The Goth Wotch
Issue Seven: To Tell the Truth
"'With great power comes great responsibility,'" Kirk quotes as he sits next to Cassie on the girl's couch playing his DS, being babysat by the goth as per usual. "You should probably keep that in mind."
"Please. I've had these powers for months and the only problem that was actually my fault was the personality thing, and I fixed that."
"Personality?"
"Long story." The phone rings suddenly, and Cassie reaches over and picks it up. "Hello? Hey Wolfie. We still on for tonight? Good. So what are we going to do anyway? One of those personality quiz things? Those are for kids."
"Unlike spending the day playing with dolls and watching cartoons?" pipes in Kirk.
Cassie lays a hand across the bottom of the phone, long enough to turn to Kirk and throw in the ever-descriptive, "Shut up, Kirk," before returning to her conversation, all while ignoring Kirk's complaints over not being called 'Kirkashi' instead. "Fine. Where's Ming going to be? Oh. So it's just us and Katie? Really? Huh. Well, I'll see you three there then. Bye." Cassie hangs up, and immediately looks over at Kirk.
"I told you to keep your mouth shut about that," Cassie says. "Don't mention her, got it?"
"Since when do you refer to yourself in the third person?" Kirk responds, all the while continuing to play his DS.
"Keep talking and I'll turn you into a bikini, got it?"
Kirk looks up briefly from his DS, then looks back down and mumbles under his breath, "No complaints here."
"So, why'd you invite them anyway?" Cassie asks Wolfie as the two walk up the stairs leading to Wolfie's bedroom.
"I figured it'd take more than us three to do this, so I invited Alex, Sam, Jo, Lita, and Lindsay over. I invited Julie, Irene, and Anne too, but they couldn't make it."
"Wait, Lindsay? As in Lindsay Verte?"
"Yeah. She was arguing with Alex when I showed up to invited the cheer squad so I invited her too."
The two reach the top of the stiars, and once they make it to the bedroom door Cassie says, "I'm gonna go use the bathroom. I'll be in there in a minute."
"Alright, see ya then," Wolfie replies before opening the bedroom door and walking inside.
"You are aware that we're going to need to look into the situation further in the coming days, right?"
"29, you know what I say: DODC."
"Hmm?
"Day off, don't care!"
"Yes, well, you of course remember the love potion fiasco, correct?"
"As much as I've wanted not to, yes I do. Your point?
"Come on Wolfie, even the author said the rewrite was better."
"I know, Lindsay, but I definitely prefer the original. The writing's better and it's cuter." Wolfie answers the rich girl as the two both sit on Wolfie's bed. Cassie and Katie stand in a corner of the room talking and the four cheerleaders are browsing through Wolfie's DVD collection.
"That may be true, but the original has next-to-nothing to do with the series."
"Ooh! Let's watch this!" Jo exclaims as she rises from looking within the lowest shelf of a DVD tower. She holds a Windjammer Luna DVD case above her head as though it is a trophy of some sort.
"You have that why? Lindsay asks Wolfie while staring at her peculiarly.
"I like a little of every anime-related."
"Lowest denominator filth," head cheerleader Alex King scoffs without even having to look up to see the case. "I suggest we watch a truly intellectual modern-day masterpiece such as Crach." Alex stands up. holding said DVD in her left hand.
"Screw the movie, let's play some D&D," adds Lita, the heartthrob of the cheer squad.
"Is that the game where you killed the old man?" asks Sam. "Because I don't like that kind of thing..."
"You girls are aware that the chances of all of us agreeing on something to do are slim to none, right?" Katie questions of the others. "I mean, we have a room filled with somebody who loves cute-things (Jo), a general fan of anime and wrestling (Wolfie), a Dungeons & Dragons maniac (Lita), a lover of old military books (Alex), a goth (Cassie), poor little rich girl over there (Lindsay), someone who prefers do-it-yourself things (Sam), and someone like me who enjoys a little of everything."
"That's true," Wolfie replies. "You guys want to go ahead and do the question thing now and get it out of the way?"
"Yeah," Cassie says, sounding slightly devious when answering.
"Alright, I'll read them off and we'll go around and answer. The order is alphabetical: Alex, Cassie, Jo, Katie, Lindsay, Lita, Sam, and me, okay? Alright, question 1. 'Who are you currently dating or currently have a crush on?' Alex?"
"As much as it pains me to say due to my love of those hollowed halls of our alma mater, none of the boys we know have my affection. The gentleman I wish to have I am seperated from by time and circumstance. Winston ChurchilL! British Prime Minister during-"
"Okay, Alex," Lindsay interrupts. "Anyone who's not completely insane?"
"I'll go," Cassie offers.
"No need, we all know you like Robin. Trust me, it's not a well-kept secret."
"Katie's got a point, Cass. Okay, Jo, how about you?"
"I always kinda liked Seshomaru."
"At least Winston Churchill was real..." Alex mumbles.
"How about you, Katie?"
"I really don't like anybody at the moment, actually."
This statement draws sarcastic remarks of some sort from almost everyone in the room, except Cassie who is strangely silent.
"Okay then. Lindsay?"
"I don't like anyone right now but... do you girls remember Aaron King?"
Cassie's the first to respond, somewhat nervously, "Yeah. Why?"
"I had a crush on him for years, then right when I was about to ask him out, he disappeared."
"Who?" Alex wonders.
"Former captain of the football team," Katie explains without bothering to go into the complicated backstory of what actually happened to Aaron. "He moved away."
"Lita?"
"The Y chronosome!" Lita laughs, drawing a chuckle from the rest of the room.
"Considering who we're talking about, that's probably a true statement," Alex adds.
"You know it!"
"Okay, well, how about you, Sam?"
"Well, um... Robin Ericson."
"Two girls in the same room who like the same boy," Lindsay says. "This should be good."
"Not like it's a big deal," Katie tells the rich girl. "I hear Robin likes Anne anyway."
"As for me," Wolfie interrupts, "I have a boyfriend. We hooked up two weeks ago."
"Who is it, Wolfie?" asks Sam of the other Samantha currently in the room.
"Well, it's-" but Wolfie is interrupted by a cellphone ringing. She pulls the phone out of her pocket, says, "Speak of the devil," and answers, turning her back to the rest of the girls in the room before starting to talk. "Hey. Yeah, I'll still be there. I'm babysitting for a friend though, mind if I bring her along? Two. She doesn't cry much, no. Usually... Great! See ya there, J!" Wolfie hangs up and turns back around to see every one of the other girls except Lindsay staring wide-eyed at her.
"Uh... J? Isn't that what you call Jason Grey?" asks Jo.
"Yeah," Wolfie answers, somewhat embarrassed at the amount of attention she's currently receiving.
"A representive of the school dating apathy incarnate? Unbelievable," Alex declares, causing Lindsay to roll her eyes.
"I can admit Jason's a nice guy sometimes," Katie adds, "but aren't you worried about his obsession with redheads?"
"He's been fine to me. Besides, he hangs out with Anne all the time and nothing happens." Wolfie lies back on the bed and grabs the sheet with the questions. "Okay, question number two. 'Who was your first kiss?'"
"I don't really like steak."
"Come on, 29, you're the one who asked me out. Besides, Kirby's has other things like... uh... ribs. And salad."
"Fair enough..."
"CAW!"
29's body tenses up upon hearing this. "That was the phoenix again, 32. We'd better-"
"Workaholic. Look, it's our day off. Let someone else handle it."
"Arizona, come!" a cloaked figure shouts to the red bird as it flies behind. "We need to find out what's happening at the school and how it ties into the Wotch."
"Caw."
"I am aware, Arizona, of the happenings in town. That house in particular is home to a man named Evan Onymous and his sisters Anne and Lilly. We shall pay them a visit tomorrow and find out what they know."
"Caw."
"Okay, question three," Wolfie starts. "'What was your most embarrassing moment?'"
"That would be when, during a fiery report that captivated all on hand, Lita somehow took off her bra through her shirt, resulting in an embarrassing distraction on my part."
"I remember that!" Jo exclaims. "That was funny."
"As for me," Cassie starts, "once Wolfie was helping me up after an accident of sorts and somehow we accidently... kissed."
As the other girls laugh at thos confession, Wolfie recalls the complete story: Cassie had been Emily and hit her head on the coffee table while playing. Wolfie picked Emily up to kiss her on the head, and as Wolfie started Emily reverted back into Cassie, resulting in the two somehow or another actually going mouth-to-mouth for a second or two.
"I remember that," says Wolfie simply. "Jo?"
"I had just bought a bunch of really cut tattoos and put them all over my body, then one day Lita saw them while we were changing for practice, and there were some embarrassing rumors started."
Katie replies, "I was wondering what the real story behind that was. Well, remember when I came out of that janitor's closet with Jason in fifth grade and a bunch of rumors got started? Well, what really happened was that he pulled me in there the day after that and was trying to explain what happened."
Lindsay's the next to speak. "Remember in the sixth grade when we went to that farm? Well, me, Tamara, Karen, and Sarah went off looking around and we saw some thing throwing dirt and I thought it was some sort of monster and screamed. It later turned out it was some kind of machine to plow fields or something."
"Oh yes, leave it to the rich girl to make such a mistake," Alex taunts, drawing grumbling from said rich girl.
"Lita, your turn," Wolfie announces, interrupting the argument before it gets going.
"You ever bite down on a fork?"
"Ouch. Sam?"
"I was doing a coking contest and I got Lita to help. I slipped on something and tripped, pouring a bag of flour I was carrying right down the front of my overalls."
"Yeah, I probably should've mentioned I spilt something," Lita laughs. "But you have to admit, it was funny. Or at least for me!"
"Mine would be at the tournament qualifying match last week," says Wolfie. "I was on my way to the mat and I tripped and fell right in front of everybody! And to top it off, I lost to this Eimy Potter girl to boot! Anyway, question four..."
"So what's the plan anyway?" 32 asks as she and 29 sit at a table, eating.
"We'll have to go back to the forest and find out who owns the bird and what it's doing here, of course. We will also need to look into the matter of the house in town. We are being sent to look into that matter tomorrow."
"Not that. What I mean is, what are we going to do after we're done here?"
"Go home."
"Fine. I guess just dinner works for a first date..."
How can I phrase this without giving myself away? Stupid spell... "I davel in magic."
"Oh come on. Is that all, Cassie?" Lindsay asks. "Trust me, we guessed. You're one of those goth types, after all."
Whew. Pulled it out.
Wolfie's the next to speak. "Okay, Jo?"
"What was the question again? I wasn't paying attention."
"Question Six. 'What is your biggest secret?'"
"Oh. Well, I guess that'd be that I still remember being a... umm... Cassie, are you frantically talking into your hand?"
"Um... yes."
"Okay then. Um... what was I saying again? Oh yeah, I guess my biggest secret is that I can't read time on a clock with hands."
"Who needs to?" Lita asks. "Digital's the way to go!"
"There are clocks... with hands?" Lindsay wonders aloud. "I've never seen such a thing."
Katie rolls her eyes at the girl. "You're kidding, right? Anyway, my turn. My biggest secret would be what happened between Jason and me."
The whole room stops what they're doing, everyone giving Katie their full attention.
"It happened when I had just turned eleven and he was ten. See, my aunt over in Moperville went into labor during the night and so my mom and dad left me at Jason's since my dad is Jason's mom's cousin's best friend. So I was sleeping on their couch, and I woke up during the night when I felt something on my stomach. When I opened my eyes, there was Jason lying on top of me on his stomach. According to him, he was going to get a glass of water and tripped over my shoe, landing on top of me, but I didn't and still don't believe it."
"That's not what you told me before," Wolfie points out.
"I've been making up different reasons for years. In fact, I have no idea why I just told what really happened."
"Jason's probably telling the truth, Kate," Wolfie replies. "Sure, he likes redheads, but I don't think J would do something like that on purpose."
"Of course you'd say that, you're his girlfriend," breaks in Lindsay. "I don't know this Jason person, but I'll say Katie's got a point. Things like that don't just happen."
Cassie adds her own two-cents, "I can find out for you. I have ways of getting-" but the goth breaks off when she sees Katie's eyes narrowing suspiciously. "Um... I'm going to go get some snacks for everybody."
"Let me come help you with that," Katie offers through grittd teeth. The two walk outside into the hallway and Cassie casts a quick volume containment spell to keep the others from hearing.
"What did you do?" Katie asks.
"I cast a spell to make everyone in the room tell the truth. Make the game more interesting."
"Truth spell you say... I have another question for you then. Robin's kid brother told me an interesting fact about your 'cousin.' True?"
"Yeah..."
"Why would you hide something like that? It's not that big a deal."
"Oh come on! Am I the only one disturbed by the fact that I relax by spending time as a brat who only makes it to the bathroom 3/4's of the time?"
"You never change, Cassie. Tell you what, I'll forgive you for the truth thing if you do something for me." Katie reaches into the pocket on the front of her shirt and pulls out a cellphone. "I need to know."
Katie calls while Cassie casts. When Jason answers, Katie starts talking. "Hello, Jason, it's Katie. Yeah, I heard. Wolfie's a good friend, so you're lucky. Anyway, reason I called is because I want to hear your side of that story one more time." After a long silence, Katie simply says. "I believe you. Bye."
"So, he was telling the truth, huh?" Katie turns her head toward Cassie, looking conflicted.
"Cassie? Is it possible to tell on one of those truth-telling spells if you honestly think it's the truth?"
"Yeah, guess so. Why do you ask?"
"I'm not sure about something I said. I'm confused, five years of saying something, of ignorning something for a reason that no longer exists. I'm going home, I need to think."
"Katie-" but Cassie stops as the redhead begins to walk away toward the stairs. As if to lighten her own mood after the discussion, Cassie mumbles, "Note to self. Listen to Kirk more often."