A/N: Well, how is everyone doing? Glad you could join us again!! Ready for more craziness in this story? Hope you are, 'cause, in fact, it's only going to get more insane!! And, of course, I hope you like it through it all. So, don't forget the IDNOAC thing and here is Chapter 12. Enjoy!
TrueHeart—Chapter 12—Muddying Up the Waters
During most of the class, Tucker shot nervous glances between Valerie and Alice. He could tell that Valerie was still steamed and he didn't like the message he was reading from Alice's smiling, dreamy-eyed face.
But neither he nor his girlfriend was aware that the overshadowed Armen was conveying that very same message to Valerie.
After what seem to be an eternity to the anxious Tucker, the bell finally rang. And because Tucker didn't want to upset Valerie or get more upset by Alice anymore, he avoided his locker like the plague and hurried off to his next class.
But unbeknownst to him, Alice wasn't that far behind him.
Valerie, however, went to her locker, not knowing that Armen had resumed following her. Just as she got to her locker, however, she was suddenly aware of a presence behind her and immediately twisted around to see who–or what--it was.
"Good morning," the thick-accented boy said when their eyes met.
"Uh, hello!" Valerie said with a slightly relieved smile. "Do I know you?"
"I sure hope you will!" he began as he put his right arm up on her locker, forming a sort of barrier between her and any escape route. "My name is Armen."
"Nice to meet you, Armen," she tersely said, not at all liking how much he had invaded her personal space. "Now, if you don't mind, I have to get into my locker before the next class." She then noticed that he had no books or anything with him, and dryly added, "Uh, shouldn't you?"
He just smiled dreamingly at her and she frowned a bit before turning back around and grabbing her combination lock. But before she could turn the dial, she noticed that his other hand had leaned against the locker. Now she was encased between the locker and both of his arms.
This time, she was just plain annoyed. She twisted herself violently around again and forcefully said, "Look, Armen! I can tell you're new here because of your accent. I don't know about your country, but in this one, guys who come on as strongly as you are doing right now end up with a couple of black eyes! Now, if I were you, I'd back off!"
"You are very beautiful when you are angry," the Croatian boy said, a warm smile never leaving his face.
This time, Valerie was spooked. She immediately shoved him away and headed to her next class, without retrieving the necessary materials from her locker.
All through their next class, Valerie glared angrily at Armen while Tucker glanced nervously between her and Alice. He was getting more worried as the class went on. Was Valerie still upset with him about Al? If she were, he'd better patch it up soon. He just couldn't stand all this tension.
But in reality, Valerie wasn't angry at him. She was still steamed with Al and was now fuming over Armen.
Finally, his agony over the situation came to a head when the class ended. This time, he saw Alice headed his way and he hurried over to Valerie. He quickly said, "Look, Valerie, I'm sorry if…"
"I said it was OK," she tersely interrupted, as she headed to her locker.
He braved another response, "But you still looked so angry in class and I thought…"
"I'm not upset with you, Tucker," she interrupted again.
"You're not?" he uttered with relief. "But I thought…"
"It's that new kid!" she fumed. "I think he said his name was Armen or something like that! He was being a real jerk!"
"Huh? I mean, he was?" Tucker asked, looking for and seeing the goofy smile on the Croatian boy who was near them. Relieved that she wasn't angry with him after all, Tucker then added, "Oh, I know! He doesn't speak English well at all and maybe…."
She interrupted him once more. "Tucker, what he did doesn't need any words! I don't care if he's new here or not, if he gets near me one more time, I swear I'm going to lay him out!"
Tucker gulped, knowing that she was not bluffing. "Uh, what did he do and do you want me to talk to him?" he offered with another slight gulp. After all, the foreign boy was much bigger than him. Still, he was willing to confront Armen if Valerie wanted him to—especially since he had his PDA if he needed it.
"Well, he was being a little fresh. And, no, thanks! I can handle him," she answered with a growl, which only made Tucker gulp again.
"OK, Valerie, if you say so," Tucker braved to reply, just as Valerie was finishing up at her locker. She quickly closed the door and turned back to her boyfriend.
Meanwhile, Bertrand had kept himself close to whole affair, observing it all. He couldn't help but cringe over the entire fiasco. The potion would last only so much longer; and with school day already in full swing, he could not deny that Spectra and his plans were going precipitately awry. He cupped his fly chin with one of his first set of hairy forearms and thought, "Just as well that the ghost animals fail now. Looks like we'll have to cook up some other scheme. Or make it clear to Sarah and Derek to play it closer to the vest the next time...Anyhow, we'll just have to see how it all plays out in the end. It might give me some ideas."
He turned his attention back to Tucker and Valerie, who were still in the midst of talking about what had happened. And the ghost fly could tell that Valerie was still steaming.
All the while, Armen and Al lingered in the shadows not too far away from Tucker and Valerie. The overshadowed humans stood side-by-side with vacant stares and vacant smiles, waiting for Tucker and Valerie to part so that they could take another stab at wooing each of their targets.
And as the overshadowed teens waited, their target couple still remained tense over the 'ordeals' Al and Armen had caused.
Not wanting to see Valerie in such a tizzy any more, Tucker then blurted out, "Look, Valerie, it's OK! I kinda expect guys to hit on you. Comes with the territory, you know. You are beautiful. So, as long as you know that I don't mind, will you kinda not mind as well?"
"You're not jealous?" she suddenly asked. Then she jolted. "And you think I'm beautiful?"
He answered her first question. "Well, yes, I am a little jealous, and I'll still go and get him to back off if you want. But, I know that I have nothing to worry about with you, so let's roll with it, OK?"
She nodded a little, finally calming down.
He smiled when he saw her relaxed, before adding, "And, yes, I think you are very beautiful."
"Oh, Tucker!" she said with a big smile and reached for his hand.
He readily extended his hand to hers; and then they headed to the next class.
Al and Armen started to follow them, but Bertrand flew right up to them and commanded, "Wait!"
Their eyes flared at his directive and stopped. They turned toward him.
He replied, "That's enough for now. We have to work on another plan. I want you to…uh, stay put for now!"
Just as he had said that, Danny and Sam appeared in the hallway, approaching their lockers. Bertrand startled when he saw them and flew toward the ceiling in time to avoid detection by Danny.
Once Danny and Sam had passed the overshadowed couple, Bertrand flew quickly down and whispered in their ears, "Now, listen, both of you! I want you to woo that couple over there. Derek, do your best with the girl. Her name is Sam, and Sarah, you do the same with that boy, whose name is Danny. But tone it down a bit, will you? The last scene was just awful!"
The spellbound couple nodded in silence just as their eyes momentarily flared a bright red. Each of them turned away from the little ghost bug and headed toward their new targets.
Bertrand flitted upward and perched on a small nearby nail. He waited anxiously.
Danny was the first one done at his locker. Before dashing off to his next class, he called to his girlfriend, "See ya!"
"Ditto," Sam said, not looking away from her locker as he left.
Al immediately turned on her heels and followed him.
"Uh-oh," Bertrand immediately thought, knowing that he couldn't be at two places now that Danny and the overshadowed Al had left the scene. "Well, can't worry about that for now," he decided. He then turned back to Armen and Sam.
Armen, meanwhile, went right up to Sam just as Danny darted off. "Good morning, mi lady," he said in his thick accent.
Sam turned to see who had said that, and chuckled a little when she saw it was Armen. "Uh, that won't necessary, Armen. One rescue from Dash doesn't boil down to treating me like royalty or something!"
"But I thank you for the pleasure of your company," he replied, suddenly grabbing one of her hands.
She politely pulled her hand away and said, "Uh, I mean it, Armen. It's OK. You don't have to make a big deal out of it, you know."
But he just smiled at her, and she thought it was a little creepy on how odd it looked.
But she threw the thought aside and uttered, "Well, see ya!" She turned a quick ninety degrees from him and hurried to her next class. He, of course, followed her.
But before Sam could get to her next class, she felt someone grab her hand and she was jerked to a stop.
"Ow!" she cried at the slightly painful, unexpected yank on her arm.
She turned to see that it was Armen again.
"I am sorry, mi lady, but I just had to say how much I appreciate you before we needed to part." He still had that unnatural smile on his face.
Pulling more firmly away from him this time, she grew more perturbed and said, "Look, Armen, not that I don't appreciate your appreciating me… uhm, well, something like that! It's just that we have to get to class!" Suddenly, she was struck with the oddity of the entire situation. He was speaking clear English! But not just clear English, but perfect—and odd—English. How could he have gotten that good that fast? What was with him? Then she immediately thought about Gregor.
But Armen pulled her out of her thoughts when he reached for her hand once more and playing with the large ring on her finger, earnestly, yet softly, said, "Then I will follow you wherever you go."
Just then, the bell rang.
In the meantime, the overshadowed Al had followed Danny to their next class. But something unexpected happened. Just before she entered the classroom, the potion that was controlling Sarah wore off and Sarah snapped out of the spell. Bertrand had been right. Sarah had not been given a full dose after all, and its effects had worn off more quickly than planned. Alice's body and she stopped just as they got to the door.
At first, Sarah was confused as to why she was up so high and not flapping her wings. And why her vision looked so differently. Then she gasped with glee at her next thought. She must have been changed back to her human self just as the sorceress had promised! But when she looked around, she saw that she had no idea where she was. Still, she was still too happy to care. She ran down the hallway, not at all knowing to where she was heading. She had to find one, to be sure that she was not dreaming.
Sarah then turned the next corner and saw two girls. The dark-haired girl was standing in front of an opened metal box, looking at just the object for which she was looking! Her heart leapt with joy as she hurried her approach to the girls in the distance. When she came upon them, Sarah--through Al's voice--excitedly addressed the raven-haired one, "Please forgive my intrusion, but may I please look at your mirror a moment?"
The girl, who turned out to be Paulina, snidely remarked, "Don't you have one of your own?"
The blond girl next to Paulina, who, of course, was Starr, piped in, "Hey, aren't you the new girl who has a boy's name?"
Al's body blinked in bewilderment and uttered, "I am sorry. I do not understand. My name is Sarah! May I have your permission to look into your mirror?"
Paulina looked at Starr, and Starr at Paulina. Paulina spoke to her friend and said, "Gee, isn't she really mixed up!"
Starr shrugged in bewilderment.
Still, Paulina stepped aside and let the new girl look at herself in the mirror.
As soon as Sarah saw her image, she screamed loudly in shock, sending Paulina and Starr and the entire hall of nearby students into a startled hush.
"That is not me!" Sarah screamed again at the person looking back at her in the mirror. "What has happened?" But before she knew it, she was suddenly sucked outward from her host's body. The shock at not seeing herself as she had remembered had broken her concentration and she could not maintain her overshadowing of Alice. And she couldn't maintain her invisibility.
Al was left in a daze at first as she still stood in front of Paulina's mirror.
Everyone else around her was also as taken aback. But as soon as everyone saw the ebony dove that had not been there just moments before, they reflexively gasped.
Still stunned, but now feeling afraid, Sarah quickly turned invisible and flew away...
"W-Where am I?" Al stuttered, putting her head up to her dizzy head. "And why am I here?"
"What's wrong with you?" Paulina was finally able to choke out, her eyes widening in disbelief.
But Al ignored her and scurried away, completely mortified that she had no idea how she got there.
The blonde girl turned the corner and her puzzlement suddenly morphed to anger. And her head quickly cleared at the sight she now saw.
The overshadowed Armen was grabbing Sam's hand for the second time.
Al turned sharply around and vowed to herself, "I've had enough of that girl! Two of us can play that game! Time to go!" But then, she gasped when she glanced at her watch and saw what time it was. "Is it that late already? What happened to the first part of the day?"
But she didn't know that Bertrand, who had been following Armen, had heard her.
Just then, the late bell rang and Al panicked. "Now, which class….Oh, yeah, science!" And she headed right to her classroom.
"You're late, Miss Thompson," the science teacher tersely said as the girl unsuccessfully slinked into the room.
"Yes, sir," she sheepishly replied as she headed toward her desk.
The man added, "But since you're still new here, we'll let it slide. But don't let it happen again!"
"Yes, sir," she quietly added, as all eyes followed her as she sat down next to Danny.
He looked at her sympathetically, and mumbled from the side of his mouth, "You're lucky that we weren't in Mr. Lancer's class." He smiled, trying to make her feel better.
She smiled back, but her grin had another meaning. She had other plans.
"Now you've done it!" Sam growled at the Croatian boy when she heard the tardy bell. "We're late for US Government!" She pulled her hand abruptly away this time and ran to their class, realigning Danny's ring when she did.
The overshadowed boy, of course, went right after her and they both bolted rather loudly into their classroom.
"Late?" the woman teacher sarcastically said through gritted teeth when the two entered the classroom.
"Yes, ma'am," Sam said with a frown. "I'm sorry."
But Derek loudly announced through Armen's thick-accented voice, "It is my fault, my dear Madame! I was lost and that fair maiden led me safely here!"
The teacher raised her eyebrows in complete surprise and the class giggled in amusement.
She cleared her voice and said, "Well, since we all know that Mr. Latzky is very new here, we'll let it go. Just this once."
"I am eternally indebted to you!" Armen sweetly said with a very low, gracious bow, before taking his seat next to Sam.
Sarah soon found herself outside of the school. She flitted helplessly one way and then the other. Her thoughts pounded in her head, "Oh, no! What have I done? Did I hurt anyone? And where is Derek, then? What has happened to him? The spell has not been unbound and I have put us in such unnecessary danger!" She continued to fly erratically, confused and upset. She didn't know what to do.
She headed toward the nearby tree, not thinking clearly at all.
But she had not gone very far when she gasped. She felt her body being snatched upward and her beak slammed shut to prevent her from screaming in dread.