Hello and welcome to chapter two! Thank you to everyone who reviewed, followed, favourite and read chapter one. Just the fact so many people liked it enough to read it is touching. Now this was actually finished a few hours after I published chapter one, but I've decided to keep it to each Thursday (for me.) Also, 2000 words for this :D I hope to keep it that length.
It wasn't often Sigma was loud enough to wake Omega. It took him ages to get to sleep, but when he achieved his goal, little could take it away from him.
Once he was conscious enough to realise what the shrieks meant, he stood, taking no more than a second to ensure Theta remained asleep before rushing into Sigma's room.
Delta was there already; he had probably been awake when Sig's nightmares begun.
Omega stared at his twin, worry pooling in his stomach as she cried out. "I'll kill him. One day, I'll kill that son of a bitch." Even Delta shivered at the malice in his voice.
"Omega?" Sigma called quietly.
"I'm here, you're safe." All rage was forgotten in favour of comforting her.
Sigma closed her eyes, squeezing them shut in an effort to hold back tears. She was stronger than this. It was only at night, when she was alone and it was dark did his memory come back the hardest. "I'm sorry, I woke you up."
Omega shrugged and pointed at the clock beside her bed. It read 6:42. "We'd have to get up soon anyway.
"That is the face of a shit boyfriend," Grif told himself, glaring at the mirror. A month Simmons had to deal with all that shit. And in all that time, Grif hadn't even noticed! He'd kept teasing him and leaving the poor guy to fend for himself.
"Dex! Stop hogging the bathroom, that's my job!"
Grif didn't want to hurry up. He still hadn't thought of a way to make up for his stupidity. "Do you really need to spend half an hour in the bathroom?" That was all the time they had left before school? Fuck.
"Well duh. I have, like, four classes with Tucker today. I have to look my best." Ugh great. Now he was reminded of his sister dating that shitty asshole. At least his hatred was directed away from him now.
"I'll let you in if you promise not to talk about or to Tucker in my hearing for the rest of the day. Deal?"
"Deal!" Grif unlocked the door and stepped out, allowing Kai to push past.
"And be ready before we have to go!"
"Get out of my house! Go away, you bastard!" Church ignored the yelling, silently covering his toast with butter.
"Dad, shut up. Hi Leonard." Church waved to his half-sister, still trying to pretend their father wasn't probably bawling his eyes out in another room. "God he's pathetic," Carolina growled. "Anyway, are you ready?"
"S'pose so."
Carolina did not fail to notice his mood. "Worried about Caboose?"
Her brother nodded. "He's changed so much, it's like he did die. He's a little kid."
Carolina patted his shoulder, being about as affectionate as the two ever got. "I'm sure he's still in there somewhere."
"Mum, this isn't the way to school."
"Calm down Donut, I just need to pick up a patient."
"Oh, Ok." Donut settled down, watching through the windows as his mother drove them through town. She stopped outside an ordinary whitewash house. A blonde boy Donut's age stood outside. "Caboose?"
"You know him?" His mum queried, looking at him via the rear view mirror.
"Y-yeah, he goes to Valhalla."
"Well, perhaps you can help get him readjusted." With that unlikely wish she left the car, walking towards where Caboose stood.
"Sheeeeeeila!" Caboose cried, catching Donut's mother in a tight hug. Donut's stomach soured at the sound of Caboose's childish voice. That wasn't right.
"Caboose, you can sit beside Donut." Caboose looked around the back of the car, confused.
"I don't see a donut..."
"Uh, that's my name." Donut chirped, trying to sound friendly despite his hatred of the boy, or what he used to be.
"But you are not a cake. Why is donut your name?"
Donuts aren't cake. "It just is."
Caboose stood there for a minute before finally sitting down. "Do you know Church? He's my best friend. He likes me way more than Tucker, but he likes Tex just as much because he has no-pants time with her. He can't have no-pants time with me because I'm a boy. Someone told me Tex was a bad person, but I-"Caboose cut off, frowning. "I..."
"Give yourself time Caboose, it'll come to you," Sheila advised from the front.
"OK," Caboose replied, and Donut was struck once more by how childish Caboose seemed. What had happened to him?
Church and Carolina were usually among the first at school. Both were more than willing to leave early just to have more time away from their dad. Despite having to walk (neither of them were old enough to drive) they lived close enough to school that the trip was relatively short.
Carolina quickly ditched Church in favour of her 'friends', so Church usually waited by the gates for his friends.
Tex came first, to his great surprise. "I thought you took an oath or something never to come before nine this year." Church could count the times Tex had arrived on time with his fingers.
"I didn't want you to leave you alone when Caboose came." Church was struck by how nice that was. Sure she complimented him and stuff, but usually only when she wanted money or sex.
"Uh... thanks?"
Tex grinned at his confusion. "Can't I be nice sometimes?"
"You're not a clone, are you?"
"Chuuuuuuuuurch!" Caboose ran in and grabbed Church in a suffocating hug. "ImissedyouImissedyouImissedyou!"
Church smiled painfully at his altered voice. Welcome back, Caboose."
Caboose's wide grin didn't falter as he looked at Tex. "I don't believe them!" He exclaimed, much to everyone's confusion. "Sheila was right!"
"Yes, I was. Don't worry, it will get easier." A middle-aged woman walked through the gates, closely followed by Donut. She looked similar enough for them to be related; Church guessed she was his mother.
"Sheila Donut? Seriously?" It seemed like Tex had the same thought.
Sheila seemed unfazed. "My husband's name."
"I wouldn't marry someone if my name'd be that shitty," Church muttered.
Sheila glared at the two, but it was her son who responded. "So you two made sure your names fit before you got together. I wouldn't be surprised. You're both amazingly vain." He and his mother walked off, Caboose following close behind. He seemed unwilling to move beyond three metres from Sheila.
"Allison Church is a nice name..."
"Shut up Church," Tex growled.
"I don't want you talking to CT anymore." South glared at her brother. He had stated this the moment their dad drove off; she wondered how long he had been waiting to say it.
"She's my friend."
"She betrayed us."
South scoffed. Leaving the gang wasn't exactly betrayal. "So? You let Maine go."
"Yeah, well Maine's... Maine. Even Tex would have trouble finding a way to beat him. He'd probably stab her in the face, or something."
"I'm sure Epsilon would come up with a way," South muttered. In all honesty, she hated Epsilon. He was one of the creepier Freelancers. Even his codename was weird; a laugh at the O'Malleys, especially Omega.
"Look, can you just stop hanging out with CT? We shouldn't have any connections with her."
"She's my best- no. She's my only friend!"
"It's a bad image for the gang!"
"I'm only in your stupid gang because you wanted me to join!"
"Please, South." North adopted his 'kind and caring' tone, something South knew was absolute bullshit.
"No. And if you mention this again, or you or Epsilon or anyone tries to hurt CT, I'll put those pictures dad took of you in my clothes up around school."
North froze. South didn't care. She kept walking, but at a slower pace so she could still hear him. "You wouldn't."
"I'm in a gang. Who knows what I'd do."
"What are you staring at?" Sigma was surprisingly bubbly as she pestered Omega, who instantly turned a bright red. "Oooh! Do you have a crush?"
"Shut up Sigma."
"Aw! Come on! Tell me!"
Omega, knowing he wouldn't be able to ignore Sigma's pleading, pointed across the school. "Brown-haired guy in a purple shirt."
"A guy." Sigma grinned and Omega blushed darker at the mention of his bisexuality.
Sigma leaned forward to study her twin's crush. He had light, slightly curly brown hair that hung at a medium height for a guy. His eyes were hidden behind square glasses. A light purple jacket barely showed the violet shirt underneath. He wore dark blue jeans and white sneakers with lining the same colour as his shirt.
Sigma's habit of almost constantly drawing caused her to be very observant.
"Not bad. What do you know of him?"
"He's in three of my classes. His name is Frank DuFresne, Doc to his friends. Depending on who you ask, he's a determined pacifist, or the wimpiest guy in school."
"And that turns you on?" Omega's embarrassed stutter had Sigma giggling madly.
"Why do I ever tell you anything?"
"Because otherwise, you'd just stare at your crushes for the rest of high school. Come on." With that she grabbed her brother's hand and half-dragged, half-lead him over to Doc.
"Hi!" She greeted cheerily, getting the attention of Doc and his two friends.
"Hello!" Doc replied, while his blonde friend muttered a greeting, the other simply growling.
"I swear, the time before school is so boring, I reckon teachers try and make us want school to start." Sigma chatted on whilst Omega sat uncomfortably beside her, trying not to stare at Doc but wanting to all the while.
An elbow hitting his side brought him back to the conversation, where Doc was explaining how he got his nickname.
"I personally am not huge on it. I mean, the helping people part is cool, but all that blood... And it'd be my fault if someone dies. But my dad gets what he wants, so looks like I'm going to be a doctor."
"That sucks. Your dad doesn't sound too nice."
Doc shrugged. "He's fine, just really stubborn." He paused for a moment, frowning. "I mean, not in a bad way. Being stubborn can be a good thing, sometimes." He cut off his own rambling, blushing slightly.
"You're lying to me, if you won't even say something slightly bad about your dad when he isn't even near. Wow, he must be scary."
Doc's blonde friend, who had probably been introduced while Omega wasn't listening, spoke up. "Nah, Doc's always like that. If he says 'god', he'll apologise to every religion, despite being an atheist."
"Shush up Wash," Doc muttered.
"Shush up?" Omega bit back a laugh. Doc frowned and Omega immediately regretted his comment. Obviously, from the many tales he'd heard, Doc's pacifist nature was often ridiculed.
Wash sighed loudly, looking up. "Wash, you should just ask her out." The gravelly voice was unfamiliar. How Omega had forgotten Doc's other friend, with his size and intimidating look, he did not know. He was probably too focused on Doc.
"Who?" Sigma perked up and looked around, focusing on a black-haired girl as Doc pointed her out.
"CT. Wash had had a crush on her for years."
Sigma quickly assessed her, noting her slightly stiff walking and how she kept looking back more than normal. "She's pretty." Wash raised an eyebrow at her, a slightly teasing grin on his lips. "Don't look at me like that. Omega's the bisexual one, not me."
"Hey!" Omega wanted to vanish as Sigma calmly gave out that very personal information.
Wash, seeming to have a similar point of view to Sigma in regards to embarrassing his friends, announced, "Doc's gay." Doc, understandably, stuttered and blushed, while Sigma giggled. Omega got past his embarrassment long enough to realise just how smart his twin was.
The bell rung, giving Sigma and Omega an excuse to leave. "Hey Wash, before we go,"
"Mm?"
"Are you blind?" Omega recognised her I know more than you tone.
"What?"
"Does CT walk past you every day?"
"Uh, yeah?"
"And does she always look so annoyed at herself once she does?"
"What are you getting at, Sigma?"
"You're not the only one who can't get over their fear of asking someone out." Sigma walked off and chuckled as Wash stood there, realisation slowly creeping through his mind.
That bit with Sigma, Omega and Doc was the first scene I imagined when first thinking of this story. So blame it for sticking in my head until I had to write it. Also, happened last chapter, happened this one. I make a cool/funny bit with Tex, then have to write more to keep it a good length.
By the way, I've been trying to keep this story as complex as possible, with each character having their own stuff going on. So if you think I've missed out on someone, or am concentrating the plot too much on one character (Sigma?), please tell me.