I made a small representation of Darcy's hi-tech watch. Please visit my tumblr if anyone wants to see it: another-stark-one
Power Over Intellect
A month has passed, and the suspense has been gnawing every bit of her sanity. The process was excruciatingly slow and Darcy grimaced at this new kind of torture. She didn't know if she could keep up with it any longer. She let herself fall onto the throw pillows on the carpet and blankly stared at the fireplace in front of her. Ivy wasn't there to accompany her in the library, she had better things to do than Darcy lazily mopped around during her free period. Squeezing the cotton covers of the pillow, she groaned in frustration.
Recalling her recent encounter with the famous Special Star, Alex Mayr, she wanted to hit herself for not thinking. If she analyzed her actions more, she would've decided to go back to her room and talk to JARVIS safely. With that, she wouldn't have to be found out. And if she hadn't been found out, she wouldn't have the impulse to just run away.
Yes, she ran away. Before the boy could answer her question, she dashed down to the second floor to run towards Ivy's room. Before making some excuse to why she just had a conversation with her watch, she ran. Darcy didn't have the full understanding of the situation. How long have Alex been listening? Did he find out about her true identity? Did she just jeopardize the one secret Tony and Pepper worked so hard to keep?
She doesn't know. That was what irking her the most. That was what has been eating her slowly. She doesn't know. And for one week, there has been no word of him. There also has been no word that leaked out that she was actually Tony Stark's daughter.
Darcy expected that he was using it for blackmail. She has seen it all the time with Tony and Pepper. But the problem was… the blackmailer wasn't there. She has not heard anything from him. She hadn't even seen him after that day.
She sighed loudly, exasperated. It has only been a month since she was exposed to the outside world and she hoped to encounter more brilliant endeavors. She saw herself scavenging through the old knowledge embedded deep inside the books inside the library. She dreamt of building new things, exploring every crevice of the vast world. And yet, she found herself lying down in the center of it, staring sadly at a contraption she had created.
Despite the overwhelming burden of her plight, the materials she had ordered from Tony were fortunately sent to her room the day after. Upon returning from her second day of school, a big cardboard box was waiting her on her bed. JARVIS notified her that Pepper stopped by personally during noon to drop off the materials. She attempted to forget about her problems and quickly pulled it towards her minuscule workshop. Her workshop was nothing like her father's. Inside the square room, a glass table was placed on all sides, packed with basic tools such as screwdrivers, wrenches, nuts and bolts. Apparently, she was too young to use a blowtorch.
Swiftly arranging the materials she received on her workshop table, she spent the week building her new device. Even with having to fail at the first two tries, she managed to modify noise-cancelling headphones to a super-spy gadget. She took apart the microphone system she acquired, and reassembled it on to the headphones, installing it on the exterior of each ear. She also altered her watch by adding an audio jack hole on the side allowing a 2.5 mm headphone jack to fit into it. The headphones looked like normal noise-cancelling headphones to any person, but once plugged in to her watch, she can control and change it to a noise-amplifier. She figured it would be quite useful to keeping unnecessary chatter from penetrating through her ear drums. She had been hearing it even since people found out she was a Special Star. They would talk about their skepticisms of her identity, even talk trash. Darcy couldn't believe that children her age were capable of trash-talk. Still flabbergasted, the noise-cancelling part of her invention was useful. Moreover, she used her headphones to hear more of this useless talk. If she was lucky, with a simple turn of the crown on her watch, she would catch Jeanne and her plots.
Jeanne. The moment she was shut down by some new girl from some unknown place, she planned many things to get back at her. Never wanting to feel humiliated again, she would concoct schemes to subjugate Darcy. There were inherently childish tactics, Darcy described, common for normal, jealous, spoiled brats. Jeanne planned to get her by trying to tape a note, 'Kick me' on her back. She tried putting a whoopee cushion on her seat. She also tried throwing a chalked up eraser at her, and even hid her belongings. One day, she got really crafty and hid her own bag in the closet and blamed it on Darcy to Ms. Brodie.
All of those failed, aided by Darcy's contraption. She was able to use its amplifying abilities to hear these plans of Jeanne's and avoid them. Well, counteract could be a better description. Before Jeanne could stick a note on her back, she already had a sign plastered on herself. Jeanne walked around the school for the whole day with an 'I love Darcy. Hug me.' on her back. Before Darcy could sit on a whoopee cushioned chair, Jeanne found herself sitting on a seat-full of whipped cream. Darcy was able to avoid the eraser throw, and even find her hidden belongings with ease. And even before Jeanne can tattle on Darcy for knowingly hiding her own things, they have already made their way back near Jeanne. And there were all thanks to her noise-cancelling/amplifying headphones.
She grinned quietly to herself, inwardly patting herself in the back for the clever feat. The headphones were extraordinarily useful and she was glad to have thought of it. Staring at it explicitly, she wondered the countless of purposes the device could give. She pondered if she can make them less ostentatious, less bulky, more covert. Maybe her father can help her with that. Consequently, she wondered if she can use them for other things besides counter-harassing Jeanne. Then within a flash of a second, something sparked in her.
Pushing herself up from the carpet, she grabbed her headphones. Sliding it over her ears, she snapped her fingers to check its noise-cancelling properties. Then pulling the jack and plugged it in on her watch. Turning the crown clockwise, she activated the amplifier. Afterwards, she turned the crown again counterclockwise to activate JARVIS. A blue line glowed on the black matted surface and after the startup, she leaned close to it and spoke, "JARVIS, how can I track the frequencies of a violin?"
The violin has four specific frequencies. The G3 has 196 Hz, the D4 has 293.7 Hz, the A4 has 440 Hz and the E5 note has 659.3 Hz frequency. Shall I set the amplifier to these specifications?
"Yes, thanks," Darcy responded, looking at the watch change its interface. The audio waves that showed JARVIS' speech began to fade on to black carbon fiber background, glowing dimly. Then two aquamarine arcs faded on to the surface. The arcs move as JARVIS changed the setting of her headphones. After finally adjusting the frequency to match a violin's, Darcy waited for a sign. Silence. The girl grimaced.
The microphone, Ms. Lewis, only has a capacity of 500 feet. I suggest we do a little reconnaissance of the building to improve results.
Nodding to herself, she gathered her things and marched towards the exit. Waving goodbye to Stan, she left the library with a mission.
Find Alex Mayr.
She figured that if he won't come and attack her, why not go and find him herself. She calculated that she'll have more advantage to the situation, popping in without a warning. As she sauntered around the third floor, she thought of ways of confronting the guy.
Darcy could threaten him using her father's power. Maybe ship him somewhere in Timbuktu.
No, that's cruel. She thought.
Maybe she should break his violin into pieces as a sign of superiority. Hit him where it hurts the most.
Again, brutally cruel… She peered into the doors of the music rooms, thinking that the music genius would naturally be in there, practicing. But found no one.
Maybe she could hack into his room and plant speakers that could play the Macarena all day long.
That's too much of a hassle. She scowled. The boy she was looking for weren't in any of the music rooms and she was hearing no hints of a violin playing. Scratching her head in aggravation, she decided to move up a floor and see if she could hear anything. Climbing the stairs towards the fourth floor, she slowly realized. The fourth floor was for science and math, there was no way a musical prodigy would spend his free period n this floor. No one would… except for her. She even recalled her friend, Ivy's, completely hatred for math. It was apparently Ivy's weakest subject, the strongest being art. After failing the first math test of year last week, Darcy encouraged Ivy to study with her. She looked for many ways to correlate math to art, so Ivy can get a better understanding of the subject. Skipping the fourth floor, she continued stepping up the stairs while grinning to herself. She'd do anything for her first friend.
Then suddenly, on her way up the fifth floor, she heard something zing on the back of her head. The sound was sharp, as if the sound waves just zoomed past her. She looked at her watch and saw the screen show a letter 'A.' The letter began switching to other letters, the frequency indicator going up and down like a rollercoaster as she heard more notes follow. Darcy could hear the scales of the violin go abnormally fast. The sound was incredulously crisp, and even with the quick arpeggios, each note was distinct.
Following the music, she found herself going down the steps to the fourth floor. Walking cautiously, she pressed the headphones closer to her ear to determine the source of the violin. Her heart thudded in suspense and anticipation as she made her way to an empty hallway. She looked around to see that most of the rooms weren't classrooms. Storage rooms, copy areas, offices and empty rooms composed the secluded corridor. She stepped in close to each door, seeing if the sound would grow louder. As she jumped from door to door, getting warmer to her target, she realized that the music was giving her goosebumps. The hairs on arms stood and chills flooded her spine. She had to give the guy props. His music is unbelievably flawless.
After checking six doors, she stopped her tracks in front of a storage room. A bronze plaque labeled the room as storage for math textbooks and other resources. Pressing her left ear very gently on the wood, she listened to hear any significant volume change. And she did. Throwing a fist in the air, she whispered, "Yeah!" in victory. She slid the headphones off and put it around her neck. Surprisingly, she didn't hear the music when she took off the amplifier. She put on the headphones again to check and she could hear the arpeggios again. Then she took them off one last time and smirked, "This guy soundproofed the room… Clever."
Reaching for the metal knob, she prudently checked if the door was open. To her luck, the knob slowly rotated open. Making sure the door doesn't creak; she gradually pushed the door back, millimeter by millimeter. The music began to reach her ears as she opened enough space to enter. Throwing another fist in the air, she smiled widely. She found Alex Mayr.
The room was extraordinarily small. Darcy felt that she could develop claustrophobia if she stayed inside the room any longer than necessary. Shutting the door surreptitiously, she found herself surrounded with stacks and stacks of math books. The entire four walls were covered by bookshelves, all contained countless of textbooks. Even the floor had boxes full of them, not much making a walking space. She looked behind her to see the back of the storage room covered entirely with egg cartons. She examined the wall closely, finding three layers of egg crates stacked on to each other. Two layers were made of foam, then surfaced with cardboard ones. She also scanned the room finding that every piece of the wall that weren't covered with books to be painstakingly covered with skillfully arranged egg crates. If she didn't hate the guy so much, maybe she'd give him a high five for ingenuity.
Hiding herself behind a tall stack of books, she moved her head to the right to see the source of the music. Alex was playing in front of the room's only window, his back facing her. Darcy computed that the guy was intensely into playing. His spine was ramrod straight like a ruler. But the ruler was softly swaying with the music, the bow smoothly gliding over the seemingly shining violin. The instrument scintillated with utter elegance and poise as the sunlight from the window glistened over it. She patiently waited for the song to stop, sliding down to the floor to sit. She hugged her knees and leaned her chin on top of them. She closed her eyes with her lips distorting to a frown. She had to admit, his music was incredibly, absolutely, exceedingly, eminently good. Jeanne was right. 'Awesome' doesn't cut it when describing the music she was hearing.
As the last vibrato stretched to an end, she heard him sigh. She loudly sighed back, her eyes still shut.
"I don't like you," she muttered loudly, just so he can hear her. After a stagnant pause, he answered back, voice low and monotonous. "How did you find me?" he asked.
Darcy didn't stand or move to face him. She merely took off the headphones around her neck and hung it on fingers to her right. "Noise-amplifying headphones." She stated coolly.
Another pause flooded the room, before he spoke again, "Neat. Did you make that?" Darcy found no trace of interest in his voice. It was very annoying.
"Yup," she answered stoically, "I can even change the frequencies and stuff…"
"Why did you need to find me?" he sat on a small pile of books and took out a small box of rosin.
"To see if your music lived up to its name…" she grumbled.
"And?" he asked emotionlessly while he ran the rosin up and down his bow.
"To be honest, your music annoyed me," she stated resignedly, slowly opening her eyes. Then with straight apathy she said, "Yes, your music annoyed me. It annoyed me because it was good. It was too good. Too good for its own good. Indescribably good. Annoyingly good. When I first heard the first part, you played it so solemnly. Solemnly means sadly, if you don't know. The beginning was slow and emotional. I had a mission, you know? I was gonna come in here and confront you, but then when I was walking in the hallway, with your violin ringing in my ears… I have to tell you I almost cried. That violin was overflowing with feelings. Then it got really fast and my heart beat with it. I even had goosebumps! I never have goosebumps! Then it got really soft and slow again but not sad anymore, almost happy and relaxing. Then it got fast again! But happy fast not angry fast, you know? I smiled at the end, if it makes you feel better. You're supposed me to make hate you, why are you making me smile. Yea that's why I hated your music. It made me hear heaven…. It was like heavens gates opened in my ears. Did I mention I hate you?" she said in one single breath. She found herself hyperventilating in her place. She groaned loudly and dropped her face on her knees, completely aggravated. She hated it when she rambled. It kept her from getting a point across. She wanted to be the confident one in the room. The superior one. The stronger one. But after that embarrassing moment, she was probably way down the emotional hierarchy. Alex Mayr knows she's the daughter of the famous Tony Stark and she completely made a fool of herself. If she couldn't confront him about it, she could've at least acted like a Stark. GAAH! She screamed inside.
"I won't tell anyone." She heard. Her neck snapped back right up, eyes widening in shock. "What?"
"I won't tell anyone about your secret." Darcy quickly put her headphones over her ears and turned on the amplifier. His words echoed through her brain like a tolling bell. Can she trust him?
"I don't hate you or anything," he sighed, "I don't really like you either. I don't care."
Darcy winced slightly. The phrase kind of hurt. Deep inside, she was somehow disappointed that she was the only one playing the game. The feelings were unrequited. Then she realized that all those days moping around, worried that he might spill her secret were a complete waste of time. The emotional outburst didn't have any point. Groaning again, she was irritated at herself.
"You're really not telling anyone?" she asked, making sure. She slowly stood and tilted her to look at him. He didn't look back, only focused on finishing one last coat of rosin. He merely nodded, still apathetic to the situation. Then Darcy slowly stepped out of the shadows, timid. She bit her lower lip as she took another step towards.
Alex stopped applying rosin on his bow, and mindlessly placed it inside his violin case. After shutting the case close, he turned his attention to the girl standing in front him. Darcy didn't say anything, and continued to stare. Silence flooded the room. Then she held out her right hand in front of her. The boy raised his eyebrow at her, puzzled.
Darcy then flashed him a gentle smile. If he held that much indifference to her secret, then there was no problem in trying to get to know him better. He gave an aloof air, stoic as his main façade. Her hand still suspended in air, she said, "Hi! I didn't introduce myself yet. I'm Darcy. Darcy Lewis. Special Star."
Seventy-five percent of her was expecting him to slap her hand away or maybe turn away with cold indifference. The rest hoped he'd take her hand.
Darcy could feel her arm cramping as she stood there with her hand out. With the silence that enveloped the room, she pondered how she would confidently go out of the room. After being humiliated like that, she didn't know how she would exactly muster confidence. She looked up at the ceiling and exhaled noisily. "This is so embarrassing, I don't know how to describe it," she groaned, "Was this how Jeanne felt when I put whipped cream on her chair?" she asked the ceiling. Giving up, she dropped her hand.
Well she thought she did.
A warm sensation encased her hand, saving it from falling. Darcy immediately dropped her head to face forward. Her mouth opened in astonishment. Slowly shaking it, the boy in front of her, smiled weakly.
"Alexander. Alexander Meyer." He muttered, and then he took his hand away and pushed it through his pocket, "Now tell me how you just prank Jeanne Delattre…
"You should've seen her face when I kept hugging her!" she exclaimed, "She kept saying get off me, get off me!" Darcy laughed loudly, sitting down in front of the stacks of books she was hiding in before. She crossed her legs and made herself comfortable. She had spent ten minutes explaining her past encounters with Jeanne. She didn't know why but when he asked about her pranks she just started telling it to him, no questions asked. His face was still wearing the same apathetic mask, but there was a speck of interest in his eyes. That alone made Darcy ramble about her tricks, attempting to spark more attention from him.
"So it's not Alex Mayr. You're not Austrian?" Darcy asked curiously. The boy only sighed in response. "Jeanne made that up…"
She looked at him, confused. "Aren't you two close? She always brags about you and stuff. Is that a nickname of something?"
He shook his head, "No, I only met her once."
"WHAT?" she shrieked, then quickly apologized when she saw Alex wince in irritation, "Explain."
Alex explained that he only met Jeanne when he was asked by the French ambassador to play for her birthday. Darcy deduced that somehow in that supercilious brain of hers concocted a fantasy that her prince charming was playing the violin for her and they fell in love. Alex was a full-blooded Austrian, hailing from Salzburg. He told Darcy that his mother was a concert cellist and his father was a music journalist. Their love story was awe-inspiring if they didn't separate when Alex was only 3. The father went off to travel the world to review more music and his mother sent him to a boarding school. She immediately thought of Tony. She have heard from her Uncle Rhodey that Tony was also sent to a boarding school. Tony didn't like boarding school. Maybe Alex feels the same.
"I've been trying to avoid her," he pointed out.
"Yeah I can see that. Can I give you a high-five for the soundproofing?" Darcy raised her palm up.
"No." he remarked. Her hand dropped. "This place is too small. And the temperature changes a lot; it's bad for my violin."
"You like playing that much, huh?" Darcy grinned.
"As much as I don't like Jeanne." Darcy's lips rounded to an 'o', feeling the burn of the insult. He really didn't like Jeanne. He called her clingy and annoying and for an 8-year old to say that, Jeanne must really be…something. Darcy shook her head resignedly. She was contented with the level of awkwardness between her and the boy. She wouldn't want to get on his bad side. The conversation turned to a stop and silence again filled the cramped room. Darcy checked her watch and saw that there's only twenty minutes for the period. She grabbed and bag pack and stood up. Clapping her hands to get his attention, she grinned, "Let's go find you a better room,"
"Alex Meyer, meet Stan the Library Man. Stan meet the Alex the other Special One," Darcy giggled. Alex stood beside her, hands inside his pockets and his violin case on his back. Stan leaned on his desk to look at the kid beside Darcy. He adjusted his golden colored sunglasses and put on a judging look. His white scruffy moustache wiggled, condescendingly looking up and down.
"You think you're so cool that you never had the nerve to come to the library, huh kid?" he huffed. Alex didn't answer. He only furrowed his eyebrows. Darcy noticed his irritation.
"Oh, he certainly has the attitude…" he breathed out, then turned to Darcy with a smile, "What do you need, Ms. Darcy?"
"I'm going to show Alex the restricted area." Darcy beamed, "I was wondering if he could have a key too…"
"I don't know about that, Darcy," Stan smirked, "I don't like the kid." Alex glowered at his remark, and Stan playfully glared back, "Look at you, boy. Can't even take a joke. Does sunshine make you angry?"
"Pleeeeeeeeeeeease?" Darcy pouted, "He needs a room to practice his violin and isn't the room soundproofed? Pretty please? I'll ask my mom to bring more mocha pastries."
Stan raised his eyebrow at her, "From Paris Baguette?"
"With less sugar, and more mocha," Darcy nodded. The old man put on a tender grin and nodded, "I'll see what I can do then, Darcy." The little girl squealed in delight, jumping up and down. After shouting her gratitude to Stan, she took Alex's hand and started pulling him towards the restricted area. The boy tried to free himself, protesting that he could walk by himself but unluckily to him, Darcy busied herself by rambling about how great the restricted area was and how he would love it. She still talked aimlessly even after reaching the mahogany doors of the room, truly excited. Taking out an old rusted key from her pocket, she unlocked the door and opened it with great energy. The boy was about to step inside himself, but Darcy forced him in again. Darcy grinned at the sight of his eyes widening a little awed by the grandiose library. Within a second, he recoiled back to his cool, aloof composure and set his violin down at the desk.
"You can come here anytime you want to play," Darcy blabbed, "I always here 2nd period, lunch, and after school. If you want the key just come and stop by Room 109, or ask Stan to open it. If I'm not there, then I'm here. Just knock two times and I'll open it. Maybe I'll give the key to you. Just give it to Stan when you come out. Also, sometimes my friend Ivy comes here, don't worry she's allowed, she's my friend. She's an artist, you know that? When she's not here, she paints in the art room. Oh, oh and most of the time I come here to read or work on my inventions. Yeah, I make stuff, like these headphones. Don't worry I won't be loud. I can't use a blowtorch anyway. Dad said no. Mom says I'm not old enough. Hey, do you want to play now? That's cool. You can play. The room is soundproof. Also I think the temperature is pretty stable in here. The school has to if they want to preserve the books, so you can keep your violin here if you want. You can also stay for another period because my English class is going here so yeah, it's cool."
"You're a loser." Alex stated, sighing almost in hopelessness, "You talk too much." He turned around to open his violin case. He rolled his eyes in disgust as he heard Darcy barked that it was going to be so much fun. The girl was too energetic for him. Too lively. He was used to quiet, the serenity. But then again, he was showed this room. And she was not entirely stupid and clingy, like Jeanne. Darcy was kind of normal… like a child.
Before Darcy could defend herself with a witty remark, a distant ringing sound emanated from the doors. The girl quickly put her bag pack on and walked towards him. She dug her hand into her pockets and grabbed something. Alex only observed as she placed the key on to the red velvet lining of his case.
"I have to go and meet up with Ivy for English. I'll be back though. Here's the key, don't lose it. I'll be outside, so when you're done, give it to me, okay?"
She huffed at him when she received no response and just turned away to exit.
"Okay, children, for this week I want you to pick any book in the library and do a small report on it. Title, setting, characters, plot, you know it. We'll be here all week so use your time wisely," Ms. Brodie clapped her hands to cue the children to move. Jeanne and her friends who sat on the center of the library began to scour the fantasy section of the area. Ivy was about to go towards the art history section when she noticed Darcy sit still on her seat. Her azure eyes stared blankly at the air, brows knitted calculatingly. Ivy waved her hand in front of Darcy's face to snap her back to reality.
"Darcy, Darcy," Ivy called, "What's wrong?" Darcy shook her head to retract away from her reverie and smiled weakly, "I just don't know what book to pick."
"I'm going to find a book about Impressionist art; do you want to come with me?" Ivy offered but Darcy gently declined, "You go. I'll ask if Stan had a book to recommend."
Ivy nodded and sauntered towards the library's art section. Darcy looked around to see other children crowding around fairytale books. She paced slowly to approach the crowd and tip-toed to peer through the books. Her view suddenly changed a pair of bright blue eyes stared at her. She flipped her blonde hair and raised an eyebrow haughtily at her. Darcy immediately took a step back to completely see Jeanne's pretentious expression.
"What are you doing here?" Jeanne asked angrily, "You're not allowed here,"
Darcy's nose twitched in irritation. "Ms. Brodie said we can use any book we want. I want to read a fantasy book. Please move."
"No, go away, nerd." Jeanne spat. Darcy became quite accustomed to the term that Jeanne called her. Apparently, Jeanne wasn't intelligent enough to remember her name and replaced it with 'nerd'. She wondered if she was exposing other people too much of her intelligence. After all she had been flaunting her engineering book around for awhile.
"What? I can't read a fantasy book?" Darcy growled. "Move, princess."
She groaned inwardly. She meant it as an insult. Her Uncle Rhodey sometimes calls Tony that and she was pretty sure it was used as an insult. But unfortunately for her, Jeanne somehow twisted it to a compliment. Pleasingly smirking at her, Jeanne mused, "Go away, nerd."
Darcy clenched her fist, attempting to hold herself from breaking into an outburst. After one last glare sent to the French girl, she muttered daringly, "Tu es pourrie-gâtée," and walked angrily away. Darcy could feel Jeanne's jaw drop at her remark. She patted herself in the back for reading more into the French language. French insults, specifically. Part of her was cheering for the remarkable comeback, thinking 'You are spoiled rotten,' had more impact in Jeanne's language. Part of her was regretting it. She just wanted to read a book; she didn't mean to insult anybody. Part of her wanted to have come up of a better comeback. But most of the things were learned were not exactly 'kid-friendly.'
Pouting, she dragged herself towards Stan's desk and lazily rested her chin on the wood. The old man didn't look up from cataloguing new books, and just asked, "Can I help you, Ms. Darcy?"
"I can't find a book…" she grumbled, "I wanted to read a fantasy book,"
Stan looked up , surprised. Then all of the sudden, they hear a bloodcurdling noise from behind yelling 'NERD!' . Darcy grinned as she heard Ms. Brodie reprimand Jeanne then pouted again.
"You finished the Gordon book?" Stan asked, grinning. The little girl nodded. "Do you want another material science reference? We have lots."
"No, I want to read a normal book. Reading another engineering book is weird," she sighed sadly, resting her cheek on the desk. Stan noticed that Darcy was getting affected by her classmate's sneering remarks. She has tried to ignore them all, even counteract them but in the end she still didn't like being an outcast. Darcy was contented with being with Ivy maybe even Alex if he opened to her but sometimes she'd want a day where no one would call her a nerd or a freak. Stan sighed and thought for awhile. After a moment of silence he grinned.
"Do you want to read a fable? I have a good one lying around. It's a classic too," Stan offered, poking her. Darcy looked up with bored eyes, "I already read Aesop's fables, even Charlotte's Web." But the man just shook his head knowingly. Without a warning, he ducked his head under his desk to pull out a big cardboard box. Darcy just watched him scramble through the books in the box, eye flickering with curiosity. "You see the book is about a farm filled with barn animals." Stan called out below, still rummaging, "They are neglected by their owner, mistreated. So the pigs decided to rebel and take over the farm. Oh, here we go, I found it." He sat up straight and took out a small book and placed it in front of Darcy. The girl watched as Stan took out his handkerchief to wipe the dust away from the cover. "Pigs are pretty smart, animals, you know?" Stan smirked, pushing the book towards Darcy, "Read it and come here if you have any questions."
Darcy held the book in front of her and examined the cover. Gray marble texture surrounded a yellow rectangle. On the center was a black and white crude drawing of a pig. Darcy knitted her eyebrows and asked, "This doesn't look like a children's book, Stan,"
"Just read it, dear. Trust me, it's a good read. You'll be able to write a lot about it." He laughed, "Go find a chair and start. I'm going to go gather books about twentieth century Russia."
Before Darcy could ask why he needed to find books about Russia, he was already gone. Eyes narrowing in suspicion, she read the title slowly.
"George Orwell… Animal Farm?"
Darcy only got up to the second chapter when someone tapped her on the shoulder. She liked the book so far, it was interesting to see pigs plan an uprising against humans. To see how the lesser kinds finally stand up for themselves against the overbearing superior ones was biting. She read how the pigs yearned for a better life supported by freedom and equality. She felt that there were more things to this novel. Maybe she'd ask Stan later and discuss. She looked around and spotted everyone engrossed in their own book of choice. Her eyebrows twitched up as she noticed Jeanne reading Cinderella. She wanted to laugh at the sight of the dreamy-eyed spoiled brat, eyes milky of juvenile fantasy. Jeanne was more of the conniving step-sister instead of an innocent girl. Then she saw Ivy sitting across her, jotting down notes about Claude Monet, enthralled. She felt another tap, harden than first one. Did she sense irritation?
Twisting her head to glare at the perpetrator, she almost gasped. Alex was behind her, one hand holding his violin case and one hand gripping a key. He glowered at her, indicating that he wanted her to not say anything. After all, Jeanne was in the same room. He didn't want any further attention.
"What, Alex?" Darcy whispered. Alex didn't say anything and just nudged the key to her. Darcy was forced to take it, "You don't need it, anymore? You can still use it. Just give it to Stan in the end," Darcy shoved back the key to his hand. Alex scowled and forced the key back. Unbeknownst to the class, the two Special Stars were having a who-gets-the-key war.
"Hey, Darcy. I don't understand this word, 'eshew' or is it 'eschoo'… cashew?" Ivy asked suddenly. The two of them froze, afraid that they have been found out. But to their relief, Ivy didn't look up, she continued with her notes. Darcy quickly stated, "You mean eschew? It's mean to avoid." Ivy muttered thanks and proceeded to write. Sighing in relief, she turned to Alex and shoved back the key, "You can have it," she hissed. Aggravated, Alex tossed the key back to her, and immediately spun on his heels to go to the library exit. Darcy didn't have the enough reflexes to catch the key, and just watched as the key gets tossed down towards her desk. She closed her eyes and waited until a large clunking sound reverberated through the room. Both Darcy and Alex stayed rigidly still. The loud clang that the metal made with the wood woke everyone up from their silent reading, heads turning to find the source of the sound. Darcy smiled nervously at the crowd and slowly reached for the key. She prayed that no one would notice Alex walking out but…
"Alex!" Jeanne yelled, standing up from her seat. The class stared at him for second, still grasping the situation. Darcy dropped her head onto the desk, burying her face onto the sallow pages of her book. She groaned inwardly as she heard Jeanne pushing the seats away to go to Alex. The class just watched as Jeanne flung her hair and smiled at him. "Are you going to play for me again?"
Ivy made a gagging noise making Darcy laugh in her seat. But both of them were shushed when Jeanne and Alex glared. Alex wanted to leave immediately. Irritated, he was, knowing that just an hour after coming out of a year of hiding from her, he finds himself trapped in the same room as her. He needs to find another hiding spot. Not saying anything, he walked back to Darcy and held his out his hand, "Key."
Darcy looked at him incredulously and asserted, "No. You just threw it at me."
"Key." He repeated. Jeanne gawked at them, surprised that Alex was talking to other people besides her. Darcy scowled, "I don't like you." Grabbing the key from the desk, she angrily shoved it in Alex's hand. Without saying anything, he ignored the other people in the room and made his way towards the exit. Jeanne called him to come back but heard no reply. Darcy groaned and ran towards the exit. Sticking her head out of the door she called out, "I better have that key by lunch!"
Looking on at his disappearing figure, she huffed loudly. Turning around she hoped to go back to reading but instead angry blue eyes stared at her. Her head jerked back, fazed by Jeanne's furious expression. "Can I help you..?"
"You." Jeanne narrowed her eyes.
"Me." Darcy replied. "What about me?"
"You're friends with Alex?" she hissed, crossing her arms across her uniform.
"I don't think so. I just yelled that I don't like him…" Darcy pointed out. She moved her gaze sideways, peeping to see Ivy. Her eyebrows knitted asking for her help. Ivy quickly advanced by her friends' size. "Back off, Jeanne," she warned while adjusting her glasses.
"Go away." Jeanne growled, angry eyes turned to Ivy. Darcy gulped as she watched the two exchanges an electrifying staring contest. Honestly, where was Ms. Brodie?
"Darcy's my friend. Leave her alone!" Ivy yelled. Darcy peeped at her watch, seeing there is only thirty seconds left in the period. Jeanne pulled and hissed. The two waited for her to shout something incoherent and mean but the French girl just stayed silent. Darcy saw to it as a sign of defeat. But her paranoid side whispered in her brain that she was plotting something. She smiled weakly, tugging Ivy's uniform. The school bell rang and she slowly pulled Ivy out of the library. Jeanne just stood in the entrance, eyebrows raised up, watching the two leave. The other kids leave the library, awestruck by the drama. After the minute, she was left there by the doors, flanked by her two friends.
"Carlie," she called out an auburn-haired girl behind her. "Yeah, Jeanne?" her friend asked.
"Your mother owns Saks Fifth Avenue, right?" she smirked. Carlie just stared back, puzzled. "Yeah…?"
"You're going to call your mom tonight and you're going to tell her that you're being bullied by Ivy Nguyen."
Looking back at it now, she believed it was bound to happen. She knew it. As she read the last chapter of her book, it was confirmed. In due time, the brightest of them all will inevitably dim to nothing but darkness.
A/N: Animal Farm by George Orwell... a well known political science novel :wink:
and Alex was playing Monti's Csardas if anyone was curious.
