C.C. McKenna
Chapter Sixteen
Misunderstanding
The Halliwell kitchen was awfully quiet for a Saturday morning. Piper had prepared breakfast for everybody but no one seemed to be hungry. Prue was stirring the food on her plate from side to side with her fork; staring without interest at the newspaper she'd been holding for more than an hour; reading over and over the same article, trying hard to concentrate, but with no avail.
Piper held the same cup of coffee she poured herself earlier that morning; watching T.V. without really watching; Cold coffee filled the green Shrek cup that her sister had bought for her. tightly gripping it without being aware of her sore fingers.
Phoebe sat beside Prue, folding and unfolding her blind stick; Hoping she could listen to her 'baby' sister's voice saying it was all cool. Phoebe smiled slightly at her own thought; she enjoyed her sister's British accent greatly.
"What?!... No breakfast for the hungry baby sister of the Powerful Charmed ones?!"
"Lexie" Piper shouted. "You're here"
"Yes; I'm here, and I am not going anywhere" Alexia smiled and hastily walked over to Phoebe. "Thanks to you" She gently bent down and kissed Phoebe's cheek.
Phoebe smiled and pulled out a chair for her sister. "You're a fast learner" She whispered. "Do you realize this is the first kiss I get from my baby sister? I love it!"
Prue got up and wrapped her arms around her kid sister. "I was so worried... I thought you were going to... and... and... we thought you... well, ... uhm... thank you" She smiled widely at Lexie.
"No, if there's someone who should be thankful around here, it would have to be me" Alexia spoke shyly. "Thank you for giving me a chance... a home... a family"
Piper walked hastily toward her sister and embraced her tightly. "Welcome home Alexia; welcome home... sister" She whispered in her ear.
"Thank you Piper, you don't know what this means to me" Lexie's eyes quickly started welling. "I'm not used to having somebody by my side, I'm not used to being loved" She paused for a moment. "Except for my mom, but she's not with me anymore"
"It's ok sweetie, it's ok" Piper kissed her baby sister's forehead. "You'll learn; we'll make it easy for you"
"Thank you, I'll try my best to be good to you" Lexie whispered. "I just want to ask you to be patient with me... please"
"Don't worry baby" Prue added softly. "We are not going to put any pressure on you, we just want you to be yourself"
"Thank you" Lexie wiped the tears from her eyes. "One more thing" she glanced at her three sisters.
"Anything!" Prue answered promptly.
"Let's eat; I'm starving" Alexia grabbed a biscuit and tasted it. "Hey... not bad... not bad at all... you were right Phoebe... she's a great cook"
Piper smiled nervously, but feeling swollen with pride, and Prue exhaled deeply.
"I'm starving too" Phoebe added. "But, this is not new, I'm always hungry". She smiled as well.
No body asked any more questions. Alexia didn't give any more explanations either. They all just wanted to enjoy the beginning of their new life.
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Next day in school, everybody knew about Phoebe's new sister. Phoebe was extremely happy and Leslie... well, Leslie was pissed off. She decided to stay away from Alexia, just until she figured the right time to get back at her; but more importantly, to get back at Phoebe. She decided to wait. She had to be patient if she wanted to succeed.
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"What?!" Karen shrugged. "Phoebe, are you sure? I, I just can't believe it!"
"Oh, I'm sure all right" Phoebe grinned. "This is awesome, isn't it?"
"Well, yeah, yeah... it is, but... still, I don't understand how..." Karen was very surprised.
"You don't have to, you just have to trust me" Phoebe smiled. "And thanks for sticking out for her and caring for her... when I didn't" She hugged Karen with so much love. "Have I ever told you that you are my best friend, and that I love you with all my heart?"
"No, but you don't have to... I know... And my heart knows it too" Karen softly whispered in Phoebe's ear and gently hugged her. "Hey, there's Prue!" Karen waved at her and Prue smiled delightfully, also waving from a distance. The eldest Halliwell fastened her pace and every guy on the field, quickly, one by one, started fixing their eyes on her, admiring her gorgeous body. "Wow, Phoebe, your sister looks so beautiful"
"I know" Phoebe answered with proud.
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Manor, A few months later.................
Everything was going smoothly; Zinnlar had appeared a couple of times more, once at the manor and the other one at P3, but the Charmed ones had managed to get rid of him, not definitely, but every time they fought him they seemed to have weaken his powers. Piper was still working on a potion to vanquish him for good.
Lexie, I'm going to P3; do you need a ride? Piper knocked on the girl's room. "Lexie!!" she knocked again and tried to open the door but it was locked.
"Yes, I do, but I'm not ready yet" Lexie shouted and unlocked the door, still wrapped in her towel. "I'll ask Prue to take us to the faculty; Phoebe is still in the shower" She smiled.
"Lexie... "
"What?!"
"You're smoking again"
"Guilty"
"But... baby, you promised"
"I said I was going to try... and I am, really"
"At least you should try not to smoke this early in the morning"
"Piper..."
"All right... all right; get dressed or you'll be late, we'll talk about it later"
"Thank you" She kissed Piper's cheek and gave her a big grin. "You're the 'bestest' "
"Riiight... see you later sweetie; I'll be at the faculty as usual, to pick you up after soccer practice"
"Oh oh... Piper, I forgot to tell you; I'll be late tonight, because after soccer practice I'm going with the girls to the movies; then we'll have dinner"
"Fine; just don't forget your cell phone; I need to know where 'exactly' you're going to be and when to pick you up"
"Cool, but you have to pick up Phoebe anyway"
"Yeah... I know, I'll be there, don't worry"
"Alexia!... You are still wrapped in your towel!" Prue shouted from across the hall. "Girl, I swear if you are not downstairs, in the kitchen, in 20 minutes, you and Phoebe are going to be walking to the faculty because I'm so not going to wait for you!"
Piper squinted and swiftly slid out of the room. "See ya kiddo"
"Coward!" Lexie shouted at Piper before she exited the room. "I'll be downstairs in a jiffy Prue" Lexie smiled widely. Prue shook her head with annoyance and didn't bother to answer; she went downstairs to have a cup of coffee and to read the newspaper, as always. Phoebe finally got out of the shower and entered her room.
"What did I miss?" Phoebe walked slowly to the closet.
"Nothing much... Prue's morning rattle... but it was cool" Alexia walked to the closet, asked Phoebe what she wanted to wear; and picked up the wardrobe for her sister.
"Thanks Lexie" Phoebe quickly started changing and after a while she finally sat on the bed and tied up her leather boots. Alexia knelt by her side and helped her fix the shoe laces; then she went by her bed and grabbed the glass of water.
"Thanks again, sweetie" Phoebe spoke softly.
"Mhum" Alexia hid a small bottle in the front pocket of her jeans as she swallowed a little white pill. "You are welcome" She returned the glass of water to the night table. "We better hurry or Prue probably might want to kill us!"
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"Ok girls, see you tonight; remember I'm going to L.A., but I will be back around 10:00 P.M." She waited for her sisters to close the car's door. "Take care and make sure to call Piper if you need anything"
"Ok Prue, we will" Phoebe blew a kiss to her sister and Lexie bent down and kissed her cheek. "Good bye" she whispered.
"Bye kiddo, take care of Phoebe for me, will you?"
"Sure... don't worry"
Leslie smiled when she saw Phoebe walking slowly with Alexia's help. She jumped off the hood of one of the parked cars outside the main building and waved to Suzie, who was impatiently waiting for Leslie's signal. Suzie hopped on the motorcycle, covered her face with the black helmet, and quickly accelerated toward Alexia and Phoebe.
"Phoebe!" Alexia yelled when she saw the motorcycle and pushed her sister out of the way, barely having enough time to save herself. Suzie managed to swivel the motorcycle, slightly hitting Lexie's right side, grazing her hip and part of her thigh. Lexie violently flew over Phoebe, landing approximately six feet away from her.
"Alexia!" Phoebe shouted; her voice shaky and nervous. "Where are you... what happened?"
"I'm right here" Lexie hissed and slowly crawled towards Phoebe. "Are you ok?" She bit her lips and took a deep breath, hiding her pain.
"Yes, I am fine... but you don't sound ok" Phoebe whispered.
"Naw, I'm good... please excuse me for pushing you so harshly away" She looked down to check her leg and saw a dark wet stain, she knew she was bleeding; she just had to hide it from Phoebe to avoid excessive nagging, or guilty consciences. She shut her eyes in pain and waited silently for it to go away. Leslie watched amused from a short distance.
"See?... that's why I don't want you to get a motorcycle; they are too damn dangerous; we nearly got run over by one!" Phoebe slowly sat up.
"Come on Phoebe, that's not fair" Lexie whined. "You know I'll be more careful than that stupid driver" Lexie spoke softly. "I love motorcycles, and Prue said that she might buy one for me, please don't ruin it"
"We'll see... I am still not convinced" Phoebe slowly got up and held out her hand to help her baby sister to stand up as well.
"Thanks" Alexia swallowed hard and pretended everything was cool, but her leg was now starting to hurt more.
"Sweetie... I have an algebra exam; can you please take me to my class room"
"Sure, come on" Both girls entered the main building and as soon as Phoebe was inside her classroom, Alexia headed for the infirmary. She hated doctors, but this time she really needed help; it was inevitable. The doctor asked her to take off her clothes and placed her on a gurney. "Wow, this must be hurting a lot" she carefully started cleaning up her injury. Alexia had tears in her eyes but she didn't say a word, in fact, she didn't even winced when the doctor had to give her a shot.
"It's a nasty looking gash you have here" Dr. Mae Yin scolded. "Be sure to change bandages twice a day to avoid infections; and you will also need another antibiotic shot, maybe two" She pulled out a small white box from a cabinet and placed it on her desk. "Take these tablets in case of pain, which I'm sure you are going to be having a lot of, one tablet every eight hours for 3 days... and I'll see you tomorrow morning for that shot"
"Thanks" Lexie grabbed the medicine and put it in her backpack. She smiled at the Doctor and quickly exited the infirmary, trying hard not to limp. She was very concentrated in her pain that she didn't see Leslie standing just outside the door. The latter quickly turned her back to the out coming girl and pretended to be waiting for somebody else. "So, you are taking painkillers... I might supply you with something more enjoyable" She smiled.
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"How did you do on your test?" Lexie held Phoebe's arm and walked her to the soccer field.
"Great" Phoebe beamed. "I think I'm getting an A-plus"
"Yay... you go girl!" Lexie flinched a little but Phoebe didn't notice. "You sit right here and wait for Piper, I'm going to practice now; need anything?"
"Yes... can you get me a rootbeer?" She smiled.
"Sure, hold my things; I'll be right back"
Phoebe placed some books and Lexie's backpack on the lawn and leaned back to rest for a little while. Suzie and Leslie slowly walked to Phoebe's side and stood silently in front of her.
"Who is here?" Phoebe quickly sat up and pulled back her hair with a little bit of nervousness.
"It's just me" Suzie chuckled. ...Good 'ole Suzie; I just came to see how were you doing; I saw the little accident you had this morning"
"Oh, I'm fine, thanks" Phoebe smiled weakly. "Maybe a little scared, that's all; it happened so quick"
While Phoebe chatted with Suzie, Leslie grabbed Alexia's backpack and pulled out the pain medicine Doctor Jones had given to Lexie and replaced it with another box, containing a large amount of small red tablets; methamphetamines. She quietly put the bag back on its place and walked away silently. She sneered joyfully as she joined her cheerleading team.
"Good, I'm glad you're ok... see you around Phoebe" Suzie ran away in a hurry when she saw Lexie coming their way.
"Here you go Phoebe... who was that with you just now?" Lexie opened the soda can and carefully placed it inside her sister's hand.
"That was Suzie; she wanted to see how was I doing after this morning's accident"
"That's odd" Alexia shook her head and turned around to find Suzie; The latter was laughing with the rest of the cheerleaders and cynically waved at her. Alexia didn't respond.
"Ok Phoebe; I'm going to the dressing rooms to change into my uniform; Piper will be here later on, I've already called her"
"Ok... I'll be up and wide awake waiting for you tonight; I'll want to know how did it go"
"All right... shout if you need anything"
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Lexie entered the dressing rooms and slowly changed into her uniform. She remained seated for a little while longer to get rid of the pain she was experiencing on her leg but it didn't go away. She got up and went to her locker. Grabbing her backpack, she hurriedly opened it and took the little white box in her hands. She hated the idea of having to take painkillers, but she wasn't a masochist either, so, without hesitation she swallowed a little red tablet. She put the box inside her bag and shook her head. "Oh what the heck... I'll have another one, it will make the pain go away faster" She thought; and tossed another pill in her mouth.
So... soccer practice began. Alexia started slow, limping at times; then suddenly, she started playing better than ever; running like never before; faster than everyone; sharper than sharp. Her own self even amazed her. She had Completely forgotten about the injury in her leg and she had enough strength and energy in her body to outrun the fastest player in her team; perhaps even the fastest in the faculty.
Coach Roberts thought different; she noticed an odd behavior in Alexia and sent her to the showers. Of course, Alexia didn't like the idea, but she did as she was told anyway. She entered the dressing room and started kicking the lockers; she threw bags, shoes, and books against the wall; she knocked over the iron benches. She couldn't understand the coach's decision. "Why send me to the showers? I'm playing better than ever!" She thought; but she was completely out of herself, breathing heavily; suddenly she stopped and placed her hand flat on her chest as a sharp stingy pain started building inside her. She stood still, not wanting to move an inch because it hurt so bad even to breathe. Her legs buckled up and her body got weaker; she leaned herself on her locker and stayed motionless; Trying to control her ragged breathing
Tbc
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