Author's Note: Yay, another chapter! Sorry, they've been few and far between. Finals are killer and cruel on my poor creativity. But meh, what am I to do but wait them out? Nothing, I suppose.

Once again, comments/grammar errors/typoes/plot suggestions/topics of discussion are always welcome via reviews. That's for reading!

x Sam


8. Cruel

"Oh my God!" Damiana cried between fits of laughter. She couldn't get over how flawless their plan had been. There was no way anyone would suspect them, short of searching for fingerprints in the oil or finding their hair caught in the lock. The likelihood of someone trying that desperately just to find someone to blame for the ruin of the jacket, one that any rich father could easily replace, was slim to none. They were as good as free.

"Dami… be… a bit… quieter!" Daniel attempted to quiet his accomplice through his own uncontrollable guffaws, "someone might hear us and… suspect something."

Damiana flopped down onto the sun-warmed grass, breathing deeply. "Oh gosh, Daniel. Everyone who would care is either off somewhere inside the school, way out of earshot, or they're off flocking after Miss Bad Witch."

Daniel sat down beside her, sighing. "I guess that's right. But still, we're not completely in the clear yet. Who knows when the 'Bad Witch' will stop? No one, because she'll just keep going until she's satisfied… which is almost never." Daniel sighed again, "She would give us infinite hell for the rest of our high school careers."

Damiana sat up from her spread eagle on the grass. "Who says we'll get caught? And besides, what's done is done. No way to change the past once it's already happened."

"I guess." Daniel was hesitant to continue, "What if, maybe, we shouldn't have done what we did? Maybe we were a bit too hars-"

"Daniel!" Damiana interrupted shrilly. "You're having regrets when it was your idea to begin with! And you know she deserved it for all the shit she gives to us, not to mention the whole rest of the student body she's humiliated at least once. She's a walking, breathing, living in carnation of absolute hate!" Damiana was waving her hands wildly, caught up in her mid-rant tirade, "And another thing! Her father can just buy her a new one. He certainly has enough money to. No matter what Carina says, none of what she owns is specially made for her body only. Just another example of the bullshit she spreads through the school." Damiana finished with a snarl on her flawless features.

"That is true… but still, I have this nagging feeling that maybe we shouldn't have done it, that maybe we went too far with it. Evil only begets even more evil, Dami." Daniel replied in his soft, thoughtful manner that always left Damiana either confused or guilty.

"Heh, tell me about it." A brief flash of Damiana's first time seeing a vampire kill a human popped into her head. Vampires only lead to more vampires, and vampires are evil, disgusting, filthy monsters. Is that what I am? Is that what Daniel feels that we are? No, it was an innocent prank, no reason to compare myself to a horrible bloodsucker! Her face twisted into a disgusted grimace at the mere thought.

Once again, the vampire drawing the blood out of its poor human victim edged its way back into her thoughts. The older man's face had been clouded by shock, slowly turning a sickly gray as the bloodsucker continued to feed. There wasn't anything she could've done to stop it, considering she was so young and inexperienced. Being only a novice with at the time, her fighting abilities and knowledge of offensive and defensive spells were very limited. Trying anything probably wouldn't have helps the man and might have gotten her killed, too. A witch is of no use to its human charges when dead.

Just another lose-lose situation there. I was sick with the thought of being so powerless that night. Maybe… maybe I am as bad as that. Maybe Daniel feels he's the powerless one here. Does he feel like I pushed him into this? Can I even fix this?

Daniel was watching his friend as she toiled over her confusing thoughts. He watched as her head fell slowly into her hands. He didn't dare speak for he didn't want to disrupt his friend's desperate contemplation. Is she actually taking what I said to heart? Not that I didn't want her to, just didn't think it'd be that easy. Suddenly, Damiana's hear shot up, so quickly that her movements seemed to blur. "…Dami?"

"Daniel, there's something I need to do. You can come if you want, but I think it'd be a whole lot better if you didn't tag along." She was on her feet before either of them really realized it, pacing around frantically. "Because honestly, it'd be easier to do this without you. Not that I don't want you!" Damiana said in response to his confused expression.

"Okay, whatever you need to do, do it. Just as long as it isn't anything too risky or illegal, because I'll come if it is." Daniel made as if he wanted to stand, but Damiana put her hands on his shoulders and pushed until he was sitting back down on the grass.

"No! It's not risky at all, completely safe and legal. But I guarantee it'll fix everything that we did. I promise!" She turned and ran towards the side entrance of the main school building. The doors burst open and Damiana disappeared inside, leaving Daniel in the grass, completely confused and alone.


The next day, Daniel was getting out of his car. Without warning, a hand hit the roof o his car. He jumped, nearly dropping his backpack as he was getting it from the passenger seat where he'd left it. His eyes followed the arm up to the face that it belonged to. There stood Damiana, a huge, triumphant grin brightening her features. She looked victorious, as if she'd pulled off the most difficult thing in the entire world like it was nothing. "What'd you do, Dami? Not another prank, I hope."

"Geez, Daniel, no 'good morning, Dami, dear' or 'how are you this splendid morning?' or any sort of polite greeting and banter?" Damiana had a look of mock hurt and shock on her face now. "Now c'mon, we're going to miss it!" She grabbed his arm and began to run, trailing him behind her like a puppy on a very short leash. When they made it to the front door to the school, Daniel pulled her to a stop and spun her around to face him.

"Dami, Jesus, what's so important that you have to nearly pull my arm out of my socket?" Daniel questioned, rubbing his shoulder.

"Ugh, you'll see if we could just keep going!" She tightened her grip on his hand once more and burst through the front door, Daniel hanging on for dear life. They sped down the hallways until they came upon a group of Carina's giggly blonde bimbos, all so self-absorbed in their own lives that they didn't seem to notice Daniel or Damiana staring at them openly.

"Damiana…" Daniel whispered anxiously, "returning to the scene of the crime the very next day just to spy around probably isn't a very bright idea." He pulled on her arm gently, but it was like trying to pull a marble statue through piles of sand. Since when is she so strong when she's this stubborn? Must be some kind of reflex that kicks in.

While Daniel continued his futile attempt to move his friend, Damiana stared intently at the bubbly clique. One of the many tall, blonde figures reached for her lock and dialed in her combination agonizingly slow. Damiana could hear the cogs click, grind, and turn in their metal casing as she trained all her hearing on the figure. When the locker was opened, Damiana tugged once on Daniel's arm, sending him toppling into her. He nearly fell to the ground but she was still planted solidly on the tiled flooring. Daniel regained his balance and readied his reprieve when he noticed the look of absolutely concentration and focus on Damiana's face. He averted his eyes from her to the locker that her eyes seemed to be boring into.

Carina opened her locker door and began to pull out books and shove them into the lilac canvas tote that served as her backpack, matching perfectly with the rest of her outfit that day. She was whining and gossiping about anyone and anything as usual, until her hand hesitated over the white jacket hung neatly in her locker where it had been the previous day. Damiana's hand tightened slightly around Daniel's fingers.

Carina's anger was flaring again; jumping to the conclusion that someone had put the ruined jacket back as a cruel reminder to her of the horrible incident of the day before. Her hand shot out and whipped the jacket off the hook on which it had been. She once again continued her whining and bitching to her clique about her perfect jacket and how It had been defiled. She was going on about how much her father had spent on the jacket for the millionth time when something caught her eye. Carina flipped the jacket over and stared at the back panel of fur with disbelief.

When Carina's domineering voice had ceased to be heard, her followers quieted immediately. They pulled in tighter around her, clamoring to see what had disturbed their queen and clique leader. A few girls repeated her name until small gasps engulfed the group entirely. Every perfectly powdered face and glossed lip hung open and blanked with shock.

With the absence of the clique's unintelligent conversation and gossip, the other students began to take notice. There wasn't much that could shut the clique up, so anything that could was amazing and most likely worth gawking at. A crowd formed around Carina and shocked whispers rippled through the small gathering of students. No one dared speak lest the silence and disbelief break.

Daniel hadn't seen a thing from the vantage point he and Damiana had. He turned to his friend, searching her grinning features for any clue as to what was so baffling. "Dami, what's on the jacket? What'd you do to it?"

Damiana stared victoriously for a minute longer, and then broke her gaze. "It's not what is on there…" she said cryptically, "it's what isn't on there anymore."

Daniel stopped to consider what he'd just heard and then pressed on further, "What's that supposed to mean? What isn't there, Dami?" He thought for another minute more, "You didn't… Dami, I thought you were going to fix the jacket! What you did is hardly fix-"

"I did fix it! Just watch and you'll see what I did for this situation."

"Dami, just tell me what you did!"

Damiana wouldn't answer or say anything more on the subject. Daniel was just about to press on with his interrogation when a commanding voice came booming from down the hall. "What in God's name is going on down here?! Hey, break it up!"

Principal Howard pushed down the hall, any students in his way went stumbling back to avoid being trampled or get landed with a detention. He came up next to Carina and looked down on her and her jacket from his huge 6 foot 6" height. Daniel saw his face wrinkle in confusion and felt his own do the exact same. What would he be confused about? He never saw the jacket when it was ruined and would probably be angry if it were ruined in any other way that it was previously. What the hell did Dami even do to it?! Cut the whole goddamn back off?

"What's so interesting about this jacket? It looks like just a plain old white fur jacket to me." Principal Howard plucked the jacket from Carina's still shock-frozen hands. Her face turned upwards slowly to look at her principal. Principal Howard turned the jacket around to show the rest of the crowd what had seemed to baffle everyone in Carina's proximity. Faces looked up, mouths dropping open and confused whispers once again spreading from person to person. Realization hit Daniel like a ton of bricks to the head. He looked over to his friend beside him, seeing her mock amazement. He looked back to the suspended jacket in genuine amazement.

"Mr. Ronan!" Principal Howard bellowed towards the back of the group. Daniel pointed to himself, bewildered by the sudden attention focused on him, bewildered. "Yes, you! You're the only Ronan I know in this school! Now, what do you see on this jacket, son?"

"I don't see anything wrong with it, sir. It looks absolutely pristine." Daniel said only loud enough for Principal Howard to hear, the disbelief evident in his voice.

"Right. Miss Arun! How about you? What do you see?" Principal Howard turned the jacket slightly towards Damiana's direction.

"I only see the back of a white fur jacket, Principal Howard. And what an undeniably immaculate white it is." Damiana's voice was polite and void of any of the pride she'd been gushing with only five minutes previous. Her voice was laced with a bit of shyness. "I'm not sure what all the commotion was about. Although, it is a very nice looking jacket. Carina is definitely very lucky to have such a nice one." She smiled, a perfect mixture of politeness, courtesy, and innocence. Her poker face was flawless.

"Well, in that case," he dropped the jacket back into Carina's still extended arms and drew himself up to his full height, "all of you, disperse! Scatter off to your homerooms or lockers pronto, before I start handing out detentions!" With that, the hallway cleared quickly while Principal Howard lumbered back down the hall to his office beside the main office.

When most of the student body had zipped away, Carina could be heard once more, her voice quiet and shaky with disbelief, "How did…? When did…? Who did…?"

"Aww, Carina, at least you have your jacket back." A short, sporty-looking brunette said cheerfully, placing her hand on Carina's shoulder. She shrugged out from underneath the comforting touch and went to pick up her tote and jacket once again.

"Well," Carina said, tossing her hair back, "someone was still in my locker without my knowledge or permission." She continued her whining strong once more, luring her followers away by walking down the hall, the same way a fisher fly on a fishing line lures the fish over. As she passed Damiana, she cast her a dirty look, "Make sure none of those dissecting pins from yesterday deflate that huge head of yours. Then I'd have nothing more to laugh at!" The clique burst out in laughter as their leader pulled them down the hallway with her mere presence.

"Well, at least I don't kill my own kind to make fur coats, Carina. I don't think your brother and sister dogs appreciate it very much." Damiana retorted, ignoring their burning glares and turned towards the opposite end of the hall, grabbing Daniel's hand. "C'mon, Daniel, we better get to our lockets before we're late for homeroom."

"Well!" Carina called back, "At least my friends actually have half a brain because of whoever's friends with you can't be too bright!"

Daniel's grip tighter on Damiana's hand ever so slightly. "Oooh, Carina," Damiana tossed back mockingly, "there go your chances of getting Daniel, huh? Seeing as we seem to be friends now.

Carina faltered. "But I didn't mean it like… that." Before she could finish her sentence, Daniel and Damiana has turned the corner and gone.