It was ten-thirty p.m., and Allora and Morrigan sat upstairs in Morrigan's room, talking and watching a movie of which neither was very interested in. Allora absently brushed her hair as she spoke about her odd obsession of macaws and Morrigan was painting her nails black and purple. Of course, there was no way for Drake and Trey to discern what they were talking about through the window, and Trey was obviously horrible at reading lips.
"Apparently, Allora's Aunt Mildred's Chinese camel came to the country club and laid eggs on the cucumbers," Trey said thoughtfully.
"You idiot!" Drake whispered harshly and hit Trey on the back of the head. "Whoa!" he yelled suddenly as he began to loose his balance and nearly toppled off his ladder.
Trey snickered.
Drake glared at him. "I thought you said you could read lips," he yelled exasperatedly.
Trey shrugged. "I thought I could."
"I ought to tip your ladder over."
"They'd hear us then."
Drake angrily reached over and began to rattle Trey's ladder. "Hey!" yelled Trey, and he began to rattle Drake's ladder. Soon enough there was yelling and rattling and banging, along with numerous flying insults and obscenities.
Inside, Morrigan heard the din outside. She became peeved because it was making her hand unsteady, and she didn't want to mess up her nails. She got up off her bed and inched her way over to the window quietly and stealthily so she would not frighten away the visitors. Suddenly, she pushed open the window. Morrigan stared at Trey and Drake, not realizing who they were. "Ah! Molesters! Get the hell out of here!" she screamed as she pushed the ladders, trying to rid herself of the peeping toms.
Trey and Drake desperately tried to hold onto her windowsill. "Morrigan," yelled Trey. "It's just us!"
"Yeah!" added Drake.
Allora threw her brush on the floor and ran to Morrigan's aid. "Are we being attacked?"
Morrigan, extremely breathless, shook her head. "No. It's... just Drake and Trey."
"Oh. It's you." Allora frowned at Drake. "And you," Allora said, slightly happier to see Trey. She cocked her head. "What are you doing here?"
"Yeah," agreed Morrigan. "What the hell do you want?"
Drake and Trey eyed each other with icy glares. Each one was accusing the other.
"Uh..." Trey began sheepishly as his face turned bright red.
Allora folded her arms and raised an eyebrow. "It's okay. I think I know why you're here."
Morrigan stared at Allora in utter disbelief. Although she didn't agree with Brystol most of the time, Morrigan and Brystol both knew Allora knew nothing about teenage romance and the desperate measures boys go through. Allora can't possibly know. Morrigan then realizing that the feat was impossible, smiled to herself. This ought to be good.
Trey and Drake gulped both thinking that Allora and Morrigan knew why they were spying. But, they were in for a surprise.
"You want to know what time the scrimmage starts tomorrow, right?" asked Allora. "It only makes sense. You didn't know anyone's number and you though Morrigan lived here. You knew Morrigan was on the team and also knew that you could ask her, and you didn't want to ring the doorbell and ask. That would be way too embarrassing. So it lead you to spying. Right?"
Morrigan rolled her eyes and was about to say something but before she could, Drake replied with a "yes" and gave a killer grin, naturally making her speechless.
Trey looked down at the ground tried to avoid any eye contact. "Sorry for disturbing you... we'll go now... uh what time IS the hockey scrimmage?"
Allora smiled brightly. "Two. See you guys later."
Trey smiled shyly and proceeded down his ladder, while Allora walked back over to Morrigan's bed to sit and read a magazine. But, before Drake could leave, Morrigan grabbed him by his coat collar. "Next time you want to spy, make sure Allora isn't here and Trey doesn't come along."
Drake winked and carefully climbed down his ladder.
Morrigan sighed. She was in love. For real. No more "push-overs". A real man.
Drake and Trey walked home, very relieved.
"Hey, do you think those guys have powers?" Trey asked.
"I would assume."
"Maybe we should tell them. I mean Allora seems nice enough. I think the rest will actually be glad there's two more people to help."
"I guess you're right. We'll tell them tomorrow at the scrimmage."
Trey smiled. He really wanted to tell them. He felt it would give him a chance to get to know Allora more. He was suddenly very excited about the scrimmage tomorrow.
Brystol sat quietly on her living room couch. Everything really hadn't sunken in well for her. All she ever wanted out of life was to be accepted as a normal teenage girl. And so far, that wasn't happening. She was given a strange power, chased by demons through the woods, then mysteriously transported to Morrigan's bedroom. How normal is that?
She grabbed the throw blanket from the back of the couch and wrapped it tightly around her. She felt so alone. True, she had always been friends with Johnny, Allora, Morrigan, and Truman since she was little, but she had always felt like the outcast. Though Brystol liked to consider Allora and Johnny good friends, she couldn't say the same about Truman and Morrigan. Allora and Johnny, of course, were the best of friends with both Truman and Morrigan. It seemed that she couldn't do anything with Allora and Johnny without Truman and Morrigan tagging along. She couldn't risk being associated with them. So that basically that left no room for her. They did include her in on their activities, though. But that didn't really make for a great friendship. Brystol never felt completely comfortable with them all. The fact that Truman and Morrigan had the same feelings about her as she did for them didn't help. But did she blame them?
Brystol thought back to the time she went to Kennywood, a local amusement park with them for their school picnic. It was only last year and she remembered it perfectly. She was sitting with them in the restaurant there when Bunnie Ramone and the cheerleading squad walked in. Upon seeing her, they stalked over to the table where the five were sitting. Johnny and Allora were given fairly vacant "hello's" and then they turned to her.
"What are you doing here with them?" asked Bunnie, nodding towards her "friends".
"We decided to come together," Brystol replied meekly. "We always come together."
Bunnie flipped her bleach blonde hair. "Oh really? Well, if I'm not mistaken, you're a cheerleader now, aren't you?"
Brystol gulped. "Well, yeah, but I have been since Middle School."
"Middle School?" Bunnie laughed. "That was not cheerleading, that was…that was…" Bunnie searched for the word. "—rhythmic frolicking. But you are a cheerleader now, and you should learn to act like one."
Brystol remained still and silent, not quite knowing what to do.
"Well what are you waiting for?" Bunnie angrily implied. "Let's go. I can't allow one of my favorite cheerleaders to be seen with a crowd of such low social status." She turned to Allora and Johnny who were fuming in their seats. "No offense to you two, of course." She pointed a pink fingernail towards Morrigan. "But that is a different story," she said, refusing to even acknowledge Truman's existence.
And Brystol got up and left without even saying a goodbye. She was with her cheerleaders, now. Yes, she had her cheerleader friends, but were they really friends? Or were they tools to boost her popularity and vice versa? It didn't matter, though. That was where she belonged. She was popular, cute, and a cheerleader. She was what every girl from five to ninety wished they were, would be, or had been. And she wouldn't allow some stupid powers get in her way of that. She sat up and looked over at the phone.
Feeling very bad, she decided to call Allora. Maybe they could do something. Just then the phone rang. Brystol smiled. Maybe it's Allora, she thought to herself. She picked it up.
"Hello?"
"Hi Brys," Bunnie Ramone's all to recognizable squeak replied. "All the cheerleaders are going out to eat. I'd really love it if you could join us."
"Of course Bunnie," Brystol responded happily, though inside she was anything but. "I'll see you in a little."
She hung up and fell once again on the couch in frustration.
The Jefferson Memorial Ice Demons suited up in the guy's locker room in with the exceptions of Allora and Morrigan, the only female players on the team. Unfortunately for them, they had to dress in the girls' bathroom, which was often a very crowded place around game time. This was because there was not a girl's locker room at the Ice Palace, a hockey rink behind the school, which was where JM played all their home games. So, the two had to push through girls by the hundreds, who were carefully applying their make-up, hoping to snag one of the dreamy male hockey players after the scrimmage.
"You think we'll beat the Tree Frogs?" asked Morrigan over the commotion as she put her pads on.
Allora, already in full hockey attire, shrugged. "Their team is composed of mainly seniors and a few juniors, but they aren't very good. So, I'm pretty sure we're gonna win."
Morrigan smiled, looking a little dazed. "It's kind of funny actually..."
"That we're sophomores and they're seniors?"
Morrigan shook her head while putting her skates on, which was a difficult task. "No. Our name, the Ice Demons. It's kind of ironic with all that has been going on the last couple of days."
"I suppose it is," she answered as she turned to Morrigan. "Let head back to the guys' locker room. The boys are probably done dressing now. We should be able to go in now."
"Or if we're lucky, they're not done dressing," Morrigan said slyly.
Suddenly Allora was thirsty. "Uh… Let's give them a little more time. I need a drink anyway."
"Allora, I'm kidding. They always finish in ten minutes so we can come in."
"Oh, I knew you were kidding," Allora replied awkwardly.
In the locker room, everyone was getting pumped, including the girls who had just arrived. "Are we ready?" asked Coach Ryder with much enthusiasm.
The team screamed with excitement. Scrimmages were taken as seriously as most games and the Ice Demons were favored to win. The hockey season hadn't even started yet, but hockey was the favorite sport of the area and dominated greatly over football as the most popular high school sport. It also didn't help that all the best athletes were on the hockey team and left the JM football team completely without any talent. In fact, the football team consisted of mainly sophomores and freshmen that didn't make the hockey team.
It became very prevalent to visiting hockey squads just how devoted the area was to the Ice Demons. In front of the school stood a twenty feet tall blue demon holding a hockey stick and sporting a malevolent glare.
The side of the school that faced the road was completely covered with signs saying "Feel the Wrath of the Ice Demons", and others used for intimidation. If teams weren't scared yet, they would be when they reached the arena, which was a down a long dirt road behind the school, where they would meet a horde of JM supporters yelling rude remarks, some wearing demon masks. All of this gave JM a bit of a reputation, which only added to their mythical status. And hockey wasn't the only sport at JM, of course.
Allora and Johnny had been trying for some time, but to no avail, to convince Principal Eggert to start a martial arts team. They were only casually taking it, but had won a few tournaments, though only one national each. Principal Eggert insisted there weren't enough people to make a team. As of late, Allora and Johnny hadn't been recruiting any one. They decided they should concentrate on other things, more important things. Allora had also given up taekwondo classes.
Drake looked at Trey meaningfully. "It's now or never."
Allora and Morrigan had sat next to them in the locker room. Trey tapped Allora's shoulder.
"What is it, Trey?" she asked, a bit irritated he would bother her during the pep talk.
"Allora, how should I say this? Um… Drake and I have powers," he said, blushing. That wasn't quite how he wanted to say it.
Allora's eyes bugged out of her head. "Speak to me after the game."