╭-°—✞—˚✧ ψ ✧˚—✞—°-╮
CHAPTER THIRTEEN!
𝖆 𝖒𝖔𝖉𝖊𝖘𝖙 𝖕𝖗𝖔𝖕𝖔𝖘𝖆𝖑
╰-°—✞—˚✧ ψ ✧˚—✞—°-╯
────── 〔ψ〕──────
THE YELLOW BLAZER was a breath of fresh air to Salene. It was also an extreme contrast and a break in her black, monochromatic outfit. She was the only one happy to wear it. Though she was grateful for her sunglasses now that she started to get a dull ache starting at the base of her skull. She was currently digging through her duffel bag, looking for her bottle of aspirin that she had to sneak on. Salene could hear the rattle loud and clear but she couldn't find it.
"Looking for something?" MJ asked and Salene nodded.
"Don't tell Harrington but I brought a bottle of aspirin for my migraines and now I can't find it," Salene spoke as she heard Mj's movements from behind her.
"Are you sure it's in there?" MJ asked, Salene could hear the eyebrow raise from behind her, MJ always does that whenever she's deep in thought or asking a question, she has that face a lot when Salenes can show up for decathlon practice.
"I'm positive, I can hear it rattling," Salene spoke, ruffling through her clothes and as a result, messing them up, she would have to iron them out when they got to the hotel.
"Here, I have some Motrin, it'll probably be faster for your head anyways," Mj spoke and Salene nodded, giving up and snatching a bottle of water from her bag before zipping it up and stepping away from the bus.
Salene could hear the crack of the seal-like it was next to a microphone and she was next to the speaker. She winced as she opened it and saw Mj pull out her bottle from her pocket. She held out a shaky hand and watched two pills fall into her palm. The girl quickly popped them in her mouth and chugged the bottle of water. Mj watched her with curiosity and Salene pulled the water away sheepishly.
"Sorry, uh, I haven't been the best with hydration lately," Salene lied, she drinks three gallons every morning and every night per Kyrils instruction considering how much of her internal body water steam off when she's burning up.
Mj only nodded as a commotion started up by the entrance of the bus. It was Peter. Salene was unfazed when his request to join the team was spoken to the group of banana-esque kids. Salene watched Peter glance at her, hoping for the backup.
"Oh no!" Flash spoke up as he pushed to the front of the team, staring Peter down as he flanked Liz, "you don't get to show up last minute and be welcomed back with open arms." The irony of the situation came to play when Mr. Harrington came down from the bus and lit up at the sight of Peter.
"Peter! Welcome back! Flash you're back to the first alternate," Mr. Harrington spoke. Salene watched with a new smirk on her face as Flash threw his blazer at Peter like a 5-year-old going through a tantrum.
She had opened her mouth to say something when Cindy Moon caught her attention when she nudged the blonde's side. Cindy nodded towards an approaching figure and adjusted her hair.
"The school made Mr. Harrington team up with another chaperone, and from the looks of it, he's cute," Cindy spoke and Salene squinted as she stood up straighter, trying to see this apparent "cute stranger".
The realization dawned on her and her heart skipped thirty beats at the sight of him. She had let out the tiniest squeak and tripped over herself as she scrambled to meet him. Adrian jr. laughed as Salene charged at him, full speed. The small, blonde girl jumped, knowing fully that he would catch her. He spun around once as he gave another squeeze before setting her down.
"Adrian, what are you doing here?" She asked, glancing back at the curious group of kids who watched with amusement at Salenes excitement, "Cindy said you were chaperoning with Mr. Harrington?"
"Yeah, I was the only non-staff chaperone that had their fingerprints updated and since I don't go back to school till this Friday, I decided to surprise you," Adrian smiled and Salenes jaw dropped. She didn't get the chance to spend much time with her siblings this week due to Lucifer and the weapons dealer that she and Peter have been investigating.
"This is amazing," Salene spoke as she and Adrian made their way back to the bus, Mr. Harrington stepped over, his beard lifting with his smile as he stuck his hand out for Adrian.
"Hi, I'm Roger Harrington, you must be Adrian Kalimeris," Mr. Harrington politely spoke, Adrian handed Salene his duffel bag and she quickly walked over to the bus as he and her teacher got aquatinted.
If Salene wasn't so excited to be with her brother, she would've started to feel bad for Adrian, there's a reason no one wanted to help Mr. Harrington with chaperoning, it's also the reason she started to get more and more irritated in his class. The man can't seem to separate his marriage problems from his job requirements. He's started to talk about the chemistry questions like they were in relationships and eventually confuse the whole problem.
Adrian has to share a room with Mr. Harrington and she isn't sure if Adrian is going to be able to help the man with his woman problems, the main reason being that Adrian has had a boyfriend since Salene was nine and the girl was still waiting for one of them to get the balls to propose. Adrian, funny enough, was in a relationship with a boy named Ian Corbett.
Salene, like the rest of her family, loved Ian. He was always over for any type of party that the Kalimeris family hosted and was there for every Thanksgiving and Christmas. Salene considered him an extension of Adrian and remembered a little bit of disappointment when he wasn't able to visit from college this week. She would hope that she'll catch Adrian FaceTime him so she could say hi to him but she wasn't sure of her chances.
Salene finally jerked from her trance when she felt someone stand behind her. She turned around to see Cindy mortified as she stared Salene down.
"Salene, I'm so sorry I had no idea who he was and-"
"You're okay, Cindy, you're not the first girl to hit on my brothers in front of me, it doesn't help that I barely look Greek and he looks like he just came back from Athens," Salene spoke softly, Cindy's shoulders relaxed and her face untwisted, she was visibly feeling better and Salene couldn't help but chuckle.
"Uh, he doesn't have an uh," Cindy glanced to the kids loading up as Salene shut the compartment on the side of the bus and Salene chuckled.
"No, he doesn't, he's been in a relationship with Ian since I was like, nine, but if you were a boy and in college and he was single, I think you would have a great chance, you're gorgeous, Cindy, don't worry, maybe there will be someone in Washington waiting for you," Salene chuckled and Cindy smiled brightly.
"Thank you, Salene, that's so sweet, by the way, I think you and Peter are great together," she spoke and spun on her heel loading up onto the bus. Salene furrowed her eyebrows and blinked about three times in shock. She slowly made her way up to the steps, her face still pinched in confusion. She almost didn't hear Liz and Adrian tell her to quickly find a seat and she ended up towards the back sitting in the seat across from Peter.
The girl quickly smacked Peter's arm, staring at him as he looked to her in confusion, stopping him from putting in earbuds.
"What's up?" He asked.
"Did you know there was a rumor about us?" Salene hissed quietly and Peter furrowed his eyebrows, now very interested in what she had to say, and leaned over to her, "Like, us being in a relationship?"
"Who told you?" Peter asked and Salene glanced to Cindy who was giggling at Sally in her seat.
"Cindy Moon! Right before I got on the bus!" Salenes hushed tone seemed to get more aggressive with each word, "who do you think started that?"
"Flash? Maybe? You know how he treats us," Peter spoke and Salene thought back to the harsh comments Flash likes to make about her hair and the smell of her diner that sticks with her.
Flash is the reason why she has thirty air fresheners in her room and 40 different perfumes on her dresser. He's the reason she normally has her hair tied back in a ponytail at school and why she never raises her hand when she has the right answer anymore.
"I don't put it behind him, but it's a weird one to start," Salene leaned back in her seat as she processed it, she glanced to see Flash talking (or failing at flirting) to Liz and she couldn't help but feel her anger flare in her bones.
She didn't understand why Peter practically shoved her to the window of her seat and sat next to her until he took her hands in his. She widened her eyes at the way she could see the bones of her fingers through the warm glow of her hands. Salene always became entranced with the way her body looks when it glows.
She often compared the look to an egg being incubated. Salene remembered watching a video of someone checking the progress of their chicken eggs by putting a flashlight behind the egg, the milky white turned to a shade of orange and red. In the egg, you could see the baby chicken.
Salenes bones were the baby chicken. The sudden distraction of Peter shoving her stopped the glow almost instantly and caught the attention of Ned who was visibly confused by the sudden movement. Salene couldn't help but sigh and lean her head forward and rest it on the front of Peter's shoulder.
"Thank you," she whispered as she pulled her hands away and sat up straight, adjusting her back against the window and pulling her headphones out.
Peter nodded, looking over to see Liz mumble something to Adrian. He glanced at the bus and back to her and smiled, giving her a nod. Liz smiled and stood up.
"Okay guys, come up closer to the front to do some practice trivia," Liz announced, going to her book bag and pulling out her bells and cards. Salene and Peter got up, getting closer to the front.
Adrian smiled and held his phone out, Ian was on the screen.
"He says hi," Adrian spoke and Salene brightened, waving to the camera before Adrian scooted further to the window for as much privacy as he could.
Peter passed a bell over to Salene as she once again, sat in the window seat while he took the aisle, only because he insisted that she sat down first. The girl intently listened to the questions, she was quickly getting into her competition mindset, it was one of the team's assets because that's when she was able to focus and absorb more information, and it was one of the few times she wouldn't stammer or sound insecure when she spoke at a normal volume.
She remembered practically yelling answers after hitting the button at the competition last year, that's what got Liz's attention. Liz smirked as she saw Salenes demeanor change.
Salene was barely sitting, her right knee was pressed into the seat, her left arm rested on the seats in front of her and her right rested on Peter's shoulder. Normally she would've been nervous to touch a boy but after she woke up to his sorry excuse for CPR in the park, the two were instantly friends or more than they used to be considering their unspoken solidarity of comforting glances after a rough comment from Flash.
They had just left New York and the team was already wary and fried from the rapid-fire questions, even Salene was starting to dial back, she was now sitting properly and only answering a few questions. That's what got everyone to slow down.
Their saving grace was Peter abruptly standing up and holding his phone up for Liz.
"Mind if I take this?" Peter asked and she nodded. Salene quickly replaced Peter on the bus seat as she waited for Liz to ask another question.
"Hey, Liz, why don't you give them a break, we'll do another practice on our way to the event tomorrow," Mr. Harrington spoke, he was probably making sure Salene didn't flatten the bell in her hand from her extreme competitiveness. Everyone passed up the bells and Salene looked back to Peter and saw him wave her over.
The girl quickly walked back to her original seat and Peter handed her the phone.
"He's being ridiculous," Peter rolled his eyes.
Salene gently took the phone and saw that it was Happy's contact. She pressed the phone to her ear.
"Happy?" She asked as she looked out the window.
"Where are you and Peter going? I just got a ping here that says you guys left the state," Happy spoke and Salene looked to Peter confused.
"Well our decathlon team is going to Washington for a competition, some college recruiters are going to be there," Salene began to ramble and she furrowed her brows, she went a few seats further back and spoke in a hushed tone, "wait, what are you even tracking us for, I thought you only contacted if you had like a mission or something?"
"I- Uh- well it was just orders, anyway it doesn't sound dangerous so be careful," Happy spoke and Salene felt the amused grin rose on her face.
"I don't know, Happy these get intense, a bunch of nerds rapid-firing questions? There might be a fight right on the stage!" Salene couldn't help the sarcasm but it did leave her with a satisfied giggle when Happy muttered a "whatever" and hung up. She walked back to her seat and handed Peter his phone, she looked to Ned who was staring down at the tracker Peter left on the man from the bridge.
He was still in Maryland and Salene went over the sloppy, last-second plan that they came up with. She still thought it was dangerously stupid. She couldn't shake the feeling like it wasn't as simple as Peter made it. She finally shook her head and pushed Peter to the window of his seat and sat next to him. She waved her hand over to Ned, catching his attention.
"I'm gonna be honest with you guys, I don't think I can follow through with sneaking off tonight, I just can't go in blindly, especially when there's only so much time until we would have to get back to the competition and then that's not considering how many of those-"
"You don't have to come, Sal, that's okay," Ned was quick to reassure her, his hand rested on her shoulder and she nodded, relief made her muscles loosen up a bit and she looked to Peter expectantly, they were partners in this, she cared about what he thought about the adjustments to the plan.
"I agree, the team needs you more, plus it'll be harder to explain to your brother why we were both missing and not just me," Peter spoke and Salene glanced to Adrian who was at the front of the bus, she could see the bored look on his face as Mr. Harrington spoke and she covered her smile with her hand.
"Look, Mr. Harrington is going on about his marriage again," Salene giggled and Ned's jaw dropped slightly.
"You can hear it from here?" He asked and Salene shrugged.
"I don't need to, I know Adrian's faces enough to know when he's listening to the plights of a straight couple," Salene giggled and Peter furrowed his eyebrows.
"What do you mean, straight couple?" Peter asked and Salene sat back in her seat.
"Adrian's been dating his boyfriend Ian since I was nine, so he was about fifteen or sixteen when he started dating Ian, but he's known Ian since he was also nine," Salene explained and Ned smiled and gave his cool guy nod.
"That's badass," He spoke and Salene nodded.
"Do you guys want to see him from the twin's birthday party last month?" Salene asked and Peter furrowed his eyebrows.
"How many siblings do you have?" Peter asked and Salene cracked a smile.
"I'm the youngest of five kids, Peter," She spoke as she glanced back at Adrian he looked back at her at the same time with a pleading face.
She sent him an overly enthusiastic thumbs up and he rolled his eyes in return and looked back to Mr. Harrington, clearly faking his interest. Salene leaned back in her seat as she felt the growing silence with Ned and Peter, she looked back to them to see how weirdly quiet it was with them. Ned was listening to music and watching the tracker, Peter was listening to his music and scrolling through what Salene believes is Instagram but she's not close enough to see. Salene made the ultimate decision to put in her earbuds, choose an appropriate playlist, and fall asleep, there was a man in her dreams that she wanted to talk to.
When Salene fell asleep, she was hoping that Lucifer wouldn't instantly put her in a torture chamber, and to her surprise, he didn't. They stood on a field of tall grass, it was a permanent sunset and his hair shined perfectly against the sun. He practically glowed under the rays. Salene almost forgot he used to be an angel, she didn't bring herself down for it, he was insufferably terrible, and it's easy to forget that he was at all good.
Lucifer smirked as she stepped closer to him. He was in a black suit, a black button-down shirt on underneath.
"Does a girl finally want to talk?" Lucifer asked and Salenes jaw dropped in disbelief.
"Are you fucking kidding me?" She asked, looking around, "holy shit I didn't realize this was Game of Thrones and also, finally? As if you even gave me a chance to fucking speak, ever since you fucking possessed me it's been non-stop torture!"
Lucifer only shook his head with a condescending smile. He turned so she could see his profile and he held out his arm.
"Walk with me, darling," he spoke and she looked at his open arm in disgust, turning so that they faced the same direction, a path cleared for them and soon, a small house grew out of the ground, Salene could see two rocking chairs on the porch from where she stood.
The two started to walk, she squinted but it was hard to see how long the trail was.
"I didn't expect you to survive this long, you have done something that no one else has before: Stun the Devil," Lucifer spoke, nodding his head to her a few times for exaggeration, "I thought by now your brain would have melted and your little family diner would be nothing but ash, but here you are and there is your diner."
"What do you want from me?" She asked and Lucifer shrugged, they walked up the steps of the porch and walked over to the two rocking chairs that looked out beyond the field grass.
"Well, it's clear that you're not submitting to the will of Satan anytime soon so I thought, why not play into your little mortal games to pass the time?" He spoke and Salenes face twisted up in confusion.
"I beg your pardon?" She asked, looking over at him and shaking her head, "what the hell do you mean?"
Lucifer winced at the mention of Hell, it seemed to be a sensitive subject for him. Salene didn't give a fuck, he's made her lose her mind and almost killed her twice, she's not playing nice with him anymore.
"I'm offering a truce, I stop messing with your head and you know, no more attempted murders, but, you have to let me help you use your powers, there's so much you can do and you're only scratching the surface, you could raise hell on earth and make every mortal bend to your-"
Lucifer cut himself off after taking one glance at Salenes death glare. He cleared his throat and leaned back in the chair, the rocking seemed to calm his mind so he could try to get his point across. He looked out at the field and sighed.
"You know, I don't remember the fall from heaven in full, I just remember being up there and then, I'm in a pit of flames, the Catholics said I roamed the Earth and then went to hell, but I only went down there once, there is no grim reaper to guide the soul, only me, I'm supposed to decide who goes where, it's a cruel punishment but God has a more wicked sense of humor than me," Lucifer spoke and Salene only looked out at the field.
"Why are you telling me this?" She asked. She was getting impatient and rather annoyed, "if you say we have more in common than I thought, I'm gonna shove my foot up your ass."
Lucifer let out a hoarse chuckle as he looked at her. It was weird seeing him smile, the evil smirk and the condescending smile were different than what she saw now. A genuine smile crinkled the skin near his eyes.
"Yeah, I see why I chose you now," Lucifer spoke, looking back out to the field, he seemed to have a sense of longing in him that Salene could feel, a longing to be back up where he came from.
"I didn't use to be bad, you mortals just thought of me that way because of a mistake I made once and a punishment that I have to live out till the end of time, and yeah, after a while of being down here and being around the evil you mortals created, I fed into it and adapted, I started to thrive on it," Lucifer spoke and Salene nodded, she looked out to where he was looking and tried to imagine it.
A confused angel roaming around, desperate and helpless, only to turn into a monster because there was no other way to survive.
"I think he went a little overboard with grounding you, the longest I've ever been was like, two weeks," Salene spoke, Lucifer nodded, amusement was clear on his features.
"You don't have to worry about me hurting you anymore, but get ready for a side comment here and there," he spoke and Salene huffed.
"Okay but I want my old dreams back, the ones before you possessed me, and don't you dare ever mess with them again," she pointed her finger at him as she stood up.
The relief she felt when she jerked awake was startling. Instead of a boulder being lifted off her shoulders, she felt like she was Atlas, but from the Percy Jackson series, only when he stopped having to hold up the sky. Salene felt light as air. She looked over at Peter who had taken an earbud out and looked at her expectantly. Salene pulled out her buds, a soft smile rising on her face.
"What did you ask?" She questioned, her eyebrows lifting as she waited for him to try again.
"I asked if you had a bad dream," he repeated himself, Ned was now peering over the seats, he was also startled when Salene jerked awake like that.
"Actually, quite the opposite," she spoke her voice now getting very quiet, making them lean in, alternating her gaze on the two boys, "I think Lucifer and I agreed, of course, he's gotta prove himself, but I think he might be genuine."
Peter raised his eyebrows in shock at the news of this and glanced to Ned, a similar look on his best friend's face. Ned broke into the biggest smile and clapped Salene on the shoulder.
"That's great, Sal, you deserve some peace of mind" Ned spoke softly and Salenes heart melted. She covered his hand with her own and pouted her lip slightly.
"That's so sweet of you to say, Ned, thank you so much," she spoke and looked to Peter.
"He said exactly what I thought, you didn't deserve what he put you through," Peter spoke and Salenes heart skipped a beat. She doesn't know why but she had the overwhelming urge to envelop him in a hug.
So she did, and she didn't regret it. He was shocked at first, but a second later, he accepted it, wrapped his arms around her torso as hers snaked further around his neck. Salene felt warm and she had to check her hands a few times to make sure it was a metaphorical warm and not a physical warm. She didn't want to scorch the brunette in her arms.
"I'm just so relieved."
"Salene, Peter, where's the Holy Spirit?" Flash asked making Salene send a glare so deadly to him, the righteous smirk on his face instantly fell and he turned around in his seat.
The two pulled away awkwardly and Salene looked off at the seat she was once in. Her mind already trailed off into a state of numbing regret as she realized that everyone snickering could be talking about the two of them right now. She felt a nudge in her side and she looked over at Peter. He had a reassuring look in his eye that slowed her heartbeat.
"Don't worry about them," he spoke, "especially when it comes from someone with thinks Flash is a cool nickname."
"The only nickname I can think of for him is dickhead, or asshole, or dumbass, you know, thinking about how he is in class and well, anything that requires you to think, dumbass is probably a most accurate nickname for him," Salene processed, she looked to Peter whose wide smile was holding back a fit of laughter that broke when she let out her breath in airy chuckles.
She knew that they were past the solidarity form by the butt of Flashes insults and now had a friendship that Salene knew would do her some good.
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ah! some development!
i can't wait for y'all
to see their dynamic it's
so cute! also! if yall could
let me know if the setup
at the beginning of this
chapter looks weird to
y'all so i can fix it
and by set up, i mean
where the chapter title is!
thank you all for reading,
i love you guys so much!
— greta!