Darkness is a mysterious thing.
I have always thought that from when I was little. From the boogeyman hiding in the shadow to a portal from another world, the darkness has always been something that filled me with wonder, questioning what will the next thing that might pop out of it.
Darkness is something that invokes emotion.
People fear the dark as they don't know what lies in it. Others love the dark as it gives them peace and hides them from those that fear it. Sometimes, the dark creates a sense of unity in others as they work together to find their way out.
Despite all of that, though, I have never seen it affect someone as drastically as it changed Sienna at that moment after she sworn loyalty to the darkness.
"Where are Rachelle and Fiona right now?" I ask after Sienna and I gather our stuff for class.
"They are probably in English 3 sleeping," Sienna responds in an extremely calm voice compared to earlier. "However, they did say that if you wanted to speak with them to meet them at the football field after lunch. They are probably going to ambush you with the other cheerleading girls and some guys from the football team, so it would probably be better if you didn't go. I don't want to see you get hurt."
[Me?... You don't want to see me get hurt? You should worry about yourself before you worry about me!]
"How about you take your own advice?" Zaku sternly whispers from my shadow.
Annoyed, I stomp on my shadow which lets out a small yelp.
"What was that?" Sienna asks after she stops to check on me.
"Hm? Oh, nothing. My shoes squeaked against the floor," I awkwardly laugh off before we continue down the hall. "Anyways, I will still head over there. Those girls need to be taught a lesson, so I'm not backing down. Just stay behind me and don't get caught in the cross fire."
Nodding her head, Sienna grins. "Okay."
We head down A Hall together since we have the same math class, but something keeps bugging me. Sienna's aura changed more than just a 'I feel better now that I have an ally' kind of feeling. It has turned into something like 'I feel like I could kill someone and not bat an eye now that I have someone worthy to serve' kind of feeling. Is it because of the whole might-be-royalty thing that I mentioned earlier? Is she placing her trust in that I am actual royalty, or maybe…
"Lillian, I will become stronger in order to serve you better," Sienna randomly comments before I open the door for the classroom.
[Ha?... To serve me better? What era is this? The 1700 or something?]
When I enter the classroom, John and Isabelle appear to be planning something, but they quickly swipe everything off of their desks when they notice me coming in.
[That's kind of weird... They don't normally hide things from me.]
"What were you guys doing?" I blatantly ask as soon as I sit down.
"We were just planning a party for you," John simply answers.
Just as shocked as I was, Isabelle smacks John on his head. "What the heck?! Wasn't it supposed to be a surprise?!"
"Well, I didn't spoil anything necessarily!" John defends as he rubs the back of his head. With each rub, he winces a little from the oddly striking pain. "I just said the general idea, nothing too specific."
Dumbfounded, Isabelle loudly sighs and drops her head into her hands. "Since John John already told you the 'general idea', I guess it wouldn't hurt to say a little more. We know that you are always free since you hole yourself up at home, so we are going to kidnap you around 10pm tomorrow and celebrate."
"Celebrate what exactly?" I pursue after getting my notebook settled for class.
"We can't tell you. That's the surprise," John firmly replies with a smirk on his face.
[Oh my dear lord sweet little darkness, JOHN! I'm weak to that smirk.]
"Ah... uh-huh... okay," I manage to slip out as I pretend to grab something out of my bag in order to hide my blushing cheeks.
"Why can't you react like that when you're with me?" Zaku whines from the darkness in my backpack.
I don't know why, but I really couldn't answer Zaku's question. It's not like I don't find Zaku charming or good looking. Quite the contrary, Zaku is so ungodly handsome that I would have fallen head over heals for him if I happened to see him walking along the street. However... I feel more comfortable with him than attracted.
The bell rings for class to start, so I let the thought slide and focus on the lesson.
---
"I see you really had the balls to come out here despite how we sent your little follower," Rachelle scoffs as she loudly smacks her gum like some old fashioned bully. "Are you here to have the same thing happen to you?"
Glancing around, I notice that the whole football team is gathered around, encircling the four of us so that we can't escape. The smallest of grins peaks onto my face before quickly falling.
"I see that you feel very empowered when you have your little boy toys with you," I comment while crossing my arms. "You must think that you sit on some sort of pedestal because you're on the cheerleading team."
"Of course, I do," Rachelle proudly declares. "We are the face of team spirit. We are the ones the school depends on to bring victory to it. So it makes sense that we get a higher treatment and standard compared to two lower beings who can only stick their noses in books."
Just before I can say something else, Sienna steps forward. "This gathering is pointless, Lillian," she dismissively says as she side-glances at the two cheerleaders. "They only want to see you ruin yourself, but I won't let you do anything that will make you look bad."
[Wow~ You're getting a bit bold there. What's gotten into you since this morning?]
I grab Sienna's arm and shake my head. "They bullied you simply because you were superior to them. They should understand thoroughly how humiliating and painful being bullied is. My personal motto is 'you get what you give', and these two are severely overdue for their karma."
Rachelle and Fiona hysterically laugh in disbelief, and the football team joins them. However, the loud roar from their laughter ever so slowly dissipates as one bulky football player drops to the ground.