the way and it was an extremely short hallway compared to the past two we'd been in. But when we reached the yellow door we were met with a surprise. A sheet of white paper was taped on the door. It looked like this.
Class of 1:00 report to Power Exercise. Report to Strategies on Wednesday.
I checked my watch. We were the class of one o'clock. I sighed, "Let's head back."
"Where's PE anyway?" Gar asked.
"Just follow us," Eric said.
We walked out of the building and crossed the field toward the cafeteria. But instead of going inside, we veered to the left continued on. After five minutes we arrived in front of a building. A sign was hanging over the entrance saying Gym & P.E. Eric pushed the door open and we filed inside. In front of us were two doors. One marked Gym and one P.E. Into the P.E. door we went.
We entered a bare room. The walls, floor, and ceiling were covered with the kind of white stuff that would be in a mental institution. Suddenly the door opened behind us and we looked back. Nothing was there. We slowly turned back. Standing in the middle of the room was a tall muscular woman. She wore red tights, black boots, a brown tee-shirt, and black under armor. A black mask covered her eyes and her brown hair was up in a ponytail. But the most amazing thing was the brown wings that were sprouting out of her back. She smiled, "Welcome to PE. Power Exercise. I am Hawkgirl. You're going to call me Shay. I'm not going to bother with role call. I'm just going to explain this to you now. PE is self-explanatory. You come here to hone your powers. We're wasting no time. Aid, show us your power."
Aid nodded and stepped forward. Shay pulled out a remote control and clicked a button. Dummies made of straw popped up out of the floor all around Aid. Aid closed her eyes and the room suddenly got very hot. A red plume of smoke surrounded her and she screamed. I stepped back and bumped into Rich who put a hand on my shoulder. Aid was engulfed in flames. I couldn't see her through the flames licking around her. The flames suddenly disappeared and Aid had completely changed. Her whole body was like a volcano after an eruption. Dark igneous rock was floating on hot magma all over her body. Her eyes were reddish orange and her hair was now long strands of flames. Her feet were pure hot rock and her hands were made of pure hot magma. She looked over at us and grinned. Or at least I thought it was grin.
"Good job, Aid. That was twenty seconds quicker than last time. Go on," Shay congratulated.
Aid nodded and pointed a flaming finger at a dummy. From her finger a burst a funnel of flames. They hit the dummy head on and it exploded at contact. Aid snapped her fingers and a bow made out of flames appeared in her hands a flaming quiver full of arrows made of flame fell onto her back. She pulled some arrows out and fired them at several dummies. She snapped again and the bow disappeared. Aid stopped and flexed her fingers. In a matter of seconds she was back in flesh. All of our jaws had dropped, except for Eric's. He just smiled.
"Great job, Aid. Eric, you're up," Shay pressed another button as Eric stood up.
The burning dummies disappeared and dozens of large guns appeared, surrounding Eric at all sides. Eric smiled confidently and rose into the air. The guns started to fire. Eric stayed stock still and when the bullets hit him they stopped and fell to the ground. After thirty seconds, but what seemed like an hour, the guns stopped. Eric drifted back to the ground when suddenly a concrete cage fell over him. We gasped. But just as soon as he was trapped, he was out. The concrete fell to bits and we saw Eric's outstretched fist and we all gaped in amazement. He ran a hand through his hair and smiled. It seemed he was finished when a Hummer fell on him. It seemed he was expecting it though. Eric's pointer finger was in the air seconds before the giant car fell on him. The Hummer rested calmly on his finger. Eric hurled it up and smashed his fist into it as it came crashing down. The huge gas-guzzler split in two and landed on either side of him. Eric walked back over to us. I was surprised to say the least.
"Grayson?" Shay asked.
Rich nodded and stepped forward. Shay hit a button and the wreckage of the Hummer was replaced with troops of robots. They were standard really. Silver mechanics and plain faces. Rich bended his knees and brought his fists up. In a split second the robots were all over him. But something was wrong. Rich wasn't at the center. He was above them. And coming down fast. He kicked out his feet and knocked off half of the robots' heads. Rich landed in the middle of them and even the ones without heads started attacking. Rich punched one then back flipped into another one. He jumped onto another one's back and pulled some wires out of its back and jumped onto another one and did it again. He rocketed off the robot and slammed feet first into another. He bounced back and completed a series of twists and slammed himself into three robots. Punching and kicking and fancy flipping ensued and soon there weren't any robots left. Rich's breathing wasn't much different than it was before he'd gone out there. I was impressed.
"Good job, Rich. Who wants to go next?"
Just as she said that the bell rang. She rolled her eyes, "I hate that bell. Follow me."
She led us out of the room and to the middle of the room that held the two doors. She walked over to the wall and started to walk up it. We stared. She looked down at us and motioned for us to follow, "Come on," she opened a door
Wally walked up to the wall and put a foot on it. Then, foot after foot he followed Shay up. We followed cautiously and walked through the door into a dark room. The lights suddenly came on and we found ourselves back in the room we'd visited on our first night. The large table, the huge TV screen, and the high ceiling. Shay was sitting at the table.
"Sit down," she motioned to the chairs.
We gathered around and Shay began to talk again, "Welcome to Missions. No role call. In Missions you will be doing the obvious. Going on missions. In the beginning the missions will be small and then they'll get slowly bigger. Your first mission will be next Friday. Prepare yourselves over the next week. This first one will be the hardest. Failure is not an option. You work as a team. There is no villain hogging. You work together or you don't work at all. That is the key to being a super hero. If you can't work together you're never going to be in the JLW. And we want you ten to succeed. And trust me, if I'm the teacher you will succeed. If not, it's your fault," she shrugged.
We were silent. For the most part it sounded pretty easy. But we didn't know then how hard it was to work together. That annoying bell rang again and we walked out, defying gravity as we went. We stopped at the entry way.
"Where do we go next?" I asked.
"I don't know. We don't have to go to Gym and that Strategies class was canceled, so I guess we can do whatever," Aid said.
We walked out of the building and I checked my watch. It was around three. I Looked at Aid, "You want to go get your stuff and we'll put it in our room.?"
"Sure. Come on," she waved to me and Jinx and she led us to a tree in the middle of the field. She wrapped her hands around the trunk and pulled up. The tree was lifted out of the ground and Aid placed it to the side.
"Whoa," Jinx and I said.
In the tree's place was a giant hole. Aid looked at us, "Hold on." She dove into the hole. I looked down with Jinx. We were looking at a bird's eye view at what looked like a bedroom. Painted walls, dressers, a bed, posters on the wall. It was Aid's room. She moved around inside, grabbing random articles of clothing and throwing them in a bag. She threw the bag up when she was done and we caught it. She jumped up and replaced the tree. Again we were stunned at her strength.
She saw our faces, "Strength of the Gods', you know?" We nodded slowly and she walked over and grabbed her bag, "So, where are we going?"
"This way," we led her to our dorm room.
Minutes later Jinx was conjuring up a cot for Aid to sleep on. I was using my power to lazily help her put her stuff in a dresser Jinx had made appear. It was three-thirty now and we were bored. I picked up a book and flipped through it, "What do you guys want to do?"
"I dunno. What's fun to do here?" Jinx asked Aid.
Aid sat on her bed thoughtfully, "Well, usually there's the gym but it's locked today."
"I said fun, not exhausting," Jinx said playfully.
"I know!" Jinx exclaimed masterfully. "Boy Talk. Get the girls and meet us at that tree," she said to me grinning.
I laughed and stepped out of the room. I walked down the hall and knocked on Karen and Terra's door. Karen came to the door, "What's up, Rach?"
"Jinx is requiring you guys to come to the field for 'boy talk'," I said, bored.
"Awright! We'll catch up," Karen closed the door and I could hear her excited chatter as I walked down the hall.
I passed by Rich's door but turned back after someone said, "Wait up!"
Rich had come out of his room, hair drenched. He had a white undershirt on and jean shorts on. I smiled, "Yeah?"
He grinned and wrapped his arms around me, "May I interest you in dinner tonight, lovely maiden?"
I felt safe and warm in his arms. I laid my head on his strong chest, "Yes you may, daring knight."
I looked into his blue eyes as he grinned again, "Great, I'll pick you up around seven?"
I laughed and pulled away from him, "Whatever you say."
He smiled and I walked out of the dorm room and into the afternoon light. Jinx was chatting Aid up, no doubt about Eric, at the tree. I sat down and dove into the conversation. Aid was blushing and Jinx was smiling triumphantly. I looked at Jinx, "What did you do to the poor girl?"
"Just a little talk," Jinx smiled mischievously.
"Ah," I said, realizing. "Well I hope it went well," I said distractedly.
"Hey, hey! Don't start without us!" Karen and Terra were running across the field.
They slid across the grass to land next to us. They were brimming with energy. Karen was practically jumping up and down as she tried to tell us…something. I looked at Terra. She was looking out into space, smiling pleasantly. I cut off Karen's hardly understandable words, "What's with our star struck friend over here?"
Karen stopped and looked annoyed, "That's what I've been trying to tell you! The girl is dazzled by that boy."
"I'm going to take a wild guess here and say-," I started.
"He kissed me!" Terra jumped up and danced around.
We cheered her on and laughed. I was completely distracted. I was acting almost the same as Terra was. Staring off into space. Thinking of Rich. I sighed happily. "What's with her?" Terra asked.
"I don't know. Hey, Earth to Rachel!" Jinx snapped in front of my face.
I blinked and realized they were all looking at me. I stuttered, trying to say something legible. I took a deep breath, "We're doing something for dinner."
They 'ooo'ed and we burst out laughing. I laid back in the grass and looked up at the sky. It'd been a long day. A very long day. And now we were all getting some time to ourselves…and our male friends. Maybe University wasn't going to be that hard. After all, once we finish all of our stuff for the day, we get the rest of the time to ourselves. We talked and laughed and told stories for what only seemed like a few minutes but when I looked at my watch it was six.
"It's six o'clock guys!"
"Awesome. I'm starving. Let's go eat," Terra stood up and stretched. We trooped over to the cafeteria where the boys were talking.
Rich stopped me before I could go inside, "Nope. Can't come in, Rach."
"Why?" Then I remembered, "Oh. Why do you get to go inside?"
"You'll see, you'll see," Rich teased and walked in.
"Urg," I pouted as the girls cast me forgiving glances. I crossed my arms and stormed back to the dormitory.
I sat on my bed, utterly ticked off. I was starving and grumpy. That's when I noticed the book on the floor. It was a few feet away from Aid's cot. I picked it up. It was a leather bound, thick book. I flipped it open. It was a journal. On the first page it said in scrawled handwriting: Rachel Adrienne Blaze. Her diary. Without thinking I opened it to the one of the last entries.
Dear Diary,
The most amazing thing happened. Eric got down on a knee and proposed! I can't believe it! I told him I had to think. But think I'm saying yes! He told me to take as long as I needed to think about it. He proposed at this fabulous restaurant, Le Soleil. It was so exciting. I have to go think. Can't wait to see Eric tomorrow!
Cool Beans,
Rachel A. B.
Another one, much more recent. The day she'd taken us up to JLU, actually.
Dear Diary,
Today was tiring. I had to spend the WHOLE day over at the middle school. I had to put on that ring that makes me look like I'm in middle school. I was waaay too short. The freshmen this year seem interesting. Hopefully they'll behave better than the last batch. But, then again, it's just wishful thinking. I said yes to Eric! He was so excited. No one knows, except you. His parents will probably be fine with it. But mine. NO WAY. Mom will be all like 'You're too young. I was centuries old before I married.' Well Eric isn't immortal. He doesn't have centuries to wait for me. Dad, he'll be like 'I won't let you. You're too young. Don't like that boy anyway'. Well it isn't up to him! This is up to me and Eric. No one can stop us.
Cool Beans—I hope,
Rachel A. B.
I reread the entries. This was surprising. They were engaged. I put the diary down. Her parents would be right. She was too young. I'd have to talk to her. I glanced at the clock. Six fifty-five. Finally. I was so stunned by this news that I'd lost track of time. I stood up and took off my sweatshirt. I stretched and walked to the bathroom. I splashed my face with water and sighed as I looked into the mirror. Maybe what I thought earlier about University being fun and easy was wrong. Now I had to talk about marriage to a seventeen year old who was already engaged. And I was starving. I trudged out of the bathroom and into the hallway where Rich was about to knock on my door. He had a large box of what I hoped was food in his hands and had put a leather jacket on.
"Looking for someone, Richard? Perhaps a starving Rachel Roth?" I asked.
He jumped and looked relieved when he turned and saw it was me, "Actually I am. Happen to know where she went?"
I giggled and slapped him playfully on the arm. I looked at the box, "Please tell me there's food in there. I am going to die of starvation if I don't get some food."
"You'll see. Come on," he held out his hand and I took it happily.
We walked out of the dorm room and to the large field. Rich led me to a willow tree where he pulled something out of the large box. A blanket. He laid it on the ground and we sat down on it.
"You know, you weren't the only one starving. I didn't eat a thing. And now," he opened the box again, "the feast."
The box contained two large sandwiches, two salads, and a big piece of cake. We grabbed the sandwiches, ravenous with hunger. Rich and I laughed at ourselves and ate the sandwiches. The moon had come out and it was full and luminously beautiful. We munched on our salads, talking about the day and the classes.
"You, Boy Wonder, are an amazing fighter," I praised him, popping a cherry tomato in my mouth.
"Thanks. But I've been training a long time. Can't wait to see what you do," Rich leaned back and stared up at the moon. I joined him and grabbed his hand.
We turned our heads toward each other and smiled at one another. We kissed. I snuggled up to him and watched the moon drift through the sky.
The perfect moment was interrupted by a disappointing announcement over the intercom, "Curfew in five minutes. Anyone caught outside will be prohibited to go down tomorrow."
We cleaned up and ran to the dormitory, laughing the whole way. We snuck into the dorm and Rich walked me to my door.
"I had a great late dinner, Rich," I said, smiling.
"Me too. Thanks for coming," he smiled and award winning smile and kissed me.
A rush of happiness ran through me and the light above us popped off. We broke off and Rich looked up and smiled, "Oops."
"I'll see you tomorrow, my dark angel," he walked down the hall.
Dark angel? What was that all about? I walked inside my room. Jinx was lounging on her bed looking at her necklace. Aid was on her cot writing in her diary. I muttered a greeting and they muttered one back. I changed into my pajamas and laid down on my bed with a book. We were silent for a couple minutes when there was a knock on the door.
"I'll get it," Aid jumped up.
Jinx and I didn't see who it was, but we sure could guess. "Hey." Some mumbling. "Okay hold on." Aid turned to us, "I'll be back in a second." She smiled and closed the door behind her.
"Let's let 'em have a little fun," Jinx looked over at me, evil thoughts obviously in her mind.
I rolled my eyes, "Give 'em five minutes and then I'm bringing her back."
All of a sudden there was a small bump. Giggles. I pushed the book closer to my face. More giggles, pillow over my head. A muffled moan. I got up, "Can't stand this. I'll be back."
I opened the door and looked down the hallway. Disturbing sight. Aid was up against the wall, her legs wrapped around Eric's waist. Her arms moved around his back as they kissed. Eric was shirtless. He was pushed up against Aid and was holding her up, his hands on the underside of her legs. Some fierce making out going on. They were breathing hard, all over each other. They finally stopped for a second and smiled at each other. Eric's hands were traveling up her shirt. I coughed loudly. They froze and looked toward me. I am the queen of making people embarrassed. They reddened.
"Bedtime, kiddies," I smiled dryly.
Eric lowered Aid to the ground. Aid glanced at me and gave Eric a quick kiss. They smiled at each other and I could see that they truly loved each other. Aid walked back to me, death and extreme embarrassment in her cold, black eyes. I smiled cheerfully and opened the door for her.
"Have fun with your friend?" Jinx asked, looking up from a book she was reading.
"Just a lovely time. Until someone," she looked at me, "interrupted."
"It's my job. Professional party pooper at your service," I said sarcastically.
Jinx and Aid burst into laughter, "Rachel made a joke!"
I glared at them, "It's not impossible."
I could tell they were trying to keep their laughter in and I glared as they laughed into their hands. I said stonily, "Good night, Jinx. And her naughty," I looked pointedly at Aid, "friend."
There was silence for a second. More laughter. I rolled my eyes, grabbed a book, got under my covers, turned away from them, and opened the book. Truthfully, I wasn't reading. There were more important things at hand. After what I'd seen with Aid and her fiancé, I knew that that marriage talk of mine was going to be very difficult to complete. As I thought about it I realized that maybe I should just mind my own business. They seemed to care for each other very much. But young marriage, it doesn't usually work. And didn't you have to be eighteen anyway? This was going to be very confusing. But I had to do it. Aid might be immortal, but something as disastrous as this could be could haunt her forever. It was almost like Romeo and Juliet. Her parents wouldn't approve of him and would keep her away from him. I just hoped the death factor wouldn't come in. I decided that I would talk to her tomorrow. Sometime. She had classes but I would find a time. I put my book down and flicked off the lights with my dark power. The girls complained but no one made a move for the switch. I looked down at the grey shape that was Rachel Adrienne Blaze. Current fiancé and future wife of Eric…something. If only someone knew what Superman's last name was. I curled up in the covers and said goodbye to a way too long day. And my last thought was 'What if it works out for them?' And then, sleep overtook me.
There you go. What will happen? i wonder...thanks to all the reviewers! ur awesome. tell me what u think! i don't think this was my best but it ok.
writing4alllifes
peace out