Her Inheritance

CHAPTER 5 -•- Side Character

           Aurora stared pitifully in the mirror at her hideous dress and black flats. The only thing she liked about it was that it covered her pale, hairy legs. She looked at Mae, who actually looked quite confident and stunning tonight. She was perched on one leg, smiling down at her phone and clearing her throat as she whipped her hair out of her face. She had done her own makeup, and Aurora was surprised by how detailed and beautiful it was. She had no idea Mae could do her makeup like that. Her nails were even painted black and she was wearing her tipless gloves and piercings. They had hardly talked since she left the hospital, let alone hung out. Mae still clung to Aurora at school as people continued to whisper and stare at her down the halls, but it was different now. People approached her at lunch and in the gym, invited her to their tables, sat down and had full blown conversations with her about her new powers, all while Aurora sat next to her, wondering if anyone could even really see her there. At first, Mae declined these advances. Then, Aurora started to notice she was running late to their regular meeting spots between classes, or not showing up at all. Her texts were dry and scarce, which she only did when she was mad at Aurora, but there hadn't been any fight. Aurora was the only one initiating plans to hang out after school, and when they were together, Mae always seemed distracted by other people on her ChatPics. Aurora could feel her slipping, but was still holding onto her for dear life.
           There was a knock on her dad's front door. She sighed deeply, knowing it was the boys coming to pick them up.
           "I got it!" Graham sang. He swung open the door and was caught off guard by the three repulsive, smelly boys staring on his front porch. They smiled up at him in their shabby suits, seemingly thrown together on a whim after raiding one of their grandfather's closets. He slowly turned back to Aurora and Mae, confirming that these were, in fact, the boys meant to be picking them up. Aurora's defeated face told him everything he needed to know, "Hello, boys! Welcome in..." he feigned enthusiasm.
           "Hey, Aurora's dad. Nice to meet you. I'm Harvey, Aurora's boyfriend," Harvey stuck out his hand for him to shake it as he entered the house. Graham's eyes shot open, and he stared at the boy, questioning if he was really serious or not. He looked between Harvey's face and his hand and turned back to his daughter.
           "Boyfriend?" he questioned her. Aurora just stared at him in terror. Mae barely glanced up at the scene from her phone.
           "Aurora hasn't told you about us?" Harvey looked at him and walked into the house, stopping at Aurora's side, and wrapping one of his lanky arms around her, "yeah, we've been going steady for, like, a solid three weeks now," Graham looked into Aurora's eyes, and she subtly shook her head at him with a panicked expression. Now he was suddenly narrowing his eyebrows at Harvey and crossing his muscular, tanned arms. By now, Linus and Cheddar had also entered the house behind him.
           "Uh huh. No, she hasn't said a word about you, other than going to this dance together," Graham told him. Harvey suddenly looked surprised and looked at Aurora's terrified expression, which only made him panic further as he quickly removed his arm from her.
           "Oh, right... Well, um, sir, you really have a lovely daughter," Harvey nodded at him, folding his hand out in front of him. He tried to soften the blow of his social fail, but Graham just approached him slowly.
           "Listen here, boyfriend. I'll let this slide for tonight, but don't let me hear about any funny business. There better not be any close-dancing, or backseat kissing— not even a peck on the cheek," Graham slowly got even closer, getting mere ticks away from his face, "if I find out you touched my daughter inappropriately," he began in a whisper, "I will skin you alive and hang your bloody body up in my backyard for the stray dogs to take care of."
           Harvey gulped, and began to nod his head frantically, "yes, sir."
           "Good. Let me just grab my keys and I'll drive you all there," Graham told him, smiling knowingly at Aurora as she mouthed the words 'thank you'. He purposefully checked Harvey in the shoulder as he passed him, making him stumble and look back at him with fear. Cheddar and Linus shared and uncomfortable glance before moving on.
           "Mae... You look... amazing tonight," Cheddar swooned, looking her up and down, "I'm so glad you came. I wasn't sure you were coming, since you haven't really been talking to me..."
          "Yeah..." Mae finally looked up from her phone and scanned Cheddar as well. She rolled her eyes, and then forced a smile, "you too. Can we leave, now?"
           Graham drove the band of kids back to the school in silence. Aurora sat next to him in the front passenger seat. They shared anticipating glances towards each other, as if they both knew something was going to happen tonight. He had no words, he could only let her go see how it played out. Part of her didn't even want to go. She knew it was going to be bad, but Mae was here— she was committing to her one last time— so she was going to commit too.
           They walked into the building together. Kids were actually out having fun on the dance floor. One girl was getting cheers from her friends as she set off colorful sparks from her fancy blue heels on the gym floor. Another kid was impressing a small crowd with his object color-changing endowment, switching his plain t-shirt from white, to red, to green, to purple, and so on. One kid was singing the music's lyrics in a robotic voice he curated with his voice-adapting endowment.
           The awkward group shuffled back to the snack and drink table, and Aurora had no idea what to do with herself as she stood around with her so-called dates and best friend. Nobody sparked up a conversation among them. None of the other students even paid attention to them. They just watched the other kids socialize, show off, and have fun together. Mae stayed glued to her phone, and Aurora noticed she was occasionally smiling and even stifling a laugh. Aurora looked back into the crowd, and saw none other than Zayden, Lexa, Cierra, and Trent. They were looking at them, of course, and probably saying terrible things about them just for existing together. A new, slow-tempoed song came on, and Harvey hesitantly looked at Aurora before taking a deep breath.
           "Aurora... will you dance with me?" He asked her. Aurora stared at him, but thought maybe she should. Then she looked back at all the people around them. She looked at her bullies, who were now locked in a dead-eye stare with her.  They all probably knew who he was. They knew about his endowment, as secretive as he tried to be, and she didn't want to be seen with him.
           "Um... can we dance later? I'm just feeling a little nervous right now," Aurora said. Harvey stared at her in shock, and suddenly got angry and stormed off. Aurora didn't even care, she just watched him walk out of a random gym door. Linus glanced back at Aurora and then followed his friend out of the room. She sighed deeply, and even felt a bit relieved. She looked back at Mae, and gasped audibly as Zayden suddenly smacked a searing hand into her neck, burning a huge print into her skin.
           "AGH!" Mae screamed, stumbling forward, causing some people to turn around and watch the scene unfold. Zayden laughed.
           "Sorry, nullie... I just saw the news, and, uh, i thought I'd better be a Good Samaritan and make sure everyone knew it was a bold-face—" Zayden stopped when he realized his burn mark was starting to disappear like he had never smacked her in the first place. Mae straightened back up and cracked her neck. What was meant to be the most traumatic high school prank of her life, was simply a minor inconvenience, because she really was a rapid healer. Mae turned around to face him and punched him square in the nose, making him fumble backward into a group of people as he clutched his bleeding face.
           "What in Syrion's burning core is your problem?" she shrieked at him, "Are you lost in the void? What makes you think you can do that to someone?"
           "So it's true..." Cheddar interrupted her lecture, causing her to snap towards him, "you were lying about your endowment...  lemonade pee? Really?"
           "Oh, shut up, Chester," Mae spat, "I only told you all of that because I was desperate for someone to come with me to this stupid dance. But it's a waste of time."
           "You could've just told me you were a null, I wouldn't have cared," he glared at her.
           "Okay? What does it matter now? I'm not a null! In fact, my endowment is marks better than yours! I don't even know what I'm doing here with you!" Mae told him, making him stare at her in complete shock.
           "Mae... chill out. He was still nice enough to bring you... even though you've been ignoring all of us," Aurora told her gently.
           "Aurora, why are you defending him? Just because you could never do better than this scrap trash, doesn't mean I have to settle for it now. I don't have to settle for any of this anymore!" Mae told her, and Aurora just gawked at her with glassy eyes, opening her mouth to respond, but only shaking her head at a loss of words. Mae stormed past her and darted for the door.
           "Mae— wait!" Aurora chased her down after processing for a few moments. She caught her outside the school, headed down the orb-lit pavement, "Mae, please... don't leave... tonight doesn't have to end like this..." Aurora cried as she grasped her arm, tears trailing down her face.
           "Forget it, Aurora. You and I both know I don't belong with you anymore," Mae tugged away, but couldn't break free from her tight grip.
           "Mae, please, you're my only friend... if I don't have you... I'm going to be all alone when I move to the city," she begged her.
           "Aurora, stop," Mae broke free and stepped back from her, glaring at her angrily, "my mom made me come to this dance... because of the dress. But she said that I don't owe you, or anyone else a thing," she told her. Aurora's head dropped, looking down at the stupid dress she felt forced into wearing for her. This was the thanks she got, putting her through her worst nightmare and leaving her in the dust as her world began to crumble. Mae left her standing there, alone, yet again. She wrapped herself in a hug and sobbed softly to herself, not even looking up to see where Mae ran off to.
           She gasped suddenly when she felt an arm wrap around her shoulder, and she looked up to see Harvey staring down at her. She backed away from him.
           "I get it... it's hard losing a friend... I just lost Linus again... he's throwing another tantrum about not having a girlfriend to bring to the dance," Harvey sighed and rolled his eyes as he explained. Aurora just sniffed and scrubbed her face with her bare palms, trying to ignore him. She jumped again when she felt his cold, clammy hands on her waist, "I know what might make you feel better... having your first kiss?"
           "What?" Aurora questioned him as she turned around, and he grabbed her hands to pull her closer.
           "I know you wanted it to be special. Well, here we are. At the dance," he told her.
           "Wha— no. No, I don't want to—" Aurora tried to push him away, but was horrified to look up and see his big, wet lips slowly creeping towards her. She covered his mouth with her hand and shoved him back, finally making him let go of her, "I said no!"
           "What? It's just a kiss?" Harvey laughed, "Are you serious? It's not that big of a deal... I know what your dad said, but, he doesn't have to—"
           "No! I just don't want to kiss you, okay? I don't even want to be your girlfriend!" Aurora finally admitted, making him pause and slump down.
           "So... like... you're breaking up with me?" he asked her, sounding a little bit angry with his infliction.
           "Yes! Whatever! I don't like you, okay? I'm sorry..." Aurora sighed, starting to cry again. Harvey stared at the ground and sighed.
           "Wow. Thanks for wasting my time..." He told her before storming off again. She pulled out her phone and immediately called her dad. He was there within five minutes.
         
            The next morning couldn't have gotten any worse. Aurora was staring mindlessly into her locker, having given up completely on trying to meet up with Mae in the mornings. She glanced down the hall at the crowd and thought she might've been hallucinating when she saw Mae talking to the showoffs like she had known them her whole life. Her hair was pinned up, she was wearing t-shirts and stylish pants with combat boots, and was clearly adopting a new style. Aurora looked back at the books and jumbled papers in her locker, and for a few minutes she just wanted to pretend she didn't see anything and run to class. Then she thought about it, and she knew she wouldn't be able to sleep at night without asking her why she'd do this to her.
           After talking to herself, looking back and forth between Mae, the floor, and her locker, she finally locked eyes with Mae by accident, and both of them instinctively looked away. Aurora finally decided she had absolutely nothing to lose, and began walking towards her quietly.
           She stopped at Mae's side and watched as she discreetly sucked on the end of a cloudie from under her shirt. She accidentally coughed up a cloud of vapor when she noticed Aurora standing next to her, and she quickly fanned it away. Everyone suddenly turned to Aurora with judgemental eyes.
           "By the Gods, Aurora, what do you want?" Mae questioned her.
           "I just want to know... why you would talk to them..." Aurora asked her softly.
           "What? Zayden? I mean, I was a little surprised myself, but I figured we could call it even," Mae turned to him with a smile, making them all laugh.
           "I mean the very people who tortured us every day for the last two years..." Aurora clarified, glancing down at the cloudie she was hiding under her glove, "and since when do you puff? You always said your mom was scrap for doing that..."
           "Aurora, it's none of your business, okay? It shouldn't concern you. Why? Do you want one? She has like a hundred of them all over the house," Mae pulled out multicolored cloudies by the handful from her pant pockets, making her new friends snicker again.
           "I just want to know how you can sleep at night after doing this to me..." Aurora asked her, making her pause and genuinely look at her for a moment. She sighed softly through her nose.
           "You know, Aurora... I've always felt like you've been a side character to my life. Im becoming my true self, and I just don't need you anymore... and I wish you would just take the hint that I want you to leave me alone. I don't want to be seen with you anymore," Mae admitted to her. Aurora just frowned and looked to the ground. The group of kids just looked around at each other, unsure of how to react. 
           "Okay. Fine," Aurora told her with acceptance.