Silencio 2.1

Another dull school day, classes uninteresting, time flowed like molasses. I was bored. I had no friends in school to make things tolerable. As I had thought, the rumour mill was already shipping me with Emma as ex-lovers. Which at least amused me a little, though I may be a bit vindictive. The down side was, I was getting more strange looks than usual. Even Greg had stopped attempting his awkward flirting. That was actually more of an upside, come to think of it.

During computer class I once again trawled the relevant threads. Chatter related to us and our exploits had sky-rocketed. I still wasn't sure it was the best idea to taunt the Wards by posting that video, cut for maximum trolling, but it sure was satisfying. It was kind of creepy to see people on the internet lusting after my male alter ego. It was creepier when one of them wanted to cyber with me. Eeeew. Still I guess that's what happens when I try to troll them with a disposable prepaid. On the bright side, it was firmly entrenched that Marceau was a guy, even though it was slightly depressing how convincing I was.

When school was finally over, a short bus ride and a walk later and I was home. Rather I was at the lair. It had only been a few days and I was already thinking of it as home. I felt a twinge of guilt at that. Dad had been trying, but we had a bit of an argument over the issue of mobile phones. He had insisted a electro-larynx would be better. It would let me talk, albeit in a creepy robotic monotone, devoid of any inflection. Frankly I'd rather remain silent than sound like that.

My keys jingled in the lock as I made my way inside, only to find myself face to face with Lisa, who was looking cheerful.

"You are coming with us." she said. "We are going shopping."

I was about to protest when she cut me off.

"No complaints."

"Yeah, you should probably dress more girly." Snarked Alec, drawing attention to him and Brian standing a few feet away. I eyed him with my most withering stare, which only drew more laughs from him.

"Shush now Alec, it's bad to taunt someone who can wreck you with ease." Brian chuckled, before I was dragged out the door by Lisa and we made out way to the Board Walk.

-No Rachel?-

"Alas, her face is publicly known. So her coming along would draw the wrong kind of attention on us." Lisa explained.

-That sucks-

"Indeed it does, but she'd probably go ballistic if she saw that tormented lap dog." Brian said, pointing at an intense looking lady with Chihuahua with a hat strapped to its head.

-She does seem protective of her dogs-

"Yep, more so than people. I think her powers messed with her head a bit. Doesn't seem to get along with people well." said Lisa.

"What do you think?" I turned to see Alec, holding a Kid Win shirt up to his chest. I snorted.

"I like it. Ironic." said Lisa, clearly amused.

-Here I was thinking Lisa was the Troll.-

"Anyway, I'm stealing you." Lisa said as she grabbed my arm leading me towards some boutique clothing store. She paused and turned to Brian and Alec "We'll meet you two at Fugly Bob's for dinner? Unless you want to come along and hold our bags?

"No, no. Just go and hog the new girl to yourself." Brian sighed melodramatically "We'll just have to cope with being abandoned."

"Why did you want to stop in here?" Lisa asked, her curiosity getting the better of her as I made my way to a florist. I held up my phone to her.

-Kind of feel a little guilty over GG-

"Please." She lowered her voice to a whisper. "She would have left you with most of your bones broken if you hadn't taken her out."

-Still did more damage that I was intending.-
-Also not a complete monster-

"Ha!" She mock laughed. "You do realise of course this will probably be misinterpreted as some kind of courtship. It would be a guy sending the flowers after all."

I pondered that for a moment, a slight blush on my face as the implications hit me. I really hadn't thought of that aspect. Though really, I still wanted to send them. Also it might well reinforce the disguise. My mouth spread into a mischievous grin, not quite big enough to rival Lisa's.

-I have an idea.-

After about an hour of being dragged from shop to shop, trying on all sorts of dresses and other things I wouldn't normally wear, I realised two things. Shopping was tiring and I really wasn't a typical girly girl. Emma, Madison and their crew probably would have been all over this sort of thing. Huh, it occurred to me that I really hadn't seen Madison around for quite sometime. Not sure why I would care though. Any further progress down that chain of thought was broken as we arrived in the food hall. More importantly in front of Fugly Bob's, the purveyor of all things tasty and artery hardening.

"Wow" Brian voice drew my attention to him, shortly echoed by Alec as they stared at me. I felt a little self conscious, the red dress I was wearing a huge departure from my usual style. It also felt a little too breezy compared to my typical jeans and t-shirt.

"So she does have some curves after all." Noted Alec, causing me to blush. I knew logically he was bullshitting me, but it still felt strangely nice to be complimented anyway.

"That dress does look good on you." Brain commented, doing a quick once over, "Lisa knows her stuff apparently."

"I'm glad someone appreciates my talents." She said wryly. "I had to force Taylor to try on so many things, but she capitulated in the end."

-Takes too long to argue via text-

"Nonsense, you just realised I was right." She grinned. I held up my finger for a second then dropped it, shaking my head as I realised it wasn't worth it.

-Lets just eat.-

We arrived back at the lair after a slow dawdle back, the delicious food making us a little sluggish. I was the last up the stairs, content to saunter along.

"Where's Rachel?" Brian asked, as he returned from the other end of the loft, Brutus and Angelica trotting behind him, tails wagging. "Only two of her dogs are here."

"We are a little late, maybe she went ahead?" Said Lisa.

"Well we should costume up." Brian said. "We're supposed to hand over the cash tonight. I'll call Rachel and see what's up."

I had just finished getting my mime on, when I noticed a box on my dresser. Under the box was a note.

-Saw this, seemed right for a belated welcome gift.-
-Brian-

Intrigued I opened the box, revealing a silver pendant. A stylised pair of comedy/tragedy masks, about an inch across. Thalia enamelled white and Melpomene enamelled black. It was very likely the nicest gift I had ever received.

I stepped out of my room, mask in hand and found Brian nearby. Typing would be too awkward, but this probably wasn't much better. I walked up to him and gave him a brief hug.

"I take it you liked your gift." His voice rumbled over my shoulder.

"Hey!" A voice from behind me startling me out of the hug. "No office romances!"

I blushed heavily as I turned to see Alec and Lisa grinning. In Lisa's case, grinning more than usual.

"So any word from Rachel?" Asked Lisa, before I could embarrass myself further.
"No." Brian frowned. "Her phone is out of service. Which it shouldn't be, since I was the one who turned it on, activated it and gave it to her earlier today."

That was worrying, and from the expressions on everyone else's faces, they thought the same.

"We should check on the money." Brian said. "Now."