Chapter 7: My Dirty Little Secret…
It was an 'interesting' experience. Everywhere I turned there were echoed voices inside my head. I was pretty impressed with myself. (=P) A normal person would have cracked and gone totally insane. But instead, my brain just started sorting all the voices out and even though I hadn't even met most of the people whom the voices belonged to, I knew it was them. It felt…advantageous.
I put it to the best of use in Mr. Fitzgerald's class. The pop-quiz next week would be easily prepared for. I felt notorious. This new energy had entered my body and I found out gossip, information, and some of the questions for the next exam. I was feeling light-headed as I strode past the school grounds. Suddenly, I felt a menacing, venomous, almost evil presence behind me. I didn't have time to react. I couldn't believe my lightning fast reflexes had failed me. It happened all in a split second.
First the distinct smell of 'Poison' by Christian Dior. Then the large, masculine hand placed roughly on my back. Then the pressure applied which sent me tumbling down a slope, through the field and inches away from the monsoon drain. I heard a satisfied grunt and footsteps running quickly in the direction of the exit. But I couldn't open my eyes. I couldn't see anything. Darkness was surrounding me. I heard screaming. A horrible, pained, sorrowful cry. Then, I realized, the cry…was mine.
In the Biology Lab… (Fang's pov)
The Cheerleaders were here. The whole pride of manicured, pedicured, perfumed airheads. "Hey, Cedric!" All of a sudden, this waft of horrible smelling perfume blasted in my face and a very plastic and heavy set of female anatomy were shoved right in front of me. I looked up to find, the one and only, Venus. She was staring down at me with her eyelids batting away at twice the speed of a dragonfly's wings. The word 'fear' could not begin to describe the emotions welling up inside me as she placed one of her hands on my shoulder.
Then the words I dreaded the most escaped her lipstick caked lips:
"So…are you free, Friday night?"
I wanted to die. If she was a guy, then I wouldn't have hesitated to send her light-years ahead…in a deep coma. But she was a girl. A very evil girl. But I had no substantial evidence so I couldn't drop kick her into next year. Raven was an entirely different subject. She was the exact opposite of the specimen standing before me. This single cell organism was nothing compared to Raven's intelligence and strength and resolve and beau- wait. What? Forget it. The point being that this girl was very bad news. And the fact that she was asking me out was even worse news. Therefore, I decided to divert the conversation.
"Nice…perfume." (If it could be called that). She was distracted. Mission accomplished. "You like?" she practically growled. "It's 'Pure Poison'." I almost choked my guts out. "You don't say." Then one of the cronies spoke up. "By Christian Dior, you know. It's like, her, like, signature smell, or something. It's like, so totally awesome." I wanted to die laughing. I wanted that girl, if I remember correctly, Sunny, to keep talking but the look Venus threw at her could have silenced a herd of panicking, trumpeting elephants. But praise be because Sunny was no panicking, trumpeting elephant. Thank goodness for stupid people.
Sunny plowed on. "It's like, so awesome, and, like, so amazing, and totally, like, expensive, but she can, like, afford anything she, like, wants because her family is like, so totally like, rich and they practically, like, BATHE in money, like, totally." She finished with a winsome smile. Until now, I had never heard someone use the word 'like' so many, many, MANY times in a single sentence with one single breath. I was very….impressed.
Then, Venus told her to shut up. (Dying fanfare in the background) So she did. Oh, poopie. I was at the woman's mercy once again. Once again her plastic coated face was directed at me. "So… like I said. Doing anything, Friday?" I had to think fast. "Why, YES! I… um… have some… uh… practice. Yeah. SO sorry about that." Her eyes were no longer the huge sparkly , blue orbs (visible contact lenses) they once were. Now they were slanted and suspicious. SO unlike Raven. Her eyes are all blue and natural and deep and bea- wait… yeah. Forget that too. She looked dangerous. No wonder why Raven doesn't like school. I shuddered inwardly. "What KIND of practice?"
I almost broke out in cold sweat. Thankfully, I didn't. "Err…" (Stroke of genius) "Band practice." Venus's eyes widened. "You play in a band?" (Not so genius anymore) "Well, I'm having this party on Friday night so you and your band should, totally play there." I wanted to die. Suddenly, I didn't feel so scared anymore. Now, I was TERRIFIED. "Uh, well. You see… we already arranged everything… and, yeah." ARGH! Couldn't she read the SIGNS! 'NO, I DO NOT WANT TO GO OUT WITH YOU!' Why didn't she have telepathic talents? "Where are you gonna have that practice. Maybe, I could come watch." She looked kind of desperate now. Obviously she didn't want to break her date record by getting dumped by one of the, as Raven calls it, hot topics, at school.
"Raven's house." I said that so fast, I didn't even know what I was saying. "…." (crickets sounding in the background) 'Forgive me, Raven.' I silently prayed. I felt really bad, but it had the desired effect. Venus was silent for a while. "That…girl…. Is in a band?" I nodded. Then all of the cronies started talking at the same time:
Crony 1: "She can SING?"
Crony 2: "Is she even GOOD?"
Crony 3: "Are they, like, going out or something?"
Crony 4: "No way. That girl hasn't gone out with anybody in years. Why start now?"
Crony 2: "Yeah, her rep's ruined already."
Then Venus spoke up. "Then I'll pass. But first, let me give you a warning. THAT…girl… is very, VERY bad news. You should ask around at school nowadays. Please be careful. I wouldn't want ANYTHING to happen to you." She gazed at me seductively and walked off with her entourage. I just sat there. Confused and slightly worried. Suddenly, I picked up a pained scream far off. Obviously, nobody else heard. I got up abruptly and raced towards the field. There was no doubt about it. The screaming was Raven's.
Suddenly… it stopped. I could have gotten to the field in half the time if only there weren't so many onlookers and teachers. So, I just had to get there the old way. I reached the field and morphed my eyes into that of a snake. I sensed heat in the direction of the monsoon drain and quickly raced in that direction. As soon as I got close, I morphed back and found Raven. She was lying CENTIMETRES from the edge and her legs were folded in a grotesque position. I slowly reached for her. As soon as I got my arms around her waist, I hoisted her towards me and lifted her in my arms. She was surprisingly light. Sheesh. What had happened. Seriously, you could never get bored with this girl.
I placed her down on the grass and checked to make sure no one was watching. Then, I morphed into a wolf and sniffed around. I found what I was looking for. The faint but familiar scent of bad perfume. It was mixed with a kind of deodorant that I recognized was for men. But it was definitely 'Pure Poison'.
(End of pov)
I wanted to scream out in frustration. It was pitch black all around me. I couldn't see anything, but I knew someone was there. "Wakey, wakey." "Will she be okay?" "Huh? Ah, oh, yes. She's sprained her ankle pretty badly. Tore a ligament but thankfully nothing's broken. She's healing rather quickly though. But not to worry." I heard a sigh. Suddenly, I felt warmth flood through my body. "She'll be fine after drinking this." I sputtered and my eyes shot open. It tasted disgusting. "What *cough* is *cough* that?" I saw our school doctor with a cup of pink, thick liquid. If my eyesight hadn't failed my yet, there was something floating in it. (Somebody PLEASE check the expiration dates on those nasties.)Some of it was still in the cup, but most of it was on his clean (?), white (?) lab coat.
There was a somewhat mortified Fang sitting in a chair next to the bed I was lying on. I muttered an apology and shot out of the bed. I only managed a few steps before wincing as an unfamiliar pain shot up my right leg and choked the breath out of me. I immediately collapsed in an embarrassing heap. Or, I would've if Fang's reflexes had suddenly malfunctioned, though I wish they had because I was in a rather awkward position. Fang's arms were around my waist, my legs were bent in a rather disfigured way and I was leaning into him. Ugh!
"Thanks." I mumbled and received a nod. "I'm amazed you could even walk three steps, let alone stand up by yourself. After all, you did have a pretty nasty fall. Wanna tell us what happened?" The doctor is now nosey parker number 3 on my list. (After my parents and Fang) I growled at him and shook my head quickly. "I'm fine. Just take me home." That was directed at Fang. He just nodded. But somehow I could tell that this enquiry was far from over. But he had this puzzled look on his face when he came near me, as if he was trying to work out a difficult (Not that I knew difficult. XD) mathematics problem or something.
To my surprise, my car was already waiting outside the school grounds. People were whispering and casting glances at it. After all, how many of these kids had seen a limo before? Of, course I didn't blame them. The whispering increased and got louder when they saw Fang help me into the car and get in after me. I knew I was gonna be in deep doo-doo the next time I went to school. We drove to the junior school grounds and picked up the twins who were anxiously waiting at the gate. "How did they know?" Fang shrugged. "I sent a message to them when I was checking for a scent, if you know what I mean. They might come in handy finding out who would dare push you like that."
My jaw dropped. "How did you know?" He smiled that wolfish grin and tilted my chin upwards to face him. "The Raven I know wouldn't do something clumsy like that. Or do you have a clone duck-taped in a closet somewhere?" I wrenched myself away just as soon as the twins reached the car. They quickly got in and crawled over a yelping, protesting Fang and sat on either sides of me. "Are you okay?" "How did it happen?" Fang sat up a little straighter, trying to regain his dignity after being crawled over by a pair of kids. His face suddenly grew serious. "She was pushed."
The twins frowned and nodded. They stayed silent for the rest of the way home. When we arrived, they quickly helped me out of the car and we went to my study upstairs. The twins immediately turned on Fang. "What did you find?" Fang shrugged. "I detected a scent of perfume mixed with sweat and deodorant. The perfume was easy enough to figure out." He looked at me. "Any idea who would wear something as horrible as 'Poison'?" I gasped. "Venus…"
"Exactly. But it was incredibly faint. The deodorant and sweat were stronger. The fingerprints I saw on your back were also too big to be female." I muddled over it for a while. (Insert gasp here. Again.) "Jake." Suddenly this image of Jake blasted through my mind. Murderous thoughts filled my head. As I detected the strong urge to hurt from Fang, I could hear the twins thinking about ways to disembody 'the person called Jake'. I suddenly realized. Not only could I read minds, I could see what they were thinking. I took a mental snapshot of one of Fang's thoughts. Too gruesome to describe to all you readers out there. XD
'It just keeps getting better.' I sighed despite myself and got worried glances from everybody in the room. "WHAT? It's not like I died or anything. Sheesh." Fang got up and paced back and forth. "But you almost did. When I found you, you were unconscious and you stopped breathing twice for about five minutes." The twin's faces were dark as they studied me with their stern gazes. They looked really worried. They sighed at the same time. "The growth spurt is too fast. In less than a month she has already had two jolt fevers." Fang eyes grew to slits as he stared straight at me. "But judging by her physical capacity, her body should be able to take that much and still be in stable condition. On the other hand, a THIRD jolt fever would certainly do it. Hmm… Have you been hiding anything from us, Miss Winterstone?"
I thanked my lucky stars for the gift of lying. "No. Why would I do that?" His face softened but my new skill told me otherwise. I ploughed on. "Besides, I thought the normal skill enhancement only has one jolt fever. Why did I go through two?" "Hmm…" The twins were deep in thought. Fang was still giving me the slanty eyed look. I rolled my eyes and gave him my best you-are-so-paranoid-look (which I had just invented. XD) He ignored me and paced again. The twins looked up and smiled. "Well, the good news is that your physical condition and extraordinary power accumulation should be enough to mend the broken tissues and ligaments in less than a couple of days. I'll give it some extra rest though if I were you." Heather smiled like a professional therapist. I couldn't help but nod and grin back. I could still read anxiety on their faces but what the heck. Let them worry about my problems.
I looked around and pretended to be uninterested. I could hear the twins whispering at the other side of the room. Fang had left to get something for me to drink. I insisted he let the servants do it but he WAS the stubborn ba-donkey so he ended up getting lost on the way to the kitchen. Just kidding. He made it back okay. I sighed and slowly sipped the lemonade. Trust Fang to pick the cup with the little doggies on them. Slowly I found myself lolling off to sleep as the twins continued plotting Venus and Jake's demise. I could feel my eyelids fluttering closed when suddenly, "Psst. I know this isn't the best time but… I have a favour to ask." Fang was at the edge of my couch with his legs perched on the arms. He was leaning in pretty close to whisper and I could smell the familiar warm, minty, smell. "What did you do this time?" He wore an innocent, yet apologetic face and pulled a gag before dramatically announcing… "'thavetogoonadatewithher."
"…" My brain slowly tried to reprocess the nonsense that was spewing out to no avail. Finally I gave up and smacked his head. "Again. But slower. My head hurts." He looked kind of nervous now. "I told Venus…. That we were in a band…and we were gonna practice… at your house." A vein popped in my head and I'm sure Fang noticed it. "Why the F- *ahem* Why would you do THAT?" He was shuddering as he said, "So I wouldn't have to go on a date." I narrowed my eyes at him. "With her." He hastily added. I couldn't help it. The look on his face was just priceless. The corners of my mouth held a couple more seconds before I burst out laughing. "Seriously? She asked you out? Hahahahahaha…" He was a little mortified but looked quite relieved. "Yeah. I was kind of wondering when she'd cheat on Jake." I suddenly went serious. "So, it looks like I'm in the band. Wait. Raven's don't sing." (the crickets never fail to appear) The twins had stopped talking to eavesdrop on our conversation. Suddenly Heather stood up. "I think we should go to HQ." Alex grinned at his sister. "Agreed."
My brain was working double time. I mean, for a genius like me, XD, this was pretty much. "What are you guys planning?" They just smiled. Evilly. Without further ado, Raven was kidnapped, half dragged, half rolled to the car.
