A/N: OH MY GOSH! I LITERALLY GOT 8 STORY FOLLOWERS FROM ONE CHAPTER. I'M SO EXCITED! AND YES, THERE WILL TOTALLY BE MORE DARCY X RIVEN. I apologize. This is one of my shorter chapters but I didn't have a lot of time...
Man, no one could pay me all the money in the world to be a track star. This shit was tiring.
"Hahaha! Catch me if you can, loser!" laughed Stormy over her shoulder as she zipped through the crowds with super agility, waving around Flora's bikini.
When I caught that bitch, I was gonna beat the shit out of her without question. Wheezing and swearing under my breath, I ran as fast as I could through the masses of people, struggling to keep Stormy in my sight. How the hell was she going so fast? It had to her wind powers in play, because it was humanly impossible for anything (not counting a cheetah and my aunt at the mall when there's a sale) to go that fast.
But I had wind powers too, so why wasn't I going at hyper speed? Realizing I didn't stand a chance against the witch, I finally slowed to a stop so I could catch my breath. After I caught my breath, I looked around to see Stormy had completely disappeared. Oh no. Flora was not going to be pleased…
And speaking of Flora, I'd better go check on the chick. Who knew what condition the poor thing was in. She was probably beating herself up for something stupid-ass Stormy did. Poor girl...
When I slowly opened the bathroom door, I greeted by the sound soft, muffled sobs. "Flores?" I called gently, slowly proceeding into the cold bathroom. All of the stalls were empty besides for the one all the way in back."C'mon, Flores. You can't stay in there forever," I pointed out as I neared the closed stall. "I have a towel you can wrap yourself in."
The stall opened just enough so I could see Flora's teary green eye. "Y-you don't understand," she sniffled sadly, "I-I was out in the open with-without my top on. I feel so…nasty."
Her innocence nearly broke my heart like my mother's water when it was time to deliver my little sister. "Flores, just because you were somewhat naked in public doesn't make you a whore." Well, it kind of did when I thought about it, but I wasn't gonna say that aloud and hurt her feelings even more. "Your bikini was just too small. That's it. It's not like you were purposely strip teasing in the middle of the pool just for the hell of it."
The girl didn't say anything.
"Besides, no one really saw it happen." That was a lie. While Flora had been busy panicking over her exposed upper half, I spotted at least five guys snapping pics of her. "You could step outside right now and no one would even know you had a…mishap. Just put the towel on and come on outside."
"B-but people will st-stare," stammered Flora.
"No, they won't. We're in the water park, remember? Everybody's got a towel. When they look at you, they'll just think you got cold or something. It's no big deal, really. Now, stop being so paranoid."
"O-okay." Flora stuck her hand out of the narrow opening. I handed her the towel and stepped back as she opened the stall. The poor girl was holding the towel around her upper half like her life depended on it.
"I'm sure we'll find your top," I promised her, patting her on the back. "And if we don't, we can always buy one. Sure, it won't match but who cares?"
Flora managed a weak smile. "Okay. Thanks for trying to make me feel better. You're a true friend."
And at that moment, my heart skipped a beat. Flora, one of my favorite Winx girls, just called me a friend. Like an I-know-you friend. Even after all these weeks in the universe of the Winx Club, I still got a kick out of hanging out with them, though it was starting to feel normal. Yet, at the same time it felt like a dream. It was kind of hard to explain.
"No problem. Now let's hurry and get back to the water park," I suggested. Flora nodded and followed me out of the bathroom. Bloom and Musa were waiting for us outside.
"Flora, are you okay?" asked Bloom with concern, looking the girl up and down. "Stella said she saw you rush into the bathroom crying."
Wow, what a bum. Stella saw how distressed Flora was, yet didn't bother help her or see what was wrong. "A certain witch of storms stole her top," I informed, frowning at the remembrance of loosing Stormy.
Musa looked annoyed. "Seriously, why can't the Trix just leave us alone for once? We don't want or have anything to do with them."
"Let's forget about them," I spoke up, clapping my hands together. "So where are the guys?"
"We're right here," announced a voice that made me want to zap something all the way to Oblivion. We all turned to see Harry, Miller, and Liam approaching us with cool-cat expressions stretching across their faces. Flora squeaked and hid behind me, probably embarrassed to be breathing the same air with a guy without a top on.
"What do you dumbasses want?" I asked harshly, not wanting to entertain them or their extreme perviness.
"I thought I'd see you here." Miller winked at me. "So what have you been up to, sweetheart?" His flipped his brown mop out of his face, making me growl defensively.
"And Flora. Why are you hiding from me?" Liam matched Miller's overconfident smile and aimed it at Flora, who was now quivering behind me. "Aren't you happy to see me again?"
Bloom and Musa just stood there, choosing to remain silent either because they had nothing to do with this or didn't want to risk being pulled into things and become targeted by the Three Angry Ex-Girlfriends.
"H-hi," stammered Flora shyly.
"Let's go, Flores. We don't need scum like them," I insisted, turning around and pushing the girl away.
"It was nice seeing you again," called Miller smoothly from behind as the four of us put some distance between us and them.
"You know, you probably can't avoid them forever," pointed out Bloom, "life is full of twists and surprises and you might end up running into them again."
I knew we were, but didn't want to think about that now. "Who cares? We're here to have fun, not sulk and sigh over a bunch of womanizers who tried to make us their next victims," I countered, thinking of the Three Angry . Boy, did their breakups fuck them up. I'd be damned if I ever lost my mind over some punk-ass man.
"Are you guys talking about us?" teased Sky (Brandon), suddenly appearing out of nowhere with Brandon (Sky).
"Wait, what?" Bloom raised an eyebrow.
"Nothing." Brandon (Sky) shoved Sky (Brandon). "We were just looking for you. We couldn't find you at the water park, so we figured something must've happened."
"The water park! Can we please just go back there?" I begged in annoyance, "we're wasting time here and we don't have all day."
"Speaking of the water park, how about we try the new ride?" suggested Sky (Brandon) devilishly, "I heard everyone who rides it will be-" I stopped paying attention to him when I spotted a glint of pink out of the corner of my eye. I turned around and looked up to see—
"No they didn't," I growled, looking up at the flagpole.
Flora, who apparently noticed it as well, was frozen. Her face was blank, but I knew what she was thinking. "Guys, what is it?" asked Bloom alertly, looking around. "Are the Trix up to no good again? Should we—" She stopped short when she noticed it, too. "Oh no," was all she could manage.
At the top of the flagpole was none other than Flora's tiny pink bikini top, blowing in the afternoon breeze under the flag of Magix. Loud snickering caught my attention, and that's when I noticed Riven was standing directly at the flagpole with the Trix, looking up at his work.
OH HELL NO! "Hey, isn't that Flora's…" Brandon (Sky) trailed off, glancing at Flora. It took one look at her towel for his face to go red. "Oh."
Fuck, no. I wasn't having this. Feeling enraged, I stomped over to them. "Yo, what's the meaning of this?" I erupted at them, readying to pull some hair.
"Oh, look. If it isn't the little pathetic fairy I beat," taunted Stormy, putting her hands on her hips and smirking at me. "What are you doing here? Hoping to avenge your worthless friend?"
I could barely speak, but I was able to spit out a warning. "Bitch, one of you better get your ass up there and give that back," I managed, boiling with anger from top to bottom. I couldn't help but notice the crowds forming behind me. Everyone was staring and pointing up at Flora's bikini top. Some were laughing, others were hissing in disgust, and some outright looked like they didn't give a damn.
"Oh please. This is hardly our problem," insisted Darcy calmly, latching on to Riven's arm again. "It's the nature girl's fault this happened. If she wasn't trying to be so-"
"Slutty," insulted Stormy with a smirk.
"-none of this wouldn't have ever happened," finished Darcy coolly, looking proud of all the attention we were getting.
I was seething now. "I can't believe you!" I hollered in Riven's face. "The hell's your problem?!"
He pushed me away in disgust. "Whatever. Like Darcy said, this isn't our fault. If anything, blame the flower girl. If she wasn't wearing such a small top, it wouldn't have come off."
Hidden within the masses of people, I heard Flora whimpering. Though it was nearly drowned out by the dozens of other voices, I could hear her clearly. Overhead, the sky began to darken with thick black clouds as if to emphasize Flora's sadness and embarrassment.
And to be honest, I felt super sorry for her. All around us, guys and girls were snapping pictures, laughing about, and making rude, mean, and aggressive comments about the "slut" who thought this was funny. And just hearing them talk all this shit about my friend made me want to unleash a whirlwind on them all. I clenched my fists and gritted my teeth. It wasn't fair! It wasn't right!
"Don't act all innocent!" barked Musa, stepping forward beside me. I nodded at her, thankful for her support. It relieved me just a little to have someone else step out for poor Flora.
"Yeah! This isn't her fault at all!"Bloom appeared to my right, looking just as pissed.
"Oh, whatever. This is so pathetic," insisted Icy with a rude laugh, flipping her hair over her shoulder. "Is this supposed to be entertaining or something? You fairies don't even know how to defend your own friend."
That's it. I was about to throw myself at her, but I held myself back when the authorities and a few members of the schools' staffs showed up. "Alright, what's the meaning of this?" asked Ms. Faragonda calmly, appearing in front of the masses of people with her hands clasped behind her back. Palladium, who was standing beside her, shook his head disappointedly at the flagpole, his face turning red at the sight of the bikini top.
Faragonda calmly looked at me and then Riven and the Trix. She probably already knew what—who the problem was, but was just giving everyone a chance to explain themselves. "These dumbasses stole Flora's top and tied it to the pole," I said through gritted teeth, not caring that I was cussing to an official's face.
"Now hold on! We didn't do anything like that," protested Icy, putting her hands on her hips and glaring at me hardly. "She's lying."
I wanted to throw a rock at her.
Bloom looked like she wanted to roll Icy over with a Mack truck and Musa was so mad, she was sputtering nonsense.
"Bitch, you straight up stole her top and ran away with it," I barked at Stormy as thunder rumbled in the sky above. "I literally chased you through the whole motherfucking park!"
Stormy looked offended and let out a sound of disgust. I glanced over my shoulder. Even through the crowds, I could see Flora hidden behind the bodies of our unsuspecting classmates. At least no one knew the bikini top was hers.
Okay, forget Icy. It was Stormy I wanted to beat the shit out of. "You lie!" I hissed at her, gearing up for a fight. I didn't hear that I standing in the headmistress' presence. I wanted going to let this witch get away with what she did.
I shot a hate glare at Riven. "And you! You're the one who put the damned bikini up there in the first place! This is your fault!"
I expected Riven to start cussing me out. But he didn't. Instead, he reached out and shoved me. Hard, too. I staggered backwards a bit. When I regained balance of myself, I glowered at him. I was about to return the shove, but Faragonda stepped in front of me.
"That's enough," she said calmly. She looked at the Trix and Riven with an unchanging expression. "There are plenty of video camera around here, and if you're willing to prove your innocence, we could ask to review the footage."
And just as Faragonda probably anticipated, the Trix and their little lapdog drew back like cowards. "Whatever. We're out of here," spat Icy, not looking at Faragonda as she and Stormy stomped away, pushing people out of their way.
I glanced at Riven, somewhat hoping he'd own up to things. Instead, he turned away and spat. "Whatever. We're out of here," he growled. Without saying a word, Faragonda and I stepped aside so they could take their leave.
There was silence as we watched them disappear amongst the others. "That's right! Run, you little fuckers!" I shouted, "run back to that dump you call Cloud Tower! We don't need your shi-"
"Acadia, that is enough," interrupted Faragonda levelheadedly, turning to peer at me through her glasses. She looked at me, Bloom, and Musa. "I'm disappointed in you girls, too." Bloom looked down at her feet with shame, and Musa crossed her arms and pressed her lips together
I was too stunned to even react right away."Why!?" I demanded a little too rudely.
"As fairies, I expect you to handle situations calmly and respectfully. Fighting over such small matters is hardly necessary. Yes, I know you were only protecting your friend, but another approach to the situation would've been better."
I opened my mouth to make a disrespectful remark, but nothing came out. Deep down, I knew she was right. Here we were, arguing and making a scene like typical teenage girls when eventually, we'd be fighting over things far more important, like the existence of Magix for one.
"Your anger will get the best of you," said Faragonda, looking at me sternly. "And if you let it, it will one day consume you. Learn to control it, and you will unlock your inner potential. The one your attitude keeps you from." And with those words, she walked away with Palladium and the other adults.
The unsatisfied crowds began to disband, but I just stood there. Faragonda's words lingered in the air, causing me to growl.
Whatever.
"I'll get Flora's bikini," volunteered Musa lowly, her wings and fairy outfit replacing her swim suit. Though she wouldn't openly admit it, I knew she was bummed out about Riven and how he willingly helped and lied for the Trix.
"Th-thank you."
I turned around to see a quivering towel-wrapped Flora standing behind me. "I-I didn't mean to make so much trouble."
I wanted to cry. Poor Flora thought all of this was her fault, when it wasn't. I swallowed and nodded. There was a brief moment of silence before Flora suddenly burst into tears.
And the sky wept with her.
