Disclaimer: I don't own MBC nor the characters. Rated T for strong language and mature themes.
Sorry for the delay! I have been quite busy with my studies lately. The exam season (and winter) is coming and studying should be my main focus for the next two months or so. Hopefully, I will pass all my exams on the first try and have more time to update this story again. (Update after the exam season: I did.) I am glad you are interested in reading it.
To be honest, the plot is so complicated at this point that I have a hard time remembering who knows what and who does what and why. I am sure it will all make sense in the end and we will be relieved to finally get the big picture. If you liked the vibe of the second chapter (the cheer try-outs), you will probably like this one and the one that will come after it as well, as I am trying to get away from all the negativity, which will culminate later.
The vibe of the chapter: Trick Me by Kelis (tune and lyrics-wise) - Though I may love you, it hurts me deep inside, now you no longer have to hide...
Normal POV
Somewhere in outer space
"Is everything going according to the plan? Are we having fun yet?" Said the creepy creature. It was sitting on a throne. It scanned the whole room to know if their conversation was private. The creature who was standing in front of him had a lot of respect for its leader.
"Well... It could be better. Better for us, worse for them." Stuttered the follower.
"What do you mean, Hector? I thought that everything is settled, that the only thing we need to do now is to wait and anticipate whose soul we are going to steal."
"There are two problems to be exact, which we didn't consider, the second one we didn't expect."
The creature grinned. "I am listening."
"Do you remember the soul we got the last time? One of the monster busters is her daughter."
"And why should that concern us?"
The follower gulped. "She is her descendant, thus we are not able to mess with her mind in any way. But my counselor told me she had had an impactful nightmare tonight and was able to hurt her teammates in it."
"But that is just splendid! Screw the mind change, this way she can even do the dirty work for us! Unless she finds out, how to control her dreams."
"As far as I am concerned, the girl is very intelligent and mentally strong. If she manages to control the impact of her dreams, she can do almost everything... even revive the other souls."
"Are you talking about the prophecy? And what is the second problem you mentioned?"
"The alien of the group, the Rhapsodian, is pregnant with her human teammate."
The leader had burst into a laugh. "So we don't even have to mess with her head that much. The alien-human pregnancy will do that for us. Why do you refer to it as a problem?"
"We can take only one soul every decade. There is literally another creature growing inside her. Consider the descendant, which we can't really control and we are left with only two people to steal the soul from!" Said Hector with despair in his voice.
"Finally, I will have a soul from a human male. And you know what the silver lining is? The males won't be as cautious as the females since they know we had taken only the females till now. So, calm down Hector. Better think about what we are going to use the soul for this time."
Cathy's room
The blonde monster buster woke up in the morning and after thinking about how great it was to still be alive, someone opened the door to her room. It's probably my grandpa or Cal. When the intruder came closer so she could finally see, who it was, it almost made her scream from shock. She couldn't believe her eyes. This can't be true! One of her biggest fears, in her opinion the most frightening alien she could imagine, was standing in her bedroom.
"What are you doing here?" She was in denial. "You are not here! This is just a bad dream!" She pinched herself only to find out that she really was awake. "This can't be happening! Why now? Now it is not the right time!"
"Well... That's the thing, now is the right time. I really am here and I am willing to help you. You almost drowned in your dream. Thus your wet pajamas. Now you aren't in the water, so you are wide awake."
Cathy could feel the wet cold fabric on her skin. He was right, her pajamas were wet and she had a nightmare about drowning. Even though she tried hard to not fall asleep last night, she did not manage. It took her a while to realize, what was going on.
"Is everyone alright?" She asked.
The alien frowned. "Cathy, you know that I can't read the minds of people who are not physically close to me. I am sure you will find out during the cheer practice today though."
"I have to admit one thing. I appreciate that I don't have to explain anything to you. You just open my head and read it like a book. I am sure you know everything by now, so you can go home. As I said, now it is not the right time for games."
"You are wrong about that. As I said, now is the right time to have a mindreader by your side. Someone messes with your heads big time and waits till one of you has enough. Knowing what you all are about might help you. Don't forget that the reason why the two former members had died was a lack of communication and honesty."
Cathy knew Elton was right about it, yet it was tough to accept. This creature in front of her knew what she was going through, knew her feelings and all the worries. There was no point in denying or faking it. She didn't even have to say a thing. He knew. But did he understand?
The blonde alien burst into tears of despair. Her cousin sat on the bed and hugged her.
"Why everything has to be so complicated? Why life can't be easier?"
"I wouldn't prefer life to be easy. Easy doesn't make you grow. Easy doesn't make you a fighter. If everything was easy, you wouldn't be able to appreciate those small miracles of life. One of them is growing inside your belly. And the baby will need a stout mother."
"I am not sure I will... that I could... keep the baby." Uttered Cathy, dried her tears and stood up. The wet clothes were uncomfortable, so she decided to go to a bathroom and change. The cheer practice was about to begin in just an hour, so she opted for her gym clothes and came back.
"How. On Earth. Could you say such a thing?" Stuttered Elton at the very moment he saw her back in the room. "We both know what your heart craves."
"I don't think you know. Well... you can read my mind, yet you can't feel what I do, so you can't actually relate." She started sobbing again.
Elton let out a sigh. "The problem is, dear Cathy, that you don't want to hear the truth. You are denying it not only to me but to yourself!"
That statement made her angry. It made her angry because he was right again. The more she was thinking about it the more furious she was. "Oh yeah? I am pregnant with my ex, who flirts with every girl he sees and probably wouldn't be able to take proper care of a cactus. I know I should have had confided to Sam, but she would go frantic. Chris is uncommonly clueless about everything that is going on around him. Now I feel like Wendy fucking Walters is the only person I can confide to! One of us four will probably die soon and we won't even know why and how to stop it. I am just being realistic! So please explain to me, what am I denying!"
Elton remained calm as he always did. "I see that you don't want to tell me the whole truth. I wanted to tell you the truth so that you can hear it, but you don't even know why did you break up with him."
She raised her eyebrows and also her voice. "What? Of course, I do!"
"No, you don't. I know the same things as you do and I don't know, thus you don't know either. But maybe stating the facts could help you realize."
Cathy smirked and sat down on the bed beside him. "I would like to hear them then."
"Fine. You were together because you loved each other. Simple as that. And don't frown at me! You still do love him. The sad thing is that you know he still loves you back as well! But you two, because of some unknown reason, can't seem to come to terms with it. Are you scared of a commitment or what?"
Cathy sobbed. "I suppose we love each other. It was scary because it was getting serious. If it were just a fling or a one night stand, perhaps it would have been easier."
"You and Danny are like two bulls on a narrow bridge. Neither of you is willing to make a change, first step nor to admit true feelings. Don't be so stubborn, Cath. He deserves to know the whole truth. You deserve to be loved, your baby deserves to have loving parents. Please, promise me you will try to accept what you feel. It ain't anything to be ashamed of."
"I promise. But you gotta promise you will help me... please find out what he thinks. I don't think I could crawl back to him without being sure he wants to get together again."
Elton smiled at her because her request seemed reasonable to him and the whole situation appeared to be solvable at the moment. "You know that reading minds is something I truly enjoy and I would have to read his mind anyway... Get ready, so we get to the practice on time! I am coming with you to analyze the situation we are dealing with. And gosh, put some clothes on! Your outfit looks like underwear. "
Finally, Cathy giggled at something. She was kind of glad Elton was there for her to suspect other people's minds.
Callum joined his other two cousins and they had breakfast together. Cal could tell Cathy was feeling better and was hopeful.
Alexa promised Cal yesterday she will accompany Cathy to school and practice. She came on time, which was weird. She had a tendency to come late everywhere, but her company was her exact opposite - John was neat and punctual. He insisted on going to the practice with the girls in case of an alien invasion... and because he wanted to be around his crush.
When Cathy saw him, she was eager to know how Danny and the Langs had spent the night.
"To be honest, I don't know. I stayed with my parents and the three stayed at Sam's place. The only thing I know is that the light was on the whole night. Oh, and I saw them sitting on the porch by the time I was leaving. They looked terribly exhausted but safe and sound."
"I wouldn't mind chit-chatting here, but we have a basketball match to rock today and I, as a soccer player, need more time to adjust to that cheer crap than others." Stated Alexa with a laugh.
"I would be nervous if I had to dance in a short skirt while wearing blue thongs too." Uttered Elton out of the blue.
Alexa turned to him with eyes wide opened and John gulped. Elton knew that the only thing on John's mind for the next several hours will be Alexa's thongs and couldn't stop laughing. Alexa didn't know about Elton's mindreading abilities yet. She was mad at herself for not opting for more practical panties instead.
At the school
As Alexa and John arrived at the gym, nearly everyone was already there. Cathy insisted on Elton staying out of sight just for the time being. She was nervous about him finding out whether Danny would like to date her again or not. She thought she could delay finding it out until the match. Elton nodded and promised to leave the gymnasium and not coming back until the match started. Cathy was glad to get that off her chest, at least for now. She took a look around and was glad to see familiar faces as the curvy girl from the try-outs and Wendy, who even though being her nemesis, felt quite close at those hard times. Cath was relieved to know that even seemingly perfect girls who "had it all" had troubles and insecurities about themselves as well. She came to her with a compassionate face.
"Are you feeling any better?"
Wendy did not even give her a look. She continued staring before her. "I am able to compete, thanks for asking. How about you?"
Cathy remembered what her grandpa told her about the pregnancy - it will take a year and a half to give birth. That would be suspicious. She lied. "Luckily, I am not pregnant, the whole missed period thing was just a health issue."
"I hope you will work that awkwardness between you and Danny nevertheless. It wouldn't make our team justice." Wendy looked around her and noticed who was missing straight away. "Where is the boss lady?"
Cathy thought that Sam had already been there and left to get something for the training. "I haven't seen her either. I hope she is alright." A scary thought crept up inside her head. What if, despite what John told her in the morning, something had happened to them after all?
To her relief, Sam just walked inside with a big cartoon box.
"What is that, Miss Captain?" Wendy asked playfully.
"Our new uniforms. I think they are pretty, plus they are made from eco-cotton."
Wendy was about to laugh at the fact Sam puts the choice of the material above everything else.
"At least they are in the school colors, right?" Wendy kept on asking.
Sam opened the box and showed the top to Wendy instead of giving her an answer.
Wendy's jaw dropped. "Hey, it is like totally pretty. You did an unexpectedly great job."
"Except, it's gonna cost us 2000 dollars." Sam turned to Mark.
Mark frowned at her. "Do I have the letters A-T-M tattooed on my forehead or what?"
"I was thinking more like D-A-D-D-Y."
He thought about it for a while. "It is like the time when Lucius Malfoy sent a new expensive broomstick to everyone who was on Draco's team. My dad wouldn't like to see me cheer with a bunch of terribly dressed people either."
Sam took it as a yes and let everyone pick their size.
Cathy walked up to her. "What if Mark starts to think he should be a captain if his dad will pay for everything?"
Sam smiled at her. "He should use some of the money to buy him a clue."
Meanwhile, Elton was strolling through the school hallways while he was thinking about something to occupy himself for a certain period of time. As he was about to open the door leading to the staircase, his mind caught certain streams of thoughts. He would have perhaps needed more time to process them, but the owners of the thoughts were at the door already and wasted no time to open it. He saw who that was and both parties froze for a bit.
Elton gasped at what he had just read.
Danny turned to Chris and asked him. "Do you think he knows already?"
"What cheek! You bet I know what you did last night and how many times you did it. I even see your motives, I don't get it though."
Chris and Danny wished to be somewhere else. They envied Sam for not being there with them at the moment, even though the juicy secret was involving her and Elton knew everything he could read.
"I am so mad at both of you! How could you do that? Dan, you and Cathy broke up not so long ago. Chris, you should have had prevented it somehow, given the facts."
Elton could see that Danny was clueless about Cathy's pregnancy. Chris, on the other hand, knew about it and potentially harmed the relationship between the two soon to be parents.
"Your minds aren't what I remember them to be. I don't recognize you two."
Chris felt like sharing a piece of his wisdom. "It is not like we are lying about anything. Even though humans are the only species that can lie. Except for maybe chameleons. And possums, they play dead."
Danny certainly felt like playing dead. "Don't tell Cathy, please. It would hurt her," he begged.
"You bet it would. Even though it is horrible to keep her in the dark, we can't tell her about it. Not now at least. She just started to feel better and... I don't want her to do a wrong decision."
He remained silent for a while just to think of all the consequences the last night romance could have had. He felt like going for a walk to forget all that mess.
"Have a good time at the practice. Break a leg."
Chris had an urge to correct him. "That is theater, this is cheering."
Elton looked over his shoulder. "You two better believe it," and with that, he left the building.
The two had exchanged a look. They both felt guilt and hoped that Elton won't betray them and tell Cathy.
Oh, a drama again! The story is set in high school, so it makes sense. Do you think Elton will tell Cathy? Do Danny and Cathy have a chance to rekindle their relationship and become parents after all of this?
Get Into The Groove