The Last Invasion
Missing Delilah
Matt was not a happy camper. When Casey arrived home the next day, Matt had already planned out a long speech about calling before not coming home, but then the boy showed up with a cast wrapped around his arm. Plus a grizzly cut along his face. Every word of his speech left Matt's mind as he stared at his nephew.
Casey smiled weakly, "Um, hi." Matt stuttered something that he hoped sound like a greeting. Stan stood beside Casey, ushering him in and onto a couch while Matt trailed behind. "I'll talk to you later, Casey. Don't worry for now, we'll call you later," Stan said before letting himself out.
Matt lowered down onto a corner of the couch, staring. He leaves, comes back a day later with a broken arm. His mother would absolutely MURDER me, Matt thought despairingly. "It's not as bad as you think," Casey said, interrupting his uncle's thoughts. He forced a smile, leaning against the soft leather fabric.
The night at the hospital had been full of planning, including a story to feed to the suspicious parents. Casey memorized it word for word. "When I was coming home, we got in a car accident. Calm down, it wasn't that bad. Well I mean, yeah, I broke my arm, and some glass scratched my face, but no one was seriously injured. I was in the hospital all night, and I didn't want to wake you up, so I didn't call. Sorry."
The story was nearly fool proof. If Matt decided to check out the damage to Zeke's car; it certainly looked like it was recently in an accident with the crumpled front end and splintered windshield. Plus, as Zeke had pointed out, there had been plenty of accidents on the way home they could use as fake alibis. And, if any parents decided to do a follow up check, he had secured the story with Doctor Frank; just so no loose ends would be left. Now Casey waited with baited breaths as he studied his guardian's face, waiting for his reaction.
"Uh, well, I'm just glad you're okay. Next time, wake me up and call, alright?"
"Yeah, I promise. Sorry Uncle Matt."
"It's alright Alienator," Casey tried not to cringe, "Why don't you go upstairs and rest for awhile. I'll order in some food or something." His nephew nodded, dragging his exhausted body up the steps, collapsing on his bed.
---
It was nearly a week before Matt was allowing Casey to journey outside the house besides school. Riva didn't appear once in school from that day on, but Stokley had passed around a note declaring a meeting on Friday. Casey sighed, crumpling the paper as he jammed it in his pocket, his eyes drifting over to the empty seat beside his. He found himself missing the alien, from her notebooks filled with notes to her naïve comments over the simple things. And he couldn't help but worry if something had happened to her, even though Stokely assured him she was okay.
In his mind he could picture those mismatched eyes of hers, the way her dark hair fell across her sturdy shoulders-Casey jerked as he felt Miss Levinson's eyes fall on him. Immediately, the boy snapped his eyes away from the empty desk down to his notes. He could feel her eyes boring into him like drills, his hands tightened around his pencil, not noticing the crack as the wood split in too. Her heels clipped on the hard floor as she made her way through the rows of desks before finally pausing by his.
Stokely's eyes narrowed as she cast a side ways glance at the teacher standing near Casey. Her hands immediately clenched into fists, the way she stared at him like a hunter cornering prey, it made her blood boil. She was saying something to him, bending over his desk, muttering something in a low voice. The boy was avoiding eye contact, instead just nodding and hunching over his desk. Stokely nearly lost it when Miss Levinson straightened, smiled coldly down on Casey and patted his head. The boy flinched as she leaped from her seat, snarling.
Luckily, the bell rang a moment later, so other students standing to hurry off to lunch covered up her outburst. She snatched her book bag up when Casey caught her eyes, subtly shaking his head. He gave her another meaningful look that told her quite plainly to stay calm and back off before he began to gather his things slowly together. She slung the bag over her shoulder, allowing the last few students to trickle from the room as she carefully made her way towards the door. The teacher appeared beside her, flashing a forced smile, "If you'll excuse us, Miss Mitchell, Casey and I need to discuss some things." Without letting Stokely reply, she promptly slammed the door shut in the girl's face. She cursed the teacher before pressing her ear against the door to no avail, she couldn't hear a word.
Miss Levinson turned deliberately from the door, fixing her student with that fake smile. Casey was sitting rigidly at his desk; his eyes locked ahead, his hands in his lap. "How's your arm?" she asked as she made her way leisurely towards him, a small smirk playing across her features. He never glanced at her, "It's fine, thanks." She was right beside him, uncomfortably close.
"Heard from Riva lately? She's missed quite a bit of school, is she sick?"
"I don't know."
"Oh surely you must know. She couldn't have possibly just disappeared off the face of this planet like she did last time. You see, Casey, I really must speak with her about, oh what did you call her. Yes, I remember, Mary Beth." Miss Levinson's hand was hovering around his shoulders, occasionally a nail digging over the nape of his neck. His jaw clenched, he had been positive that they knew that, "Mary Beth is dead."
"Dead? Oh my dear boy, we Atlantians don't just die. Hasn't Riva completely explained this to you? You may kill the main body, but a single pod will be left behind. Oh, I see that you're dear Riva hasn't explained this yet. Has she told you that she is in procession of all that is left of Mary Beth? No? How very odd, she being your close friend and all." The teacher was behind him, whispering into his ear, her breath hot and clammy on his ears. He struggled to keep his face expressionless, but his mind whirled unbearably fast. "I want that pod, Casey. Do you understand?" Her hand was tightening over his neck; he squirmed, edging out of the chair. Her fingers released him then began to travel around to his chin before tracing the scar that ran down his face, the scar she had given him.
He jerked back, grabbing his bag while standing, "I need to go." She slowly pulled her hand away, nodding and sitting on a desk, "Of course. Oh, and before I forget, you have a week's worth of detention."
"What? For what!"
"Not turning in your assignments."
"I've turned everything in!" He protested, jaw dropping angrily. She sneered as she made her way to the desk, grabbing a handful of papers, waving them about. He could see from the scrawled handwriting that they were his. She then unceremoniously dropped them in the wastebasket all while carefully watching his expression. "But-you can't just . . ." He fell silent; slowly raising his ice blue eyes to lock onto her cruel aqua shaded ones. "I'll have it to you by tomorrow," he said sharply, grimly smiled and left the room.
Stokely was practically on top of the moment he was out, blurting out questions, shooting dark looks towards the room, dragging him towards his locker. Casey untangled himself from the girl by promising he'd tell her everything at lunch. At last she seemed satisfied, rushing off to collect her lunch and boyfriend. With a humorless chuckle, the boy spun the combination on his locker, squeaking it open to dump his things inside.
"What happened to your arm? And your face, how'd you get that scar?"
Slowly, barely breathing, he pulled out from his locker, looking into a set of liquid brown eyebrows, "Delilah, hi." The words stumbled from his mouth like a train off its tracks, suddenly he felt very self-conscious of everything: his shirt sloppily tucked in, hair dishelved, shoelaces undone. Yet the cheerleader didn't seem to notice, was she genuinely concerned? And if she was, should he tell her the truth? Casey opened his mouth though no words came out, he was staring at the skimpy outfit she was wearing, most likely she had a date tonight.
She use to wear those outfits when we were dating, he thought bitterly.
"Zeke and I were in a car accident. I broke my arm and some glass cut up my face." He said in a monotone voice as he turned back to his locker to rummage for his lunch. "That's an awfully clean cut for shattered glass to have done," Delilah murmured, then shot him a sideways look, "Where has your friend been, you're cousin, right? She wears a ton of eye make-up, a bit too much if you ask me. I was thinking of having her over, you know, a make-up party. I could show her how to actually wear eye shadow." Bam! Casey reacted to fast, slamming his head against the locker, searing pain blinding his eyesight. The eye shadow had been Stan's idea, in hopes to cover up Riva's translucent eyelids. If Delilah were to-she knew something was up. The way she was studying him with that cocky smile shifting her books to the other arm.
Then, without warning, she was right beside him. Her body was warm as their skin brushed against each other's, oh shit, not that perfume, it was intoxicating. All Casey wanted to do was throw his arms around Delilah; never let go, their bodies pressed together forever. When she spoke her voice was low, sultry, and her lips seemed to pout out, "Casey . . .I miss you, Casey."
Stop breathing Casey, it's the perfume! "I miss you too," he whispered, an arm creeping around her waist of it's own accord. He could feel hers making their way across his body, leaving a trail of shivers. Their heads were bending towards one another, lips burning when a shout startled them both. "Hey, Delilah! Are you coming?" The head cheerleader answered an affirmative while pulling out of the embrace. She ran a hand through her hair, smoothed her skirt with one hand, never looking above his knees.
The boy cleared his throat awkwardly, "Delilah?" She flashed that award- winning smile, "I'll see you around, Case." Without another word, or glance, she retreated down the hall, grinning to herself as she felt Casey's eyes watching her every move. The boy sighed, sinking back against the lockers; the cold metal felt good against his hot flesh. Slowly, forcibly, he managed to stand, close his locker, and head off to the cafeteria with a small smirk on his face.
But, unknown to the boy, a pair of eyes followed his every move as well.
A.N: I HATE SCHOOL. Ok, sorry, had to get that out. Updates will be VERY SPACED. Between working and school, I have zero to no time to write. It's very frustrating, but please, keep reading! I'll TRY to update as much as possible. This chapter took a week to right with little 5 minute writing periods, and I don't even like the way it turned out. :( Oh well, I doubt there will be a whole bunch of more chapters. I really would like to complete this soon. So, if you have any questions about the story, start posting them and I'll try to answer them all. As usual, thanks so very much to everyone who reviewed, you're the only reason why I keep writing!!
Missing Delilah
Matt was not a happy camper. When Casey arrived home the next day, Matt had already planned out a long speech about calling before not coming home, but then the boy showed up with a cast wrapped around his arm. Plus a grizzly cut along his face. Every word of his speech left Matt's mind as he stared at his nephew.
Casey smiled weakly, "Um, hi." Matt stuttered something that he hoped sound like a greeting. Stan stood beside Casey, ushering him in and onto a couch while Matt trailed behind. "I'll talk to you later, Casey. Don't worry for now, we'll call you later," Stan said before letting himself out.
Matt lowered down onto a corner of the couch, staring. He leaves, comes back a day later with a broken arm. His mother would absolutely MURDER me, Matt thought despairingly. "It's not as bad as you think," Casey said, interrupting his uncle's thoughts. He forced a smile, leaning against the soft leather fabric.
The night at the hospital had been full of planning, including a story to feed to the suspicious parents. Casey memorized it word for word. "When I was coming home, we got in a car accident. Calm down, it wasn't that bad. Well I mean, yeah, I broke my arm, and some glass scratched my face, but no one was seriously injured. I was in the hospital all night, and I didn't want to wake you up, so I didn't call. Sorry."
The story was nearly fool proof. If Matt decided to check out the damage to Zeke's car; it certainly looked like it was recently in an accident with the crumpled front end and splintered windshield. Plus, as Zeke had pointed out, there had been plenty of accidents on the way home they could use as fake alibis. And, if any parents decided to do a follow up check, he had secured the story with Doctor Frank; just so no loose ends would be left. Now Casey waited with baited breaths as he studied his guardian's face, waiting for his reaction.
"Uh, well, I'm just glad you're okay. Next time, wake me up and call, alright?"
"Yeah, I promise. Sorry Uncle Matt."
"It's alright Alienator," Casey tried not to cringe, "Why don't you go upstairs and rest for awhile. I'll order in some food or something." His nephew nodded, dragging his exhausted body up the steps, collapsing on his bed.
---
It was nearly a week before Matt was allowing Casey to journey outside the house besides school. Riva didn't appear once in school from that day on, but Stokley had passed around a note declaring a meeting on Friday. Casey sighed, crumpling the paper as he jammed it in his pocket, his eyes drifting over to the empty seat beside his. He found himself missing the alien, from her notebooks filled with notes to her naïve comments over the simple things. And he couldn't help but worry if something had happened to her, even though Stokely assured him she was okay.
In his mind he could picture those mismatched eyes of hers, the way her dark hair fell across her sturdy shoulders-Casey jerked as he felt Miss Levinson's eyes fall on him. Immediately, the boy snapped his eyes away from the empty desk down to his notes. He could feel her eyes boring into him like drills, his hands tightened around his pencil, not noticing the crack as the wood split in too. Her heels clipped on the hard floor as she made her way through the rows of desks before finally pausing by his.
Stokely's eyes narrowed as she cast a side ways glance at the teacher standing near Casey. Her hands immediately clenched into fists, the way she stared at him like a hunter cornering prey, it made her blood boil. She was saying something to him, bending over his desk, muttering something in a low voice. The boy was avoiding eye contact, instead just nodding and hunching over his desk. Stokely nearly lost it when Miss Levinson straightened, smiled coldly down on Casey and patted his head. The boy flinched as she leaped from her seat, snarling.
Luckily, the bell rang a moment later, so other students standing to hurry off to lunch covered up her outburst. She snatched her book bag up when Casey caught her eyes, subtly shaking his head. He gave her another meaningful look that told her quite plainly to stay calm and back off before he began to gather his things slowly together. She slung the bag over her shoulder, allowing the last few students to trickle from the room as she carefully made her way towards the door. The teacher appeared beside her, flashing a forced smile, "If you'll excuse us, Miss Mitchell, Casey and I need to discuss some things." Without letting Stokely reply, she promptly slammed the door shut in the girl's face. She cursed the teacher before pressing her ear against the door to no avail, she couldn't hear a word.
Miss Levinson turned deliberately from the door, fixing her student with that fake smile. Casey was sitting rigidly at his desk; his eyes locked ahead, his hands in his lap. "How's your arm?" she asked as she made her way leisurely towards him, a small smirk playing across her features. He never glanced at her, "It's fine, thanks." She was right beside him, uncomfortably close.
"Heard from Riva lately? She's missed quite a bit of school, is she sick?"
"I don't know."
"Oh surely you must know. She couldn't have possibly just disappeared off the face of this planet like she did last time. You see, Casey, I really must speak with her about, oh what did you call her. Yes, I remember, Mary Beth." Miss Levinson's hand was hovering around his shoulders, occasionally a nail digging over the nape of his neck. His jaw clenched, he had been positive that they knew that, "Mary Beth is dead."
"Dead? Oh my dear boy, we Atlantians don't just die. Hasn't Riva completely explained this to you? You may kill the main body, but a single pod will be left behind. Oh, I see that you're dear Riva hasn't explained this yet. Has she told you that she is in procession of all that is left of Mary Beth? No? How very odd, she being your close friend and all." The teacher was behind him, whispering into his ear, her breath hot and clammy on his ears. He struggled to keep his face expressionless, but his mind whirled unbearably fast. "I want that pod, Casey. Do you understand?" Her hand was tightening over his neck; he squirmed, edging out of the chair. Her fingers released him then began to travel around to his chin before tracing the scar that ran down his face, the scar she had given him.
He jerked back, grabbing his bag while standing, "I need to go." She slowly pulled her hand away, nodding and sitting on a desk, "Of course. Oh, and before I forget, you have a week's worth of detention."
"What? For what!"
"Not turning in your assignments."
"I've turned everything in!" He protested, jaw dropping angrily. She sneered as she made her way to the desk, grabbing a handful of papers, waving them about. He could see from the scrawled handwriting that they were his. She then unceremoniously dropped them in the wastebasket all while carefully watching his expression. "But-you can't just . . ." He fell silent; slowly raising his ice blue eyes to lock onto her cruel aqua shaded ones. "I'll have it to you by tomorrow," he said sharply, grimly smiled and left the room.
Stokely was practically on top of the moment he was out, blurting out questions, shooting dark looks towards the room, dragging him towards his locker. Casey untangled himself from the girl by promising he'd tell her everything at lunch. At last she seemed satisfied, rushing off to collect her lunch and boyfriend. With a humorless chuckle, the boy spun the combination on his locker, squeaking it open to dump his things inside.
"What happened to your arm? And your face, how'd you get that scar?"
Slowly, barely breathing, he pulled out from his locker, looking into a set of liquid brown eyebrows, "Delilah, hi." The words stumbled from his mouth like a train off its tracks, suddenly he felt very self-conscious of everything: his shirt sloppily tucked in, hair dishelved, shoelaces undone. Yet the cheerleader didn't seem to notice, was she genuinely concerned? And if she was, should he tell her the truth? Casey opened his mouth though no words came out, he was staring at the skimpy outfit she was wearing, most likely she had a date tonight.
She use to wear those outfits when we were dating, he thought bitterly.
"Zeke and I were in a car accident. I broke my arm and some glass cut up my face." He said in a monotone voice as he turned back to his locker to rummage for his lunch. "That's an awfully clean cut for shattered glass to have done," Delilah murmured, then shot him a sideways look, "Where has your friend been, you're cousin, right? She wears a ton of eye make-up, a bit too much if you ask me. I was thinking of having her over, you know, a make-up party. I could show her how to actually wear eye shadow." Bam! Casey reacted to fast, slamming his head against the locker, searing pain blinding his eyesight. The eye shadow had been Stan's idea, in hopes to cover up Riva's translucent eyelids. If Delilah were to-she knew something was up. The way she was studying him with that cocky smile shifting her books to the other arm.
Then, without warning, she was right beside him. Her body was warm as their skin brushed against each other's, oh shit, not that perfume, it was intoxicating. All Casey wanted to do was throw his arms around Delilah; never let go, their bodies pressed together forever. When she spoke her voice was low, sultry, and her lips seemed to pout out, "Casey . . .I miss you, Casey."
Stop breathing Casey, it's the perfume! "I miss you too," he whispered, an arm creeping around her waist of it's own accord. He could feel hers making their way across his body, leaving a trail of shivers. Their heads were bending towards one another, lips burning when a shout startled them both. "Hey, Delilah! Are you coming?" The head cheerleader answered an affirmative while pulling out of the embrace. She ran a hand through her hair, smoothed her skirt with one hand, never looking above his knees.
The boy cleared his throat awkwardly, "Delilah?" She flashed that award- winning smile, "I'll see you around, Case." Without another word, or glance, she retreated down the hall, grinning to herself as she felt Casey's eyes watching her every move. The boy sighed, sinking back against the lockers; the cold metal felt good against his hot flesh. Slowly, forcibly, he managed to stand, close his locker, and head off to the cafeteria with a small smirk on his face.
But, unknown to the boy, a pair of eyes followed his every move as well.
A.N: I HATE SCHOOL. Ok, sorry, had to get that out. Updates will be VERY SPACED. Between working and school, I have zero to no time to write. It's very frustrating, but please, keep reading! I'll TRY to update as much as possible. This chapter took a week to right with little 5 minute writing periods, and I don't even like the way it turned out. :( Oh well, I doubt there will be a whole bunch of more chapters. I really would like to complete this soon. So, if you have any questions about the story, start posting them and I'll try to answer them all. As usual, thanks so very much to everyone who reviewed, you're the only reason why I keep writing!!