Summary: Valerie discovers Elle is going to be attending Casper High.
Characters: Valerie, Elle, Vlad, Star, Paulina, Dash, and Kwan
Written: August 2015
Note: This is set after chapter 64 of Spectacular Specter.
Chapter 64.5
"Elle!" Valerie gasped in surprise when she saw Elle in the halls of Casper High. She walked up to the other woman and hugged her. Since the whole crazy thing happened at Elle's house, Valerie hadn't had the chance to talk to her. She was worried about how her friend was doing, but she couldn't actually ask about it. It frustrated her, but Elle didn't know that she was there when the incident happened. "What are you doing here?"
"I'm going to be going here at the start of next semester," Elle announced.
"That's great!" Valerie glanced upward as a man came to stand behind Elle. She gulped seeing Elle's father, recalling the terrifying appearance of his real face when he lost control. "I guess things are working out better now."
Elle looked up at her father then nodded. "Well, not perfectly. We had a big blow out over the break." She shrugged like it was a common thing among families. It was. Families fought because no family was perfect and got along one hundred percent of the time. But Valerie knew their "blow out" was something more than the common butting heads fight most families experienced. "But we're working to make things better now."
"Yes," Mr. Masters agreed, "I've come to realize the errors of my way. I'm trying to listen more to Elle instead of pushing my ideas onto her." He placed a hand on his daughter's shoulder and smiled down at her. "We should be going though. You might be transferring to a new school, but I still expect you to finish out the remainder of the semester at your current school."
Elle groaned, her shoulders drooping. Valerie didn't blame her. Elle's school sounded like the super elite private school only the children of the wealthy could afford to attend. Valerie wouldn't want to be in her place and was glad her father never thought of sending her to a private school. She liked Casper High, even with the struggle of maintaining popularity.
"I guess I'll see you at the start of next semester." Elle smiled again, bright and happy. The change in schools seemed like it would definitely do her good, and with teachers like Lancer, she would be able to get help wherever she was struggling.
Valerie nodded. "See you then."
Elle waved then trotted down the hall toward the exit. Her father, however, lingered behind. He watched his daughter for a brief moment before turning to Valerie.
"Before I go, I wanted to thank you." Mr. Masters shook his head before Valerie could say anything. "I won't tell anyone about you running around dressed up like some vigilante. And I'll overlook you breaking one of our windows. But you had a hand in helping to save my daughter, as well as fixing our relationship, so thank you."
"I don't know what-"
"Let's not play that game. I'm quite capable of piecing things together." Mr. Masters frowned like it insulted him for her to deny the truth. Valerie gulped, nervous about the man knowing her identity. "And that weapon of yours was clearly designed based off an old schematics the Fentons and I included in one of our research papers. They are easy enough to find online if you look for them. I do caution being careful of doing such things though. You don't want to draw the attention of the Guys in White."
"I'll be careful next time then." Valerie shrugged it off, but she made a note to warn Kwan about it later. She didn't want her friend in danger because of her.
"I was thinking perhaps I could aid you in that department."
Valerie narrowed her eyes. She didn't know the man well, but she didn't approve of the way he had treated Elle. Maybe things were getting better for the two of them, but Valerie was still hesitant to trust Mr. Masters. "In what way?"
"That rifle isn't very easy to carry with you at all times. I could provide you with some weapons that you will be better able to conceal on your person. Consider it part of my thanks for your help."
It was tempting. After all, Mr. Masters had a point. She couldn't run around carrying the rifle with her in case something came up. Though, since Phantom was no longer her enemy, she didn't necessarily need a weapon to combat a ghost. On the other hand, if she ran into trouble, it would be good to have something to use to defend herself. She was confident in her karate skills, but her opponents might be armed.
"I might have some ideas," Valerie said slowly. "But nothing that can kill. I just need to defend myself."
Mr. Masters nodded. "Of course."
Valerie dug into her bag and retrieved a pen and paper. She jotted down an idea she had for what she wanted, and one or two suggestions, including her cell number so the man could contact her. Then she handed the paper over to him. Mr. Masters glanced over what she had written. With a nod, he folded up the paper then stuffed it into his jacket pocket.
"I believe that should be no problem. Give me some time, and I should have something ready for you." After a quick farewell, Mr. Masters walked toward the school's exit to join his daughter at their car.
Was trusting Mr. Masters the smartest plan? Valerie didn't have the time to stand there and debate it. She hurried off down the hall before she was late for her first class.
"Who was that you were talking to this morning?" Star questioned when Valerie joined her friends at their table for lunch. Her tone wasn't accusatory or tinged with disgust. She was merely curious.
"My dad was invited to the Masters' Christmas party." Valerie shrugged, poking at her salad with a plastic spork. "Turns out his daughter is going to be coming here."
"Didn't we see her talking to Fenton earlier?" Dash lifted his eyebrow.
"Well, Danny does tutor her," Kwan said, frowning at his friend, almost like he was daring Dash to say Elle could never be in the A List if she hung out with losers. "And going to a new school, it's good for her to know some people rather than being completely alone."
"Did you see her earrings though?" Paulina asked, more to Star and Valerie than the guys. "They were so cute! You should have brought her over. I would have liked to ask where she got them."
"We could have gone shopping this weekend," Star said. "Maybe I could have found something cute like that for my date."
"Oh!" Paulina grinned. "They would look great with that dress you have. The one with the flowers along the hem."
Valerie held back a laugh as the two women broke away into their own little conversation about what Star should wear for her date. While they were distracted, Valerie turned to Kwan. "I really appreciate you building me stuff," she told him, keeping her voice low.
"Did you need something else?" Kwan replied in the same quiet voice as he leaned toward her.
Valerie shook her head. "No, but after hearing about the Guys in White, I'm worried about what they might do if they found out you were looking into all that ghost stuff, especially on how to make something like that rifle."
Kwan frowned. "I never even thought about that."
"We didn't know about them," Valerie argued. "I just want you to be careful from now on. We don't want them looking at us too closely. Especially since Officer Walker seems to be a part of them. If he suspects you're help me to find out what happened to my dad, he might try something." She didn't even want to think about what that something might be, but Officer Walker had put her father in the hospital. A thought came to her, and she chewed on her lower lip in debate of saying anything. "You don't think they'll try to do something to my dad, do you?"
Kwan hesitated to answer. "I don't think they have much reason to do anything. Your dad's in a coma for right now. They have no idea when he might regain consciousness. For all they know, he won't so he's not a threat. The only one that really needs to worry about your dad is Officer Walker. And he seems more focused on the new power he has as temporary Police Chief. So I think he's safe for now."
Valerie released her breath, her friend's words offering her some relief. "Still, that makes me want to prove what Officer Walker did faster. I don't want to risk that he'll attempt to do something to my dad at some point."
"You know you can always count on me to help for whatever you need."
"I know." Valerie smiled at him. "Sometimes I think I ask too much of you though."
"If I really hated it, I would tell you." Kwan shrugged. "But I like helping my friends."
Valerie let out a short laugh as she rolled her eyes. "You and Danny. You two seem a lot alike sometimes."
"I'll take that as a compliment." Kwan grinned then picked up his sandwich to take a big bite out of it. Valerie smiled lightly as she returned to her own lunch.
Author's Note: Another side week. I'm starting to have quite a few of these. Sorry! D: Main story will get an update next week though~
YumiStar: He has some redeemable qualities to him, though it seems Valerie shares some hesitancy to trust him as Danny does. XD;; That was actually the original intention... But I just couldn't make Vlad out to be as much as a dick as Norman Osborn. orz
Tetractys: Yes! Bonding! Bonding for all! 8D It was about time Vlad got a swift kick in the rear to realize all his errors.