Raining here again and I'm super bored. Thanks for all the positive feedback!
"Can we go see Iko?" Peony whispered, barely a breath of sound. She looked up, eyes shining. "Our old home isn't that far away. We can take the shuttle."
Cinder's heart softened for her earnest sister. She had forgotten that Iko and Peony were friends too, not as close as Iko and Cinder, but still friends. Peony probably didn't message and FaceTime her regularly as Cinder did, so Cinder was sure her sister missed Iko terribly. Cinder's mood brightened at the prospect of seeing Iko again, her cheerful personality, wonderful sense of sarcasm, and bubbly laugh that filled the whole room. But sometimes she had to be the responsible older sister, even though she wanted nothing more than to scoop Peony up and race to the shuttles.
"I'm sorry, Peony," Cinder told her, still stroking her hair. "I can't take you there. Adri would kill me." Both of them knew that this was not an understatement. Adri would kill her stepdaughter - who she wanted to get rid of even when Cinder hadn't done anything wrong - for putting Peony in danger.
"Please, Cinder!" Peony begged. "I just want to s-see Iko." Her voice hiccuped a little, and Cinder's heart twinged. Peony stared up at her, brown eyes luminous and shining, and Cinder knew that there was no way she could resist.
"All right, fine," she gave in. "But if Adri gets mad, you have to say it was your idea, 'kay?"
"Of course," Peony smiled, flipping her hair off her shoulder in a self-assured way. "She'll never get mad at me."
No, she won't, she'll just blame me even if Peony says it was her idea, Cinder thought, but she didn't care at the moment. She just wanted to give Peony this bit of happiness.
"Let's go, then," Cinder grinned at her, already at the door.
After the one-hour shuttle ride out of Commonwealth City back to their old town, Artemisia, the magical energy of adventure still crackled in the air around them. It felt good to be defying Adri in this way. Cinder and Peony felt empowered as if they could do anything. Cinder hadn't called Iko to tell her they were coming. She wanted it to be a surprise.
Walking through the residential neighborhood, toward Iko's house, the sisters twirled and skipped and giggled happily. Peony looked like she was feeling much better, although there was still a pinkish sheen on her face. "Look, it's our old school!" Peony exclaimed. She pointed toward the middle school they had attended. Cinder started with surprise. She hadn't been there in so long. She suddenly realized that she now thought of Commonwealth High as her school, not just a new school. Being back there felt wrong.
Peony seemed to be thinking the same thing. "I miss my old friends, but Commonwealth High just feels normal now," she murmured, staring through the chain-link fence at the pristine white school buildings.
"I don't have any friends to miss, other than Iko," Cinder muttered dryly. "Not like you." She looked at her sister playfully. "You've had, what - six boyfriends?"
Rolling her eyes, her sister retorted, "For your information, only two. But on that subject..." Peony grinned at her mischievously. "I saw Kai looking at you during the play tryouts. I could hardly believe I was actually seeing him in person. You guys would make a cute couple..."
Now it was Cinder's turn to roll her eyes. "For your information, I only know him because I fixed his car in the mechanic shop. We've talked to each other a few times since then. We're acquaintances."
Peony seemed shocked. She, like nearly every girl in the country, was madly in love with Kai. "You fixed Kai's car and you didn't tell me?" she exclaimed, voice pitching on the "me." She punched Cinder on the arm. "It's been weeks since you started working at the mechanic shop!"
"Yeah..." Cinder trailed off sheepishly. "Forgot to tell you about that."
Peony sniffed, but Cinder could tell she was just joking. "I'll forgive you if you get me a dance with him at the SnowBall."
"Peony, you can't just ask someone that you barely know to dance with them at a school dance! Besides, he has a girlfriend."
"Oh yeah, that Levana girl," Peony snorted. "She thinks she's super famous, but I had never heard of her."
"She's not a television actor like Kai," Cinder said. "She's just a model."
"Well, I don't understand how she ever became a model. She doesn't have natural beauty like you! You can tell she wears a pound of makeup every day!" Peony exclaimed indignantly.
That statement made Cinder laugh. "I so do not have natural beauty, Peony. You're the pretty one."
Peony studied her thoughtfully. "You're pretty in a sort of... careless way. It's like, you didn't do anything with your hair and you constantly have grease marks on your face but that's what makes you prettier. And you're so tall and slender. Maybe not pretty enough for Kai, but pretty enough for someone."
"Wow, thank you for that evaluation," Cinder joked. She decided to ignore the fact that Peony though only gorgeous girls would catch the eye of Kai. She turned serious. "I'm never going to get married, though."
"Why not?" Peony asked curiously. "I know you don't like little kids very much, but don't you believe in true love?"
"I... I guess I believe in love, but not true love. The idea that there's only one person out there for you is ridiculous. That's fairy tale crap, not true love." For some reason, she felt tears bubbling up in her eyes. "And you know the reason that true love doesn't work? It's because appearance skews perception. What if someone finds their perfect person - perfect on the inside - but they have a condition on the outside that makes them weird, or ugly or something. And then they'll never get to know their true love because they'll never give them a chance. Just because of their appearance."
"A condition..." prompted Peony, "Like a metal leg?"
"Yes." The word felt fragile in Cinder's mouth. Barely a tiny wisp that escaped out into the world, into Peony's ears. Stripping her bare and letting everyone see her greatest fears and insecurities.
"Oh, Cinder," Peony sighed, wrapping her arms tightly around her sister. Cinder bit her tongue and squeezed her fists to prevent more tears from slipping out. "You'll find them. I promise. You're too amazing of a person to not find true love."
"Kai doesn't know."
"What?"
"Kai doesn't know about my condition." Memories flitted through her brain. Kai's easy, careless smile at the mechanic shop. His jokes. His earnest eyes as he tried to persuade her to try out for the play. Would he have done any of it, if he had known about her prostheses?
"Cinder, it's not that big of a deal. Plenty of people have prostheses." A pause in which Peony could tell Cinder was rolling her eyes. "Well, not really, but you don't have to be ashamed." She reached forward to tug on the fingers of Cinder's gloves. "It's not your fault."
Cinder yanked her hands harshly away. "I never take these off," she whispered. "Peony, don't you understand? A bully isn't just someone who beats you up. A bully can be someone who stares at you a little too long. A bully can be someone who doesn't understand your condition and speaks insensitively. A bully may not even realize what they're doing."
"But if they don't realize the impact of their actions..." Peony was confused at why Cinder was so defensive all of a sudden. "If they don't mean it..."
"It doesn't matter! It still hurts my feelings!" Cinder stormed angrily ahead. They were barely paying attention to where they were walking. "Peony, do you know how people treated me at our old school? The constant remarks, the jokes, the pointing, the staring... They called me a monster. They tried to pull off my prostheses. The reason I hide my limbs under the gloves and the pants and the boots is so nothing like that happens ever again."
"I'm sorry, Cinder," Peony whispered. But it didn't matter anymore. The bullying was in the past. The only reason she had brought it up was so Peony could fully grasp the realities of someone wh different. Her sister was radiant and perfect, with all her body parts and gorgeous curves. Cinder knew that no one else would really understand. Empathy was better than sympathy, but it wasn't even close to actually living the person's life.
"CINDER! PEONY!" came a very familiar scream from the front porch of Iko's house. The girls had completed the rest of the walk in silence, each thinking about what they had just said. They were just walking over Iko's front lawn when she spotted them from inside and flung the door open. "I haven't seeeeeen you guys in sooooo long!"
They collided at the door in a huge hug. Iko's mass of blue braids cascaded over all of their shoulders. Iko pulled back for a second, excited and breathless and then flung her arms around them again. "I missed you guys so much! You have no idea what it's been like here."
Cinder's stomach twisted guiltily. She was often so preoccupied with her troubles that she rarely thought about what Iko was going through, having lost two of her best friends. "Have you been okay? Who do you hang out with at school?"
"Oh, the old crowd," Iko waved her hand dismissively. "I'm totally fine. I've made a ton of friends. But enough about me. What about you guys? Anyone cool at Commonwealth High? Cinder, I heard you're buddy-buddy with Kaito Lee now."
Cinder flinched, reminded of her and Peony's earlier conversation. "It's no big deal. I just helped him with his car." She hoped her tone indicated that Iko should drop the subject. "I have some awesome friends now. Scarlet, Cress, and Winter. Oh, and a guy named Jacin, but he's more like Winter's bodyguard and I don't know him very well yet, so I wouldn't call him a friend. You would like the girls, though, Iko. Especially Scarlet. She's smart and brave and bold, just like you. And Cress is super sweet and kind. Winter is... interesting, but I think you would still like her. She loves clothes and shopping too!" Peony and Cinder continued to talk telling Iko every detail of their new lives. Peony talked about all the gossip at their high school, while Cinder thought it was more important to tell Iko about the Robotics Club. They told her about the play tryouts and how they hoped they would get a good part - well, Peony wanted a solo singing part, Cinder most definitely did not.
The three had a fun night together. It felt just like old times as they roamed around the familiar streets, Peony and Iko squealing every few blocks when they came across an exciting display of clothes in a shop window. But even though Cinder spoke when spoken to and laughed at Iko's jokes along with her sister, something just felt off. Their conversation earlier continued to plague her, and she tried to hide how unfocused she was.
Of course, Iko and Peony had to stop in every shop that looked interesting and buy something from every single cute boutique. Cinder, on the other hand, was more interested when they came across a dark, eerie-looking lot. From her vantage point, she could see tall piles of all sorts of machinery and scrap metal and discarded parts. The towering stacks formed a sort of maze that towered over them, forbidding and mysterious.
"I don't think I've ever been here before," Cinder said, checking Google Maps to figure out where they were. "But I have been wanting to get a new timing belt lately..."
Peony clutched her sister's arm. "Cinder, are you sure you want to go in there? It looks scary."
Cinder strode ahead. "Come on, it'll be fine." With a reluctant glance at each other, Peony and Iko followed. Cinder prowled among all the piles of spare parts in the junkyard, taking out her phone to cast a light through the darkness. Her eyes ran over ever bit of machinery and glint of metal there was, searching and scanning for the part she needed.
"Hey! Come look at this!" called Peony from a few stacks away. She and Iko had been idly following Cinder, checking their phones, but now they had stopped. They were standing in front of what looked like the hood of a car poking out from a mass of scrap metal and spare parts folded around it.
"Is that a car?" Cinder asked, curiously walking closer. Upon closer examination, she realized that it was a car - from the state of it, probably an old one. She could see why no one had wanted it. It was painted a sickly orange-yellow color and its condition had deteriorated over the years while it sat in the junkyard. "Good find, Peony."
Cinder poked around the car for a little while, examining its underside and under the hood and all of the parts. She was looking for a timing belt but was also curious about the car. Adri was the only one in their family who had a car, even though Pearl and Cinder both had their licenses. If Cinder had a ton of money, one of the first things she would by would be a car. Not only would she not have to walk to school and the mechanic shop, but it would also allow her a great deal of freedom once she was old enough to go to college. She wouldn't have to depend on Adri for anything. She could just take off and never have to see her again.
They walked back to Iko's house slowly, Cinder clutching the timing belt, Iko laughing about the way Peony had screamed when she encountered a rat in the junkyard, none of them wanting to say goodbye. It had been a wonderful night, but all things have to come to an end. On the front porch once again, the three girls hugged as tightly as they could. "I promise to call you every night," Cinder said, trying to make Iko feel better. It was clear that she missed her friends a lot. Cinder suspected she might even be slightly jealous of their busy, upbeat lives in the city.
Only when Peony and Cinder had taken the shuttle back into the city and safely snuck back into the apartment without Adri noticing they had been gone did she realize that Iko had never told her who her new friends were.
I'm sure you guys can predict what's going to happen next...
Of course, there was no way Iko couldn't appear in this story. She's one of the best characters and I'm still trying to think of a conceivable way to have her move to Commonwealth City.
I love it when the characters surprise me. I was intending to write this as a lighthearted chapter where the girls hung out and had fun together, but somehow Cinder and Peony just started to have this deep conversation. Hope you liked it!