Chapter 4: Winter Wonderland
"Rockin' around the Christmas tree at the Christmas party hop!" the spiky-haired leader of the Saint Shields belted out his rocking new version of the Christmas song, along with the rest of his jamming team. "Mistletoe hung where you can see, every couple tries to stop!"
"Rockin' around the Christmas tree, let the Christmas spirit ring!" the cobalt-haired girl sang, her fingers dancing skilfully across her electric keyboard. "Later we'll have some pumpkin pie, and we'll do some carolling!"
"They're not bad." Hilary spoke quietly to herself from her spot leaning against the wall of the dojo, letting her head bounce up and down with the beat. Turning to look out onto the dance floor, Hilary sighed. "At least some people are having fun." She commented when she spotted Ray dancing quite closely to a magenta haired girl with similar feline features.
Ray and the other girl—Mariah, Hilary believed her name was—had danced the entire night together. But then again, they hadn't seen each other for a long time. It was really quite cute.
She scanned the dance floor for her other friends, but it wasn't very hard to spot them, even from among all the invitees. Max was literally hopping back and forth from his American friends, the All-Stars, that had come to visit, and to the large groups of fan girls from Hilary's classes. The blond Bladebreaker had danced with a lot of girls that night, especially a certain cobalt-haired Saint Shield. Hilary rolled her eyes and turned her attention towards…Tyson. She groaned. He was the reason she was sitting all alone against the cold wall. Stupid Tyson, she thought almost bitterly, You just had to go and get yourself drunk now, didn't you?
Sure, it had been a bit humorous at the beginning, when the navy-haired Bladebreaker had jumped up onto the tables and stage dancing and singing clumsy Christmas carols like a deranged wildman. But now, she was getting real sick of it. What about her? He was supposed to be at the dance with her? Hilary didn't care if her thoughts sounded childish and self-centred. She at least wanted to have danced with Tyson once.
"Well so much for that…" she sighed miserably, silently scuffing the toe of her black ankle boot on the hardwood floor.
"So much for what?" a deep, familiar voice came from behind Hilary.
The brunette jumped and her eyes snapped upwards. "Oh…Hey Kai." She gave him a forced little smile. "What's up?"
"Hn." He grunted and leaned himself against the wall beside her. Folding his arms across his chest, he replied monotonously. "Where's the walking disposal unit?"
Hilary gave a small smirk. "I dunno." She shrugged, seemingly nonchalantly. "Probably off guzzling some more spiked punch and dancing his drunken ass off."
It was Kai's turn to smirk, "Nice choice of words there." She was clearly pissed off at the pig for getting drunk and leaving her all alone. "So, why aren't you off chatting with your little girl friends?"
"Little girl friends?" Hilary snorted, a tone of disbelief in her voice. Shaking her head, she replied, a little colder than she would've wanted, "I don't have any little girl friends, Kai."
Yup, Kai took the hint of coldness in the girl's voice. She's pissed. "Touched a nerve, did I?"
Hilary growled. What's it to him? It's not like I'm going to tell him that the only reason I stick around with the guys is because all my other friends ditched me for being a class-suck up. I can't believe they told me—let alone believed-- that load of crap…some friends. They're so stupid for being jealous and thinking that I had a thing for the Bladebreakers. As if!
There was a moment of silence between the two as they contemplated their thoughts and listened to the Saint Shields rock the night away. The crowd was getting pretty charged up with the awesome music, and almost everyone was dancing. Almost.
Hilary glanced up, feeling like she was being stared at. Across the dance floor, the brunette saw a bunch of girls her age, most likely from her school, giving her odd, menacing glares.
Feeling uneasy, Hilary commented. "I don't think those girls over there like me much."
Kai shot a look across the room and saw a crowd of angry looking girls, all staring with disapproval in his direction. "They're just jealous."
"Jealous? Of me?"
"Yeah." Kai smirked at how clueless the girl was on the matter. "Just because you're talking to me and they aren't."
Figures, Hilary thought bitterly, still feeling awkward at the stares she was receiving. "I'm not really the social type of person…" Damn, she cursed silently, what did that have to do with anything?
"Hn, and I am?" Kai replied, before shooting a threatening look at the girls across the room. In response, and much to Hilary and Kai's surprise, the fan girls quickly turned away and began to giggle like crazy.
Rolling his eyes, Kai spoke. "They're not staring at you anymore. You can loosen up now."
Hilary sighed. Loosen up?! What did he mean by that? She cast a look around the room and her eye caught sight of the punch bowl as it glinted in the colourful twinkling lights. She did need to have a little more fun…even Kai had said so himself, didn't he? Almost automatically, Hilary found herself oddly drawn to the refreshment table.
Kai watched as the brunette picked up a plastic cup in one hand and dipped the ladle into the glass bowl of spiked punch. On impulse, the crimson-eyed boy grabbed her arm to stop her and Hilary turned to glare at him.
"What do you think you're doing?!" they simultaneously snapped at each other, followed by an awkward silence between the two.
Hilary decided to respond first. "I was getting myself a drink. And you?" her voice had a bit of an unfamiliar edge to it. Kai didn't like it and felt for sure that something was up.
"And I was stopping you before you turned yourself into a drunken idiot." The boy hissed, still clutching the girl's sleeve.
In response, Hilary snorted, "And why would you care if I'd gotten myself drunk? You're the one who told me that I needed to loosen up!"
Slightly taken back, Kai then remembered that he had indeed told her to loosen up, only a few moments before. "Yeah, but I didn't mean to go and get yourself drunk! I meant to relax and have a bit of fun."
"Oho, you're one to say that!" retorted the ruby-eyed girl. "Why don't you 'loosen up'?"
"Fine." Kai replied out of the blue and much to Hilary's surprise. "Care to dance?"
"Fine." She answered curtly as she took Kai's hand, not at all wanting to be outdone.
As if on cue, the previously face-paced song faded into a slow, more relaxed holiday tune of Perfect Christmas.
When the two stepped onto the dance floor, surrounded by flashing lights and other people pairing off, Kai noticed Hilary's slight hesitation.
"You…okay?"
Hilary jumped slightly at the sound of his voice and blushed an even brighter tint of red. "Y-yeah." She stuttered, throwing a quick nervous glance over the taller boy's broad shoulders. The crowd of jealous fan girls were glaring at her again. It was getting awfully annoying…and extremely unnerving.
"Ignore them." Kai said.
Hilary nodded and cautiously wrapped her arms around the neck of the lone wolf, trying to ignore the tingling sensation that shot through her arms as their arms made contact. Kai and the brunette found themselves both blushing, but both averted their glances elsewhere, not knowing what else to do.
After about a minute of silent swaying to the Christmassy beat, Hilary suddenly spoke up. "Mmm, Kai?" she lifted her head from off his sturdy shoulder.
"Yeah?"
"Why did you care if I got drunk or not?"
Oh shit. Back to that question again. Maybe if he pretended he didn't hear it…
"Kai?"
Damn it…
"Yeah?" he replied, almost incoherently.
"Why'd you care if I got drunk or not?"
Because I care about you, damn it! That's why! A little voice, somewhere deep inside of him answered. "Great, now I'm hearing voices in my head…"
"What?" Hilary looked up and eyed Kai suspiciously. "What voices?"
"Nothing. Forget it," Kai retorted immediately. "I just said that I didn't want you to get drunk because the little voices in my head told me to stop you."
Oh fuck. Did I just say that out loud?! Kai panicked mentally. Hanging around Tyson so much has caused his oh so great trait of stupidity to rub off on me. What an idiotic thing to say! Oh damn…
"Right, Kai." Hilary shook her head with slight smirk on her face. "I think someone had a little too much eggnog." She glanced up over Kai's shoulder. "Besides Tyson, I mean." She laughed. "Come on, Kai, really now."
As Kai stared back into her ruby coloured orbs, he swore that his heart must've skipped a beat. She was so beautiful, like an angel or something. Here, right in front of him, in his arms—an angel. In the room, dimly lit with Christmas lights reflecting off a giant disco ball, Kai felt like he was floating on air, lost in two enchanting pools of light. It felt like it was only him and Hilary in their own little world, away from everyone else, away from everything…
"Kai?" Hilary voiced her concern. "Are you okay?"
Why was everyone asking him that lately? "Yeah." He mumbled, his earlier thoughts melting away like a single snowflake on the palm of his hand.
"Why did you care Kai?"
"I…" Kai forced himself to look away, not wanting to lose himself in her brilliant eyes once again. "I didn't want you to get hurt." He replied so softly that Hilary almost missed his reply.
Then the slow song ended and a faster song blared through the speakers. The couples on the dance floor broke away, most of them wishing that the song could've lasted just a minute longer. That majority included Kai and Hilary, who despite themselves, reluctantly pulled apart.
"You…didn't want me to get hurt?" Hilary breathed, as she and Kai found themselves walking off the dance floor.
Thinking of quick excuse, as to not make himself look stupid, Kai hastily replied, "That's what friends are for, right?" Good, he had partially saved his tough reputation…kind of…
"Oh yeah, right!" the brunette added with a quick nod. "That's what friends are for, alright!" She laughed nervously. "Excuse me for a moment."
With that, Hilary pushed her way through the crowd until she was safely outside on the dojo porch.
"I am so stupid!" she scolded herself, her face still red from embarrassment. "Of course the great Kai wouldn't be interested in a girl like me! We're just friends! I am such an idiot to think that he would like me! Out of all those pretty fangirls of his, he wouldn't choose me! If I like someone, it doesn't mean that he likes me back!" she rambled on angrily and turned to face the wooden dojo wall. "Idiot! Idiot! Idiot!" she continued to bang her head on the wall.
After bashing her head three times on the wooden planks, Hilary decided that that was enough, as her head was now spinning slightly. "Owww…" she moaned, rubbing her sore head. "I am an idiot."
Now, Hilary could swear she heard bells ringing in her head. Actually, they sounded a lot more like sirens…
"Hanging around Tyson too much, eh?" a familiar voice echoed from behind her.
Startled, Hilary gave a small gasp and whirled around. "How long have you been standing there?" she demanded.
Kai raised an eyebrow, "Long enough to see your attempts to crack your skull open." He strode over towards the shivering girl. "It's warmer inside you know."
Hilary forced herself to stop shivering, at least until Kai left. "I was leaving." She replied through clenched teeth.
"Coat?"
"I didn't bring one." Hilary lied, just wanting to be left alone with her thoughts and not wanting to have another embarrassing moment witnessed by The Great Kai. "I'm going home. Later." She walked off abruptly, leaving Kai staring after her from the dojo doorway.
"Gah, what does he know anyway?" Hilary, still blushing madly, strode grumpily down the snow-covered streets. "Don't answer that." She answered her own question angrily.
As Hilary neared the steps that led down to the river, she rubbed her hands and arms together, trying to keep warm without her parka. Think about warm stuff. Nice, hot, sunny things…Happy things…Things that aren't so confusing… she thought to herself. A harsh gust of cold air blew past her and with it, took away all her warm thoughts.
"Ok-kay." Her teeth chattered and she decided to sing a Christmas carol. "Ch-chestnuts r-roasting on an op-p-pen f-fire. J-jack Frost nip-pp-ping at your n-nose…" she shivered. "N-next song…J-jingle bells! J-jingle b-bells! J-jingle all the w-way—Hey!" the brunette exclaimed as her holly hairpin flew away with another burst of frosty air. "Oh forget this!" she grumbled, stamping her foot on the freshly fallen snow with impatience.
"Hey there pretty lady," a slurred, very drunken masculine voice came from behind her. Eyes wide, Hilary whirled around to face a very dizzy looking maroon-haired Majestic that she had met earlier at the party. "Plant one right here precious…" his voice was very hard to decipher and he kept messing up his words.
"I don't think so…" she turned to leave, but stopped immediately when his firm hand grasped her shoulder. "Eeeewww…" Hilary cringed, smelling the thick, nasty scent of alcohol on his breath. "Look, I've got to go. It was nice meeting you…"she tried to yank her arm away from him, but he held fast.
"Aw, so soon?" came Johnny's garbled sentence. In the dimly lit street, he looked much more scarier than he had only a couple of hours ago. He spun her around to face him. "Come on, just one!" he puckered his lips and Hilary felt bile rising in her throat.
Hilary whimpered, as another one of her attempts to escape failed. Oh, God. She was really going to barf now.
"Fuck off, McGregor!" Hilary felt a wave of pure relief wash over her at the sound of the familiar voice.
Hilary took that moment of surprise to kick her captor where it counted.
"Ow! Bloody Hell!" Johnny shoved himself away from the girl and curled up into a ball on the frozen ground.
But just when Hilary thought she had gotten away, she got up to run but slipped suddenly on a patch of hidden ice and began to tumble down the slippery slope. Landing at the bottom of the snowy hill, she started to pick her self up when…
*Crick*
Her eyes widened at the barely audible, yet horrific sound.
Oh, hell no.
*Crack*
Squeezing her eyes shut, Hilary gave a loud shriek for help before the thin layer of ice gave out from beneath her and she plunged into the frigid river below.
~*~
Silver Swiftness: Dun dun dun! Ooooh, a cliffie! Anyways, what did you think? And if you think that falling into the icy cold river was bad for Hilary…wait until you see what happens next!
Thank you very much for the reviews on the last chapter and I'm hoping for some more this chapter… ^_~ lol! Just kidding…okay, not really! But I'd still really appreciate some reviews!
L8er dayz!