The Uprising

Chapter Seven--Erik (Yes!)

Okay. My first chapter. (Tell the truth– Annabelle) Okay. I can't fly. Sadly. I was kind of mad at Emma. She had stereotyped me. Why did she think I liked Spin the Bottle, strip version, etc.? I mean, most of the boys in Paris are like that. But not all of them. Though, I have to admit, most of the boys in Paris would have wanted to play spin the bottle with her. But I don't want to. At all. (Wow. Again, you treat me like chopped liver. But thanks for the complement!~Emma) You're welcome. I guess.

I followed Annabelle out of the food court. I didn't know where we were going, but I decided just to let her lead. We walked outside where a lot of students were speaking in a lot of languages. The falling sun turned Annabelle's red hair to flames.

"What?" she asked, and I realized I was staring at her. "Nothing." She narrowed her ice blue eyes.

A girl with extremely curly hair bounced up to us. "Ak zu hyle xua bughiod juytoph?" she asked in Ivanian. I shook my head. "I don't speak Ivanian. Only French and English." Annabelle said, "I don't know much Ivanian. Do you speak English?" The girl brightened. "Enlglied? Ghy!" she exclaimed. "She said yes," Annabelle informed me.

"Is the library this way?" the curly girl asked, this time in English, pointing to the door we just came through.

"Yes," Annabelle said. The girl thanked us and skipped away.

"So, tell me about your life," I said, awkwardly.

"Well, I have a twin named Emma. She can be like she was today, or a total spoil sport. She has emotional issues. Um...... I live in Munich with my two guardians, Dr. Strauss and Dr. Stein. My parents died when I was five. In a fire. Um.........that's basically it," Annabelle said very awkwardly.

"Your parents are dead?" I asked, shocked. I thought my life was hard, but I had both my parents.

"Yes, they say it was an accident. But I know otherwise,"Annabelle said.

"I'm sorry," I said. Annabelle shrugged. "I barely remember them. The fire is what haunts me more." Annabelle sighed.

"We, Emma and I, were on our own for a long time—five years. We stayed with family friends and grandparents, but they lived in Ivania and the Roviet Confederacy. It was a dangerous time, and they were anti-Ivanists. No one could keep us. Then we met Dr. Strauss. That was five years ago. He became our legal guardian the next year. Ina moved in a year ago when her parents found out she was an anti-Ivanist, and they kicked her out." Annabelle sat at a picnic table, and set her head on the table.

We just sat there for a few minutes.

"Time to go. It's getting dark," I said softly, gently touching Annabelle's arm. She looked up at me. "Okay."

We walked back to the dorms, and I dropped Annabelle off before going to my dorm.

I heard a crash when I opened the door. "Ow!" Luke groaned. I peeked around the door. He was lying on the floor. "What were you doing?" I asked him. "Handstands," he muttered. I shook my head. "Have you learned nothing after getting hit in the face with the door last year?" I asked. That was the third year Luke had been my dorm mate. We are five years older than Annabelle and Emma, so we were already in our first year of college.

Luke threw a pillow at me. "Hey! Why is everyone throwing stuff at me?" I complained. "Because it's fun," Luke said. I picked up the pillow and threw it back at him.

"So how did your date with Annabelle go?" asked Luke.

"It wasn't even a date! Just a friend thing or something. Actually more like saving her from her drunk sister," I said laughing.