A/N: Many apologies for not updating. School work had me busy for getting ready for my finals. Anyway, enough about me, on with the story.
Disclaimer:I do not own Bionicle, I just own the storyline, Tommy and the others.
Chp. 7-Anne
Gali gave out a frustrated sigh and ran her hand through her hair. She was inside the large tent she and the others set up the other day, now crowded with numerous computers and devices that the common person would hardly even hear of in their lifetime. She sat at the only desk inside of it, directly across from the entrance flap. In front of her were copies of files that Kopaka was able to smuggle from the organization that she was supposed to review. That was last night. The sun was about to come up and she hadn't even read through a quarter of it.
Tommy was responsible for most of it. When he came back to camp with the girl bragging on how he beat Eric into a coma, she and his friends couldn't have been less than thrilled. Pete had warned Tommy that since Eric recognized him, there was a good chance that he could be arrested for assault if he ever went out in public again. Benny, being his usual self, hardly listened to Pete, congratulated Tommy then proceeded to rant on how much of a wuss Eric was anyway compared to Tommy.
As for the girl, who was asleep by the time Tommy got back, well…that was a whole different ball of wax. Not only were they surprised, they were furious. Abby went all over him saying that the girl should have been dropped off at a police station or to a social worker. Tommy then went on to argue that there would be (quote)'no freakin' way I could pull that off without being chased by an angry mob' (on quote). Before the argument got out of hand, Gali stepped in and told the two that she'll check to see if there was a chance that the girl, Anne she believed, could get to a social worker.
Gali then looked to her right and saw the girl so curled up in a spare sleeping bag that she almost looked like an armadillo. She and the others agreed that it would be best if the girl slept in the large tent so she wouldn't be shocked by the kids' appearances. She couldn't help but smile at this. Humans to her were very interesting creatures. The way they lived, their history, not to mention the way they governed, confused most of Toa when they arrived on Earth. How humans were made up was the one thing that she and the others found strange. Not only were they not mechanical, like she and the other Toa, they were also very fragile. She gave a sad sigh at this. She saw that characteristic many times while serving undercover in the organization.
Gali was about to attempt to read the file again when she noticed that the girl started to stir from her sleep. The girl sat up and began to rub the sleepiness from her eyes. Gali turned around to greet the girl.
"Good morning," Gali said with a gentle smile.
The girl perked up and gave Gali a lively smile. "Good morning!" she said happily. Before Gali could ask, the girl introduced herself. "I'm Anne, what's your name?"
Gali, deciding it would be a bad idea to give Anne her real name, introduced herself as "Jeanine." Said Gali, "Are you feeling better today?"
Anne nodded energetically. "Yep, I don't feel like crap today so I-"
"Language dear." Gali said trying to suppress a chuckle.
Anne tilted her head in confusion. "Huh?"
"'Crap' isn't a word that a little girl should be saying." Gali explained gently.
"It isn't?"
Gali shook her head.
"Hmm," Anne thought about this for a moment. "My parents say that word a lot along with a lot of others though,"
"But your parents aren't very kind to you are they?"
Anne shook her head at this. "No they aren't." she said gravely. She stuck her chest out proudly. "That's why I ran away last night. I was trying to get to one of my friend's house to stay there, but someone tried to kidnap me." Anne then gave a large smile. "That's when Tommy came and saved me from him!" The girl was almost bouncing when she said this.
"Were you scared?" Gali asked.
Anne shook her head. "Nope. Not at all." Gali knew, of course, this was a bit of an exaggeration of the story.
Gali was giving an amused smile at the way the child was telling her story. Her smile almost completely vanished when she heard Anne's next question.
"Is Tommy here?" Anne asked excitedly.
Gali felt somewhat awkward at that point, not to mention she felt a little panic. Tommy and the others were probably up at that point and having Anne go out would be very…catastrophic. "Err…" she started. "Not yet he won't be back until-"
Both girls paused and listened to outside of the tent. Both could hear Tommy outside of the tent, conversing with Duncan about his fight with Eric the night before. Anne's eyes lit up and, before Gali could lift a finger, jumped to her feet and ran top speed toward the tent flap. Gali got out of her chair, almost knocking it over, and was about to chase Anne, but the girl was already out of the tent. An awkward silence followed the girl's departure from the tent. Gali tensed up and was already counting down. Five…four…three…two…
"AAAAAAGGGGHHHH!!"
Gali ran her hand over her face. She knew that Tahu was going to read her the riot act when he hears of what happened. But that disappeared from her mind when Anne came running back in, slammed into Gali's legs and began to hug them while breathing hysterically. Gali knelt down to console the little girl and began to listen to what was going on outside. Much to her surprise, she heard someone laughing. What didn't surprise her was that it was Benny.
Benny kept on laughing. "Well Tommy," Benny started between breaths. "Don't tell us that you didn't see this coming."
"Oh shut up!" Tommy said irritably. "Like you knew she was gonna come bolting out of there at this exact moment!"
"That's not the only thing I was referring to," Benny stated lightheartedly. A pause followed Benny's statement, but Gali could almost feel the temper rising outside the tent.
"Like you have any right to say that." Tommy shot at Benny after the pause.
"It's a free country." Benny pointed out. "Oh, and neither do you."
"Why don't you both shush so we can save poor people's ears over in London?" Curt said coolly.
From what Gali could hear, the argument seemed to cool down, although she was pretty sure she still heard some snickers coming from Benny. She then focused on Anne, who was almost on the brink of tears from hysteria. She tried to remember an old Le-matoran song she remembered before being transported to Earth. She began to hum it to Anne while rocking her back and forth like that of a mother. Luckily, Anne seemed to enjoy the music and began to calm down. After a few moments of silence, Anne finally spoke up.
"Jeanine?"
Gali looked down at the girl. "Yes dear?"
"Why're there monsters outside?" Anne asked anxiously.
Gali paused at the girl's question. She was trying to find a good answer to give Anne, but almost all attempts seemed fruitless. She then gave a sad sigh.
"I'm trying to help them." Gali said simply.
She felt Anne jump slightly, turned to face Gali and looked at her as if she was a psychopath.
"Why?" Anne said almost disturbed by the answer.
Gali took a deep breath. "Because, Anne, they are not supposed to look like that."
"They aren't?" Anne asked confused.
Gali shook her head.
"Are they…" Anne was almost scared to even utter the next word, "…people?"
This time Gali nodded and looked down at the girl. Anne now looked like she was in deep thought and believed she saw a hint of guilt in her eyes. After a moment's pause, she looked back up again.
"Jeanine," she started quietly "is Tommy out there?"
This time, Gali answered truthfully. "Yes he is,"
Anne then realized what Gali meant and looked down. She then muttered, almost inaudibly. "Is that why he didn't want me to look at him last night?"
Gali answered. "Yes, Anne."
Anne then muttered, mostly to herself, "I hope I didn't hurt his feelings…"
Anne then looked back up, looking ashamed. "Can I go see him?" she asked shyly.
Gali got up, even though she wasn't very thrilled with the idea. "Stay right here." She told Anne.
Gali then went over to the tent flap and poked her head out. She could see that Benny and Curt were up along with Tommy, who was over at the other side of the clearing leaning against a tree, letting off some steam. She could also see Pete and Abby talking to one another, but she wasn't able to find Duncan, probably in his tent.
"Tommy!" Gali called out. The red head looked over at the water-Toa with an irritated look.
"Yes?" He said crossly.
"Anne wants to come to see you."
Even from across the field, Gali could see Tommy's eyebrows jump from surprise. Tommy, however, acted as if that didn't happen and gave a shrug. "Sure then." Was all he said.
Gali then went back into the tent to find Anne standing patiently for her. The girl still looked slightly pale and Gali thought she saw her legs shaking.
"He wants to see you too, Anne," Gali said gently.
Anne just merely nodded and looked up at Gali timidly.
"Can you some with me?" asked Anne.
Gali nodded and Anne came up to Gali's side and grabbed a hold of Gali's pants. Gali looked down at the girl in surprise, with Anne being the complete opposite of how she presented herself earlier; timid, quiet and scared. Gali then walked over to the tent flap with Anne by her side and went back outside.
Once Gali went outside, it was almost as if she was a celebrity coming out. All eyes from the others, except for Tommy, were focused on her and Anne. Benny was giving a knowing smirk in Gali's direction while Curt was just eyeing Anne with cool observation. Pete and Abby stopped their conversation, paused and looked at Anne with sympathy at how the girl looked. Anne looked like she was trying to focus on going forward, but her eyes kept darting from Abby and Pete on her right, to Curt and Benny on her left. Once Gali got near Tommy, Anne let go of Gali, only keeping one hand still gripping Gali's pants. Tommy just gave an interested look at Anne, waiting to see what she might do. After looking at each other for a few moments, Anne finally spoke up.
"A-are you T-Tommy?" Anne stuttered.
Tommy looked down at Anne. "Yep."
"So…you were the one who helped me?"
Tommy tipped his hat up and gave a smirk. "Sure am."
Without any warning, Anne then came up to Tommy and hugged his legs as a thank you, almost throwing him off balance. Once he got his balance back, he looked at Anne with a cocked eyebrow. Because he was an only child, he didn't really have much experience with kids, especially girls, even though he grew up mostly with his mom.
After a moment, Tommy finally said. "Okay that's enough kid your welcome, you can let got now."
Tommy poked Anne's shoulders. She didn't even budge.
Tommy poked her again, becoming a little exasperated. "I said you can let go now."
He looked up hearing Benny's snickers, glared at him for a moment, then turned towards Gali, looking annoyed and desperate. He then mouthed the words "Help me out here…" with eyes darting at Anne. Gali gave a patient smile, went up to Anne and placed a hand on her shoulder, finally getting Anne's attention.
"Why don't we go back to the tent to get you something to eat?" Gali suggested to Anne.
The girl's bright-eyed grin finally came back and began walking back with Gali without grabbing her business pants. Anne then quickly turned around and began waving to Tommy. "See you later Tommy!" Anne said brightly.
Once Anne and Gali were back inside the tent, Tommy blinked. He had never met such a bi-polar girl before; even some of the girls at his school weren't that emotional. Tommy then gave a frustrated groan and leaned back against a tree to take a quick nap; might as well get some sleep before he had the first test.