Garfield cruised down the sidewalk on his skateboard on the way to school. Mmm, he thought deliciously. Smells like Friday. The fall air was chilly, yet fragrant with the scents of fallen leaves and the flower blossoms that remained before they were to disappear with the first swift rains of winter. Garfield had worn a baggy grey sweatshirt to keep warm, and the tails of the bright green scarf trailed behind him as he sped past the slower pedestrian teens.
He was later than usual; the rest of the group was already gathered by the front gate. "Hey guys!" Garfield called, easing his board to the gate to meet his friends.
"…Kind of bundled up, aren't you?" Richard asked bemusedly, acknowledging Garfield's attire.
"Dude, it's cold." Garfield tugged tighter on his scarf for emphasis. "What's with that look on your face, Raven?"
"I'm thinking about what I can do to you with that scarf around your neck."
"…Okay, guys? Keep her AWAY from me."
XXXXX
Victor calmly grated a block of cheese over the Caesar salad that he and Garfield were making. The entire class had teamed up with partners, and when the other freshman had seemed to have ostracized Garfield, Victor had willingly invited Garfield to work with him. "Hope you don't mind me asking, Gar," Victor began conversationally, "but don't you have any freshman friends?"
"They went to different schools," Garfield muttered in reply. He didn't seem offended by the inquiry, however. "I was the only one who lived in the Jump City district." He rhythmically mixed and tossed the salad with two wooden spoons.
Victor nodded with understanding. "I totally know how you feel. I have a lot of friends back in L.A. But hey, there are nice people around here."
"Yeah, there are," Garfield said, smiling weakly.
"Though, I can't say I'm too fond of whoever it was that trashed my car last week," Victor joked.
"Hehehehe…I can imagine."
Victor watched curiously as Garfield turned away slightly and suddenly became intensely interested in the salad bowl.
XXXXX
There was a pep rally at lunch, Richard remembered. The school staff members herded all of the students into the large gym and onto the bleachers. Richard managed to find and wave over Raven, Jinx, and Kori, and the four of them slipped onto a bench high up on the bleachers so as to keep somewhat away from the "action."
"Looks like someone is waving at you, Richard," Jinx sang, gesturing at someone on the gym floor below them. Richard looked closer and to his horror recognized the figure as Kitten.
"Aargh! It's Kitten!"
"Kitten? Where?" Kori asked, not having seen the often-spoken-of Kitten yet.
"Down there," Raven uttered, pointing.
"That's Kitten?" Kori asked amusedly. "She's so…"
"Blonde?" Richard groaned.
"Hey, Ricky!" Kitten squealed, waving madly. Richard slid down in his seat when other students began to look his way. Kori held a fist to her lips in an attempt to stifle her chuckles, while Jinx didn't even bother to restrain herself. Raven just rolled her eyes, and doing so brought the fact that not many people were sitting near them to her attention. A pair of freshmen girls trudged up the bleacher stairs, trying to find a place to sit. One of them pointed to the bench behind Raven and her friends as a suggestion, when Raven heard the other whisper audibly, "No, look who's sitting there…" before gesturing at Raven. The two younger girls noticed that she was watching them and quickly bounded up the rest of the stairs. Suddenly feeling self-conscious, Raven pulled her sweatshirt hood over her head and looked down at her shoes.
"Heeey, Jump City High!" Kitten had the microphone and stood on a small podium in front of the cheer squad, color guard, and marching band. Most of the students on the bleachers cheered in response.
"Our first football game is TOTALLY happening tonight! Who's going to be there?"
"We are," chorused a group mostly consisting of freshmen.
"And who's gonna win?"
"THE JUMP CITY WOLVES!" most everyone screamed, excluding Richard, Kori, Jinx, and Raven.
"Wooo!" The cheerleaders waved their pompoms as Kitten waved to the crowd. "JCH, I hereby give you—the Jump City Wolves varsity team!"
Students all around them sprung up from their seats, clapping and cheering wildly as the football team burst through the gym doors in uniform. Kitten gave a supermodel smirk before hand springing backwards off the podium to join her fellow squad members. The marching band struck up a peppy tune, but all that could be heard was the madness of the spirited teenagers in the crowd.
XXXXX
The lights were bright, almost blinding, but the cheer squad carried on with their routine like professionals. Tara mentally recited the order of the dance moves until it finally came to the finale where Kitten had to be lifted into the air to smile at her adoring fans. Tara and four other cheerleaders held down their hands for Kitten to step on and expertly lifted her into the air. A pang of fear struck Tara as her legs shook underneath her for a split second, but to her relief they steadied themselves immediately afterwards.
Kitten held her arms and pompoms up in the air, looking beautiful as ever and getting shouts of appreciation from the spectators. The five girls below escorted her back down to the floor. She stood next to Tara and hissed through her grinning teeth, "I felt you wobble when I was up there. It's not like I'm fat or anything. Learn to do things right for once!"
"Sorry," Tara whispered back, feeling her face begin to flush with guilt and embarrassment. She felt the urge to look down at her feet, but forced herself to keep standing tall and erect. Don't ruin the routine more than you already have, she chided herself firmly. Just keep smiling and waving those pompoms…
XXXXX
Konni bounded into the foyer with a head of bright pink hair. "Hello, Kori!"
Kori blinked slowly. She had only just gotten home from school that afternoon, and she had to admit that this wasn't what she had been expecting to see when she first got there. "Konni?"
"Yes?"
"What happened to your hair?"
"Oh, it's just a wig," Konni assured her younger sister cheerfully. "Do you remember what we were talking about the other day? You know, about me taking you to see the world." Kori nodded. "Well, I figured that since it's a Friday we should go today. I'm leaving tomorrow, anyway, so we might as well have some good sisterly bonding before it's too late. You don't have any homework, do you?"
Kori shook her head. "No…but what about Ryan? We cannot just leave him alone at night."
"He's in the eighth grade, Kori. He can look after himself. And I've already told him about it—he's pretty psyched! Do you really want me to disappoint him?"
Kori hesitated. "I suppose that I'll come, then. But where exactly is it that we're going?"
"The Soto Nightclub," Konni answered, a flash of excitement and mischief in her eyes. "You can borrow some of my things to wear, but if you even think that I'm going to allow you to prance around in one of my belly shirts, you are oh-so-very wrong! No outfits get by me without my approval, okay?"
Kori laughed weakly. "Of course, Konni."
XXXXX
A few hours later Konni and Kori stood on the front porch. "You've got my cell number, right Ryan?" Konni asked her younger brother, who stood on the other side of the threshold, holding the door open.
"I do, Konni," Ryan said impatiently. "And I have all of the emergency numbers too, Kori," he added swiftly just as Kori opened her mouth to say something.
"Good," Konni said with satisfaction. "I guess that's it, then…just remember that if I come home and find a party, the consequences will be dire."
"Heh. That's something that you don't have to worry about," Ryan mumbled.
Kori and Konni slid into Konni's Jaguar. Konni pulled out of the driveway and sped down the road. "Ready for some fun, kid?"
"Yeah," Kori answered, smiling some. She looked out the window; the sky was noir and black, with only the gleaming streetlights and lights ebbing from house windows as their guides. She was wearing a thigh length denim skirt and a modest purple spaghetti-strapped tank top that gave right amount of coverage. The redhead brightened a bit. Maybe she should just settle down a bit and enjoy herself tonight.
"Now, I just want to go over a few rules," Konni continued, yet never taking her eyes off the road. "First of all, you stick by me. Don't get too friendly with any of the creeps there, don't let anyone give you drinks, and if anybody tries to take advantage of you give them the biggest damn bitch slap and call for help. Did you get all that?"
Kori nodded, determined not to let herself get nervous just before they got there.
Finally they arrived at the club. Konni escorted her younger sister through the tall doors and into the nightclub. A sudden wave of heat from the mob of dancing human bodies greeted Kori, and her brown had already started to perspire within the first few steps into the large room. The scene somewhat resembled the school gym at the homecoming dance, but was much more extravagant, decorated with bright neon lights and a floor with phosphorescent colored square tiles that blinked in patterned arrangements. Also, there was a considerable age difference, with most of the partiers being in their older teens and twenties.
"Hey! Blazin' B!" Kori and Konni turned to see a guy around Konni's age rushing to greet them. He was tall, wearing a black and white football jersey and a backwards baseball cap over his bald head. He wrapped an arm around Konni's shoulders and pulled her close, smiling. "Nice to see you back, Blackfire!"
"Blackfire?" Kori mouthed confusedly to her sister. She figured that this was where Konni had been going to over the past few days when she came home late.
"Nickname," Konni mouthed back. "It's great to see you too, Mark," she said to the male beside her. "Have I missed much?"
"Not at all," Mark replied, grinning toothily. He suddenly became aware of Kori's presence and looked her up and down. "Hey, who're you?"
Kori held up a hand in salutation. "I'm Kori, Konni's sister."
"Well, there's always room for one more, Kori! Care to join your sister and my friends and I? We're dancing right over there." Mark gesticulated vaguely in the direction of a far corner to their right.
"That sounds delightful, thank you," Kori accepted, testing the suavity in her own voice. She and Konni followed Mark to the corner where they met a group of two other college boys wearing similar attire to Mark's.
"Hey Blackfire! 'S that your sister?"
"How you doin', Blackfire?"
The salutations were cut off by a new song sounding from the back of the room where the speakers and deejay were. The three boys and Konni started dancing like experts, and Kori quickly caught on, copying their dance moves but modifying them a bit for modesty's sake.
XXXXX
Raven trudged into the kitchen with a glass of iced tea in hand. She wore a loose fitting grey tank top and a pair of Emily the Strange sweats because they felt appropriate for when she was trying to relax. Curiosity got to her when she caught sight of Wallace hunched over the kitchen table, completing his application form. "How's it going, Wally?" Raven asked kindly, sidling up to her adoptive brother and peering over his shoulder.
"I'm just trying to make sure that I've got everything," Wallace muttered. He put and elbow on the table and rested his head in his hand, sifting through his red hair with his fingers.
Raven pulled up the chair next to him and set down her drink. "What have you written down so far?" she asked, picking up the day's newspaper.
"For my extra cirriculars, you mean? I wrote soccer, drama, marching band, Poetry Workshop…yeah, that's about it."
Raven looked up slowly. "What about cross country? You've been running since you were eleven and have five trophies and at least thirty blue ribbons in your room. You were always the fastest runner in school."
Wallace drummed his pen against the wood tabletop. "Oh! I've forgotten all about that." He began to write it down.
"…You're saying that you're applying for your fourth college and you've never thought to write that you've been a star runner for nearly half your life until now?"
"Well, if you're going to put it that way, I guess so."
"You're an idiot," Raven said, rolling up the newspaper and bopping Wallace over the head with it.
XXXXX
Kori leaned against the bar counter and took tender sips from her Coke. So far the nightclub experience had been both interesting and tiring; she had danced with Konni and her friends, seen couples make out along the walls, and even been advanced upon by a few guys, but Konni had been good at driving them off thus far. Now Konni had gone into the washroom as had Mark and one of his friends to the men's room, and she was left alone with the last male to watch over her.
"So what grade are you in?" the guy asked, striking up conversation.
"I'm in grade ten," Kori replied, setting her soda on the counter.
"That's cool," he said. "By the way, my name's Jason. So, you like it around here?"
"It's…quite nice," Kori answered hesitantly.
"Wanna dance?"
Jason's words took her slightly by surprise. "Errh…of course, why not?" she said finally. The two of them stepped out further towards the dance floor and Jason took the lead, sticking his chest out and moving fluidly. Kori faced him and followed suit, face flushing a bit when he stepped up closer to her. "You've got some nice moves there," he whispered huskily, and before she knew it he began to circle her slowly. Jason slipped behind her; he was so close Kori could feel his hot breath on the back of her neck. Suddenly she felt his ten fingers at her sides, trickling down further until they reached…
"No," Kori said suddenly. She jerked away, feeling afraid but also slightly embarrassed by how rude she must have seemed. "I'm sorry, but I must go find my sister." She tore through the crowd, feeling the beginnings of tears starting to well up in her eyes, until she caught sight of the restrooms. She was just in time to see Konni (or "Blackfire") slip out through the bathroom door.
Konni smiled when she saw Kori. "Hey, sis. How's—" Suddenly she noticed the pearly tears beginning to spill forth from Kori's green eyes. "What…?"
"Konni, may we please go home?" Kori choked. Stunned, Konni wrapped her arms around her younger sister and pulled her to her chest, trying her best at comfort.
"Shh…yeah, let's go."
XXXXX
A/N: Heh. I know Blackfire isn't portrayed as completely and utterly evil in this story, but I dunno…I sort of wanted to try this side of her. Anyway, tell me what you guys think.