Hello! Sorry about the delay... to be honest i thought i posted this chapter already. Oops. Oh and warning, this one is less depressing then the last but it still has its moments. Sorry if you don't like that stuff but it's part of making the story realistic.
Chapter 10
Haley and Ever walked slowly into towards the local snack bar that was only a little way from the school. They had been hanging out a lot lately ever since they found out they had so much in common. They took a seat in an unoccupied booth in the back. "So, do you think Jack's really okay?" Haley asked quietly. For some reason it bothered her lately. He wasn't moping about anymore, but the Ripper she knew that was annoyingly joking seemed to have changed.
Ever shrugged and sat back into the seat cushions. "Who cares, he'll get there."
"What's with that attitude, Ev?"
"Nothing, I just think that we're all drifting too much on the murdering thing. It is expected." Haley sighed and nodded in agreement. There was knot in her stomach at the thought of having to kill another person. Could she do it when the time came? That even she couldn't figure out.
"Anyways, is Ivy taking you on a field test too? Edward said it was my turn today. I have to help him with a scheme." She asked her friend.
"I don't know, I'll ask her when I get to the green house." Ever paused remembering something. "Oh, and Emmy called me before. Said that Jack told her that the costumes were ready for us."
"Really?" Haley raised an eyebrow with a frown. "I hope they're decent. Most female rogues have very…diverse and eye-catching qualities."
"True, though Ms. Ivy's isn't so bad."
"Jack's should be interesting. Something clowny, for sure." Thoughts of the young prankster in white powdered make up and dark eye-liner made the pair laugh. "Oh, god, I'd pay a fortune to see that."
Just then a waiter came and set two ice cream sodas in front of them. Haley gave him a polite thank you, while Ever ignored him like he didn't exist. As he left, Haley gave her a look. "What?" Ever demanded, taking a sip of her drink.
"That was so rude."
"So?"
"Never mind." Haley mumbled. The conversation had dipped into annoying, or notable things that occurred in each of their classes. Ever looked at the clock and realized that almost ten minutes had passed. She had to get to the green house soon.
"Hey, I gotta go, see you tomorrow." She waved at Haley, finishing her soda and leaving the glass for the waiter. Haley waved back and began to think about her meeting with Edward that she would have to leave for soon. He wouldn't explain anything to her when she asked. All he said was that she'd see. Like that would appease her teenage impatience…
Emmy looked around the spacious room. She had asked her mother if she could go home with Chanel 'cus they would be going to a club meeting. What club she didn't know, and her mom didn't ask. The room that she was in had white walls, red carpet and red furniture, all arranged neatly.
"Come, Ems, to my lair." Chanel beckoned to her. Emmy nodded with a smile, following her with her springy gait. They came to another large room with dark purple and black walls, covered in posters of Scarecrow and punk rock bands. It had a plush lavender carpet that tickled her bare feet. On the white ceiling were drawings in dark purple, black, and lavender paint. Emmy laughed at how a majority of the pictures had dark humor to them. Like men with sick grins and vague faces and little girls with creepy stares.
"Cool!" she spun around to see them all. Chan smiled at her and opened a door that was to the far right.
"Look at this." She turned on a light and Emmy gasped. It the room was a totally realistic statue of Jonathan Crane made out of generic house hold items, standing tall and strong. Candles, blown out and melted, surround the statue's feet. In the back round of the small closet was Chanel's wardrobe. Emmy squealed.
"Wow!"
"Yeah, spent a while, five years to get the perfect image. Hey…" she turned to Emmy with a twinkle in her eye. "Wanna help me make purple flames on the walls as a background?"
"Sure!" Emmy cheered as Chan went and took cans of paint off top shelf in the closet. "Wait, will your parents get mad? Mine do when I draw on stuff besides paper and my door."
"Nah, my Dad barely comes in here. He just works and stuff." There was something in her voice that was a bit grim. Emmy frowned.
"Spiky or weaving waves?" she asked changing the subject.
"Twisted, like our souls, baby!" the other girl cackled. "This is gonna be so awesome!"
The girls giggled and drew all over the walls. In the end it looked like the place was on purple fire. "That was fun!" Emmy giggled. "We need to hang out more often!"
"Definitely, girl!" Chanel smiled wickedly.
"Hey, Chan?" She asked. Both girls had collapsed into two beanbag chairs near each other and Emmy was scooting hers closer to the older girl.
"Yeah, Ems?"
"Can I braid your hair? It's so nice and pretty and looks like fun to braid." Her eyes held the kind of innocents that not many could pull off.
Chanel laughed. "Why not? Express your feelings though my hair!" She called with a laugh.
She sat still while Emmy braided the purple hair in with the black to make it look cool. "Do you think Jacky is going to be ok?" Emmy asked after a while.
"Ripper? Yeah, he'll get over it eventually, once he goes insane that is."
"Once he goes crazy?" Emmy asked, not catching her drift.
"You see, Ems, unlike you and I, most of the new apprentices aren't crazy so this is hard for them to take in. Eventually, though, working with the craziest men and women in Gotham will get to them and they will go crazy."
"A walk among mad men can leave a person just as mad." Emmy said quite poetically. That was something Chanel noticed about her new friend. Sometimes her innocence completely left her and she entered some sort of a daze. On occasion, her friend would enter a moment of pure insanity.
"Ouch!"
"Sorry." Emmy apologized for pulling her hair. She tied it up in the 'pretty' braid and her cell phone buzzed. "Oh, I'm my mom. She says I need to go home now. Bye Chan, see you tomorrow." She waved politely and left.
"What an adorable, insane, kid." Chanel remarked to her statue of Jonathan Crane with a shrug.
Jack couldn't get rid the soul-wrenching feeling of guilt. It made him want to curl up in a ball and hurl his stomach's contents on the cold concrete. But he couldn't do that. No, he had to stay strong and get over it. It was like Ever had said, they all had to get used to it.
Cool it, Ripper, it happened, part of the past. You can't change it. It will happen again. He thought. But even as he told himself this, the guilt stayed.
Talk. That's what he needed to do. Talk to someone. And when he said someone, he meant someone who wouldn't arrest him for first degree murder. He took out his phone and flipped through his contacts. He couldn't anyone from school aside from four girls, so that was the majority of his contacts list out. He obviously couldn't call any of the numbers the rogues gave him. He didn't feel like getting laughed at. What few relatives that he had whose numbers he also had wouldn't understand either, so that left four contacts.
Immediately he crossed Ever off the list. He didn't even know why he had her number. That left Chanel, Emmy, and Haley. Emmy was the next to get taken off the list. Sure she was a sweet kid, but besides hugs, she probably wouldn't have any idea of how to help. Chanel went after that. He didn't expect her to understand, since she was so into peoples' suffering. That only left one person. He hit ok over her number and held it to his ear as she stepped into an alley.
"Hello?" Haley's voice filtered though the phone.
"Hey, Haley, it's Jack." He said.
"Hey Jack, what's wrong?" Did he sound that bad that she could guess that something was wrong.
"I… I just can't stop thinking about it, ya know?" He said. No use beating around the bush.
He heard her sigh into the phone. "Yeah…" She paused after that and he could only hear her breathing. "Jack… I don't know if it would help, but why don't you go to her wake, sit in the back, and say a prayer or something?"
He hadn't thought of that. "Yeah, I should go pay my respects…" He trailed off, thinking.
"Jack, I gotta go. Edward and I have to go do something and he's telling me to hang up the phone."
"Good luck." He hung up the phone with the hope that the Riddler wouldn't make Haley kill somebody yet.
He remembered reading in the paper where the wake was going to be, so he started to make his way over there. He reached the small little building and noticed that there was a line out the door for the people who wanted to pay their respects and talk to the family. He didn't know what he would say if he stood in line, so he just went inside.
It was depressing. There were a bunch of chairs set up in neat little rows. Not many people were seated, but those that were, were morbid or crying. He took a seat in the back of the room and watched a few little kids run by, completely unaffected by the depressing mood. He folded his hands in his lap and lowered his head in a silent prayer. He also thanked whoever was up there that the casket was closed.
He stood up to slip out of the building, but he caught a glimpse at the grieving immediate family standing up near the casket. The people in black accepted hugs and handshakes from the people who the dead woman knew. With one last look at her small, crying children he left.
See, mostly bonding, then more depression. I promise the next chapter has the Rogues, or at least one rogue, in it. Reviews! Oh and our next update might not be for a while because Que's computer is being moody so she can't write. So we will update when it's fixed.