A/N: Okay. Let's face it. I SUCK at time management. (My local library will vouch for that, I'm still paying off a very embarrassingly large overdue fee for books I never got around to returning...)
This chapter isn't particularly long but it's by no means short...
The real action starts next chapter, which I pray will be out only shortly after my birthday (February 14)...
DISCLAIMER: I don't own any book called or similarly named "1001 Ways to Creatively Disclaim a Franchise You Do Not Own", so... it's disclaimed. Deal with it.
Jen surveyed her surroundings once more. The girls - okay, including herself - were buzzing around, changing into pajamas and night gowns and setting up the place for the 'ultimate sleep-over', as Karen had bluntly phrased it.
"I brought the chips and soda!" Jade called out, stopping for a moment from rummaging through her bag.
"I brought the music!" Rose hollered, brandishing a small, pink music player. She popped in her own earphones and started browsing through the digital library.
"I brought the movies!" Toni announced, plopping a stack of DVDs on a nearby sofa.
"We have the make-up!" Kori and Raven called. Kori held a black pouch by the string, tips of brushes peeking out. Raven herself held tubes and sticks of cosmetic products.
Silence. Stares of disbelief. You get the gist of it.
Jen was the first to find her voice. "Raven... you..." she floundered for words. "...make-up?"
"The world's goin' ta end soon," Toni said with a shake of her head.
Raven shrugged. "It's once and only once." Her voice turned from nonchalant to serious. "Nothing leaves this room, agreed?"
The girls nodded hastily, and resumed the preparations.
"I brought the extra pillows!" Tara declared. Giggling, she threw them at Kori, who let out a muffled scream.
"Oh," Kori cried, barely stifling a laugh herself, as she wriggled out of the small mountain of pillows. "It's on!"
Kori swiftly grabbed a pillow and aimed for Tara, who was already scrambling to get away. She leaped on her friend - it didn't hurt to be able to fly - and...
...she started tickling her like crazy.
Tara's screams could easily have been misunderstood, but luckily there was no one to misunderstand.
Well, perhaps William, but...
Jade shrugged, and she tossed a pillow in Jen's face. The pillow glowed pink, and an explosion of feathers went flying everywhere. Jen and Jade shared a look, before erupting in laughter. Toni and Rose, who were also covered in feathers, soon joined in the peals of laughter.
Karen grinned, and she threw a pillow at Rose, who was busy trying to shake away her feathers.
Kole walked through the French doors hesitantly, before being greeted by a flying pillow.
Karen's eyes widened in shock, and she fluttered to the door. "Aw, hon', are you okay? I didn't mean to-"
In the background, the girls were roaring with laughter.
The girl threw them a mock-glare. "It's not like I meant to do it!" she cried in defense. She turned back to the girl lying on the ground. "Does it hurt, Kole?"
Shakily, Kole stood up and gave Karen a disoriented thumbs-up sign. "S'kay, I'm okay...I'm not hurt." She massaged her forehead. "Although you neglected to ask where it hurts."
"W-Where?" Karen asked, grabbing Kole's arm to give support.
"In my dignity," she drawled, grinning slightly.
Jade tossed her a chocolate kiss which she thankfully caught. "I suppose it's nothing some chocolate can't fix?"
"And a good flick?" Toni added, waving a random DVD from her stack.
Kole blinked, and shrugged with a big grin. "No, I guess not."
It's a vicious game. Friends will become enemies and enemies will be converted into friends. Some will stoop low and resort to trickery in order to succeed. With a precious prize at stake, this is no time for half-way measures.
"Hey, Al," Richard called. "We'll be playing paintball for a while in the arena if you need us, okay?"
"Certainly, Master Richard," Alfred called back from presumably the kitchen area.
Isaiah let a low whistle escape his lips as he stepped inside the huge indoor arena in the basement of Wayne Manor. "Must be nice to be rich."
Joseph nodded in agreement. "Mr. Wayne knows what he's doing with his life."
"Okay!" Wally clapped his hands to call attention. "You have voted for I and Dickie-boy over there as leaders. He chose the blue team so I took the red team." He turned to Richard. "Chose your men wisely."
Richard crossed his arms. "Gar."
Wally met his gaze. "Vic."
"Roy."
"Isaiah."
"Joey."
Wally scowled. "Garth."
Garth frowned, walking over to the red team's side. Why was he always last? He could control the ocean! He was prince of the forsaken sea!
Richard rolled his eyes. "We'll still kick your sorry butts out of this arena and to the pizza place to get our prizes."
"'nough talk," Vic interjected, raising blue and red colored cloths. "Take these and slap them on somewhere we can see 'em."
One by one, he tossed paintball guns to his companions.
Richard looked at Wally. "I say we play centerflag."
Wally shrugged. "Sounds good." Inside, he was already picturing victory. It would be a cinch to grab that flag-
Joseph tapped on his leader's shoulder, signing something. Richard nodded, unable to keep the smirk off his face. "Wally, Joseph and the others agree that there will be no powers."
The speedster's face fell. "B-But!"
"No powers," Richard repeated, stifling a triumphant laugh.
"Damn it, Dick, this is why we were granted these powers!" Wally protested. "For paintball!" At Richard's pointed stare, he frowned. "And the greater good."
"No powers."
Wally glared at him, before whistling, calling for a huddle. "Here's the plan, guys."
Each of his men - Vic, Isaiah and Garth - leaned in closer. "There are only a few of us so we're going to have to divide tasks equally."
"We're gonna start off with the slow wolf play." He glanced at Isaiah. "Cracker is our wolf; you'd better run to a safe spot - try it behind that artificial piece of greenery."
Next, he turned to Vic with a grin. "You're my man, Vic," he began, and he slung a shoulder around the boy. "We're gonna maneuver our way to the center, but we've got to stick together. This is a big arena-" Vic nodded. Some cities weren't as big as this space under Bruce's mansion. "-and our opponents have a couple of advantages. Minor setbacks."
Lastly, he turned to Garth. "You're the defense, you're our cover." He stared at Garth seriously, clamping a hand on his shoulder. "Good luck."
Garth scowled. "So I'm just a sacrificial offering?"
Wally turned, dismissing his statement with a wave of a hand.
"So what do you guys want to do now?"
Kole swung the door open to her bedroom, and stepped inside. She flopped onto her bed tiredly.
"Um..." she noticed the lack of noise. "Guys?"
"Your room is as big as my entire apartment," Jen said flatly.
"It's much larger than my own bedroom, that's for sure," Kori agreed.
"And, I hate to admit it, it's so beautiful," Raven conceded.
Kole flushed. "Guys, we've been through this. Let's just get this sleepover started, shall we?"
Karen grinned, striding over to Kole's bed. "The girl's right, y'all. Let's get this going on!"
The group looked at each other silently, then one by one, they broke out into grins.
Jen shook off her bedroom slippers and hopped on Kole's bed. "Alright," she began, clapping her hands for attention. "Toni, choose two movies for us."
"Right, chief," Toni said, using two fingers for a small salute.
"I was thinking that we could start this with a game," Jen said, smiling a little.
Tara shot up. "If you say anything remotely similar to Truth or Dare, I swear, I will wring your nec-"
Jen cut in quickly. "Hell no. I wanted to do-" she paused for dramatic effect "-Murder in the Dark!"
Murmurs broke out. Kori stared at Jen. "That sounds... ominous."
"Trust me, it's cool," Jen assured. "We need a deck of cards for this." She glanced at Kole.
"Er, I don't know, I don't think we have any cards here..."
Jen looked at her flatly. "You have a 72-room mansion-"
"76," Kole corrected absently.
"-and you don't have a deck of cards?" Jen finished, her hands on her hips.
Kole shrugged. "It... never came up. We never needed cards."
Jade rummaged in her bag, and tossed a cardboard box to Jen. "Always knew that that would come in handy."
Jen regarded her skeptically, but raised a hand to catch the box. "Thanks."
Toni scooted over to Jade. "And since when 'ave you been carrying that, love?"
"It's a long story that I'd rather not tell," Jade said nonchalantly. "But it somehow involves quick-drying cement and a hole in a long-abandoned mansion."
The sorceress clapped her hands again. "Right. So we have the cards... um, I think we have to shuffle..."
"I'll do it," Rose said, smiling kindly.
"Wait," Jen said, frowning. "Er, I think I'm supposed to pick out some cards..."
The sorceress quickly flipped through the deck, picking out randomly one ace, one king, one jack, one queen and four number cards, the numbers 2, 6, another 2, and a 3. "Yep, I'm sure this time... this is how to play." She shifted in her sitting position. "So... please pick a random card," she declared, tossing the cards and leaving them to fall in disarray in the middle of the room. Hesitantly, each girl took their own card.
"The Ace is the murderer," Jen began, ticking off each one on her fingers, "the Jack is the detective, the King is the detective in case the Jack dies, and the Queen is detective in case both the King and the Jack die. The number cards just walk around, and the only thing you have to worry about is..." she smiled in an unfathomable manner. "...if you're the Ace."
Toni and Kori, naturally being the most expressive, worriedly looked down to check their cards, but were wise enough not to make any further reaction.
Jen hopped off her place on the bed and walked over to the light switch. "So..." Her index finger hovered over the switch. "...shall we begin?"
The room was flooded with darkness.
A/N: Uwaa... no... no more brain power... I just typed this up around two hours ago... FORGIVE ME...
Er, as always (I see no reason to break tradition), please review! Any suggestions and comments are welcome; tell me what YOU'd like to see happening to the MHSL gang!