"So what do you think of her?" asked Tori once her cousin was out of earshot.
"She's a little..." Dustin searched for the right word, watching her retreating figure in the distance. "Uh...like, intense? She reminds me a little of Hunter. You know, when you take away all the girls swooning after him?"
The surfer chick chuckled. "Yeah," she agreed. "We used to be really close. But when Aunt Miranda died, she just kind of separated herself from everyone else. She used to be such a happy kid." She looked at her best friend and laughed; he looked a little punch-drunk. "She's pretty."
"She's like...totally beautiful," agreed Dustin. "Maybe it's the nose ring; not a lot of those here in Blue Bay Harbor. You're pretty too," he added quickly, seeing her exasperated stare.
"I get it," Tori informed him. "Even when we were kids, Jade was always the beautiful one; I was the...noisy one." She stared at him; he still looked a little stunned. Jade kind of had that effect on people. "You can follow her if you like."
Jade skated up and down the ramp, trying to gain enough momentum to power her rolls. Rollerblading, she had discovered, some time before, was a pretty good way to burn off her anger.
Unfortunately, she had a lot of anger.
She powered and made an attempt at a 360...then she fell on her butt. "Dammit!" she yelled. She sighed and took off her elbow pads. Time was she would have nailed that roll. What changed?
A laugh brought her attention back to the present. Jade scowled when she saw that guy from the beach walk towards her. "Did you follow me?" she demanded, sitting down to remove her skates.
"Uh...yeah I guess," Dustin shrugged. His shoulders, she noticed, were broad and very impressive.
"Why?" Jade shook her head, trying to snap out of the trance. Stop staring at him! she commanded.
"Ask me no questions and I'll tell you no lies," Dustin sat down next to her. She scootched a little farther, wrinkling her nose as she caught a whiff of motor oil. "So you like to skate?"
"I would have thought that was obvious," Jade rolled her eyes. This character wasn't exactly the brightest bulb in the room. She stood up. "I gotta go. I can feel my IQ dropping."
"Maybe we could get together sometime," said Dustin.
"Yellow auras aren't my type."
He blinked. "Yellow auras?"
"Bright, sunshiny yellow, just like a CareBear. It means you're simple-minded, exessively happy and trusting." She grinned when the startled look on the boy's face proved her right.
"Aren't those positive qualities?"
"You mean qualities I positively abhor," Jade scoffed. "Besides, you don't even know me." She started to walk away.
To her dismay, Dustin stood up and started to follow. "I'm trying to," he protested. "But you won't let me.
Jade turned around, almost colliding with him. "You're welcome to try," she sneered. They stood only inches apart. A warm, cinnamon scent filled her nostrils. It gave her a feeling of delight; he was awfully good-looking. Too good-looking, in fact, for her taste.
"Well," said Dustin, scratching his ear. "I know you're an orphan from Los Angeles and that you're very...beautiful." He smiled in embarassment. "But you don't need me to tell you that; you like, probably get it everyday."
Jade felt her cheeks turn pink. She had just noticed that the distance between them was almost non-existent. The tip of her long, fine nose almost touched his chest. Her heart beat a steady stacatto. Relax, she ordered, exhaling until she got her heart under control. "Compliments," she said, trying out her tough gangsta voice once more, "will get you--"
She was unable to finish her statement as Dustin Brooks chose that exact moment to lean down and kiss her.
The moment that his lips touched hers, Jade's mind, usually alert and suspicious turned blissfully blank. All she could think about was the electrifying sensations at the base of her spine. Oh my God, she thought frantically. A boy is kissing me. A boy is kissing me: Jade the freak. She willed herself to push him away, with little success. It seemed as though she actually liked him.
A nearby explosion startled her out of her reverie. She pushed Dustin away, completely humiliated to be seen engaging in such public displays of affection. She looked up and saw a figure she had seen only too many times.
Harlequin giggled in delight. "I thought my eyes were decieving me," he snorted. "I thought that my mistress' prey, the lady Jade, was actually kissing someone. You're a human after all, Jade Thomas."
"Oh yeah?" Jade sneered, blushing beet-red. "Want to see what a human can do, Harlequin? Tell Medusa to come down right now." She jumped into fighting position.
"Alas, mistress has business to attend to," the jester-like being bowed down. "She has returned to her mentor, the one, the only Lothor! But that's enough talking. Wait till you see the new cavalry!" He pushed a button on a hand-held console and summoned a dozen aliens to his side. They giggled madly and started attacking the teens.
"Jade, get out of here," Dustin yelled. He threw a roundhouse at an attacking Kelzack.
"No way," she replied, blocking and countering. A ribbon shot from nowhere, wrapping itself around the girl's wrists and ankles. "Ahh!" she screamed as the multicolored lassos burned her flesh. She fell to her knees, her wrists smoking.
"Like it?" Harlequin asked, pulling his feelers back. "A new addition to my arsenal." He lashed out once again, making the girl scream in agony. "Hand over the Dragon Orb!"
"You'll have to pry it out of my cold, dead hands."
"As you wish." Harlequin made to attck the girl again.
Dustin was ready this time; he leapt in front of Jade and made a gesture with his hand. "Ninja Smoke Screen!"