"What the hell do you want, Joshu-" Vee opened then door, stopping when she saw Dess on the other side. "Oh, it's you. Um…Deb? Jess?"
"Dess, it's Dess."
Victoria smacked her forehead. "Right, I'm sorry. What did you want?"
Dess blushed a little bit more, being closer to her now making that heat rise back to her face. She could see her lightly tanned skin, those pretty green eyes, those lips….mental slap. Bad, Dess. Calm down, girl. "Well, your brother tells me you're pretty good at math. I was just wanting to give you some puzzles."
Vee raised her brow, pushing the door more open so she could lean on the frame. "That so? I think he tends to exaggerate my math skills a bit. Just because his suck." Smiling, she moved off the frame and walked into her room. "Well, come on in then. Better than standing in the hallway uncomfortable."
She entered slowly, taking a good look at the room.
'Oh god, kill me.'
This was the complete opposite of her own room. It was new-house white, no window, two walls half-covered with posters of bands and a couple famous track runners. At least there aren't any unicorn posters. But the colors, dear god. Bright colors. 'Pretty' colors. It was too much for her dark, goth color eyes. Vee offered a chair for Dess as she plopped on the bed, getting nearly consumed by the multitude of stuffed animals. At least these weren't so nice looking. Most of them were ratty, others falling apart. It was like a macabre toy collection for a kid that belonged in 'The Omen' or something.
"All right, hit me. Let's see these puzzles."
All right, this was it. The point where she figures out if Vee was a Polymath, like her, or just a 'smart' person. "Well, here they are." Dess pulled out her notebook and flipped it to a random page, handing it to her. Vee looked at it, raising an eyebrow. She then scoffed and handed it back, shaking her head.
"Well, I'm sorry. But that stuff is….way too hard. I mean, really? I'm smart, but not a genius."
Dess took it back, giving a grin. But inside, she was depressed. Damn, she thought she had it for sure. "Oh well, we all can't be geniuses." She looked at her watch, then inhaled sharply. "Ah fuck, I gotta get home. Tell your brother I'm going home, and he owes me twenty bucks."
They gave their goodbyes to each other before Dess headed out, walking the way to her parent's trailer. All the way she was contemplating her existence. Well, not that philosophically. For sure she thought Vee would be….bah, forget it. She still has Midnight at least. And her numbers.
Oh yeah, she was rich in her eyes.
-Midnight-
Dess sat on top of the school roof, having used the ladder along the side of the main building. This was her favorite spot lately, giving a good view of the town from all sides. The Darklings haven't been active since the whole big bang, a few slithers here and there but nothing else. In retrospect, Dess wondered why the hell she even stayed. Why didn't she go with them? This was starting to get lame…
Wait, what's that?
She lifted her shades, squinting into the distance. It was a quarter through Midnight, the moon cascading Bixby in its haunting glow. But there it was again. Movement. She pulled out a pair of binoculars and looked through them. Besides this being a cool spot to be at, it was also a good scouting position so she could monitor the town. Not like it needed it.
Scanning around, she saw the figure finally. Dess adjusted the magnification, to get a clearer view. "All right, who do we have here…." Her jaw dropped, unbelieving.
"….Vee?…"