CHAPTER NINETY NINE!
100 chapter special is next, and trust me, it'll be awesome. My friend also said she might bake me a cake for 100 chapters LMAOO so if she does I'll give her a silly shoutout.
Song: Rhinestone Eyes by Gorillaz!
Enjoy!
Chapter 99
Rhinestone Eyes
"And right here is where you'll be staying! It's technically my room, but it's our room now. If you want, of course." Henry announced as William ducked under one of the many beaded curtains hanging from the ceiling.
The room was rather different to his boring old-lady one back in England, with orange wallpaper and beige carpeting stained with cola. A wooden bed wearing a coat of violet and red-flannel blankets and butter-yellow ruffle pillows sat to the left. A dresser made of the same wood was in front of it, under a mess of crayons and papers and a funky patterned lamp. A floral-print couch the colour of frayed denim was pulled out on the other side, various patchwork quilts and stuffed animals thrown haphazardly on top. Posters decorated the walls for movies like Willow, Beetlejuice, and Goonies.
"You can have my bed," Henry decided, "and I'll have the couch."
"Thanks," said William, plopping on the bed to test its comfort level. Squishy, but not overly so. Nice. "Your room is cool."
He beamed. "Thank you! My mom made me clean up 'cause you were coming over, so it's usually pretty messy."
"That's okay. What's for dinner?" William hadn't eaten since a breakfast of burnt sausage and mushy tomato, and didn't eat any of the questionable aeroplane food. He was very picky with what he ate.
"Pancakes!"
William blinked. "Breakfast for dinner?"
"Yeah! My mom says meals have no time restraints, so we have whatever food we want, whenever we want."
"Weird." But he wasn't going to object, pancakes were delicious, after all. He especially liked his with blueberries.
As if he'd heard them, Henry's dad called from downstairs, "Kids! Dinner's ready!"
They ran down the hallway scented like jasmine incense, where Henry's parents and sister Jen were already seated at the table. A tall stack of golden brown pancakes sat in the middle of a circle of toppings—butter, syrup, blackberries, strawberries, powdered sugar and lemon juice. Pastel candles, probably homemade, lit up the dining room. And if William's eyes weren't deceiving him, those looked like fresh purple blueberries speckling the pancakes!
"Henry told us that blueberry was your favourite," his father explained with a smile. He was of average height and on the heavier side, with thinning, cinnamon-coloured hair and scruffy beard with eyes to match.
"It is," William clarified, taking a seat next to Henry. "Thanks."
Henry loaded his up with toppings that could give you diabetes just looking at it—scoops of powdered sugar, heaps of butter, and drowned in syrup, then wolfed it down with occasional gulps of milk. William chose the syrup and blackberries and dug in, relishing the sweet yet tangy taste. For some reason, Jen poured on the tiniest amount of lemon juice and nibbled working from the outside in on a spiral. He wrinkled his nose. Gross. He hated sour foods.
"So William, what are some differences between countries that you've noticed so far? I'm interested to hear what it's like in England." His father asked, slicing a strawberry.
He shrugged, taking a second to properly chew before answering. "It's really not that different besides people's accents and which side of the road you drive on." He frowned, glancing outside, where instead of thick snow, a chilly frost dusted the grass. "I guess it's warmer here."
"Just wait 'till the summer!" His mother laughed. "We usually drive up to the neighboring town, they have this lovely place called Shadow Beach that we like to take a dip in." Henry's mother was tall and slender, with light hazel hair and muddy brown eyes that stood out against her thick aqua eyeshadow. She wore lots of loose, flowy clothes and layers of colourful jewellery.
"There isn't much to do here," Henry explained, pushing his piece of pancake around in the leftover syrup on his plate. "Hurricane's a pretty boring place."
William frowned. "I thought it was pronounced Hurri-cayn. What's Hurri-kuhn supposed to mean?"
"No idea. Like I said, our town is weird."
His father gave his son a Look. "Come on, Henry, have some town pride! We have the World's Largest Pelican, after all."
"Saffron took that last year," Jen corrected. "It's at their zoo now."
"Oh." Henry's father wrinkled his brow.
"Well, we've got the World's Best Pancake Maker right here!" His mother gave the father a playful nudge.
William swallowed the last of his pancakes and stood up. "Uh, thank you for dinner." He picked up his dishes, taking them to the sink and dumping them in.
"Do you want to join us later for TV? There's a big hockey game tonight!" Henry's mother called. William remembered from the letters that Henry's family were big hockey buffs, and his sister was the goalie on their girl's team, with apparently a lot of athletic prowess.
"No, I'm quite tired. I might head to bed." He wasn't tired in the slightest due to jet lag, but he could tell Henry's parents weren't the type to realize that.
William flopped down on the bed, rolling over and stretching like a cat. It really was comfy. Henry had done a wonderful job. Back home, he was sleeping on a sheet of plywood covered in blankets, splinters and all.
The lights flicked on, and Henry closed the door behind him. "Hey!"
William sat up. "Hey. I thought you were watching hockey with your family."
Henry sat on the couch, the springs squeaking. "Hockey's boring. Besides, it's your first night here, I can't leave you for that!"
"True."
They sat in silence for a while, before Henry broke it with an embarrassed laugh. "Sorry. It's just so weird having you here."
William tilted his head to the side, "Are you disappointed?"
"No!" Henry shook his head vehemently. "I'm just…I'm not the best at talking to people."
He smiled wryly. "That's fine. Neither am I."
"Really? You seem pretty good at it."
"Well, I guess I'm okay at talking. I'm confident, I mean. I'm just not good at being friendly. Sometimes I'm rude without meaning to be." He shrugged. "I'm not really a 'people person.'"
"I'm the opposite. I'm so scared of being rude that I just don't say anything at all."
"Well, you've been talking to me for over a year, and I haven't found you rude once." And for once, William was telling the truth.
Henry beamed shyly. "Thank you."
Another beat of silence, but this time it was what people called a comfortable silence.
"We should sleep. There's school tomorrow. Your first day!" Henry said cheerily, flicking out the lights and plunging them into darkness.
"Wooo. Can't wait."
"Aw, act a little more excited."
William injected some fake pep rivalling a head cheerleader into his voice. "Wooo! Can't wait!"
"That's more like it! Okay, sleep now."
"Goodnight, Henry."
"Goodnight, William."
~lll~
William had anticipated the curious looks, the whispers and stares and comments he'd naturally get by being a new foreign student halfway through the year, not to mention the fact that he was in the eighth grade now, and middle schoolers were known to be cruel. What he didn't expect was the sheer number of them.
Of course, it made sense. Lakeview Middle School was tiny, with about two hundred kids and ten to fifteen in each of his four classes. Henry said that almost everyone had known each other since birth, depending on whether they went to Catholic school or the public elementary beside the middle school. And that was another thing, too: no more uniforms. William was not particularly fond of this change, since he didn't have many clothes, let alone clothes considered 'cool' by the majority. He was wearing a light grey cable-knit sweater and black dress pants, a relatively inoffensive outfit he hoped.
"Hey, Emily! Who's the new boy?" A chubby kid with longish blond hair and a yellow-gold letterman jacket called, strutting towards them with the douche-y confidence only a jock could walk with.
Henry rolled his eyes. "That's Christian Lee. Ignore him, he's a total meathead."
Unfortunately, ignoring him was a tad tricky when said meathead was poking him like a starfish in a touch tank. William glared and jerked away. "Can you not?"
"Woah! He's Bri'ish!" Christian jeered in an awful attempt at an accent. "How's the queen? Why do you call eggplants aubergines? Is it true you all wear makeup? Is that why you're so pretty?"
"Hey, lay off!" Henry yelled, standing in front of his friend protectively.
William sighed. "It's fine, he's too numb in the brain to understand anything you say. Let's get to class." And with that, he tugged Henry away.
"Sorry about him, he's a moron." Henry apologized, unzipping his brown wool jacket and revealing a black shirt with a yellow Star Wars logo emblazoned on it.
William smirked. "Just wait till he finds out what we call a cigarette."
Henry apparently didn't get his joke, because he started to frantically wave at a girl sitting against the wall with a book. He couldn't quite see her features since she was so far down the hall, but he could see her mane of frizzy amber curls tied up in a white scrunchie. "Clara! Clara, come meet William!"
He studied her, committing her face to memory. She had fair skin, big leaf-green eyes with ginger lashes and eyebrows, and a button nose with heart-shaped lips shiny with ChapStick and a round face. She looked about five-foot-seven, average weight. Tall, but since he was six feet himself, it worked. "Is this your sister's friend?"
"Yeah, kind of." Henry lowered his voice to a hush. "Don't tell Jen this, but I heard Clara telling this other girl that she thinks Jen is stuck-up and annoying."
"She kind of is." He paused. "No offense."
Henry sighed heavily. "None taken. Clar and I are still good friends, and Jen can be…difficult to get along with. She's very focused on her studies."
"Hey, Henry!" Clara called shyly, clutching her books to her chest as she stood up and headed over with her peach-coloured locks bouncing, a dimpled grin stretching her freckled cheeks ear to ear. She wore a white band tee and an oversized jean jacket with a matching skirt, gold hoops in her ears and bangles on her wrists. "You must be William! Hen's told me so much about you. You're from England, right?"
He rolled his eyes. "How'd you guess?"
Clara giggled. "You're funny. And tall."
"And you're observant."
"I like your sweater," Clara gestured to his chest.
William made a face. "Really?" He liked his sweater too, but he didn't think anyone else would.
"Yeah! My mom has one just like it." And, there it is. "U-uh, not in a mean way."
"Mm-hm." He sighed, the majority of his wardrobe consisted of sweaters and it looked like America's outfits were all denim.
Henry checked his watch. "Well, we should get to class. Nice talking to you, Clar!"
"Same to you. We should hang out soon!" She called as she backed away—right into a group of kids milling outside the washrooms.
Clumsy, William thought with a smirk. That's kind of cute.
He shook himself. What was he thinking?! He never got crushes. He never liked girls. He never liked anyone. And why would Clara like him, anyways? He wore mum sweaters and barely spoke unless spoken to. Was he turning into—he shuddered—Darcy?!
~lll~
William woke up at four in the morning, completely wide awake. Rolling over, he groaned in frustration. He'd been tossing and turning all night, and just as he thought he was getting somewhere, he just had to wake up. He'd always been somewhat nocturnal, but this was ridiculous. He felt more energized than he'd ever felt in his life, lightning buzzing through his fingertips. William had to grab something, he had to do something.
He got up from his bed, making sure to close the door quietly so as not to disturb Henry. His white-and-black flannel pants sagged over his feet as he shuffled on blue carpet to the bathroom, the hallways lit from the window in cold blue light. Flicking the light on, he winced at the sudden invasion of brightness and stared at his reflection in the mirror. In Science, he learned that if you stare at your face for ten minutes straight, you start to hallucinate your features shifting and changing.
He pulled down his eyelids, running his hand through his hair and posing in the reflection. He opened his mouth, looking at his red gums and boring, boring teeth. When he was seven, the dentist had told him he'd need braces eventually for his unusually flat canines. William, hating the idea of sharp metal hooks being drilled to his teeth, had bit the dentist and been sent to bed without dinner.
A nail file sat on the sink beside strawberry-shortcake-flavoured toothpaste and a crusty bar of soap. William picked up the cold steel, stared at it, transfixed.
He opened his mouth and began to carve.
~lll~
William leapt across the room and landed on Henry's makeshift bed, the springs creaking. Before he gave the startled-awake Henry time to process what was going on, he jammed his knee onto his chest and said, "You're welcome."
Henry gasped for startled breath. "What," he managed, "the hell for?!"
He pushed his knee down harder. "For not killing you," he explained. "If you jump on someone's chest with your knee up, break the sternum, et cetera, you can kill them. I just saved your life."
Henry caught his breath enough to turn onto his side and turn on the desk lamp, squinting at him. "What are you doing, Will? It's four in the morning! Why are you still awake?"
"Jet lag," he said as he rolled off Henry and crossed his legs, blinking owlishly at his friend. "Why are you still awake?"
"'Cause my lunatic friend tried to murder me in my sleep, that's why!" Henry exclaimed, then stopped. "Wait. Open your mouth."
Silver eyes burning with mischief, William parted his lips the tiniest amount.
"Wider." Henry gave him a tired look. "Will, I'm serious."
William gave him a devilish grin, then finally bared his new, shark-like teeth.
"Oh my God," Henry muttered, carefully reaching out a finger and poking one of his bottom teeth, wincing at the sting. "Oh my God."
"Cool, right? Don't they look cool?" William could barely contain his excitement. He looked like a tiger. Like a fierce predator nobody would mess with.
"Will, did you do this?" His voice wavered, and William knew this to mean scared…or sad? Why would he be sad? He must be scared. William frowned. His intentions might've been to scare off any bullies, but he didn't want to scare off his friend.
"Yeah. Don't worry, I cleaned up the sink." There had been little bone shavings like coconut sprinkled on the edge of the sink after he'd finished filing each of his teeth into points, but he washed the evidence down the drain after.
Henry shook his head, eyes brimming with worry. "You're going to have to get them removed."
William's face creased in confusion. "But I like my teeth."
"Maybe, but you won't be able to chew properly, and the other kids are gonna look at you funny."
He gazed into Henry's chestnut eyes. He could see his reflection in his pupils. "Do you think they look good?"
Henry opened his mouth, but no words came out. Instead, his lips turned up in a gentle smile. "Of course I think they look good, Will. I'm just nervous that other people might not."
"Don't worry. That's what these are for!" He gnashed his teeth, making growling sounds and causing Henry to burst into giggles muffled by his hand so he wouldn't wake the family up.
A sudden wave of exhaustion washed over him, and William reached over Henry to turn the light out, flopping down on the bed and tugging the blankets over him. "Tired. Sleep now."
"Okay—hey, no hogging the covers!"
"No promises."
And for the first time in a while, William fell asleep next to the cozy warmth of his best friend.
~lll~
"Ugh, Clara! Hurry up! You're slowing us down!" Henry whined, gesturing with his walking stick he'd picked off the ground.
William sniffed. "I told you we shouldn't have brought her with us. Hiking's no place for a girl."
Clara looked up from where she was balancing on a mossy fallen tree to glare at him, but didn't say anything back.
"See, us guys don't need any experience," William explained, adjusting the straps of his violet backpack. "We have masculine instincts. Now why don't you go make us a sandwich?"
Clara just rolled her eyes in response.
They'd been trekking through the woods near their house for about an hour, searching for a creek to collect water for Henry's mum. But then of course, his mum just had to make them take Clara along, who was about as useful as a pound of bricks in his bag. William supposed they could always use her as bear bait, if it became necessary.
Mud squelched under his feet as they hopped off the log, making their way through wet red mulch and prickly weeds and January-frosted leaves. Long grey trees stretched impossibly high, bare branches leaving them exposed to the sky. Freezing wind buffeted their hair away from their faces, and he squinted to keep his eyes from watering. But soon their journey was cut short by a yellow sign tacked to a tree.
Private Property
Trespassers Will
Be Charged And
Fined
"Shoot." Henry stabbed his stick into the ground. "Now what?"
"Now we head back, I guess." Clara sighed, hugging herself to keep warm. She was wearing a yellow raincoat over a gauzy sage-green dress printed with tiny daisies, thick tights and knitted woollen leg warmers under her matching yellow gumboots.
"Don't be wimps," William scoffed. "It's probably some old hag wanting to keep kids from setting fire to the place. We're just grabbing some water. We have the right to." He ducked under some branches and turned back, raising his thick eyebrows.
Henry sighed dramatically, brushing past wilted ferns. "Fine, but if we get arrested I'm pinning it on you."
"We'll see about that," William said lightly. He grabbed Clara's arm and tugged her into the bushes, twirling her around as if they were waltzing. "Come along, Clary-bell."
Clara giggled. "Coming along."
They trekked through the woods, past bracken and brambles before suddenly breaking out onto a tall, grassy hill clear of trees with a long cracked cobblestone path leading up to a dark, imposing wooden house. At the bottom of the hill was a thick black-iron gate, and across the hill lay more forest.
"Woah." Henry whistled. "Nice house."
"For real," Clara murmured. "How much do you think it cost?"
"Maybe a billion."
"Or two."
"Boy, can you imagine having enough money to afford that and the forest?" Henry said wistfully. "If only."
William huffed, crossing his arms. "C'mon, it's not that nice. I've seen much better houses over by the ferries." The neighborhoods by the ferries, all named after birds, were all impressive castles of thick glass and modern design, with swimming pools and home gyms and mini-golf in the backyards. Henry's house, which was on the outskirts of town by New Harmony, was located mostly in forests and middle-class homes, with the town not too far off.
"Yeah, but this has so much forest. Think of the games of Hide-and-Seek we could play!"
"Hide-and-Seek, hide-and-schmeek. Come on, we need to get to the creek."
"Hey, that rhymed!" Clara pointed out. "You should be a poet."
"I'm a poet and I hardly even know it," Henry sang as they walked across the hill. William gingerly hopped over a squashed caterpillar wedged in the stone cracks.
They crossed the hill and ended up back in the forest, but this time they were set on a dirt path carved through the forest. Henry pointed excitedly to a sign that read Elderberry Creek Ahead. "We're nearly there!"
William could hear the bubbling of the brook through the holly bushes before they even laid eyes on it. But when they brushed past the shrubs, they saw something blocking off the stream.
The body of a scrawny blonde girl lying in the creek.
Henry froze. "Oh, crap."
"Is she dead?" Clara whispered, face deathly pale.
"Okay. We need to get out of here." William announced firmly. "Make sure you two don't touch the corpse, you'll just link us to the crime. I'll bury her. I've got the most experience. Clara, can you get me some of those big flat leaves I can carry her body with?"
She hung her head and walked over to a thick tree with large heart-shaped leaves sprouting from it. "O-okay."
"Shouldn't we try to help her?" Henry asked, biting his lip.
William shook his head solemnly. "I'm afraid it's too late for that."
Henry glanced at the body, sorrow in his eyes, until suddenly he spotted something. "Guys! She's breathing!"
"What?! Impossible!" William snarled, shoving Henry aside. But the girl, who was wearing mud-soaked, purple leopard-print pyjama pants under a black tulle skirt and a hot-pink sequin tank top with a million layers of rainbow plastic jewellery, was indeed breathing!
"We have to help her!" Henry declared as he dashed into the stream, water spraying up and soaking his jeans. Clara hung back, frozen holding the leaves in her hands.
"Woah, there. You're not actually going to give her mouth-to-mouth, right?" William snapped. "Think of the cooties! Do you seriously want something that'll affect you for the rest of your life?!"
Henry gazed at him. "That's a risk I'm willing to take."
He kneeled on the riverbed so his legs were soaked and made a fist, covering it with his other hand and pushing down hard on the girl's chest. William had seen this tactic used in the swimming lessons his parents had forced him into when he was little, where Mia had nearly drowned before being rescued by a handsome lifeguard, which she'd then bragged about the next day as she was the only girl in the class who'd had her first 'kiss.'
But to his surprise, the girl fluttered her maroon eyes open instantly, and sat bolt upright with a start. "Are you a mugger?"
"What?" Henry yanked his hands back. "No!"
"If you are, you'd better watch out. I've seen The Karate Kid twenty-nine times!" She stood up and raised her arms above her head in a karate stance, before kicking Henry straight in the stomach. "HIYAAAA!"
Henry flew back into the river with surprising force, water splashing around him. He lay on the riverbed, coughing in the icy air.
"What the hell was that for?!" William snarled, pushing past Clara and jumping into the river. He shoved the girl back a few steps. She was miniscule compared to him. "Huh?"
"Will, lay off." Henry said, narrowing his eyes coloured like two chocolate truffles. "It's cool."
"Whatever you say," he replied, glaring at the girl. There was something about her he didn't like. "What's your name?"
"Katy Liu. K-A-T-Y L-I-U. And y'all are on my gramma's property." She stepped forward boldly, and William noticed a strange bolt-shaped scar on the top of her head where none of her unusually spiky hair seemed to grow.
Clara noticed it too. "What's that on your head?"
Katy grinned, showing off her two bunny teeth. "I got struck by lightning when I was ten. S'why I'm blonde. I used to have black hair."
"You got struck by lightning and you survived?" Clara exclaimed, adoration in her voice. "Wow."
"She's probably faking," William scoffed.
Henry scrunched up his face. "Does that really make you blonde?"
She shrugged. "Don't ask me, I ain't a doctor. Now I told ya my name, who're all of you?"
"I'm Henry Emily, and this is Clara Schmidt and William Afton. He just moved here from England, and he's staying with me and my family down the street."
"You gonna give her our blood types, too?"
Henry rolled his eyes in response. "He's also very cranky."
"Whatevs. Do you guys wanna come inside? We have leftover pork noodles and applesauce." Katy grinned, licking her lips.
"Mixed together?"
Katy shrugged. "If you want."
Henry's stomach growled, as if on command. "Well, I mean, if your grandma doesn't mind, we could probably come in for a bit…"
"I hate carbohydrates," William said unhelpfully.
"I hate your face," replied Katy.
And so they left the forest, walking up the hill and into the dark, imposing house, where an old woman with a thick accent he couldn't name spooned out helpings of noodles with a rich brown dressing and chunks of dry pork, which Katy and Henry doused in applesauce. Vegetarian Clara ate out of the mason jar of sauce.
Love at first sight, William thought as he slurped up the sweet-and-salty dish, his pointed teeth struggling to chew. How revolting.
A/N
Moral of the story: don't sharpen your teeth! Should be obvious, but this is the internet, after all.
Now my mouth hurts because I just ate Toxic Waste Sour Candy…yikes.
Question/Challenge: what's something you thought existed until recently? Australia for me, I thought it was real for the longest time!
Have an amazing day/night
~gosty wosty