Chapter Seven – Mean Girls

Mean girls can't be forgiven
Mean girls make mean women
Mean girls
It starts on the playground pulling your hair
Then in high school it gets worse from there

~ Sugarland ~


Anyone that saw Roma in that outfit would take a double look. It was nothing like her usual attire: a black top with capped sleeves combined with a pastel-colored wrap skirt and sparkly ballet flats. Her blonde hair had been styled in a side swept braid and she even had a bit of eye shadow on. She looked so different because every piece of clothing she wore, apart from her underwear, had been taken straight out of Claudia's Corner – a part of Roma's closet where her best friend kept some clothes, shoes and makeup items in case of emergencies and last minute sleepovers.

The reason for Roma's sudden makeover, which had resulted in a proper and stylish look, was that she had agreed to secretly meet her runaway super villain mother. It was as bad as it sounded, but she couldn't explain her reasons for agreeing. She knew everything people, newspapers and books had told her about Gabriella Guerra. But she also had hundreds of pictures tucked away in the attic that showed a happy, smiling mother. No one could blame Roma for being curious.

The girl's back was perfectly straight as she anxiously smoothed out invisible wrinkles from her top. The letter her mother had sent was carefully tucked in the small purse she had also borrowed from Claudia. She'd dedicated much of her time to think about her mother's request for a meeting at a place called Moonlight Diner, far from Roma's neighborhood. The girl knew that the right thing to do would be to call the authorities to arrest her mother, but she couldn't bring herself to do so.

A young waitress walked over to Roma and placed a glass of iced tea on the table, smiling sympathetically when the girl barely managed to mumble a thank you. Her nerves were shot and she couldn't concentrate on much more besides the fact that Gabriella Guerra was half an hour late. She didn't even think about how long she'd have to wait – Roma would sit there for as long as it took.

Another fifteen minutes passed before a tall and slender woman walked through the diner's doors. Her face was hidden behind a pair of big sunglasses, while her long hair fell in red curls that looked especially bright against the white shirt and khakis combination she wore. Her heels were impossibly high and she didn't seem to be carrying a purse with her. There was an air of elegance and superiority emanating from her.

Roma's mouth went dry when the woman took a seat across from her. The teen girl had been thrown off by the long red hair, because she'd grown accustomed to seeing pictures of her mother with shoulder-length blonde locks. Unsure of what to do or say, Roma remained silent, letting that beautiful woman – her mother, a stranger – make the first move.

"How are you today, my dear?"

"Uh, good. A bit nervous."

"Hi, there!" the waitress that had been attending Roma interrupted, suddenly appearing next to them. "I'm Taylor! Can I get you anything? I can also tell you about our specials of-"

"Did you see or hear one of us call you over here?" Gabriella Guerra asked with impatience.

"No, but-"

"Exactly. You'd do well to get back to your little life and give us some privacy. If we need anything, I'll be sure to whistle you over."

The waitress didn't know how to respond. Gabriella had kept her face neutral and her voice calm, but the room felt thirty degrees colder. Roma slouched on her chair, silently willing herself to disappear. When the waitress caught her eyes for a moment, the blonde girl managed to shoot her an apologetic look. She couldn't believe her mother had just berated the waitress when she was just trying to do her job. Gabriella's behavior didn't match up to the mother Roma faintly remembered. It did, however, match the description of the villain she'd heard about so many times.

Gabriella carefully removed her sunglasses and set them on the table. Her every movement was fluid and deliberate, like a seasoned ballerina getting through a dance routine. Her brown eyes surprised Roma, but the girl could tell the color came from contact lenses. It made her wonder just how much of the real Gabriella Guerra she was experiencing.

"She was just trying to be nice."

"She came off as annoying," her mother replied harshly. Seeing Roma's shock, Gabriella's expression seemed to soften a bit. "I'm anxious to be sitting here with you. I didn't think you'd come."

"Of course I would. I really wanted to see you. To talk to you."

Gabriella smiled for the first time since her arrival and Roma found herself smiling back. It wasn't a warm reunion with hugs and kisses, but it wasn't a bad meeting either. She didn't mind it, because extreme affection would have been awkward after an eleven-year absence. Roma much preferred a logical, collected conversation – at least that's what she told herself.

It was hard getting any information out of the woman. All answers were vague and mysterious. Apparently, Gabriella had been all around the world during those years. Her world wanderer lifestyle had made it difficult to get in touch with her daughter. She seemed to be carefully measuring her words to avoid making mention of her specific activities and status as a wanted fugitive. After a few more minutes of evading questions, Gabriella switched the focus to Roma, who was glad her mother was interested in learning more about her.

The woman asked about everything, from childhood memories and her favorite things to do to her father and grandparents. Roma noticed that her mother didn't ask many questions about her friends and academic life, at least not until she mentioned the transfer to Sky High. The questions came quickly after that little detail was mentioned.

"Have you made any friends there yet?"

"Yeah, but I really miss Claudia and Patrick. They're my best friends."

"Sure, sure. Who have you met at Sky High?" Gabriella asked curiously, dismissing the names of Claudia and Patrick quickly.

It occurred to Roma that maybe her mother would recognize some of her super friends' last names, since there was a good chance that their parents had attended Sky High with her. The girl watched her mother closely as she obediently rattled off the names of her new friends. Gabriella's expression was blank until Will Stronghold and Warren Peace were mentioned. She seemed surprised, but the flash of emotion was gone in a second. Roma thought she saw something else too before Gabriella's neutral façade settled once more.

Exactly one hour after her arrival, the elegant woman announced that she had to leave and departed without any hugs, kisses or heartfelt words. She acknowledged her daughter and promised to stay in touch, then left. Roma watched her mother pass by the diner's window and walk across the street before taking a right. Gabriella didn't look back once.

Roma needed to talk to someone, but she couldn't think of anyone that would hear the whole story without judging her or pointing out how dangerous her choices had been. She didn't want to burden anyone with that sort of knowledge either – Roma was sure that she could end up in jail for not disclosing her mother's whereabouts. But she needed someone to at least distract her for a bit. Patrick would be pissed off for her recent behavior, but Claudia would be able to control her temper and give her time to explain. With that thought in mind, Roma pulled out her cell phone as she began walking home and dialed one of the few numbers she knew by heart.

"It's nice to learn you've come out of your self-imposed exile," Claudia said after the third dial. She was going straight to the point.

"Ouch," Roma flinched, "I deserve that. I've been a crappy friend lately."

"What good would I be if I didn't call you out on it? Besides, you knew to call me first instead of Pat."

"He's mad, isn't he?"

Claudia chuckled at the question. They knew Patrick was all about talking problems through. He absolutely loathed when his friends or family kept things bottled up, as he was sure it only made problems bigger and worse. Roma was going to hear it from him. She knew it was inevitable.

"I'm sure seeing your pretty face in person will do wonders to Pat's mood. And I really want to go to the town carnival in Pembroke. So maybe we should combine the two? Saturday?"

Roma had to laugh at that. It was just like Claudia to try to keep the peace like that. They talked about the carnival for a while, making plans to call Patrick and go to the event that coming weekend. Before she hung up, Claudia told her to invite her new friends to tag along – it was about time she combined the two circles of friends.

That was how, the next day, Roma found herself asking Layla and the others if they wanted to go to Pembroke's carnival. They all agreed on the spot, except for Warren. Layla pouted at that and tried to convince the pyrokinetic to join them.

"It will be fun!" the redhead said. "We can eat all sorts of food and go on the rides!"

"I have to work."

"The whole day?" Will asked. "They can't make you work twelve hours, man."

Roma wasn't surprised. She'd bet good money that part of the reason for Warren's refusal to go was because of what had happened on Tuesday, when she had implied that the boy still had feelings for Amber Daniels. She hadn't meant any harm, but he clearly hadn't seen it the same way. Roma had to wonder if Warren and she would ever go back to having easy conversations about their favorite books again. Maybe their truce just wasn't meant to last.

Layla's power of persuasion had to be as good as her power to manipulate plants, because by the end of the day, she had Warren agreeing to go to the carnival. Not only that, he'd also agreed to ask to borrow his mother's car, so they could drive there instead of having to deal with public transportation on a weekend schedule. When Layla told Roma, she smiled about it, but she could feel Warren watching her for her reaction. He seemed to know exactly what was going through her mind.

Claudia squealed on the phone that night, when Roma called to say that her super friends would meet them by the carnival's ticket booth on Saturday morning. The Indian girl said Patrick would pick them up at her house, so maybe they should have a sleepover. Roma smiled and agreed with no hesitation. She had definitely missed this easygoing nature of Claudia's and their friendship. She even humored her best friend and talked to her about what outfits they should wear.

There was nothing that could spoil Roma's mood, not even the nasty remarks Amber threw at her during lunch on that Friday. It had been a few days since the Ice Queen had personally targeted her, so the blonde girl dismissed the words quickly. It didn't seem like Amber was intent on doing much that day, until they got to Save the Citizen. After the students banded together in their usual teams, a flip of a coin determined that Amber's team would play against Will's.

Although Roma wasn't much of a hockey player, she managed to assist her team whenever possible. It became clear to her that Amber wasn't willing to find a new target when the Ice Queen stuck her hockey stick in front of her, send her flying down on the ice. If Warren hadn't been around to catch her, Roma would've fallen face first on the cold surface.

Amber continued her plan of attack so subtly that Coach Boomer didn't seem to notice it. She elbowed Roma three times when both of them were going after the puck, then shoved her into a wall twice when trying to make a pass, not to mention the many times her hockey stick accidentally hit the blonde girl. Roma tried to stay calm and skate away from the Ice Princess, but she wouldn't leave her alone.

Class was about to end when Amber once more pushed Roma. This time the blonde girl fell and rolled to the side of the rink. She could feel bruises already forming on her skin and her patience coming to its breaking point. A junior student came to a halt and helped her up. Roma realized that she absorbed the student's telekinetic power without meaning too. Deciding that Amber had done enough, Roma focused her mind on the Ice Princes and caused the girl's ice skates to catch on the ice surface. An instant later, Amber stumbled down on the ice, making a high pitched scream echo through the gym.

Roma didn't stay to watch the damage she'd caused and walked off to the locker room even before Coach Boomer dismissed everyone. She would never have done that to anyone else, because she honestly didn't believe violence was the answer to anything. But she couldn't bring herself to feel sorry for Amber, not after everything Amber had already done to her.


Author's Note: here's the next chapter! Thank you everyone that read and took the time to review - you're super extra special! And also thanks to the people that added me or this story in their alert/favorites list. I really appreciate it. I'm review hungry, if you want to appease me, but it's okay if you don't - I'm just glad you like reading the story.

You can go to my profile to a link to the FTL blog, where I post fun extras like character pictures/profiles, deleted scenes, etc.

Speaking of that, would anyone be interested in seeing something that doesn't show up in the story? I was thinking of writing and post "missing scenes" (for example the conversation between Roma and Gabriella from chapter 06) and other moments like that. Would anyone be interested in reading? Also, if you'd like to see something happen between the characters, I'm open to prompts and suggestions! Thank you very much!