A/N: I've waited so long for this chapter, I can't believe it's finally here! I had so much fun (and feels XD) writing this. We get a whole new side of Aurora. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do NOT own the Pokémon Adventures manga or any of its characters. I do own Aurora Herz and the cover.
Guest: I don't fear for my Torchic's fabulousness, for they are the most fab fire birds. ;D
Aureillia: Thank you so much for following my story! It makes me so happy to know that you guys are interested and want to hear more!
Young Blue turned around, her terrifying mask facing me once more. I shivered violently from the freezing wind that blew around my improperly dressed body and the eerie white object covering her face. All of the sudden, an ear-piercing cry of a bird filled my ears. Blue and I cringed and doubled over, pressing our hands against our ears in an attempt to muffle the shrill sound. It wouldn't stop, it just kept repeating itself over and over. The cold ate away at my exposed skin, sending me into a fit of trembles. It was all too much and my body gave up, sending me plummeting into the hard, frozen ground below. Except there was never any impact, and I just kept falling through nothingness in a crunched up ball.
My body awoke with a sudden jerk. I could feel my heart racing as its rapid beat coursed through my body. Unlike usual, all of my bedding was slopped off to the side of my bed, leaving my bare, goosebump-covered arms and legs completely exposed to the wind created by my ceiling fan. I just sat there for a while, recovering from the rude awakening. My body let out a shiver, so I decide to reclaim my blankets. Sleepiness hit my eyes as soon as the blankets hit my body, and I was out like a light.
"If you have any questions about your grade on your civil rights paper, come talk to my sometime after class." Just as my history teacher was uttering his last words, the bell rang, signalling for lunch. It had been two weeks since Silver first sat with Blue and I at lunch, and I had grown to like it. There isn't much talking involved, but I'm not much of a conversationalist anyways. The best part is just getting to sit next to Silver. I still don't know much about him besides what I get from the visions, but I pick up on a lot of things just by the way he behaves and interacts with different types of people. He's very fascinating, and I know that there's so much more to him than I know right now.
I turned a curve and my shoulders immediately tensed and my grip on my lunch tightened. A group of popular girls were blocking the whole hallway to the lunchroom. As I approached nearer, their ears seemed to perk up and they turned to glance in my direction. My eyes fell to the ground and my nails dug into the palm of my hand.
"'Scuse me." I uttered politely and quietly. They didn't move. I tried repeating myself, thinking maybe they didn't hear me. "Excuse me."
"Aurora, is it?" A tall girl at the lead of the group addressed me. Her eyes were a sharp, piercing blue, surrounded by gobs of mascara and eyeliner. She squinted her eyes harshly making me sink even further into myself. She had long, fake blonde hair perfectly curled with an iron. For clothes she wore the most mainstream, trendy clothes you could imagine that looked like they cost way too much. Part of her belly was exposed and her v-neck went down way too far. Her manicured acrylics rested on her legging clad hips. She stood tall above me, looking down. I nodded.
"You've been hanging around Silver for a while now, haven't you?" She said, a superior sneer in her voice.
"Uhhh…" I couldn't find a correct response, but apparently my body did in the form of a blush spreading across my cheeks. The girl turned to her friends.
"Aww, how cute." They all giggled deviously. She then whipped back to me like an Arbok ready to spit. Her face inched closer to mine and I backed away nervously, feeling like a tiny Ratata. My back hit the hard brick wall and I dropped my lunch. "Listen." She hissed. "You stay away from MY Silver. You're nothing but a shy, quiet nerd. You don't deserve him. So don't go thinking that you're something special, 'cause you're NOT." With that she jabbed a long nail into my chest. My eyes were downcast and I started to tremble. Heat rose up my neck and up through my forehead. My knuckles were white and blood was nearly driven out of the palms of my hands. In a burst of emotion, I found my voice and stood my ground.
"You…" I started off low. "You have no right to call Silver yours." The group of girls all looked at me in shock. For this moment, I didn't care. "Neither do I. I don't know how much you know him or how much he knows you, but I know enough to say that he's gone through more than any person should ever have to suffer. He's not just some object that you can claim as your own." The girls' look changed from shock to horror. My voice came back down to a normal level. "You can mess with me all you want, but never drag anyone else in." Still shaking, I reached down for my lunch and turned from the group. They all still stood there, dumbfounded. The main girl looked a little annoyed that someone, me of all people, had stood her up. I was about to go to lunch when I was stopped dead in my tracks.
"Silver…" I whispered. His face was unreadable.
"Silver! I-"
"Miranda, I think you should leave." He said lowly.
"But-" She looked at him and stopped. Looking utterly pissed, she turned and left, her gang following behind. A deep blush covered my face. Silver's back faced me as I stood, frozen.
"Stay out of my personal business from now on." Silver said flatly. I was shocked.
"W-what?" He turned around.
"Exactly what I said. I can deal with my problems myself." He yelled, looking me in the eye. I flinched and squealed, but held my gaze on his eyes. They shook with… fear? The rest of his face was hard. 'He's putting up a wall.' My eyes softened, which made him furrow his brow in confusion.
"I'm… sorry." I looked away. He continued to stare at me, fascinated. "I stepped over a boundary. I should have known better." The clock in the distance reminded me that I was indeed still in school and about ten minutes late to lunch, although I didn't have much an appetite left. I started my path to the lunchroom. Silver's gaze followed me. "You coming to lunch?" I asked with a forced half-smile. At this point he looked dumbfounded and confused.
"Uh, yeah." He replied, still sounding dazed. On the way back, I found Blue around the corner. It wasn't surprising that she had been listening. When I saw her there, though, her face looked hurt, for me.
"Are you okay?" She put a comforting hand on my shoulder. Emotions swirled in my chest and balled up in my throat, blurring my vision. I took a deep breath and blinked a few times to force away the feeling, not wanting to break down in front of the whole lunchroom. I had become quite good at that. I'm not sure if that's good or bad.
"I'll talk about it later." I choked out. She looked worried, but understood that I was on the verge of breaking down.
The bubble of Blue, Silver and I in lunch was dead silent. We all seemed to be lost somewhere.
The rest of the day was all one big blur. My emotions were at war with my body and mind, causing everything to become foggy. I was distant, my eyes glassy. One of my teachers even asked me if I was okay, to which I replied that I was just tired. The final bell of the day rang and I blindly made my way to the bus, sitting next to Blue. When it came to our stop, she turned to me.
"If you need me, you know where I am." She smiled sympathetically at me. I nodded.
My wall started to come down as I closed my front door behind me.
That was when it all came out. Tears flooded my eyes and spilled over as I collapsed onto the ground. My whole body trembled with violent sobs. It felt good to let it out, but horrible at the same time to face the ugly feelings I had been holding back for hours. I felt something warm and soft rub up against my arm.
"Espurr!" I hugged the cat tightly as she purred. Just her presence made me calm down a bit.
For a frozen moment in time I just sat there with Espurr, letting everything out.
A/N: Did you like it? The best part is yet to come! Tell me your thoughts and feelings in a review. I love to know how I'm doing. As usual, thank you for reading and sticking with me thus far. Make sure not to miss next chapter, you won't want to!
Next update: May 12th, 2016
Keep up the fabulous, Torchics!
∞Blaziken