So, this is obviously the next chapter. Sorry it's a little late, I've been busy with work this week and forgot that there's no college 'cause I'm on Spring Break, so i wasn't going to have internet, but an unexpected set of circumstances led me to having internet, and...yeah. Anyway...
Azkadellio-Why, thank you! Shit's gonna hit the fan soon, and unfortunately Jade and Tori are gonna get caught in the crossfire. I think the general consensus is that no one likes Thomas, and that's how I intended it to be.
LukeJames-Welcome! I know, I liked her too, I had a seriously hard time killing her, but for the story to go where I want it, she had to go. Enjoy!
ScottyBgood-I don't know if you're psychic, or just a superb guesser, but you've hit a lot of points that I'm gonna make soon. I'm actually gonna correct the whole 18 thing, I really wasn't thinking when I said for them to wait that long. I knew that marriages and whatnot were allowed at sixteen, I'm not sure why I conveniantly forgot it, but thanks for pointing it out to me!Have a cookie! *hands cookie* Jade's special ^w^ that's all I'm saying, and if you paid attention to the last chapter and the AN I left at the bottom, there was a clue to her story.
WeAreLife-I'm not going to! Rest easy, dude, I'm just as against Bade as you seem to be. I don't really mind them as a couple, but there won't be any of that in MY story :)
I Almost Do-Welcome! I'm glad you left a review now, I love hearing from new people! I'm glad you're enjoying this so much, and don't be afraid to let me know what you think! Enjoy!
21BrokenPromises-Holy crap, dude, I've never had someone leave as long of reviews as you do, you are awesome! I was trying to show the passage of time and how much Tori's grown to love and trust these people who took her without any complaints, I hope I got that across. Hehe, I'm glad I got a reaction from you about Thomas, he is an asshole, and I wanted to get some emotion from you all. Hahaha, I've just got to remember to include the note later on! I have a bad tendency to forget, but I've wrote in BIG BLOCK LETTERS so I hopefully don't! I figured her love of scissors had to come from some event that had powerful emotions associated with it since whenever she uses them in the show she's pissed or sad or frustrated. Love you too, dude! Enjoy this!
Enough writing, onto the main event!
She wiped at her eyes and cut the bristles again, imagining each bit of fallen detritus as a tear, and she was keeping one more from falling with each snick of the scissors. Time passed, and the broom soon sat, completely bare, against the wall. Jade looked at the scissors with new respect when she realized the aching numbness had receded a little and stuck them in her sock and let herself out of the closet, walking back upstairs to stand under her father's disapproving eyes.
"Jadelyn, where did you go? I don't want you leaving my sight again, understand?"
Jade didn't cower under his stern gaze, just stared quietly ahead and ignored the murmurs surrounding her. "Okay, daddy."
They walked silently down the road, following the well tread path toward the church. Sikowitz held Cat's hand on one side and Tori's on the other while Robbie walked ahead of them. Small sniffles accompanied their quiet steps, and he didn't need to look down to know that Tori was wiping away her tears and biting her lip to keep her lip still.
"We're nearly there, kids. We'll stay off to the side until it's done, okay?" Softly murmuring their assent, they walked behind the well kept church to the cemetery. They passed grave stones and flowerbeds, the quiet rumble of many voices gradually growing louder until they stood at the fringe of a large group of people.
Robbie and Cat fidgeted quietly and watched the proceedings with wide eyes while Tori alternately eyed the casket sitting beside the freshly dug grave and the West's standing beside it. Thomas stood stoically at the fore, his gaze even and appraising as he watched the gathered people offer their condolences. Jade shuffled from foot to foot, eyes resolutely avoiding contact with anyone else. She glanced between the grave, her father's blank expression, and her brother's teary face, leaning down to wipe at his eyes and grasp his hand when he latched onto her. Jade whispered into his ear, stifling his tears and holding him close while her free hand clenched in the folds of her dark dress.
Tori tuned back in as the priest finished his speech, moving aside to toss some water on the casket and bless it before several large men lowered it into the ground. One of them grabbed a shovel and threw some dirt on the wooden box, beginning the long process of filling in the hole.
Unable to stand there any longer, Tori broke away from Sikowitz and tore off toward the trees, ignoring Sikowitz's hiss for her to come back. She let the tears come then, not bothering to wipe them away as she pressed on into the woods, branches reaching to snag at her new black pants and dark shirt. She tripped over a fallen branch and picked herself up, ignoring the scrapes on her hands and the hole in her knee.
She eventually sat heavily on a stone beside a quickly running creek, legs trembling from running and chest heaving for air. The tears subsided a few minutes later and she looked around, finding no familiar landmarks to point out where she was, not even a trail marking her own passing. Crisp blue skies visible through the trees and the sun shone down on the small clearing she sat in, making the water shimmer and sparkle brightly.
Tori crouched on the shallow bank to wash her hands and drink from the stream, cleansing her face of the tears and washing the many scratches on her skin. She sat back on the rock and rubbed at the dirt on her pants, listening to the soft wind as it shook the leaves. "I miss you, mami..."
The sound of feet coming her way alerted her and she stared at the foliage to her left, watching warily as a man around Sikowitz's age meandered into the clearing she occupied. "Ah, hello, little sister. What brings you out here on this fine day?"
His gentle smile disarmed her and she studied his lean features intently as he walked closer. His brown eyes and matching hair seemed similar to her own, but they held a copper tint that set his hair on fire in the bright sunlight. He ran a calloused hand, laden with rings and bangles, through short hair and knelt to drink from the creek. "Is something wrong?"
"Who are you?"
"My apologies, I'm Carlos Gonzalez. And your name, little sister?"
"Tori Vega, Senor Gonzalez. What are you doing here?"
He washed his hands in the stream as he spoke, scrubbing dirt from his skin. "I'm just passing through, heading back south to my family. Something's happened that's made you sad. I can see it in your eyes, little sister." Wiping his hands on the bottom of his shirt, the young man slowly approached Tori.
He pulled a necklace from under the coarse spun wool of his shirt and let it rest against his chest. The pendent was a simple silver disk, a dragon's head imprinted on it and a small golden gem inlaid where its eye would be. The crystal seemed to catch and absorb the light, glowing from within and entrancing Tori as it gleamed. "I can help you to deal with the sadness, little sister. If you trust me."
Tori looked up at him and tilted her head inquisitively, instinctively trusting this stranger who seemed to know what she was feeling. "I...believe you, senor. But how can you help me?"
He held up his hand with the many rings and baubles and let her study them for a time. Removing one from his index finger, he held it up to the light and Tori saw that the gold band in the center of the silver ring seemed to catch and hold light in much the same way the dragon's eye did. "This stone is special, little sister. It can draw all the pain from your body, and leave the happy memories you had of that person. I don't need it anymore but it seems that you do." He set the ring on her palm and folded her fingers around it. "Put it on your finger."
Tori slid the ring onto her thumb and felt the heat beneath her skin tentatively reaching for the stone, wrapping around it with easy familiarity. "It...feels friendly."
He nodded sagely and sat on the stone beside her. "It's supposed to. The stone is called citrine; it helps when you're feeling sad or lonely." Tori twisted the ring around her thumb and felt the heat humming happily within herself. She smiled despite her sadness and the man chuckled. "See? It's already working."
He stood and dusted off his pants, holding out a hand for Tori to take. "Before I forget, this stone also focuses your power and can store some of it." He smiled at her shocked expression and plucked a blossom from a tree. "We're more similar than you think, little sister."
He gently blew on the blossom and it bloomed in his palm. He released it into the air and a small gust of wind carried it to Tori where it hung in front of her wide eyes. "Be at ease, little sister. No harm will come to you here."
He walked up to her and plucked the blossom from the air to tuck the stem behind her ear and waved his hand over her eyes, watching them droop almost immediately as her body swayed unsteadily. Catching her as she fell, Carlos cradled her body to him and started walking along the bank of the creek.
Sikowitz and the kids hurried from the funeral as the men began to fill in the deep hole. He took both kids in his arms and walked down the road with long, ground eating strides, hoping against everything he knew that Tori had simply run back home. His knees almost gave way when he saw Tori sleeping in the hammock on the side porch and he set the other two kids down to kneel beside her, sweeping the hair back from her face. "Tori, wake up, little one."
She shifted and murmured sleepily, hazy amber eyes peering up at him through thick lashes. "Sikowitz...how did I?..." She sat up abruptly, nearly upsetting the hammock in the process, and swept her hand through her hair, watching a blossom fall into her lap.
She slowly brushed a finger over a petal and her eyes glazed over in memory, long enough that Sikowitz reached over to shake her gently. "Tori? What happened? Are you alright?"
Tori blinked at him and traced a small finger over the creases in his forehead. "I scared you. I'm sorry, Sikowitz. I didn't mean to make you scared." Her lip quivered and she looked ready to start crying until Sikowitz pulled her into his arms, peppering her cheeks and the crown of her head with kisses.
"It's alright, you're safe, that's all that matters, little one." He framed her face with his palms, letting the scars fall lightly over her soft skin. "Please don't do that to me again, okay? I couldn't bear it if any of you were hurt."
Cat and Robbie attached themselves to his frame and he twisted so he was leaning against the wall of the house, all three kids sprawled over his legs and torso. "I just want my kids to be safe and happy."
"I'm always happy, papa. I can help you be happy all the time, too." Cat looked up at him with serious brown eyes, determination making them glint in the afternoon sunlight.
Robbie smiled and nodded, pushing the frames of his glasses up his nose. "Me too, papa! I'll keep you all happy and protect you!"
He flexed his skinny arms and growled cutely and Sikowitz laughed, ruffling his hair. "You do that, my boy. You'll keep your sisters safe, right?" Robbie nodded determinedly and held tightly to Cat, who just giggled and hugged him close.
Tori sighed and burrowed into Sikowitz's shoulder, feeling his arm wrap around her and squeeze. "I...I miss her. She said she didn't want to leave us, so why did she?"
A couple tears streaked down her face and Tori wiped them away while she looked up to Sikowitz for answers. He gazed out over the trees as he thought, saying, "Sometimes, even when people don't want to leave, they don't really have a choice. You know Pru was sick, right? Even though she loved her kids and you, she still couldn't stay here, and she's not hurting anymore, little one."
"She hurted?"
"Her sickness made it...difficult for her to live in her body, do you understand? It hurt her some days, like her body was fighting itself. She's not feeling any pain anymore, and she can still hear you and guide you." Tori sniffled and curled in close to him to listen to his steady heartbeat, the reassuring sound soon drawing her into sleep.
"Cat, would you go see if there's any mail for us?"
Cat ran outside and hopped on her tiptoes to peek into their mailbox and ran back inside. "Papa, there's a letter out there!"
"Why didn't you bring it in, silly girl?"
"Oops, I'll bring it in, papa!" Cat ran back out and reached her arm into the box to grab a thick envelope and waved it over her head as she brought it inside. "Here, papa!"
Sikowitz grabbed Cat and set her on his lap while he opened the envelope, nearly choking on his coffee as he read the first lines. Cat looked up in alarm as he sputtered and patted his shoulder helpfully while the other two kids stared in concern as his face became more red. "Papa, are you alright?"
Sikowitz nodded and coughed for a few more seconds before calming himself and taking another look at the letter he had opened. He read silently for several minutes while his kids ate their breakfast and watched him from the corners of their eyes.
Sikowitz pushed back from the table and set Cat on the floor so he could walk toward his bedroom. "Tori, finish your breakfast, we need to get going. Robbie, Cat, finish eating, you're going to spend the day with Uncle Jason and Aunt Molly, how's that sound?"
Robbie and Cat cheered and inhaled their breakfast as Tori asked, "Going? But there's no school today."
Tori tilted her head to the side and watched Sikowitz inquisitively as he bustled around the kitchen, picking up dishes and grabbing a jacket from the chair beside the stove. "We've got somewhere to go today, little one. It just came up, and we can't refuse to go, I'm afraid." Tori's eyebrow scrunched up but she finished her breakfast and they all got dressed before leaving the house.
Cat and Robbie ran inside happily when Jason and Molly opened the door and Sikowitz spoke quietly with them while Tori was dragged inside by Cat. "Tori, come on, play with us!" The redhead enticed Tori to chase her, shrieking and giggling, around the kitchen table until they collapsed in a pile.
Tori huffed as Cat sat on her back and pulled on her hair, jabbing her hips with her heels. "Giddyup, Tor! You're a horse, come on, run!" Tori shook her head and tried to dislodge Cat, but the redhead just leaned over her and wrapped her arms around her bucking torso until Tori gasped and laid flat on the wood. "Oops, I think I broke Tori."
Molly stood in the doorway and shook her head at Tori's flushed face, strands of hair sticking to her cheeks and her limbs splayed across the floor. "Kitty, you might want to get off your sister so she can breathe."
Cat rolled off Tori and laid on her back beside the brunette and smiled apologetically, her missing tooth and pigtails completing her innocent image. "Sorry Tori! Are you fixed now? Can you be my horse again?" Tori shook her head vehemently and pushed off the floor to run for the door and the safety of Jason's arms, hiding behind his legs as Cat ran after her, all smiles and bright eyes again. "Come on, Tor, please!"
"Tio, save me!" Tori grabbed Jason's pant leg and almost climbed up him as the redhead bore down on her.
Jason stooped to grab Cat, swinging her up into the air before taking her in his arms and scrapping his scruff across her cheek playfully. "Not so fast, red. Your sister needs to go for a while with your papa. What do you say we go see what Aunt Molly and your brother are up to?"
Cat wrapped her arms around his neck and nodded. "Okay, Uncle Jason. Bye, Tor! Don't forget us, papa! You promised we could practice today, remember?" Her eyes widened and she slapped a hand over her mouth, looking terrified.
Sikowitz covered up her blunder as he reached in to tweak her pigtail. "We'll practice when we get back, alright, Kitty? Remember what I told you?"
"Sorry, papa. I didn't mean to."
Her lower lip quivered and she looked ready to cry until he kissed her forehead and patted her head. "It's okay, Kitty. No harm done." Jason nodded and said goodbye to them as he walked inside with Cat and shut the door.
Tori looked up at Sikowitz, taking his hand to lead him off the porch. "Where are we going?"
"We have to go to Jade's house for a while, little one."
Tori stopped walking, nearly falling over as Sikowitz kept moving until he looked back. "But...n-no. I don't want..." Her eyes welled up with tears and she bit her lower lip to keep the tears at bay. It had been a couple weeks since Pru's death but she still felt it keenly, even with the help of the crystal on her thumb. "Don't wanna go there. I...it's not...please..." She looked down and away to swipe at her eyes with her fist and let her hair curtain between them. "It hurts."
"I'm sorry, little one, but we have no choice." Sikowitz bent one knee to take Tori into his arms and cradled her close as they walked down the street, listening to her quiet sniffs and feeling his collar slowly grow damp.
Someone called his name as they approached the West's house, windows still draped with black, and he turned to see a tall, lean man with a briefcase walking up to them. "Mr. Sikowitz? My name is Lane, I am reading Pru's will today and wrote the letter to you. I'm sorry that I had to contact you, but it has to be done." He looked over at Tori, her face still sunk into his shoulder, and his eyes softened. "I'm very sorry. I think this is best for everyone, though."
He led the way to the front door and let Sikowitz inside first, removing his hat as he entered. "This way; I'll be reading it in the drawing room." They walked down a hallway and through a large set of doors to find several other occupants in the cushy seats scattered throughout the room.
Thomas' bulk filled a chair, his dark eyes sweeping over the new arrivals to settle on the back of Tori's head. He stood and pointed a finger at Sikowitz, advancing threateningly on the younger man. "What is that gypsy doing here? I will not have her in my home, have I not made this clear! Get out of my house, you flea infested!-"
"Mr. West, I will not condone this behavior! Sit down and compose yourself!" Lane barked at Thomas and the man was so surprised that he obeyed immediately, taking a seat on the edge of a table. His face grew red and he opened his mouth to retort but Lane cut him off before he could begin.
"Not one word, Mr. West. I understand that you're still grieving over your wife, but this girl has as much right to be here as you do right now." Thomas' eyes narrowed but he remained silent, staring holes into Tori's forehead as she looked around the room.
Books lined two walls and a third was bright with sunlight that streamed through large windows. A fireplace sat in the middle of the last and several chairs were placed around it with a low table in front. Sikowitz gave Thomas a wide berth as he walked toward that part of the room, setting Tori on the loveseat and sitting beside her. She glanced over portraits of people that seemed to glare at her and turned her attention to Lane as he strode in front of the empty fireplace.
"Alright then. Everyone necessary is present, correct? Victoria Vega, Erwin Sikowitz, Joseph West, Jadelyn West, and Thomas West. Good, then I'll begin." Tori's eyes roamed the room when she heard Jade's name and she found her sitting off to one side with her younger brother. Their eyes locked and she offered a tiny smile that wavered only slightly. Jade's lips lifted in a ghost of a smile as her arms tightened around her brother, both kids dwarfed by the large armchair they sat in.
Thomas walked between them and stood behind the chair, his hands kneading the fabric as he watched everyone with dark eyes. "Go on then, man. Get on with it." Lane ignored Thomas' sneering aside, taking a pair of bifocals from his breast pocket and opening a folder.
He cleared his voice and began reading the will, pacing in front of them as he spoke. "To Victoria Vega, I wish her to have several items of mine on my passing. One jade bracelet with silver etchings, one silver ring inlaid jade stone, two pair of earrings-"
"That creature will not have anything of my wife's, I forbid it!" Thomas' fist thumped against the back of the chair heavily and startled Jade. She jumped and slid off the furniture with Joseph in her grip still, backing away from her father as he raged. "That little piece of filth is not to have anything of hers, it belongs to myself to do with as I please!"
"Mr. West, if you do not compose yourself, I will have you removed and ask one of your servants to bear witness to the reading of her will."
"You cannot do this, I won't allow it! My wife has no right to do this; as her husband, I take control of her possessions." Thomas looked smug and crossed his arms victoriously, standing arrogantly behind the chair and staring down his nose.
Lane snorted quietly and barely refrained from rolling his eyes as he took off his bifocals. "Mr. West, simply because she married you does not mean she immediately lost all of her rights. She still retained the right to much of her property; anything that was not written over to you in your marriage agreement remained hers, and anything that was given freely to her by yourself or anyone else after you were married remained in her possession. She could do whatever she wanted to with those things, and she has." He waved the will in the air and turned his back on Thomas, replacing his glasses to continue reading while the patriarch stood in sullen silence.
Tori skipped ahead of Sikowitz, singing to herself and picking up small rocks as she went. "Sikowitz, is this good?"
He glanced at the handful of stones in her palm and nodded. "Alright, here; I'll show you first, then you try." He crouched before her and she laid the stones in his palm. Sikowitz picked one up and held it between his fingers for Tori to see. "Start with one, alright?"
His eyes flashed silver for a moment before the stone lifted into the air and he laid his hand flat so it would make slow rotations above it. "Once you can make the stone do circles without it wobbling or falling off your hand, add another." He tossed another stone from his other palm and caught it in the palm that the stone was circling above, all without disturbing the rotation of it, and smiled down at Tori.
"You're showing off, Sikowtiz!"
"Maybe I am, little one." Sikowitz laughed and added the second stone to the rotation. "Watch this."
Tori looked on with wide eyes as the stones changed their pattern and began doing figure eight's, narrowly missing each other in the middle. "Wow! I wanna try!" She took a stone from his palm and set in her smaller one, setting her jaw as she focused on it.
A thin ring of silver appeared around her iris as the stone shakily floated off her palm and began to do wobbly, uneven circles over her hand and she scowled when it began to drift away from her. "Get back here!" She stomped her foot and the stone seemed to hover in place for a second before shooting back toward her. Tori squealed and ducked as the stone zinged over her head, embedding itself in the dirt behind her.
Sikowitz laughed and let the stones fall back into his hand as he reached down and hauled Tori to her feet. "A little too much power, little one. You have to use just enough to make them make them pattern, but not so much that they do that." He gave her his handful of stones and she curled her fingers around them. "Keep ahold of those stones and practice with them whenever you can, okay?"
"Yeah, but I wanna be able to do it like you, Sikowitz!"
Tori pouted and Sikowitz chuckled, stooping to pick her up and set her on his hip. "You'll be just as good as I am if you practice, little one. Everything worthwhile takes time to perfect, you can't rush things." Tori nodded and he set her down again. "Alright, let's go get your brother and sister, you can show them your new trick."
"Yay!" Tori ran ahead of him toward town and he shook his head. "Going to town, getting Robbie and Cat! Got a trick to show them, got a trick to show them!"
Tori ran into the schoolhouse and dragged Sikowitz's messenger bag over to his desk; she had insisted that she was tough enough to do it. Sikowitz trailed after her, shaking his head as the books and papers bumped along the wooden floor. Tori panted as she set it beside his desk, fanning herself with her cap and wiping her forehead. "Whatcha got in there, Sikowitz? Rocks?"
"Oh yes, little one. Big rocks that I'm going to make you practice with." Tori looked horrified and he laughed, ruffling her hair as he sat behind his desk and grabbed the satchel, pulling a couple books from within. "Don't worry, I'm joking."
"Aw, that's no fair! I still can't get them to do what I want." She pulled the stones from her pocket and set one on her palm, watching it levitate above her hand and spin lazily in place. She scowled and pushed more of the heat through her body, trying to force the stone to do a circle. It twisted faster in place and whizzed over Sikowitz's head to thunk against the wall and fall to the floor.
"You're trying too hard, Tori. You need to relax and just let it come to you. Don't try and force the stone to spin; you have to kind of...coax it, I guess. Stones are hard, solid, right?" Tori nodded and quirked her head to the side, not quite sure where he was going. "So, since they're so hard, you can't make them do anything they don't want to. You have to persuade them to do what you want."
"Kind of like with Jade? She doesn't do anything unless she wants to, so she's like a stone?"
Sikowitz laughed and ruffled her hair. "That's a very good analogy, little one. So how do you get Jade to do something she doesn't want to?"
Tori thought and her eyes lit up. "I ask her really nice and do this!" She turned wide amber eyes on him, the gold flecked orbs innocent and puppy like.
"Where'd you learn that?"
"Cat taught me! She says it works all the time on Robbie!"
"Oh, does she now?"
Tori nodded and skipped out to wait for her friend to arrive. Jade always came a few minutes early so they could talk and play, although lately she had been noticeably lackluster and quiet. In the month following Pru's death, Sikowitz had watched Jade's normally assertive and confident demeanor shift to a quiet and submissive one. Tori usually managed to pull Jade from her thoughts, but there still remained a shadow in her eyes that his oldest couldn't brighten.
He shook his head and turned to the papers in his hold until several older kids came in and greeted him. He asked a couple of them to set out the primers and paper and went out to find Tori and Jade, venturing behind the building where he almost always heard quiet giggles and soft chatter coming from.
He frowned as he drew closer to the tree they frequented, finding only one pair of bare feet dangling down. "Tori? What are you doing here by yourself? Where's Jade?" He stood beneath her and she looked down at him with sad eyes and a trembling lip.
"I don't know. She's always early, but she still hasn't come yet." Sikowitz reached up and Tori slid off the branch into his arms. "What if she's sick? Can I go see her, Sikowitz?"
"After school, little one. If she is sick, she won't be going anywhere today." Tori nodded unhappily and squirmed from his grasp, walking by herself around the building and inside to sit at her desk with her head down and hair curtaining to hide her face. Sikowitz began the lesson a few minutes later and kept shooting her concerned looks throughout the morning, releasing them once lunch came and watching her slink outdoors after everyone else had left.
Tori took her apple and rolled it in her palm as she walked outdoors, avoiding the groups of kids in favor of their tree. She had just settled into the V with her back against the trunk when she heard footsteps fast approaching.
"Hey, gypsy girl! Come down, I got something I wanna tell you!" She looked down and saw a familiar head of blonde hair framing a round face and wide, arrogant blue eyes staring up at her. "Well, are you deaf too? I got something to tell you!"
The girl put her hands on her hips as though that would intimidate Tori into coming down, but the brunette just rolled her eyes and bit into her apple. She heard the girl huff below her as she chewed and nearly missed her next words as she bit into the fruit again.
"You're a coward without her around, aren't you? You're scared of me 'cause you don't have her here to protect you." Tori nearly spit her food out, head swiveling to look at the blonde in disbelief. "Yeah, you won't do anything without her here 'cause you're just a big old coward!"
Tori's hands shook and a stray breeze tossed her hair about her head and sent the leaves shaking against each other. The blonde held her hair back as the wind buffeted her but held her ground, a dare in her cornflower eyes.
Tori shut her eyes as she fought back the rising heat in her chest and slowly descended the tree, standing in front of the girl with her apple clasped tightly in one hand. "I'm not afraid of you."
The girl sneered and looked Tori up and down, her shiny shoes and new dress in sharp contrast to Tori's bare toes peeking out from under her play worn pants and light shirt with its sleeves rolled up. "You don't know who I am, or you would be. My name's Alicia Tully, my daddy owns the hotel and tavern in town. I've got three older brothers too, and they don't like people who pick on me either. If you don't do what I say, I'll tell them you make fun of me and pull my hair and they'll come after you."
She stood arrogantly with an anticipatory gleam in her eye and Tori seethed. "No, I won't! I'm not scared of you or your family; I can look after myself."
"You can't do anything without that other girl with you, you're just a crybaby." Tori curled her fist and lowered her face, nails carving into the skin of the apple. "Crybaby, crybaby! Whatcha gonna do, go cry to teacher and tell on me? You're a tattletale, too! Come on tattletale, go tell Mr. Sikowitz you're a crybaby."
A malevolent expression curled her lip and twisted her features. "I'll tell her that you're a crybaby, too. She won't like you then, she'll be friends with me and no one will like you anymore. I bet she only stays with you 'cause she feels sorry for you.
"She probably tells her family all about the stupid crybaby gypsy that hangs off her and laughs about you! I bet her mommy laughed and called you stupid, too!" The apple fell from Tori's hand as she dashed forward with a cry, eyes feral and teeth bared as the wind kicked up dust behind her.
Whoa, shit just got real. What's gonna happen? Only I know *snickers* You're gonna hafta wait and find out next week on...How the Worl-wait, wait wait! Wrong title, my bad. Next time, on Everyday Magic!
Till then, reviews are like presents, guys! They are lovely surprises, so don't forget to leave one! Ciao!