Chapter 11: Trouble in sight
It was Monday again. A week after Anya and Veronica ran into Stacy and she said her threat. The two of them walked closely to Kira as they entered the school building. They were determined not to let Stacy boss them around with her threats. As they walked into the corridor where Stacy was they started their practiced act of avoidence. They were as she was only air and didn't notice her. Anya glanced carefully at Stacy and saw the irritation on her face immediately.
Luckily the bell rang and they went into the class. Stacy made a few pathetic attempts to glare at them. At the end of the class Ms. Montana gave her detention for not paying attention in class and for disturbing her classmates. Stacy looked like she was ready to murder the teacher. Soon she was tempted to murder Kira too as she smirked annoyingly at her bad luck.
Stacy was left behind to decide the time of her detention as the others went ahead. When she appeared to the corridor where Anya, Veronica, Kira and Hilary were you could see her shaking from head to toe.
"What ever happened to her?" Anya asked.
"She experienced what Miss Montana can be like when she gets nasty," Kira stated.
"What does that exactly mean?" Anya questioned, although she wasn't sure if she wanted to know.
"Let's just say that when you start messing with her the rumors that she eats students for breakfast look much more then just rumors after that," Kira explained.
"Let me guess. You had to try her patience?" Anya assumed.
"It was a chance I couldn't resist. I made an article of her. Somehow the magazine got to her hands. Luckily she doesn't have proof that it was me who wrote it," Kira said.
The bell rang again and their French teacher came around the corner and let them into the classroom. Veronica was absent-minded through the whole time until the teacher noticed it...
"Miss Meridian," he started. "Would you care to tell me the answer to the next question?"
Veronica snapped out of her thoughts. The whole class was staring at her. She blushed before she gave her answer. One of Stacy's friends giggled.
"It's not your turn to speak Miss Kingston so I ask you to be quiet," the teacher said sharply. "Your answer was right Miss Meridian."
Kira's thoughts swirled in her head. 'Kitty isn't paying attention in the French class. What's going on? This is not like her. French is her favorite subject.'
Kira thought hard what could be bothering her but couldn't think of anything. The bell rang and brought her back to reality. They walked to the cafeteria and went into two tables, the girls to one table and the boys to the other. As they sat down Kira noticed that something was wrong with Anya too. She seemed absent-minded too. 'What is wrong with the two of them? It must be the same thing.'
Kira and Hilary left the table to go to their psychology class when they were done eating. Anya looked nervously at Veronica.
"You think she would do something now?" she asked.
"I don't think so. Not in here at least. There too many people and teachers in here," Veronica replied.
"You're right," Anya said.
There was a moment of silence.
"Anya..." Veronica said suddenly.
"What?" Anya asked.
"I'm scared. What if something happens?" Veronica continued.
"Like what?" Anya questioned.
"You know I love to dance. It's my life," Veronica responded.
"Yeah..." Anya said, wondering where this was going to.
"I see everywhere stuff about dancers who used to be good but couldn't dance anymore because they were in an accident. What if that happens to me?" Veronica asked as tears appeared in her eyes.
"Oh, come here," Anya said soothingly and grabbed Veronica into a tight hug.
"We will get through this. I promise," Anya continued.
Stacy walked by the table just then and glared or at least tried to glare at them.
"What are we going to do?" Veronica asked after Stacy was gone.
"She can't hurt us if we stay around the teachers," Anya answered.
"So that's the answer. We hang around teachers?" Veronica replied.
"Yeah, that would be it," Anya stated. "At least I can't think of anything better."
The
two of them noticed a teacher leaving the cafeteria and rushed out
the same time.
They
were a little surprised since they didn't spot Stacy anywhere.
"You think she is planning something?" Anya questioned.
"Maybe. She is up to something surely," Veronica replied, her voice trembling.
"You think it would be safe to go to the library?" Anya asked.
"It's a risk," Veronica responded.
"You remember when we agreed that we wouldn't let her control us? That's just what we would be doing if we let her affect this decision," Anya said.
"You're right," Veronica agreed.
So they went to the library. They were even more surprised when Stacy didn't appear there.
"This is definitely not like her," Veronica stated.
"You think she got cold feet?" Anya suggested.
"I doubt it," Veronica replied.
They left the library for the English class. Again Kira wondered why the two were so quiet. Finally she asked them about it...
"It's nothing, Kira. Really, no need for you to worry." Anya answered.
Rei listened carefully to the conversation. Like Kira, he too could tell that they weren't telling everything.
The English class went well. Stacy didn't bother to try to annoy them. After a long hour the relieving sound of the bell finally came and they were let out.
Anya and Veronica were leaving when Veronica noticed that her diskette was missing. She rushed back for it. At the same time Kira and Hilary caught up with Anya and dragged her with them to see something. Veronica reached the door to the classroom but it was already closed, so she knocked but didn't get any answer. She continued the corridor to find their English teacher.
Suddenly she stopped. Stacy had appeared in front of her and she was holding something...
Veronica's diskette.
"You..." Veronica snarled as she recovered from the shock.
"Listen to that tone," Stacy said to her friends as she shook her head.
"What about it?" Veronica asked, her voice getting a little icy.
"How can you call yourself an aristocrat?" Stacy asked.
"I should be asking you that question," Veronica replied calmly.
This made Stacy furious. 'How could she be so calm?'
She pushed Veronica violently against the wall. Veronica's head hit the wall hard.
"I'm not afraid of you," she stated, her voice barely hearable under Stacy's grip.
"You should be. My family has a lot of power," Stacy responded.
"Not as much as the Hiwatari's," Veronica replied.
"Ah, your dear friend Kira and her brother Kai," Stacy retorded. "Kira will soon be out of my way and after that Kai will be mine."
"Like Kai would ever fall for a cheap slut like you," Veronica snarled.
Stacy slammed Veronica harder against the wall. Veronica collapsed to the floor as she let go of her. After that she received many hard kicks to her stomach. She started to cry out in pain and tears fell down her cheeks. She spat blood out of her mouth.
"Look at yourself," Stacy mocked. "Look how pathetic you are."
Veronica was hurting too much to reply to her. She was picked up from the floor and held against the wall again.
"Answer me when I'm talking to you, bitch!" Stacy shouted at her.
All Veronica could do was cry more as she got a series of slaps on the face. Finally everything went black as she was slammed to the wall once more. A trail of blood came from her head and made a small puddle on the floor where Stacy and her friends left her.
Rei was walking down the stairs at the school. When Veronica didn't appear after Anya he got worried. The two were the whole day together and both of them were acting strangely and then there was the conversation that Rei heard. He felt something was wrong. He wondered the corridors in the school. Suddenly he noticed a figure lying on the floor. He rushed over and gasped as he saw who it was...
Veronica!
He called an ambulance immediately and after that he checked her pulse and if she was breathing. Veronica was soon on her way to the hospital. Rei rushed to tell everyone else what had happened to her. After that they all left for the hospital. They waited a long time before the doctor who was treating her let them in to see her. She was in horrible shape. Her face was bruised and she had a black eye and a cut in her bottom lip, which was starting to swell. What they didn't see were the bruises in her stomach. Some of them were quite big. She also had a twisted ankle. They waited long for Veronica to wake up but time passed more and more without any reaction from her.
Kira threw the boys out of the room when the clock hit 8.30 pm, saying that it was time for them to go to bed and get some sleep.
After that Anya got the third degree from Kira about the whole thing and she had no choice but to tell.
"That bitch!" Kira exclaimed in fury.
"Kira please don't take revenge on her," Anya pleaded.
"Why not! Look what she did to poor Kitty!" Kira responded.
"You will get in trouble. I know you will," Anya said, wanting to cry.
Kira stormed out of the room.
Anya gave in and let the tears fall. Hilary grabbed her into a hug.
"Shh... it's alright," she said soothingly.
"No, it's not," Anya mumbled through her sobs.
"Okay, okay. Tell you what, I'm going to go and talk to Kira. Okay?" Hilary said.
Anya nodded and Hilary left the room to find Kira.
Anya leaned closer to Veronica. She looked at her face. It was completely ruined. She just looked at her, feeling guiltier every minute.
"This is my fault. I promised you we would get through this," Anya whispered.
Anya closed her eyes. There was a silence. Then...
"It's not your fault."
Anya opened her eyes and stared at the doorway, it was empty. After that she directed her gaze to the bed. Veronica had her eyes open.
"I'm so glad you're finally awake," Anya said and hugged her friend.
"Ouch!" Veronica exclaimed in pain.
"Oh, I'm so sorry!" Anya winced.
"It's alright," Veronica said and smiled weakly.
"No. This shouldn't have happened," Anya said.
"I don't blame you and you shouldn't blame yourself either," Veronica replied understandingly.
"You don't think this is my fault?" Anya asked.
"No. I took knowingly that when I went back for that diskette without you. You're not responsible," Veronica explained.
"You're right. I'm still so sorry for you. You are the sweetest person I have known in my entire life. You don't deserve this," Anya stated.
"That's so sweet of you. There other things that you must concentrate on now," Veronica replied. "I assume that Kira is furious about this thing."
"Yeah, Hilary went to talk some sense into her, but you know Kira..." Anya said.
"I do. That's why you must stop her. Stacy is just waiting for her to come after her," Veronica explained.
"How? I haven't tried to stop her before," Anya responded.
"We'll have to think of something before it's too late," Veronica stated. "But you should go now. You have to get some sleep."
"No, you're my friend and I want to be here by your side," Anya argued.
"I will call the nurse to throw you out if that is the only way I'm going to get you to go," Veronica threatened. "You need some sleep young lady."
"Yes... mother," Anya said jokingly and smirked.
Veronica smiled back.
Next afternoon the girls were gathered again around Veronica, doing homework.
Veronica had trouble focusing on her work because of the pain in her stomach and ankle. They were all very sorry for her. Kira even had made an exception to her rules. She usually didn't help anyone with their homework but this time she decided to make an exception.
The girls left Veronica as the doctor came in to check up on her and said that she needed to rest. Soon after the doctor left Veronica fell asleep. She felt disappointed when she woke up later in the evening and found the room empty. There was an awkward silence in the room. Just then Rei walked in.
"Hi. I see you're awake," he greeted cheerfully.
"Yeah. I hope you aren't leaving soon. It's so boring here," Veronica replied.
"No. How are you feeling?" he asked politely.
"Better than yesterday," Veronica replied and forced a smile on her face. "I hear it was you who found me on the floor. Thank you."
"No need to thank me," Rei said and blushed slightly.
"What are you standing there? Come and sit down," Veronica said and pointed to the chair next to the bed.
Rei moved closer when he suddenly tripped on one of the other chairs. A moment later Veronica let out a scream. Rei had managed to hit her sore ankle when he tripped.
"I'm so sorry," Rei apologized.
"I wish people would quiet telling me how sorry they are. I don't want your pity," Veronica stated.
Rei looked hurt.
"I'm sorry. It's just that I'm really hurting and they won't give me anything for the pain," Veronica explained.
"I understand. Can I try something on your ankle?" Rei asked.
"Sure. I don't think the pain can get any worse then this," Veronica agreed.
Rei sat down on the chair that was at the end of Veronica's bed. He grabbed her foot into a firm grip and started slowly moving his other hand on her ankle. At first Veronica felt jolts of pain go through her leg, suddenly it stopped. The pain was gone from her ankle.
"How did you do that? It doesn't hurt anymore," Veronica said.
"It's about increasing the flow of blood to your ankle. When more blood goes through your ankle it brings more oxygen, which relieves the pain," Rei explained as he moved closer to Veronica.
"Interesting," Veronica said and smiled.
That was when they caught each other's gaze. Veronica looked deep into Rei's eyes. They were filled with caring. She started feeling a little feverish. She wanted to turn away but something kept her from doing it. Instead she found herself getting closer to him.
'What am I doing!' she screamed in her head.
Soon she couldn't hear the screaming anymore as her lips touched Rei's. It was a shy kiss. She could see confusion in Rei's eyes as they parted. She knew her eyes looked the same. She felt a blush cover her cheeks. Rei stood up to leave, but Veronica grabbed his sleeve.
"Don't go," she whispered softly.
Rei turned around to face her.
"You want me to stay?" Rei asked. "Are you sure?"
"Yes," Veronica replied firmly.
