Confessions of an Earth Guardian
By: Sokai
Disclaimer: I, Sokai, do not claim ownership to the workings of W.I.T.C.H. - I leave that honor up to Elisabetta Gnone. Nor do I own Meg Cabot's "The Princess Diaries" series (even though this 'side story' of sorts isn't even really related to the series. Just don't want to hear law suit claims, so thought I'd mention it once within this disclaimer LoL). However, I can and DO claim to own this story and its inspired ideas FROM said series.
Note: What a week. Headache-City. Bleh. LoL Anyway, not much to say about this, so enjoy. Oh! And again, that I did enjoy reading Caleb's thoughts, Yellow 14; thank you.
This chapter was created/written in October 2011.
"Audio Entry Number Three: Thursday, November 2nd, Seven-Ten, P.M.:
Dear Elyon,
Today had definitely been one of the more stranger ones I've experienced in quite some time . . . that is, pertaining to the non-Guardian missions variety.
It seems as though this whole week has been geared towards Will, all about Will and everything going on within her life, I swear. No, I'm not saying this out of spite or anything, Elle . . . not honestly, anyway. It's just that that's what it's been shaping out to be like so far, apparently.
I mean, first, there was yesterday like I told you, with nearly everyone on campus speaking about her faux pas of sorts at Eddie's Halloween venue. And then later on yesterday, a little after I'd stopped my 'letter' to you and right before I was able to call Caleb, I get a phone call, myself, from him, coincidentally, telling me how Will's mom had just finished calling his house and asking if either he or Hay Lin had seen her.
He sounded pretty . . . I guess you could say 'concerned?' Well, you know, like I said, sometimes it's a bit hard to tell with him and what he's thinking or feeling, even for me, and I know him the best, naturally. But seeing as he had made the passing comment that he hopes Will wouldn't stay out and about too late, since the weather here has naturally become a bit more nippy, I suppose that would constitute as 'concern.'
It's just a little bit . . . odd, I guess, to me, to hear him speak about her in such a way, that's all. You know, within a manner which would illustrate an actual level of legitimate 'friendship' and such between them, for all the reasons I'd mentioned in my previous letter. It sort of makes me feel a little bit like I really don't honestly know my boyfriend, or 'girlfriend' as well as I've always thought then, perhaps, even after all these years . . . hmm. . . . Or, maybe not, I don't know. Not important, really.
Back to the evidently missing Will.
While I tried to reassure Caleb that Will was a big girl and could take care of herself, wherever she happened to be and why, for that matter – You know, since I'm pretty sure she was supposed to be at one of her swim team practices or whatever around that time, I think – I could hear Hay Lin frantically gabbing away, presumably on her cellphone, within the background to Irma, also presumably, all about it.
I wasn't honestly feeling all that worried about the overall situation because, first off, we all know how overly anxious Hay Lin can get for just about anything at times, and secondly, if it were anything serious – About Will, that is – we would all feel it instantly.
Plus, if Will were within any sort of dire straits she'd have easily contacted Taranee via Telepathy, after all, and as far as I know, she never had. So I just continued on within my reassurance measure before beginning to change the subject, when I suddenly heard a beep on my end, which I already had a feeling it was Will's mom – And it was – so I had to tell Caleb I'd call him back.
From the sounds of it, Miss Vandom's voice, I mean, it seemed as though she and her daughter might have gotten into yet another one of their infamous 'Mother-Daughter Debates,' which she pretty much confirmed a few moments later upon asking if I'd seen Will, myself.
And even though this whole thing was fairly familiar territory for me – For all of us – something just seemed a little bit . . . different, I suppose, about it. Like, what Miss V. had been saying wasn't really the full story or something, you know? And she definitely sounded a lot more frazzled than she normally does, when and if she bothers to check in with any of us to locate a temporarily runaway Will.
For one thing, she's usually more so upset within the anger sense, than she is upset within the scared for her missing daughter's well being. I mean, because after all, Will can sometimes be pretty melodramatic about whatever might be wrong with her 'this time' regarding the Vandom Household, and all. And I can't say that I blame her mom for sometimes feeling more irritated than sympathetic to the girl's at times childish behavior.
But, I digress.
I just hope that the children – Hopefully just one – Caleb and I have won't be anything like their 'Godmother Will,' or else she can have them, indeed. . . .
So, anyway, after we hung up with one another, the whole scenario was just honestly leaving me with this nagging feeling, I swear . . . and I'm still not honestly sure about it today, even though, by now, Will's been successfully located and all that.
Turns out Caleb was right to have cautioned the girl, – Of course, unbeknownst to her - not to stay outside for too long. Because she didn't show up for school today, which, sure, at first, did make me and the other girls feel a tiny bit worried. Okay, a lot worried in Hay Lin and Taranee's case, especially.
And while we were wondering after Will, Irma had decided to take better action, within a more 'official' route, in terms of continually doing her best – Alongside Hay Lin and Taranee, I've noticed – at damage control about our schoolmates' ridiculous, ongoing obsession over the girl's catapult down Eddie's stairs.
God, now it's like I'm becoming just as obsessed about it as everyone else, for the times I've been forced to cite it within these verbal letters! This is the final time, though . . . I think. I hope.
Anyhow, you probably already guessed correctly, though, that Irma had used her radio show to make a unified message to the masses about it. Or, at least, she'd tried to, before that increasingly vexing man – Even for me, and I'm not even the one he seems to bump heads with the most – Principal Brooks came down on Irma, yet again.
This time, as she'd later informed the rest of us, it had been something about how 'the use of school owned equipment for personal gain or use is not permitted.' But that's precisely what she'd done in the first place about more or less prompting Eddie's Halloween ball to be within the works at all, you know? And even though he had complained then, too, I didn't hear nor see him be within a furthered griping sort of disposition about it in all this time leading up to it, because he knew fully well what its occurrence meant for our school's popularity and recognition.
But, again, far be it for me to actually defend Irma . . . which I seem to be doing way too much of lately, or at least within these 'letters' to you, if I'm not also com . . . complimenting her. You always could bring out the absolute best in me, though, Elle, even worlds away, at that, evidently. . . .
Long story short – On that, about Irma and her never-ending battle against Principal Brooks, anyway – she ended up receiving after school detention for tomorrow afternoon, but not for her little 'Public Service Announcement' on Will's behalf. No. It was because she'd evidently belched straight into his face!
How uncouth can that girl honestly get?
She says she didn't do it on purpose, simply a case of 'perfect timing,' courtesy of the can of soda she'd just finished . . . most likely chugging, really, prior to her confrontation with our principal. But knowing her, as I do, she probably felt it coming on, held it in for a bit and . . . eww. I'm not even going to complete that train of thought.
That girl really is way too gross at times . . . or nearly all of the time, during our 'later years' now, anyway.
Moving on, please.
It was a bit of torture to wait until the end of the day to find out what exactly had been Will's damage yesterday, enough to make her bail out on school today – You know, if sickness really hadn't been the culprit – but thankfully, at least, Matt had come back to school, himself. That is, he wasn't in school yesterday, for reasons unknown – At least to me, anyway, as he and I have never generally been super super within the others business.
I guess he is to me – And I to him, perhaps – what Will is to Caleb, and vice versa. The whole 'friends purely by association' factor. Not to mean that I don't honestly care for the guy or that I have anything against him; I don't. It's just that Matt's always been more along Will's level, in terms of similar interests and associations and all of that than mine . . . which I guess is precisely why those two hooked up in the first place.
Come to think of it, it's still a pretty big mystery why those two suddenly broke up at all about a year or so ago. It's a mystery to me, I can tell you, seeing as, of all of the couples within our 'W.I.T.C.H.' group, I'd always pegged those two to be one day destined for the wedding altar, just like Caleb and me . . . and then I guess Hay Lin and Eric would follow thereafter.
I know: 'What about Taranee and Nigel?' Please. God love 'em, but I bet those two won't make it past graduation before finally calling it quits, since they've always just seemed to be together just for the sake of it at this point, more than anything else.
Sorry! 'Cornelia Bad,' again, yeah. Sorry.
Doing my tangents once more, anyway.
It's just a good thing that only you will ever hear these little 'confessions' of mine, Elle, or else I'd never hear the end of it from the others – Not to mention I might suddenly find myself short a couple friends for a while.
Anyway, even though he was back in school, none of us actually got to see him, not until after school, regrettably. Well, no. I saw him in passing within the halls on my way to my third period class, but I was running a bit late and couldn't stop to interrogate him. The rest of the girls didn't seem to have too much luck, themselves, so we just all decided to head on over to Will's right after the final bell and find out what was going on first hand.
But then as I was giving Taranee a lift over there – As she's still quite petrified of driving, the poor dear, although I can't honestly understand why, since it's really more so exhilarating than terrifying, the overall concept – I get a call from Hay Lin – who'd hitched a ride with Irma – saying that they'd just managed to catch Matt at one of the gas stations en route to Will's place.
Basically, he'd told them that he'd just gone over there to give her her math homework, and she 'looked like hell,' as she turned out to be sick, after all, and that we shouldn't bother barging in so that she could get some proper rest. So we ended up doing a prompt 'U-ee' and decided to head to my abode, instead, and just try to E-Mail or IM her or something.
The weird thing, though? Hay Lin, before getting off the phone with me then, fleetingly made mention at how . . . 'rattled' Matt looked when she and Irma saw him. When I asked her what she meant by that, she didn't even know, either. Said that that's just how he looked, although he did seem to slowly recover the more the three of them spoke.
Irma later said that it was probably because he'd had the 'misfortune' of seeing that admittedly psychotic, frumpy old thing, Mary Rosenberg, a second-time senior, I might add, so is clearly also not terribly bright, as well. I don't know the whole story about this girl and don't honestly want to, but evidently she has it in her mind that Matt wants nothing more than to be with her, and now that he and Will are no longer together the two of them can finally make it so, or whatever.
But then, even though they're not together anymore, the whack job still seems to believe that Will has her sights set on Matt and that Matt is eternally blinded where Will's concerned, and so that's why he hasn't bothered to give Mary a chance, or second glance, for that matter. Hell, a first glance, really, from the looks of it all.
I don't even actively know her, and I can't stand her, myself, so I can't blame neither Matt nor Will for pretty much feeling the same way, and then some. That one has 'Bunny Boiler' written all over her, if those two aren't careful, if you ask me. . . .
See how much you're missing? Our high school is a regular daytime soap opera, Elle! You have so got to squeeze in a vacation – An extended one, at that – and finally come back here to Heatherfield, already!
Ugh. . . .
Anyway . . . once we'd all made it here, and piled into my bedroom, I didn't even get a chance to cast the first IM, so to speak, before Irma promptly took over my 'IceQueen' account, and nearly bumped me off my bed in doing so.
Long story short, skipping over the drivel I'd just informed you of – And, in turn, Irma had done for Will at the start of the online conversation – it finally got a bit more interesting when Will curiously wrote and let slip how she has 'more important things to deal with now,' in lieu of the school's continued gossip about her damned fall.
That's when I so had to take over and reclaim my account, of course, and started to dig a little deeper into the matter, before she might have tried to weasel out of it, or something. She did try, or at least, tried to play dumb about it at first, and even seemed to get a little bit defensive, of all things!
She was all, 'Excuse me?' when I initially started in on her!
Why be defensive if nothing's up, right?
I basically told her exactly that, and that if she's also being defensive and snippy, you know, because of Eddie's party and everything, then yes, it sucked, what happened to her, but it was her own fault for just standing there like that.
I told her that she probably ended up buying shoes which had been too big for her, or something, which naturally didn't help her case much. She never has been much of a 'shop-o-holic' like Yours Truly, after all, and especially not for footwear which isn't of the smelly sneakers variety. So I'm sure she probably just grabbed the first pair of high heels she saw on the day she'd gone shopping for some for the ball, and poof!
Instant disaster.
I really ought to become the girl's 'fashion tutor' once and for all, you know. I don't know why I haven't already done so by now in all this time of knowing her; she could use all the astute guidance she can get, and especially at less than a year away from college!
If she goes to whatever school she gets into next year, continually looking and dressing the way she does, I will not be surprised to learn that she would go all four years absolutely dateless, just as she so far has now, 'Post-Matt.'
Argh! Damned tangents, I swear!
Another reason why you should come back home . . . hint hint.
I could see that Will was only becoming that much more irritated, based upon her response to my prior statement, so I did take care to add that at least I'd tried to do my part and 'soften the blow' for her with my Telekinesis, as I'd already told you I'd done that night.
But she just completely dismissed that and didn't even offer up any sort of appreciative remarks, even then, either, and just basically started to attack me, in all honesty, and said that the only reason I was going on about the whole thing was because I was 'upset that we had on the same outfit.'
As if!
By that point, she'd totally had me a bit fired up, what with her bratty, ingrate sort of routine now, so I had to set her straight and tell her that she was only there for like, a hot minute, before bolting, anyway, so it's not even an issue to begin with. Period. Then I told her what I told you in my 'letter' on that night, about how Will really needs to be 'more resilient and prepared for everything,' and how she could have easily worked that embarrassing display to her advantage for it.
And she still didn't want to hear any of it.
She's just really lucky that she's evidently ill at the moment, or else I'd have gone over to her loft, after all, and really laid into her, this time in person. . . .
But being the good friend I am – Or definitely try to be, of course – I let it all slide, and just ended our direct conversation, anyway, by letting Will know that while I do 'tell it like it is,' we really are all concerned about her, that's all.
I was going to say more after that, especially to try to get back to my personal, main interest about what she'd really meant about 'more important matters' or whatever she'd said, but Hay Lin literally pushed me aside and seized the proverbial controls! Or literal . . . whichever!
She is so turning into Irma more and more, it's not even funny, with all of the bad manners that girl seems to be picking up from her! What happened to my sweet, well mannered and polite Hay Lin? Geez.
After that, I pretty much shut down, so to speak, and didn't bother to continue reading or hearing about the rest of the online discussion. I just headed down to the kitchen to make myself a nice, warm mocha latte to help calm my nerves.
I mean, honestly. If that's what one gets for bothering to reach out to loved ones and show active care and concern for them, then no thank you. And people sometimes wonder why I come off as so 'cold and aloof' on occasion.
Yeah, hi! This would be one of those reasons, if you'd give them to me!
'Sigh.' Besides Caleb, sometimes I swear it's like you're the only one who actually fully gets me, Elyon, you know? So unappreciated I am, I tell you. . . .
Anyway, I guess I'll end this one here. Still have two more assignments to complete, and anyway, it isn't as though doing this latest message to you and verbalizing my thoughts again has brought me any closer to figuring out what the hell is up with Will lately, anyhow.
And I do mean lately, now that I reflect upon it further. Not just now, these last few days sort of deal, as I've been illustrating to you. But for a good while sort of 'lately,' I realize. I don't know. She's just seemed pretty . . . 'off,' or like she's not entirely there.
Not 'has slowly lost her mind' sort of 'not entirely there,' but . . . I suppose more like within a 'body present, but mind is elsewhere' kind of way.
At least, that's how it's always seemed like whenever she's hanging out with all of us, the boys included. That is, that's even if she actually agrees to hang out with all of us, anyway. Because more often than not, nowadays, she makes up some excuse or another and totally bails on us, pretty much making her more so like a complete stranger to us over time.
Not even Taranee seems to have a clue about what's the deal with Will, either, as she'll sometimes ask the rest of us if something's the matter with her, like any of us would be any closer to figuring it out over her, the redhead's number one Amiga. And it's hardly like we – Well, a toss up between Irma and I – could ask T. to use her deliciously useful mind reading capabilities on Will, either, seeing as she's pretty much enacted an eternal sort of vow never to unknowingly use her Telepathy on any of us, from now until the end of time, basically.
An admirable, very much appreciated gesture . . .albeit also a tad irksome, since it also means she won't be a nosy little snoop for some of us against the rest.
I don't know . . . maybe I'm just thinking too much about it, that's all, just like I seem to be thinking a bit too much about Will, period, lately, as odd as that is, itself. Heck, I feel like all I've been doing lately is thinking a lot, in general, and not just about Will, as well. . . .
Maybe it's just because it's our senior year and all, and pretty soon all of our lives will change forever after this, as a result, I guess. Yeah, that's probably it. Just getting anxious. Great, now I'm turning into Hay Lin.
Okay! Definitely ending this 'letter' now, before I think myself straight into a frenzy!
I hope things are running much more smoothly over on your end, though, Elle, and without a lot of thought required . . . although considering the monumental job you now possess, I highly doubt it.
Still! Do your best not to stress, and so will I!
Love You Loads,
Cornelia."
- End of Chapter Three
(A.N. Wow. This is probably one of the few times I don't have a lot to say in either 'A.N.' of mine. Oh, my God! What's happening to me? LoL Nah, it's honestly mainly because I'm pretty exhausted at the moment; had a pretty long day. But I wanted to get this out before I PASS out. =) Hope you enjoyed it!)