-note- Sorry I'm late… I played with this chapter a LOT. There were about three different ways I imagined it could work so I didn't actually get around to writing it until last night and this morning (yep. Two weeks and I didn't even really start it). And this was my second idea. I knew the basis of what I wanted to happen in this chapter since like… April, but I didn't know how it would work. I guess this worked out the way it did for good.
-dedication- Woohoo! I dedicate this to xBxMYxJAMESxDeaNxcandyclouds. Okay, so I didn't get all of the right letters capitalized and un-capitalized but that doesn't really matter. And, girl, I hope that your cousins didn't kill you TOO much when you watched 'the end' with them. Please tell me that you did not dismantle their television set… lol. Hope you like it! And yeah. I was going to dedicate the LAST chapter to you, the dedication, because you weren't around, but then I remembered that I was dedicating this to you and I was like… duh! HAPPY BIRTHDAY! Oh yes. And I have bad news for you. I don't think I'm making a sequel. :grins and skidattles:
Chapter Sixteen
The wireless café was quiet. And, as touched on by previous chapters, it is never quiet on Wednesday nights. Something was amiss – the red and blonde haired water bottle guzzling authoress was no where in sight.
During the first few hours of the Wednesday night open mic ceremony John the waiter looked around the café with suspicious eyes. Winter was a strange character, and he didn't want her jumping out at a random time and surprising him.
Actually, she did not come in till nearly eleven at night; carrying her laptop in its normal carrying case and bearing a large smile on her face.
"Hiya!" she exclaimed to John, standing by the counter, filling someone's order, "Can ya get me a water? Thanks, you're a doll."
When she had set herself up the confused waiter appeared at her table with her water bottle in his hand.
Winter took it and guzzled it immediately.
"So…?" he half asked, half stated tentatively.
The teenaged girl was not wasting any time – she was already typing away at the jelly keys on her laptop. However, she did answer him with excitement.
"I just got back from play practice and it was like… AWESOME! We were doing Marian the Librarian and I bruised my knees when I screwed up my walkover! Then I fell on my head laughing when I was doing an elbow stand!"
John sighed exasperatedly, as always not having much of a clue what the hyper girl was saying, and walked away, going to get her another bottle of water without her even asking. You just get the hang of those kinds of things when you have a sainless authoress to wait on every Wednesday night.
Monday. Probably the most painful, stressful, and most of all tiring days of any teenager, especially one who attends a school at which the teachers pride in their spending whole weekends scheming ways to torment their students. For nearly all of those teachers, Friday evening after classes is spent grading papers, finding loopholes in the students' answers and exploiting those miniscule problems, Saturday is spent researching each disliked student for possible blackmail to be slyly used against them (and for the pets of the teachers is found good things that they can praise the student for).
Sundays are spent with a little less hard work and effort. They watch football or sleep in before they begin their work, and on that day they look over their lesson plans and make sure they have planned enough impossible (or at least painfully annoying) homework to last all of their students the remainder of the week.
Though not always in that order.
This was Winter's philosophy, or at least one of them, and she explained this firm belief to Rayne and Kori during their break between third and forth period. During this time the school had decided that there would be a twenty minute break for the students every day, and the three girls were taking advantage of every second of that free time.
"Please tell me," Kori said, honestly full of curiosity, "Why must they sleep in or watch a game of pounding others, on Sunday mornings?"
Rayne was reading a book, her green eyes scanning the pages quickly before turning them. She did not even look up from the pages as she said, "Because she wanted the theory to at least sound valid. And in that case she was forced to attribute certain human qualities to them, however dumb, and the football being a stereotypical Sunday morning routine, it was easy for her to use that as her human-esque quality."
Winter pouted at this remark. "No, I just had to give them a break somewhere in there. I don't hate all teachers."
Looking up from her book this time, Rayne asked, "Isn't that the bottom line of what I just said?"
Kori interrupted Rayne's pending response with another question. The redhead returned to her book. "So why do the teachers only find good things for their animals?"
Instead of truly answering, Winter let out an exasperated sigh. She was not in the mood to explain to her slightly confused friend the difference between a teacher's pet and an animal. She was feeling a bit mellow today; not exactly loving the marching from class to class. Her shirt, which normally displayed one of her favourite anime couplings, had taped to it a ripped out piece of notebook paper which had written, in brightly coloured markers, the words "Mondays Suck." Back when she was a young warthog in military school – er – I mean – a wee lass in the halls of a Great Britain school where she wore her hair up and her uniform tidy, she would have never executed such a feat and gotten away with it.
However this was an American school and the teachers were a tad bit more apathetic to what the students wore. Actually a few of them had commented on it too and their words had not been in disapproval but agreement.
The teen pushed her short red and blonde hair behind her ears and pointed to Rayne. "Your turn."
"I already had my turn."
"So?" Winter countered in a choosingly lame voice.
Rayne shrugged. "Where's Raven when you need her?"
This volley was certainly not an abnormal one, but Kori's eyes followed the two girls back and forth in a tad bit of puzzlement as she tried to find an answer under their pointless words. Her eyes were large and she stood between them, taking in every comment they exchanged.
Looking back at her red haired friend, who still was not looking up from her book where she sat, she raised an eyebrow jokingly and threw a slightly sly comment at her. "Or, better yet, where's darling old Richard when you need him?"
Though Winter had only said that for a slight chuckle, her noting such a thing had brought a bright red hue to Kori's complexion. Neither girl noticed at first, but when Rayne and Winter simultaneously, for some strange reason unknown to man (or Tamaranian, for that matter), looked up at the girl she was blushing ferociously and looking around as if pretending to be casual.
"Er…" Winter tried to think of a witty way to cover her tracks, "I meant Raven. We should be looking for Raven. How silly of us to mention Dick when who we really need is that purple haired person…"
This made Kori's face light up even more.
"Nope. Not helping," Rayne commented.
The three of them were in an awkward little spot right there, and, lucky for poor Kori, the warning bell rang then, signaling that they had three minutes to get to class.
"I have to go!" Kori squeaked, and, after picking up her books, ran away.
The two remaining girls just stayed where they were standing (or sitting, in Rayne's case) and watched her scurry away with upraised eyebrows. They both agreed.
"That was… weird," Winter offered.
"Yep."
"You gonna get it?"
"As always. You find it out from Dick."
"Lucky me."
Rayne stood up, and the two of them departed from each other without another word.
The main question on everyone's mind, at the moment, is likely one that has to do with the relational issues touched at in the previous paragraphs of this story. But that cannot be simply explained. Since it is a part of the story I, as your loyal authoress, will have to tell you, but I must show you, for my storytelling skills basically suck.
It all began just where chapter fourteen left off, with Dick and Kori talking in the hallway. Rayne had left the two of them; later to be found asleep on Victor and Dick's common room U-shaped couch, and they were standing in the middle of a boys' dorm house and it pretty soon got, well, awkward.
"Well Kori," he said, "There are some things that we just aren't meant to understand."
The young teenaged girl just nodded and crossed her arms under her chest, looking around the hall. The two of them stood there for a few moments; about three feet apart from each other and, while one of them was uncomfortable, the other was completely and utterly confused.
"Kori, are you – all right?" the spiky haired boy asked, his entire figure softening. Even though it was nighttime his eyes were still covered by his tinted glasses. He stepped forward and put a hand on the redhead's shoulder, looking at her face which was now hung over a little bit.
Her only response was a little bit of a shrug and silence.
"You know you can tell me anything," he continued, "Remember I told you that – if there's something going on then I'll listen."
Kori remembered. It had been last year, actually, that she had cried on his shoulder and he had told her that anytime she needed to talk to someone he would be there and he would listen. He hadn't even seemed distressed at the half soaking shoulder of his hoodie. He'd given her a warm smile and sat with her until she was ready to go back to her friends. This thought made her lift her head and look into his eyes with a little bit more hope, but still didn't want to talk.
"It was just… a very bad dream," she said softly, moving her shoulder again – the one that his hand rested on.
He nodded, seeming to understand that she did not want to tell him about it. They stood together like that for a few moments, actually comfortable in the silence that surrounded them.
"Just a second and I'll walk you back," Dick offered quietly, "Just wait right here."
He disappeared into his room, leaving her alone for less than a minute before he came back out fully dressed. True, he was without shoes and his toes were naked against the floor, but that didn't seem to matter to much as they walked off.
He reached out his hand and wrapped it around Kori's fingers. Once again there was silence as they went back to the other dorm house by the same route the taller girl had taken probably only a few minutes before (although it seemed much longer), and the darkness seemed to be breaking into what would soon be a sunrise.
Outside the door to the room which Kori shared with Betty – the African American girl who was probably still lost inside her world of dreams and completely oblivious to Kori's disappearance – the two stood for a moment together, both lost in their thoughts – or possibly their lack of sleep.
Kori was the first to snap out of it. "Well then – good night, Richard. Or… good morning?"
Dick chuckled. "'Night."
Kori's hand was on the door handle; about to twist it and allow herself to enter, when she did something that surprised both of them (though of course neither the authoress nor the readers). She released the metal knob and closed in through the space between the two of them, kissing him so immediately that neither knew what was going on.
During something like this happening, one would expect memories and happiness to be flooding through both of them, but, truthfully, both were filled with no emotion at all; simply being.
After a moment, Kori pulled away – her eyes wide with an almost terror and she returned her hand to the doorknob; this time turning it and running into the room. The door was shut on the poor boy outside it before he even realized what had quite happened.
Winter picked up her pencil and thought about a response to the note she was holding on her desk. In it, thought much more concentrated with fewer words, was the account of the night before as she had asked for it, and she just didn't know how to respond.
She began to chew on the eraser side. In the front of the class the teacher was droning on about physics – this wasn't even her class.
Deciding that her best approach was one of sly psychology, Winter put her pencil on the paper and wrote a question back to her friend that any psychologist should never go without.
"And how does that make you feel?"
Winter was looking ahead at the teacher, pretending to be thoroughly engrossed in his speech, but really she was watching Dick out of the corner of her eye. He made a face at her of exasperation and of the rolling of the eyes (although since his eyes could not be seen she could not be sure if they really did get rolled) before writing a short response himself on the paper.
When the teacher was not looking he passed the note back. Throughout the whole class there where notes being kicked, thrown, stretched to, and passed so it wasn't as if they would be the first to be noticed but neither wanted to take many chances.
It read, "Fan-bloody-tastic."
"Wait a sec – that's about the kiss, right? Not the whole part where she ran away and whatnot."
"Yes, the kiss."
"Now you'd better go for her or Speedy will so totally dupe you."
After that last note had been passed and the teacher was once again facing the board, Winter stood up, slung her bag over her shoulder, and exited the room.
Somehow, by either miracle or intense concentration on their schoolwork, Kori and Dick made it through the day. By another strange coincidence, neither showed up for lunch. Winter, who had the period before lunch with Kori, said that the red headed girl had to go to the library to study for a test after lunch, but no one knew where the hell Dick was.
It was hot and muggy; a feeling that does not help you when you are trying to concentrate on your schoolwork. Mugginess has a horrible tendency to pull your thoughts exactly where you don't want them to, and I must say that Kori and Dick did not have a "fan-bloody-tastic" time for the remainder of the day.
And it was by some minor miracle as well that Dick found Kori at the end of the day. She had spoken to Rayne about the whole affair during the morning and was more prepared to realize that she wasn't a complete idiot for throwing herself on her best friend, but she still was not ready to come out and exactly talk to him yet. The second that the end of the school day bell had rung she went off and hid back in the library with a pile of history books so that she could validly say, when asked, that she was studying.
Dick was another story. He searched nearly the entire campus for her before he stopped and asked for directions (meaning: he found Betty and asked her where she was). Even when he got in the library, almost an hour after school had officially ended for the day, he had to search for her; she'd hidden herself well.
She was at a reference table; a cozy circular desk with fluffy chairs and in front of her was multiple books on the history of just about any place from America to Zimbabwe. On the bridge of her nose rested a pair of reading glasses.
Funny, Dick thought briefly when he saw her, Didn't realize she ever wore glasses. (-note- she doesn't, actually, but I just felt like having her wear them)
When Kori saw her best friend standing above her about three feet away, watching her read with a bemused yet nervous look, she sunk herself further into the chair.
"Hey Kori," he began, standing with his arms folded casually over his chest.
The spoken to sighed and threw her book back on the table. She removed the pair of glasses and wiped her big green eyes with the back of her hand while she stretched, and then she looked at Richard.
"Now is the 'time to talk,'" she instructed, pointing to the chair at the table to her right. Apparently she had spent enough time thinking about what she would do should Dick find her and realized that sometimes she just had to take charge, even if just a little bit.
Dick sighed and chuckled briefly, complying.
In silence the two sat, both looking at each other. Both knew that the raven haired one was the one who was supposed to begin the conversation, but he was looking a little bit lost so Kori did.
"I am sorry," she said simply, looking at him with wide green eyes; the kind that can be so happy at any time but can fill with tears in an instant.
Dick, for a moment, seemed taken aback.
"Hey, what?" he asked concernedly, "You don't think I'm mad at you, do you?"
Kori, if not anything else, is truthful in nearly everything she does. So when Dick made her statement seem void, her face filled with such relief that her eyes almost began to water in tears of joy.
"You're not?" her hopeful words were.
(-note- watch out… here comes the biggest corny line in the history of corny lines (or something like that). Dude this is so fun. I should become a corny romance novelist when I grow up. Lol. Sorry but I just had to use this line and it's just so… corny and funny that it fits.)
With a smile tugging up at the right corner of his mouth Dick said, "As long as you don't run away next time."
Though students were not technically allowed to, Raven sometimes would spend her time on the roof of her dorm at Harrisfield. After dinner she would sometimes grab a book and escape up the ladder which was accessible through the attic – another banned place – and watch the sunset.
This year that had started out quite as crazy as it had, Raven had not been able to go up to one of her favourite places yet and, with a quiet day such as a Monday, she had been able to escape from her friends and seat herself on the roof with a small, old feeling and smelling hardcover book of Chaucer's "The Canterbury Tales."
The sky was just beginning to turn the telltale signs of nighttime – the sun was gaining speed, wanting to go down behind the mountains; the blue in the background turning into a golden orange, soon to multiply into many reds, pinks, and purples it would before the light diminished. The violet haired girl ran her hand through the said strands on her head and closed her book, the silencing light not allowing her to read anymore.
A thud was heard behind her; a sound of the trapdoor she had entered from closing. The sound made her jump and she turned her head quickly with a short spout of fear.
Fortunately the figure standing behind her was not one of authority but a friend – Dick was standing there, brushing himself off. She released a sigh of relief and turned back to the spectacle. He approached her and neither looked at each other while they spoke.
"What are you doing out here so late?" Raven began, followed by a yawn.
Dick grinned; though Raven couldn't see it she could hear it in his words. "I love the sunset. It reminds me that even when things are getting dark there's beauty."
"Are you always this cheery this late?"
"Nope." His voice was still laced with a grin.
"Oh," Raven said, "Then you finally got together with Kori?"
"Yep."
On the ground just outside the dorms, if you look up at the right point, you can see everything that's happening on the roof, including who is sitting near the edge, watching the sunset.
Unfortunately, Rayne looked up as habit and saw Dick and Raven sitting together, watching the sun fall away and her head, in theory, blew the roof.
They; Winter, herself, Vesta, and Emily, had been heading out to the front gates to separate – Vesta and Emily back to their own schools and Winter and Rayne to bed or somewhere like that – when this happened, and it was quite an interesting sight, I must say.
First the red haired teen stared. Then she began to hyperventilate. Then the speech began.
"O-o-o-oh, that better be an accident! When I get up there they're going to be crying for mercy! How dare they interrupt the proper couplings!"
Her ramblings continued on like this indignantly, and while she did this Winter, Vesta, and Emily held her back. Above her head the three had a conversation of their own.
"She's looney!" Winter giggled when she said this. For the strangest reasons today the oddest things were making her laugh.
"No," Emily intervened, "Just a crazed shipper. Admit it. If Terra were –"
Vesta released her grip on Rayne and slapped her hand across the short blonde girl's mouth. "Don't you EVER say that. I would rather watch Rob n' Rae get together than see THAT. Hell, I'd rather die."
Once again, after changing her grip on Rayne; still struggling and spitting out random choice words, Winter giggled. "Morbid today, aren't thee darling? Dark and deathly is thou."
"I'll tear their arms OUT OF THEIR SOCKETS and write twenty fanfictions in under two days against RobRae and…" Rayne, because that was who it was who was speaking, stopped all of a sudden. She straightened her back and shook her friends' arms away from her, making a point with her actions to say that she was finished ranting and raving. The other girls complied, and they began to walk again, without any more talking.
When they had made it probably about twenty feet; almost to the gate, they stopped. Before anyone could say anything, though, Rayne turned around and ran back towards the dorm, laughing manically.
"Catch me if you can," she yelled, running in a large circle away from her friends who were most certainly following her, "But justice must be served."
Her maniacal laughter echoed as the sky got dark. Yep. Mondays just get to some people.
QUESTIONS!
1. What is your favourite word? (the one you find to be most cool looking/interesting)
2. Would you consider me immature?
3. Why could Rayne not appear on the intermission (in the previous chapter)?
Queen-of-Azarath: Yes, I know what you are saying by that and completely understand. I just wanted to add something completely random into the story by Vesta and Rayne. If Rayne had been around when the chapter was written it would have probably turned out a lot better grammar-wise but :shrugs: yeah. So I hope you liked this chapter better – the yummy one a few people have been waiting for – and… okay. So here's your truth (I'm so bad at truths… dares I can do but these I'm usually really bad at. :-p)… Open the nearest book to page 44 and look at the second line. What does it say? If sharpie markers took over the world would they blot out that line?
TTHPfan: No worries about reviews. I don't mind at alls:-d So the half blood prince comes out TOMORROW! You'll have to tell me like... everything that happens with it like who harry winds up with and who the half blood prince is and whether or not Voldie shows up in that book. Yeps, I went and saw the Fantastic Four with a couple of my friends as well. Actually, I went with four other people and we all talked through like the whole thing. We assigned roles in the film to each other (for example; I was "the thing" and my friend Hillary, aka Vesta, was "the human torch.") Whenever the character we wereassigned to did something bad we scolded the person who had that role assigned to, etcetera etcetera. It was great. Did you like it?
Monkey-Fish The Great: Actually, I love your new screen name. I completely thought that you were somebody else at first, but then, as I went to check your profile (as I usually do when I get a reviewer... I like to read their stories and see what kinda people they are) it said "Devils Nightmere" and I was like "ooooohhhhhhhh!" :ducks head and grins: Yes ma'am. I shall update!
Pickles12: So far, from what i have read, I think that your story's pretty good. Sorry that it's been so long since I've actually looked at any other fanfictions besides my own and like two of my friends, but I promise that today I'll copy it onto my yummy yellow floppy disk and finish reading it. :-d So far, though, the only critisism I have is the formatting. The grammar is pretty good etcetera but it gets a little hard to follow when it's clumped together. More on that later, though, because I have a pool now (yay! ) and I am just itching to finish this computer junk so that I can go jump in... I am a strange child. :-p
scathac's warrior: Yes. I tend to be pure evil when i choose dares to give to people. Either that or pure randomosity. I once dared someone to sing to a seashell... Yes, I claim the title of best dare giver ever. Lol. And yes, it was a truly random chapter. It kind of fit right where it was. Sandwiched in between drama and more drama. Yes, this chapter was drama-ful, and I got a kick out of writing it. Oh boy oh boy I can't wait for the chapter when bb and rae get together :plans a plan involving... she doesn't know what it involves yet, but there will be a plan... of sorts...:
Golden-Sama: Hi! … Erm, I was prepared to say "I feel deprived of your good writing and I feel like.. Ahhh!" but then you updated and I had to change that. Lol. I stayed up till about four this morning, sitting at my kitchen table with a mug of peppermint tea and a notebook (I went out at like two). Then my stepdad came out at like four fifteen and was like, "Erm... what are you doing here?" Then we had a conversation about the water we had in the refrigerator. Then I went back to bed. Insomnia is a very strange thing indeed. And apparently it makes you write completely random things like this to your good old buddies. :-d
Rose: Yes! I'll drink to that one. Not going back to school is one of the best feelings... until you get to about midsummer and you're sick of being without friends and then I just yearn to go back to school. It's a cycle of love and hate... er... yeah. :-d As always, doll, thanks for reviewing my humble story!
Tidus'Luvr: Why would Caitlyn eat you? I feel so detatched from you guys. Like a bug in the middle of a wall of seashells... What is it with me and seashells today? Anyways. I want to go swim in my swimming pool so i will talks to you later. Please enjoy yourself and meet mucho geeky hott guys at the HP party. hehehee
-note- okay, so I'm back! It's weird… It feels like it's been a really long time since I've updated this story and, well, it has. Maybe it's just the summertime, but during the school year it always felt like I didn't have nearly enough time to finish any of the chapters but now it all seems like forever…. So anyway, the next update will be on July 21. See y'all then:authoress giggles: By the way… Don't you just love how I made Kori and Dick's relationship into a teenage drama! It's… erm… fun!
Sneaky Peaky: "Chapter Seventeen"
You can't have sunny weather for the WHOLE fanfiction. I'm a freak about weather. So sue me. Or rather don't. It's going to begin to rain next chapter, and we're going to go back to class for a little while…