I'm back!
So, first of all, big, huge thanks to xxx Breeze, who nominated my story for the Gone 2013 Awards. That was so awesome of you! *Virtual hug*
Also, CrazyKitten got the first challenge. NIA stands for Not In Attendance. An das for the second, well, in chapter two, during the P.E scene, Chris mentions missing Rose the day before, and Rose replies that she was in meetings all day. ;)
Okay, now for the scores!
Breeze xxx: 153 Pts.
CrazyKitten2112: 185 pts.
I own only what I created;)
Not Going to Win
September turned into October and teachers began passing out notices, warning students that half of the grading period was up and they were not at the grade level required to get out of taking semester tests. Dekka receive none of these, she'd never had a problem with grades, but Chris and Shaena both received one from their Pre-Alebra teacher, which Dekka was aware of because they talked non-stop about it for a week after.
Chris's prediction turned out to be right, a week and a half the fight, Rose strolled into P.E, and gave Chris a peace offering, a bag of cherrios that Dekka suspected had been stolen from Lauren's bag. A suspension that was not helped by the sever lack of munching on Lauren's part that day. This, apparently, was Chris's cue to apologize, which had confused Dekka, since Chris hadn't been in the wrong in the first place, but Lauren had explained that Chris failing to apologize only led to an entirely new fight, and Chris found it best to just say that she was sorry and make peace, whether she was at fault or not.
"I sort of respect her for it. I mean, I wouldn't be able to do it myself," Lauren said. "Don't apologize if I don't mean it. That's not how I'm programmed."
Dekka had to agree, she wouldn't have been able to do it either, although, she wasn't sure it was a respectable trait.
Homecoming loomed ever closer. This year, Headline Academy, who always held their dance later than most schools, would be having homecoming the weekend of Halloween, something that Rose, head of the homecoming committee, was milking every drop out of.
The Homecoming court voted on who to trust with the delicate matter of counting homecoming queen votes. Dekka, who had ever heard of such a thing, learned that Headline believed that the students needed to take their own initiative, so many things that would normally be taken on by councilors or other school officials, was put into the hands of students. Rumor had it that typically, the court voted for Lauren, Julie, and Jasamin, they used a committee of three, but this year, they seemed to think the new kid, who didn't know any of them well, so couldn't possibly be impartial, was the best choice, for Dekka had been asked to take the third spot along with Lauren and Julie. What was she supposed to say to that? "No, sorry, I'm not interested."...
She's tried, but it hadn't worked. The twins hadn't been lying when they had said that Rose was very persuasive.
So the second week of October was spent in her room, with Lauren and Julie. Dekka would read the votes aloud, and Lauren would keep a tally on paper, while Julie did the same, except, mentally, which no one would ever question anyways, making the paper tally slightly pointless.
From the very first mention of the dance, Dekka had a sneaking suspicion that Lauren and the Dark and Twisties and the rest of them would not allow her to stay alone in her room that night. Not without a fight.
That was confirmed the week before homecoming.
They were having a tennis unit in P.E, so their teacher had m spread out and take up positions facing the wall, so it could serve as their opponent.
Dekka, who couldn't get the stupid ball to stop hitting the wall and rolling uselessly across the floor, found herself instead watching Lauren, half-jealous as she had a continuous battle with the wall.
"Do you play for the school" She wondered, catching herself watching and going back to hitting the ball at the wall. It bounced off of a loose banner, and took a steep drop to the ground.
Lauren gave a short laugh, and Dekka wondered briefly if she was laughing at her lack of ability, despite the fact that that didn't sound very Lauren-ish. In the end, however, she decided that the other girl had simply been laughing at the question.
"No."
"Why not?" Dekka raised an eyebrow. "You're good."
Lauren shrugged, although, not a very convincing one, and though. "Too much other stuff, I suppose. Band and classes are difficult enough to juggle as it is. No need to add anything else to the equation."
Dekka had noticed that she had yet to catch Lauren telling a lie, and wondered why she constantly told the truth, even when it wouldn't help her out. Now she knew why. Lauren was a terrible liar.
"So, I guess since you're not much in the dating scene, you haven't been searchign for a date to homecoming."
Dekka blinked, so surprised by the drastic change of subject, that by the time she had realized what the subject had been changed to, she had already recalled the awkward conversation they had indulged in the first week of school. "Um, yeah. I'm no going."
"Yeah you are. The question is: Who are you going with?"
"You sound pretty certain. "What makes you think I'm going?"
Lauren laughed and snatched the tennis ball out of the ai, so she could turn and face Dekka. She ran a hand through her hair, forcing the dirty-blond strands that had fallen from her ponytail out of her face. "Haven't you figured it out by now, Talent? I'm many things, but easily deterred is not one of them."
Dekka sighed, and tried hitting the ball again. Lauren watched it bounce off of the wall, and snatched it out of the air before Dekka could hit it, which, needless to say, rather irritated her, since she had been trying to get it to do that for nearly a week now.
"At least tell me why so I can try to change your mind."
Dekka rolled her eyes. "There are so many reasons I'm not going."
"Like..."
"Like the fact that I don't dance."
Lauren snorted. "So? Do you honestly think Jazz dances?"
Dekka opened her mouth to argue, but it wasn't exactly a point she could argue. "I don't do dresses."
Lauren laughed again, and looked pointedly across the gym, where Chris and Shaena were completely off task, more focused on knocking the other's ball off course than hitting her own. Lauren didn't have to elaborate that one, Dekka knew exactly what she was getting at. Chris or Shaena in a dress was unfathomable at best.
Dekka sighed, wondering how she had not foreseen this.
"I don't have the money to waste on tickets. The back-up money my dad sent with me is limited." And there's no way he'll send extra for something that requires a date, she added silently.
Lauren grinned, and, from the pocket of her sweat-shirt, produced a small, folded piece of white paper. "You're loosing, Sunshine."
Dekka groaned. "You're calling me that now, too?"
Lauren shrugged. "It's the kind of name that sticks. Like GAP."
Dekka sighed. "Okay, what about: I have better things to do on a Friday night."
"Well that one just hurts," Lauren winced teasingly. "Come on. It'll be a big group of us. Noah and I, Dumb and Dumber, Liam, Beat, Jazz, and Julie if I can get her to go, and Rose and Chris will be around most of the night, and probably Shaena and Andre. The guys will make themselves sick having an eating contest, and Chris and Shaena will make fools of themselves on the dance floor, and if we're lucky, they'll shut off the music, and Beat will start a sick number that will get the whole cafeteria involved...Oh, come on. That doesn't even sound a little fun to you?"
She held out the ticket and Dekka eyed it warily, then reached out and took it reluctantly. Lauren grinned, then tossed her the tennis ball back. "You're hitting the ball too early, that's why it won't bounce right."
Dekka wasn't the only one that Lauren was managing to rope into going to the dance. That Saturday afternoon, she marched triumphantly into their room and announced, "I've done it!"
"Done what?" Dekka, who was lying on her bed with a book of riddles that Julie had loaned her as a challenge, wondered, half-interested, but more concerned with thinking of a liquid that could be used to set fire, aside from gasoline or diesel, which she had already though of and had been proven wrong.
"I got Julie and James to go to homecoming!"
"How'd you manage that? I kinda thought Chris was right, getting Julie on board for a date's pretty tough."
"Well, they're not going together. They're just both going to be there, which is a start."
"You're a piece of work, you know that?" Dekka told her, rolling her eyes.
"So I've been told," Lauren laughed, stretching out on her stomach across Dekka's bed, and cocking her head to read the riddle. "Oh! Alcohol."
Dekka cursed mentally, wondering how she hadn't though of that, and put it in.
"Reggie's the only one left now. I just have to get him to quit being so shy and just ask Shaela, I mean, we all know he likes her...and the next one is vampire."
"Would you quit that!" Dekka, who had only been halfway through reading the riddle, demanded, snapping the book shut as she realized that Lauren was already reading the next one.
"What?" Lauren smiled innocently, spreading her hands. "I'm giving you the answers.
"I would like to have a chance to answer it myself."
"Well, that takes all the fun out of it."
Dekka sighed. "Weren't you talking about harassing people into going to homecoming or something?"
"Yeah, because you were totally listening to that."
"Well, it's better than you stealing all of my riddles."
"They're not technically your riddles," Lauren pointed out, grinning. "They're Julie's."
"Well, at any rate, they're not yours."
"They're in my room."
"It's my room, too," Dekka reminded.
"It's been my room for longer," Lauren countered.
"Cheater," Dekka accused, putting the book away in her backpack.
"So, you've heard what the official homecoming theme is this year, haven't you?" Lauren chanced course again, something that Dekka was beginning to learn never ended well for her.
"No," she replied cautiously.
Lauren's grin widened and she pulled a folded piece of black paper from her short's pocket.
Dekka took it, and unfolded it. In big, orange letters across the front were the words:
Night of the Monsters
Headline Academy Homecoming
2013
Dekka sighed. "Let me guess. You have an idea."
Lauren, who had made her way casually over to her bed, grinned, and pulled a bundle ouf form under it. She shook the thing out, and threw it across her shoulders, and it wasn't until she was pinning it in the front that Dekka realized that it was a bright red cloak. She grinned mischievously, and threw the hood over her head. "Little Red Riding Hood, mid-transformation, with a werewolf to match." Dekka raised an eyebrow, and Lauren sighed, and pulled the hood back down. "I know it's been down a thousand times, but I've always really liked it."
She took a seat beside Dekka, who folded the flier, and handed it back to her. She'd already seen where Lauren was going with this. "You couldn't convince Noah to be your werewolf?"
Lauren shurgged. "Noah and Liam are dressing up as zombie version of Rose and Chris, but don't tell them that, it's supposed to be a surprise."
"What about Lilah, or Jazz? or-" Dekka stopped short when Lauren began to laugh. "What?"
"Wow!" Lauren said, shaking her head, sounding amazed. "Everytime I try to take an inch you set me back a mile."
"Well, I've never head it used like that before," Dekka commented, unable to come up with anything better.
Lauren emitted another sigh, and said, "Look, every blood relative I have is either dead or-" she cut off abruptly with an angry noise, although Dekka wasn't sure it was directed at her. "Anyways, my legal guardians are the owners of this school, so I live on this campus. The closest thing I get to family are the people here at Headline. Even Andrew's family. He's like the annoying cousin that nobody likes but everyone loves because he's family." Dekka laughed at the analogy. "And I'm trying to make you a part of that family, because...I don't know, but there's something in my head telling me that I want you to be part of that, but every time I try to do that you. Push. Me. Away!"
She had never seen someone get so frustrated with her lack of social skills, and somewhere inside of her, it felt good to have someone care so much. "I can't guarantee that I will stop questioning things..." she sighed, knowing she was going to regret this. "And I'm not wearing a mask..."
I know, this chapter is short, and not much to it, but I am actually rather proud of it, it sets up nicely for next chapter, which is going to be a major chapter. Also, because of the epicness of it, I'm afraid next chapter will not be coming next Sunday like normal. (Okay, mostly because of the epicness, but also slightly because I have a Marching Competition Saturday...Go band! Yay..)
Anyways, expect to see me again here the Sunday after next.
Questions!
1. Fav. Scene? 10 points
Challenge!
Okay, so it hinted that there is a very personal reason behind Lauren's reluctance to join school sports, and this is related to another of Lauren's major quirks that we have seen. If you can guess which it is: 30 points (2. 20 3. 15) If you take a gamble at what the cause behind these quirks are, and get it right(and it is something that was touched on briefly in the second chapter;)) then I will give you double the points. (That's 60) and I'll be giving another 30 points on this one for effort(it's probably the toughest I've thrown at you guys since we've started.)
Well, that's all from me! Don't forget to review!
...Starry-eyed dreamer was here...