All characters are the property of SNK/Playmore. I don't own them, the video games or the anime.
Chapter Sixteen: An Unexpected Party
Saturday, June 28th, 1997
A half-hour after lights out was announced over in the girls dorms, Nikolai heard a knock at his door. He rose from the worn leather chair, where he'd been reading, and opened it to find Melanie standing there, dressed in black shorts and black T-shirt, and with the brown bandanna from her gym uniform tied around her scalp, her golden blonde hair tucked under it.
"Clever girl, using camouflage," he said in greeting. "I see you made it past security."
The girl couldn't help but smirk. "Well, like I said, I have a way around the searchlights."
"Did you encounter any guards?"
"One, but it's not the first time in my life I've had to sneak around a guy with a gun and badge."
Nikolai quickly ushered her into his room and shut the door. Melanie cast a quick glance around. Some of the faculty lived off-campus, while others had quarters in the gray brick building on the side of the quad opposite the dorms. She was expecting something more Spartan, given how he maintained his kitchen, but instead it almost looked homey.
In addition to the worn leather chair he'd vacated, there was a bookcase (and not all the books stored there appeared to be written in English), a twin bed, a dresser, a small mahogany table upon which sat an ornate wooden chessboard, a glass case containing what looked like medals, and a small bottle of some clear liquid whose label was written in Russian. Melanie's amber eyes lingered on the board, which did not go unnoticed.
"Do you play?" Nikolai asked his guest.
She quickly shook her head. "Me? Nah. Seems like too much trouble to learn, and I've got other things on my mind."
He laughed a little at that. "Well, you may want to learn someday. It's good way to devise strategies which you may need on the field. But for now, you came for other reasons. So let's get started." He led Melanie over to a larger table, which was covered with a pile of cheap-looking BIC lighters and a pair of needle-nose pliers. He sat at one of the chairs tucked under the table and motioned for the blonde girl to take the other.
"There are many different ways to create a diversion," he told her. "Some are more complex than others. We'll start with something simple."
Already this was sounding like all her other classes here. "Do we have to?" She asked with a roll of her eyes.
"Da," Nikolai answered with a nod. "You have to learn to crawl before you can walk. But don't worry, you'll still find this useful. Someday you may find yourself in a situation where you need to construct a flash bang quickly, on the fly. That's what this method is. One of the simplest, and fastest."
Melanie was still skeptical, but that went away after they began. The first thing he showed her how to do was use the pliers to remove both the flint and the spring from one of the disposable lighters, and then wind the latter carefully around the former. It took her a few tries to get it without breaking the flint, which was about the size of a pencil lead, but thankfully her teacher had bought plenty of lighters.
"Gently, Melanie," Nikolai admonished. "Carefully. Of course, it will be a hundred times worse if you ever have to make one under pressure, but all the more reason to learn to keep steady hands."
"Have you ever had to make one under pressure?" Melanie asked, with genuine curiosity.
The gray-haired man answered by taking the pliers, picking up an undamaged lighter, removing the inner workings, and winding the spring around the flint. All in under ten seconds. "You have no idea," he then answered her. "Now, try again."
After seven more attempts, Melanie had managed to coil a spring around one of the flints without breaking it. "Okay, what now?" She asked.
"That's a good one," Nikolai said with a nod. "How about small demonstration?"
"Sure," Melanie answered, eager for some fireworks. She handed her completed flash bang to Nikolai, who took up one of the unbroken BIC lighters, and moved over to another space in his living quarters, a small counter-top which housed a coffee maker and a hot plate. Melanie watched him flick on the working lighter, hold the flame under the flint for a few seconds (using the spring as a handle, to avoid burning himself), then he dropped it forcefully on the counter.
Melanie saw a small flash of white, which was hardly enough to blind. "Seems kind of lame, dude," she said.
"Well, we need to be discreet, since you're not supposed to be here," Nikolai said with a shrug. "The important thing to remember is that what causes the light is applying heat to the flint. The longer you hold it to flame, the brighter the light. Ideally, it should be glowing red hot when you throw it down. Or throw it at your opponent's face."
"I'll have to try that on my own, then," Melanie said.
"I wish you wouldn't, but if you must, be discreet."
Her brow crinkled a little. "Um… why?"
"Anyone sees you setting off anything we make here, they will ask questions."
Melanie sat up straighter in her chair. "I'm not a snitch, dude."
The older man nodded. "I know you wouldn't talk. But your gym teacher and the headmistress are clever enough to figure things out on their own."
This sobered her up a bit. "True. Okay, well, if I do practice any of this on my own, I'll do it when we're in Burlington or someplace where I can get away from the eyes of the faculty."
Nikolai gave her a curt nod. "Fair enough. But our lesson is done for tonight. I'll see you same time next week."
Melanie nodded back, and rose from the chair. "Thanks, dude. This was actually really cool." She would not have guessed that items she could buy at the dollar store could actually be used for something like this, and as she sneaked back to the dorms, she wondered what else was in store in the coming weeks.
Getting back into her room was easy. She crouched in the bushes outside the dorms and looked up, watching the windows for the telltale beam of Wallace's flashlight. When it looked like the supervisor was on the other side of the building, Melanie climbed the ivy vines up to her window, which she'd left unlocked.
Upon entering her room, she removed her sneakers and socks, placed her bandanna on her dresser-top, then turned down the sheets on her bed. There was a small pile of laundry underneath them which she'd used as a decoy, to make Wallace think she was where she should be. She swiped them onto the floor, quickly kicked them under her bed, then climbed in and pulled the sheets back up.
"So, where were you?" She heard a faint voice whisper just as her head hit the pillow. She turned and saw Kimberly laying on her side with eyes open.
"Oh, um… just taking a walk," Melanie answered.
The other girl did not look amused. "I thought we trusted each other, Mel."
Melanie frowned at hearing that. "You're right, I'm sorry. Um… you can keep a secret?"
"You know I can."
So Melanie told her roommate where she'd gone. After she'd finished, Kimberly's face wore a look of concern. "You're taking a huge risk, Mel. Not just with what you're learning, but you know that any girl caught outside the dorms after lights out faces heavy punishment."
"Yeah, yeah, I know," Melanie said, remembering what Kimberly had told her back on the first day of school. "At least two weeks of detention, and that's just for starters. But you're worrying too much. Because I won't get caught. Remember, I had a lot of time to watch the quad while in Solitary, and write down the patterns on the searchlights. And the security guards Landy does have are lazy. I had to sneak past worse when I was living on the streets. Heck, if you want, I can ask Nikolai if I can bring you along next week."
The dark-haired girl shook her head. "Nah, that's okay. It might be harder to hide the both of us running off. Next time, though, could you tell me if you're planning to go somewhere? When I saw you'd put a decoy under your covers, my first impulse was to tell Ms. Wallace that you ran away, since I know you like to do that. But I figured I'd give you the benefit of the doubt, and wait to see if you came back before morning."
The small blonde couldn't help but smile. "Thanks, Kim. And I'm sorry if I scared you. I won't be running away anytime soon, I promise you that." She then thought to herself: At least, not while I'm busy getting a real education.
Right after that, they heard the footsteps of Ms. Wallace on the hardwood floor of the hallway outside, and put their heads back down on their pillows, dropping off to sleep a moment later.
Saturday, October 4th, 1997
The months rolled by. Melanie took the summer courses with all the other girls, and continued her combat training with excellent progress (mainly because she'd gotten a head start with the rubber knives). Every now and then, she was harassed and/or beaten by Regina's gang, which was taken in stride. She paid her tribute, using Kimberly's strategy, giving less than she probably should have (but as Kim said, none of the gang were keeping books), while hoarding most of it in her hiding place under a floorboard in her dorm room. Somehow, she managed to get through Ms. Kelly's reading list by the time the new academic year started the day after Labor Day, though she read the last book on the list in only a week. It was called "Lord of the Flies," and Melanie joked that the teacher must have made a mistake. "There's no way Kelly would assign us a book this fucking awesome," she told Kimberly.
She also continued her Saturday night lessons with Nikolai, which started with more simple things (such as making a crude smoke bomb by combining potassium nitrate and granulated sugar together in a pan on his hot plate, and wrapping the resulting mixture in aluminum foil), and by the time summer gave way to fall, she was learning about fuses. But above all else, Melanie noticed an overall change in the social climate at the school. Regina and her inner circle, and those loyal to them, still regarded her as an outcast. But the rest of the girls seemed a bit more lukewarm to her. Melanie still wasn't trying to bond with any of them, but she also felt like overall, they seemed okay with her being there. She still wasn't sure if Layla and Zoey were responsible for that, but if they had spread some good words about her after their trip, the small blonde was definitely thankful for that, just because it made her own life easier.
Fall Equinox came and went. The days grew shorter, what few deciduous trees the school had were in full color change mode on their leaves, and Landy had once more issued the girls thermal leggings for their uniforms. So it eventually came to the first Saturday in October. Mel was in the Cascade Mall with Kimberly and Niko, having lunch at their usual Chinese restaurant in the food court. Melanie had ordered hot and sour soup and Sichuan beef (her usual), and to the surprise of the other two, was excited about her book report for once.
"I still can't get over how awesome that book was," she said around a mouthful of food. "Like, the other book reports we'll have to write are gonna blow, but I actually stand a chance of getting an 'A' on this one."
She was, of course, referring to "Lord of the Flies." and the fact that she liked it so much amused Kimberly to no end. In fact, whenever they discussed it in class, Kelly actually had to order Melanie to stop raising her hand so other students would have a chance to participate in the discussion. The dark-haired girl stripped the last of the meat off a spare rib bone and set it back down on her plate. "Maybe I'll pay you to write my report on this one if you like it that much."
She was joking, but Melanie took her seriously. "You wanna? I'll give you a discount!"
"Nah, I'll do it myself."
"Because you're weird."
"Or maybe I just like doing it."
Melanie laughed. "Because you're weird."
Niko looked up from her notebooks. "Not as weird as seeing you actually like a book that Kelly assigned."
Melanie shrugged. "Ah, lighten up. Seriously, every time I see you, you have your nose buried in some notebook. Why is this project taking so long?"
"There's a lot involved, Mel," Niko explained. "Not just siphoning the energy from the school's generators, but rerouting it back into the school for our own needs in such a way that Landy never finds out."
"I think you're working too hard," said Melanie. "You need to relax. Fortunately, there's the perfect holiday for that coming up. And this year, it takes place on a Friday!"
Kimberly, in the process of polishing off her last spare rib, asked with her mouth full: "What are you talking about?"
"Halloween!" Her roommate exclaimed. "I mean, last year all we did was watch a movie in the assembly hall. Maybe this year, she'll let us go trick-or-treating?"
Just by the look on Kimberly's face, she could already sense the answer even before the other girl spoke. "Actually, Mel…"
The small blonde nearly spit out her food. "Really? Landy doesn't let us celebrate the best holiday of the year?"
"Why would she?" Niko said. "It's Landy."
"Yeah, seriously," Kimberly piggybacked on that. "Halloween is all about unruly behavior and foods that rot your teeth. Everything Landy is against."
"Well, why should we let her stop us?" Melanie asked. "Let's celebrate it anyway."
"I think she's finally snapped, Kim," Niko remarked.
"If I snapped, it was a long time ago. And anyway, I'm being serious. We should totally have a Halloween party this year, with or without Landy's permission."
Kimberly laughed. "Why are you so eager to bring down her wrath?"
"I dunno." Melanie's expression grew thoughtful as she pushed what was left on her plate around with her chopsticks. "Maybe I feel like helping the other girls live a little. I know I said I didn't care about making friends when I first got here, but it has been nice not having as many people look at me funny since the camping trip. Finding something fun for us to do might make my life even easier." She grabbed some crispy noodles from another bowl, dipped them in hot mustard, and continued with her mouth full. "And also, there's more to Halloween than just candy and costumes. There's also the pranks and the vandalism."
"That may be fun for you, Mel, but do you think a lot of the girls here will be into that?" Niko asked.
"They might," the small blonde argued. "I mean, it's harmless stuff. Throwing eggs at buildings and toilet paper into trees…"
"That'll make Landy real happy."
"Come on, so we might face punishment. So what? It'll be worth it. At least, I think it will. I'll buy the candy and the supplies, the girls finally get a chance to experience Halloween and give it the respect it deserves. And anyway, I've seen how early the sun sets on Halloween up here. So we can have our fun without violating curfew. We might get punished, but at least Landy can't punish us for that."
Kimberly had remained silent through this exchange, picking at the last of her fried rice. She'd never seen Melanie so enthusiastic about anything aside from her knife, and this time, she was actually willing to do something for the rest of the school. It intrigued her, but at the same time, there were also risks. "At times like these," she said, "I like to let my dessert decide for me." She picked a fortune cookie off the plate in the center of the table, broke it in half, and read the slip of paper inside. "Risk of failure is not an argument for not trying." She laughed and popped one half of the cookie in her mouth. "Well, the cookie has spoken, Mel. I'm in. How about you, Niko?"
The freckled blonde gazed at the ceiling for a moment, and then shrugged. "Why not? All for one, right?"
A smile spread over Melanie's lips, the first genuine one Kimberly had seen on her since their talk the evening after Field Day. "Thanks, girls. You won't regret this."
"This is your show, Mel," Kimberly said, munching on the other half of her cookie. "What do you need from us?"
Melanie pincered some beef and carrot with her chopsticks and popped it in her mouth. "Right now, all I need is for you to help me organize a meeting. But I have a list of girls I want you to ask, ones who I'm pretty sure won't go snitching to Regina. Because she and her bitches are not invited to this party."
Though both girls didn't say it, they were impressed. Melanie had clearly been researching this. "Okay, Mel," Kim told her. "We'll look at your list, but you know that Regina will probably still find out about this."
Melanie shrugged, and picked up another mouthful of food with her sticks. "Don't worry. Leave her to me."
"What are you gonna do?" Kim asked, suddenly wary.
"Nothing as bad as the snowball fight," Melanie assured her. "Believe me."
The dark-haired girl nodded. "Okay, Mel. I do." As she reached for her soda, she couldn't help but smile. Kimberly never thought she'd see the day when her roommate would volunteer to organize something.
Friday, October 10th
The school week passed like any other. Melanie attended classes, and also handed in her book report. Kimberly and Niko approached the people on her list, and told them about a meeting at the end of the week, which would take place in the dorms before lights out. "Tell no one else," they said. "Especially not Regina."
So after dinner that Friday, an hour before Wallace would usually make her announcement, Niko was in Melanie and Kimberly's room, along with Janine, Jocelyn, Layla, Zoey, Olivia, Ramona, and another half-Japanese girl named Ichika. All of them had been on Mel's team back on Field Day, and although she wouldn't say she trusted all of them the way she trusted Kim, she could at least rely on them not to blab to Regina. Or so she hoped.
Mel sat in the middle of her bed, while the other girls were standing (or sitting where they could) in a wide semi-circle around it. "So what are we all doing here?" Olivia asked, though she was looking at Kimberly when she said it.
The dark-haired girl shrugged. "Ask Mel. This is her show. I was just the messenger."
"Same," said Niko.
Melanie got up from her bed, walked over to the door and shut it, and then turned to address the others. "Wallace is down on the first floor right now, giving us about ten minutes to talk. But I won't take that long. Kimberly and Niko already know what this is about. Let me start by saying that what I'm gonna suggest might get us in trouble, but I promise it'll be worth it."
This did not seem to go over well with those assembled. "Wait… you wanna get us all in trouble?" Jocelyn asked.
"I'm outta here, then," said Janine.
Melanie raised her hands. "No, wait! I said we might get in trouble, not that I was trying to… okay, I shouldn't have started with that. My fault. But basically, I brought you all here to let you know I wanna organize a party, and you're all invited."
This seemed to calm them down a little. Those that were about to leave paused, their attention now fixed on the small blonde girl. "Wait a sec," Layla said, still sitting. "Let's hear her out."
"Thanks, Layla," Melanie said. Then she addressed the others: "So, as we all know, Halloween is coming up soon. And, well, Landy's idea of 'celebrating' this holiday is kinda pathetic. So I thought we could hold a party, and celebrate it the way it was meant to be!"
"How is that?" Ichika asked.
"We dress up in costumes, play games, get hopped up on sugar in the form of fun-sized candy bars, and… maybe pull a few pranks if the mood strikes us. Now I know Landy wouldn't approve of this, so we'd be going behind her back, hence the reason she'd ground us if she found out. But it'll be a lot of fun, and in my opinion, anything truly fun is worth the risk of a little punishment. Plus it's better than watching some snooze-fest black and white movie. So who's with me?"
For a moment, there was silence, as the other girls exchanged glances with each other. Melanie could not tell what they were thinking, instead her amber-eyed gaze flicked over to Kimberly, who stood by her dresser. Her roommate simply shrugged. Then Zoey asked: "What kind of costumes would we dress up in?"
"Whatever you want!" Mel answered. "You can dress up as a character from TV or movies, or a famous dead person, or hell, even a box of raisins. Anything you can imagine. Now, you would need to make it yourself, and smuggle what you need in from town, or find the materials here at the school. But I'd supply everything else: the refreshments and games, and stuff."
"And what sorts of games would we play?" Ramona asked next.
"Standard Halloween party stuff. Bobbing for apples, egg races… I know it sounds kind of boring, but there would be even better games when it gets closer to lights out."
Janine spoke now. "Better? How are they better?"
Melanie raised one side of her mouth in a smirk. "Well, that'll be a surprise. You'll find out come Halloween. So… who's with me?"
There was another pause. Then Layla said: "Ah, what the hell? I'm in, Melanie!"
"I second!" Zoey said.
"Okay," said Ichika. "Could be fun."
One by one, the remaining girls affirmed their interest. "Thanks, girls," Melanie told them. "You are supporting a great cause. I'll send out more details on where it'll be once I figure that out, so all you need to do is two things: figure out what you wanna dress up as, and spread the word to the other girls. Though, not all of them. Don't tell Regina, or her core bitches, or anyone else you think is loyal to her. They're not invited to this."
Suddenly, the enthusiasm from a moment ago seemed to take a nosedive. The girls once again cast apprehensive looks at one another. "Okay, now I'm not so sure about this, Mel," Jocelyn spoke up. "Going behind Landy is one thing. Going behind Regina is something else."
"Yeah," said Olivia. "One would only give you detention, the other would give you a broken nose."
Mel waved a dismissive hand. "Don't worry about Horse Face. If she finds out, I'll tell her it was all my idea, so chances are she'll just take it out on me. I'm already her punching bag, anyway, so it's routine for me."
This seemed to put their fears to rest, and a short time later, they left to go back to their own rooms and prepare for lights out. As Melanie changed into her nightshirt, then gathered up the articles of her school uniform and dumped them into the hamper, she actually found herself smiling, something that did not go unnoticed by her roommate.
Kimberly was lounging on her bed, and laughed when she saw Melanie walking back to her own. "Wow, I've never seen you smile that much about anything, unless it was a dirty joke. Or a scheme against Regina. What's on your mind?"
Melanie shrugged and turned down the covers on her bed. "Nothing."
"Okay, fine, don't tell me."
The blonde girl rolled her eyes. "Okay. I know I said back in May that I'd never want to be the leader for anything. But… it's kind of cool, getting an idea and getting other people to follow you. I could get used to it."
"Never thought I'd hear you say that," Kimberly laughed.
Melanie grabbed one of her comic books from under her mattress and climbed into bed. "Me neither," she said, and opened to the page she left off at. And although she didn't say it out loud, the main thing she liked about it was that it made her feel taller.
The Next Day...
Melanie slept well that night, without any dreams to speak of, and the following day was the school trip into Burlington. One of the problems facing her was finding a way to get everything she needed for the party smuggled back onto campus.
It was easy to hide comics and magazines from the adults who chaperoned them, as these were nice and flat, and could be hidden any number of places on ones person. Getting the candy she needed was a dilemma, as it would have to be purchased in bulk, and would likely be found and confiscated by Ms. Wallace before she could get it on the bus.
So much as she didn't want to, she realized she'd need to ask Des to add it to his dad's monthly delivery. So after the bus arrived at its destination, Melanie and Kimberly both started off in the direction of the Jones General Store. Her roommate opted to meet Mel at the Burger King while the blonde went in to talk to Des. "I don't really wanna talk to him, unless I have to," Kim explained. "Lately I don't like the way he looks at me."
"Gotcha," said Melanie. "Well, don't worry, I can handle this."
A short time later, Mel had given him the order, and the boy was reading it back to her: "So, a bag of Fun-sized Butterfingers, one of Snickers, one of Baby Ruths, one of Three Musketeers, and one of MnMs."
"Plain MnMs," Melanie clarified. "And let's make it two bags of the Three Musketeers."
"Okay," the dark-haired youth jotted that down on his notepad. "So, what's going on? You planning a Halloween party?"
She gave a bored shrug. "Why would you think that?"
"Well, this is a lot of candy."
Another shrug. "Yeah, I am planning a party. Of one. The rest of the girls are on their own, as far as I'm concerned. Why would I care about them?"
"Gotcha," Des said, sounding unconvinced. "Oh, by the way, how's Kimberly? Is she… filling out yet?"
There was a pause before those last two words that Melanie didn't like, one that made her think the boy was lucky she hadn't earned her real knife yet. She liked the eager look on his face even less. But in the end, she managed to stay composed. "Kim's not doing so well. Her acne has cleared up, sort of, but… she's dealing with explosive diarrhea at the moment. It's not pretty."
Now Des shrugged. "That's too bad. Hope she feels better soon. I bet she'll be really cute when she does start growing her tits."
"Uh huh!" Melanie gave a little cough, and said: "So, anyway, um… about that order? How much?"
Des gave her a figure, after which Melanie pulled the cash from the pocket of her autumn jacket and handed it over. "Thanks again, Mel," he said after counting and slipping it into his own pocket. "You know, it's too bad that you only ever seem to come in here for business. If you want, I could go on break and we could… get to know each other?"
The small blonde shook her head. "Sorry, dude. But I've gotta split. Don't forget my roommate caught something that's giving her explosive diarrhea, which, as I just said, is pretty damn explosive. And I have no idea if it's contagious. So, rain check?"
He studied her face for a long moment, then gave a sigh of remorse. "Very well. Well, tell Kim I said 'hi.' And… she should come by the store sometime. Can't remember the last time I saw her."
"I'll mention it," Melanie lied, and then walked back out onto the sidewalk, eager to get away from him. If anything, she felt the urge to scrub with steel wool when she took her shower that evening. She understood the necessity for Des, but she was starting to wonder if maybe having every girl at the school turn against her would be a fair price to pay for knocking out all of his teeth.
Thursday, October 16th
The school week went by, uneventful. Then the afternoon of Thursday (after class was over) was when they received one of their scheduled shipments of goods from the town, delivered by Hank Jones, Desmond's father and the owner of the store, with his son there to assist him.
The routine was the same: Hank showed his credentials to the security officer, Cosgrove, who manned the gate as usual, and then he drove the truck to the loading area. Nikolai had several staff there to help them unload, and in the bustle, Des was able to take two boxes that he'd set aside in a corner of the truck, and carry them away from the loading area by pretending to follow one of the other workers inside, and then slipping away right before they got to the double doors.
He took another entrance into the building, and carried the boxes a short distance to one of the classrooms that was not in use by the faculty or any other school staff. He tapped his foot against the door a certain number of times, then paused and tapped again. A moment later, Melanie opened it and allowed him to step inside.
"Ah, I see your roommate is here today," Desmond said as he set the boxes down. He gave a polite nod to Kimberly, who stood a short distance away. "Kim. You look cute in your uniform."
Kim shrugged, though she discreetly pulled at the hem of her pleated skirt. It had been a pretty mild fall day, so sadly most of the girls today hadn't worn their leggings. "I look like every other girl here," she said in as casual a voice as she could.
"And… how's your stomach?"
Melanie had told her of her lie to Des the other day, and so she answered: "Still not completely over whatever that was. I am farting up a storm. So don't get too close."
"So, anyway," Melanie cut in, once more suppressing her urge to strangle a little punk. "We know you have another delivery to make to Regina, and can't keep her waiting. So which one of these is it?"
Des looked like he had more to say, but he knew he was pressed for time, and had to get back to the loading area before he was missed. So he took the top box off the stack and placed it at Melanie's feet. The blonde girl opened it and checked its contents, seeing that everything on her list was there. Satisfied, she pulled a five out of her vest pocket and handed it to him. "Pleasure doing business," she managed to say.
"Likewise," said Des, picking up the other box. "Have a… um… fun party of one, I guess."
"Oh, I'm sure it will be."
"Can you get the door?"
Melanie opened it, more out of a desire to get rid of him than anything else, and Des left the room. Once the door was shut, both girls breathed a sigh of relief.
"You know we probably can't trust him, right, Mel?" Kimberly asked her roommate.
"Yeah, I know," Melanie said. "But it's not like I can threaten him because like you told me, we can't rock the boat with Des."
Kimberly smiled. "Thanks for listening, Mel."
"Well, we… had an agreement, and… you're one of the only people here I respect." She started to get a little red around the ears as she spoke, so she quickly followed up with: "And anyway, I just wanted to get him the fuck out of here because… I… don't like the way he talks about you. Or looks at you."
Kimberly laughed. "Mel, you once told me you can fight your own battles. And, so can I. I was doing it long before you got here. But it's nice to know you care."
Melanie was fidgeting uncomfortably now, and simply said: "We gotta hide this stuff."
"Right," her roommate answered, and so they stashed the candy in one of the room's many empty cabinets. As they were getting ready to leave, Melanie looked around the darkened chamber. "You know, maybe we should have the party in this room. The faculty never comes in here, it's out of the way, it's easy to get to before lights out."
"Sounds good to me," said Kimberly. "Now that we have the guest list, I can tell everyone the location, if I have your approval."
Melanie laughed, and clapped her on the shoulder. "Go for it!"
"Awesome! Now, shall we mosey over to the practice field? We have enough daylight left that we can get a little knife training in."
"Let's do it!" Mel said. Once they were in the hallway, she then asked: "By the way, have you given any thought to your costume?"
"Hell, yeah!" The dark-haired girl answered. "It's gonna be one of the Bubble Gum Crisis girls. I thought about Priss, because she's my favorite, but my hair is all wrong for her, so now I'm thinking Linna."
"I have no idea what they look like."
"Yeah, that's because you have no taste."
Melanie shrugged. "I just like my cartoons to be easy to follow. And move their mouths like normal people."
"Mel, I thought we agreed…"
"I said my cartoons. Because you watch anime, I watch real cartoons. Pay attention, you dumb bitch!"
"Fuck you," Kim retorted.
Both girls laughed at that. "So, Mel, what are you gonna dress up as?" Kimberly asked her as they stepped outside.
"Oh, you'll see," the blonde girl replied with a smirk. "It's gonna be a surprise."
"What? Is it Landy?"
Melanie seemed offended by that. "Hell, no! I'll already be in enough trouble if she learns about this party. Though, it might be worth it just to see her reaction."
This got them both laughing again, as they proceeded through the chilly autumn afternoon (heading into twilight) in the direction of the shed and the practice field.
"You're late," was the first thing Regina said when Amanda opened the door for Desmond. She and her crew were hiding in another unused classroom, waiting for the usual shipment. "Everything okay? No one saw you?"
Des set the box down and shrugged. "Nope. I snuck away from my dad, no problem. I just… had to make another stop first."
Sunako and Janis had opened the box and were starting to sort the items inside, consulting a small list to see which girls had ordered what. Regina let them work and tried to get more information out of Des. "What stop?"
Des realized he had nothing to lose by talking, and answered with a question of his own: "Well, are you planning any parties for Halloween?"
"No," the blonde girl answered. "Why do you ask?"
"Oh. Because I think Melanie is planning something under your nose."
Regina quirked a bright yellow eyebrow at that. The others paused and were giving Des curious glances. "You four get back to work!" the Alpha admonished. "I'll handle this." Then she pointed a finger at the pimple-faced boy. "You: tell me more."
Monday, October 20th
"Read it and weep!"
English class had just been dismissed, and Melanie was proudly showing her book report to Kimberly and Zoey. Mel's roommate gave a nonchalant shrug after reading the grade etched at the top of the paper. "Only an A minus?" She asked with a smirk.
"Oh, well, um… she had to take a few points off. I said in my conclusion that every book we read should be as fucking awesome as 'Lord of the Flies."
Zoey laughed. "Did you use those exact words?"
By now, the three had made their way out into the hallway, and no adults were around, so Melanie answered: "Fuck, yeah, I did! So… it should have been an A! I mean, I wasn't lying."
This started all three of them laughing, and after a minute, the small blonde flipped to the last page. "But everything else she said was sweet! Good identification of allegory, including the conflict between Ralph and Jack, and the fire at the end. Excellent understanding of the significance of the conch shell, and what it symbolized. Oh, my grammar is getting better too, according to her. Then, some mushy crap at the end about how proud she is I'm applying myself, and keep up the good work."
"Well, she's not wrong," Kimberly said, and tucked her own report in between the pages of her textbook. She'd gotten the same grade as Mel, but as her roommate had squeaked by every other book report to date with a C or a C+ average, she opted to let Mel have this moment.
"Of course, the only way that would happen is if she kept assigning us more books like this one," Melanie went on.
"Too bad the next book report is for 'Johnny Tremain,'" Zoey pointed out.
"Don't remind me," Melanie grumbled. "That book was a giant snooze-fest. And of course…"
"Wait, wait, let me guess," Kim said with a roll of her eyes, even though she was amused. "Um… the main character was a pussy?"
"Biggest one so far. And lemme tell you: Ponyboy was the old champion for a reason."
"Well, on the bright side, it's the last of the book reports for our summer reading list," said Zoey. "Maybe then we'll get a more interesting book."
"Guess that'll always be the dream," said Kimberly. "But for now, since we have a free period, I'm gonna go to the computer lab and finish those party invitations."
"I'll come with you," said Zoey. "Layla is meeting me there for another school assignment."
"I may as well come too," Melanie said. "By the way, Zoey, do you know what you're dressing as?"
"Haven't decided yet," the black-haired girl answered. "I was thinking of… maybe a bear?"
For a moment, Melanie had to repress the urge to smack the girl with her textbook. "Don't even joke about that," she said, and the girls all laughed some more as they headed in the direction of their lockers.
The Next Day…
"You!"
In the hallway of the school building, Janine looked up from her textbook to find herself looking down "the barrel" of Regina's index finger. Well, not an actual barrel, but it might as well have been. The girl whose outstretched arm that finger was attached to did not look happy, and she was flanked on either side by Amanda and Sunako.
The smaller girl cast a quick glance around, but did not see any faculty. Nor did she see anyone else she knew, who might intervene. "Me?" She asked in an attempt to stall.
"I don't see anyone else here," Regina countered. "And I need to talk to you. Follow us."
Janine nearly dropped her books at hearing that."Um… look, I have to get to class. Can we just talk right here and get it over with?" She tried to turn, but Amanda moved to stand behind her.
"I said follow us," Regina repeated. "Now."
So with her heart beating rapidly and her bowels turning into ice, Janine had no choice but to follow as the girls took her to a nearby Ladies Room. After checking to make sure the stalls were empty, Sunako locked the door leading in, and then grabbed Janine by her right arm, startling the girl and making her drop her books. Amanda grabbed the left arm, and between the two of them, they held her in place while Regina stood in front of her, arms folded across her breast.
"Um, l-l-look, Regina," the smaller blonde girl tried to stammer, but could not summon much force behind the words. "I… I don't know what's going on here and I really do have to get to class…"
She was cut off abruptly by Regina slamming her forehead into Janine's nose, causing her vision to fill with white stars, and hot knives of pain to lance across her face. "Don't lie to me, small fry," she growled. "I know you have a free period. Jaclyn was kind enough to share that info with us. She also told us something interesting: a few weeks ago, you met with some other girls in the runt's dorm room. Why? What is Melanie planning?"
Janine spit blood onto the polished tile floor. "I… I don't know what you're talking about, Regina…"
This was followed by a punch to the stomach, made even more painful by the fact that the girl was unable to double over due to the "jackals" holding her in place. "I told you not to lie to me, bitch!" The taller girl snapped. "Now tell me what Melanie is planning!"
Silence filled the bathroom, save for Janine's heavy breathing, as she painfully sucked in air. "Maybe we should stick her face in the toilet, Gina," Amanda suggested after another minute without an answer. "Think that'll get her to talk?"
"Maybe," Regina said with a thoughtful nod. "But I think she needs some additional persuasion. First, I'm gonna pee in it. Then we'll dunk her." With that, she started towards the nearest stall. "Bring her," she said to the other two.
Janine struggled more forcefully, but it was to no avail. Amanda and Sunako got halfway there with her when she blurted out: "Okay, okay, I'll talk!"
Regina turned to face her, and raised her hand, bringing her cronies to a halt. "I'm listening."
Janine took a deep breath. "Okay. Melanie is… planning a party on Halloween. She wasn't gonna tell you. My inside… vest pocket has more info."
Regina nodded to her right hand, and after a quick check of the pocket, Amanda produced a folded piece of paper. While Sunako continued to hold Janine's arms behind her back, the red-haired girl handed the paper to her leader, who unfolded it and glanced over it.
"Melanie's Halloween Party," the Alpha girl read softly to herself. "Friday, October 31st, 7:30 PM, room 104 of the Main Hall. Come dressed in a costume. There will be candy and games, as well as more surprises when we get closer to lights out. Do not tell Regina or anyone who… kisses her fat, stupid ass because those skanks are not invited?" Regina's face grew flushed, her teeth clenched, and she crumpled the paper and tossed it through the open stall door into the toilet.
For a long while, Regina stood there, breathing in through her mouth and out through her nose. The other three girls could have sworn they saw steam shooting from her nostrils when she exhaled. Finally, she gave a small cry of rage, turned and punched the wall over the toilet, leaving cracks in the bright blue tile.
That seemed to dispel most of the immediate anger, so Sunako ventured to ask: "What do we do?"
Regina cast her gaze over them. Both the pig-tailed girl and Amanda were awaiting orders, while Janine looked like she was hoping she could go now that she'd given the others what they wanted, but was afraid to ask out loud.
"We could always jump the runt and stick her head in the toilet again," Amanda offered, growing uncomfortable with the silence.
"Nah, I've got a better idea," Regina answered her. "We're gonna fight fire with fire. I'll give you more details later. In the meantime, I'm done here." She jabbed a finger at Janine. "You girls give this one a lesson, then dump her on the quad."
Janine's blue eyes grew wide with terror. "What? No! I gave you what you wanted! I… I never even liked Mel anyway!"
Regina ignored her, and kept giving instructions. "Make her an example of what happens when people side with the runt, but remember what Landy said."
Amanda rolled her eyes and nodded. "No permanent damage, we got it."
"We've heard it more than enough times from that prehistoric bitch," Sunako said.
Regina nodded. "Okay, then. Well, have fun." With that, she turned and left the Ladies Room, ignoring both the protests from Janine, and the more satisfying sounds of the other two girls going to work. Already, she was thinking about how she could turn this idea of Melanie's around into her favor...
ADDITIONAL NOTES
So, I originally had only one chapter planned for this, but I decided to split it into two, because the last hew chapters have been insanely long, and splitting chapters up has worked well for me in the past. Plus, I didn't want to keep you waiting any longer for new material. So, hopefully, the next one won't take long for me for get out.
And those things Nikolai was teaching Melanie to make: those are actual flash and smoke devices you can make yourself using items that can be obtained in any store. But you didn't hear that from me.
Well, that's all for now. In the meantime, please read and review.
