The time to move came not long after, Vicki was just as impressed as I was. We now all had our own rooms and things felt a lot less stressful. Time blew past quickly and it was finally the day of the party, everyone I knew was invited even if it wasn't that many people. Never seeing the villains in a party scene before I worried for them, mostly for Archie and his lack of self control. Slipping into a flowing white dress and black and white stockings I hummed to myself lightly.
I came out of my room as soon as I was finished and trotted down the black winding staircase. Vicki was sitting down at a long black table, she wore a pretty knit sweater and dress pants. She was never one to wear dresses, it was always a fight with her so I didn't want to force her. Walking over to her I sat in the chair next to her, it was a sleek black dining chair. It wasn't exactly our choice in furniture but it was nice, they seemed to only be able to agree on the color black.
I smiled at Vicki, "You look good, I'm glad we agreed on a more formal setting."
"It's not really my choice but it is your birthday so whatever" Vicki shrugged with a chuckle, "You look good too."
The house seemed a bit quiet so I asked, "Have you seen the guys anywhere?"
"They're discussing bills in the office room..." She sighed rolling her brown eyes.
I tilted my head, "Without us? that's suspicious... I'll check up on them."
"Yeah make sure they're not making any dumb plans again!" She nudged me playfully.
Laughing I pushed myself of the nice chair running over to the office room next to the staircase. The door was closed shut and I couldn't hear anything going on from inside. Worried I knelt down putting my ear on the door, I could hear muffled words that took awhile for me to focus on. The content of their conversation was as expected, I heard nothing peculiar so I decided to give them some slack. However I still desired to be a part of it, I knocked gently on the plain door for an answer.
From a distance I heard the scraping of chairs against the hardwood followed by footsteps. The door flew open and I leaped back in surprise almost dying of a heart attack. Behind the door I saw and amused Giovanni attempting to hide a smirk at my dismay. His dark eyes pierced into my soul as he waited for some sort of confirmation from me.
Still collecting myself I heaved, "May I come in?"
Giovanni nodded, "Sure we're just discussing money management, nothing too concerning."
He turned away walking back to his seat at the far end of a table. Around him were the rest of the leaders sitting with blank faces, all of their stares resting on me. Feeling a little misplaced I side walked awkwardly to the only seat available in between Maxie and Lysandre. A silence filled the air and I slunk into my seat a deep embarrassment boiling in my stomach. Giovanni as always being the top dog began to shuffle some papers getting ready to speak.
"I'm sure you're all aware that bills for this house will probably be quite high" Giovanni exclaimed with a fiery dignity, "This is why I'd like to split up the bill between the ones best at managing money, one of those people being me."
I piped in curiously, "Why didn't you ask Vicki and I to join as well we both work?"
Giovanni answered me clearly, "Don't worry about it, I was actually thinking you should both quit to focus on your education."
"That doesn't make any sense, aren't you all going back in a year or so? Education takes a long time here" I questioned him in a puzzled manor.
As I spoke the room seemed enter a deadly silence, all of them avoiding my gaze. I could feel a fear bubbling up into my throat as my instincts told me something was up. I swallowed in a nervous fashion as I lowered my head, what are they hiding this time? I focused on the ground anxiously wringing my hands, my head was already ticking with all sorts of malicious ideas of what they were planning. Attempting to put some real faith into them I raised my view once more.
Lysandre finally had the nerve to speak up, "We've agreed to stay awhile longer than we had planned."
"How much longer?" I asked in a worried tone.
Giovanni chimed in again, "Well all of us have different reason but it will probably be about five more years."
"Five more years!" I screamed with confusion, "I thought you guys wanted to go home, five years is a really long time!"
"I was going to stay longer initially to research the indigenous species, but eventually everyone agreed it would be beneficial" Colress tried his best to soothe my nerves.
I sighed calming myself, "You know what... I haven't put enough faith in you all..." I paused to find the right words, "I trust you."
Out of the corner of my eye I saw a triumphant smirk creep its way onto Ghetsis' face. Deep in my bones I could feel a nervous tension, but I knew if I didn't put my trust in them I would never be able to gain the same trust back. In my head I prayed and hoped that my judgements would not be proven false, that my decision of words would not back fire. I leaned back into the comfy padded chair and attempted to assure them with a smile.
"No harm will come from this I assure you" Giovanni claimed as he clenched his hands together.
I huffed deeply, "I know, I just wish you'd stop hiding things from Vicki and I all the time."
"I TOLD you that we should have discussed it with them!" Archie blurted out.
Maxie rolled his eyes, "I'm sure she's fine, calm yourself."
"Alright I'm going to leave before everyone starts arguing" I giggled lightly preparing to leave, "The party is in a few hours so get into something nice huh?"
As I closed the door behind me I heard the bickering of Archie and Maxie. I rolled my eyes to myself letting a small smile display on my face, they're hilarious at least. Satisfied with myself I trotted back over to Vicki who had now been reading some sort of black colored book. Approaching her I hung over her shoulder to see some pictures of Ghetsis, was that a scrap book?
"What is that you're reading?" I questioned her still hovering at her shoulder.
She burst into laughter showing me the title, "It's Ghetsis' scrap book! I found it lying on the coffee table, it says I am perfection a memoir to me."
"Oh my god!" I snatched the book and began to flip through it.
Unable to hold in my own laughter I boomed almost falling to the floor. He'd must have been so bored that he made a book about how 'perfect' he was. The pages matched a rather rustic style with beautiful royal colors and cutouts on the pages. Along with this it seemed like every picture was a self portrait he had either drawn or taken. Closing the book I covered my mouth in chuckles, sometimes you had to wonder what Ghetsis was really thinking.
******
The night was arriving as the sunset over the distant grassy hills from the wide window view. It had been time for the party, I set on some calming music to start things out nicely. Meanwhile across the room Vicki had been taking out all the alcohol and food platters we had prepared earlier. With the last of things set up I sat upon the living room sofa, which was of course black. It was only a few more minutes until the guests would arrive and the villains haven't been in the main room yet.
"What do you think they're doing?" I wondered as I checked the time on the wall.
Vicki plopped down next to me, "Probably doing the typical thing, spending forever to get ready."
"Seems legit!" I shrugged letting out a chuckle.
As soon as I stopped laughing out came Archie from the staircase. He wore a long black coat over a nice blue dress shirt with black pants, and as usual he never left his bandana behind. Jumping down next to us he grinned widely as if he thought he was the coolest thing in the world. Vicki eyed him a death stare and his grin faded while he scooted away. Right after him we heard the creaking of stairs and we all glared to watch who was coming down next.
Maxie and Colress tagged close to each other deep in conversation. Maxie wore a maroon overcoat that seemed to match in a nice suit, I took a moment to wonder if he had it tailored to fit him perfectly. Colress however was a bit more humble with a nice white dress shirt and dress pants that were black. The scientist also wore a cyan colored tie that fight nicely around his neck. They both walked calmly over to us and Colress gave me an impressed smile.
N had also been making his way down, Ghetsis following not far behind him. The young boy was just as casual as always with a white dress shirt and plain jeans. I turned to Vicki for a second to see if she ogled him, but she just glared at me with narrow eyes instead. Ghetsis however as always liked to make a show of things, and his choice of clothing actually well suited him. He wore luxurious black suit that matched somewhat of an older style of formal clothes, these were paired with black gloves. Vicki raised her eyebrows in a taunting manner when they reached us, I smacked her lightly in annoyance as she laughed.
Giovanni and Cyrus were next to follow and they both seemed to be in some sort of debate. Giovanni wore an orange suit fairly similar to what he already owned, I rolled my eyes not surprised in his classic forms. Cyrus was very plain as he wore a nice plaid shirt with gray and some regular jeans. Before they finished coming down Lysandre was quick to follow in a very fashionable and different outfit that had a similarity to his regular outfit. When they all collected to the middle the door bell rang and we started letting in guests.
One after another friends and family appeared into the night, most of them were family members. John finally brought a girlfriend, she was bright eyed and fairly small and short. It seemed to match him well, and the two seemed very happy. I settled myself down on the sofa as all the guests arrived, a beer was in my hand. I observed Vicki from a distance already drunk enjoying the company of others, the upbeat setting allowed me to smile and relax.
Maxie plopped down next to me with a dark colored drink in his hand, as I knew there were many drinks I didn't bother guessing what he had. His gaze set straight ahead he avoided my stare for awhile, I sipped from my drink at a fair pace peering back at him every now and then. It didn't take long to finish this drink and I grasped another promptly, I trailed back to the same spot where Maxie was siting. This time he stared at me as if he had something important to say.
"Is something up?" I asked him gazing back into his sharp eyes.
"It's nothing really, I'm just not all too familiar with the party scene..." The man spoke nervously, "You're the easiest person to linger around, so I'm spending time here."
I squinted my eyes at him, "You don't need to be nervous, all these people are really nice... Well accept for the villains and Vicki to you..."
"I'd rather like to get her attention but she doesn't seem to like me" He claimed gazing back at the crowd.
Vicki must have heard us talking and seemed to appear out of nowhere. A couch pillow hurtled at Maxie and he recoiled in utter surprise. I held back the urge to laugh as Vicki glared at him angrily. In some sort of defensive way Maxie calmly placed the pillow back to its place and she stuck his tongue out at him in a mocking way.
"See?" Maxie mumbled to me as he sat back down.
I rested a reassuring hand on his shoulder, "Don't worry about it, I have severe anxiety. If you get nervous just take a deep breath or step out for a little bit."
"You make a fair point, I suppose I'll give it a try" He sighed getting up from the couch and approaching a cluster of people.
It was warming to see them finally giving into a better nature and not constantly scheming. Resting back into the sofa I grinned to myself with a pleasant satisfaction. I searched my gaze around the room and saw Archie dancing like and idiot, it was quite the show to watch. However to my surprise a crowd had coiled around him cheering him on, it was absolutely wonderful to see.
After a few hours I could begin to feel the effects of the alcohol, my vision grew blurry and my conscious clouded. As I began to close my eyes Archie surprised me and picked me up from my comfy position. I shot my eyes open darting my gaze around and he smirked in a mocking way. Not knowing where he was taking me I squealed in a half laugh, behind him a bunch of other people laughed and shouted loudly. He trotted out of the back doorway and I realized he was about to throw me in the pool.
I squirmed in a playful way but I was too late. The man threw me in, and I bobbed to the surface soaking wet. I glared at him in annoyance and he continued to laugh at my slight dismay. Think I was clever I pulled myself out and tackled him into the pool. The splash hit many others and seemed to create a chain reaction as many other people dove recklessly into the water. I giggled and stumbled out of the water again hitting more drinks.
My body felt rather dizzy and I began to hang off of some people telling them random gestures of affection. A light whirred past some time and I felt as if nothing had happened. I blacked out.
******
END CHAPTER