Revamped!

[For people who know me, you know that I won't publish a story without already having some chapter banked. As of now, I have twelve chapters of this story ready to go]. [2020: Meanwhile I only have one now].

Winter's Melting: Part Three

"You're the worst driver ever!" Cinder exclaims, walking towards The Rampion after Thorne parked his bike and chained it to a nearby stop sign. "I'll buy you some training wheels and a helmet!"

"You're being over-dramatic," Thorne says casually as if nothing happened.

"You didn't warn me about that speed bump! We went flying!"

"Hey, you were sitting on my handlebars so I couldn't see anything! I was putting my trust in someone I met ten minutes ago which is a big step in our growing friendship!"

Cinder rolls her eyes. She looks at Thorne who smiles at her with his perfect teeth. She groans as Thorne laughs. He pulls Cinder around him and plants her feet on the ground. He lifts her chin up to look at the bright red and cursive neon letters above the restaurant that spell out, 'The Rampion.' He walks ahead of her and holds the door open for Cinder. She walks in, purposely not saying thanks to him which he expected. Thorne mutters thanks to himself.

Cinder is amazed the moment she walks in. The Rampion is this retro space diner, each waiter and waitress dress in different coloured space suits with a small planet on their chest beside their name tags. Beside the bar in the middle of the diner where the kitchen is, the diner is surrounded by bright red booths that blow Cinder's mind. Artemisia had nothing like this. She looks up and sees the ceiling fully decorated with planets and constellations.

"Wow," Cinder says, that one word taking all the breath from her lungs.

Thorne grins, proud of the impression he believes he's making on Cinder, before looking around the diner. If he couldn't get further with her, this was good enough. Maybe this is better: having a girl who doesn't want him (wouldn't be the first but he likes this girl).

"Now, where is my favourite waitress?" He continues looking and stops when he spots her. "Scarlet! Scarlet Benoit!"

From behind the bar, a fair-skinned girl with the biggest red curls pops out in a light-blue space suit. Scarlet Benoit. Thorne purposely gives her a giddy, childish wave that draws everyone's attention and Scarlet replies with the most irritated expression on her face that makes Cinder crack a smile. It makes her wonder how many girls Thorne knows who are bothered by his presence. She'd be friends with them. Winter might like Thorne, though, since she'd like his charms.

"Word of advice, Thorne," Scarlet starts, "don't bother the people who handle your food."

Scarlet goes into the kitchen as Thorne and Cinder stand speechless.

"She loves me," Thorne says about Scarlet as he starts heading over to a booth for the two of them.

"Of course she does," Cinder replies with an eye roll. "Who doesn't love you, Thorne?"

"I can list a few people but I don't love them back so it's all good."

Cinder laughs.

-o-

After buying their food, Cinder and Thorne head back out to his bike where he kneels down to unlock it. She holds his takeout bag as he handles his bike. Hearing something behind her, Cinder turns around and sees a three rough-looking boys standing near the side of the diner, smoking cigarettes right next to a 'no smoking' sign. Call it stereotypical but despite not knowing them personally, Cinder gets a bad vibe in her stomach about those boys and Thorne catches her looking at them.

"Cinder, quit staring," Thorne orders softly, barely moving his mouth.

Cinder notices how serious Thorne is suddenly being so she turns her gaze to him. He unlocks his bike and starts walking it to the road, keeping his eye on the group of boys over there.

"Who are they?" Cinder whispers.

"The Wolf Pack," Thorne responds, helping Cinder onto his bike's handlebars. "Or a part of it, at least. Their leader, the big buff one in the middle, is literally named Wolf. The other two are his minions who aren't really that credible to be given names. They go to our school. Cinder, take my advice, if you'll be living in Commonwealth for long, stay away from them."

Cinder eyes him for a bit. "You're in trouble with them, aren't you?"

"From time to time. I think I'm good now but I'm not taking any chances."

"So you do have people who don't love you."

"Oh, they still love me. They love chasing me around."

-o-

Winter opens Cinder's bedroom door and is appalled by what she sees: the bedroom walls are dripping blood, staining Cinder's belongings and bedsheets. Winter chokes on a gasp as her eyes open as wide as possible, nearly popping out of her skull. She closes the door and runs back downstairs to the party to find Levana. Her head spins around frantically, seeing endless people in blood-drenched clothing.

Her body is shaking as people side-step her, staining her clothes with the blood from theirs. Winter tears up until she feels a hand touch her shoulder.

"Are you okay?" Someone asks her.

Winter turns around and sees Kai although she doesn't know him that well. All that she knows is that he's the mayor's son since that was one thing she remembers Levana telling her back in Artemisia before they moved to Commonwealth. Kai has the hunch that the girl he's looking at one of Levana's girls but doesn't say anything yet because her bewildered expression should be addressed first.

"Are you okay?" Kai repeats.

Winter's lips part a little. "Cinder's room is bleeding."

Kai is taken aback by those words. "I'm sorry, what?"

"It's bleeding everywhere!"

As Winter continues her rampage about the blood, heads start to turn and eyes fall on her. Her mouth explodes as it spills the fantasies in her head. Artemisia. Her father. Orion's Beach. Some people are spooked as they start talking amongst themselves. Levana pops out of the crowd and takes Winter by the wrist.

"As you were!" Levana yells at everyone.

Levana drags Winter to the stairwell, keeping a tight grip on her wrist. Winter could feel Levana's fingers burning into her skin which will leave marks. Kai clears his throat and starts conversations again to draw the attention away. The guests assume that Levana's stepdaughter is only tired from the move so they don't talk much about the surprising outburst.

"What is the matter with you?!" Levana whispers harshly to Winter.

"Cinder's not in her room," Winter says. "I think she drowned in all the blood."

"Cinder's not there?!" Levana fumes, ignoring the second part of what Winter said.

Levana storms up the stairs as Winter follows.

-o-

"This is me," Cinder says, jumping off of Thorne's handlebars once they return to her mansion. There are cars littered all over the driveway and the street with drivers standing outside on their phones as they wait for the night to end.

Thorne looks at the mansion and his jaw drops open. "No way, my parents are at this party!"

Cinder smirks. "I wasn't invited to the so-called party. I escaped out of jail."

"Same here! But as if I wanted to attend that snooze-fest." Thorne tilts his head a little. "Hit me up the next time you want to escape jail together."

"Will do."

Cinder is about to head back inside through the way she left until she hears Thorne calling her back. She turns around to face him again.

"Give me your number so I can text you before school. I'll pick you up."

"Fine," Cinder says, handing her phone to Thorne.

Thorne types his contact info into her phone. He takes a quick selfie to use as his contact photo. Cinder narrows her eyes a little before rolling them because he took a few selfies to pick the best one. When he hands back her phone, she sends him a quick text so he has her number on his phone. It bothered Cinder when she noticed he sent hey babe with some kissing faces.

"Just know that you having my number doesn't give you permission to send or request nudes," Cinder orders.

"I know you want those from me but I'll respect your policies."

"Bye, Thorne." Her tone is pleasantly annoyed with him.

Thorne gives her a classic grin before biking off. Cinder runs back to the tree she used to climb out and quickly climbs back up, holding her takeout bags in her teeth. She leaps back in her bedroom window, happy that she had a fun night out (what made it more fun was that she snuck out of Levana's control). Speaking of Levana, Cinder can hear her heels clicking down the hallway, coming her way. Cinder quickly closes her window, throws the takeout bags under her bed, and bellyflops on her bed, pretending to nap. Levana enters the room with Winter behind her and Cinder pretends to wake up from a nap she never took.

"Winter…" Levana mutters, sounding like a ticking time bomb about to go off.

Winter pales as her eyes widen. "I swear Levana, Cinder wasn't in here earlier -"

"Quit embarrassing me!"

And quickly, Levana slaps Winter across the face, right where her scars are. Winter holds her right cheek in pure horror as Levana's eyes pierce through her aura. Levana storms back downstairs, Winter and Cinder are in shock. Levana never laid a hand on them, even when they deserved it. Cinder gets up and embraces Winter, sitting her on her bed.

"I'm so sorry, Winter," Cinder says to her. "I did sneak out. I didn't think anyone would be coming up here. But here, I brought you something."

Cinder stretches underneath her bed and pulls out the paper bag from The Rampion. She takes out the warm cheeseburger and puts it on Winter's lap, using the paper bag as a placemat. Winter doesn't respond to it, she stares out into nothing with her hand resting where Levana slapped.

"Levana killed our parents…" Winter whispers. Cinder says nothing because she's appalled by that strong statement. Winter's eyes flicker towards her. "Your silence means that you agree."

Cinder immediately clears her throat with a small cough.

"No," Cinder replies. "Winter, that's not true and you know that. Levana wasn't even there when my mom died, same goes for your mom, and she sobbed endlessly after your father passed overseas. I think she still does."

"Don't remind me of those nightmares, please, although I know you didn't intend to. My face says something different."

Cinder sighs. "You may have three scars on your face but Levana has three thousand calloused scars on her heart."

Cinder hugs Winter, her comforting embrace is all she needed to let go and cry. Cinder pulls Winter in closer, tighter, her step-cousin's head resting against her own. Even if Levana was their legal guardian on paper, sometimes they felt as if they only had each other.

"What is this?" Winter asks about the cheeseburger that's sitting in her lap.

"Food from The Rampion," Cinder replies. "I'll take you there sometime and we're not using Thorne's bike as a horse-drawn carriage."

"Who's Thorne?"

"A nuisance from down the road."

As Winter slowly unwraps the cheeseburger and eats it, Cinder begins to tell her all about her night sneaking out and what parts of Commonwealth she saw. There was still so much more but that's for another day.

[And now Scarlet and Wolf are here. Just know that all the main characters will be introduced in the first nine or ten chapters. As the story progresses, others will be focused on but they will all be here].