KIARA'S POV
Xenia was hacked off at me. When we got to her mansion of a house, which was ten minutes away from my house, Xenia jumped off from the back of my motorbike and stormed to her front door without a thank you or a second glance back at me. This made me feel slightly hurt so I jumped off my bike too and rushed after her.
"Xenia. Xenia! Wait! Come on, chica, don't be mad at me," I said, trying not to sound like I was pleading with her. "Come on! You have to admit that those guys had to be put into their place sooner or later."
Xenia rounded on me. "Put into their place sooner or later?!" she repeated shrilly. She looked ready to kill me and this made me like her even more. "Are you crazy? Are you completely out of your mind?! Those boys are Satan. Or sons of Satan! One of the two but there is no way on Earth they are human, especially Griffon Woodville! They destroy anyone they feel is a threat; I managed to keep my head down and out of their radar until you arrived and just had to pick a fight with them! Anyone associated with the enemies of Griffon and his gang get hanged along with the condemned and why the hell are you laughing at me?!"
I was laughing at Xenia's misplaced concern, yes. Happy to admit it. But in my defence; A) Xenia angry was really funny - her face looked like an angry Jigglypuff's! Not kidding! B) I always laughed when being told off by an angry person who was slowly but visually changing colour in the face. It seriously is off-putting when you're trying to listen to the person spilling out their heart to you and try to take them seriously and listen to them but their face turns red like a tomato and inflates like a balloon.
I clamped both hands over my mouth to stop myself from laughing any further while Xenia glared daggers at me.
She shook her head at me. "You really are a walking harbinger of doom," she said, but she was more telling it to herself than to me. "Were you really like this back in England?"
I chuckled my signature evil chuckle. "Chica, I was worse in England. If I had behaved back there in the way I acted back home, Griffon would be without a sense of smell right now."
Xenia was shocked by my confidence. "For touching your motorbike?!"
"No one messes with my property," was my plain and simple answer.
Xenia and I stood there in awkward silence for a minute before Xenia said, "Do you want to come to school with me tomorrow?"
I grinned. "Thought you'd never ask! You pick me up or shall I pick you up?"
Xenia laughed nervously. "No offence, Kiara, but motorbikes and I don't mix. I prefer to stay with my good old Volvo. Well, my brother's Volvo."
"Your brother won't mind?" I asked.
Xenia then grinned a devilish smile. "Since when do you care?" she said teasingly.
I wanted to kick myself. Damn it Kiara! Should have kept your mouth shut!
Xenia was still laughing triumphantly. "We'll pick you up tomorrow at eight. Lessons don't start until nine."
"Same in England."
"Should be used to it then!"
I scoffed.
Xenia chuckled at this. "Until tomorrow?"
I nodded curtly, turned on my heels and back to my baby.
When I got home, my brothers were all in the ballroom-like living room, giving me the evils.
"What the hell took you so long?" Maliki demanded.
"Ran into some trouble," I answered casually, shrugging. "It's no biggie."
"No biggie?!" Jace scoffed. "Who landed in A&E this time? An old lady who wouldn't get out of your way?"
I rolled my eyes at him. "Stop being such a girl, Jace. No one landed in hospital . . . . well, at least not yet. But all hell is gonna break lose if this guy doesn't get his shit straight."
"What guy?" Rex asked eagerly, his eyes suddenly shining with the desire of gossip. There seriously should be a show called Gossip Boy with Rex as one of the main characters.
"A twat," I answered simply and sharply. "A twat who thought he could challenge me."
Maliki chuckled humourlessly, which earned him one of my *immitating Queen Victoria* I-am-not-amused glares.
"What?" I demanded coldly.
"Nothing," Maliki lied casually. "It's just that you should not underestimate American bad boys. They could give ours a run for their money and that is saying something!"
"Believe me," I said, scoffing and shaking my head at my older brother's lack of confidence in my powers of evil, "this one I am thinking of is no match for me. I will soon have him hanging on a wall as a decorative ornament!"
"Uh-oh," Jace said sarcastically. "Everybody, run! Kiara is after her Kovu!"
"If you want to keep your face, Jace, I suggest you zip that lip!" I snarled, giving him my Eyes of the Gorgon. "If the guy gets in my way again, I will pull out all the stocks I possibly can manage! I am not going to let my title be stripped from me by an insecure, bad-guy-wannabe who is just like every other amateur I have crossed! As Accius said, let them hate so long as they fear!"
And with that dramatic ending, I took my cue to leave up to my bedroom in one of the turrets.
Almost as soon as I stepped through the door, which was shapped like an arch like the rest of the doors, and slammed it, I felt nothing but anger. Especially at myself.
When I was a kid, I was bullied. Yeah, I know what you're thinking, "Kiara Rivers?! Bullied?! Never in a million years!" But it's true. The bully's name was Evan. Evan Greene. That name, just by thinking about it, makes my blood boil with rage and humiliation. He was my living nightmare, my arch enemy; my kryptonite. I used to be a good kid, a good girl who never dared to get her hands dirty. Evan changed that. He was Dr. Frankenstein and I was the monster. He made me who I am now. I dealt with it for four years . . . until one day, my patience finally ran out. I was 7 years old.
(Start of flashback)
"Hey! Rivers! Wanna go and take a plunge into the river?"
"Go away, Evan. Leave me alone."
"I think I'll pass. You're my favourite toy, after all."
Evan snatched the book on myths and legends from my hands and kicked it into a corner. His two minions, Avery and James or Tweedle Dumb and Tweedle Dumber, laughed and chucked the contents of their water bottles on my book. I couldn't help but watch in despair.
Evan grinned evilly at me. "Going to cry are you? Cry, little lion cub. Cry! Go on, you know you want to. Show us how truly pathetic you are, just like your equally pathetic namesake. Cry! Cry! CRY!"
I cried. But I didn't sob away like a little baby. Oh no. I attacked Evan; I punched him in the abdomen, and then shoved him into Avery and James, sending them both sprawling back onto the floor. I wasn't finished with them; not by a long shot. I emptied the contents of my own water bottle onto them and their cries of protesting and Avery's sobbing became the music to my ears.
"Kiara! Stop please!" Evan begged.
"No," I snarled. "Not now. Not ever. I have had just about enough! You and anyone else who dares mess with me will suffer for an extensive time to come. You can be sure of that!" Picking up my satchel, and throwing my water bottle into Evan's face, I practically skipped down the English corridor, singing to myself
Evan and his friends never bothered me again. In fact, most of them disappeared after that; they were transferred to other schools and a good thing too. My complete revenge plot would have been quick, effective and swift.
When I lay eyes on Griffon Woodville, those dreaded days came back to me in one big vicious swipe. Everything about Griffon reminded me of Evan; his cocky attitude, his blue eyes, his curly black hair and the side grin. I hated him on sight.
My iPad gave its you-have-a-message sound, which was an annoying musical tune. I checked why my iPad was disturbing my thoughts.
Xenia Crios sent you a Friend Request
I rolled my eyes. Curse Facebook!
I quickly accepted Xenia's friend request.
Xenia: Heya! :D Thank God you answered
Me: Yo! What's on your mind, X-C?
X: X-C?
Me: You likey? ;) Thought of it just now. Snazzy right?! XD
X: Oh, ha, ha, ha, *sarcasm*. Dig it, though ;) So, you home and alive?
Me: Yeah. Got quizzed by my brothers tho. My dad . . . have no idea where he is. LOL! XD
X: XD. I'm worried! But so should you
Me: Why??? :/
X: Got a message from my friend Katya. I'll introduce the two of you tomoz at school. She says that Griffon has put his status as 'Waging War on a New Rival 3:)'. You better convince your dad to get you a bullet proof vest!!
Me: XDDDD. Let Woodville come! One of my other names is the Ghost. I can disappear very easily; I love playing Cat and Mouse 3:)
X: Can I play? 3:)
Me: O.O I thought you were terrified of those guys!!! Why the sudden change of mind?!?!
X: I guess it's time for payback. Those guys need a taste of their own medicine; you have taught me that
Me: Awwwww! ^.^ U have just made my day!! <3
X: No problem!! XD <3 Ur right; what's life without a little risk?!
Me: U think Katya will help?
X: Defo! I'm gonna ask her now!
I chuckled at Xenia's last message and then frowned in confusion at myself. Was . . . I . . . making friends?!
If my brothers found this out, they would be laughing and jeering until the day we die.
Xenia Crios added Katya Roscoe to the chat
X: Back!! And I've brought company!!
Katya: Hi, Kiara! :D I'm Katya
Me: XD I can see that! Hi. You good?
Kat: Yep!! ^.^ I hear from Xenia that you are a Brit with an evil mind 3:)
Me: And proud of it!! 3:)
Kat: And that you've made an enemy of Griffon Woodville. Good going girl!! *thumbs up*
X: Hey!! Kat? Please don't praise her!! XD <3 you, Kiara O:)
Me: Sure, sure X-C *sarcastically* ;)
Kat: OK, back to business ladies. How are we going to get back on the Baddies?
X: No idea!!
Me: Well, we'll bide our time; keep an eye on them tomorrow. Find the weakness and exploit them 3:)
Kat: Talking like a woman of experience!! XD ;)
Me: :O OI! Not that bad!!
X: You mean you haven't done it?! :O
Kat: OMG!! So, rude, X!!
Me: I don't need to be a common tart to be Queen of Evil!!!
X: Now I am severely impressed!! :D You should give Samara and her friends some lessons
Me: Ty!!! :D And who is Samara?
Kat: Salem High's resident Queen Bee >:( She needs to die!
Me: XD Harsh much!!
X: Botters! Gotta go; my brother wants the laptop >:(
Me: XD C ya later Xenia!
Kat: Ciao, X!! :D
X: C ya ladies tomorrow
Xenia Crios left the chat
Kat: . . . . . . . . . . Is this awkward now?
Me: Nah!! XD
Kat: Good! :D So, see you tomoz?
Me: You gotta go?
Kat: Yeah, I run the school radio. I have some finishing touches to give the show :)
Me: :O Cool!! OK, c ya tomoz then!
Kat: C ya :D
Katya Roscoe left the chat
I was just about to log out from Facebook too when I got a message from the target.
Griffon Woodville sent you a message
I rolled my eyes and checked the message.
I hope u have a good stamina cos u r gonna need it 2 run outta Salem
I grinned evilly and texted back, Until tomorrow, amigo. 3:)
Then I really logged off Facebook, not waiting for Woodville's answer.
"KIARA RIVERS!" Maliki bellowed up the stairs. "WHERE ARE MY HEADPHONES?!"
I grinned evilly to myself. I had completely forgotten that I had borrowed my brother's headphones just to see if he would notice. I had been using the headphones for about a week now and he still had not noticed until now.
I called back, "What makes you have the idea that I have them?!"
"Damn you, Kiara! Give me the headphones!" Maliki retorted as his footsteps ascending the stairs. "I know you took them. Not the first time you take my stuff."
I rolled my eyes. "Whatever," I said, grinning to myself.
I really could not wait to go to school. Never thought I would actually think that!! Mega facepalm!
"What are you grinning about?" my brother asked as he came to my door and leaned against it.
"Never you mind," I snapped at him. I pointed to my dressing table close to my window. "Your stinking headphones are there."
"Ta," Maliki said and came in to pick them up. "So do you need a lift to school or are you going on that death contraption of yours?"
"If you mean my motorbike, then, not tomorrow, no. I'm getting a lift from a couple of acquaintances I met today."
Maliki froze in his tracks and looked at me in amazement. "Are you feeling OK, Kiara? Are you saying that . . . you made friends?"
I glared daggers at him. "Get out before I kick you in the area where the sun doesn't shine."
Maliki chuckled, holding up his hands and headphones in mock surrender and departed from my room. "Calm your fire, Volcano. I was teasing. The next thing you're going to tell me is that you met a guy." He went away chuckling to himself.
It was a good thing that his back was to me otherwise Maliki would have seen that my face was the same colour as tomatos.
Ha! Griffon may be good looking, but he is a threat to my crown. And like in the good old days, threats have to be eliminated as quickly as possible; that is what I intended to do with Griffon. Make sure that he would no longer be a threat to my title.
My alarm awoke me at seven.
I barely managed to get out of bed but I accomplished it after maybe five or so minutes. I took a ten minute shower before dressing in my usual attire for first day of school - my Carpe Noctem Umbreon T-shirt, purple leather jacket, black skinnies and my fav combat boots.
Breakfast was awkward as usual; Dad was lecturing Rex on the proper use of apostrophes and capital letters and colons and semi colons and blah, blah, blah. I hate spelling and grammar; it's always such a drag. Especially for dyslexics. Yeah, I have dyslexia and thus my Bs and As that I got at my previous school were not too bad considering!
"Now, all of you," Dad said, "I want good behaviour from all of you. I will not have teachers phoning me up about fights or back chat or exploding toilets on the first day. Do I make myself clear?"
"Dad, we never blew up a toilet before," I pointed out.
"At least, not that you know of," Maliki added, glaring at me.
I gave him a fake sweet smile.
Dad looked at Maliki and me. "All sorted transport wise?" he asked.
"Hey, don't worry yourself. We're sorted," I reassured.
Maliki gave a curt nod.
Fortunately, it wasn't long before my lift to school arrived. I was most relieved when I saw a Volvo coming towards the house; since I knew only one person with a Volvo, I immediately assumed it was Xenia's brother's car.
"Good morning!" Xenia called to me as she rolled down her car window. She then looked up at the house. "Wow! Can't believe that your family moved into the McCorrigan house."
I frowned in confusion. The two other passengers, Xenia's brother and Katya Roscoe, chuckled.
"X, I think that we shouldn't freak Kiara out so early in the morning," Katya said, winking at me.
Xenia's brother chuckled. "I think that your friend wouldn't mind. Would you?" he asked me.
I shrugged. "Ghost stories don't bother me."
Katya's face lit up. "OMG!! Xenia was not kidding about your accent! It's so awesome! Love British accents."
Xenia's brother, however, frowned at me via his rearview mirror. "A sceptic in our midst?"
I shook my head at him. "Mate, I'm on Team Magical Stuff but I've never sided once with Team Paranormal. I love listening to ghost stories, but unless I see a ghost, I don't think I'll be able to believe that the dead can come back to haunt you."
"But you do know the history of your house right?" Xenia asked.
I clicked with my tongue. "Well, I know the fine details. Rich land owners lived there; a family of five. Husband, wife, two girls and a boy. They came from England and were some of the first Brits in Salem. Townsfolk suspected them to be witches. They were tried, found guilty and sentenced to death."
"But that's not nearly all of it!" Katya said excitedly.
"It isn't?"
"Hell no! Only the parents were trialed and hanged; the children mysteriously disappeared, never to be seen again. Salem thought they were murderered by their parents as part of Satanic rituals . . . but recently rediscovered memoirs and accounts have discovered something completely different. They say that the parents were not the witches the folk were looking for, but the children."
"Seriously?" I said in disbelief.
"Yes. In fact, they say now that Abigail Williams, Betty Parris and all those other accusers were in fact witches, or at least, hypnotists," Xenia agreed. "It explains why the witch hunts were on such a grand scale. Half the time, I doubt anyone in Salem knew exactly what they were doing or saying. The children ran the show."
"But who would sell their parents to be hanged?" I demanded. I may be evil but I would never sell my daddy to the noose.
"Aubrey, Joseph and Elizabeth McCorrigan," Xenia's brother said. "They say their ghosts still linger in the house. That's why people don't go near the house and has remained vacant for a good number of years."
"What can they do to us?" I scoffed.
"The legend goes that they get rid of anyone trying to find out the secrets of the house," Xenia answered. "But protect those who inhabit the house, so I guess you could be safe."
Salem High School was a three-storey building with an intimidating amount of windows facing outwards; maybe around thirty six or so. An American flag was on a flag pole on the ceiling. A large stone staircase led up to it and I pulled a face. If school was bad enough, you had exercise just to get to the front door! People were lounging around on the green hilly areas in front of the school; girls gossiping and guys playing sports.
"Welcome to our humble institute," Katya said sarcastically.
Xenia, her brother and I chuckled.
"It isn't as bad as I thought it would be," I admitted.
"You expected a twin of castle Dracula?" Xenia guessed.
"Mind reader," I confirmed.
"Yeah, people always do," Katya said, chuckling slightly. "OK, let's get you your timetable and introduce you to the looney bin."
"Keep your eyes out for the Baddies!" Xenia's brother added.
Xenia whacked him round the head. "Shut up, Theo!"
Theo's chuckles followed us out of the car. Getting to the front of the school was like crossing a battlefield; we had to keep dodging flying soccer and footballs to avoid being hit and shouted at by the jocks. Urgh!! Some things don't change! It took five minutes to safely enter the school unscathed, get my timetable and find my locker, which was on the second bloody floor. Mega colon-open bracket moment!! That meant more sports. Crying out loud.
"You are full of bad luck," Xenia said sympathetically as I punched the code of my locker in angrily. "Second floor locker. Tut, tut, tut. I swear this school is beocming facist!"
"Helpful, Xenia," Katya said sarcastically, rolling her eyes.
"What?! It's true! No one in their right mind would give a Brit a locker on the second floor!"
Thank heaven their friends arrived at this point!
"Xenia! Katya! We've been looking for you everywhere!" a tiny, bubbly midget screamed as she came rushing down the hall who reminded me strongly of Rose Llewsob back in England. Unlike Rose, this one was loud, spirited and completely mad. She was dressed in vibrant colours, all mix-matched. Her hair had all the bloody colours of the rainbow in it, almost, and even her violet eyes sparkled and danced. Her aura clearly screamed, Angel! Can not do any bad thing! Innocent as hell! I'm serious, man; her halo and angel wings were practically visible. "We thought you had been sucked down a toilet or something!" She tackled Katya with a hug.
"Ooomph!" Katya groaned upon impact. "Good morning to you too, Chrissie." She then turned to me and then back to Chrissie. "Chris, this is Kiara. She's transferred here."
Chrissie turned to me with a broad grin and lit up. "New person! Fresh blood! Yaaaaaaay!" she shouted; she could be heard from the other end of the corridor because some of the teachers had come out of their classrooms and offices, or stuck their heads out to see what the commotion was. Chrissie ignored all this and, without a second thought for one's personal space, she almost killed me in a hug, knocking most of the air out of my lungs.
"Yo! Chrissie-Chris! Try not to kill the poor new girl," a good-looking African-American guy with amazing locked hair said as he and two other people caught up to the bubbly, multicoloured-in-so-many-ways chica. He was pretty tall; five-foot-eight maybe. He grinned at me; his grin was like H-O-T-T! "Sorry 'bout that. You've met Chrissie; she hugs everyone. I'm Ryan Harris."
Kiara! Hello! Snap out of it! Stop fangirling over that bloody smile! Brain snapped at me. You are not here to make amigos!
I shook Ryan's hand as Xenia added, "But to us, he's known as the Human Garbage Disposal!"
"I'm Lilith West. Not pleased to meet you," the dark-aura girl of the group said in a bored tone. Blue-green eyes, dark-brown hair with different colours within it, like Chrissie. She was pale in colour, stood at five-foot-seven and was noticeably more like me in style. Black nail polish, piercings (something I did not have), dark clothes, smoky eyes, combat boots, a Gears of War bag and dark accessories.
"Like wise," I answered.
Lilith looked surprised. "A Brit?" she said, like she had just met an alien creature.
"Didn't you read Xenia's text?" Ryan asked her.
"I don't read any texts from Xenia," Lilith answered.
"That explains it," the other guy in the group said. He smiled kindly at me. "Hi. Don't mind Lil; she's always like this. I'm Oliver Stag."
If I thought Ryan was good-looking, Oliver was a god. His face was completely in balance, his eyes were the colour of chocolate, which happens to be a guilty pleasure of mine, and his equally chocolately looking hair looked fluffy, like clouds. I love clouds. Sad but true! Don't judge me! He made the label 'pretty boy' an insult!
"What to do you have first?!" Chrissie asked me, jumping up and down in excitement. "What do you have? What do you have? Whatdoyouhavewhatdoyouhavewhatdoyouhavewhatdoyouhave-"
"CHRISSIE!" Lilith snapped so loudly that all of us had to actually cover our ears.
Chrissie stopped and looked down at her feet.
I looked at my timetable. "I have . . . History with Mr. Moore."
"Same as us! Come on!" Xenia said and she and Katya yanked me behind them with Chrisse, Ryan, Oliver and Lilith in pursuit.
They dragged me left and right and up one flight of stairs to Mr. Moore's European History classroom, not literally mind.
"Mr. Moore is very dedicated to his subject," Katya warned. "He is going to skin you alive if you don't put effort into your work. One time, the entire class got Bs and Cs, and a few As here and there, for our Greek or Roman projects, he gave us a lecture that made us late for third period."
"Wow," I said, not in the slightest intimidated. "Talk about old fashioned."
"You got that right!" Ryan agreed.
Xenia, Katya et al. all went to sit in their assigned seats while dodging paper aeroplanes and rubbers and elastic bands that were making their way across the classroom. I rolled my eyes at all of this, bored; yup, some things really did not change!
As I caught a rubber that was accidentally pinged at my face by a twat sitting in the back row, Mr Moore came in. The teacher saved the guy's life, I can tell you that.
"RIGHT!" Mr. Moore bellowed. "I WANT YOU ALL TO BE IN YOUR SEATS BY THE COUNT OF FIVE! 1 . . . 2 . . . 3 . . . 4 . . . 4.5 . . . . 4.75 . . . 5!"
Everyone was in their seats and had stashed their stuff in their bags. Mr. Moore, a typically geeky looking fellow dressed in tweed, full moon glasses and walked with a slight limp, having to rely on a walking stick as an aid. He wasn't even that old either.
He then turned to me with a bright smile. "Hello. What can I do for you?"
"I'm the new girl," I said. "Kiara Rivers."
"Ah yes," Mr. Moore said. He then handed me the course companion, Britain in the Middle Ages, and an excersize book. "Here's everything. Now . . . where shall we seat you . . . ah! Mr. Woodville! You are still in need of a partner. Let's see how long you can work with Miss Rivers before you cause trouble."
No! No! No! NO! NO!
I looked to the back of the class. Literally, the only seat available was next to Griffon Woodville, Asshole Number One. I resisted the urge to crack my knuckles but did as the teacher said, for the first time in my life.
GRIFFON'S POV
"Do you think Kiara is going to show up?" Damian asked as he surveyed the parking lot from his spot on the high wall.
"She won't if she's smart," Jason answered. "I swear Griffon has a plan to do her in or something."
"I'm just going to teach her a small lesson," I protested. "I'm not going to get violent with a girl. I'm not that bad."
"Yes, but, I hate to say this, Griff, the same cannot be said for Miss UK," Caleb said, scrolling through his iPod. "She obviously has no problem in doing any physical harm to anybody, for crying out loud! Given the chance yesterday, she would have attempted to beat you to a pulp. I could see it in her eyes; she has fire."
"Sounds like Caleb has gotten a crush," I sneered.
All of us, apart from Caleb, chuckled.
"Oh, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha," he said sarcastically. "Hilarious. Utterly hilarious."
Rollo, who was looking at everybody with bored stares, complained, "Can we go inside? Please? She has not showed up. Let's go. I have a class to get to; you guys may have bad reps but I do not and I like to keep it that way . . . and my head."
"Your head?" Jason repeated, frowning.
"My mother is complaining about my report card like I'm still some little kid. She keeps comparing me to Lena and Corinna."
Yeah, Lena and Corinna; his triplet sisters. Yep; Rollo, Lena and Corinna are triplets yet look nothing alike. When Rollo finally fessed up about it, it took us aboth half a year to get it out of him, we were all like, biology has some serious explaining to do. We thought the three of them were foster or adopted kids thrown together!
"It's because they have all one thing in common," Damian said. "They're all female! Mothers always prefer the daughters to the sons, mate. You should know that by now!"
"Well, apparently, I don't," Rollo said gloomily.
He got off from the wall and set of to the school's front gate. We all rolled our eyes and followed him; Rollo may have his bad boy rep because of his past but in present, his bad boy status has gone down marginally in the group. He even no longer finds it funny to mess around with a girl's head; whenever I mention the war with Kiara, Rollo tells me to back off. It's mad! It's irrational! Rollo used to be the life and soul of every party; a complete and utter ladies' man! Now, he won't even look at a chick without us telling him what to do.
We followed him inside nonetheless as we Baddies always stuck together, though we did have to up our tempo on walking to keep up with Rollo. We all had the same subject first, European History, but with different teachers. Fat old Principal Electric must have made sure of that. I never liked that interfering old git.
We followed Rollo to his locker and surrounded him like a bunch of bodyguards. Guys glared at us but avoided us like the plague and the typical airheads giggled as they went by and batted their eyelashes at us.
I grinned to myself. I loved the way our school was really run. Us Baddies at the top, adored by girls and feared by guys.
Idiot! You have momentarily forgotten about Little Miss UK with the big mouth! My brain snapped at me. If people catch on that she exists, that she can challenge your throne, there will be mutiny!
Caleb snapped me out of my thoughts.
"Yo! Griffon! Dude! What's gotten you so pissed off?" he asked, snapping his fingers in front of my face.
"Nothing," I lied quickly.
Caleb scoffed but he knew better than to ask further questions.
"OMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMG!"
Everyone in the corridor instinctively; as everyone had expected, Christine Valentine, or Chrissie to people who actually liked her or had no problem with her. A member of Salem High's outcast elite. She dressed either like a hippy or a trucker, was a midget with red hair that had also many different colours, which also did not help. And above all else, she seemed permanently hyper or high. At least her ability to sing, dance and act made up for her faults.
Because of the fact that once Valentine's revved up she literally does not slow down or dodge around people like a normal, polite person, every one in the school, including the teachers, have learned to literally clear the run way before Valentine trampled them to death.
Valentine came and went at the same speed as a steam train, shouting, "GOOD MORNING!" to literally everybody while still running like a maniac. Her friends, the rest of the social outcasts, were following in hot pursuit, huffing and puffing as they went along. Ryan Harris (great composer I guess), Oliver Stag (hate that dude's hair) and Lilith West (the Wicked Witch of them all). I was extremely surprised not to see Xenia Crios or Katya Roscoe with them.
Jason must have read my mind because he said out loud, "Is it me or are Crios and Roscoe missing from the herd?"
"Yep," Caleb confirmed, looking at the retreating figures of the misfits. "But Valentine seems more fired up today than usual. I wonder what has gotten her stampeding this time. Last time it was something about a cake sale."
"Bake sale," I blurted out the correction.
WHAT THE FUCK?! Did I just say that out loud?!
"How the fuck would you know?!" Rollo demanded, almost dropping his folders onto Damian's feet.
I was about to turn the colour of tomatos so I quickly said, "Are you deaf or something?! Valentine could shout the dead out of their graves! I think even God gets a headache from her sometimes."
Caleb chuckled. "He has a point!"
"Whatevs," Rollo muttered and shut his locker.
We went to class. Rollo was dropped off first, then Jason, then Caleb, then Damian and then I walked on my larry to Mr. Moore's class, which unfortunately was full of either the most annoying people or half-decent people.
I took my usual seat at the back of the class, where no one bothered me. As people filed into the class, people either bothered to greet me, or didn't. But not many didn't dare not greet me. Saying hello was only respectful after all.
I sat bored in my seat for another five or ten minutes, wondering why I even bothered showing up to class. At least my boredom eased slightly when a flying rubber war arose in the class among the jocks; it was highly entertaining to watch.
"Will you watch where you bloody throw those things?!" I heard Lilith West snap at an unlucky jock.
"Sorry, West," the jock muttered meekly.
"You're gonna be," West promised before taking her seat at the desk in the row next to mine but three desks down next to Greg Montgomery, who looked deathly petrified as always.
I chuckled to myself. Lilith West was the only girl in school who I thought was remotely cool. She may have the title of Mean Girl, she was far from down to the bone evil. Sure, she shows some authority and control at Salem High, yelling at others and even using physical force when severely pushed but she gets scared like so easily; it's almost laughable! I mean, she cried when she sweated for the first time, she got freaked by Damian at a pool party when all he said was "Boo", and she got freaked when Valentine waxed her eyebrows. Those are only some examples.
"RIGHT!" Mr. Moore bellowed. "I WANT YOU ALL TO BE IN YOUR SEATS BY THE COUNT OF FIVE! 1 . . . 2 . . . 3 . . . 4 . . . 4.5 . . . . 4.75 . . . 5!"
Aaah, finally Mr. Obsessed With Old World History arrived.
Mr. Moore, although a mega nerd in appearance, was one of the coolest teachers that Salem High had and coming from me, that was a mega compliment. Most of his lessons constituted of YouTube clips or movies all on the subjects that he was teaching as well as book work. Many of the teachers could try and take a leaf out of Moore's book. What's more, when someone in the class is difficult, namely me, he doesn't make a scene out of it and asks for you to stay behind in class instead and help him tidy his room for the next lesson and then leave again. I guess he was the only teacher who I didn't despise.
As the class settled, Mr. Moore said to someone, "Hello. What can I do for you?"
A bored, female, British accented voice answered, "I'm the new girl. Kiara Rivers."
WHAT?! SHIT!
I offically hated Principle Electric.
Not Rivers . . . Not Rivers . . . . ANYBODY BUT RIVERS!
"Ah, yes," Mr. Moore said. I looked up and glared at Rivers' turned back. Moore passed her the course books and then scanned the classroom to find Miss UK a seat. At this point, I knew my goose was cooked; the seat next to mine was the only one still vacant.
Hate you God. Hate you God! HATE YOU GOD!
Yep, God was punishing me for all of my sins. He was sitting up in Heaven with Jesus and Mary, watching the show and shouting, LOL, NOOB! TAKE THIS, A-HOLE! Forget the Father, the Son and the Queen of Heaven . . . . this was the work of Satan.
Mr. Moore's voice knocked me out of my thoughts. "Mr. Woodville! You are still in need of a partner. Let's see how long you can work with Miss Rivers before you cause trouble."
Kiara slowly looked round to glare big iron broadswords at me but she still did as Mr. Moore said, everyone's eyes on her.
"Poor, Ki-Ki," I heard Crios say.
Kiara took her seat next to me rigidly, avoiding my eye contact completely and slamming her books down on the desk loudly; she was obviously pointing out non-verbally to Mr. Moore she was anything but happy with this seating arrangement. Well, it wasn't like I wanted to sit next to a bad-tempered Brit with severely attitudinal problems.
Time to get under her skin, Griffon!
"Sup?" I said to her dryly, smirking to myself.
"Don't. Talk. To me," she said slowly but snappily, still not looking at me and hiding behind the thick curtain of dark hair.
I chuckled. "Isn't that a little rude to say to your new History partner?"
"No, not really," she answered dryly. "And why are you still talking to me?"
"Because I can."
"Shut up."
"And because I want to."
"Shut your clap."
"Is that all you can say? Shut up?"
"To you? Yes. Shut up."
I clenched my teeth together. Wow! Rivers really knew how to be annoyingly obnoxious.
Keep your cool, Griffon. Keep your cool. Don't let her get to you.
Moore started the lesson. We were doing the Dark Ages in Europe. I heard a curt, audible chuckle coming from Rivers' throat and I rolled my eyes in annoyance. Of course, naturally; a Brit knows every dark detail about the Dark Ages.
"Class, this semester we will be studying some of the recently discovered secrets of the Dark Ages," Mr. Moore said. "You will work with the people you are sitting next to, to do this project. You can do it in the form of a presentation, essay or short movie." He then got his Medieval Helmet of Destiny as he called it; it was basically an old knight's helmet that you picked your subject from. "You know the routine. Pick your destined subject from the good old Medieval Helment of Destiny."
"Wow! Inventive much?" Kiara muttered sarcastically.
I seized the opportunity to antagonise her further. "You should work on your muttering. I heard everything you just said."
"Didn't Mummy ever tell you it's rude to eavesdrop, Woodville?" Kiara sneered in a bitingly venomous tone.
"Actually, she's too busy trying to make a bigger status for herself and the family, not to mention having eyes only for my elder sister, to actually educate me on anything," I answered in an equally snappy tone. Two can play at that game, Rivers.
I thought that Rivers would do what every other girl had done when I mentioned my mother; be sympathetic and apologise for something they could not help, as if it was their fault.
However, Rivers was not your average chick.
Instead she said sneerily, "Well, that does not surprise me! A mother is essential in getting raised correctly. A shit mother means a shit moral education. Looks like you are a good piece of evidence for this." There was a cold amusement behind her tone and it made my blood boil. No one speaks to Griffon Woodville like that!
Except Kiara Rivers.
I didn't have the time to reply as Mr. Moore had come to stand in front of our desk, holding the Medieval Helmet of Destiny out to Kiara. He looked at me with his over-the-glasses Do-Not-Mess-Up-Again-Woodville look; Kiara was like the fourth partner Moore had sent my way but she was the first female.
She showed what was on the slip of paper to the teacher.
"Ah," he said. "A good one. The Legend of the Five."
"You what?!" Kiara said in shock, practically choking on her own saliva and looked at what was written on the piece of paper. "There must be some mistake!"
"Is there an issue, Miss Rivers?" Mr. Moore asked politely as people in ear shot gave her a quizzical look.
"No," Kiara answered quickly and sharply.
She's lying, my brain sang.
Mr. Moore must have thought so too because he said, "Maybe your father can shed some light onto this little subject?"
"Sir, he has taught us every single myth, legend and secrets of magic and occult there is!" Kiara practically shouted. "There is no Legend of the Five!"
Mr. Moore, instead of telling Rivers off for shouting, just simply chuckled. "Well, maybe he'll surprise you. You never know. Just make sure you gather enough information." He moved on to the table in front of us, where Caydan Noles and Lea Drews, or Major Gossip One and Major Gossip Two, sat.
"What did he mean by 'maybe your father can shed some light onto this little subject'?" I asked my uncooperative partner.
Perfectly reasonable question if I say so myself.
Kiara, naturally, had to make a problem out of it. "It's absolutely none of your business," she answered steely.
I scoffed. "Yeah, it is. I'm stuck with you until graduation and vice versa. So, how about you get off your high horse and try to at least act civil?"
Rivers scoffed too and said in a mock sweet tone, "Darling, I'll get off my high horse if you get off yours. And Kiara Rivers does not act nor do civil. Sorry to disappoint."
Wow, you're intirritating!
"Irritating, am I?" Kiara sneered, as though she had read my mind.
I frowned. Wait . . . did I say it out loud?! I looked at Kiara in slight shock . . . but she was now completely avoiding all eye contact with me. I blinked at her, as if trying to make sure she was not some kind of illusion.
Did she just read my mind?!
Griffon, stop being a bloody retard! Mind reading doesn't exist. It's not like she's got Edward Cullen powers.
The rest of the lesson was a drag. Listening to background Dark Age history was dull; who cares about the disappearance of the Romans and of language seemingly disappearing and King Arthur legends and blah, blah, blah.
I was about to doze off completely when the bell to period two rang.
"I'll Facebook you later if I find anything," Kiara said.
"What-"
She didn't stay to hear what I had to say to that. Kiara was up and at 'em quicker than a missile. I was rather surprised and could not help but watch her leave. That girl was probably the biggest mystery ever!
Caydan, Lea and some other people who had watched us or kept their ears on our conversations, the pricks, and gave me odd looks, and I do not like odd looks. Odd looks equals questioning my status. Now I realised just how truly she threatened my bad boy status. All that chick had to do was have a big mouth to me and everyone started looking at me weirdly!
No more playing around, Griffon! She has had enough second chances already. Kiara has to know her place! Show her who is the boss!
I grinned to myself and muttered under my breath as I left, "Game on, Kiara."
KIARA'S POV
Luckily I had a free period because I was in no mood, no mood what so ever, to sit in another lesson after sitting next to Griffon fricking Woodville for an entire hour and having to be paired with the dickhead for a bloody History project! Not only that . . . but something mega weird had happened in the lesson. I have no idea whether I was imagining it or not but I swear I was reading Asshole Number One's mind.
Great, Kiara. You're turning into a real life, female Edward bloody Cullen.
"Ki-Ki! Kiara! KIARA! SLOW DOWN, BITCH!" Xenia bellowed as she and her friends came stampeding like a herd of rhinoes after me.
Was I really walking that fast?!
I felt someone grab hold of my right arm, which caused me to skid to a halt and was forced to turn around and look at Xenia, who had grabbed me, and her friends.
"You have a free now?" Xenia asked.
I raised my eyebrows in my are-you-serious fashion. "You manhandled me to ask me if I have a free period?"
Xenia grinned. "Nah. And I didn't manhandle you!"
"Yes you did. You don't touch me unless I give permission. Universal law," I answered and cracked my knuckles. "If not, one gets a knuckle sandwich a la Kiara."
"I can't believe you survived History," Katya commented, shaking her head. "How could Moore just place you next to Jackass Woodville without batting a bloody eyelid?!"
"I can't belive you didn't punch him!" Lilith added, grinning at me. "I would have socked him one."
I grinned back. "If Moore had not been in the room, I might have done."
"So," Xenia said, redirecting the subject. "Knowing Woodville, around this time, he has gone for his morning fag. How do you want to do Operation Take Down Woodville?"
"What?!" Ryan, Oliver, Lilith and Chrissie chorused, looking shocked.
Katya grinned at them. "Yeah, we kind of have a plan to give Woodville a taste of his own medicine. Get him back for all the bad things he's done to everyone. And his friends."
I gave Katya a pointed look. "I never said his mates."
Katya chuckled. "I know, but I have a score to settle with Damian so I say we get them all."
"Finally!" Lilith said, throwing her arms up in victory and looked at me with a smirk. "I am liking you, chick! You've made these spineless wimps grow some balls!"
I bowed to her. "Thank you!"
Lilith chuckled and held her hand up for a high five, which I gave.
Chrissie then said, "What day is it?"
We all looked at each other before answering, "Monday."
Chrissie nodded and sighed. "I knew I shouldn't have brought the food colouring."
"Food colouring?!" Xenia and Katya said in unison.
"We're making cakes in Catering. I want to make rainbow cupcakes," Chrissie answered as she lifted a brown paper bag out of her rucksack and showed us a red bottle of red food colouring. She handed me the bag.
I blinked in confusion. "Why are you giving this to me?!"
"Because I can't make the rainbow cupcakes today. You can have them."
"When do you do have Catering?"
"Tomorrow."
"Then keep these tomorrow then!"
"But then the food colouring will not work as well. They have to be bought fresh."
Was I hearing this correctly? Was this chica for real?!
"Great," I said. "Now what am I supposed to do with a bag full of food colouring-"
I was about to go on one of my rants when suddenly . . . I had one of my lightbulb moments. An absolutely wicked idea sprung into my head and I must failed on keeping a pocker face because Ryan asked me, "What are you thinking, girl? You look like you're plotting a robbery or somethin'."
"Or something," I agreed and grinned evilly.
I then looked at each confused face and blinked innocently. "One question," I said.
"Yes?" Oliver said.
"Where do the Baddies keep their lunch?"
GRIFFON'S POV
Caleb, Jason, Rollo, Damian and I met up at the wall where we always hung out in front of the school. Caleb and Damian were having their fags while Jason and Rollo were topping themselves up with energy drinks.
"Man, this is good," Caleb said as he finished his can of Monster. "I really hate Mrs. Cole. Bitch gave me a detention again for speaking my mind."
"What did you say?" Rollo asked.
"That the Tudors are boring and that we really won't need to know how many people a fat tyrant to get a job," Caleb answered. "Oh and that she was a boring old toad and that it was no wonder that she was teaching boring History subjects. Got myself three days detention. It's not my fault she's a granny who can't deal with teenage angst!"
We all chuckled.
"We had to do a test," Jason said darkly. "I really hate The Second World War."
"Anyone feeling peckish?" Damian asked, grinning.
"Yeah!" we all answered.
Back inside we went to get our lunches.
"Hey, Griff. How did your History go?" Rollo asked, walking backwards to keep eye contact.
I scoffed. "Don't get me started. Moore put Rivers next to me in class and now I have to do a goddamn project with her."
Damian, the dick, wolf whistled. "Remember to actually focus on the project," he said, chuckling.
"Shut you trap, dickhead," I growled. "That bitch can rot in hell for all I care."
"Sure, sure," Damian said casually.
"A project on what?" Jason asked, attempting to switch the subject.
"An area of the Dark Ages," I answered. "The Legend of the Five."
"Never heard of it," Caleb said, frowning.
"No, but apparently Rivers' father may do. According to her, her father has taught her everything about myths, legends, magic and the occult."
"She's a witch?!" Rollo said, stopping abruptly.
"You got that right!" I said, chuckling.
Rollo did a facepalm. "No, idiot! I meant, she could be a witch. Literally! No wonder that name is familiar."
"What? Kiara? Kiara was a Disney lion!"
"No! Rivers!" Rollo said, rolling his eyes. "Corinna had to do a project on suspected witches once for European History. She did Joan of Arc from France and Jacquetta of Luxemburg from England."
"Jacquetta Woodville," I said darkly. That witch was one of the only witch names I bothered to remember.
"Also known as Jacquetta Rivers," Rollo added. "She grew up with fortunes and that kind of gris-gris. But her gifts, as she saw them, leaned closely to the witchcraft side. People suspected her of making the King fall in love with her elder daughter, Elizabeth, by use of enchantments."
"You think Kiara could be a witch just because her surname is Rivers?" Caleb said skeptically, scoffing. "Wow! Rollo, no more energy drinks for you today, mate!"
"I'm serious!" Rollo protested.
Fortunately, we came to our lockers before Rollo could give any more of his crazy theories. Typical to us, we wolfed down half of our lunches that our parents or personal chefs prepared for us.
"Yum. German salami," Rollo said after he finished his sandwiches.
That was when I noticed something odd.
I frowned at Rollo.
He saw this and didn't like it.
"What?" he demanded.
"Rollo," I said seriously.
"What?!" he demanded again, looking sharply at the other three, who looked at me as if I had gone crazy.
"Your teeth," I answered.
Rollo's face paled. "What?" he said. "Don't tell me I am losing teeth! No! I can't go to the dentist! I hate the dentist!"
I resisted a facepalm. "No, idiot! They're not falling out! They're green!"
This didn't improve Rollo's paling face. "What . . ."
"They. Are. GREEN!"
Rollo darted down the corridor to the guys' restroom with us in hot pursuit. We watched as Rollo stood in front of the mirror and grinned like a Cheshire cat. We all stared in amazement; his teeth, and his gums were the same colour as limes. Experimentally, Rollo stuck out his tongue. That too was green!
"Holy shit!" Caleb said.
Rollo, seeing something in the mirror, whirled round and pointed at Caleb. "You have it too!"
Like a girl, Caleb rushed to the mirror and grinned. I spluttered with laughter. Caleb's teeth were orange; bright orange! So were his gums and tongue.
In fact, we were all infected. Damian had Smurf teeth, gums and tongue, i.e. they were as blue as the Smurfs. Jason's were indigo and mine . . . . . mine were black. Black! I looked like I had been infected by the Black Death or something along those lines!
"This is bad," Jason said, shaking his head. "We can't walk around like this! We'll be the laughing stock of the whole school!"
"For months to come," Damian added, clenching his fists. "Oh, just wait until I get my hands on the little punk who did this! Poisoning our food with food colouring!"
While Damian ranted, I drifted away in thought.
I had a hunch who was behind this unprovoked attack.
It wasn't hard to guess.
I clenched my fists too, but in knowing and anger.
Kiara Rivers.
This means war!