Author's Note: Dear audi katia, in this chapter, you will see exactly how Kristy isn't a Mary-Sue. Tsk-tsk. What a temper!
"Kristina Alexandra Stephanie Twirl, where on earth have you been?" Thelxiepia Twirl asked her daughter, hands on her hips. "It's been, what, six hours? Seven?"
"Mum, I was just, er, hanging out with my friends," Kristy lied, her green eyes unusually bright. She had never fibbed to her mother before.
"I can see that you're lying, Kristy, dear," Mrs. Twirl said sternly. "You should be very ashamed of yourself."
'
Kristy hung her head, then lifted the rosy face again. "I was only at Aunt Tristy's house—"
"What?" her mother exclaimed ferociously. "So she's the one who taught you to lie! KEVIN!" A tall, muscular man with dark hazel hair and bright green eyes entered the room.
"Yes, Thelxie, dear?" he asked. He smiled at Kristy kindly. "Hey, Kris."
"You won't be smiling after I tell you what she's done!" Mrs. Twirl screeched.
"Kristy, did you blow up the toilets at school again?" Kevin Twirl asked, more sternly this time.
"It was worse than that, Kev!" Mrs. Twirl yelled. "Kristina found out about Tristan! She visited her! And my sister's taught her how to lie!" Her green eyes filled with sparkling tears.
"Mum! Auntie Tristy is a kind, generous person! She's a kindred spirit! Auntie didn't teach me to lie! I just did so you wouldn't get mad at her or me. Auntie told me you didn't want me to know her, so I couldn't help but fib. I'm sorry," Kristy apologized, astonished that her perfect mother could cry like that. Thelxiepia didn't believe a word of it.
Kevin just stood there, speechless. "Um, I'll be making a cup of tea," he said awkwardly, and left the room to the two females.
"How could you, Kristy?" Mrs. Twirl cried. "How could you lie to your mother two times? How could you visit the sister that hates me so? How?" She covered her face with her hands.
Kristy grew impatient and angry with her mother. Her blood was boiling. Her bright green eyes were clouding with gray. This was a very bad sign. "How many times do I have to tell you?" she said angrily. "I didn't lie! Aunt Tris helped cure me of hypnotism! She doesn't hate you! You're just too downright stubborn to believe it. Some mother you are, not believing your own child's true words. You aren't a very good sister, either, from what Auntie's told me. Always in the spotlight while she crouched in a dark corner. When she was crying in her room, you confronted her. At school, you spread nasty rumors about her. I don't know why Daddy chose you. I should be grateful, because it's because of you I exist, but still." She looked at her shocked mother coldly. Thelxiepia froze.
Kristy stomped up to her room and thundered back with a suitcase full of clothes, and all that important stuff. Thelxiepia turned pale. Kevin came back with the tea. "I'm going," she declared furiously. "And you're not going to stop me, so-called-mother. Bye, Daddy!" She walked out, slamming the door behind. She left a very confused Kevin and a very frustrated Thelxiepia behind her.
She marched down past Greybank Crescent and reached 15 Darkly Wynd. She rang the doorbell and heard footsteps. Her Aunt Tristan answered the door and let her in, guessing what had happened.
"Cup of tea, dear?' Tristan asked, getting a cup for herself. Kristy nodded, the grim look vanishing from her face, being replaced with a smile. It was nice to be in the warm, cozy kitchen with her aunt. Tristan handed her niece a cup of steaming tea and smiled back.
"What happened, Kristy?" the aunt asked after Kristy's expression had softened.
"My stupid mother. She accused me of lying," Kristy replied simply, as if she didn't care. "She said you hated her. She made it sound like she really was telling the truth, but I wasn't demented enough to fall for it. Her eyes seemed to tell me that she really was the perfect angel, and you were the jealous, flawful sister that got in the way. At least you had a heart, Aunt Tris." She smiled brilliantly at her aunt.
"So, I reckon you're staying, sweetheart?" Tristan asked hopefully. She loved this thirteen-year-old girl, so lively and full of spirit. Living with her would be most pleasant.
"Of course, Auntie," Kristy answered matter-of-factly. "I don't ever want to go back there again. The only things that I'll miss are my dad, my room, and my CD's." She smiled sadly.
"I can get you a room, of course, and buy you new CD's, but I don't think your father would want to visit," Tristan said thoughtfully. "But there's a lot of things we can do. Oh, I forgot to tell you last time! Did you know we have the same endowment, Kristy?"
Kristy's eyes glittered like stars. "We can both help the garden grow, auntie! Oh, this is going to be so much fun! I can't wait! Auntie Tristy, this is the best and the worst day of my life!" She squeezed her aunt's hand.
"I'll take you to Bloor's tomorrow," Tristan said, grinning. "Hope there won't be any trouble. You know, with you getting cured and all, Alexandra. Do you mind me calling you Alexandra? It was my mother's name. Your deceased grandmother's. I guess Thelxiepia hasn't told you about her. My father Stephen—that's where you got Stephanie—always adored my sister. But my mother saw right through her. Pity she died when I was nine. Well, Stephen, my father, remarried. That's the grandmother you know of, Little Alex. Christina. Hmm, I guess that's where you got Kristina." She hadn't talked this much for a while, and she kind of liked blabbering.
"So I'm named after a grandfather who ignores me, a grandmother I never knew, and a stepgrandmother I hate?" Kristina asked grimly. "Great. And I always thought my name was rather pretty. Now the only parts I like are Alexandra and Twirl."
"Everyone could just call you Alexandra Twirl," Tristan suggested. "It wouldn't be actually changing your name, since it's already part of it, and it's way prettier than Kristina Twirl."
"Alexandra Twirl, Alexandra Twirl," Kristy muttered to herself. "I guess so. It's a beautiful name, no doubt about that. What was Grandma Alexandra's maiden name?"
"Violet," Tristan answered softly. "Alexandra Kathryn Charity Violet." She remembered her mother, bold, brazen, and headstrong. So like the girl sitting before her. The features were exactly the same, except for the hair and the eyes. Her mother had owned long, straight golden hair and bright sapphire blue eyes.
"So everyone will call me Alexandra Violet," Kristy declared. "Well, everyone except my friends, anyway. They've got Kristy stuck in their heads, and I can't fix that."
Tristan smiled. She had been doing that a lot lately since she had met her little niece. "I'm sure your grandmother would have been proud to have a bright girl like you have her name," she said. "If she were alive, she would have loved you."
"Was Grandma Alex endowed? What was her talent?" Kristy shot off, curious to find out what her grandmother was like.
"Yes, she was endowed, and her talent was to change colors. For example, she could turn her hair pink, then blue, then whatever color she wanted," Tristan said, proud of her mother's gift.
"Wow," Kristy breathed. "That's cool." Her green eyes were wide and lamplike, and now looked too big for her face.
"Wow indeed," Kristy said. She couldn't help but laugh at the expression on her niece's face.
The two auburn-haired, green-eyed, endowed females spent the night talking.
The very next day, Kristy waved to her aunt and ran outside. She hopped onto the blue bus that would take her to Bloor's Academy.
"What's all the racket?" Tristan's neighbor Eustacia Yewbeam screeched. She lived at 13 Darkly Wynd.
"I was trying to sleep," Eustacia's sister Venetia Yewbeam complained, sticking her head out of a window. She, also, lived at 13 Darkly Wynd, but in a different house. As a matter of fact, there were three 13 Darkly Wynd's in total. The last one belonged to the matron of Bloor's Academy, and also the sister of Eustacia and Venetia, Lucretia Yewbeam.
"Oh, it's just the blue bus. They've come for my niece Kristy," Tristan replied casually, smiling.
Eustacia and Venetia stole worried looks. Tristan knew what they were thinking. Kristina Twirl's been un-hypnotized.
Meanwhile, the blue, green, and purple buses stopped at Bloor's Academy. Kristy, Gabriel, Charlie, and Fidelio leaped out of the bus, laughing.
"Kristy," Gabriel said in a more serious tone. "Why did we stop at your aunt Tristy's house instead of yours?" Kristy's face darkened, and he immediately regretted having asked the question.
Kristy told her three friends about the conversation she had with her aunt last night, and what had happened before that.
"Kris, I really can't believe you sometimes," Charlie said, grinning.
"But you have to admit, what she did was wicked cool. Just like from a movie," Fidelio remarked. Kristy beamed.
The lessons were just as exciting—not!—as usual. Word had spread about the little incident Kristy had with her mother, but she didn't mind. Actually, she was rather glad that everyone knew about it.
"Well, it's nothing bad about me, much," Kristy said to Gabriel during French when the teacher was out of earshot. "Since I was the one who confronted her anyway. All she did was call me a liar and a bad daughter. But everyone knows it isn't true."
At the King's Room, Kristy was greeted by glares from Manfred, Zelda, Asa, Beth, Dorcas, and Billy; and smiles and pats on the back by Tancred, Lysander, Emma, and Bindi.
"What you did was wicked, Kris," Tancred said, shaking Kristy's hand. "You showed her big time." Kristy gave him one of her radiant smiles, and Tancred went weak in the knees. Then Kristy made an announcement.
"Anyone who doesn't know me as a friend, someone to trust, blah, blah, blah, will call me Alexandra Violet from now on. Do I make myself clear?" she demanded in a powerful voice that her friends never knew she was capable of. There were 'yes's and grunts and nods and smiles.
"You can't order us around, Twirl," Manfred said irritably. "I'm Head Boy."
"Do you mind shutting up, Bloor? I don't remember having asked you to comment," Kristy replied coolly, her green eyes frosty and cold. The two had a staring contest. Manfred found that he now had no effect on Kristy with his coal black eyes. He couldn't get through the iciness of those strong, amazingly brilliant green eyes.
"You think you're so clever, plant-girl," Zelda sneered at Kristy. "Stupid, bratty little missy."
Kristy lunged forward onto Zelda, or at least tried to. Tancred had grabbed ahold of her just in time.
"Now I know why Olivia should have been grateful Kris was happy," Lysander muttered in awe.
"Let—me—go—Tanc!" Kristy growled. "The—little—twit—called—me—a—missy!"
Zelda smiled smugly. "Yeah, Torsson. Let go of your little girlfriend. She can't do much to me anyway." Kristy glared daggers at her. Tancred had half a mind to let go, but then Kristy would get in trouble. Big trouble.
"Kris, cool it," he mumbled in her ear. "You don't want to get hypnotized again, now do you?" At this, Kristy reluctantly stopped struggling. With a warning growl at Zelda, she sat down at her seat between Gabriel and Lysander.
"Phew," Tancred sighed in relief.
"She's more of a beast than Asa," Manfred said, sniggering.
"Bloor, I'm warning you," Gabriel said, glaring at the Head Boy.
"You can't do anything to me," Manfred sneered, but sat down and shut up anyway.
"Thanks, Tanc," Kristy whispered to Tancred while scribbling the answer to number eighteen on page one hundred in her English textbook. "Sometimes my temper gets out of hand."
"I know how you feel," Tancred whispered back with a smile.
"Torsson, Twirl—"Manfred started to say. Kristy glared at him. "Er, I mean, um, er, Violet, back to your homework." Kristy smiled, satisfied.
When Kristy and Emma were done with their homework, the two of them walked to the Girls' Dormitories together. On the way, they saw something that made them giggle. Olivia and Fidelio were in the middle of the corridor, kissing.
"I do hope we're not interrupting something," Kristy said loudly. The two finally took notice of the two girls' presences, and blushed, pulling back.
"Er, sorry," Fidelio apologized, very red.
"Didn't mean for you guys to see that," Olivia said, reddening.
"Well, obviously not," Emma said, giggling.
"Don't let Matron catch you," Kristy warned. "Remember what happened to Damian Smerk and Vera Smiles."
"Bye, then," Fidelio said, waving as he walked away.
"Bye, Fido!" Kristy, Olivia, and Emma called back, walking to their own dormitory.
"Not a word, you two," Olivia warned them, her eyes twinkling.
"You worry too much, Olivia," Kristy replied, grinning wickedly.