Merry Christmas, everybody! I hope reading this chapter improves your Christmas as writing it did mine. And with the sappy thoughts out of the way, enjoy! And review! (By the way, the contents of this chapter are actually important. Just in case any of you don't think so.)

I sat down in my seat, rubbing my temples absentmindedly. You know, he's not as bad as you thought he was.

Shut up.

C'mon Rya, loosen up. Live a little.

Who asked you?

You know, talking… thinking… to yourself is the first sign of madness?

If after all this time I've only reached the first sign, I'm doing well.

With that, I resolved to start ignoring the little voice in the back of my head. It was annoying me.

As were all the others.

I frowned. I (despite what one may think) didn't usually hear voices at all, let alone this many. Sighing, I lay my head down on my folded arms and concentrated on the little voices; seeing if they were figments of my imagination or something far more sinister.

Wow, he is so hot.

I'd tap that…

I'm so fat…

Is it so much to ask that the bus be on time for once?

Oh my Lord, that is disgusting.

I closed my eyes and wished hard that I had a Panadol or ten with me. My headache was increasing to insane levels. So many freaking voices.

I figured they weren't an omen of my impending schizophrenia, but something else. Thoughts, maybe? I was sure I had heard Ash go through this before, in New Orleans. We had a psychic bond, of sorts; bonded by trauma.

That cake was delicious…

You sick bastard.

Mama?

Why can't I just get this right?

I screw everything up.

Wanda! Wanda!

I wrinkled my nose in disgust: I had managed to 'overhear' a guy and his girlfriend. No, wait…

That was his sister. Oh, gross.

Help me, someone help me, please…

No! Stay away!

The milk is off.

I hope he likes it…

Ha, she broke a nail. Sucks to be her.

Help me

Help me

Help me

HELP ME

I groaned; if I guessed right, there were roughly six billion little voices all clamouring for attention. And it hurt.

"Miss Akrak… Miss, are you alright?"

"No, not really," I forced out.

"Do you need to go to the nurse?"

I didn't think anything this nurse had to offer would help, but what the hell.

"Yeah, that'd be nice."

"Newton! Help Miss Akraka… Aria to the nurse's station."

"Sure."

So here I was, being yanked down the sidewalk by a guy reminiscent of a puppy with saliva gland issues.

"Okay, let go of me," I said, unable to stand it any longer, plunking myself down on the sidewalk. I lay down so my head was resting on the cold concrete and nearly moaned, it felt so good.

"You don't look too hot," Mike said. I opened my eyes and glared at him.

"I'm not even going to dignify that with a response."

"But… you just did," he said, confused.

"Go away."

"Shouldn't you like, call someone?"

I opened my eyes again. "You know, for once, that isn't a half bad idea."

"Why thank you," he crowed proudly. I just snickered quietly to myself, tuned out the voices, and yanked out my cell phone.

Not wanting to alert Mike to anything… unseemly… I started talking in code as soon as Ash picked up the phone, emphasizing some words and not others.

"You must be psychic, Bond. Either that or you're hearing voices. Must hurt like hell. Care for me to make it stop?"

"Oops."

"Damn right, oops."

And with that, I hung up, headache becoming even more vicious. While I had been talking, it turned out Edward had joined our little fray. Damn, damn, and double damn. I didn't need to be making an idiot of myself in front of Wonder Boy.

Where did that come from?

I groaned, dropping the phone from limp fingers.

"Rya? Are you okay?" What a stupid question. Couldn't he tell from the look on my face that I wasn't okay? And was it totally necessary for him to be laughing like that as he said it?

"Fuck off, Edward."

"Yeah, Edward, you heard her. Go away." Then again, he was no better. I didn't particularly want a knight in shining armour; the armour always, without exception, tarnished.

"You know what? You can fuck off too, Mike."

"What did I do?"

Without needing to open my eyes, I could tell he was pouting, and that Edward was suppressing more laughter.

My headache eased as the cacophony ceased, and I breathed out a sigh of relief.

Then abruptly stopped as my stomach tightened and bile rose in my throat.

I got up and sprinted for the nearest bathroom, barely making it before I leaned over a toilet, puking out my guts. Whoever designed the school had a sick sense of humour, putting the bathroom so far away from everything else.

After an indeterminate amount of time, the retching stopped, and I leaned back against one of the walls, wiping my brow, grimacing up at Edward and Mike who were now standing over me. They looked concerned, but I could tell they were hiding amusement.

"Rya? Are you okay?" What a stupid question. Couldn't he tell from the look on my face- and what I had just been doing- that I wasn't okay?

"Whatever you're going to say, Edward, I suggest you just get it over and done with before I recuperate to the level where I feel capable of killing you. Just say it: it can't possible make me feel any worse than what I do right now.

Little did I know how wrong I was.

"You're in the boys' bathroom."

After he charmed our way out of school, he picked me up (kicking, but not daring to scream) and dropped me in his Volvo. I looked longingly over to where my Porsche was parked, but was quickly told that wasn't an option. Pouting, I handed the keys over to Edward, who then ran off to hide them somewhere.

When he got back, I started threatening him. "My baby had better come back in perfect condition. So much as a scratch on her and I will take it out of your hide, are we clear?"

"Mm-hm."

He obviously wasn't listening to me.

"And then I'll rip off your head and dance in your entrails, burn what's left, collect the ashes and feed them to a duck."

"Mm-hm."

Still not listening.

"And then I'll feed the duck to a piranha, and burn the piranha, collect those ashes and them bury them! Come midnight, I'll be doing a voodoo ritual on your grave!"

"Mm-hm."

I was grinning now. This was fun.

"You know, I've met the Roman emperor Nero? Something not quite right about him. I suppose, yes, he did lead his people, and it obviously worked, but it was a shame about the temper, really. "

"Mm-hm."

Now I was struggling to suppress laughter. Time to kick it up a notch. (Bam!)

"And you know what? Stonehenge is made of cheese! Cheddar, at that. And the moon's just solid rock, sad to say. Of course, I only knew that because in 1342, I flew there with the pope, and-"

"Wait, what?"

This time, I did giggle. Horrified, I clapped one hand over my mouth. I did not giggle.

Moving on, I laughed. Not giggled.

"I've been doing this since we got into the car, you know."

He looked as if to die of embarrassment. "Oh. I didn't mean to, really. It's just that you were threatening me, and no-one wants to listen to that, because that's just cruel, listening to details of your own impending death and then…"

We reached my home; I was a little surprised he knew where it was. Disregarding that thought for know with the promise of chasing it up later, I got out of the car, him still rambling.

Mocking him a little, smiling wickedly, I replied. "Mm-hm."

Actual action coming up next chapter! Promise!