Vanessa removed the sheets from her face with a large smile on her face, satisfied with her peaceful slumber. It had been days since she had slept in peace. The agitation, the constant fear of losing the match had kept her awake for the best part of the night for many days. But yesterday, her mind was dancing on clouds and eating rainbows as she slept.
And she knew the reason well.
Once she was done with her routine, she headed downstairs for breakfast, humming mindlessly.
Her father was sitting on the couch, sipping the tea as his eyes narrowed down at the newspaper in his hand. Very likely of her father.
"Good morning daddy," she chirped and surprised both of them by kissing him on the forehead.
For a normal human, kissing the parentals was as casual as the weather talk, even a ritualistic, but Vanessa preferred minimal skin-to-skin contact with the opposite sex, be it her own blood, a hobo or even Chris Pratt.
Alex spewed the black coffee he had been drinking prior to the situation, coughing intermittently as he rubbed his throat. He looked at her as if she had grown another head.
Guess, she had surprised three people that morning.
"Oh, I love pancakes," she gleamed at the pile of golden colored pancakes stacked neatly on the plate. She served herself with two and poured a generous amount of chocolate syrup.
"I thought you hated chocolate," Alex said as he sat opposite to her on the dining table.
"I hate chocolate, not chocolate syrup."
He frowned and looked around to see if anyone was watching. When their father was busy on a call, he inclined his face closer and whispered, "did you get laid?"
Vanessa choked on her syrupy goodness and glared. "What? No! Why does everyone ask me that question?"
She was already considering printing a banner that clearly mentioned that she was still a virgin and no, that didn't make her a prude nor indicate a subtle invitation to the male species. And hang it on her back, so that people would have the courtesy to stop asking if she had sex every other night.
He shrugged. "For a brooding species, out of the blue smiles sure look creepy," he prompted and then looked at her with narrowed eyes, "and suspicious."
She gulped. "Am I that moody?"
"If I were to put you in words, I'd call you reticent," he said. "And averting the actual question won't imply that I ignored the reason for those creepy smiles, Vans."
The distant horn perked Vanessa and there came her saviour.
"That's my call." She ruffled his unruly blonde hair, mentally noting down that he needed a haircut, "good bye Alexy."
"I have my sources," he shouted as she skipped out.
She hiked to the silver Volkswagen parked a few metres from the house. "Morning Marly," she chirped.
Marly hit her head on the wheel and groaned. "This day is going to be frickin' great."
*
"I thought you would be in peace when Vanessa is happy," Jared said, amusement evident in his husky voice.
Marly frowned. Perhaps Jared was right, she should be happy that her best friend wasn't giving her the accustomed middle finger, in literal sense. But lately, Jared's vocabulary had turned irrefutably agreeable, no matter what angle she looked from.
She sighed mentally. Guess, that was what happened when you have a crush on a guy.
She couldn't fathom the out of the loop problems that senior year gave her. One year ago, she would have never imagined falling for the rival school's hot football QB and the best part was that he seemed to be borderline interested on her. Perhaps the size of a pea from her storm of affection, but it was more than sufficient for her.
And the next big challenge came in the form of an arrogant headstrong blondie, Vanessa Graham. They had been best friends since kindergarten, unlike the rest of their gang who had been scattered across the vast universe before finding each other in freshman year. So naturally, Marly knew every little detail of Vanessa's past and her struggles, the way she had coped with it all along. Maybe that was what made them close. The way Marly understood her best friend, there was no match for it.
But just this week, her ever somber friend became a piece of mental stress. Vanessa was extremely happy, or that's what she wanted to show, but there was more to her smile than just simple happiness.
"There comes intentional accidents," Jared mused and moved back a little, gaining coverage from Marly's petite form.
Marly couldn't help the wave of heat that crept to her cheeks. Trying her best to act unaffected, she waved at Vanessa.
Apparently, Vanessa had tennis practises after school and had asked Marly to come later in the evening, so they could finish with their untouched school work.
Plans were about to change and she didn't know which hell was going to come down.
The fatigue in Vanessa's face was concealed by her huge smile and she waved back with a preternatural hyperactivity. That was the only way Marly could put her strange behavior in words.
Upon seeing the figure inconspicuously cowering behind Marly, her smile faltered a little.
"You look like you witnessed zombies making love," Vanessa said, analyzing Marly. And then turned to the male species. "Hey Jared," she said and smiled through her teeth. "Are you done already? Marly and I have loads of work at disposal."
"Um Vans," Marly said, locking her arms in place cautiously as Vanessa tried to pull her.
"Yeah?"
"Can Jared hang out with us?" Marly said, wearing her best puppy face. "You know since Eric is sick, he's alone most of the time."
Marly mentally face palmed. Alone, really? Jared Klyn, the quarterback of Greenwich High lacks in his options in friends. She decided that it was the century's joke.
The dark look that flashed on Vanessa's eyes at the mention of her nemesis was short lived and almost made Marly think she imagined it. Vanessa's eyes moved rapidly from Jared's stoic ones to Marly's pleading amber ones.
After a moment of reluctance, she sighed. "Why not? The more the merrier."
Marly's emotions overflooded with platonic infinite love for her best friend. If it weren't for Jared's presence, that kept her craziness in check, she would have jumped over Vanessa and played piggy back ride till her enthusiasm faded. No jokes, she had done that once.
Jared looked at Vanessa uncertainly making Marly nudge him lightly, giving the best of her smiles. "Don't worry. She doesn't bite." Until you get on her bad side.
He smiled back, his full lips bringing her sense of inexplicable euphoria.
"Vanessa," she called as Vanessa dumped her bags and racket in the back seat.
"Huh?"
"First," Jared said, coming from behind Marly and placed his hands on her shoulder. There was a wicked glint in his eyes and Vanessa's eyes narrowed infinitely. "We'll be meeting your favourite person on Earth."
*
"Does Greenwich usually teach to you all the opposites?" Vanessa said as they walked into the familiar hospital.
Jared Klyn definitely did not understand the meaning of 'favourite' and it deeply concerned her that the school was to be blamed for the children's illiteracy. "If so, I'm filing a suit under violation of child rights on unapproved indoctrination."
"There is a law for that?" Jared said, flabbergasted by the system of laws.
Vanessa nodded sympathetically, finding the long end in the stick of the argument. But it slipped off her hand the next moment.
Marly grunted, very unladylike, and said, "she's pulling your leg, Jared." She shook her head like an upset mother. "Vanessa loves to create diverse laws."
"Woah," Jared looked visibly shocked. "I guess that's why women should never rule the world."
"You find no cold wars, hot wars, nuclear wars but a bunch of scandalized countries that don't talk to each other," Vanessa chimed in, before breaking into a bark of laughter.
Jared scratched his head lightly, looking between the two girls. They were inside the elevator, with Marly's persuasion, and heading up to the well acquainted seventh floor.
"Vanessa isn't a big fan of our species," Marly explained, backing up for her friend who couldn't find her voice after the mini drama.
The lift opened with a swish and the three of them walked out.
"So then she is an enthusiast of our species?" Jared asked, uncertainly.
"Oh no," Vanessa grinned. "I find boys tiresome and boring."
"Who are you interested in then?"
Vanessa groaned, stopped and turned to face a petrified Jared. "Transgender. Happy?" she said and continued with a sly smile, "it's an all in one package, Jared. Easy play. And if you so desire, I could give you one or two numbers. Just make sure you don't call them on Mondays and Thursdays, they're quite busy for plays."
Judging by the looks, Jared would take another week to recover from the sudden revelation.
She turned and walked ahead. She took back what she said, boys were not tiresome, they were infuriating.
And there came the second wave as Jared opened room 701 and walked in. Marly pushed Vanessa lightly from the back and that is when she realized that she stood unmoving infront of the door, like an idiot.
Cursing internally, she walked in. The overwhelming smell of chemicals and medicine wafted in the artificially cold air and mixed in the air she inhaled, making her realize the worth of odorless air.
Oh how she hated hospitals.
"You have visitors," Jared announced as he headed straight to the window and opened it.
He greeted them with a charming smile, Vanessa wasn't affected by a little muscle movements. She had seen better.
But the way his steady gaze lingered over her for an excess of a millisecond knocked the breath out of her and wavered her apathetic expression. A little.
"Graham." He smirked, mock edging at his rough voice.
Vanessa walked right up to him, till she was looking down at him. Contended by his position, she had him where she wanted him to be. "Brazen."
She stared at him, matching his intensive gaze albeit she didn't believe that he had half the affect she had.
"Now kids," Jared clapped. "Let's try and be civil for once."
Eric shrugged. "We were just expressing our feels during our period of distance. Weren't we, Vanessa?"
She managed to smile through her teeth.
"Yeah. Every little feeling."
Marly cleared her throat. Vanessa broke from the sudden awkwardness and sat on the couch. Averting her gaze to the picture going on the tv, which so happened to be a man-eater's canines indenting the prey's skin as the rest of the teeth dug deeper into the newly found meat.
On a normal day, Vanessa would have cringed, cussed, prayed for the deceased and changed the channel, but just today, she couldn't help the grin that broke out of her unexpectedly.
She giggled, thinking how alike it was to their current situation. She wasn't bloodthirsty, but she wouldn't mind removing the plug of his life supporter to charge her phone. That was borderline manslaughter.
"Is she always like this?"
Eric's amused voice broke her from her trance and she realized that she had audience.
"Don't mind her, she's been this way the whole of this week," Marly said, grinning. "I even caught her smiling at a dead mosquito she had killed."
"Already having fun without me?" Eric said, his voice sweet enough to flatter any girl, but Vanessa wasn't any girl. "Just wait till I'm on my legs. We're going to have so much fun, Vanessa." His gaze intensified. "At the fields."
She slammed her hands together and smiled. "I have been waiting to hear you say that."
His smile fell, his once bright eyes darkened.
"What happened Eric?" she asked, feigning concern.
He rolled his eyes and muttered, "Freak alert."
"What?" three voices said in sync, curiosity ebbing like honey on a wasp hive.
Her breath hitched as he handed an envelope to Jared. Curiously, Jared ripped it open and produced a letter. Her letter.
"You have kept me waiting for a long time. Get well soon," he read aloud so that everybody could hear.
Not that Vanessa needed to hear it from someone else, those words were etched on her mind like a permanent tattoo.
"That sounds..." Marly trailed off.
"Creepy," Eric finished with a glum note in his voice.
Vanessa frowned.
She didn't exactly expect a straightforward answer not did she think he would share it with them. They were strangers, rivals from another school. Sure, she knew Jared well but their relationship had long ago expired.
And Eric was acting like an extreme pain in the ass. Like always.
"Do you know who it is?" she asked slowly, careful in not revealing herself.
He looked at her intensely, his green orbs piercing her like thousand knife edges. And then his stiff body drooped as he exhaled. "I'm sorry," he said. "I didn't mean to scare you."
She had almost sunk in despair and guilt at his words, but what he said next signed it away. "Hell would freeze on the day you scare me," she snapped, her face flushed in anger.
The room went silent at her sudden outburst, taking all of them by surprise. Eric laughed loudly, clearly finding the situation humorous.
"Can sometime tell me what the joke is about?" she said through gritted teeth.
"You." Instead of an apology or a curt 'nothing', the boy had the nerve to give an impertinent answer and prolong his laughter.
Laugh all you want, she thought, I'll kick you in the courts.
Marly shook her head. "Maybe we should leave."
Vanessa's face lightened. "Those words." She sighed for effect. "Sounds like a plan. Bye-" -losers. May you suck in the pit of unholinesss.
"Vanessa," Marly said, halting Vanessa's glorious trip to the door. "I mean we."
Vanessa narrowed her eyes by a millimeter. "What else am I saying?"
"I mean," Marly pointed at the two boys, "Us."
"You don't mean," Vanessa said slowly, trying to make sense out of her friend's version of 'us', she should have heard it wrong, "The Spawn of a Devil and Lucky Charms?"
"I didn't know you considered me good luck," Eric mused. "Sweet of you, sugar lips."
"Don't you dare call me like that," Vanessa growled. "You adult version of a spawn of devil."
He widened his eyes. "I'm scared." After a few moments, he crooned, "Dollface."
"Marly, tell him to take it back," Vanessa said sharply. "I swear I'll kill him."
This boy would be the end of her.
Marly frowned, looking between the two polar opposite people and then at Jared. She shook her head, "I don't think they'll return home in one piece."
"For once, Marly you have uttered something correct."
"There goes our a little outing," Jared hustled, mirroring Marly's sullen expression.
Vanessa looked between the two people who looked like they had just come from a close relative's funeral. She looked towards Eric uncertainly, for some reason she felt better seeing the doubtful expression on his face.
If you are stupid, it felt better to have a partner.
"Are we missing something here?"
Eric nodded. "What's up bro?"
"You see, Marly wanted to show me the project they were working on? So we thought perhaps Vanessa could..."
"No," Vanessa interrupted and shook her head vigorously. "Whatever you're thinking is disastrous. Forget it."