Her War with Peace
A/N: Disclaimer: None of the Sky High characters or locations are mine, naturally, but you knew that already. I do, however, own my original character, Dawn Odelle. I am also completely unaffiliated with the author, publisher, and/or editors of Count Leo Tolstoy's book "War and Peace". The book is referenced without direct permission.
(The disclaimer will probably be sneaking into my story every five chapters or so, just to remind you that I'm not delusional and actually thinking I own the characters. Anyway. Enjoy.)
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Chapter Five: Fear Makes the Wolf Bigger than He Is
Quotations indicate words written in a letter from Julie to Mary: "Why cannot I now, as three months ago, draw fresh moral strength from your look, so gentle, calm, and penetrating, a look I loved so well and seem to see before me as I write?"
Having read thus far, Princess Mary sighed and glanced into the mirror which stood on her right. It reflected a weak, ungraceful figure and thin face. Her eyes, always sad, now looked with particular hopelessness at her reflection in the glass. 'She flatters me," thought the princess, turning away and continuing to read.
But Julie did not flatter her friend: the princess's eyes – large, deep, and luminous (it seemed as if at times there radiated from them shafts of warm light), were so beautiful that in spite of the plainness of her face they gave her an attraction more powerful than that of beauty.
But the princess never saw the beautiful expression of her own eyes – the look they had when she was not thinking of herself. As with everyone, her face assumed a forced, unnatural expression as soon as she looked in a glass.
Count Leo Tolstoy's "War and Peace", pages 69 and 70 – brackets mine
"So you really mean to tell me it would be a bad idea to go sit with him, even after last night." Dawn insisted, stabbing fruitlessly at a rolling cherry tomato in her salad.
"Honey, trust me on this. Tried it before, and he really likes being left alone; especially at school." Layla – and only Layla – had decided to hesitantly join Dawn for lunch the next day, and found that when conversing one-on-one, the young telekinetic was quite easy to talk to. Crowds, Dawn had previously explained, made her nervous, especially when she was new. It was just the way she was.
Dawn had explained the majority of what had happened at the Paper Lantern, being careful to leave out the romantic mood of some of the night. Layla's impression was that it was strictly Warren's way of trying to make Dawn feel a little more welcome, and that Dawn had simply accepted his attempt to reach out.
The latter had inconspicuously left out the ordeal of the tangling shadows that had knocked her out.
"So!" Layla tried to fill the silence by changing the subject. "How are you feeling about school?"
Dawn laughed, "It's my second day, Layla. I'm still feeling kind of excluded, but…" her eyes trailed over to Warren, who once again was focusing on his book, "I'm starting to feel a little more accepted."
"Hello?" Layla asked, waving a hand in front of Dawn's face. "I'm over - " She followed the telekinetic's gaze and grinned. "Aha, I see. Another one bites the dust?"
"Hmm?" Dawn's eyes were fixed on Warren now, and she was hardly listening to anything her new friend was saying.
"Never mind. But you have that look on your face so strongly that I'm thinking maybe you should actually give the "sitting with Warren" thing a shot."
Now Dawn was paying attention. "I beg your pardon?"
Layla tried to hide a grin. "A long time ago, a wise man once told me that to let true love remain unspoken is the quickest route to a heavy heart. I think it still applies today."
"You think I love him."
"No." The young woman replied simply, stabbing at her salad that was identical to Dawn's.
The latter's eyebrows shot up. "You don't?"
"I know you do."
"Man, I set myself up for that one." Dawn groaned, and shoved her chair back. "Here goes nothing, right?"
"Good luck!"
Dawn was hesitant as she approached Warren's table. "Hey, Warren…"
"No." His eyes didn't lift from his book, reminding her of the first conversation she had ever had with him.
Dawn sighed and tried a different angle. "How's your mom?"
"For cryin' out loud," Warren rolled his eyes and spoke quietly, as though he was embarrassed to be talking to her, "go sit with the hippie."
Encouraged that he was officially speaking to her now, she knelt down to try and catch his gaze with her own. "But I want to sit with you!" A low growl emitted from his throat, and his hands caught flame up to his wrists.
"Go." He snarled, finally looking up at her with a possessed glare.
Dawn's breath caught, and she stood quickly. "Meet me after school?" She asked, her voice not capable of containing her hopeful tone.
"I have work. Beat it."
She sighed and closed her eyes, the hiss of his extinguished flame calming her. "Please, Warren."
Receiving no response, the telekinetic peeked out at Warren, trying not to blanch with fear as she saw the same dark, haunted eyes glaring at her. "Oookay, I can take a hint. Sorry I bothered you."
"Just go."
Dawn wandered back to Layla, and the latter gave her a sympathetic glance. She vaguely heard words of comfort, but Dawn was becoming too dejected to understand them. It seemed as though Warren was a different person at school, and even with the explanation he had given her at the Paper Lantern, Dawn was confused about it.
She mentally re-arranged leafy frills of lettuce – beautifully green and fresh, thanks to Layla – to spell out "Why me?" on her plate.
"'Why you' what?" Layla asked, apparently puzzled.
Dawn looked up and sighed. "Why did I have to be the one who fell in love with him?"
"Wait, you can't possibly think you're the first one who's fallen for Warren, right?" The vegetarian gave her an incredulous stare before dousing one of her cherry tomatoes in ranch dressing and sticking it into her mouth.
Dawn blinked momentarily and mixed up her salad again, snatching the dressing from Layla and squirting it on her food. "Well, I guess not."
"I was a victim of his good looks too, y'know."
This was definitely starting to catch Dawn's attention. Of course, anything about Warren would've caught her attention, but this in particular. "You liked Warren Peace?"
Layla laughed, as though it was common knowledge. "That night I had in the Paper Lantern with him right before I was mad at Will? Warren had the cutest, sexiest look on his face when he lit the candle and we were talking. I know I told him I was going with him to Homecoming just because I wanted to get back at Will, but…" she grinned, and shrugged, "the truth is, I just couldn't resist an opportunity like that. What can a girl do?" She winked and stabbed at her salad again.
To Dawn, this was coming across as a little hard to believe. "But…so…when did you stop liking Warren and start liking Will again?"
"Once I figured out that not only did I not have a chance with Warren, but that I really did love Will, and I had more of a crush on Warren. I think Will and I were 'meant to be'." She made little quotation marks in the air with her fingers (or, at least, tried to – the spork she held in her hand kind of got in the way). "At least for now, anyway, or until Warren softens up."
"So…wait…you still like him?"
Layla raised her eyebrows and, as innocently as possible, ate the last piece of lettuce in her salad. "He's not as scary as he pretends to be."
Dawn blinked. "You say this after you watched him almost destroy the entire school cafeteria?"
"He was provoked!"
"Very encouraging." Dawn mumbled. "So now I just have to make sure I don't provoke him, which includes asking to sit with him, talking to him, bumping shoulders with him, and…anything else?"
"Talking about his dad." Layla reminded her solemnly.
"Yeah, that's the infamous one, but - " Dawn paused as her attention was caught elsewhere; part of the room had suddenly seemed to grow darker. "Do you see that?"
"See what?" As Layla turned around to glance where Dawn was looking, the darkness shifted across the floor to linger softly under one of the chairs across from Warren at his table. Since he was looking down at his food and book, he didn't appear to have seen anything.
"What is that?" Layla wondered, her brow furrowing. "Somebody's playing around with us."
"Or not." Dawn whispered under her breath, her heart pounding as the blood in her veins began to run cold. Layla apparently hadn't heard her, but the telekinetic wouldn't care if she had.
The shadows.
The shadows.
The shadows.
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A/N: Eesh, yes, I AM making you sit through another uneventful chapter, but it's necessary, especially to set up the next chapter. And, the next chapter is even longer than chapter four, so I hope you'll understand.
If my predictions are correct, I should have the next one up tomorrow.
Til then, devotedly yours,
Corvaisis
