Chapter 2: "You're ON!"
Trouble and Ash met at Ash's locker. "So," Trouble said, "Ready Ash?"
"Okay, just one sec." Ash grunted, attempting (unsuccessfully) to pull a book out of his locker, which was crammed with books, "I just need to get this out!"
Ash held the book with both hands, pressed his feet against the wall, and heaved with all his might, but it wouldn't budge. As Ash was attempting to wedge the book from his locker, Chix Verbil walked by.
"Hey Ash, having trouble with your locker?" he scoffed, "Step aside, and let a real man yank that bad boy out!"
Chix grabbed the book, winked (at the girl, mostly), and heaved.
It did not budge.
Chix blinked confusedly, cracked his knuckles, and put in another melodramatic attempt. It still would not come out. He put both hands on it, and yanked as hard as he could, his face getting beet red with the effort. By then, a small crowd was beginning to form around Ash's locker.
A girl stepped out of the crowd, pushed Chix aside, and yanked. The book popped cleanly out of the locker.
Chix stared at her, and then protested loudly, "Well, I loosened it!"
The girl chuckled to herself and handed Ash the book. Trouble saw her face, and then realized that it actually was Holly Short.
Chix quickly reached for another book (as if to prove he was actually really manly). He tugged, but it didn't budge. Then, he tried doing the same thing Holly had done, focusing on copying her every movement.
Then he yanked, bringing out not only the book he was holding, but also the entire contents of Ash's locker with it. Chix was engulfed by a tidal wave of books, gym socks, pencils, pens, and some unidentifiable junk.
The crowd, withdrew a few steps, but also burst out laughing.
Holly smirked, and turned, walking away. She went a little ways, but then turned around.
"Hey, are you guys coming or not?" She asked, directing this comment at Trouble and Ash.
"Huh?" Ash muttered, completely confused.
"Helllooo, to Spud's Spud Emporium of course!"
"OH! Yeah, right that!" Ash quickly stuffed the rest of his books into his locker, and then they all walked outside together, picking up their hoverboards (The fairy version of a skateboard).
Holly casually glanced at Trouble's board, then her eyes widened with shock. "Wow," she gasped, "You've got the new Mach360 hoverboard, with the chrome edging!"
"Yeah," Trouble grinned, happy to impress, "A birthday present."
Holly's board was rather old, but to fix it up, Holly yearly painted it jet-black, with lime-green accents. She jumped up onto it, and grinned wickedly, "Even with your fancy boards, rich boys, I'll bet that neither one of you can beat me in a race."
They took one look at each other, and shouted, "Your ON!"
All three of them hopped onto their boards, and sped away. They all took turns taking the lead, but Holly ended up arriving at Spud's first.
She grinned triumphantly as the other two skidded to a stop.
"Tol'ja I'd beat you two!" She gloated.
Trouble quickly caught his breath, and gasped, "We… we let you win."
"Yeah!" Ash enthusiastically added, "We felt bad that your board is a piece of junk, and that you're a girl, so we let you…" he trailed off as he saw the shimmer of fun in her eye be replaced by the red-hot glitter of malice.
"You'll regret that." She remarked coolly, and with that, punched both of them in the stomach.
They both automatically doubled over in pain, but quickly straightened up, wincing slightly as they drew breath.
"S-sorry," Trouble attempted to fix the damage that they had both created, "W-we didn't mean it, we're just sore losers is all!"
"Speak for yourself mate!" Ash exclaimed, but he was hushed up by a glare from Holly.
"You got that right." Holly muttered, and with that, walked away.
Trouble stared after her, eyes widened with shock, while Ashe massaged his stomach, and muttered something about "D'arviting temperamental female elves, who can't take a D'arviting joke…"
Meanwhile, Holly stormed over to Spud's, and was intercepted by Johnny and his crew.
She and Johnny were standing outside the Emporium, and were talking.
Trouble looked up at the tinkle of her laughter, (well, that was just to trouble, to Ash, it was a loud, annoying explosion from a certain D'arviting temperamental female elf who happened to have punched him in the stomach).
He strained his pointed ears, but he couldn't make out their conversation. He had a sinking feeling, though, that it was about him and Ash.
Sparks turned, spotting him, and called, "Hey Kelp! Vein! Come over here!"
Trouble and Ash nervously walked over, anticipating a beating from Holly's boyfriend and his friends. "So guys, we're gonna head over to the hover-park to practice some new moves. You two game?" Sparks ran his fingers through his hair, looking even cooler than he already had before.
Trouble and Ash shared a hesitant glance before gamely saying, "Why not?"
So off they went, to the Haven Hover-Park, home to some of the most hardcore hoverboarders.