Chapter Four - Discovery
“Good morning, Resa.”
Like yesterday, I was thoroughly ignored by the petite girl who's presence in the room seemed nonexistent, if not zero. That didn’t put me off. I could be stubborn when I want to.
“I didn’t know you’re taking credits in Spanish. This is an advanced subject you know?”
I slid into the seat beside her, and as usual, she stiffened but said nothing. I gave a casual nod to the boy whose seat I now occupy. He just gave me a brief smile and then skittered away. At least, he understood that King Monfort was up to something.
My attention was drawn back to my awfully quiet seatmate. Incidentally, I had to share two classes with her everyday. And just so you know, I made sure that I was her seatmate in each of them. Geez, i must be so bored. Tiny Resa’s body was angled away from me, the farthest possible given the limit of our shared table. I sniffed myself.
I don’t stink at all. What’s her problem?
“You don’t talk much,” I told her, eying her just to see whether she would squirm. It was so unlike me to be focused on a single person, but there was nothing I could do but try to understand why. What was it about this girl? Her disinterest? Her indifference? Her bluntness? Or perhaps it had something to do with my latest dream.
It was the same party, with the same people and the same turn of events. The only difference was at the end, the moment when I grabbed the singer’s arm and yanked her to face me.
Black-brown eyes. Chalky pale skin.
The face she had belonged to Resa.
The more I try to think about it, the more I want to know more about my enigmatic seatmate.
* * *
"Mr. Anderson, have you found her?" I asked as I wove myself out from the noisy cafeteria.
I paced towards the empty hallways of the new building. I was in the middle of having lunch when my phone started ringing. It was something I've been looking forward to, so answering it was urgent.
My grandfather’s ever reliable assistant answered me pensively. "We've been investigating thoroughly, but we were still unable to trace her whereabouts..."
Impossible.
There goes my last shred of hope to locate her, my nameless, not-so-faceless-now but earth-shatteringly talented singer. With the Monfort's technology and data-gathering skills, finding a single person would be just a piece of cake. Inexplicably, they weren't able to find anything about the stunning party crasher. It was as if she never existed at all.
"Are, are you positive about it?"
He must have heard the disappointment in my voice because he replied in an equally assertive tone.
"Do you have any other requests?"
"None. Thanks." Geez, I just want to hear her sing again. I was about to hang up when I had an unexpected idea. I know it was a long leap, but still… my dream bugged me. I was always one to trust my guts. "Wait. Theresa Alva. Give me full details about a girl named Theresa Alva. ASAP."
“Full?”
“Yes,” I replied. “Everything about her. No stone left unturned.”
“Do you have any leads, young master?” he asked in a matter-of-factly tone.
“She just transferred here in St. Andrews.”
I could hear his sigh of relief. At least, that piece of information would make everything easier for him. “When do you need this?”
“Send it to me later.”
"Understood, young master."
I snapped the phone shut, feeling dismayed that there was no definite lead to the mysterious singer. I glanced at my watch. Fifteen minutes left before the next class. My food was still half eaten. I better stuff myself to death now. I was about to head back when I heard a clatter of stilettos and muffled voices just around the corner. I lulled into a stop. This place was typically empty this time of the day. So what the heck was going on?
One voice was louder than the rest.
“Go away.”
Resa sounded annoyed, and given the other voices with her, I immediately understood what was happening.
I made it there in a span of six long strides. It wasn’t startling to see the girl in question surrounded by a bunch of girls. Not just anyone, but the guerrilla girls. This was bad. I smelled danger.
Alice and her clones formed a loose semi-circle around the Resa. She flipped her blond hair while adorning a scary look on her face, eying the smaller girl with distaste. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. A pack of she-wolves and an utterly helpless lamb. For real.
"You bitch!" Alice screeched in her high-pitched voice. “How dare you walk away from me? Do you know who I am, what I am in this school?”
Resa didn't look intimidated. In fact, she seemed amused.
“A blond bitch,” came her flippant response.
Shit.
Alice slapped her with a force enough to break one's jaw. One of her wannabes, Anna, stepped forward, pulled Resa's hair, and pushed her against the lockers aligned on the wall. Alice, Lucy and Jess laughed darkly.
"You act all haughty because Nathan's nice to you, huh?"
“Nathan,” Resa chewed my name as if it was a foreign word. “Oh, that boy.” She shook her head somberly. Oh, it seemed like she didn’t understand her position. Her brown-black eyes locked fearlessly with Alice’s blue ones.
“Lust. Not my favorite sin. But anger, yes, that one I can manage. And hatred. And pride. You want him, don’t you?”
Alice grew crimson.
Resa continued speaking in a smooth, unfazed manner. “He doesn’t seem interested in you. Does the truth hurt, blond bitch?"
"Shut up!" Alice kicked her in the stomach, making Resa bend over in pain. Something small and black fell from her eyes. Contacts? "You ought to know your place, you nobody."
What the! I have to stop them!
I took a step forward but an unnerving chill entered my spine. All of a sudden, I felt panic and fear inside me. My body wouldn't budge, no matter how many times I told my muscles to move. A weak girl was being bullied. I needed to save her! Why was my feet feel so heavy? Why did it feel like I'm cemented on the ground? Even my throat wouldn't cooperate. No words were coming out my mouth.
The defenseless girl just happened to be my seatmate. It was my fault for engaging her into a conversation. This was wrong. I should stop them, but I couldn't. My body felt alien, like it was controlled by some unseen force. It refused to follow my brain's orders. I had no power over myself.
A fresh round of laughter pulled my attention back to them. Four empty bottles of Diet Coke were tossed a few feet from where they stood. Resa was dripping wet, sitting limply on the floor. Her fragile body was using the lockers as support. Her arms were full of scratches, and there was blood on her lips. She was as still as stone. Her face was dim. I couldn't see her expression at all.
"Unforgivable..." Her voice was full of venom; I couldn't believe it came from the same girl. Alice and her clones abruptly halted, taken aback by the change.
"What did you just say?" Alice pulled her hair up, using it as a rein to make her stand. She was red in rage. "What did you say?!"
"Unforgivable!" Resa screamed, clawing the blonde's face with her long nails. Alice yelped in pain as she fell on her butt. The small girl trembled in fury. The guerilla girls were dumbfounded. Resa became a completely different person.
But their shock was nothing compared to mine.
It was her.
The carbonated drink melted her heavy make-up, revealing her true self. A face that exceeded the boundaries of perfection. A pair of menacing crimson eyes. A smile that was both beautiful and dangerous.
It was really her, my mystery singer, here, all along...
"A monster! You're a monster!" The girls started screaming, running away from her towards the exit. They didn't get far enough. They froze mid-step, unable to move. Like me.
"Yes," Resa said coolly, "I'm a monster, a cold-blooded monster."
She stood up and approached them in a way that reminded me of models on a runway. "Be glad that despite what you've done, I'll let you live. Hmm, perhaps, after this, you'll rather I killed you instead."
Her grin was malicious. She sauntered around them like a predator to her prey. A very hungry, sadistic predator.
"Get out of my sight," she ordered with a purr, "If I ever see even a strand of your hairs, I will not hesitate to kill. If a word about this incident spreads out, I will hunt each of you. Even to the depths of hell."
Despite the intensity of her words, my attention was not on them. They were focused on her injuries that were quickly healing themselves. By the time she finished speaking, her wounds were gone. Her skin was as flawless as they have been this morning.
"Am I clear?" She took a deliberate step towards them. She was nose to nose with Alice.
"Yes! Yes! Please! Let us go!"
"We will!"
"Promise!"
The bounding force instantly vanished. I was free. My body was mine again. I stared at my fingers, unable to absorb all that had happened. When I raised my eyes, the girls were already at a distance. The beautiful solitary monster was left alone in the empty hallway.
"Resa?" I said calmly, surprised by how steady my voice came out. What the hell was I thinking? My body was telling me to run. She spelled danger! She's not human!
Save your life, my rational part said.
"I don't want to have anything to do with you. Leave me alone," she said curtly without turning around. So she was aware of my presence the whole time? Was my freezing episode her fault?
"You… you are the girl at the party."
"I said --" she mumbled, but didn't finish her sentence. Her knees gave out and she was on the floor. I hurried to her side, ignoring the instinct to run away. I gave out a relieved sigh to discover she only fainted. Her sleeping face was irrevocably lovely. Perfection. I carried her in my arms and headed out towards the infirmary.
At that time, I didn't know what I was getting myself into.