The Sacred Lot Cards Chapter Four: The Flashback Chapter.
Conrad, the boy Dessa saw sword fighting, and Bernadette, the girl twirling the spear, were a twin son and daughter of Zeus, both ebony-haired and big, blue-eyed. They both went to Forest Oak Middle School, where they were king and queen bee of their class. No one messed with them.
Conrad was born five minutes before his sister, and his life was blessed from the start. All the guys at school wanted to be him, and all the girls at his school wanted to date him. He was surrounded by ego-boosters all day, including his school cheerleaders, because he was the JV star quarterback for his school.
Bernadette was born with big ears (not literally) and a smirk on her face. She had thick, black hair, big blue eyes, and too much lip gloss. She was tricky, using every wile in her inventory to keep herself on top- fashion, popular boys, and secrets. Most of the girls in Forest Oak were afraid of her and what she would do to them if they dared cross her. So, her path to ultimate popularity was assured, especially with her popular older brother under her control.
"Hey, Elizabeth," Conrad said, sliding onto the cafeteria bench next to a pretty blonde.
She eyed him oddly. "My name is Jane."
He winked and clicked his tongue at her. "My bad," he said, curling his arm around her shoulders. She giggled and leaned in closer to him as he turned to his sister. "Wassup, sis?"
She smiled angelically and grabbed the hand of the blonde guy sitting next to her. "Nothing, just hanging out with Zane," she replied, twirling her arms around Zane's arm and cuddling into his shoulder. He smiled happily, like he was the luckiest guy on the planet. Bernadette turned to Jane and smirked. "How are you, Jane?" Bernadette inquired with overdone sweetness.
The color fled from Jane's face in a matter of seconds. "Um, Conrad, dear, um, I… um… I'll be right back." Jane rushed from the table almost faster than she spoke.
Bernadette's smirk turned into a grin. "Ew, Conrad, down-dating!" Bernadette exclaimed.
Conrad chomped some spearmint gum and said, "Eh. She's pretty. I don't care."
His sister giggled. "Conn, she's freaky-obsessed in love with you. She wrote on the girl's bathroom's stall," Bernadette had to pause and gasp for air overdramatically, "JS+CH 4ev! And then, on the back of her notebook, she wrote Jane Hendricks like, a hundred times."
With each word, the look of disgust on Conrad's face got more and more pronounced with each word his sister spoke. Bernadette smirked as Plain Jane Seymour sat back down next to her brother, Conrad Hendricks. Bernadette pulled Zane away from the table just as Conrad said, "Yeah, Jane? Um, go sit somewhere else. You're weird."
Bernadette chuckled to herself as Jane sobbed, "But we're so… and you're so… but… but…"
Before Bernadette and Zane had gotten too far, Conrad jogged up to them. "Hey, Detta, where you guys sitting? Ditched Jane and don't wanna sit alone."
Bernadette unraveled one of her arms from her dear Zane's to hold her brother's hand. "Come on, Conn. Let's find a place to sit."
They shunted some dorks out of their way and sat down. A group of his admiring fans congregated around Conrad, and he smirked. Bernadette ate her Cup O' Noodles and smiled. She was still queen of Forest Oak.
A guy named David was the Conrad of Albert Einstein Junior High, and he… well, he wasn't very smart. Kenji, the boy Dessa saw fighting with a dagger was, and, in fifth grade, a teacher assigned Kenji to tutor David through the last semester and summer school. David decided that, in his words, "You got stuff, kid, you got stuff." So, David decided to, in turn, teach Kenji how to be cool. Turned out Kenji was naturally a cool kid. Upon entering middle school, David was, of course, instantly popular, and Kenji was introduced as his right-hand man. Half to ¾ of the school's female sixth grade population fell in love with David at first sight, and the rest loved Kenji.
He had mocha skin, with big, serious brown eyes framed by thin silver wire glasses. His features were straight and chiseled, and the perfected normalcy of his features just added to his appeal. He kept his jet-black hair cropped short until David got to him. Then he slowly allowed it to grow out, into manga-esque bangs and hair falling down his neck.
Akilah, the girl kicking tail on the archery range, was thrilled that her brother was no longer holding her back. She became popular on her own; she didn't need a Bernadette who would only allow her to be second-best. Akilah's skin was a hint deeper than her brother's, and her black hair was her only pride and joy. She kept it sleek and glossy with a fortune's worth of hair product. It hung almost to her waist if allowed to fall straight and true, as Akilah permitted every so often. Usually, it was twisted and woven into braids or buns, with various bejeweled sticks holding everything in place.
Even in third grade, Akilah was aware of her beauty and the power of her eyes. She began to act aloof, better than anyone else. Slowly, they began to believe it, and Akilah started to believe it too. By the time she hit sixth grade, she had learned fashion, makeup, and that innate 'it' factor that she began self-teaching in third grade.
"Ye-e-eah, this is by buddy, Kenji. Yo! Kenji! Get over here!" David summoned the dark, studious Kenji over to the rejected girl. She immediately took to him, and Kenji was soon surrounded by David castoffs.
However, he looked at them disdainfully, and got out his book. He was Kenji, after all, and had a rep to uphold. The girls had to work to win his heart. While David hit it off was some blonde girl, Kenji read more philosophy.
"Hey, Kenji," a brunette said, anxiously shifting her weight from leg to leg, looking star-struck. He gave her a look over his silver glasses. She took this as an opportunity to move on. "I'm, like, Alyssa, and…" She broke off as Kenji's hard brown eyes shifted back to his book.
Alyssa pouted for a few seconds, and, when Kenji didn't look up, she wove an arm on his. "So, I was thinking of seeing that new movie, Middle School Musical? I was wondering…" Alyssa trailed off as Kenji walked away.
Half a school away, his sister, a year younger (who skipped kindergarten) didn't need to carve her rep. She was beautiful, intelligent, had all the diversions of being popular, and was famously bored of it all. She sat on the edge of the stage in the school cafeteria, listening to music on her iPod. A cluster of girls tried to ask her what she was listening to.
One redhead was being particularly persistent, so Akilah condescended to turn her head to glare at her. Her thick curtain of hair shimmered, and her lightly lined eyes hardened at the redhead. They scurried away.
A guy walked over to her with a self-satisfied smirk on his face. "No," Akilah said without looking up.
He opened his mouth. "Scram," she spat, and the guy was smarter than to press the issue, and walked away empty-handed.
Ekon, the fistfighter, was a year older than Conrad, Kenji, and Bernadette. He carved out a reputation into Lost Knife Middle School as a guy you mess with if you want to lose a couple figures. He grew up in a hard neighborhood, taught the hard way of the eat-or-be-eaten side of the world. His cruel brown eyes were perpetually hard, and he cut his brown hair into a spiky buzz. He was tall and lean, with hard, skinny muscles. His front tooth was chipped from a fistfight.
He was infamous for his ferocious independence. One kid shut his locker for him once, and no one heard from him for two days, and, when he came back, he had a fat lip. From then on, no one touched Ekon's stuff, no one teased him about his name, and no one talked to him.
One year later, his younger sister came to school, yet more ferociously independent from her brother. Everything about Ayra, who was fighting Kenji with a knife, was misleading, from her name to her appearance. She was little and soft looking, with soft, wavy brown hair and wide, vulnerable brown eyes. Her delicate, naturally fair brows are only marred by a slender, pale scar stretching from two inches left of her lips to her hairline.
She was taken care of all her life- exposed to the eat-or-be-eaten world, but she was never allowed to participate in it because of her overprotective older brother. Her mom was always gone, but Ekon made sure she stayed home and did her homework. She dated a little, but her first ex Chris gave her the scar on her cheek, so the next guy who asked her out got a bruise on his cheekbone. And then another one in a much more painful place by Ayra's overprotective brother Ekon.
"Hey, Ayra!" Marcus called from down the alleyway. Ayra turned to see her boyfriend hurrying down the street to catch up to her. Knowing it was futile, she ducked her head and walked faster. He easily caught up to her and grabbed her arm too hard.
She shook it off. "Marc, I told you, I don't want to hang out today."
"Why not?" he asked just a little too quickly.
She wheeled on him. "You know what? Even if I wasn't just catching up on some dumb homework, it wouldn't be your business. You don't own me."
"Bet you're seeing another guy," Marc called as Ayra hustled down the alley.
Her eyes lit. She turned sharply on her heel and tried to get all up in his grill. Sadly, he was a lot taller than her, so it didn't really work. "I might be impulsive, angry, and whatever the hell all those other brats in the school call me, but I do not cheat!"
Then she made her fatal mistake- she swung her left fist at his head.
Almost instinctively, he pulled out a shiny silver knife. As she made a movement to knee him, he sliced it from her cheekbone to her temple.
Melting out of the shadows came her brother Ekon. "You're gonna wish you hadn't done that," he threatened.
Ayra walked, humiliated, down the alley to the sounds of her brother giving her ex-boyfriend a nice pounding.
Intrigued? Clichéd? (I don't want to hear about clichés from you, Sunshine.) Catch the historical reference? Drop me a line.
xoxo,
bekeyboo ;)