Chapter Eleven

11:23PM , Saturday

"I hate myself."

That was the first sentence in Linda's journal that night. She was sitting on the back of the Leesburg High school bus together with the other new girls who made it in the squad, while Nicole and her gang sat near the front giggling. They would whisper at each other, look at the newbies and would break out laughing.

Linda was thankful she brought a long her journal for the trip. It's the only thing that' keeping her sane. Earlier she was thinking of not bringing it with her. She wanted to talk to the other newbies, but it seems to her like they were all busy doing their own thing.

The girl sitting new to her was praying the rosary, probably scared because Nicole announced to them before leaving the school grounds that this trip would be the squad's 'surprise'. She said this would be 'the test.'

"Hooray." She remembered Lena uttering with pure sarcasm under her breath. It was a faint utter of course. The others didn't hear it but being a teenage alien that she is, Linda heard it clearly.

"I hate myself." Linda wrote down for the second time. "Wanna know why? Well for starters, right now, were on our way to gawd knows where for this freakin' initiation for the squad. Nicole kept referring to the trip as a 'surprise' when everyone knows that this would lead to an initiation, obviously. Then there's that tragic investigation with Lucy Lane! Ok, Ok so it was partly my fault because I was the one who dragged her into investigating Dylan Jacobs' death. I gave her the info I read from Ashley Morgan's police file reports and she went all giddy already. She said that's enough for her to make her entry for the school newspaper. "

Linda flipped to the second page of the journal and continued writing.

"Of course I had to tell her that's not enough. As if I'm just going to stop there! I know a lot already and I'm way certain that who ever killed Dylan is still out there looking for his/her/its next victim. Meteor rocks, Mutation, the only probable cause, I'd have to say."

Dylan was a buff guy, probably one of the biggest guys in Leesburg High. Linda reckoned that no one can take him down like that, except for his fellow team mates in football. As far as she knows the other guys in the team loved Dylan Jacobs. She asked around and the guys would say the same thing, he was always the charismatic and funny one in the team.

Kurt Wu, one of Dylan's closest friends in the team, said that he doesn't have the slightest idea who would kill Dylan. Then after a few seconds he took it back and blamed the chess and science club because Dylan would usually pick on the nerds for laughs.

One look at the members of the chess and science club and Linda couldn't help but doubt if these guys are really capable of murdering the guy. But she thought of the powers of the Meteor rocks and what it can do to ordinary people.

"I took Lucy for a small trip down town to an address that kept popping up on Dylan Jacobs' records. The same address I found in Ashley's police report. Mrs. Black's house. It was a huge French style villa with a perfectly manicured front yard. I've surveyed the place before and as it turns out it seemed empty. "

Linda penned carefully.

"Lucy was of course against my idea of going inside the house to check for clues or some sort about Dylan's connection to Mrs. Black."

"I don't know what planet you came from, but in our world this is called breaking in." Lucy objected whispering, while Linda was checking for an open window they can climb into. "And we could get in jail because of this!"

"Were not breaking in, were just - gonna look around. That's all." Linda reasoned out heading for the back door of the house. Lucy lagged behind obviously terrified to get caught.

Linda twisted the brass knob carefully. It was locked.

"There. It's locked now let's go home." Lucy pleaded turning to leave.

With a little effort she twisted the knob again, this time using her strength. The door knob spring snapped in an instant and she was able to open the door.

"No it isn't." Linda advised plainly with a smile.

Linda could remember Lucy's face that time. And it makes her wanna laugh. She drew a smile on that page of her journal and continued jotting her story.

"Magnificent Italian furniture filled the house. Everything was strangely in order. Not a spot, not a dust can be traced around the house. Probably a care taker came recently to tidy up the place. Lucy was too chicken to come upstairs so I left her to check the living room." Narrated Linda in her journal. "Unfortunately we ended up going home with nothing. All we found were pictures of Mrs. Black with her nephew, Dylan. Lucy and I are back to square one again. Who killed Dylan Jacobs?"

She suddenly felt like someone's looking at her. Linda looked up and pivoted her head to check who it is. She met Lena Thorul's eyes. Lena eyes swiftly looked away, pretending to admire the scenery outside, which is weird considering that it's dark and they can only see silhouettes of trees and small houses outside the bus window.

"What does she want from me?" She scribbled on her journal. "Ever since that thing at the parking lot happened, she's been giving me that strange look. Could it be possible that she knows what really happened back there? And that she saw the entire thing? Gawd I hope not. I could already see the Leesburg Tribune headline, 'ALIEN GIRL IN LOCAL HIGHSCHOOL CAUGHT'."

Lena sat quietly at the far end of the bus. She sat right beside the window where she could look outside and 'entertain' herself. There was no way in hell she'd talk to these local kids. What are they gonna talk about? The recent Ana Sui and Vera Wang collection?

"Pfff!" She sounded, shaking her head. She doubts if one of these newbies even heard of those brilliant designers. Maybe mention Sears and they'd be all familiar with the clothing line. The tragedy.

One kid in particular baffles Lena though. There's something different with that Danver's girl. Having a small background at witchcraft, Lena was able to read Linda's aura. She could sense an air of mystery in her.

Lena's memory suddenly shifted from the events that happened at the school parking lot. She was on her way to meet Jose, her chauffeur, when those retards tried to carry her off to somewhere. When she fought back, meaning she kicked, clawed, and mostly screamed, her abductors had no choice but to shut her up. Lena could still smell the nauseating aroma of that chemically drenched hanky.

The strange thing is she doesn't have the slightest idea why those guys would try to kidnap her. Then again, she's filthy rich and there's that incident with one of her abductors at the school cafeteria, Harold Fierce, when she told him that he is so beneath her and to just bug off because she's not interested.

It was cruel of her. Lena knows that. But hey, the guy was persistently annoying. No means no.

When she got home that afternoon, she immediately phoned her father to tell him of the attempted kidnapping. He was alarmed. Well, at least she reckoned he sounded alarmed. She wanted to tell him how scared she was and that she needs him right now. Lena could've done that if Lionel wasn't in such a hurry because of an on going meeting.

She over heard her father's perky sounding secretary in Metropolis saying that a certain 'Lex' has already been waiting in the conference hall for about an hour and was demanding to talk to him at once.

"Screw him." Lena thought. He must be a freaking important associate because he's heard of his name before. Mostly from her mom. They would talk about him when they thought she couldn't hear them.

That 'Lex' must probably be a rich guy, considering that he had tried buying out his father's factory in Smallville a lot of times now.

"Smallville." She mumbled. She's been hearing an awful lot of this place from her parents when she was growing up. Lena doesn't know much about it really, all she heard from her father is it's a ghastly small town right outside of Metropolis.

"Just like Midvale." Lena thought. Weird enough, that's where they are right now.

She snapped out of her thoughts and returned back to the horrible scene inside the bus. There's the newbies again doing their own thing with the cheering squad 'legends' sitting up front giggling. Lena's eyes then traveled to a girl sitting at her opposite side of the bus by the window, Linda Danvers. Based from what she can tell she was deep in her thoughts scribbling down things on her notebook.

From amongst the people inside the bus, Lena reckoned that Linda would be the only person worth talking to. That is if she's ever forced to talk to anyone that night.

Now, she's not becoming a softy in any aspect. She still thinks she better, prettier and way cooler than anyone in town. Its just that ever since that Danvers girl saved her ass, she somehow felt obliged to be nice to her.

Lena may be a stuck up bitch but she knows how it is to be grateful. They were teaching these kinds of mushy things in boarding school, maybe something stuck.

Then all of a sudden Linda glanced her way and she just had to look away. What was she suppose to do? Smile? Wave hello?

The bus finally came to a complete halt after 10 minutes. Nicole ordered everyone to step down of the bus and to just leave their things there. She let them know that the bus will be leaving and will not be coming back for another two hours.

Fear was evident in the faces of some of the newbies while the older members of the squad had grins pasted on their lips. It was dark all around, hollow old trees where lined up everywhere and a strange cold mist filled the air. If it weren't for the flashlights everyone was holding, they'd barely see where they're heading.

As if it's not enough to spook the girls out, the squad blind folded the newbies.

Nicole's gang guided the girls towards their next destination. They went past a rusty arc that says 'Welcome to Forrest Green'. It seemed like the place must be some sort of a picnic ground or something way back a gazillion years ago.

After quite a long trek, they finally settled on a spot where the 'surprise' will begin. They were asked to form a straight line and face right. The squad assisted in removing their blind folds.

"Surprise!" Nicole's gang yelled in unison.

Shock registered on the newbies faces when they found themselves before a misty mud filled swamp.

There was a slight commotion for a moment amongst the newbies.

Nicole disregarded the uproar and continued with her speech about the initiation. She said it would help them form a bond between their fellow cheerleaders and this is a test of loyalty and friendship.

"There's no way in hell that I'm gonna there." Lena voiced out, bravely, to everyone's surprise.

"Then you can always leave and walk home Thorul." Louise Menken advised with an annoying fake smile.

Almost everyone wanted to back out but the thought of hanging out and being with the popular crowd was too strong for them to resist. They figured that if it's not safe, Nicole wouldn't ask them to do it.

The small hairs at the back of Linda's neck stood up. She could sense something's about to happen, something terrible.

If she'd walk out now, there's no telling what could happen to these girls. She's their only hope from whatever's lurking inside that dark swamp.

Only she can protect them.