Chapter 12: A Near-Death Experience

Alara nodded and started walking away with Kitty. From behind them, Alara heard a familiar sound as Pietro ran to catch up with her.

"Alara! Hey Alara!"

She turned around to see him standing about an inch behind her, holding a tissue covered in blood to his nose. She looked concernedly to Pietro.

"What happened?" she asked.

"Oh. Oh this!" Pietro exclaims, motioning to his nose. "Oh. I got kicked in the face."

Alara smiled. Kitty turned around and glared.

"Hello Pietro," she said, shortly.

Pietro sneered.

"Hello Kitty-cat."

Kitty grabbed Alara's arm and tugged slightly.

"Come on Alara. Let's, like, get out of here."

Alara smiled and waved slightly as she turned to go.

"Wait!" Pietro yelled. "When can I see you again? I… uh… want to compare schedules… with you!"

She turned, walking backwards.

"How about later today? About 5 at the park! By the fountain-y thing!"

Pietro nodded.

"I think I know what you mean! See ya there!"

He smiled as he ran to catch the bus. Alara smiled until she tripped and fell. Her notebook and pen flew under a nearby bus. She got up and went to the front of the bus, crouching down to pick up her stuff when suddenly, the bus jerked forward a bit. She fell back, stunned a moment and looked up to see the front of a bus preparing to leave, oblivious to the fact that she was there. She stayed there frozen for a moment, her mind blank. She heard its brakes unlock and felt her stomach drop. The bus in front of her was prepared to leave and then the bus above her could go. Kurt turned around in the backseat of the bus when someone sitting next to him asked, "What the heck is that girl doing? She's going to get killed!"

Kurt leapt into the aisle and yelled, "VAIT! Don't move! There is a girl stuck under the bus behind us! Open the doors!"

Kurt ran out, followed closely by Pietro. Kurt began to run towards her, but Pietro knocked him down.

"I'm saving her Fuzz!" he sneered, looking behind him.

Suddenly, a bus sign appeared in front of him and Pietro smashed into it. Meanwhile, the bus in front of Alara's started to move. Kitty looked up from Scott's car to see Kurt and Pietro locked in a fierce argument and Alara stuck under the bus.

"Scott! Alara's stuck! You get Pietro and Kurt! I'll save Alara!" Kitty cried, leaping from the car. Scott followed close behind her. Running over to the boys, he yelled, "You two knock it off!"

Just then, Lance strolled out of the building. He saw Pietro and Kurt fighting and Kitty running towards a girl under a bus. He walked towards them calmly until….

Quickly, the bus started to move but at an angle. Quickly, she grabbed onto the front bumper of the bus so as not to be crushed by the wheels in back. The bus started to move faster, dragging Alara with it. Kitty sped up, diving in front of the bus, causing Lance to run towards Kitty at top speed. Scott had stopped Pietro and Kurt from fighting and now made them watch as Kitty and Alara almost got killed.

Kitty grabbed onto Alara's hand and they both phased through two different wheels each. As the bus left, they were left in the middle of the road. They stayed motionless in that spot, staring at each other, panting heavily from fear. They showed no emotion but shock. Lance ran over and helped Kitty up. After checking to see if she were all right, he helped Alara up and picked up Kitty's backpack. He brushed it off and handed it to Kitty while she told him what had happened. Alara just stood there, pale and shaky. Then, Kitty and Lance both stormed back over to Kurt and Pietro.

"Scott. Alara needs your help," Kitty murmured.

Scott nodded and ran over to help Alara, whose knees had started buckling. Scott was almost there when Alara collapsed and fell to the ground. Kurt and Pietro flinched and almost got up to help, but Lance and Kitty both snarled, "SIT DOWN."

"You get to watch what you've done out of your stupid fighting," Kitty snapped.

Kurt and Pietro watched as Scott tried to help Alara stand, but after she collapsed several times, she instructed Scott to just let her lay down on the sidewalk a moment so she could calm down and clear her head. Her beautiful notebook and pen now had black tire prints on them and the pen was snapped in half. They both hung their heads in guilt. Kitty and Lance stood there for a minute, staring at them. Their faces both grew angrier and angrier. All at once, they both started yelling.

"I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU KURT! YOU COULD HAVE GOTTEN ME IN SO MUCH TROUBLE TODAY! YOU COULD HAVE KILLED ALARA! I ALMOST GOT KILLED! WHAT WERE YOU THINKING? HOW COULD YOU DO SUCH A THING? YOU'RE NORMALLY SO SWEET, BUT WHY DIDN'T YOU SAVE HER? I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU LET SOMETHING SO PETTY-." Kitty's voice echoed in Kurt's ears and his face began to look less cheerful than usual.

"PIETRO! YOU ASS! BECAUSE OF YOUR STUPIDITY, YOU ALMOST GOT KITTY KILLED! HOW DARE YOU! IF SHE EVER COMES CLOSE TO DIEING AND IT'S REMOTELY YOUR FAULT, I'M GONNA KILL YOU! I CAN'T BELIEVE IT! YOU KNOW HOW MUCH KITTY MEANS TO ME!" Lance's voice also echoed in Kurt's ears, but Pietro hung his head guiltily too.

While Kitty and Lance chastised Kurt and Pietro, Alara looked at the sky, taking deep breaths. She, then, got up, and making sure that Lance, Pietro, Scott, and Kitty weren't looking, she walked over to her notebook and pen. She stared down at them on the verge of tears. She picked them up gently from out of the puddle it had landed in as though they were the most precious things in the world. She clutched them tightly to her chest and sat back down on the sidewalk. Opening the pages was easy, but the ink was beginning to run from the puddle water. Her mother's handwriting slowly began to fade from the pages. As soon as Kitty and Lance and Scott had yelled themselves hoarse (Scott was yelling at Kitty and Lance to shut up), Scott and Kitty turned back towards Scott's car and Lance towards his. They stared at Alara with wide eyes.

"Y-Y-You have a tail, Alara." Scott murmured.

Alara looked up from where she was staring on the sidewalk and looked behind her. She looked shocked for about two seconds, then smiled softly.

"Yeah," she replied. "It only happens when I'm having an extreme emotion. I forgot to mention that. It'll go away in a minute. I promise."

"It's black," Kitty noticed.

"Yes. Black tends to come out when I feel sadness," Alara said, looking down at her feet again.

"Vhy are you sad Alara?" Kurt asked, getting up.

She looked up to them once more and held out the notebook and pen, two tears running down her cheeks.

"They were my mother's. They're ruined. They were all I had left of her."

Pietro stood up as well and took a step towards her.

"We're really sorry, Alara," he said.

She nodded, suddenly sprouting cat ears.

"I know you are. I am too."

She turned, sniffing, rose, and started to walk away from them. As she walked, supressing her sadness, the tail and ears started to disappear and she started to look happier. She turned back to the others and yelled, "Last one home's a rotten egg!"