(no subject)
Secret Rendezvous
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Chapter 2: I’ll Make an Angel Out of You
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“Well, it’s nice to see you again, Ms. Mizushima. …I guess.”
“When you talk to a student, you do realize you’re supposed to sound as assertive as possible, right?” Rina’s eyes wandered to her counselor. He looked unsure of seeing her; as if she was going to do something to him the moment he said something bad. She beamed innocently. “The head of the school board thinks that I beat up his daughter, and the principle backs him up on this. You don’t agree with them, do you, Mr. O’Conner?”
“Well, you do have a reputation for being… mean.” The man looked unconvinced. From what Rina could see, Mr. O’Conner looked as if he were in his late 20s’ or his early 30s’. He still seemed nervous, as if he knew that any second now that Rina was going to do something. The girl only smiled, gloating through her lips. He suddenly saw something and relaxed; loosening his tie. “Well, I’ve seen you around school, Corina. From what I take in, I can honestly say that you seem more sensitive than you appear to let on.”
Rina look stunned. She kept her cool, smiling cheek-to-cheek even though she knew that he probably saw through it. “And what do you mean by that, Mr. O’Conner?”
He frowned and shuffled through papers before coughing. “Well, Corina-”
“Please, Mr. O’Conner, I’d prefer it if you called me Rina,” she said calmly. Her smile drooped slightly.
“I feel more comfortable if you do.”
“...As I was saying, Corina…”
“Hypothetically speaking-”
“Mm?” Mr. O’Conner responded as if he were expecting her to flip out. “Corina is your name and as I am addressing you in a troublesome manner, I expect for you to answer to that.”
Rina sighed deeply and tried not to tremble, but she couldn’t help it. “I’d prefer Rina.”
“I’d prefer you listen to what I think about you,” he responded.
The redhead took in another deep breath, shoulders drooping. “Fine.”
Mr. O’Conner smiled back triumphantly and looked at the paper. “Well, as you displayed just now, you prefer for someone to call you by Rina. Heaven knows why, but as it is just a nickname, it’s proper for a teacher to call you by Corina. Now, what I think is… all of this high-and-mighty delinquent Rina and the sweet and innocent Rina that you’re trying to both hide and show me… it’s both fake.”
She piped up. “What?”
“It’s all an act,” Mr. O’ Conner repeated. “You act this way because you think that you need to feel tough at this school for everyone to respect you. I suspect… something has happened in the past for you to think that people shouldn’t be able to shove you around. You act this way because you don’t want people to know that you’re a scared little girl.”
“You’re wrong,” Rina stood up in her chair and slammed her hands on her counselor’s desk. “Do you realize that for messing with me like that that most people would be on the ground crying for mercy by now?!”
“And the way you bring up how you could beat me up,” Mr. O’Conner edged on. “You do it because what a person says bruises your ego and you want to make it clear that you are more powerful than them-even when you’re not.”
“You're wrong!” Rina screeched. She gripped onto his wooden desk, teeth gritted and eyes raised threateningly. “Do you really think that from all of this that you can tell how I act? Mr. O'Conner, I-” She suddenly realized who she was talking to. A teacher. One who could tell her mother everything. She slumped in her chair and looked back at him threateningly. “Don't tell her.”
He looked at her suspiciously. Mr. O'Conner frowned, hand on his face. “Who?”
“None of your business,” Rina muttered under her breath angrily. She took a breath in and looked back at him. She tried not to frown, but her counselor seemed to notice how upset she was anyways. “Keep going.”
Mr. O'Conner looked at her suspiciously. He stacked the papers neatly and looked back at her. He started in a softer tone, “You do what you do because this is how you let your anger out. You try to act perfect when you're not and you don't seem to think about what other people's lives are like.”
“...And what makes you think,” Rina muttered softly, “That you're right?”
“Because, Corina,” he began to smile as she flinched uncomfortably at the mention of her name. “That's how every average rebellious teenager acts. They strive to be someone that everyone will like, but they never like themselves in the process. Sure, you may be more... temperamental than most teenagers and are certainly more physical, but the fact that you strive to be at the peak of your potential is just like any normal teenager. You need to relax and smell the flowers once in a while.”
“Sure, that's what you say,” the redhead snorted. Her eyes wandered elsewhere. “But the fact remains that if they mess with me, they get messed with, Mr. O'Conner. You could try and stop me, but that doesn't mean that I actually will.”
“You're also too proud to realize that all this information could help you. Corina, you don't accept the fact that other people want to reach out to you.”
Rina stayed silent, eyes glaring at the vase on Mr. O'Conner's desk. She glared in aggravation, her lips pulled into a deep frown that wouldn't leave her face.
Mr. O’Conner opened his mouth to advise more, but the two were interrupted by a blood-curdling scream.
“DADDY, NO!!”
Mr. O’Conner blinked in confusion, a frown full well on his face. He turned his head over to Rina, frown deepening. “But you’re over he-”
“Not me, or any of my lackies,” Rina responded simply. She got up from the chair and sauntered to the door casually. Opening her one true exit out of the nerve-wrecking counselor’s office, she smiled innocently, “Ladies first.”
Mr. O’Conner frowned; obviously unamused. He blew his mustache out of his face and got up, setting the clipboard down. “That sounded like the director’s daughter.” He headed out the door, but realized Rina was going into the opposite direction straight to her class. He gritted his teeth and pulled her by her wrist into the different direction.
“Hey!” Rina whined in aggravation. She scowled. “Let me go!”
“Aren’t you concerned about Amelia’s health, Rina?” Mr. O’Conner’s frown deepened. “This will be your epiphany if you just realize that other people are only human too.” He half-dragged her as she stubbornly treaded through the halls with him. “Aren’t you listening?”
The redhead crossed her arms stubbornly, her mouth curving into a bratty pout. “No.”
The two scurried down the halls harshly before making it to the crowd of people that seemed to form on the outside of the Principle’s office. The Principle was trying to keep the kids away from the open door, but it was obviously failing. “Jonathan, call the ambulance, the director’s husband just had a heart attack!”
Mr. O’Conner nodded his head. He turned back to Rina with a parental scowl and pointed to the spot she was at. “Stay here. Don’t get closer, and don’t get farther away, understood?”
“Yes, my liege,” Rina muttered sarcastically. She rolled her eyes as he went away and stepped closer. The second she inched forward, people noticed her and backed away into a path that she could make. Rina looked forward and saw teachers crowded around the limp body. Rina arched an eyebrow, noticing who everyone else was ignoring: A blond boy with a cloak around his body. His clothes were black and gray and his mouth was twisted into a straight-lipped frown, but what Rina noticed was the puddle of blood dripping from his claws.
The redhead felt her stomach churn. Black filled her sight over and over, her head pounding like crazy. She sat down with a plop, only looking at that teenaged boy.
“Ms. Corina, are you okay?”
-
Elliot looked forward, his chest pounding once more. He’d never felt this way before, maybe not since he was a little kid. Snorting, he added, about fifty years ago, dammit. He clutched his chest and looked forward with a grimace. Blood continued to drip from his claws and into a trail on the carpet. He was the only one to see it; those humans were always so censoring when it came to ordeals like this.
The illusion for this one was a heart attack, he noted. Normally that’s Madison’s job. He never really understood why the illusion was there in the first place, nor did he really want it there. If he had to witness death so many times, then why couldn’t they? If they knew that these people died because of their sins, maybe seeing that suffering would have caused them to realize that they needed to calm down.
“Pfft, yeah right,” Elliot muttered through his headache. He stood up and looked down at his chest, where his heart was supposed to be. So is this what death is supposed to feel like? Damn, thought it’d hurt more.
“Wha… what happened…?”
Elliot’s eyes shot up with surprise. That wasn’t a girl’s voice, that wasn’t a woman’s voice, and it definitely wasn’t a teacher’s voice. It was the man that he had just killed.
The man sat up dizzily and suddenly he was choking again and experiencing his heart attack in flashes.
The blond boy looked even further and noticed two girls had stepped into the room. One was a strawberry blonde, hair pulled back with an innocent bow. She was clinging onto another girl with red curls. Both were stumbling and somewhat pale, but what the boy himself noticed was that neither of them was staring at the man-they were staring at him.
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Maya O'Conner knew that she had no idea what was going on. Ever since middle school, she had been known as the oblivious actress for what she had thought were very silly reasons. Maybe one of the times they called her oblivious was because how right now she was actually touching the Rina Mizushima; someone who could thrash her into the next century.
Or maybe, it was that smile that left her face. She didn't know how people considered her oblivious, but at this point, she would have had to say that she wasn't ignoring anything important. Neither was Rina. Maya looked above the group of adults trying to help out the man who seemed fine one second and a wreck the next. The blond next to the window was pale and sickly looking, but no one noticed him.
“Who do you think he is, Ms. Corina?” Maya whispered under her breath curiously. She didn't like the aura that was seeping from him, but at the same time, she couldn't help but feel attracted to him for the strangest reason; as if they were drawn together. 'Ms. Corina' shook her head with awe, her eyes never leaving the boy in front of them. Maya's shoulder blades ached to the point that she felt like they would burst like in the dreams she would sometimes have.
The unnoticed blood that trailed from Ami's father to the boy's gloves piqued her interest even more.
So known for one who didn't sit still often, Maya grinned and giggled, tugging Rina by her arm. “Come on, Ms. Corina. No one's noticed us just yet; I think it'll be perfectly fine going up to him!”
Rina snapped out of her daze and turned back to Maya uncomfortably. She frowned. “When did we get in here...?”
Maya noted faintly that Rina didn’t realize that they were touching skin. She smiled cheerfully. Maybe she wants to be friends with me! Grinning, she pulled her even closer and toward the boy in the back. “Come on, Ms. Corina!”
“H..Hey… Let go if me!” Rina yanked her arm back, but Maya’s grip only tightened.
Fufufu. Maya giggled to herself softly and pulled Rina wholeheartedly. No one, not even Maya’s friends, ever really realized Maya was stronger than she looked. Her eyes landed on the boy again, who only stared back at them. Maya smiled innocently. “My name is Maya O’Conner, who are you?”
“Wait, you’re Mr. O’Conner’s daughter?” Rina turned her head back to her, obviously in shock. Maya felt the glare against the side of her head, but ignored it. “Did he send you to spy on me?”
The strawberry blonde beamed and turned her head back to the boy. Looking at him closer, she noticed his features easily.
His skin was pale and sickly, as if he was about to fall over. The boy was a full head taller than both Maya and Rina, but the way that he stared at them made him look as if he was a child again, curious and reaching out to find out if what was in front of them were real.
“Sir,” Maya's smile only broadened as she got to the tip of her toes and poked him on the cheek, “why doesn't anyone else see you but Ms. Corina and me?”
“...dunno,” the boy admitted bluntly. He looked down at her, which only made Maya gasp. He recoiled nervously, as if he didn't understand what she was doing.
The strawberry blonde giggled and pressed her hand on her hand on the side of his face. Humming softly, she noted, “You have the most beautiful shade of red for your eyes, sir. They're so alluring!”
Maya could tell that her comment was taken to heart by the boy when his cheeks tinted pink for the first time since they had met. “Uh...,” he muttered under his breath. He rolled his eyes and shoved his hands into his pockets. “Dammit you're both girls, right?”
“Yes, sir,” Maya giggled innocuously and got to the tip of her toes again. “Or, would you prefer that we call you 'ma'am'? What do you think, Ms. Corina?” Maya turned her head to the other girl, but Rina was only frowning in the other direction.
“...they're not looking at us anymore,” Rina whispered under her breath. “It's like we disappeared to them the second we stepped into this room. “
“Hmm? Oh, you're right!” Maya's eyes widened with astonishment as she turned her head. She had noticed faintly before when she dragged Rina into the room that everyone was whispering how the “stupid O'Conner” would be killed the next day, but now they were looking around back and forth as if Rina and Maya had literally vanished into thin air.
“...Then one of you must be who I have to kill.”
“Eh?” Maya snapped her head back to the tall blond in front of them. To their surprise...
“...He's gone,” Rina remarked, letting out a sudden deep breath of relief she didn't even know she was holding.
-
In the end, 'Amelia's' father had been sent to the hospital for a checkup, even when he was convinced that he was fine. Ami's big secret had apparently been revealed, to the disdain of the girl herself. Rina, of course, couldn't care less. She could only shudder when the thought of the blond boy came back to her. The second he crossed her mind, she felt pissed as ever.
She didn't know who he was, and she certainly didn't want to, but the fact that he was there in the first place made her angry. Rina didn't know why, but her skin crawled with the image of him each time he crossed her mind. Whoever he was, she thought calmly, I hate him.
What Rina didn't expect though, was to have O'Conner's daughter following her around like a lost puppy throughout the high school. Maya apparently had more classes with Rina than the redhead had thought; otherwise it would have been successful when avoiding the blonde ditz.
“So then, what's your favorite color?” Maya chirped cheerfully in front of the sidewalk. She rocked back and forth at the tip of her toes with a smile on her face. “I bet it's red, right? Your red hair can't be natural, as gorgeous as it is, so I bet you dyed it that way since you love the color so much!”
Rina sneered, obviously showing her irritation for Queen Run-On. Hours had pass and school was over. Mio was supposed to pick Rina up by now, but God apparently hated her if she had to stay next to Maya in front of the parking lot. “It's natural. Shouldn't you be getting back to your father?”
“No, my dad stays late for paperwork and all,” Maya shook her head innocently and jumped as if a new thought entered her mind. “And that's really your real hair? That's amazing, Ms. Corina, I was wondering why everyone disliked hanging around with you!”
Was this girl deaf? Rina gritted her teeth, recalling that this was the thousandth time-and no, she wasn't kidding, it was literally the thousandth time-that Rina had told Maya not to call her Corina. What shocked her though, even when Rina had lodged a kick in her direction, Maya had easily dodged it and lunged toward the redhead-only to tickle the non-ticklish. Who was this girl? “Oh?”
“Yeah!” Maya turned to her, grinning. She ran her hand down Rina's red locks, humming softly. “You stick out among everyone; which is why everyone backs away when you show up. No one talks to you because your hair color is odd, and the fact that you don't smile doesn't help.”
Okay, so this girl wasn't just deaf. She was blind. And just plain stupid. “You are getting on my last fucking good nerve!” Rina turned her head toward Maya, elbow nudging at Maya's stomach as fast as possible and a kick aimed for the girl's head. But no-Maya caught her elbow and before Rina delivered the kick, the petite girl dove under her legs and appeared behind her.
Maya stayed silent, only observing Rina silently. She broke into a smile and laughed. “You really know how to have hand-to-hand combat, huh?”
Rina gritted her teeth, eyes on Maya. She sighed and rolled her eyes. “Forget it. When's your mother coming?”
The giggles died and Maya became quiet. Rina turned her head back to Maya in confusion, only to see this. Suddenly, the girl smiled again, but something didn't seem right about it. “Never. She's dead. Daddy's the only one who takes care of me.”
The redhead froze in her spot, eyes widening. “And... you're not mad about it?”
“Why should I be?” Maya asked curiously. She shrugged and began to rock back and forth again as if it was what made her comfortable. “For every tomorrow, you have something you get closer to anyways. So the way I see it, with each day that goes by, the closer I am to being with my mom again.”
“...So you look forward to dying?” This girl was stupid.
“I look forward to knowing that when I'm done living, I can look forward to seeing my mother again,” Maya laughed and shook her head. Rina looked at her in surprise, almost... approving of the girl's weird attitude.
What the fuck. Seems like a quote that'd be in a corny cliché chick story. Rina rolled her eyes at the thought.
Maya jumped again as if something even better had popped into her head. “You have something to look forward to too, Ms. Corina!”
Rina looked unconvinced. The look of approval she had almost showed easily disappeared as she sarcastically retorted, “Oh really?”
“Yup yup!” Maya nodded her head and grinned. “Each day, you're closer to making even more friends. Who cares if you have really dark red hair that makes you pop out, right? They should know that you're not someone to fear!”
Oh. This girl was just past stupid now. Rina stared at her blankly. How oblivious was she?
“Oh... no?” Maya frowned, shuffling her feet. She suddenly smiled again and jabbed her finger at Rina's face, pulling her lip up. “Well then, this is a new goal for me. I'll make you smile!”
Rina twitched. Eyes narrowed, she raised her arm to elbow the girl in the shoulder, but Maya once again proved herself to be superior. The girl grinned innocently and ducked it. Shuffling her feet, Maya's smile widened. “Well, I guess I'll just walk home then, huh? Bye, Ms. Corina.”
“...Damn, whatever,” Rina muttered under her breath irritably. She turned her head as Maya began to glide away before calling out, “And call me Rina, you fucking retard!” Rina rubbed the side of her throbbing neck painfully. If she couldn't do anything such as even laying a finger on Ms. Formal over there, the next best thing would come tomorrow. Mr. O'Conner, it'll be what you get for getting your lame ass daughter following me around like a lost bitch.
“So... Corina, is it?”
-
Elliot looked down at the girl in front of him. Damn, they're even shorter when I'm not close to death. He had a sack of chopped iPods in his backpack, which he swore he would make use of after he talked to this Corina person. Looking at her closer, the other girl, Maya, was right. Corina's thick curly red hair seemed to make her pop out of the rest.
People were walking back and forth between both he and the younger girl, whispering how soon Elliot would be dead. Hum. Maybe the iPods won't be of use to me. I'm getting that weird woozy feeling again.
“Don't you even think that you can even call me that, you slime... ...ball...,” Corina turned her head to him, but Elliot could see she was startled.
The blond looked down intently because Corina seemed frozen solid. The two only stared into each other's eyes. Elliot didn't know what Corina saw, but he saw a hell lot of gold. Note to self: Detach own eyeballs and poke inner eye guts with claws to see if death is effective.
Once in a while, Elliot's said eyes would blur in vision to the point that Elliot could almost, almost see... “So I was right. You are one of them, your wings are just not as bright as that Maya girl.”
Corina snapped out of her thoughts. She looked back at him and glared angrily. “So what? The sight of you makes me want to kick your ass.”
And here I thought archangels were supposed to be friendly. Elliot bent over in front of her and held his hand out as if a feather had fallen into it. To him, it looked black. “The sight of you makes me want to kill you, but I can keep it down, Corina. That's your name, isn't it? 'Corina'?”
“I'd prefer it if you didn't even say my name,” for the first time, Elliot saw her drawl into a feminine pose as she put her hand on her hip arrogantly and jabbed him in the chest., “you conniving little fucktard.”
“I'm actually regretting that I didn't go bother the other girl now.”
“Good. Go get her off my back.”
“I'd rather not, she has a... perky issue,” Elliot crinkled his nose, but almost smiled. “Almost like my sister.”
“Then go get that midget and introduce her to your sister.”
“Can't. Stasia's dead.”
“...god dammit,” Corina tossed her hands up into the air and yanked at her hair. “All I wanted was for my stupid older brother to come and pick me up. But no, I get stuck with the fucking perky emo and the... the..freak with the iPods!”
-
The boy frowned. “My name is Elliot.”
“Fine. El-emo with the fucking iPods! And you know what?! Both of them have this stupid fucking sob story about some stupid relative, and, ugh-”
“Now I really do regret coming with you,” Elliot muttered under his breath. He looked back at her as Rina immediately stopped what she was doing and turned red. Elliot arched an eyebrow. “Are you always this self centered?”
“I am not self-centered,” Rina felt the rage boil under the thin layer of her skin as she glared at him angrily. All of that hate from before had began blazing again, even if they had only met a couple hours ago. “Everyone just doesn't realize how important my life is. They think that I haven't been through enough when I've just been so-”
“Oh really?” Elliot's tone raised with amusement. Rina didn't like how it was going like this, especially after seeing how emotionless his face was. He took her gently by the hand and bent over to her. Rina hushed immediately and felt the tingle from before come to her. Her shoulder blades ached and her body quaked to the point that she thought that her 'wings' were really coming. They fell silent and the redhead of the bunch didn't like it one bit-especially the way Elliot was staring at her.
She looked up slightly, and she swore-absolutely swore, that she saw devil hor-
“So, can you feel it?”
Rina snapped out of her thoughts. “What?”
“My pulse...never mind,” Elliot sighed in a way that made Rina pissed off even more. He turned back to her, but that amusement on his face from before seemed to disappear. “Let's get it straight though; I hate people like you. I hate people who seemed to try to find ways to punish people in harsher ways than death itself. Those people... they're scum.”
Rina's face straightened. “You're one to talk. Stabbing Ami's father with these gloves of yours.”
Elliot quirked an eyebrow. Rina suddenly found it interesting how he responded to everything she did. Maybe it wasn't a cringe of fear, but it was definitely a tweak of a challenge. Rina almost flinched as he drew the claws of his gloves. The cold metal sliced through the space between air and her skin. “You mean these?”
The redhead suddenly felt woozy and sick to her stomach, something that Elliot arched an eyebrow to as if he had experienced it once before. Rina fumbled with a smile as she saw Mio's car beginning to pull up into the parking lot. “Well, I can hurt you too.”
BAM.
Rina had to use all of her will power not to have her lips pucker into a grin before she burst out laughing. That smirk on her face stayed, but the reaction Elliot had was priceless. When she kneed him in an area he definitely did not want to be kneed in, both of his eyebrows quirked for a mid second as his lip dropped in the strangest way. His grip on her loosened enough for her to get out of it and push him aside. Rina smirked triumphantly and got into the driver's seat of the car.
“Who was that?” Mio asked uncomfortably. Rina could tell that he felt sorry for the blond outside of the car.
The redhead rolled her eyes and looked forward. “No one important.”
Mio looked at her hesitantly before sighing. “I swear, someone's going to write a book about your life one day.”
-
Oh-kay. ...No, not okay. Elliot was literally covering a private area of him and slightly twitching from the impact. Any guy would have. Immortality bites if it can't save you from something like that. He shuddered, sitting up. He really, really regretted not going to Maya first now.
Elliot's claws retracted with a slight shiver before he closed his eyes. Opening them again, he looked at the leaving car that had Corina in it. He arched an amused eyebrow and closed his eyes again with a small sigh. “And whose idea was it to give women rights to do whatever the hell they want?” At least that's one certain way to die. Elliot picked up his bag of chopped iPods. He took out his list again and read through it thoroughly. His eyes fell upon a name that made his eyes widen. “Perfect.” He put the list away, metal claws peering from his gloves for the taste of blood.
Very perfect.
-
Chapter 2: I’ll Make an Angel Out of You
-
“Well, it’s nice to see you again, Ms. Mizushima. …I guess.”
“When you talk to a student, you do realize you’re supposed to sound as assertive as possible, right?” Rina’s eyes wandered to her counselor. He looked unsure of seeing her; as if she was going to do something to him the moment he said something bad. She beamed innocently. “The head of the school board thinks that I beat up his daughter, and the principle backs him up on this. You don’t agree with them, do you, Mr. O’Conner?”
“Well, you do have a reputation for being… mean.” The man looked unconvinced. From what Rina could see, Mr. O’Conner looked as if he were in his late 20s’ or his early 30s’. He still seemed nervous, as if he knew that any second now that Rina was going to do something. The girl only smiled, gloating through her lips. He suddenly saw something and relaxed; loosening his tie. “Well, I’ve seen you around school, Corina. From what I take in, I can honestly say that you seem more sensitive than you appear to let on.”
Rina look stunned. She kept her cool, smiling cheek-to-cheek even though she knew that he probably saw through it. “And what do you mean by that, Mr. O’Conner?”
He frowned and shuffled through papers before coughing. “Well, Corina-”
“Please, Mr. O’Conner, I’d prefer it if you called me Rina,” she said calmly. Her smile drooped slightly.
“I feel more comfortable if you do.”
“...As I was saying, Corina…”
“Hypothetically speaking-”
“Mm?” Mr. O’Conner responded as if he were expecting her to flip out. “Corina is your name and as I am addressing you in a troublesome manner, I expect for you to answer to that.”
Rina sighed deeply and tried not to tremble, but she couldn’t help it. “I’d prefer Rina.”
“I’d prefer you listen to what I think about you,” he responded.
The redhead took in another deep breath, shoulders drooping. “Fine.”
Mr. O’Conner smiled back triumphantly and looked at the paper. “Well, as you displayed just now, you prefer for someone to call you by Rina. Heaven knows why, but as it is just a nickname, it’s proper for a teacher to call you by Corina. Now, what I think is… all of this high-and-mighty delinquent Rina and the sweet and innocent Rina that you’re trying to both hide and show me… it’s both fake.”
She piped up. “What?”
“It’s all an act,” Mr. O’ Conner repeated. “You act this way because you think that you need to feel tough at this school for everyone to respect you. I suspect… something has happened in the past for you to think that people shouldn’t be able to shove you around. You act this way because you don’t want people to know that you’re a scared little girl.”
“You’re wrong,” Rina stood up in her chair and slammed her hands on her counselor’s desk. “Do you realize that for messing with me like that that most people would be on the ground crying for mercy by now?!”
“And the way you bring up how you could beat me up,” Mr. O’Conner edged on. “You do it because what a person says bruises your ego and you want to make it clear that you are more powerful than them-even when you’re not.”
“You're wrong!” Rina screeched. She gripped onto his wooden desk, teeth gritted and eyes raised threateningly. “Do you really think that from all of this that you can tell how I act? Mr. O'Conner, I-” She suddenly realized who she was talking to. A teacher. One who could tell her mother everything. She slumped in her chair and looked back at him threateningly. “Don't tell her.”
He looked at her suspiciously. Mr. O'Conner frowned, hand on his face. “Who?”
“None of your business,” Rina muttered under her breath angrily. She took a breath in and looked back at him. She tried not to frown, but her counselor seemed to notice how upset she was anyways. “Keep going.”
Mr. O'Conner looked at her suspiciously. He stacked the papers neatly and looked back at her. He started in a softer tone, “You do what you do because this is how you let your anger out. You try to act perfect when you're not and you don't seem to think about what other people's lives are like.”
“...And what makes you think,” Rina muttered softly, “That you're right?”
“Because, Corina,” he began to smile as she flinched uncomfortably at the mention of her name. “That's how every average rebellious teenager acts. They strive to be someone that everyone will like, but they never like themselves in the process. Sure, you may be more... temperamental than most teenagers and are certainly more physical, but the fact that you strive to be at the peak of your potential is just like any normal teenager. You need to relax and smell the flowers once in a while.”
“Sure, that's what you say,” the redhead snorted. Her eyes wandered elsewhere. “But the fact remains that if they mess with me, they get messed with, Mr. O'Conner. You could try and stop me, but that doesn't mean that I actually will.”
“You're also too proud to realize that all this information could help you. Corina, you don't accept the fact that other people want to reach out to you.”
Rina stayed silent, eyes glaring at the vase on Mr. O'Conner's desk. She glared in aggravation, her lips pulled into a deep frown that wouldn't leave her face.
Mr. O’Conner opened his mouth to advise more, but the two were interrupted by a blood-curdling scream.
“DADDY, NO!!”
Mr. O’Conner blinked in confusion, a frown full well on his face. He turned his head over to Rina, frown deepening. “But you’re over he-”
“Not me, or any of my lackies,” Rina responded simply. She got up from the chair and sauntered to the door casually. Opening her one true exit out of the nerve-wrecking counselor’s office, she smiled innocently, “Ladies first.”
Mr. O’Conner frowned; obviously unamused. He blew his mustache out of his face and got up, setting the clipboard down. “That sounded like the director’s daughter.” He headed out the door, but realized Rina was going into the opposite direction straight to her class. He gritted his teeth and pulled her by her wrist into the different direction.
“Hey!” Rina whined in aggravation. She scowled. “Let me go!”
“Aren’t you concerned about Amelia’s health, Rina?” Mr. O’Conner’s frown deepened. “This will be your epiphany if you just realize that other people are only human too.” He half-dragged her as she stubbornly treaded through the halls with him. “Aren’t you listening?”
The redhead crossed her arms stubbornly, her mouth curving into a bratty pout. “No.”
The two scurried down the halls harshly before making it to the crowd of people that seemed to form on the outside of the Principle’s office. The Principle was trying to keep the kids away from the open door, but it was obviously failing. “Jonathan, call the ambulance, the director’s husband just had a heart attack!”
Mr. O’Conner nodded his head. He turned back to Rina with a parental scowl and pointed to the spot she was at. “Stay here. Don’t get closer, and don’t get farther away, understood?”
“Yes, my liege,” Rina muttered sarcastically. She rolled her eyes as he went away and stepped closer. The second she inched forward, people noticed her and backed away into a path that she could make. Rina looked forward and saw teachers crowded around the limp body. Rina arched an eyebrow, noticing who everyone else was ignoring: A blond boy with a cloak around his body. His clothes were black and gray and his mouth was twisted into a straight-lipped frown, but what Rina noticed was the puddle of blood dripping from his claws.
The redhead felt her stomach churn. Black filled her sight over and over, her head pounding like crazy. She sat down with a plop, only looking at that teenaged boy.
“Ms. Corina, are you okay?”
-
Elliot looked forward, his chest pounding once more. He’d never felt this way before, maybe not since he was a little kid. Snorting, he added, about fifty years ago, dammit. He clutched his chest and looked forward with a grimace. Blood continued to drip from his claws and into a trail on the carpet. He was the only one to see it; those humans were always so censoring when it came to ordeals like this.
The illusion for this one was a heart attack, he noted. Normally that’s Madison’s job. He never really understood why the illusion was there in the first place, nor did he really want it there. If he had to witness death so many times, then why couldn’t they? If they knew that these people died because of their sins, maybe seeing that suffering would have caused them to realize that they needed to calm down.
“Pfft, yeah right,” Elliot muttered through his headache. He stood up and looked down at his chest, where his heart was supposed to be. So is this what death is supposed to feel like? Damn, thought it’d hurt more.
“Wha… what happened…?”
Elliot’s eyes shot up with surprise. That wasn’t a girl’s voice, that wasn’t a woman’s voice, and it definitely wasn’t a teacher’s voice. It was the man that he had just killed.
The man sat up dizzily and suddenly he was choking again and experiencing his heart attack in flashes.
The blond boy looked even further and noticed two girls had stepped into the room. One was a strawberry blonde, hair pulled back with an innocent bow. She was clinging onto another girl with red curls. Both were stumbling and somewhat pale, but what the boy himself noticed was that neither of them was staring at the man-they were staring at him.
-
Maya O'Conner knew that she had no idea what was going on. Ever since middle school, she had been known as the oblivious actress for what she had thought were very silly reasons. Maybe one of the times they called her oblivious was because how right now she was actually touching the Rina Mizushima; someone who could thrash her into the next century.
Or maybe, it was that smile that left her face. She didn't know how people considered her oblivious, but at this point, she would have had to say that she wasn't ignoring anything important. Neither was Rina. Maya looked above the group of adults trying to help out the man who seemed fine one second and a wreck the next. The blond next to the window was pale and sickly looking, but no one noticed him.
“Who do you think he is, Ms. Corina?” Maya whispered under her breath curiously. She didn't like the aura that was seeping from him, but at the same time, she couldn't help but feel attracted to him for the strangest reason; as if they were drawn together. 'Ms. Corina' shook her head with awe, her eyes never leaving the boy in front of them. Maya's shoulder blades ached to the point that she felt like they would burst like in the dreams she would sometimes have.
The unnoticed blood that trailed from Ami's father to the boy's gloves piqued her interest even more.
So known for one who didn't sit still often, Maya grinned and giggled, tugging Rina by her arm. “Come on, Ms. Corina. No one's noticed us just yet; I think it'll be perfectly fine going up to him!”
Rina snapped out of her daze and turned back to Maya uncomfortably. She frowned. “When did we get in here...?”
Maya noted faintly that Rina didn’t realize that they were touching skin. She smiled cheerfully. Maybe she wants to be friends with me! Grinning, she pulled her even closer and toward the boy in the back. “Come on, Ms. Corina!”
“H..Hey… Let go if me!” Rina yanked her arm back, but Maya’s grip only tightened.
Fufufu. Maya giggled to herself softly and pulled Rina wholeheartedly. No one, not even Maya’s friends, ever really realized Maya was stronger than she looked. Her eyes landed on the boy again, who only stared back at them. Maya smiled innocently. “My name is Maya O’Conner, who are you?”
“Wait, you’re Mr. O’Conner’s daughter?” Rina turned her head back to her, obviously in shock. Maya felt the glare against the side of her head, but ignored it. “Did he send you to spy on me?”
The strawberry blonde beamed and turned her head back to the boy. Looking at him closer, she noticed his features easily.
His skin was pale and sickly, as if he was about to fall over. The boy was a full head taller than both Maya and Rina, but the way that he stared at them made him look as if he was a child again, curious and reaching out to find out if what was in front of them were real.
“Sir,” Maya's smile only broadened as she got to the tip of her toes and poked him on the cheek, “why doesn't anyone else see you but Ms. Corina and me?”
“...dunno,” the boy admitted bluntly. He looked down at her, which only made Maya gasp. He recoiled nervously, as if he didn't understand what she was doing.
The strawberry blonde giggled and pressed her hand on her hand on the side of his face. Humming softly, she noted, “You have the most beautiful shade of red for your eyes, sir. They're so alluring!”
Maya could tell that her comment was taken to heart by the boy when his cheeks tinted pink for the first time since they had met. “Uh...,” he muttered under his breath. He rolled his eyes and shoved his hands into his pockets. “Dammit you're both girls, right?”
“Yes, sir,” Maya giggled innocuously and got to the tip of her toes again. “Or, would you prefer that we call you 'ma'am'? What do you think, Ms. Corina?” Maya turned her head to the other girl, but Rina was only frowning in the other direction.
“...they're not looking at us anymore,” Rina whispered under her breath. “It's like we disappeared to them the second we stepped into this room. “
“Hmm? Oh, you're right!” Maya's eyes widened with astonishment as she turned her head. She had noticed faintly before when she dragged Rina into the room that everyone was whispering how the “stupid O'Conner” would be killed the next day, but now they were looking around back and forth as if Rina and Maya had literally vanished into thin air.
“...Then one of you must be who I have to kill.”
“Eh?” Maya snapped her head back to the tall blond in front of them. To their surprise...
“...He's gone,” Rina remarked, letting out a sudden deep breath of relief she didn't even know she was holding.
-
In the end, 'Amelia's' father had been sent to the hospital for a checkup, even when he was convinced that he was fine. Ami's big secret had apparently been revealed, to the disdain of the girl herself. Rina, of course, couldn't care less. She could only shudder when the thought of the blond boy came back to her. The second he crossed her mind, she felt pissed as ever.
She didn't know who he was, and she certainly didn't want to, but the fact that he was there in the first place made her angry. Rina didn't know why, but her skin crawled with the image of him each time he crossed her mind. Whoever he was, she thought calmly, I hate him.
What Rina didn't expect though, was to have O'Conner's daughter following her around like a lost puppy throughout the high school. Maya apparently had more classes with Rina than the redhead had thought; otherwise it would have been successful when avoiding the blonde ditz.
“So then, what's your favorite color?” Maya chirped cheerfully in front of the sidewalk. She rocked back and forth at the tip of her toes with a smile on her face. “I bet it's red, right? Your red hair can't be natural, as gorgeous as it is, so I bet you dyed it that way since you love the color so much!”
Rina sneered, obviously showing her irritation for Queen Run-On. Hours had pass and school was over. Mio was supposed to pick Rina up by now, but God apparently hated her if she had to stay next to Maya in front of the parking lot. “It's natural. Shouldn't you be getting back to your father?”
“No, my dad stays late for paperwork and all,” Maya shook her head innocently and jumped as if a new thought entered her mind. “And that's really your real hair? That's amazing, Ms. Corina, I was wondering why everyone disliked hanging around with you!”
Was this girl deaf? Rina gritted her teeth, recalling that this was the thousandth time-and no, she wasn't kidding, it was literally the thousandth time-that Rina had told Maya not to call her Corina. What shocked her though, even when Rina had lodged a kick in her direction, Maya had easily dodged it and lunged toward the redhead-only to tickle the non-ticklish. Who was this girl? “Oh?”
“Yeah!” Maya turned to her, grinning. She ran her hand down Rina's red locks, humming softly. “You stick out among everyone; which is why everyone backs away when you show up. No one talks to you because your hair color is odd, and the fact that you don't smile doesn't help.”
Okay, so this girl wasn't just deaf. She was blind. And just plain stupid. “You are getting on my last fucking good nerve!” Rina turned her head toward Maya, elbow nudging at Maya's stomach as fast as possible and a kick aimed for the girl's head. But no-Maya caught her elbow and before Rina delivered the kick, the petite girl dove under her legs and appeared behind her.
Maya stayed silent, only observing Rina silently. She broke into a smile and laughed. “You really know how to have hand-to-hand combat, huh?”
Rina gritted her teeth, eyes on Maya. She sighed and rolled her eyes. “Forget it. When's your mother coming?”
The giggles died and Maya became quiet. Rina turned her head back to Maya in confusion, only to see this. Suddenly, the girl smiled again, but something didn't seem right about it. “Never. She's dead. Daddy's the only one who takes care of me.”
The redhead froze in her spot, eyes widening. “And... you're not mad about it?”
“Why should I be?” Maya asked curiously. She shrugged and began to rock back and forth again as if it was what made her comfortable. “For every tomorrow, you have something you get closer to anyways. So the way I see it, with each day that goes by, the closer I am to being with my mom again.”
“...So you look forward to dying?” This girl was stupid.
“I look forward to knowing that when I'm done living, I can look forward to seeing my mother again,” Maya laughed and shook her head. Rina looked at her in surprise, almost... approving of the girl's weird attitude.
What the fuck. Seems like a quote that'd be in a corny cliché chick story. Rina rolled her eyes at the thought.
Maya jumped again as if something even better had popped into her head. “You have something to look forward to too, Ms. Corina!”
Rina looked unconvinced. The look of approval she had almost showed easily disappeared as she sarcastically retorted, “Oh really?”
“Yup yup!” Maya nodded her head and grinned. “Each day, you're closer to making even more friends. Who cares if you have really dark red hair that makes you pop out, right? They should know that you're not someone to fear!”
Oh. This girl was just past stupid now. Rina stared at her blankly. How oblivious was she?
“Oh... no?” Maya frowned, shuffling her feet. She suddenly smiled again and jabbed her finger at Rina's face, pulling her lip up. “Well then, this is a new goal for me. I'll make you smile!”
Rina twitched. Eyes narrowed, she raised her arm to elbow the girl in the shoulder, but Maya once again proved herself to be superior. The girl grinned innocently and ducked it. Shuffling her feet, Maya's smile widened. “Well, I guess I'll just walk home then, huh? Bye, Ms. Corina.”
“...Damn, whatever,” Rina muttered under her breath irritably. She turned her head as Maya began to glide away before calling out, “And call me Rina, you fucking retard!” Rina rubbed the side of her throbbing neck painfully. If she couldn't do anything such as even laying a finger on Ms. Formal over there, the next best thing would come tomorrow. Mr. O'Conner, it'll be what you get for getting your lame ass daughter following me around like a lost bitch.
“So... Corina, is it?”
-
Elliot looked down at the girl in front of him. Damn, they're even shorter when I'm not close to death. He had a sack of chopped iPods in his backpack, which he swore he would make use of after he talked to this Corina person. Looking at her closer, the other girl, Maya, was right. Corina's thick curly red hair seemed to make her pop out of the rest.
People were walking back and forth between both he and the younger girl, whispering how soon Elliot would be dead. Hum. Maybe the iPods won't be of use to me. I'm getting that weird woozy feeling again.
“Don't you even think that you can even call me that, you slime... ...ball...,” Corina turned her head to him, but Elliot could see she was startled.
The blond looked down intently because Corina seemed frozen solid. The two only stared into each other's eyes. Elliot didn't know what Corina saw, but he saw a hell lot of gold. Note to self: Detach own eyeballs and poke inner eye guts with claws to see if death is effective.
Once in a while, Elliot's said eyes would blur in vision to the point that Elliot could almost, almost see... “So I was right. You are one of them, your wings are just not as bright as that Maya girl.”
Corina snapped out of her thoughts. She looked back at him and glared angrily. “So what? The sight of you makes me want to kick your ass.”
And here I thought archangels were supposed to be friendly. Elliot bent over in front of her and held his hand out as if a feather had fallen into it. To him, it looked black. “The sight of you makes me want to kill you, but I can keep it down, Corina. That's your name, isn't it? 'Corina'?”
“I'd prefer it if you didn't even say my name,” for the first time, Elliot saw her drawl into a feminine pose as she put her hand on her hip arrogantly and jabbed him in the chest., “you conniving little fucktard.”
“I'm actually regretting that I didn't go bother the other girl now.”
“Good. Go get her off my back.”
“I'd rather not, she has a... perky issue,” Elliot crinkled his nose, but almost smiled. “Almost like my sister.”
“Then go get that midget and introduce her to your sister.”
“Can't. Stasia's dead.”
“...god dammit,” Corina tossed her hands up into the air and yanked at her hair. “All I wanted was for my stupid older brother to come and pick me up. But no, I get stuck with the fucking perky emo and the... the..freak with the iPods!”
-
The boy frowned. “My name is Elliot.”
“Fine. El-emo with the fucking iPods! And you know what?! Both of them have this stupid fucking sob story about some stupid relative, and, ugh-”
“Now I really do regret coming with you,” Elliot muttered under his breath. He looked back at her as Rina immediately stopped what she was doing and turned red. Elliot arched an eyebrow. “Are you always this self centered?”
“I am not self-centered,” Rina felt the rage boil under the thin layer of her skin as she glared at him angrily. All of that hate from before had began blazing again, even if they had only met a couple hours ago. “Everyone just doesn't realize how important my life is. They think that I haven't been through enough when I've just been so-”
“Oh really?” Elliot's tone raised with amusement. Rina didn't like how it was going like this, especially after seeing how emotionless his face was. He took her gently by the hand and bent over to her. Rina hushed immediately and felt the tingle from before come to her. Her shoulder blades ached and her body quaked to the point that she thought that her 'wings' were really coming. They fell silent and the redhead of the bunch didn't like it one bit-especially the way Elliot was staring at her.
She looked up slightly, and she swore-absolutely swore, that she saw devil hor-
“So, can you feel it?”
Rina snapped out of her thoughts. “What?”
“My pulse...never mind,” Elliot sighed in a way that made Rina pissed off even more. He turned back to her, but that amusement on his face from before seemed to disappear. “Let's get it straight though; I hate people like you. I hate people who seemed to try to find ways to punish people in harsher ways than death itself. Those people... they're scum.”
Rina's face straightened. “You're one to talk. Stabbing Ami's father with these gloves of yours.”
Elliot quirked an eyebrow. Rina suddenly found it interesting how he responded to everything she did. Maybe it wasn't a cringe of fear, but it was definitely a tweak of a challenge. Rina almost flinched as he drew the claws of his gloves. The cold metal sliced through the space between air and her skin. “You mean these?”
The redhead suddenly felt woozy and sick to her stomach, something that Elliot arched an eyebrow to as if he had experienced it once before. Rina fumbled with a smile as she saw Mio's car beginning to pull up into the parking lot. “Well, I can hurt you too.”
BAM.
Rina had to use all of her will power not to have her lips pucker into a grin before she burst out laughing. That smirk on her face stayed, but the reaction Elliot had was priceless. When she kneed him in an area he definitely did not want to be kneed in, both of his eyebrows quirked for a mid second as his lip dropped in the strangest way. His grip on her loosened enough for her to get out of it and push him aside. Rina smirked triumphantly and got into the driver's seat of the car.
“Who was that?” Mio asked uncomfortably. Rina could tell that he felt sorry for the blond outside of the car.
The redhead rolled her eyes and looked forward. “No one important.”
Mio looked at her hesitantly before sighing. “I swear, someone's going to write a book about your life one day.”
-
Oh-kay. ...No, not okay. Elliot was literally covering a private area of him and slightly twitching from the impact. Any guy would have. Immortality bites if it can't save you from something like that. He shuddered, sitting up. He really, really regretted not going to Maya first now.
Elliot's claws retracted with a slight shiver before he closed his eyes. Opening them again, he looked at the leaving car that had Corina in it. He arched an amused eyebrow and closed his eyes again with a small sigh. “And whose idea was it to give women rights to do whatever the hell they want?” At least that's one certain way to die. Elliot picked up his bag of chopped iPods. He took out his list again and read through it thoroughly. His eyes fell upon a name that made his eyes widen. “Perfect.” He put the list away, metal claws peering from his gloves for the taste of blood.
Very perfect.