Xx-Alisaurous-xX
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- Posted: Sat, 21 Jan 2012 02:32:30 +0000
Can you guys tell me what you think??
Sorry it's long :/
But thanks for reading!
Chapter One
"I never liked my high school principal. She was one of the meanest people that I've ever had the misfortune of meeting. I vowed that as a principal myself, I would never be as brutal as she was." Principal Brown's face seems to darken as his eyes carefully scan over Strider and me. I fidget unnervingly in my chair. Did he discover something about one of our lethal stunts, the robberies, or the time Strider almost choked someone to death? Did he find out that I put toilet water in his coffee? It was like he could read our thoughts; like he could see into our souls. I wipe the droplets of sweat from my forehead. It was painfully obvious that I was in no way good under this kind of nervous tension. Principal Brown continues, tapping his fingers lightly on the desk. "But, for you two, who constantly manage to... erm... visit me, I'm afraid that I have to break that promise."
Strider was never as freaked out by the whole punishment for our violent behavior thing. That's why he was more often than not the one who got us out of jams like this. I was more skilled at fighting, sneaking around, and setting things on fire. Strider looks right at the principal across the desk, right into his eyes, and says with a straight face "Principal Brown. I'm confused. We actually haven't done anything that awful lately. I'm proud of that. Except we did sneak into my brother's room and read his diary. He does some weird things. Anyway, reading a diary doesn't count."
Principal Brown takes in a long, deep mouthful of air. He knows Strider's lying. I can tell by the skeptical look on his face. I've seen it many times before. Principal Brown keeps talking in that same flat tone. "You two set Ms. Williams, a great teacher-" I shut him up by bursting out laughing. And I don't mean a simple giggle, I mean a full out hard to breath and snorting like a donkey when I come up for air laugh. I can't help it. Ms. Williams is the most terrible teacher imaginable.
But I'm silenced by a coldhearted look from Principal Brown. This look paints the picture in my head of him yelling at me... telling me to go to lunch detention. Again. My smile vanishes and all noise in the room becomes soundless. He goes on by saying, "She's a great teacher. And you guys set her car on fire."
Strider only snickers in return, then catches himself. No more laughing. It may show Principal Brown that we think setting his girlfriend's car on fire is amusing. Yes, he's dating Ms. Williams. We'll just get in more trouble for that. Strider regains his composure by saying in a voice as sweet as sugar, "I don't recall setting anything on fire." He looks over at me. "Do you, Stormi?" I only manage to shake my head. Apparently the laugh is all the noise I'll be able to make.
"She's offered to drop all charges if you fess up for this, the chair issue, and that incident with the goldfish." Principal Brown leans forward. The desk seems like too small a barrier between us and him. "You two have a lot of stuff on your shoulders. Why not plead guilty and get it out of the way?"
I take him seriously. I nod my head and begin saying "We can do that-" but I'm cut off by Strider. He stands up, slams his hands down on the desk -for effect- and yells out "We won't fall for this!"
"Fall for what?" Principal Brown asks.
"This! You're lying! Obviously!!"
"No. I'm not."
Strider shakes his head. He takes a deep breath, then starts one of his passionate rants. "Please, I know how this works. The insurance guys had to pay money to get the car fixed, right?" Principal Brown nods. "Well, don't you see? They just lost around... I don't know, however much money a car costs. And that's a lot, I assure you. Don't you think that it'd be logical for them to get the police involved?"
"Well," he begins.
But Strider cuts him off. "We'll have to pay, as well have some more stuff written on our Juvenile Record. And you say she'll drop it? This is out of her hands. Something was damaged that was insured. It costs money to get fixed. And guess what! Money doesn't grow on trees! Someone's gonna need to pay for it!" He points behind us with a stern look plastered to his face. "This isn't as simple as you make it out to be. Our entire conversation has been recorded. You were planning on using this against us in court."
I take quick look behind us, and sure enough, I see the camera with its red flashing light on the side. Strider continues with his outburst, "The other two crimes you mentioned would give us at least 2,000 more dollars to pay off. Look, Principal Brown, you have no details. You can't arrest someone just because you assume they've done something wrong. "
Principal Brown doesn't seem the least bit altered by what Strider said. He just smiles, so sure of himself, and says "You're convincing, but there's one thing you didn't think of."
Strider looks bewildered. "I never overlook anything."
The principal abruptly looks from Strider to me. He stares into my eyes and says, "Hi, Stormi." I can't verbalize the words forming in my mind. No, wait, there are no words forming in my mind. I'm just blank, frozen in fear. After a few moments of no thought, I can only get out a frown.
He places his hands on the desk and begins, "Stormi, aren't you good with fire?" I nod. "And you've been charged with arson before?" I nod once again. "Doesn't it make sense that an arsonist burned a car, instead of someone else?"
I broaden my eyes in terror. I see what he's getting at. Unfortunately, I'm not so good at putting words together to make into any form of a compelling argument. I speak in a low voice, "I suppose. But, I'm not exactly the... um... only person in the area?" I can't even make sense of what I'm saying. I momentary look over at Strider for support. Just seeing him makes me a little braver. I correct myself, "I'm not the only one in this town that's an arsonist. A lot more people did a lot worse things than me."
"But you're the only person who has a history with Ms. Williams," says Principal Brown sharply. "You already killed her pet bird. I bet you burned her car too. Ever since she called you stupid in front of the school you've hated her."
"She shouldn't have called me stupid," I say darkly. "No one should have. You can't blame me for hating her. And you also can't blame me for setting her car on fire... That is, if I even did." Nodding and smiling, I realize that I just had a Strider moment. Ha.
"But you'd want revenge, correct?" Principal Brown narrows his eyes at me. "You burned her car."
"You can't prove it, though!" Strider exclaims as he comes to my rescue. "There are a lot of people who know Ms. Williams and don't like her! Everyone has the ability to set a car on fire."
All of a sudden Principal Brown isn't so smug. The emotion shifts into one of disgust. He glares at Strider and snarls, "I didn't ask you to talk. I'm busy with Stormi now."
"You might as well talk to me too! I'm right here! I'm with her all the time!"
He frowns back at Strider, "You're just like your father."
At this sentence, Strider's confidence wavers. "Um. What?"
Principal Brown didn't stop there. Oh, no. He went on. “You’re stuck up, just like he was, and you can't manage to keep your mouth closed for two seconds! I could try to be nice, but all he would do is aggravate me! Just like you."
I jump up from my seat. "Dude! You call Strider stuck up?! What about you!? You can't go around talking about his dad like that!" My instincts take over. I'm not frightened. My actions are powered by rage. There isn't any reason to be afraid. No one makes fun of his dad. "You're no better than those villains from the shows my brother watches!"
"Oh, so Stormi finally speaks. Looks like I found a button of emotion that isn't messed with a lot." He smiles contently.
"Man! Stop it!" I lean forward so I'm in his face. "If you were a good principal, you would know that you should never ever mention something like that."
Strider takes a step back in horror. His face empties of blood as he whispers "You... You... words cannot describe my pure hatred for you."
"Why would I care?" The principal asks. "You're just gonna ruin everything important in my life like your two-faced, lifeless father did!"
"Objection!" Strider screams out. "Leave my dad out of this! This is between Stormi, you, and me. And you know what? This is ALL on camera! We're being recorded now! If the superintendant sees this, you're fired. Ha!"
Principal Brown's eyes suddenly widen. "Oh dear Lord. I let my anger over that fateful day get the best of me. I'm not a mean principal."
"You're the nastiest," I say strictly.
"It's true," Strider agrees. "And, just a side note, if you ever talk about my dad like that again, I swear, I'm going to tear out your jugular and-"
"Strider!" I yell. "We're being recorded! It's probably be to get you threatening someone on camera. Bad things will happen." I turn to look at him and say, "Just shut up right now. Ok?" Leaning forward and wrap my arms around him in an attempt to calm him down. When Strider's breath isn't coming out quite as heavily, I let go and say, "See? We can just forget about it. What's done is done."
And then I give my full attention to Principal Brown. "I may not be good at talking under pressure, but I know when I need to stand up for my friend. And you, sir, are eviilllll!"
"I know," Principal Brown says back.
"Nobody cares about any conflicts you and his dad had. Strider's not his dad. Ok? You aren't allowed to ridicule his dad. Really. No one is. With that, we bid you ado, and we'll see ourselves out of this stupid office." I snort disgracefully and take Strider's hand.
As we leave, I make sure to reach up with my free hand to where the camera is and smash it with my fist. Bits of debris shower me, but I just shake it off. We aren't off the hook for arson, but at least we can just forget about Principal Brown. I know that he won't be bothering us for a while.
He's still furious, but at least Strider isn't about to kill anyone. When we're out of sound range from the principal's office, I turn to him and ask "You ok?" He barely nods back. I heave a sigh and hug him again. "Don't let that failure of a man get to you. He just wanted to make you mad."
"It worked," he whispers to me.
"I know. He's just a big, fat jerk." I gently push some of his hair out of his eyes and say, "Just ignore everything he says."
"Easier said than done," says Strider unhappily. "What's his problem with my dad anyway? Everyone liked him..."
"Maybe he was jealous," I suggest. "But we don't have to think about that now. Maybe we should just obsess over what we'll do if we get interrogated by the police."
He barely smiles. Something about doing bad stuff then trying to get away with it makes him happy. Strider says, "I think I've got it under control, and you haven't spilled our secrets yet."
"You know, you were pretty awesome in there."
"You weren't as awful as you usually are," he grin wider and we continue our way down the hall to our current class, Math.
"I don't think we'll ever get caught," I say to him. "We're like ghosts."
"Yup. You and I. Two best buddies. Boy and girl. Epic ghosts. Committing crimes. Dude, we're like the most successful pair of evil villains that the world with never catch."
"YUS! That is what we are!"
He smiles at my reaction. Strider's hands go in the pockets of his black hoodie and he says, "We're actually a pretty good team."
I nod simply. "The best."
Strider suddenly stops smiling. He stops walking and asks out of the blue, "Are you still dating Jared?"
I stop moving my feet to look at him. "Um. No. Why?"
"Um. No reason. I'm just wondering." He shrugs. "I'm curious. So... things didn't work out?"
"He kept saying that you liked me. That you hung out with me all the time and it drove him crazy. He didn't want to have you as an enemy if he was dating me or something... He asked if we could still be friends." I let out a sigh and feel my shoulders droop. "I said no. I told him that if he can't accept you, he can't have me. Because you and I are like some kind of package deal."
Strider raises his eyebrows. "You guys split because of me?"
"Pretty much," I say in a monotone voice. It was over two weeks ago. I haven't talked to Jared sense. But he's lame, as I've grown to realize.
"Well... Doesn't that make me feel all special. I can't believe that he actually thinks I like you that way... We only hang out all the time and I asked you to marry me. No... I don't like you."
I blink, then shrug off the notion that Strider might actually want to go out with me. Us dating would end horribly. Surely he knew that. He must have been joking... We were buds. We didn't think anything of when we had sleepovers. We didn't care if we spent every waking hour next to each other. He did ask me to marry him though... I remember it like it was yesterday.
Strider was dressed in his plaid shirt and dark blue jeans, blonde hair messy and about the same medium length as it is now. He was twelve. I was eleven and in my normal first day of school outfit. I had a red sweatshirt pulled over the shirt my mom bought me and my light blue jeans. My hair was still long, dull, and brown. I had it in a single braid down my back. When I saw Strider, I stared at him.
He was the most perfect looking boy, and it was no surprise that the only people hanging around him were girls. They kept whispering things to him, probably telling him that he was stunning of that they liked the way he looked. Strider would say things back like a quite "thank you". Something about the way he only spoke in a low voice and didn't make much movement told me that he didn't quite like all the attention.
That's when he saw me. Head tilted to the side, he watched me for a while. I didn't look away, just kept my eyes lined up with his. It was impossible to stop.
And he walked away from the swarm of girls so he was standing right in front of me. Envious looks came from the girls he left, but I tried to ignore them. I'll never forget what he said. "Will you marry me?"
But I was lame then. I simply stare at him, emotionless. Strider said, "Oh, I get it. You don't know me." He held out his hand to shake. I cautiously reach out mine and take his hand. Is it electricity? Is it love at first sight? Or at least friendship at first sight?
No. His hand was covered with sweat and was very clammy. It just sickens me. I yank back my hand and shriek out, "EW!"
Strider isn't one to give up. He wiped his hand off on his pants and says, "Sorry. I'm just nervous. I sweat when I'm anxious. But, my name's Strider."
At that instant I brood over whether or not to tell him my real name, or make one up. Of course I can't tell him that my name's Rebecca. I'm not the biggest fan of that name, so I just say my middle name instead. "I'm Stormi."
"So, um. Hi Stormi," he said with a smile. "So you wanna get married?"
As I walk with Strider now, thinking back to that day, I can't help wondering if he's thinking of that now. The day we met. The day he asked me to marry him. Why'd he even bring that up? No. No he doesn't like me. We're just friends. Best friends.
I desperately attempt to change the subject. "Um. So... I read a book. It's called The Fakes."
"I've heard that's good... What's it about?"
I lift my eyebrows and ask "You're interested in reading?"
He snorts in response. "HA! Looks like you don't know me as well as you thought you did!"
"I know everything about you," I say.
"Sure, and I'm a spider."
"No, you're a Strider."
Strider laughs at that, even though it's a lame joke. "Ok, but you still don't know everything about me."
"Please!" I exclaim. "I know you so well! I know that you only eat pineapple in public! I know that you don't like fire ever since your dad was killed in a house fire! I know that your best friend is an arsonist!"
"Well guess what? I know what color your hair is."
I stare at him. "Um. Yes. It's red, orange, and yellow. Like fire. Because... I like fire."
"And you like writing," he says. "So ha. I know lots about you too."
"You don't know what my favorite color is," I say sharply.
"Yes I do! It's rainbow!"
"No! Strider! It's orange! I told you a million times! That's why I always wear orange!" I gesture at my orange sweatshirt, my orange shoes, the orange in my hair, my light orange eye shadow, the orange glint of my pants, the orange mark of orange on my arm. "Orange!"
"You know, an orange is a fruit," he says like the know-it-all he wishes he could be. "And a color."
"Yes," I moan. "But an orange... you messed up my brain! I can't even remember what we were talking about!"
"Jared," says Strider. "And the fact that he is mean."
"Oh, yeah." I mutter. "I think we're some of the only people that can change a conversation about Jared to one about oranges."
"We could change it again," he says. "Now we can talk about how I know more about you than you know about me. I know that you're a girl."
"Well no duh."
"I know that you have a brother and a sister."
"I know that you are weird," I say sharply, hinting for him not to talk about my family. I'm one of those girls who has family issues. It pretty much involves my dad being drunk all the time, my oldest sibling, Cynthia, away at college and engaged, and my brother hates me. Oh, and did I mention that my mom has never once said she loves me? Strider doesn't take my hint. He talks about my family anyway.
"I know that you're brother doesn't love you... and that you wish he would."
"Strider," I warn. "I'm going to hurt you."
"I know that your dad broke your leg while he was drunk," he continues.
Can he not hear me? "I'm going to punch you," I growl.
"I know that your sister left you to take care after Joey, your father, and your mom. And you resent her."
"I WILL KILL YOU." I narrow my eyes and pull a small lighter out of my pocket. I flick on the fire, and then raise the flame next to Strider's face. "I'll set your hair on fire. You will die. I will laugh. You will burn. You will suffer. You will not talk about my family anymore." By the look on my face, he can tell that I mean it.
"Just pretend I didn't say it!" He pushes away the lighter and sprints down the hall at top "Strider speed". He forgets that I'm faster.
Look, I have these really strong legs and I'm healthy. I run every morning. I'm one of the fastest people in the school. I can run swiftly and for a long time. I catch up to him and reach out my arms. I give a final burst of energy with my legs and jump on him.
Instead of landing teasingly on his shoulders like I plan, I land too low. My chin bangs on the floor, but my hands extend to grab his legs. He loses his footing and falls straight on his face. I think he hit his chin too. Judging by the moans coming from him, I decide that he did. "Stormi," he whispers. "That hurt."
My jaw isn't feeling right and there's the taste of blood in my mouth. I say back, "I'm in pain."
"You hit your chin too?"
"Yeah."
"I suppose we need to call someone. Like a dentist."
I shake my head and little by little, I manage to sit back up. "By the way, I totally won that race."
"That was a race?" he asks, also sitting.
"Yes. And I won." I rub my hand on my chin. I'm probably gonna get a bruise there. On Strider's I can see that he's already forming a tiny one. We're gonna be the weirdoes with the matching bruises on the tips of our chins for sure.
There's a smile on my face as I stand up, then help Strider. I'm about to carry on to the math room. Despite our fast running and walking, it's still somewhat a distance away.
Strider suddenly steps in front of me. "I don't want to learn," he says.
"Learning's important," I say back. "We need to gain knowledge of math for our future."
"Math is boring. I feel lame now, and there's only an hour left of school anyway." Strider smiles a convincing smile and holds my hand. "We could see a movie, or something."
I stare at him. "But learning's important."
"Oh, come on. Do you really wanna learn about algebra stuff now?"
"Well..." I mumble. "I don't exactly... think it's the most fun thing in the world..."
"Then we'll go." He takes my hand and leads me out of the school through a side entrance that supposedly 'locked at all times'.
"YES! We'll act like Principal Brown kept us a long time." We turn around and cautiously make our way outside through a side entrance.
We sneak out to Strider's car, a small red thing with only two seats. We silently get in, and then he turns on the engine and pulls out of the high school parking lot. If anyone asks, we'd say that I was sick and Strider was taking me home.
"Where are we going?" he asks.
"You wanna hang out at The Lair?" I say.
"I thought we agreed to change its name to The Hub."
I blink, racking my brain to see if that's true, then blush. "Oh. Yeah." I rotate my head to observe as he runs his hand through his hair. "You wanna go somewhere else?"
He shakes his head. "I think The Hub, The Lair, is fine. Maybe we can stop somewhere and get some snacks, a movie, and a board game." Strider nods at his choice. "And even though we have school tomorrow, we can still have a slumber party."
"Wow. You just sounded like a five year old girl." I laugh and then add, "But seriously, that sounds awesome."
"Oh, huzah. To the Supermarket we go."
We go directly to the back of the store once we arrive. That's where all the movies are. There's literally over 500 different movies to choose from. They fill up five shelves, each that are about three feet across and reach the ceiling. My mouth is gaping in awe. To my right, Strider's standing with the same admiration. "Wow. That's a little extreme," he says quietly. "There's no way that we're gonna be able to choose."
"We could randomly pull one out." My eyes scan over the titles of all the movies.
He shakes his head. "This can't be random. We'd be stuck with a bad one." I'm too embarrassed at my suggestion to say anything. So Strider continues the conversation, "How about we both choose one we like, then we'll buy them both."
"I don't think I know which one I would like," I say back, staring vacantly at the movies. My brain stops processing which movies looks good and which ones look bad.
"Right. Right. Bad idea. What about, erm." He scratches the top of his head, as he always does when the answer to a problem isn't obvious. While I wait for him to come up with something, I read and reread all the film titles. There's BOOM!, Ninja Power, Don't be Lame, The Fish, and too many more. This is impossible.
I stand there for about five minutes. My brain is empty. When it's obvious that neither Strider nor I are going to come up with an answer, I ask "We need to get us something else, right? Like a pizza? Or some soda?"
He slowly nods, not even giving me the pleasure of seeing his face as he does so.
"How about to save time, we split up?"
"Split up?" Strider asks, looking over at me with raised eyebrows. "Like, you choose the movie and I get the other stuff?"
My head shakes as my way of saying no. "I mean, you choose the game and I get the other stuff."
Strider instantly loses his grin. What takes its place is a less friendly glare, making him look like he wants to stab me. Luckily, I'm a Strider expert. I merely smile my smug grin and say "It's ok. We'll meet up at the pineapple place. Just don't ruin this movie for us." I turn and leave before he can make any arguments.
I pay no attention to the desperate pleas for help behind me. I take a route that leads me precisely where I intend, the food section. I take a small box full of bags of popcorn, and then go over and get some of Strider's favorite thing to drink, Lemonade. I might as well do something to make him pleased. My arms are full after that, so I waddle my way to the front of the store, all the while ignoring the confused stares of the other customers. I release my cargo into a cart. It brings instant relief to my arms.
Once I have that out of the way, I pick out a frozen pizza, and then make my way to the part of the store we were gonna meet at. When I was halfway there, I see someone that makes me freeze.
The hair on the back of my neck begins to rise. I can feel myself getting colder in fear. No blood in my face, my skin turns pale. My legs won't move. My heart stops beating for a second.
It's her. The girl who I swore would never be forgiven. She made fun of me in front of the whole class. She made fun of me in front of the school. I warned her that she would pay.
Ever since she said I wasn't smart enough to be in advanced English, I've avoided her. She's my least favorite person in the world.
No doubt that she regrets calling me stupid now. Could a stupid person set a sports car on fire and get away with it? Could a stupid person manage to steer clear of her all semester?
When she sees me, her eyes dim in rage, giving me her famous death stare. She wheels her shopping cart over to me. I notice that she towers over me, giving her a more scary look. I look up at her with my fingertips shaking as she growls, "Hello Stormi."
I speak softly back in a voice too quiet to hear unless you're as close to me as she is. "Hello Ms. Williams."
Sorry it's long :/
But thanks for reading!
Chapter One
"I never liked my high school principal. She was one of the meanest people that I've ever had the misfortune of meeting. I vowed that as a principal myself, I would never be as brutal as she was." Principal Brown's face seems to darken as his eyes carefully scan over Strider and me. I fidget unnervingly in my chair. Did he discover something about one of our lethal stunts, the robberies, or the time Strider almost choked someone to death? Did he find out that I put toilet water in his coffee? It was like he could read our thoughts; like he could see into our souls. I wipe the droplets of sweat from my forehead. It was painfully obvious that I was in no way good under this kind of nervous tension. Principal Brown continues, tapping his fingers lightly on the desk. "But, for you two, who constantly manage to... erm... visit me, I'm afraid that I have to break that promise."
Strider was never as freaked out by the whole punishment for our violent behavior thing. That's why he was more often than not the one who got us out of jams like this. I was more skilled at fighting, sneaking around, and setting things on fire. Strider looks right at the principal across the desk, right into his eyes, and says with a straight face "Principal Brown. I'm confused. We actually haven't done anything that awful lately. I'm proud of that. Except we did sneak into my brother's room and read his diary. He does some weird things. Anyway, reading a diary doesn't count."
Principal Brown takes in a long, deep mouthful of air. He knows Strider's lying. I can tell by the skeptical look on his face. I've seen it many times before. Principal Brown keeps talking in that same flat tone. "You two set Ms. Williams, a great teacher-" I shut him up by bursting out laughing. And I don't mean a simple giggle, I mean a full out hard to breath and snorting like a donkey when I come up for air laugh. I can't help it. Ms. Williams is the most terrible teacher imaginable.
But I'm silenced by a coldhearted look from Principal Brown. This look paints the picture in my head of him yelling at me... telling me to go to lunch detention. Again. My smile vanishes and all noise in the room becomes soundless. He goes on by saying, "She's a great teacher. And you guys set her car on fire."
Strider only snickers in return, then catches himself. No more laughing. It may show Principal Brown that we think setting his girlfriend's car on fire is amusing. Yes, he's dating Ms. Williams. We'll just get in more trouble for that. Strider regains his composure by saying in a voice as sweet as sugar, "I don't recall setting anything on fire." He looks over at me. "Do you, Stormi?" I only manage to shake my head. Apparently the laugh is all the noise I'll be able to make.
"She's offered to drop all charges if you fess up for this, the chair issue, and that incident with the goldfish." Principal Brown leans forward. The desk seems like too small a barrier between us and him. "You two have a lot of stuff on your shoulders. Why not plead guilty and get it out of the way?"
I take him seriously. I nod my head and begin saying "We can do that-" but I'm cut off by Strider. He stands up, slams his hands down on the desk -for effect- and yells out "We won't fall for this!"
"Fall for what?" Principal Brown asks.
"This! You're lying! Obviously!!"
"No. I'm not."
Strider shakes his head. He takes a deep breath, then starts one of his passionate rants. "Please, I know how this works. The insurance guys had to pay money to get the car fixed, right?" Principal Brown nods. "Well, don't you see? They just lost around... I don't know, however much money a car costs. And that's a lot, I assure you. Don't you think that it'd be logical for them to get the police involved?"
"Well," he begins.
But Strider cuts him off. "We'll have to pay, as well have some more stuff written on our Juvenile Record. And you say she'll drop it? This is out of her hands. Something was damaged that was insured. It costs money to get fixed. And guess what! Money doesn't grow on trees! Someone's gonna need to pay for it!" He points behind us with a stern look plastered to his face. "This isn't as simple as you make it out to be. Our entire conversation has been recorded. You were planning on using this against us in court."
I take quick look behind us, and sure enough, I see the camera with its red flashing light on the side. Strider continues with his outburst, "The other two crimes you mentioned would give us at least 2,000 more dollars to pay off. Look, Principal Brown, you have no details. You can't arrest someone just because you assume they've done something wrong. "
Principal Brown doesn't seem the least bit altered by what Strider said. He just smiles, so sure of himself, and says "You're convincing, but there's one thing you didn't think of."
Strider looks bewildered. "I never overlook anything."
The principal abruptly looks from Strider to me. He stares into my eyes and says, "Hi, Stormi." I can't verbalize the words forming in my mind. No, wait, there are no words forming in my mind. I'm just blank, frozen in fear. After a few moments of no thought, I can only get out a frown.
He places his hands on the desk and begins, "Stormi, aren't you good with fire?" I nod. "And you've been charged with arson before?" I nod once again. "Doesn't it make sense that an arsonist burned a car, instead of someone else?"
I broaden my eyes in terror. I see what he's getting at. Unfortunately, I'm not so good at putting words together to make into any form of a compelling argument. I speak in a low voice, "I suppose. But, I'm not exactly the... um... only person in the area?" I can't even make sense of what I'm saying. I momentary look over at Strider for support. Just seeing him makes me a little braver. I correct myself, "I'm not the only one in this town that's an arsonist. A lot more people did a lot worse things than me."
"But you're the only person who has a history with Ms. Williams," says Principal Brown sharply. "You already killed her pet bird. I bet you burned her car too. Ever since she called you stupid in front of the school you've hated her."
"She shouldn't have called me stupid," I say darkly. "No one should have. You can't blame me for hating her. And you also can't blame me for setting her car on fire... That is, if I even did." Nodding and smiling, I realize that I just had a Strider moment. Ha.
"But you'd want revenge, correct?" Principal Brown narrows his eyes at me. "You burned her car."
"You can't prove it, though!" Strider exclaims as he comes to my rescue. "There are a lot of people who know Ms. Williams and don't like her! Everyone has the ability to set a car on fire."
All of a sudden Principal Brown isn't so smug. The emotion shifts into one of disgust. He glares at Strider and snarls, "I didn't ask you to talk. I'm busy with Stormi now."
"You might as well talk to me too! I'm right here! I'm with her all the time!"
He frowns back at Strider, "You're just like your father."
At this sentence, Strider's confidence wavers. "Um. What?"
Principal Brown didn't stop there. Oh, no. He went on. “You’re stuck up, just like he was, and you can't manage to keep your mouth closed for two seconds! I could try to be nice, but all he would do is aggravate me! Just like you."
I jump up from my seat. "Dude! You call Strider stuck up?! What about you!? You can't go around talking about his dad like that!" My instincts take over. I'm not frightened. My actions are powered by rage. There isn't any reason to be afraid. No one makes fun of his dad. "You're no better than those villains from the shows my brother watches!"
"Oh, so Stormi finally speaks. Looks like I found a button of emotion that isn't messed with a lot." He smiles contently.
"Man! Stop it!" I lean forward so I'm in his face. "If you were a good principal, you would know that you should never ever mention something like that."
Strider takes a step back in horror. His face empties of blood as he whispers "You... You... words cannot describe my pure hatred for you."
"Why would I care?" The principal asks. "You're just gonna ruin everything important in my life like your two-faced, lifeless father did!"
"Objection!" Strider screams out. "Leave my dad out of this! This is between Stormi, you, and me. And you know what? This is ALL on camera! We're being recorded now! If the superintendant sees this, you're fired. Ha!"
Principal Brown's eyes suddenly widen. "Oh dear Lord. I let my anger over that fateful day get the best of me. I'm not a mean principal."
"You're the nastiest," I say strictly.
"It's true," Strider agrees. "And, just a side note, if you ever talk about my dad like that again, I swear, I'm going to tear out your jugular and-"
"Strider!" I yell. "We're being recorded! It's probably be to get you threatening someone on camera. Bad things will happen." I turn to look at him and say, "Just shut up right now. Ok?" Leaning forward and wrap my arms around him in an attempt to calm him down. When Strider's breath isn't coming out quite as heavily, I let go and say, "See? We can just forget about it. What's done is done."
And then I give my full attention to Principal Brown. "I may not be good at talking under pressure, but I know when I need to stand up for my friend. And you, sir, are eviilllll!"
"I know," Principal Brown says back.
"Nobody cares about any conflicts you and his dad had. Strider's not his dad. Ok? You aren't allowed to ridicule his dad. Really. No one is. With that, we bid you ado, and we'll see ourselves out of this stupid office." I snort disgracefully and take Strider's hand.
As we leave, I make sure to reach up with my free hand to where the camera is and smash it with my fist. Bits of debris shower me, but I just shake it off. We aren't off the hook for arson, but at least we can just forget about Principal Brown. I know that he won't be bothering us for a while.
He's still furious, but at least Strider isn't about to kill anyone. When we're out of sound range from the principal's office, I turn to him and ask "You ok?" He barely nods back. I heave a sigh and hug him again. "Don't let that failure of a man get to you. He just wanted to make you mad."
"It worked," he whispers to me.
"I know. He's just a big, fat jerk." I gently push some of his hair out of his eyes and say, "Just ignore everything he says."
"Easier said than done," says Strider unhappily. "What's his problem with my dad anyway? Everyone liked him..."
"Maybe he was jealous," I suggest. "But we don't have to think about that now. Maybe we should just obsess over what we'll do if we get interrogated by the police."
He barely smiles. Something about doing bad stuff then trying to get away with it makes him happy. Strider says, "I think I've got it under control, and you haven't spilled our secrets yet."
"You know, you were pretty awesome in there."
"You weren't as awful as you usually are," he grin wider and we continue our way down the hall to our current class, Math.
"I don't think we'll ever get caught," I say to him. "We're like ghosts."
"Yup. You and I. Two best buddies. Boy and girl. Epic ghosts. Committing crimes. Dude, we're like the most successful pair of evil villains that the world with never catch."
"YUS! That is what we are!"
He smiles at my reaction. Strider's hands go in the pockets of his black hoodie and he says, "We're actually a pretty good team."
I nod simply. "The best."
Strider suddenly stops smiling. He stops walking and asks out of the blue, "Are you still dating Jared?"
I stop moving my feet to look at him. "Um. No. Why?"
"Um. No reason. I'm just wondering." He shrugs. "I'm curious. So... things didn't work out?"
"He kept saying that you liked me. That you hung out with me all the time and it drove him crazy. He didn't want to have you as an enemy if he was dating me or something... He asked if we could still be friends." I let out a sigh and feel my shoulders droop. "I said no. I told him that if he can't accept you, he can't have me. Because you and I are like some kind of package deal."
Strider raises his eyebrows. "You guys split because of me?"
"Pretty much," I say in a monotone voice. It was over two weeks ago. I haven't talked to Jared sense. But he's lame, as I've grown to realize.
"Well... Doesn't that make me feel all special. I can't believe that he actually thinks I like you that way... We only hang out all the time and I asked you to marry me. No... I don't like you."
I blink, then shrug off the notion that Strider might actually want to go out with me. Us dating would end horribly. Surely he knew that. He must have been joking... We were buds. We didn't think anything of when we had sleepovers. We didn't care if we spent every waking hour next to each other. He did ask me to marry him though... I remember it like it was yesterday.
Strider was dressed in his plaid shirt and dark blue jeans, blonde hair messy and about the same medium length as it is now. He was twelve. I was eleven and in my normal first day of school outfit. I had a red sweatshirt pulled over the shirt my mom bought me and my light blue jeans. My hair was still long, dull, and brown. I had it in a single braid down my back. When I saw Strider, I stared at him.
He was the most perfect looking boy, and it was no surprise that the only people hanging around him were girls. They kept whispering things to him, probably telling him that he was stunning of that they liked the way he looked. Strider would say things back like a quite "thank you". Something about the way he only spoke in a low voice and didn't make much movement told me that he didn't quite like all the attention.
That's when he saw me. Head tilted to the side, he watched me for a while. I didn't look away, just kept my eyes lined up with his. It was impossible to stop.
And he walked away from the swarm of girls so he was standing right in front of me. Envious looks came from the girls he left, but I tried to ignore them. I'll never forget what he said. "Will you marry me?"
But I was lame then. I simply stare at him, emotionless. Strider said, "Oh, I get it. You don't know me." He held out his hand to shake. I cautiously reach out mine and take his hand. Is it electricity? Is it love at first sight? Or at least friendship at first sight?
No. His hand was covered with sweat and was very clammy. It just sickens me. I yank back my hand and shriek out, "EW!"
Strider isn't one to give up. He wiped his hand off on his pants and says, "Sorry. I'm just nervous. I sweat when I'm anxious. But, my name's Strider."
At that instant I brood over whether or not to tell him my real name, or make one up. Of course I can't tell him that my name's Rebecca. I'm not the biggest fan of that name, so I just say my middle name instead. "I'm Stormi."
"So, um. Hi Stormi," he said with a smile. "So you wanna get married?"
As I walk with Strider now, thinking back to that day, I can't help wondering if he's thinking of that now. The day we met. The day he asked me to marry him. Why'd he even bring that up? No. No he doesn't like me. We're just friends. Best friends.
I desperately attempt to change the subject. "Um. So... I read a book. It's called The Fakes."
"I've heard that's good... What's it about?"
I lift my eyebrows and ask "You're interested in reading?"
He snorts in response. "HA! Looks like you don't know me as well as you thought you did!"
"I know everything about you," I say.
"Sure, and I'm a spider."
"No, you're a Strider."
Strider laughs at that, even though it's a lame joke. "Ok, but you still don't know everything about me."
"Please!" I exclaim. "I know you so well! I know that you only eat pineapple in public! I know that you don't like fire ever since your dad was killed in a house fire! I know that your best friend is an arsonist!"
"Well guess what? I know what color your hair is."
I stare at him. "Um. Yes. It's red, orange, and yellow. Like fire. Because... I like fire."
"And you like writing," he says. "So ha. I know lots about you too."
"You don't know what my favorite color is," I say sharply.
"Yes I do! It's rainbow!"
"No! Strider! It's orange! I told you a million times! That's why I always wear orange!" I gesture at my orange sweatshirt, my orange shoes, the orange in my hair, my light orange eye shadow, the orange glint of my pants, the orange mark of orange on my arm. "Orange!"
"You know, an orange is a fruit," he says like the know-it-all he wishes he could be. "And a color."
"Yes," I moan. "But an orange... you messed up my brain! I can't even remember what we were talking about!"
"Jared," says Strider. "And the fact that he is mean."
"Oh, yeah." I mutter. "I think we're some of the only people that can change a conversation about Jared to one about oranges."
"We could change it again," he says. "Now we can talk about how I know more about you than you know about me. I know that you're a girl."
"Well no duh."
"I know that you have a brother and a sister."
"I know that you are weird," I say sharply, hinting for him not to talk about my family. I'm one of those girls who has family issues. It pretty much involves my dad being drunk all the time, my oldest sibling, Cynthia, away at college and engaged, and my brother hates me. Oh, and did I mention that my mom has never once said she loves me? Strider doesn't take my hint. He talks about my family anyway.
"I know that you're brother doesn't love you... and that you wish he would."
"Strider," I warn. "I'm going to hurt you."
"I know that your dad broke your leg while he was drunk," he continues.
Can he not hear me? "I'm going to punch you," I growl.
"I know that your sister left you to take care after Joey, your father, and your mom. And you resent her."
"I WILL KILL YOU." I narrow my eyes and pull a small lighter out of my pocket. I flick on the fire, and then raise the flame next to Strider's face. "I'll set your hair on fire. You will die. I will laugh. You will burn. You will suffer. You will not talk about my family anymore." By the look on my face, he can tell that I mean it.
"Just pretend I didn't say it!" He pushes away the lighter and sprints down the hall at top "Strider speed". He forgets that I'm faster.
Look, I have these really strong legs and I'm healthy. I run every morning. I'm one of the fastest people in the school. I can run swiftly and for a long time. I catch up to him and reach out my arms. I give a final burst of energy with my legs and jump on him.
Instead of landing teasingly on his shoulders like I plan, I land too low. My chin bangs on the floor, but my hands extend to grab his legs. He loses his footing and falls straight on his face. I think he hit his chin too. Judging by the moans coming from him, I decide that he did. "Stormi," he whispers. "That hurt."
My jaw isn't feeling right and there's the taste of blood in my mouth. I say back, "I'm in pain."
"You hit your chin too?"
"Yeah."
"I suppose we need to call someone. Like a dentist."
I shake my head and little by little, I manage to sit back up. "By the way, I totally won that race."
"That was a race?" he asks, also sitting.
"Yes. And I won." I rub my hand on my chin. I'm probably gonna get a bruise there. On Strider's I can see that he's already forming a tiny one. We're gonna be the weirdoes with the matching bruises on the tips of our chins for sure.
There's a smile on my face as I stand up, then help Strider. I'm about to carry on to the math room. Despite our fast running and walking, it's still somewhat a distance away.
Strider suddenly steps in front of me. "I don't want to learn," he says.
"Learning's important," I say back. "We need to gain knowledge of math for our future."
"Math is boring. I feel lame now, and there's only an hour left of school anyway." Strider smiles a convincing smile and holds my hand. "We could see a movie, or something."
I stare at him. "But learning's important."
"Oh, come on. Do you really wanna learn about algebra stuff now?"
"Well..." I mumble. "I don't exactly... think it's the most fun thing in the world..."
"Then we'll go." He takes my hand and leads me out of the school through a side entrance that supposedly 'locked at all times'.
"YES! We'll act like Principal Brown kept us a long time." We turn around and cautiously make our way outside through a side entrance.
We sneak out to Strider's car, a small red thing with only two seats. We silently get in, and then he turns on the engine and pulls out of the high school parking lot. If anyone asks, we'd say that I was sick and Strider was taking me home.
"Where are we going?" he asks.
"You wanna hang out at The Lair?" I say.
"I thought we agreed to change its name to The Hub."
I blink, racking my brain to see if that's true, then blush. "Oh. Yeah." I rotate my head to observe as he runs his hand through his hair. "You wanna go somewhere else?"
He shakes his head. "I think The Hub, The Lair, is fine. Maybe we can stop somewhere and get some snacks, a movie, and a board game." Strider nods at his choice. "And even though we have school tomorrow, we can still have a slumber party."
"Wow. You just sounded like a five year old girl." I laugh and then add, "But seriously, that sounds awesome."
"Oh, huzah. To the Supermarket we go."
We go directly to the back of the store once we arrive. That's where all the movies are. There's literally over 500 different movies to choose from. They fill up five shelves, each that are about three feet across and reach the ceiling. My mouth is gaping in awe. To my right, Strider's standing with the same admiration. "Wow. That's a little extreme," he says quietly. "There's no way that we're gonna be able to choose."
"We could randomly pull one out." My eyes scan over the titles of all the movies.
He shakes his head. "This can't be random. We'd be stuck with a bad one." I'm too embarrassed at my suggestion to say anything. So Strider continues the conversation, "How about we both choose one we like, then we'll buy them both."
"I don't think I know which one I would like," I say back, staring vacantly at the movies. My brain stops processing which movies looks good and which ones look bad.
"Right. Right. Bad idea. What about, erm." He scratches the top of his head, as he always does when the answer to a problem isn't obvious. While I wait for him to come up with something, I read and reread all the film titles. There's BOOM!, Ninja Power, Don't be Lame, The Fish, and too many more. This is impossible.
I stand there for about five minutes. My brain is empty. When it's obvious that neither Strider nor I are going to come up with an answer, I ask "We need to get us something else, right? Like a pizza? Or some soda?"
He slowly nods, not even giving me the pleasure of seeing his face as he does so.
"How about to save time, we split up?"
"Split up?" Strider asks, looking over at me with raised eyebrows. "Like, you choose the movie and I get the other stuff?"
My head shakes as my way of saying no. "I mean, you choose the game and I get the other stuff."
Strider instantly loses his grin. What takes its place is a less friendly glare, making him look like he wants to stab me. Luckily, I'm a Strider expert. I merely smile my smug grin and say "It's ok. We'll meet up at the pineapple place. Just don't ruin this movie for us." I turn and leave before he can make any arguments.
I pay no attention to the desperate pleas for help behind me. I take a route that leads me precisely where I intend, the food section. I take a small box full of bags of popcorn, and then go over and get some of Strider's favorite thing to drink, Lemonade. I might as well do something to make him pleased. My arms are full after that, so I waddle my way to the front of the store, all the while ignoring the confused stares of the other customers. I release my cargo into a cart. It brings instant relief to my arms.
Once I have that out of the way, I pick out a frozen pizza, and then make my way to the part of the store we were gonna meet at. When I was halfway there, I see someone that makes me freeze.
The hair on the back of my neck begins to rise. I can feel myself getting colder in fear. No blood in my face, my skin turns pale. My legs won't move. My heart stops beating for a second.
It's her. The girl who I swore would never be forgiven. She made fun of me in front of the whole class. She made fun of me in front of the school. I warned her that she would pay.
Ever since she said I wasn't smart enough to be in advanced English, I've avoided her. She's my least favorite person in the world.
No doubt that she regrets calling me stupid now. Could a stupid person set a sports car on fire and get away with it? Could a stupid person manage to steer clear of her all semester?
When she sees me, her eyes dim in rage, giving me her famous death stare. She wheels her shopping cart over to me. I notice that she towers over me, giving her a more scary look. I look up at her with my fingertips shaking as she growls, "Hello Stormi."
I speak softly back in a voice too quiet to hear unless you're as close to me as she is. "Hello Ms. Williams."
