Author's Note: 1st post of the new year. Enjoy

Chapter 19

Noticed

'"Unfortunately, 'everything' doesn't cover the amount of credit Peaches uses a day, the original colour of Flash's car or the First Years current location."'

What had happened? Ace wondered to herself, looking worriedly after a pair of girls with hockey sticks running towards the play equipment where other children their age had seen then, gotten up and were screaming. First it had been all "Let's go for a walk off the grounds," next they were in town wrecking havoc, in daylight, in their school uniforms. Not good. Very not good. Especially using spray paint to turn the road multicoloured. Pretty but hard on the eyes, especially future travellers on the road. At least they had the sense not to write their names on anything.

She had been powerless to stop them raiding the corner shop and relieving them of all their lollies, chips and soft drink. Ten year olds mugging a shop! Had it been a toy store or a sports store... Ace shuddered at the thought. She couldn't do anything about the kids (and their parents) trapped in the playground castle under siege, trying to keep the little demons away.

It was an awful feeling, not knowing what to do. Worse, there wasn't anyone else about who could, or would, do anything about it. It was hard to decide if she'd rather have the police here or not. She didn't particularly want a ride to the station any more than she wanted to be responsible for them.

Why had she been caught up in this? Oh. The flamethrowers, right. Ok, then why had they used that piece of blackmail to get her to come? It wasn't like they'd gotten their nimble fingers on her Nitro (Although that could be a matter of time), or she was helping them. Must be another reason. They could have come here on their own, her presence wasn't needed. Bet they just wanted a scapegoat. That had to be it. She was only there to take the blame and that made her feel like a red gumball in a bag of blue gumballs; alone, accidentally there and terribly outnumbered.

She couldn't just let them use her like this! They'd get away with it and she'd be the one in trouble. And when the deliverer of punishment was Kelly, you'd avoid it as much as possible.

"Ok, I think you've gone far enough," Ace shouted hurriedly before her entourage saw that large double-decker bus guarded by a single, defenceless driver she'd just caught sight of around the corner. "Why don't we head back now?"

To fit the response in a nutshell, they ignored her. They had a point. Why should they listen to her? She was the captive here while they were the evil genius boss people. It had to be said they were the youngest evil geniuses she'd come across, and possibly the scariest because they weren't 50, not 40, not 27. No, they'd only just hit double digits!

She should not even be here! It shouldn't be her problem. But she didn't have much choice. They were holding the flamethrowers to ransom! But remember Kelly's wrath. Ace really didn't want to face that for letting these terrors do as they pleased.

No flamethrowers or 'Kelly Rage'. Tough decision. Flamethrowers, Kelly. Flamethrowers, Kelly. Flamethrowers, Kelly. Flamethrowers, Kelly-

Oh no! They'd seen the bus.

Right, that's it.

"Oi!"

Amazingly, not a sound followed the holler. Someone had hit 'Mute' on the remote.

And thirty nine faces turned to look at her. Not angrily though. Not 'shut up, we're gonna kill you' looks. No nothing like that. They were perked up like meerkats searching the surrounding plains for predators, like dog's ears pointing straight up hearing their master's call, like a child stopping their crying because they can see their mother. The pack of wild, uncontrollable First Years was looking to her, expectation in their eyes. It would have freaked anyone out. It should have freaked Ace out, but she held strong. She had to. No 'Kelly Rage', not today.

"Home, now!"

They were going to pounce on her, turn her black and blue. Who was she to tell them what to do? They didn't listen to anyone but their Headmistress and Kelly. She wasn't either of them, held no power they did. She'd brought this on herself.

Then the First Years lowered their weapons, stepped away from their targets. One long line of girls walked past her, weapons sheathed, pockets filled with the spoils of their victory, eyes watching the ground as they passed under her disbelieving gaze.

"Where were they headed?" Kelly asked striding down the stairs in sets of one or two (An achievement in heels), several other girls tagging along behind, including Polly, Taylor, Andrea and Chelsea.

"They just sort of… poof, and then they were gone," murmured Chelsea.

"Maybe they found an Invisibility Cloak?" suggested Andrea.

"Don't be stupid. They can't vanish, they ain't ghosts!" exclaimed Taylor. "'ot sure 'bout you thou," she added looking pointedly at Andrea, "But, they're not. They're hidin'."

"Where then, genius? Under the carpet?"

"There is no carpet here, Casper the Ghost." Taylor retorted.

"Bet you had think about that, didn't you?" Andrea grinned.

The truth showed as a slight reddening of the other girl's cheeks. "Shut up!"

Kelly instructed, "Stop bickering and give suggestions. We need to find them."

"I dunno!" was the hot reply. "Go ask ta Geeks. They know 'everything'."

Polly ignored the jibe. "Unfortunately, 'everything' doesn't cover the amount of credit Peaches uses a day, the original colour of Flash's car or the First Years current location."

Taylor tutted. "Oh, poor 'eeks. How does it feel ta be as clueless as ta rest of us?"

"Rather satisfying actually, for I know that you will also be experiencing the same feeling when your supply of gum suddenly disappears sometime soon," the Geek answered, darkly.

"Is tat a threat, brainy?" asked Taylor, eyes glowing.

"No," Polly answered innocently, then muttered, "It's a promise."

Luckily for Polly, the last statement was drowned out by the arrival of another girl; Alex; in the corridor ahead of them. Her eyes widened suddenly when they all snapped their heads to look at her. "Err… What are you doing here? I thought-"

"Not now, Alex," Kelly told her. "We're looking for the First Years. You seen them?"

"You mean the little ones?"

They all frowned. "Yes… the little ones," Kelly answered, the phrase tasting metallic in her mouth.

The girl nodded. "They snuck out the hole in the fence, near the trees."

"How?" demanded both Andrea and Chelsea.

Chelsea continued, "We have been trying for weeks to get out through there!" As though just realising she had an audience she stopped. 'What?" she asked. "The fence is like way too high and the only other way is a big dirt pit full of water."

Now, had the missing girls been Totties, that's as far as they would have got. However, fear of getting messy or ruining their nails weren't a part of any First Year's attitude.

"That's how they did it!" exclaimed Andrea. "The lucky gits. They're small enough to squeeze under the fence using that hole." She sounded annoyed by the idea that they could and she couldn't.

"What about Ace though?" inquired Polly. "How'd she get through?"

Alex opened her mouth as though to explain, but was interrupted by Kelly's much louder voice. "Bet she found another way around."

She must have found the other exit, Kelly realised. Bugger! She should have hidden it better. Now someone else had found the secret exit and the whole of the First Years might know about it too.

"Let's go then!" announced Andrea.

Alex watched them rush off, eyeing Kelly in particular, the explanation still on the tip of her tongue; 'The same way you do.'

As the group reached the fence, they saw the first of the long line of girls. Oddly, they weren't heading away from the school but towards them. Not only that, they looked depressed. The kicked puppy expressions, metaphorical tail between their legs; not the usual victorious war march Kelly had grown used to seeing. No banners flew, no claimed flags or signs, no weapons raised in triumph.

What nerved them most was the eerie silence. No war whoops, no cries, no yelling, not even casual loud conversation.

"What with them?" asked Andrea.

"Yeah," agreed Taylor. "'t's like they've come back from a funeral."

Alarmed, Kelly started counting the heads, ticking off a mental list of the names of the returned. She breathed easy when the last made it over the crest of the hill. All alive. All limbs accounted for.

Upon approaching the fence, the girls slowly crawled under the fence and walked past. The greeting party just watched silently, not quite understanding the peculiar sight. Kelly's face was stone, not wanting to encourage them or approve of their behaviour. Not one of them looked up at her when they passed. The little innocent faces, although false because of their shame of being caught, faced the humiliation of saying nothing, doing nothing.

They had been told off. First Years don't respond well to instructions or telling off. Couldn't care less what anyone said, unless they had their respect. Policeman, adults, teachers, none had any control over them. Not even one of their own could command the whole lot. The twins might try, but they couldn't maintain it for long. This wasn't their doing because they were among the reprimanded.

It was then the group sighted Ace who was following the First Years with hawk eyes and a very focused, determined face that bore a look. A look that said 'Go on, try me. I dare you,' and warned people to keep away. She'd come back and she'd brought the others back with her, Kelly noticed. Not just brought them back, but forced them to come, and, remarkably, they had obeyed.

"How'd she do tat?" Taylor breathed. "I can't even make 'em fetch ma lip-gloss."

The explanation was clear to the Head Girl. Taylor didn't have any power over them because they didn't respect her. Ace had the authority; it was all in her attitude and personality. Her body language expressed dominance and strength which the younger girls responded to.

But above all other reason, she commanded them because they let her.

Ace scaled the fence, slipped beneath the barbed wire and landed on the other side. Her acrobatics (Despite her lack of finesse) attracted glances from the twins, but they continued to scurry off. It was only when they'd gone that Ace caught sight of Kelly.

She doesn't look happy. Please don't kill me, Ace pleaded silently. It wasn't my fault. They made me. I couldn't help it. They had the flamethrowers – no, don't mention the flamethrowers, that won't help you.

She wasn't alone either. The other older girls were behind her, looking pretty strange. For example, the Chav, Taylor, was quiet. Quiet. Chavs are never quiet. And Polly, well her expression was one of shock, like a piece of grass had changed colour right in front of her. What was so surprising?

Kelly muttered something and, after a glare from Andrea and Taylor, Ace found herself alone with the Head Girl. Again. Seems to be happening a lot, each time more nerving than the last especially since this was, in her eyes, all her fault.

"It wasn't my fault!" Ace burst out, wanting to end this as fast as possible. "I swear, had I known what they were going to do, I would never have-"

"I know," Kelly interrupted.

"Huh?"

Ace's last glance saw she had her serious face on, with the faintest hint of an oncoming smirk.

The next day, entering the chaotic history classroom and dodging the odd projectile from a certain group located in the middle right of the room, Ace made for her usual desk. Just as she made to sit, she was interrupted by a cough, which she paid no more mind than a passing fly. Josey and her lot for sure, another attempt to snap at her.

Best to ignore it altogether since she wasn't armed (Knew she should have brought the Nitro to class with her), nor did she have any of the twins' smoke bombs left, having used them up to flush Josey and Co out of their planned standoff in the corridor (They take revenge pretty seriously here). The smoke bombs were a breeze to make, not quite as wicked as her Nitro (Nothing beat the adrenaline rush they sparked) but they were a nifty, harmless but effective little trick and managed to satisfy her cravings for action and excitement, if only for a short time.

Another slightly louder fake cough drifted across the room, and Ace felt her nerves drawing tight. A third arrived and her shackles rose. Control, she reminded herself. They're just annoying, not a threat. The pencil in her hand nearly snapped clear in half when the annoyance did not cease.

The cough was then followed up by a loud clearing of the throat when it was not acknowledged. A split second later, Ace had turned in her chair, a comeback primed on the tip of her tongue to lash at the persistent little bugger who was oh so determined that she would grant a few of her choice words. What she saw made her bite down hard on her own tongue to shut it up. Josey was having a very engaging conversation with her gang about the importance of choosing the right lip gloss. There might have been some potentially interesting pieces of information in her argument, but it escaped Ace for all the sounds in the world had been turned down. A remote control for the noises of the Universe had been pushed. The cries and screams faded to whisper volumes and fell to the floor before reaching her, weighing a ton each.

Time has a set speed. It cannot slow or quicken, only cruise along at its own pace. Doing so is beyond the control of any mortal, which should be nonsense for a person can travel backwards of forwards in time, then return to exactly the same point they had come from. Unless, Ace recalled, you were travelling at a speed faster than time itself. The moment she identified the individual who had tried (And succeeded) to catch her attention (And maybe share their cold) she truly believed that somehow she had obtained such a speed.

If bullets filled the air at that moment, she could have pushed them aside like curtain drapes. She could have crossed a massive lake without creating a single ripple, or walked across molten magma without a scold on her feet.

She frowned as her brain tried to register what he eyes where telling her, then raised her eyebrows to say 'Who, me?' She took the terribly slow motion that was repeated as an answer, and, with a slight intact of breath, slung her bag over a shoulder.

Such a speed had not made her invincible, for she knew she would be unable to defy gravity or anything like that although, she would have quite liked to be invisible. For after taking five steps, her burst of speed vanished, a bubble burst without warning. Sound assaulted her as time reclaimed its dominance over her. A second for her was the same length as everyone else, her exception no longer applied, and it shocked her how fast the world was moving and how slow she had become. A single breath felt like an hour, a step, a lifetime.

Until fifty years of Ace's time had passed, nobody noticed her. Then, as though sensing Ace's sudden disorientation, a dozen heads swang her way. One foot went in front of the other and, with her eye glued to her destination, she allowed the lasers of the now totally attentive gazes (and glares) to slide over her like water off a duck's back. Her thoughts shouldn't be concerned with them or what they thought, but they were. She couldn't move faster than time, but she had. She shouldn't be going to this destination, but she was. She shouldn't do what she'd been instructed, but she will.

Because when the most powerful girl in the school indicates a desk beside them and practically engraves your name on it with a look, you don't ignore them.