Hiiiiiiiiii….*nervous laughter*….have I mentioned how awful I am about updating during the summer? And the site was being stupid last Friday and then I was gone all Saturday and then I've been having tons of homework ever since then, which is why it's seven days and like a month late. Well now you know. But it's back to school, so back to a regular update. Ish. More on that at the bottom.
Disclaimer: I don't own Young Justice or any of the characters unless they're previously stated as mine.
Allie
March 14, 2016
"Time to get up," I yawn tiredly. Salem grunts and rolls off the mattress and onto the hard wooden floor. I stand up and trudge to the bathroom. As I open the door I look into Auntie's room. The bed is made and she's nowhere in sight.
"Must've left," I mutter under my breath. I push the door open more and close it behind me. After finishing my morning hygiene I go back into Auntie's room and open the bottom drawer. I pull out my school clothes, a peach polo shirt with khaki pants. Salem comes in behind me. Her hair is a mess and her breath smells terrible. She's pretty dazed from staying up late last night but I know she'll snap out of it once she finishes in the bathroom. She pushes me away and opens the second drawer. She pulls out an identical shirt but a khaki skirt. She walks back to the bathroom, slamming the door behind her. I quickly change into my clothes and head for the kitchen. I see two plates of what looks like green eggs sitting on the stove. A sticky note hangs off the rim of one.
"Eat a good breakfast. ;)," I read out loud. I retrieve a fork from a drawer and prod the substance.
"This is considered breakfast?" A small part if it deflates. "Cereal it is, then." I declare. I turn and nearly scream. Peter stands there. He mumbles something. I give him a look and he clears his throat. "Good morning, Aliza." I've become more accepting of Peter being around. The only thing I don't like about him being around is the fact that he disappears and reappears randomly. I walk through him and open the pantry. I look around before finding cinnamon toasties. I grab the box and walk back to the table. Salem comes in and grabs her laptop from the counter, placing it on the table. She glances at the stove.
"Aww Auntie made us breakfast." She grabs the plate and a fork and spoon. She hands me the spoon and stabs the fork into the green stuff.
"I wouldn't eat that if I were you. Oh and could you get me some milk?"
"Sure," she says, opening the fridge and getting a carton of milk and orange juice. "And why not? She made it especially for us." I shrug as she hits the door with her hip, closing it.
"Hey what's this?" She hands me the milk and sets down the orange juice before reaching and taking what looks like a photograph from the refrigerator. She laughs and then shows me the photo. It's a picture of Auntie dressed in a blue mail carrier uniform with a matching hat covering her eyes and a brown bag slung across her shoulder. I grin.
"At least we know we won't be the only ones looking ridiculous." I pour the milk and take a bite at the same time as Salem. I look at her. She swallows.
"It tastes a bit like strawberry jelly but overall it's good." I make a face as she continues to eat it. I decide that it's be better to just focus on my food.
Once we finish we put the dishes in the sink and head to the door. I open the hall closet and grab both of our shoes. Salem takes her jacket off the rack and shrugs it on, checking to make sure that the sleeves cover all of her tattoos.
"You got your key?" I ask, lacing my shoes up. She pulls up her necklace and along with her zei stone is the key.
"I also have lunch money and my schedule." I stand up.
"Ditto." I throw on my backpack that's waiting by the door. "Let's go."
oooooooo
I look around the classroom. My first period class is world geography and from what I had heard from other students the teacher is always late.
"Hey new kid." I look up to see a brunette girl beckoning me to her desk. I push my fake glasses I use for a disguise further up my nose before getting up and moving over to her. She looks like she'd be one of the popular girls based on how she held herself, her cosmetics, and the level of confidence she gave off. But I had confidence too.
"What do you want?" Her friend, a blonde with brown lowlights, looks at me like I just swore. The brunette brushes it off.
"Cute glasses. Where'd you get 'em?"
"Visions."
"I'm Tasha Stadford. And that's Mary Jane Jones."
"Aliza Caine."
"So you're the new girl, huh?" I nod, and she smiles.
"So what lunch do you have?"
"B."
"Chill. You're having lunch with us." She turns back around in her desk. I scrunch my nose up at how she thinks just because she's cool I want to sit with her.
"I'm eating with my sister."
"She can come with." I'm about to make up an excuse for why we can't but decide not to because Auntie said we should make friends.
"Fine." I go and sit back down in my desk and wait until the teacher finally walks in. The rest of the day flows pretty smoothly. Since Salem isn't very good at science we have the same biology class.
"Wow somebody already asked us to sit with them! That's so cool!" I smile at Salem's enthusiasm before quickly copying the notes down from off the board. When lunchtime comes I don't even have to look for the girls, they find me.
"Aliza!" Tasha waves at me as I'm about to get in line. I hesitate a bit before waving back. She hurries up to me.
"C'mon, we saved you a spot." She grabs my arm and pulls me all the way to where the line to get food starts. I glance behind me. People give me some irritated and angry scowls. I turn back to Tasha to see her hugging another girl.
"Oh my gosh hey!" they squeal at each other. I tap Tasha's shoulder.
"Dude we just cut all these people."
"Excuse me honey but I'm way too pretty to be a dude," she laughs. "And secondly we do this all the time. No one complains."
"I dunno," I mutter, really not liking this. I sigh and just go with it, getting and paying for my food. We sit down at the lunch table and I start eating. A disgusting taste fills my mouth and the cafeteria food isn't helping drive it away. I reach in my pocket and take out a few peppermints, unwrapping them and popping them into my mouth.
"You okay?" A hand iss placed on my shoulder and I look up to see Salem. I smile and nod slightly. The others are quiet.
"Oh, well if you're sure you're okay, I'll go get my lunch," Salem smiles. She walks back for the line.
"It's pizza day!" I call after her she gave a thumbs up to show her approval. As soon as she's out of earshot Mary Jane leans forward.
"Oh my gosh is that your sister?"
"Yeah. Why?"
"You two don't even look alike," a Hispanic girl from my algebra class, Maggie I think, comments.
"Yeah, and?"
"Is she like adopted?" I pause and squint at the girls. "I'll take your silence as a yes."
"She's my sister."
"But not your biological sister, right?" an African American guy named Ricky states.
"No..." I sigh.
"She is so weird though." I turn to another guy, James. He constantly brushes his bangs out of his face. "She started getting all defensive just because I said art wasn't a real class. It was so stupid." He probably had had that coming. Salem believes that all art is beautiful if someone put effort and heart into it and anyone who said it wasn't important got an earful.
"Yeah," MJ chimes in, "and in PE we were playing volleyball, and she couldn't hit the ball over the net and stuff. It was sad to watch." They all laugh.
"Shut up." I growl, glaring at each of them.
"What's your problem?" Tasha asks. "We're just having fun."
"At my sister's expense?"
"Lighten up." They then go back to talking. I dig my nails into my knees and grimace as they make fun of my sister. They start quieting down when Salem approaches the table. She notices that I haven't eaten anything.
"What's wrong?"
"Not hungry," I reply. I feel a quick flash of pain, like a two second headache and the feeling that something is plugging into my head.
"Do you want to go sit somewhere else?" Salem asks over a telepathic link. I wince slightly.
"Yeah."
"You see the group sitting at the fourth circle table?" I look and spot a table with two extra seats. "From the info I've gathered I think they'd make way better friends and of company than these jerks."
"Wait did you-"
"Yeah, I heard everything with Conner's hearing."
"I'm sorry I-"
"It's cool not everybody is going to like me, but thanks for trying to say something for me." She pats my hand and I smile.
"Let's go." I stand up and we turn to go.
"Hey where are you going?" Tasha asks.
"To find better people to be around," Salem says with a wave. We laugh with each other at Tasha's expression. It seems like we've take care of two types of bullies today. Salem stops in front of the table.
"Hello, Salem," a boy with black hair and brown eyes says dramatically.
"Jesse," Salem replies, equally dramatic.
"You two know each other?" a blonde girl with freckles asks. She's wearing one of those hipster beanies and glasses. Next to her is a blond boy who looks like a male version of her.
"Yep," Jesse smiles. "We got into an argument over whether Senri's voice sounded better in the English or Japanese dubbed."
"Can we sit here?" I ask as the two get caught up in the argument again.
"Sure," the girl says, gesturing at the chairs. I smile my thanks as I sit down.
"I'm Aliza. But my friends call me Allie."
"Well, maybe we'll get the chance to call you that," the blonde boy says. "I'm Collin and this is Skylar. And no we aren't twins. I'm an entire year older." I laugh.
"We'll it's nice to meet you. That's my sister Salem."
"Are those tattoos real?" Skylar asks, peering at some peeking over Salem's jacket collar.
"Yep," Salem proclaims.
"Cool. So you two are new huh?" I nod. "We'll it's good you got away from Tasha and her gang before they sank their claws into you."
"Yeah that group wasn't really...for us."
"We understand, they tend to tear at people who they feel superior to." There's an awkward silence after Collin's abrupt statement.
"You should finish eating before the bell rings," Jesse says, breaking the silence. I pick up my pizza and take a bite. The rest of the lunch period is filled with light chatter about bands we like and shows we watch. I also find out that at least one of them is in almost all of my classes. The next few days go by fast and with a backpack full of homework and study assignments when we get home, Salem and I always have something to do. Somehow we balance all of the work with patrols with Tori and training with the team.
"You know, the cameras here have a lot of blind spots," Salem muses one day during lunch, looking up at the ceiling.
"Yeah, the school had a lot of budget cuts so they only got to install a few cameras," Jesse explains.
"Uh-huh...," Salem mutters. I can tell by the look on her face that she's planning something.
"Did any of you understand what Mr. Beck was saying in chem?" Skylar asks. I shrug off Salem's thing and continue with our conversation. On Friday Tori meets us on our way home.
"Guess who's going to go see where I used to live?" she asks with a grin.
Okay, so here's the down low on updating. We have roughly three chapters in stock, but after that it's touch and go. Because everything you hear about your junior year of high school and homework is true. My standard time spent on homework is now two and a half hours. Add in, you know, LIFE, and suddenly my morning writing time has quickly turned into sleep or more homework. So I'll try to keep up, but please be patient. Also, reviews make me write because I feel guilty when I'm not updating. (hint, hint)