Title: Tribe 3: Wonderwall
Chunk 20: Sections 96 thru 100
Fandom: The Tribe
Author: PinkTribeChick
Summary: I said maybe, you're gonna be the one that saves me . . . Life goes on for the Mall Rats after the Chosen take over the city.
Extended Summary: Essentially, this is an Alternate Universe story for Series 3 and beyond of the Tribe. I won't say anything more than that, because I don't want to spoil anything for those of you who have never read this before
Rating: Teen
Pairing: Too many to name! But Bray-Amber, Lex-Zandra, Ryan-Salene, and Jack-Ellie, for starters. There will also be some Tribe-character with original character pairings.
Author's Notes: Again many thanks as always go to Brett The Mole, as he was the one who talked me into sharing this story with others when I first started writing it, and he was the one who kept bugging me to complete it. I wouldn't have gotten anywhere without you, Brett! And major thanks to Ariannya, Whit, and all the others who at various times read and proofed sections for me and gave me their invaluable feedback.
Enjoy, and please review! Feedback is much appreciated!
Disclaimer: All characters, situations, and song lyrics remain the property of their respective owners. Troy Wisneski belongs to the author Paula Boock, from her Tribe novel "Power and Chaos." Any original characters are sole property of me, PinkTribeChick.
Tribe 3: Wonderwall
Sections 96 thru 100
Zandra wandered back into Lysette's room, starry-eyed, and sat down in a nearby chair. Lysette and Amber were sitting on Lysette's bed looking through a magazine about babies. They both looked up when she came into the room, puzzled by her strange behavior. Lysette gave Amber a questioning look, and Amber shrugged her shoulders in response. Amber closed the magazine and walked over to Zandra.
"Are you okay?" Amber said, waving her hand in front of Zandra's eyes to get her attention.
"I'm fine. How are you doing?" Zandra said happily, sighing in contentment.
"I'm okay, Zan," Amber said, giving her a bewildered look. "Zandra, did you forget something in the café?"
"No," she responded, still lost in her own world.
"The soup, Zan, the soup!" Amber exclaimed in frustration. Lysette started to laugh. Something was on Zandra's mind, and it wasn't the soup. She couldn't help wondering if Lex was the guy on Zan's mind or if it was someone else. Zandra blinked a couple of times, and then snapped out of her trance.
"Oh, no! I'm sorry!" Zandra exclaimed, jumping out of the chair. "I totally forgot! I'll go make it now!"
"That might be a good idea. And try not to forget this time!" Amber called after her as she scurried out of the room. As Zandra walked back toward the café, it started to sink it what she had done a few minutes ago. She had kissed Ryan. She had cheated on Lex, which was something she swore she'd never do. She felt the blood rush up to her cheeks as she blushed in embarrassment. What if Lex found out?
She walked into the café, stopping in the doorway when she saw Ryan. He was sitting at a table with his head in his hands, obviously feeling just as guilty as she was. Zandra thought quickly. She could just turn around and go back to Lysette's room, but then she would have to come up with some excuse as to why she didn't make the soup, and she really didn't feel like having to explain herself to Amber or Lysette. Huffing loudly, she stomped into the room and climbed up the ladder, reaching for the soup can again. Ryan heard her and looked up, seeing her struggle to grasp the can.
"Let me get that for you," he offered, getting up and walking over to the ladder.
"No! I can do it myself!" she snapped.
"Obviously you can't reach it! I don't want you almost hurting yourself again, so get down from there at let me get it!" he insisted.
"No!" she shouted. "Besides, what do you care if I get hurt?"
"Zandra!" he growled. She looked at him defiantly.
"No!" she responded, tears filling her eyes. Ryan started chuckling, his frown fading.
"Do you realize how ridiculous we sound arguing about this? Just come down from the ladder. I'll get the can for you. Please?" he said, smiling. Zandra sighed loudly and climbed down the ladder. Ryan scaled the ladder and quickly retrieved the can. He climbed back down the ladder and handed it to her. They stared at each other for a moment.
"We can't do this, you know that," she said finally.
"I know. You have Lex and Lexi. And I'm married to Salene. It just isn't possible. Maybe in another time, or another place, if Sal and Lex and the kids weren't in the way, I'd like for this to happen. But not now," Ryan agreed. "It's not that I don't care about you, Zan. You know I do. I always have." He put his arms around her and held her to him, as she laid her head on his chest.
"Why didn't this happen sooner?" she said irritatedly. "It's not fair."
"No, it's not," he replied, kissing the top of her head. "Maybe someday we'll be able to be together."
"Yeah, when we're old and decrepit," she said sarcastically, looking up at him. Tears filled her eyes again. "Best friends?"
"Always," he said.
"And no one can ever know," she said.
"No one," he responded. She touched his cheek gently, and he closed his eyes.
"Here's to someday," she whispered, kissing him gently on the lips. Then she stepped back, trying to hold back her tears. "Go, please, before I beg to you change your mind." He touched her hair, smiling, then walked out of the room. Zandra walked over to the sink, putting the can down on the counter. Leaning against the counter, she started to sob.
The next morning, everyone sat around the café, silently eating breakfast. Zandra kept herself busy waiting on everyone hand-and-foot, trying to keep her mind off her broken heart for a little while. Lysette and Jack had already eaten and were busy moving her stuff into his room. Amber, Lysette, and Zandra had stayed up late into the night, talking about everything from the Chosen to feeding schedules for the babies.
"Zan, can I have some more coffee?" Ryan asked quietly, stopping her as she walked past.
"Alright," she said coldly. "Just a second. I need to take the butter to Dal."
"Okay," he responded kindly as she walked off. He hated seeing her so miserable and knowing he was to blame. He ached to hold her again. She wasn't the only one suffering from a broken heart.
"Ryan? Earth to Ryan!" Salene snapped her fingers in his face, and he looked over at her.
"Huh?" he murmured.
"Can you please take Kina and go change her? She spit up all over her shirt," Salene requested.
"Yeah, sure," he answered. "Come to Daddy, little angel." He took his infant daughter from Salene and walked out of the café. Zandra's eyes followed him from across the room as he left. She slammed the butter tray down on the table.
"Whoa! What's wrong, Zan?" Dal asked in concern, noting Zandra's irritability.
"Nothing. I'm sick of waiting on everyone. Get your own damn butter," she muttered and stomped out of the room. Dal looked over as Tzara. She gave him a puzzled look. Dal shrugged his shoulders and then sliced the butter.
Zandra flopped down onto her bed, laying there and staring up at the ceiling. How in the world had it come to this? She was in a hopeless, horrible marriage, she was an orphan, and she couldn't be with the guy she really loved. The only thing she really had going for her was Lexi. Lexi was the only reason Zandra even kept living anymore.
Sighing loudly, she got up and walked down to the nursery to go check on Lexi. Ryan was already in the room, putting clean clothes on Kina. Rolling her eyes, she walked into the room, over to Lexi's crib. Lexi was still fast asleep, sucking on a pacifier. Zandra pulled the blanket back up over her, smiling at the little girl.
"There you go, angel. All nice and clean again," Ryan said, cradling Kina in his arms. She looked up at him and giggled. Ryan kissed her on the forehead. Zandra watched them out of the corner of her eye as Ryan put Kina in her crib.
"Zan, can I have some more coffee?" she grumbled angrily to herself. "I'm not your servant, Ryan."
"What?" Ryan said, turning around. "I never said you were. Where'd you get that idea?" He gave her a strange look.
"Oh, Zan, will you get this for me? Oh, Zan, can I just stomp all over your heart and treat you like and unwanted pet? You make me sick," she said hostilely. She turned to walk out of the room.
"You're not the only one hurting about this, you know!" he retorted. Zandra stopped in her tracks and turned to face him again.
"Oh, that's a laugh! You seem to forget, you're in love with two girls, one of which you're married to. I stopped loving Lex a long time ago, I mean, really loving him," she countered. She gave him a dirty look. "Don't expect me to feel sorry for you, Ryan. This was your choice."
"Maybe. But you were the one who brought it up! I had been thinking about just letting it slide," he said.
"What, so I can be your mistress? Oh, what an honor that is?!" she shouted. "Don't flatter yourself. I want more from you than that."
"Oh, you do? Then why did you push me away?" he asked.
"Out of self-respect. I'm better than Lex. I'm not the cheating kind, and I won't allow you to be either. Sal trusts me. I won't betray that, you big oaf!" she answered.
"Who are you calling a big oaf, you string bean!" he spat back.
"Ooo, you!" she growled. She ran at him and jumped, knocking him to the ground. He smacked his head on the base of Kina's crib.
"Ow!" he yelped.
"Sorry!" Zandra said, instantly feeling bad. "I didn't mean to hurt you!" Ryan rubbed the back of his head.
"Well, you did," he said sarcastically. Zandra lay on top of him, a concerned expression on her face. She looked really pretty again that day.
"Are you okay?" she asked.
"I think so," he replied, nodding. They stared at each other for a second, then kissed. They rolled over to where Zandra was on her back. When Ryan finally pulled away, they were both gasping for breath.
"That's not going to happen again," Ryan said solemnly. Zandra nodded, getting up off the floor.
"Never again," she said quickly. "Well . . . I have to go."
"Me, too." They stared at each other uncomfortably, and then hurried off in opposite directions.
"Wakey-wakey!" Todd exclaimed, walking into Ellie's bedroom that morning and opening the curtains. Sunshine streamed into the room, hitting Ellie on the face. She groaned, turning her face away. "No way! You're getting up, princess!" He pulled the blanket off her, revealing the restraints that held her to the bed. She kept trying to run away from the farm, so Alice and Dal had decided it would be in her best interest if they strapped her to the bed to stop her from attempting to run off at all. Todd had been stuck with watching her 24 hours a day for almost five days.
"Go away," Ellie mumbled, trying to lift her hand so she could scratch her cheek. Suddenly, she remembered she couldn't. She opened her eyes and sat up. Todd was standing beside her bed with a stupid grin on his face. "I have to use the restroom."
"Alright, no problem," he said. He pulled a leash out of his pocket and attached one end to her and the other end to him. He undid the restraints, allowing her to stand up and stretch. Then they walked to the bathroom. Todd stood outside while Ellie did her business. She came out, giving him a dirty look. "Breakfast time, princess." She hated how cheery he was everyday. Didn't he ever frown? Wasn't he getting sick of looking after her all the time? If he was, he was certainly hiding it well.
As they sat down across from each other at the table in the kitchen, Ellie examined him. He wore a white t-shirt and a pair of jeans, and his sandy blond hair was spiky. He had a bandage on his forehead covering a wound that Ellie had inflicted on him in one of her escape attempts. He shoved a bowl of cereal at her. She picked up a spoon and took a bite of the cereal. She made a face and spit it out all over the place.
"Doing an impression from the Exorcist isn't going to work, Ellie. Eat," Todd said firmly, about to take a bite of his own cereal.
"The milk's sour!" she whined.
"Oh, really?" Todd took a bite of his cereal, and then took made a face, spitting the cereal back in the bowl. "Well, princess, I guess we're going to have to go get more milk. Come on." He stood up. Ellie got up and followed him outside to the barn. He grabbed a bucket and a stool, and then walked over to Marta. He ushered Ellie over to the stool and sat her down.
"What?" Ellie asked. "What do you want me to do?"
"She's your cow, Ell. You milk her," he said.
"No," Ellie said defiantly, crossing her arms over her chest.
"I guess you're not that hungry today, then. That's fine. I'll just have to eat on my own," Todd said sarcastically. Ellie scowled at him.
"You're the fool who didn't notice the milk had gone bad. You should be the one milking her," she snarled.
"True, but she's your cow, and you've been shirking chores around here for weeks. It's time that stopped. I'm not going to baby you anymore and neither is Alice," he responded calmly. Ellie sighed loudly and rolled her eyes, then grabbed the bucket and started to milk Marta. "Now that's better, princess. You know, you'd make things so much easier on yourself if you would just stop fighting me all the time. I know what I'm doing, and I'm trying to help you get better."
"I'm not sick!" she snapped.
"Don't keep on believing that . . . it won't help you any," he said. Ellie flipped him off. "Oh, I didn't know you had such a wide range of vocabulary, princess. It even includes sign language." Ellie felt her blood starting to boil.
"Shut up and leave me the hell alone!" she screamed. "And stop calling me princess!"
"Not going to happen, Ellie," he said, smiling warmly before his expression changed to a stern one. "Now keep milking." Ellie looked back at the cow and started milking again. She hated him. Absolutely hated him.
Lysette sat on the bed in hers and Jack's room watching him unpack a box. Alice had brought over the remainder of Lysette's things earlier that afternoon, along with an update about Ellie's condition. Now Jack was trying to keep himself busy with unpacking to keep his mind off Ellie. She knew Jack was worried about Ellie, but she wasn't really sure how to help him. She wanted to help him so much it hurt inside. The fact that there were a couple of other things on her mind besides Ellie and Jack didn't help. She had a baby on the way to think about, and even if Jack didn't stick by her, she was determined to be a good mom. She didn't have any other choice.
"Jack, I'm going to go get a glass of water. Do you want anything?" she asked, standing up.
"Nah," was Jack's response. She walked out of the room and down to the café. As she walked, she started thinking about the whole Ellie-Jack situation, and she couldn't help feeling a little resentful of Ellie's behavior, even though Ellie was her other best friend. How in the world could she accuse Jack of not loving her? It was so untrue it wasn't even funny.
Lysette knew that if she had a guy that wonderful who cared about her that much, she would never accuse him of anything like that. She would never be so selfish. She cared about him too much. It was hard for her to explain. It was just how she felt. Jack was such an incredible person, and he didn't deserve that. If only he could see it. If only he could see her. He was an incredible person . . . suddenly, Lysette felt the words coming on. Everything she needed to say to him. She ran down the hall.
Lysette sat down at one of the tables and grabbed a napkin and a marker and started to write . . .
Amber walked into Jack and Lysette's room to find Jack sitting at the computer playing solitaire. She knocked on the door frame, not wanting to startle him. He shut the computer off and turned to face her.
"Can I help you with something?" he asked. Amber smiled warmly.
"Seems like you're the one that needs help, not me. What's up?" she responded, sitting down on the bed.
"What makes you think something's wrong?" Jack said hollowly. "I'm just fine."
"Oh, yeah . . . and I'm Gandhi reincarnated. You seem awfully down for a guy who has a new love in his life and who is going to be a father in a few months," Amber observed. She paused for a moment. "You're still worried about Ellie, aren't you?"
"I'm worried about her mental health, if that's what you're asking. As far as anything else, amazingly . . . I could care less," Jack said. Amber raised her eyebrows. "It seems really strange to me. I thought I'd found the girl I wanted to spend forever with. But in the past weeks, I've been feeling like we're going off in two very different directions, Ellie and I. And the farther away I get, the more I see that she's not meant for me at all. Our two separate paths aren't leading back to each other. Ever. And while that makes me a little sad, in a way I feel so . . . relieved, for a lack of a better term."
"And why is that?" Amber inquired.
"Because I'm not the one having to take care of her anymore. I'm not having to deal with her crap. For the first time in months, I'm not holding my breath, just waiting for her to find something to get angry with me about. And that's so refreshing," he replied, smiling.
"So, where do you think this path is leading you next?" she asked.
"I think we both already know the answer to that one," he said. Amber grinned, knowing what he meant. "So, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go find her. I think she said she was going to the café."
"Good luck, Jack," Amber said, squeezing him briefly before walking out of the room. "You deserve to be happy."
"Thanks," he said. They walked off in opposite directions. Jack walked down the hallway to the café, finding Lysette sitting at a table writing feverishly. He sat down beside her. She looked up from her writing, smiling.
"You okay?" Lysette asked, folding up the napkin she had been writing on and shoving it in her pocket. Jack had the goofiest look on his face, almost a cross between intense and happy. He reached over and touched her cheek gently. Pulling her to him, he kissed her softly.
"Now I'm okay," he said. Lysette smiled, and they kissed again.
That's all for now, folks! Thanks again for reading, now please go and tell me what you thought of what you read! I love reviews – they keep me going! Toodles until later . . .