Chapter 12

Everything Changes

Feeling concerned, Aria walked across the street to her best friend's house Monday morning, ringing the doorbell. Usually when Vanessa was running late she would at least send Aria a text. Aria peered through the side window by the door to observe Mrs. Cooper standing by the stairs and tried to listen to what they were saying.

"Vanessa! Aria's here." Mrs. Cooper called as she came to open the door.

"I told you Mom. I'm not feeling well," Vanessa called down from upstairs, faking a cough.

Mrs. Cooper sighed. "That's not going to work this time, sweetie. Hurry up and get down here or else the two of you will be late."

"Fine," Vanessa grumbled in frustration. "I'll be down in a minute."

Mrs. Cooper offered Aria a shrug and a half smile, saying, "You don't have to wait for her if you don't want to, Aria."

"It's fine," Aria replied quickly. "I'm sure we'll still make it on time."

Mrs. Cooper just shrugged and left Aria alone in the front hallway, waiting. A few minutes later, Vanessa trudged downstairs in a light blue halter top, her soft curly red hair lay neatly just past her shoulders, and she wore slightly more make-up than normal.

"You look nice," Aria commented as Vanessa grabbed her nearly empty backpack and the two exited her house. "Is there's something going on in school that I don't know about?"

Vanessa shrugged, not looking at her friend. "No, I just went shopping this weekend."

Aria felt the temptation to ask Vanessa if she dressed up nicer for Walter because their date went really well, but she resisted, especially since Vanessa did not appear too happy for some reason.

Aria decided just to go with, "So how was the dance?"

Vanessa continued to gaze downward as she answered quietly, "It was fine."

"You and Walter didn't get into a fight, did you?" Aria asked, glancing at her friend in concern.

"We had a good time," Vanessa mumbled thinking that statement had some truth to it. At the first part of the dance, they did enjoy each other's company. She then hastily changed the subject. "How was the ball? Did you meet any charming princes?"

Now, it became Aria's turn to act secretive as she moved her gaze to straight ahead. "It was alright. Most of the princes just danced with me once and that was it."

Vanessa briefly glanced over to Aria and asked, "None of them seemed interested in you?"

Only Prince Rupert, Aria thought but only shook her head since she really did not want to go into that.

They girls continued the rest of the walk in silence, neither of them desiring to discuss last weekend's events. As they arrived at their school, Aria noticed Vanessa's face went pale and her breath grew rapid.

"Are you alright?" Aria asked, as she observed her friend's odd behavior.

Vanessa only nodded peering cautiously into the building past the empty front steps usually occupied by the popular kids.

"That's weird," Aria commented pointing at the front steps of Sheerwood. "I wonder where everyone is."

Vanessa barely offered a shrug as the two entered the building. It became clear to Aria that something has massively changed, but at this moment, she could not tell what it was. So far, Aria saw no sign of Ian or Kendal or even Derek. Most of the other football players and cheerleaders stood around chatting out in the hall by their lockers. Several members of the football team seemed to be checking Vanessa out as the two girls past them. Vanessa, however, did not seem to notice as she continued to glumly trudge forward.

Aria opened her mouth to push for more information from Vanessa but she then spotted Walter walking to his locker. "Hey Walter."

"Hello Aria," Walter returned her greeting though barely looking at her as he brushed by.

"Hi Walter," Vanessa greeted, waving her hand, her eyes filled with hope.

Walter just ignored her as he made his way to his locker. Vanessa's face fell, her hand slowly falling down along with it, as she appeared ever more gloomy than before.

"Something did happen with you two, didn't it?" Aria sighed regretting that she ever suggested Vanessa ask Walter to the dance. "Why don't you just tell me what it is? Maybe I can talk to Walter for you."

Finally, Vanessa turned to face Aria. "I really don't think that's going to help."

"Why, what did you do?"

Vanessa let out a sigh of exasperation. "Why do you automatically assume I did something?"

"Oh, I'm sorry," Aria apologized, hastily, with uncertainty. "Um, did Walter do something?"

This time Vanessa breathed even more heavily as she admitted, "No, of course not. He was a gentleman. It was all my fault." She paused for a moment before confessing. "It's just that at the dance I, um… well, I sort of kissed Ian."

"You did what?" Aria exclaimed, clasping her hand over her mouth. "Vanessa, what were you thinking?"

"I know, I know. I guess I just wasn't thinking clearly." Vanessa ran her hand through her hair in distress, looking downward as she spoke. "It's just that he and Kendal were fighting and he looked so depressed, I just wanted to make him feel better."

"That's kind of an extreme method for comforting someone," Aria muttered as they stopped at their lockers.

Ignoring this comment Vanessa moaned on, "And now Walter's mad at me for ruining our date, everyone date the dance was talking about Ian and me that night, and Kendal's probably turned everyone against me by now."

"That doesn't seem entirely true," Aria comforted, thinking of those football players checking Vanessa out.

At that moment Dean Jackson, one of the more popular football players strutted by saying, "Hey Cooper, looking hot."

"Um, thanks," Vanessa replied uncertainly before turning back to Aria. "That was weird. Usually Dean only hits on cheerleaders."

Aria shrugged. "Maybe he's branched out to volleyball players."

From that moment on, things only got stranger as Karen Wales approached both girls with a broad smile on her face.

"Hi Vanessa!" Karin greeted brightly. "Cute top."

"Um, thanks," Vanessa replied slightly thrown off by her compliment.

"Oh, hi Aria," Karen added as an afterthought, though that was still nicer than her usual comments to Aria.

"Hi," Aria replied weakly while quickly flashing Vanessa a 'what's going on' expression.

Vanessa just shrugged as Karin turned back to her direction and went on. "So, are you and Ian like an official couple by now? You two totally seemed passionate about each other when you kissed at the dance."

"Um, we haven't really talked much since then," Vanessa replied still slightly stunned. "I don't even know if he and Kendal are actually over."

"Well, obviously he dumped her for you. Everyone knows that," Karen gossiped on. "I guess Kendal can't hold on to any man like she claimed. Anyway, I heard Kendal's already moved on."

"You mean she's already dating someone else?" Aria asked.

"Yeah, somehow she managed to find someone that doesn't think she's a complete loser," Karin answered rolling her eyes, as she seemed to just realize Aria was still there. "Actually from what I hear, Kendal rebounded with your ex-boyfriend, Aria." She then turned back to Vanessa and added. "Kind of pathetic if you ask me."

"My ex-boyfriend?" Aria repeated slightly dazed.

Karin just nodded, smirking a little.

"I have to go," Aria breathed as she rushed off leaving Karin and Vanessa behind.

Aria's heart pounded heavily as she searched every corner of the building. Before Derek she had only had one other boyfriend.

He can't be back! Not him, too, Aria thought desperately remembering what she perceived to be a hallucination a few weeks ago. Sure enough, just as she peered out in the courtyard just outside the back of the building, she spotted him. There on a small table by the bushes sat Edmund with Kendal across from him. Aria's heart sank. What business could he possibly have back in Sheerwood and what did that have to do with Kendal?

"Aria?"

Aria jumped as she felt a hand pressed on her shoulder. As she turned to see who it was she breathed a sigh of relief when she saw it was only Derek.

"Why is he here?" Aria whispered as she turned to gaze back to Edmund and Kendal.

Derek did not move his hand from her shoulder. "I don't know. First Myrtle comes back and now him. You might want to tell the fairies that he's come back too next time you're in Galatia."

"Oh, yeah sure," Aria muttered not bothering mention that she never informed her fairies of Myrtle's return. Before she was ready to condemn anyone to death, Aria had to find out the truth. Is Edmund still working for Myrtle or has he become his own agent? Maybe he found someone else to work for.

"At least he doesn't seem to be coming after you," Derek said trying to comfort her as he too gazed out at the newly formed couple.

Ignoring this, Aria stated firmly, "We have to get her away from him. At least until we find out exactly what Edmund wants with her." She paused for a moment, thinking. "Is there any way we can get Kendal and Ian to talk?"

Derek sighed. "I doubt it. Kendal made it pretty clear that is was over. I spent the rest of the weekend after the dance trying to console Ian over it. Personally, I think soon he'll realize he's better off without her."

"I thought Ian was the one who broke off the relationship."

Derek shook his head. "No, it was Kendal. I guess, based on what happened at the dance, it looked like Ian dumped her for Vanessa, but Ian told me that he tried to apologize and tell her he made a mistake. She, of course, wouldn't listen." Derek paused to check his watch. "We probably should head to class. The five minute bell is about to ring."

"Myrtle won't care if we're late," Aria muttered noticing Edmund and Kendal did not seem to be in a hurry either.

"Hey Aria, Derek! There you are."

Aria turned to see Vanessa rushing down the hall towards them appearing much more gleeful than earlier. When Vanessa came close enough to catch a glimpse of Aria's expression, her smile faded. "What's wrong, Aria?"

Aria pointed out the window. "Edmund's back."

Vanessa gazed out at the small table containing Edmund with Kendal. "Him too? They just keep coming back." She paused momentarily and shrugged as she observed the couple. "Well, at least he does not seem to be interested in you anymore."

"Yeah, thank God," Derek agreed putting his arm around Aria.

Aria could not believe what she was hearing. Just because Edmund did not seem to be after her specifically doesn't mean that he's not up to something, something evil.

"Oh, Derek," Vanessa interjected changing the topic. "Do you know where Ian is? I want to talk to him."

"I think he went ahead into the classroom," Derek answered.

Aria snapped out of her daze and turned to face her best friend. "Why do you need to talk to Ian?"

"I want to talk to him about what happened at the dance, of course," Vanessa replied with an attitude that kind of reminded Aria of Kendal. "Everyone thinks we've hooked up since then so I was thinking we should make it official. Besides, it seems like Kendal's already moved on."

"It's not like Kendal is going to stay together with Edmund," Aria argued. "And what about Walter?"

"What about Walter?" Vanessa asked confused.

"You went to the dance with him," Aria reminded her trying to keep her cool. "Five minutes ago before talking to Karin you actually seemed to feel guilty about what you did to him that night."

"Walter and I went together as friends, nothing more," Vanessa defended, her face beginning to glow red in fury. "As far as morals go, I didn't do anything wrong. He has absolutely no reason to be mad at me."

"You didn't do anything wrong?" Aria repeated in fury. "You ditched your date at the Homecoming Dance and went after someone else's boyfriend!"

Vanessa just shrugged this off. "Who cares? It's only Kendal." She paused momentarily as something seemed to hit her and she then smiled. "Wait. Remember how I said I wish there was a way to take Kendal down so she would no longer be the most popular girl in the school?"

Aria barely nodded getting the feeling that she was not going to like where this was going.

Vanessa went on trying to end their argument. "Well, this is it, Aria. Apparently the only reason Kendal was ever Queen Bee or even popular at all was because of Ian. Now's that he's dumped her, her reign over Sheerwood High is over."

Aria briefly looked up at Derek but he had nothing to offer to this conversation. She then returned her gaze back to Vanessa. It seemed odd how Vanessa stood right in front of her, yet to Aria it felt as though she was on the other side of the building.

"Don't you see, Aria?" Vanessa put her hand on her friend's other shoulder. "I did it. Things are going to be different now." She paused for a second and turned to leave adding, "Now, I'm going to go find Ian."

Aria starred after Vanessa as she departed, her light silky red hair bouncing perfectly just past her shoulder. As Aria watched her friend strut off, she felt as though she already lost her the same way she lost Kendal two years before.