Kara waited by the school's main entrance until she saw Marie.
She stood, watching Marie walk closer. Either Henry hadn't shown up yet or he wasn't back on his master kick, because Marie was alone. Kara watched her face, remembering how Marie had looked when she'd mentioned Ends of the World. Something about that kind of fear just wasn't right.
When Marie got close, Kara called out to her. Marie looked up, smiled, and walked over to her. "Good morning, Kara."
"Hey," Kara said, then leaned closer and lowered her voice. "I'm challenging Henry today."
The look in Marie's eyes made Kara take a step back. "Thank you."
By the Rose, Chapter 7: Bachelorette
"So if I told you I don't think she exists, you'd say. . . ?"
Sharon glared at Marcus. Master of all things computer-related he might be, but the boy could be infuriating at times. "I'd say that you were either insane, or tempting fate."
"Oh really?" Marcus peered at her over his wire-framed glasses. "Tempting fate how? Are you calling yourself 'fate' these days?"
Change that to incredibly infuriating. "Tempting me to report your doings at hacking into the school's records and saying you'd blackmailed me into not telling with some dirty little secret."
Marcus just shrugged. "If I had dirty little secrets about you, I wouldn't be in the school records." He turned back to the monitor, and pointed. "But here you go. List of all the kids here at Sir Wooly Pompous School, arranged by first name. Just one Marie, and I don't think that's the one you're looking for."
Sharon leaned forward and peered at the screen. "Marie . . . Wong. No. Definitely not her." There weren't many Asian students at the school to being with, and Marie was most certainly not a senior. Not the girl she was looking for.
"So," Sharon asked, "when is a student not a student?"
"When she's ajar?" Marcus grinned. "Wait, that's when a door's not a door."
"Clever," Sharon said. "But not clever enough. You haven't found out why she's here. I'm paying you enough for that."
"Even money only goes so far," Marcus said, then wiped his glasses on his sweater-vest. Sharon scowled at him, but the look on his face was neutral, not the leer she'd expected with a comment like that. "Even money can't make me find what's not there."
Sharon nodded. "So the girl's in various classes without being enrolled, and none of the teachers seem to have noticed."
"Like the teachers notice anything," Marcus said. "For example, my calculus teacher hasn't noticed I'm not there, and I don't even have that until third period."
"So you're ditching it and you know your teacher won't notice?" Sharon asked.
"I read the entire textbook the first weekend," Marcus said. "And corrected it. I only show up for tests and quizzes. It wouldn't work if I didn't ace them all."
"Impressive, but not helpful," Sharon said. She stood and started for the door. "Let me know if you find something else. Thank you."
"Hey, it's only been a day and I already found she doesn't exist," Marcus said, looking over his shoulder. "Imagine what I could not find in a week!"
Sharon raised an eyebrow at him. "Make it worth the money," she said, and headed out of the computer lab.
Curious. Far, far too curious. Sharon walked into the main building, heading for her locker before first period. Marcus was good enough to know what he was doing, so if there was any record at all of her transfer – no, it had been long enough, she'd be in the system. And Marcus would have found a stray record if there was one to be found, even if it had been deleted. From what Sharon had heard, he was in fact that good.
No, it all added up to zero. In addition to the general strangeness around Marie and this entire situation, she wasn't enrolled. Yet the teachers acted like she'd been in their classes all along, from what she'd heard from Doug and some of the others. True, Marie wasn't the type to attract undue attention. But some of the boys here would ask out anything female and breathing. Someone would have noticed her before–
Sharon bumped into someone, looked up, and saw it was Chris.
"Oh," she said, not bothering to hide her surprise. "Good morning."
"Morning," Chris said, his voice low. "How . . . how goes it?"
"Interesting," Sharon said. She took a deep breath. "Can we talk?"
"Right now?" Chris asked. "I gotta get to PE. You know I'll get busted if I show up and I haven't changed."
"True, but I don't know when you started to care," Sharon said. "Look. I know this is going to be hard for us both, but . . . I don't want to break up with you. I don't. I lost to Henry, and now--"
"Yeah, but how do I know you're not going to go after Marie again?" Chris asked. "Hell, how d'you know I'm not?"
"We could promise," Sharon said, then stopped short of slapping her forehead for saying something so stupid.
"Yeah, right," Chris said. "A promise. We know how well that works out."
"You're going to hold that over me now?" she asked. She felt her cheeks growing red, and told herself to calm down. That was quite some time ago, he'd said he'd forgiven her, but some things took longer to heal. "I know, you don't make promises anymore," she said. "But you know what I mean."
"Yeah, I do," he said. He turned and leaned against the lockers. "Look, Sharon . . . it's not like I don't want to be with you."
"Then don't break up with me," she said all at once.
"It's not that easy." He pushed up his glasses, then sighed. "I gotta go. But – it's this whole duel thing. I don't know what's going on, nobody does. How d'you know we're not going to get more letters saying we've all gotta duel each other?"
"I'd think we would have already," Sharon said. She'd wondered the same thing quite some time ago. "But that wouldn't mean we'd have to follow them."
Chris chuckled, but he didn't sound like he thought it was funny. "Yeah, because not following the letters worked so well in the series."
"This isn't the anime, Chris," Sharon said, letting her impatience show. "You know that. And I don't think either of us want it to be."
"Yeah, something like that," Chris said. "But still. We don't know how this is going to go. And until then. . . ." He trailed off, then the bell rang, announcing first period in five minutes. "Shit. I gotta go."
Sharon stood there and watched him run off, then sighed. There was something just plain wrong about having anime ruin her relationship, especially in a situation like this. And she'd already lost Marie, so it wasn't like she was getting anything out of it.
She shook her head. She was optimistic enough, but just barely, to hope that there would be a happy ending to all this. But right now, she'd settle for an ending.
"Deal's still on, Doug," Kara said, setting her lunch tray down at his table.
Doug looked up at her, and blinked. "I can start teaching you tomorrow," he said. "If you want, you can wait until after sixth, that's when I've got metal shop." He paused, then smiled with just his eyes. "But that's not what you mean, is it?"
"Nada," Kara said. "I saw Marie this morning. She knows."
"You told her?" Doug asked, giving her a questioning look. "That's a new one. What'd she do? Just smile and nod?"
Kara paused, and was quiet for a moment. "No, it was really strange," she said, more quietly than before. "She . . . she looked at me and she said thank you. What the hell."
"That is strange." Doug took a bite of his sandwich, then said, "You can sit down, you know."
"Sorry, weird chicks make me pause and wonder," Kara said, then sat. "But I've been trying to figure that out all day."
"Trying to figure what out?" Amelia said from behind Kara. "Hey, Doug. Mind if I join you?"
"More girls at my table," Doug said, waving her toward a seat. "I won't complain." He grinned at the dirty look Kara gave him. "I'm joking, relax. You know there are girls I wouldn't share a table with."
"Like those three who started bugging us when the anime club first got started?" Amelia asked, then scrunched up her nose. "What was wrong with them?"
"No taste in entertainment," Doug said. "But what Kara's trying to figure out is why Marie's acting strange. Stranger than normal."
"Does she have a normal?" Amelia asked, then clapped a hand over her mouth. "Sorry, that was mean. But what happened?"
"She thanked me, when I told her I was going to challenge Henry," Kara said. The look on Amelia's face made her stop, apple halfway to her mouth. "What? It's not like I felt her up or something!"
"It's – okay, if she was like movie-Anthy, she might let you," Amelia said, and Kara stared at her. "Oh, I'm sorry, you still haven't seen the movie! But anyway, that's strange. Anthy never said anything about who she wanted to be engaged to, unless it was just her acting like she knew someone wanted her to."
"Yeah, and that was only to the person she was with, right?" Kara asked.
"And that was Anthy, not Marie," Doug said. He smiled at Amelia. "You really should remember that."
"Sorry, I got carried away," Amelia said. "But think about it. Either Marie wants Kara to duel for her, or she thinks she can make Kara lose by looking like she wants her to."
"So I'm screwed either way. Thanks," Kara said, and rolled her eyes. "Didn't you have something else you wanted to ask about?"
Amelia shrank back in her chair. "Did you have to bring that up?"
"Yeah," Kara said, then grinned before taking a bite of her apple.
"I'm missing something," Doug said, looking from Amelia to Kara and back again. "So, do you fill me in, or do I threaten you with no more rides on my motorcycle?"
"Hey!" Kara leaned her arm back, like she was going to throw her apple at him. Doug ducked, and Kara just laughed again. "Tell him, Amelia. If you don't, I will."
Amelia blushed. "You're just plain mean sometimes, you know that?" She took a deep breath, and looked at Doug. "Are you going to winter formal with anyone?" she asked.
"I don't know, I hadn't really thought about it," Doug said. "That's not usually my thing, but I've never been to one of the dances." He ran his fingers down the sides of his goatee, and started to smile. "Why?"
"Oh, you – I mean – why're you asking, that's – gah!" Amelia fumed silently for a moment, then looked right at him. "Do you want to go? To winter formal? Just as friends, I mean, I don't know – umm."
Kara laughed, and almost banged her head on the table. If she was this nervous about asking him as just friends, she could only imagine how long it would have taken if she actually had a thing for him. It made her glad she wasn't going.
"Sure," Doug said, nodding. "Sounds like fun. Thanks."
"Okay," Amelia said, looking like she was about to implode into her chair. She let her breath out all at once. "I don't know why I was so nervous about that," she said.
"Now, the real question, Doug," Kara said, smirking at him, "is how can you get her there on your motorcycle without screwing up your tux?"
Doug looked confused for a moment. "What, I can't just wear leathers?" He grinned at the look of panic on Amelia's face. "Kidding, I'm kidding. . . ."
"I don't know," Amelia said a moment later. "That might be kind of fun, showing up to the dance on a bike like that. It'd really make an entrance."
"Only if he rode it into the dance room," Kara said, still smirking.
"Did you change your mind about going, Kara?" Amelia asked. The smile on her face almost made Kara scoot back from the table.
Kara shook her head. "Nah. Not my thing."
"You don't like dancing?" Doug asked. "Not that they really dance at things like this, from what I've heard, but still."
"Oh, I can dance," Kara said, grinning at him. "I've got cousins and uncles and aunts like you wouldn't believe on my mom's side, we get together, there's always dancing. But not to the stuff they'd play at formal." She snickered. "I've got moves. But not your kind of moves." She then looked up as someone else approached the table.
"Here I am," Sean said, sitting down. "What are your other two wishes?"
"You know, you'd make a really bad goddess," Amelia said. "And they're only supposed to give one wish."
"And they have boobs," Sean said. He pushed up his sunglasses. "What?"
Doug looked from Sean to Amelia and back. "I'm missing something," he said, "and I don't think I want to know."
"Only about two dozen manga volumes," Amelia said, shrugging. "You could read them in a few days if you wanted to."
"Anyway," Sean said, "you guys get your new letters?" Everyone stared at him, and Amelia's mouth fell open. "No? Me neither."
Kara punched him on the arm. "Dumbass," she muttered. She looked over Doug's shoulder, to the entrance of the cafeteria hall. "Shit," she said. "Here he comes."
"Who?" Doug asked, then looked over his shoulder. "Oh."
"Okay, who wished for him?" Sean asked.
Henry walked into the lunch area, looking back and forth, a scowl fixed on his face. Marie wasn't on his arm, so Kara could guess why he looked so pissed. She set down her apple and stood up.
"Now?" Doug asked.
"Now what?" Sean asked.
"Now," Kara said. "Before he slaps her or something like that, otherwise I might have to kick his ass right here."
"As much as I'd like to see that. . . ." Doug pushed in his own chair, and a moment later, Amelia stood. "You coming?" he asked.
"Uh-huh," Amelia said. She giggled. "This might be kinda worth it up close."
"Oh, you're gonna. . . ." Sean stood, and pulled a cell phone out of his jacket. "I'm there. I gotta see this."
Kara started to walk toward Henry. A moment later, Marie ran up to him. The girl actually looked like she was apologizing. Kara started to hurry, then caught herself. Her mom had always said to not plan a fight, just let it happen if it was going to. Her mom had told her a lot about fighting, now that she thought about it.
But it was like she'd told Amelia yesterday: when it was important enough, you had to fight for it.
Kara reached Henry when he was in the middle of bitching out Marie for not waiting for him outside the lunch area. She stood a few feet away and folded her arms. "What, she forget to cut the crusts off your sandwich again?"
Henry turned and looked at her, and his scowl deepened. "Shut up," he said.
"I don't think so," Kara spat. "I'm tired of watching you treat her like this. Someone needs to take you down."
Henry started to say something, then gave a grim smile and looked past Kara. "What is this, the cavalry?" he asked. "Takes all four of you to challenge me?"
Sean held up his cell phone. "No, but I am getting this on video," he said.
"Nah, they're just here to spread the news," Kara said, matching Sean's smile. "Did Marie tell you what she said this morning?"
"What she said?" Henry looked back to Marie. Kara had to give the green-eyed girl credit; she knew how to do an innocent look. "What the hell are you talking about?"
"She thanked me," Kara said, then cracked her knuckles. "I told her what I was going to do, and she thanked me."
Henry grabbed Marie's wrist and pulled it up. "Is that true?" he asked, though it was more like a snarl.
"Sorta," Kara said before Marie could say anything. "I didn't tell her this part."
Henry turned. "What par--"
Kara backhanded Henry across the cheek. He let go of Marie's wrist, and stumbled a few steps back, then put a hand to his face. All around them, there were gasps and questions from the surrounding students. Kara waited, hand still raised, for Henry to look back at her.
"What the hell was that," Henry muttered, then straightened up. He looked down at her like she was something he'd found on the bottom of his shoe. "Can't you use a rose like everyone else, chica?"
Kara flipped around the green-petaled rose she held, so the thorned stem stuck up from between her fingers. "I got your rose right here," she said. "And don't call me that." She bit the stem between her teeth, then spat it at his feet. "See you after school."
"Beyotch," Sean added.
"Take your pick," Doug said.
Kara looked down at the rack of swords. Not really what she'd expected, but she'd never been down to the metal shop before. "Gimme a light one," she said. "I don't know how strong Henry is, but I don't want something I need two hands for."
Doug ran one hand over the hilts, then pulled out a sword that looked sort of like the one Miki used in the series, only with a wider and more curved blade. "This'll work," he said, handing it to her hilt-first. "You know how to use that?"
"Not a damn clue," Kara said, then blew her bangs out of her eyes. "Thanks."
"Careful, that's got a halfway decent edge on it," Doug said. He leaned against the weapon rack, and gave Kara a concerned look. "So, should I ask if you're sure about this, or--"
Kara gave him a look that could have set his hair on fire. "Don't even," she said. "Bad enough he's got her clinging to him everywhere he goes, or that he's acting like she's his bitch and all that. No. Not happening." She slid the sword through her belt, glad she'd switched into the pants she'd stored in her gym locker.
Doug chuckled. "That's a good look for you," he said. "The shirt works too."
Kara looked down at her shirt, a black one that said 'LET THE ASSKICKING COMMENCE' in giant letters across the front. "Heh. Figured I'd try to psych him out."
"You do realize you're going to a duel in boys' clothes?" Doug asked, then grinned when she gave him a dirty look.
"These are girls' pants," she said. "Like you'd know."
Doug shrugged. "Hey, I'm the one with a date for the formal," he said. "Sort of."
Kara laughed. "You never know." She rested one hand on the sword's pommel, then nodded. "All right. Thanks for the sword, I gotta go beat up Henry."
Doug saluted her. "May the power of roses and reused footage go with you," he said. He waited until she was almost out of the room, then called her name again.
"Yeah?" Kara asked, looking over her shoulder.
"Be careful." Doug said. His smile was gone.
Kara grinned again. "Hey," she said. "It's me." She headed out of the basement metal shop and headed across campus, toward Banner Hall.
Despite her best efforts, the duel-stair-climbing song got stuck in Kara's head before she even reached Banner Hall.
She snorted, trying to make it go away, then gave it up as a lost cause and reached for the door handles. The heavy chain unwound itself and fell to the ground, and the doors swung open, revealing the blackness beyond. Kara took a deep breath, tossed her head back, then walked in.
This one's mine.
She knew all the whys and hows, and now that she was older, she understood. Her mom married a rich man so she wouldn't have to worry, and it'd worked out well. But it made her the only Cuban woman for about thirty miles in any direction. And when Kara first got to school, it made her the only girl who wasn't pure white.
This one's mine.
The first time she'd gotten in trouble for fighting was back in fourth grade. But some things, you just couldn't let go. Stupid blonde bitch, acting like she was all high-and-mighty because of some accident of birth. Like it was Kara's fault she didn't have light skin and blue eyes.
This one's mine.
It was a little better when she got to high school. Sure, she still saw white people everywhere she went. But there were a few people who weren't. Didn't make them any better, though. Didn't make them her friends just 'cause of that. But at least some prissy girl wasn't going to get in her face about it.
This one's mine.
"You got to understand, Katherine. Little Kara, my little girl. You got to understand. It's not your fault they don't like you. They don't know any different from themselves. And that makes them stupid, you know that? That makes their minds weak, 'cause they don't know any better."
This one's mine. Thanks, Mom.
Kara wore half a grin when she stepped into the arena. The mists cleared away from the center, and she saw Marie standing all the way across, under the other castle gate. Kara started walking over to her, keeping an eye out for Henry.
It'd be just like that guy to try to jump her. And now that she thought about it, where the hell was Marie going to put her rose, if she wasn't wearing any pockets?
A silhouette appeared in the other castle gate, and Henry walked out, still wearing his school uniform. He looked Kara up and down, and smirked. For a second, she was ready to kick his ass without even drawing her sword, then she remembered her shirt.
"Cute," he said. "Not really specific, but cute."
"Asskicking's an asskicking," Kara said. "Everybody needs one once in a while. I think it's your turn today."
"Oh, really," Henry said, the smirk slowly turning into a snarl. "What makes you say that?"
"'Cause I got my ass kicked about a month ago by my cousin," Kara said, shrugging. "Usual family thing."
Henry frowned, and for a moment, it looked like he was just confused, not being such an ass about getting Marie or dueling or anything like that. "Really? Your mom's family is like that?"
"Yeah," Kara said. "We always scrap with each other, it's like a tradition." She chuckled. "I can show you, but you gotta put a rose on first."
"Yeah, right," Henry said, and his expression went back to how it was before. Kara sighed. Man, couldn't he not be a dick for more than thirty seconds? "Marie, do it."
They stood opposite each other at the center of the arena, and Marie walked up to Kara, holding a pink rose in her hands. "If the rose is knocked from your chest," she said, attaching it to Kara's shirt, "you lose the duel."
Kara looked her in the eye. "I got this one," she said. "Don't worry about it."
Marie just gave her a small smile, then put Henry's rose on his jacket. She turned and put her hands over her chest. Kara was halfway between making a dirty joke and glaring at Henry when Marie spoke.
"Rose of the noble castle. . . ."
A glow blossomed from between Marie's hands. The glow swept out across the arena, and there was a subtle force to it; Kara's bangs and braids flew around, and she suddenly remembered to drew her sword. As soon as that blade came out, it was on, and she wasn't going to get caught with her pants down.
"Power of Dios that sleeps within me," Marie continued, "heed your master and come forth!"
The glow built and became a white globe as Marie leaned back. Henry stood at her side, holding her and raising his own hand. Ripples from the glow swept through Marie's hair and dress, sending them waving as though in a strong wind.
Then, the handle of a familiar sword appeared from the glow. "Grant me the power. . . ." Henry reached for the sword, and slowly drew it from the glow over Marie's chest. "To revolutionize the world!"
From somewhere in the haze came the sound of great bells ringing. The duel had begun.
She's a rebel – She's a saint – She's salt of the earth and she's dangerous
Kara scowled, and raised her curved sword before herself. "Bring it, bitch-boy!"
"You bring it," Henry said, then smirked again. "Chica."
She's a rebel – Vigilante – Missing link on the brink of destruction
"Wow," Kara said, then held the sword with the back of the blade between her eyes, looking at Henry from either side. "You're stupid, you know that?"
Henry blinked. "What?"
Kara charged, yelling, and swung her sword in a wide arc. Henry dodged without a problem, and she kept swinging – the thing was heavier than she'd thought. She cursed under her breath at Doug, then ducked and ran as Henry swept the Sword of Dios at her.
"I'm stupid?" Henry asked, then barked a laugh. "You don't even know how to use that thing!"
From Chicago – To Toronto – She's the one that they call old whatshername
She turned and charged again, and Henry met her halfway. Their swords slammed together, and a shock went through her shoulders. Crap. This was worse than she'd thought.
"This is pointless," Henry growled, pushing harder. "Hell, this won't even take long. Was there a reason for this?"
She's the symbol – Of resistance – And she's holding on my heart like a hand grenade
"Yeah," Kara half-gasped, straining. "You're a dick." She ducked and spun, then smacked him hard across the back with the flat of the blade. Henry cried out. "Hah!"
Henry turned on her with a snarl, and Kara brought up her sword again, then ducked aside at the last second and tripped him. He tumbled to the arena floor, skidding across the ground. Kara turned to face him, and laughed as he got up.
"How'd you manage to beat Sharon, huh?" she asked. "What, isn't your sword big enough anymore?"
She sings the revolution – the dawning of our lives
He raised the Sword of Dios, then swung it at her, and shook his head. "Nice try," he said. "You're not going to beat me like that."
She brings this liberation – that I just can't define
"Oh, really?" Kara started circling him, holding her sword between the two of them, then broke into a run. Henry turned, trying to keep facing her. "Then how come you keep losing?"
Nothing comes to mind!
"I've only lost twice!" Henry snarled. He ran at her, but her curving path kept her away from him.
She's a rebel – she's a rebel – she's a rebel
"Yeah, well, two out of three, you know!" Kara turned and swung high, and Henry brought his sword up to block. She brought up her knee and slammed it, hard, between his legs.
–and she's dangerous!
Henry gasped, gurgled, then sunk to the ground. He dropped the Sword of Dios, and clutched at his crotch. "What . . . the hell. . . ."
Kara kicked the sword out of reach, then put her foot to his chest, and shoved him over onto his back. "Yeah, I don't know swordfighting," she said. "But I've got cousins."
She flicked her sword at his chest, catching the green rose. A burst of petals billowed forth, floating over the arena. The bells began to toll. On the ground, the Sword of Dios glowed gold and disappeared.
Kara looked down at Henry, who was still shaking. She wasn't sure if she should gloat or threaten or what; there was something oddly anticlimactic about all this. All his gloating, and she dropped him that quick? Hell, anyone else she knew wouldn't have fallen for that.
"That's what you get for being such an ass," Kara said. She turned and started walking toward the castle gate, as she could guess who she'd find as soon as she left Banner Hall.
"I don't know. . . ."
Kara paused, and looked back. Henry was on his knees, and looking at her. All the anger, all the smugness, all the general asshole-nature was gone.
""I don't even know," Henry said quietly. Kara turned back around. "I don't get it. I . . . I don't even like her that much." Henry hung his head.
"What?" Kara asked. "So what the hell was all this about?"
"I don't know!" He looked back up at her, and for a second, she thought he was going to cry. "But that was all I could think about! And now . . . it's like it doesn't even matter."
Kara smirked. "Good, not everyone can accept it when they lose," she said.
Henry turned away and sighed. "Yeah," he said. "Maybe."
Kara walked out of Banner Hall and looked around. She blew her bangs out of her eyes. Come on, she thought, we all know how this goes. A moment later, she heard footsteps, and started toward them.
Marie stepped out from the shadows of one of the other buildings, back in her school uniform, her hair down and hanging almost all the way to her waist. She looked at Kara, then stopped, watching her as she approached.
"Hey," Kara said as she got close. She grinned. "You're welcome."
"I am the Rose Bride," Marie said. She sounded like she meant it. "From this day forth, I belong to you."
Kara gave her a questioning look. "So you really do say the whole thing," she said. "I was kinda wondering about that."
Marie took another step toward her. "Can we go to winter formal?"
Kara blinked. "What?"
