A/N: I'm sorry, Zippy, Ipromised to upload it on Friday, but never got around doing it. So I hope you'll forgive me and enjoy this new chapter of my fiction!

Summary: Enjoy some more tenderness between Johnny and Kitty, and a strange reaction of Kitty's...

10

"You can't be serious about that!" Gail said as Johnny and I passed her and her jock date, Roger, captain of the football team. "You and Johnny 13, that's absurd! You don't even have something in common!"

"Yeah, and the only thing you two have in common is the lack of a brain!" I shot back, careful to maintain the balance on my high heels.

Gail stared at my back when I left. There were unspoken words in this stare, words I'd rather not repeat here due to this being a kid-friendly story so far.

We crossed the ballroom with a few seconds (spare the little talk we had with Gail and Roger), and Johnny opened the back door- the door that led to the playground behind the school where I had once bawled my eyes out.

It was a perfect, starry night, without any clouds to block the sight, and the sky stretched overhead like a big piece of black-blue-ish silk, sprinkled with sparks. The moon looked as though made of pure sliver, a

"Isn't it perfect?" I whispered to Johnny. At the same time, I could not suppress a shiver. The cold and the fact I had just lost half of my dress now added together.

"Your cold?" Johnny asked and wrapped his coat around my shoulders. I now felt noticeably warmer, not only physically, but also in my heart.

"I'm sorry for yelling at you, Johnny," I said. "I didn't mean to, I was just a bit worked up, you know."

"So was I." Johnny whispered back, his face only inches away from my own. "And since I've had enough time to… you know, train my shadow properly, maybe we could do it again. No one would disturb us, I'd know a way to make sure of that."

He snapped, and I realized he was summoning his shadow again when I saw the black mass rising from the ground next to us, swallowing the lights around us, the stars and the faint glimmer from what I could see of the party going on in the auditorium.

"Sure." I now was sure no one would witness us, we were wrapped in darkness, and we moved closer, and closer, until I could smell his breath, when we were only inches away from touching-

The soft music coming from the auditorium suddenly stopped, followed by a loud thud and an echoing bang. Screams rang out.

"The decorations!" Obviously, I wasn't the only one who thought of the colourful maple leaves and somewhat silly plastic skulls and bat lining the walls of the auditorium. When we wheeled around, Johnny snapped: "I told you so!", and the magical moment was gone, as well as shadow, the moment the music stopped.

We both charged for the door, and Johnny nearly yanked it out of it holdings. When the door finally swung open, a horrible scenario met our both eyes.

The decorations, a large banner with pitch-black bats and fall leaves, had buried about ten students under it when it suddenly crashed down, even though no one could find an explanation for it. The super troupers that'd cast coloured light beam s down to create a somehow festive atmosphere on the dance floor, chose exactly this moment to crash down as well, burying a few students under it. The super troupers, which had cast coloured light at the dancing couples, were coming down right in front of our eyes. The glass punch bowl was shattered, and dozens of student hid behind the table and the pillars standing in each corner in the room.

"Oh my god!" I screamed. Miraculously, both Johnny and I were spared from the sharp shards flying around, as well as the punch seeping over the floor slowly. Screams now erupted whenever any of the statues made of papier mâche came down, tinted red from the punch.

"I told you so!" Johnny yelled in my ear; I though I was going to go deaf.

"Jonathan Owen!" someone yelled, barely audible through all the screams echoing around. Even though it was a riot around us, I recognized Gail, who'd searched shelter behind her jock date, Roger. "It's all your fault! Who said Poindexter would return to haunt us? Who was it? Who?"

"Gail!" I hissed. "Maybe you should go see your brain doctor. Maybe it turns out some of it has survived, despite seventeen years of not using it."

Gail's mouth snapped shut, sounding like a mousetrap, and she just stared at me, her fists clenched. Drenched in punch, her hair hanging into her face soaking wet, she looked rather like some Greek goddess I've heard of.

"How dare you to talk to me in such a disrespectful manner?" she spat at me. "You're not a jota better than your jinxed date, Johnny 13!"

It was as though something just broke inside of me, like on the day Spectra had tormented me like that. But instead of wasting my time with crying, I extended a hand and-

SMACK!

Gail's hands flew to her face, trying to cover up the red mark my hit had left. I meanwhile had put all of my remaining strength into this last strike, and now felt my power leaving me. If Johnny hadn't caught me, I would have fallen to the floor, smashing my head hard in the tiles.

"I got ya," Johnny said into my ear, and out of the corners of my eyes I could see that he was smiling at me. "You okay?"

I scrambled up- Gail stomping off, her face as red as the mark right now, Roger trailing behind her- and nodded. Now that I'd shown Gail what I thought of her, I was okay. Better than I'd ever be, I thought. "I'm fine, just fine."

But Gail wasn't, I suppose. Roger patted her back shyly, looking at her in a manner that maybe was supposed to look caring and worried, but really looked rather dumb. Actually, he looked like someone who'd been told to buck someone up but didn't know what to say.

I looked around. On the opposite wall, Johnny's shadow was towering over everything else in the room, making it look as though the remaining lights were all dimmed down.

It was scary.

But it was also romantic.