Stones

Part 2

“Hoping what?” Wow, he was a smart one.
“Hoping that you could fix that!” I grabbed his hand and giggled. He (obviously) said, “Heck yeah!” Just then, I realized that Victoria and Amanda had been listening to our conversation. Victoria looked as if she wanted to kill me. Amanda told me later that Victoria had been trying to date Gabe for the past two years, and continuously got rejected. I didn’t want any enemies, but I certainly didn’t ruin the first good thing I had in a long time. I tried a few times to talk to Victoria about it, but she was avoiding me. I talked to Gabe about it, but he was no help at all. After all, we barely knew each other. I decided that I would try to make some different friends, particularly ones that understood how amazing I was, unlike Victoria.
In science class, we were choosing lab partners. Perfect! I looked for the least geeky person in the room (other than myself, of course). Aha! I scooted over to a tall girl with straight brown hair and blonde highlights, named Regan. I asked if I could sit with her, and she said sure. While the teacher was explaining the difference between two chemicals, my attention was drawn to a girl across the room with strawberry blond hair and freckles. Something about her made me want to run and hide, but I couldn’t figure out why. She noticed me looking at her, and gave me an evil smile that made me cringe.
When I got “home” from school, my mother asked me how my day was, as if she really cared. So, I told her. Not about the notes, but about how nobody knew about my dad, and how only the weirdos would talk to me. She asked if I made any friends, and I told her about Amanda and Victoria. Then, I remembered that Victoria hated me, which I explained to my mom. She rolled her eyes at my lengthy description of Gabe. This was the first real conversation I’d had with my mom in years! She (almost) seemed to understand what I was going through, and (almost) seemed to care.
That night, I attempted to sleep on the horribly uncomfortable mattress in my room, but my mind kept wandering back to the same thing: The notes. They seemed to be from two different people, but who? And what was with the stones? Then, I remembered something from the note with a blue rock: The attic! I practically jumped out of bed. As I slipped out of the room noiselessly, I came to a painful realization. This crappy old house didn’t have an attic. I let out a huge sigh and dropped to the floor. What time was it? My watch said 2:07 A.M.. The house was silent. As I crawled back to my bedroom, I heard a creaking noise. I turned in the direction of the sound, and a set of wooden stairs unfolded right in front of me!
Curiously, I tiptoed up the stairs, being careful not to make any noise that would wake my mother. When I reached the top of the stairs, a lamp turned on. I forced myself not to scream. I looked around, and realized that I was in an attic. The attic. It looked like an ordinary 20th century attic, with boxes and bags and totes full of what looked like unwanted junk. I decided to dig through a few boxes. The first one was full of hand-knit sweaters made by someone’s grandmother. The next box was full of seashells from someone’s vacation. But the third box contained another box, and then another, and another! Inside all of these boxes, was a red leather bound notebook. I opened it up, wondering why it was so securely hidden. The pages were filled with words, but they were in a different language... I spoke fluent Spanish, French, Hebrew, Italian, Greek, and (obviously) English. This wasn’t one of those.
Suddenly, I heard a noise coming from downstairs. Mom! I had to get back in my bed before she realized I was up! I crept down the stairs silently, like a ninja, carrying the book under my sweatshirt. I slipped into bed just as she was coming down the noisy wooden hallway to check on me. I pretended to be asleep, and she bought it. I felt a rush of pride and ninja-ness. I fell asleep that night dreaming of ninjas. In my dream, I was wearing pink sweatpants, a red tank top, and neon green boxing gloves, and I was fighting a bunch of ninjas that called themselves the “penguin clan”. I woke up the next morning laughing hysterically at my ridiculous dream!
And it got weirder. I was getting ready for school, when I stopped to look in the mirror. I almost screamed when I saw the huge scar on my left cheek! Once again, I decided not to show my mom. She’d just move us across the country, or maybe across the world. And I was just getting used to this place. I covered up the scar with a ton of makeup, and walked to school. I didn’t wake my mother up, because I was in an okay mood and I wasn’t gonna let her ruin it. I was almost to the school when someone grabbed me from behind, gagged me, and blindfolded me. It all happened so fast: one minute I was daydreaming about my future career as an actress or a supermodel, the next minute, I was in the back of a van with a three of biker-gang tough guys. And that girl from science class; the one who’d given me that eerie feeling. Megan.
When they saw my horrified expression they laughed, and threw bits of who-knows-what at me. I tried punching them, only to find that my hands were tied together. Great. But my feet were free! I kicked one guy, who was wearing a purple bandana, in the jaw, and knocked him out! The guy next to him swore at me and tried to attack me, but I planted my foot right between his eyes. Megan got a foot shoved into her mouth, and my shoe stayed in her mouth, causing her to temporarily pass out from lack of oxygen. The last guy was HUGE, and he had a knife... When he jumped toward me, I lurched sideways, then when he turned around, I kicked him in the back of the head and the knife went flying. Quickly, I ran so that it cut the rope on my wrists. The big guy was tougher than I thought, and he was already back on his feet. I punched him in the gut, picked up the knife, and stabbed him straight through the chest. Finally understanding what was going on, I looked at my bloodstained hands. I had just killed someone. I grabbed my shoe, relieved that I hadn’t killed Megan.
I jumped out the back of the van, and washed my hands in a stream. My watch said 7:32. If I hurried, I could still make it to school on time. I was like two steps away from the school, when another stone hit me in the back of the head. It was a red one. The note read: You’re ignorant. Choose your battles wisely. Don’t mess with what you don’t understand. Or else. Sincerely, Your Worst Nightmare. After what’d just happened, this made me more angry than scared. Who the fudge was this, “Your Worst Nightmare” person, and what did I ever do to them?!
Inside, I found Victoria, and SHE apologized to ME! “I know it’s not completely your fault,” she said. “And I know I don’t like OWN him...” I could see her eyes getting misty.
“It’s cool.” I didn’t want to cause any more drama, but being me, it was hard not to. “I totally understand. All good! Oh look, it’s the devil himself!” I joked, as Gabe shuffled towards us. He was wearing a black shirt, dark jeans, black sneakers, and he was carrying a black backpack. With his dark hair, he looked like a Goth... Or a ninja....
“Hi! Howzit goin’?” He asked with a shy (beautiful) smile.
“Um...” I wanted to tell him about being kidnapped, but I was guessing he’d be freaked out. I mean, I still was! “Great! Victoria and I made up. We’re besties again!”
“Yeah,” Victoria added. “I mean, I’m totally over it. Alex, is super funny! You’re a lucky guy.” They exchanged glances, as if they knew something I didn’t.
In science class that day, we learned about penguins. Immediately, I thought about my insane dream. I was still thinking about it, when the teacher asked me where penguins live. I was off in my own little world, and said, “Ninjas... Penguins... Ka-pow!” I came out of my daze when I couldn’t hear my own thoughts over the roar of laughter from my classmates. Realizing what I’d done, I hid my face, too ashamed to apologize to my furious teacher. I’d never made such a fool of myself! Having no experience with these kinds of incidents, I panicked. I burst into tears, and ran out of the classroom. This probably made me look even stupider, but I couldn’t just sit there and be laughed at, so I locked myself in the bathroom. I looked in the mirror. My mascara was dripping down my cheek, which upset me even more because the package it came in said that it was waterproof. I wiped it off, and noticed something else. My tears were emerald green! And, my scar had completely disappeared ALREADY!
Weird stuff was happening, and I wanted to know why. But, in order to get information, I had to give information. I decided to ask Gabe, Victoria, and Amanda about the weirdness. I told them everything, from the day I moved, to that morning. Now, they were all glancing at each other, and I wanted to know what they weren’t telling me.
“So, what do you think is happening?! I’m really freaked out. It all happened so fast...” I would’ve kept babbling, but Gabe interrupted.
“Alex, I think I know what’s going on.... But... Never mind. Forget I said anything.”
“No! Tell me! Guys, someone, tell me what’s happening to me.” I was so angry and confused, I almost punched my own boyfriend in the face.
“Look Alex,” Victoria said. “I wish I could explain this to you, but I’d just be putting you in more danger...” Amanda whispered something to her, that sounded like: Wait a second... SHE’S the one?! Are you kidding?! I don’t think I can do this... Victoria handed Gabe a note, and I saw that it said: Distract her.
“So, Alex, whatcha doin’ later? Do you wanna like go see a movie or something?” I took the bait.
“Yeah, sure! Pick me up around 6-ish, kay?!” I looked at my diamond encrusted watch and sighed. “I better start walking if I’m gonna get home in time to watch American Idol!” When I got home, I emptied the rocks and notes out of my pockets, and put them into the solid gold jewelry box my dad had given me for New Year. I still didn’t know what the fudge was going on, why my tears were green, why I’d been kidnapped, why I had to leave California, or why I was having wacky dreams, but I had no time to think about that right then. I had to decide what to wear on my date with Gabe! After about an hour of digging through the unreasonably small amount of clothes I’d brought here with me, I finally decided on dark jeans with holes in them, a purple tee shirt that said: Spoiled in neon pink letters, and black leather boots. After all, I was just going to the movies, and I barely knew the guy.
He arrived at my house at exactly 6, with his skateboard. My mom invited him in, but he said we had to hurry because he bought tickets for a 6:30 show. I went to grab my bike from the garage, ‘cause I definitely wasn’t gonna try to keep up with a skateboarder on foot, and there was a brand-new skateboard waiting for me! It was hot-pink with purple and green hearts on the bottom, and it came with a matching helmet!
“What movie are we seeing?” I asked, trying to catch up to him. He was obviously very experienced, but I had never needed to skateboard anywhere. I was always driven everywhere in my limo... I missed it so much. I had no experience with skateboards whatsoever.
“Well, you see,” He explained, trying hard not to laugh. “We’re not going the the movies!”
“Then, where ARE we going?!”
“You’ll see when we get there.” I was starting not to trust him. About three miles later, he stopped at an old, disgusting looking farmhouse.
“Is this it?” I asked, secretly hoping that it wasn’t.
“Yes, this is it!” Was he seriously taking me to a stupid barn for our first date?!?! If so, he darn sure wasn’t getting a second one! He grabbed my hand and dragged me into the woods behind the barn. I followed, but I was still not sure whether to trust him or not. After running for what seemed like forever, we came to a beautiful waterfall. I had never seen anything like it in my life! Even better, the sun was setting, which made the whole scene even more amazing.
“So, what do you think?!” he asked.
“Are you serious?! I love it! It’s great. So romantic...” I giggled and sat down on a big rock.
“Yeah, I guess. Hey guys! Come out here. Say hi to Alex!” I didn’t know what he was talking about, until a bunch of guys our age crawled out from behind the rocks. I recognized them from around school. Kai, a friendly-looking boy with sandy colored hair, Gage, a tall, tough guy with shoulder-length curly hair, and Jason, a freakishly tall, annoying guy with freakishly awesome strength. They were all joking around about Gabe and me, when another guy showed up. It was Amanda’s boyfriend, Israel! And right behind him was Amanda! Even though my romantic moment was completely ruined, one of my best friends was there, so I decided to make the best of it. We had been talking for almost an hour, when we realized we were alone. Where were the guys?
Our question was answered when we heard some shouting and then the sound one someone being slapped. Up on top of the waterfall, the guys were in a big fight. Israel had punched Gage in the nose, and pushed him off the edge. He swam to shore, but he was severely injured. What was even more shocking, was their kung-fu skills. They were kicking and punching like... Like ninjas. Amanda screamed for them to stop, and I just sat there like an idiot. Until Gabe got punched in the face by Kai and knocked out. I picked up a rock, and (with a lot of luck) threw it at Kai’s face. He said some colorful words, and climbed down to try and kill me. He probably would’ve succeeded, but Jason and Gage calmed him down and dragged him away. A few minutes later, Gabe woke up.
He apologized to me for being so stupid, and I just rolled my eyes. He was so cute when he was guilty! While he was attempting to give a better apology, I caught a glimpse of Amanda and Israel. They were arguing, yelling at each other, both in tears. Israel lifted his arm, and Amanda flinched, with gave me the impression that he’d hit her before. I wanted to do something, but I figured Amanda could handle it. I told Gabe that I wasn’t mad (the quickest way to get him to shut up), and we went for a little walk before it got too dark.
“What were you guys fighting about?” I asked him.
“Well, um... You.” He shrugged, as if to say it was no big deal. “It’s getting dark, we should head home.” When we got our skateboards out of the barn, mine had a red stone on it. I pointed it out to Gabe, and he took it right out of my hands!
“Give it back! What are you doing?! GABE!!!” I slapped him in the face, but he just stuffed it into his pocket.
“Protecting you.” He mumbled. “You’re welcome...”
“I appreciate the gesture, but I don’t think a little rock or some stupid note is gonna hurt me!” I put my hand out. “Now would you please give it back?! At least tell me what the note says.”
“You really wanna know? I’ll read it to you.” He glared at me, cleared his throat, and began reading. “We warned you. And yet you fell right into our trap. We are among you. You should run. You have too much trust. Thank you for your cooperation, though. You make our jobs easier. Sincerely, Your Worst Nightmare.” He finished reading the note and sighed, “See I told you, you didn’t want to know!” He looked scared. Truly scared.