I know, it seems like forever since I posted a chapter, especially for W.i.t.c.h The Full Story. But I'm been writing every day for the past week, trying to get a bunch of chaps ready for Ray, as fast as my carpal tunnel will allow.
But here's the latest installment for W.i.t.c.h. as an early Christmas gift for Ray!!!
Chapter 4
Will
Earth
Will felt like she was going to die.
The music throbbed through her body, making
her head pound along in time with the bass. Strobe lights pulsed and flashed
across the masked, dancing crowd, heating already heated bodies to the point of
extreme stench. Everything—the music, the crowd, the lights, the smell—it all seemed to press in on the tiny
teenager. Past and present seemed to collide, and Will tensed so bad, it hurt.
How long before they would come up behind her, ready to whisper filth in her
ear before hitting her so hard she saw stars? How many times would she have to
play the guessing game with the principal, or even the cops? How many bruises
would she wear under her pretty 80’s dress for the next week or so? How long
would she be lying in her bed, crying her eyes out over the wounds that covered
her skin and her heart?
Feeling nauseas, the thoroughly depressed
redhead tugged absently at her black and pink, tulle dress with neon pink
leggings underneath. She would have messed with her hairspray-glued hair, but
Cornelia caught her eye and gave a silent warning not to touch it. Will obeyed,
and silently followed her down into the transformed cafeteria.
Surprisingly enough, a lot of people smiled
at her, waved at her, told her she looked awesome and pretty. Of course, the
same compliments were given to the six other girls as well, but still…Will had
never been to a school event without being insulted the moment she walked in,
least of all complimented. She still felt edgy, but at least she wasn’t
nauseous anymore.
Then Matt’s band began to play Fall Out Boy’s
My Songs Know What You Did in the Dark. Matt got the crowd to clap to beat, and
Will couldn’t help but join. The crowd was really fired up—they
were over an hour late to the party. They hadn’t decided on anything, so those
who couldn’t pull a nice costume out of their closets had traveled to a
Halloween store for some last minute shopping.
As
Will jumped around during the chorus, she noticed that Elyon the fairy and
Cornelia the Greek goddess were jumping too. Irma the pirate and Hay Lin the
geisha had tried to headbang and had almost fallen over. Taranee’s Mad Hatter
hat kept falling off, but she didn’t care. It was at that moment was when she really began to relax; she was
dancing like she was on crack, showing the world how gorgeous she was, and
listening to her favorite song. But best of all, she wasn’t alone.
After a long period of dancing, Cobalt Blue
changed to a rock cover of Imagine Dragon’s Radioactive, and the girls were
getting thirsty. They found the buffet table had been taken over by the Grumper
Sisters and Uriah’s gang. While the boys cleared all the sandwich plates, Bess,
the older sister, looked them up and down.
“I’m shocked,” she said. “No whores this
year?”
Cornelia scoffed. Will didn’t think Bess was
one to talk. She was in a rainbow-striped mini-dress with a phony blonde wig
and a unicorn horn plastered to her forehead.
“And what are you supposed to be, a rainbow
slut?” Irma replied.
“I’m Lady Rainicorn from Adventure Time,
duh!” Bess snapped back.
Cornelia picked up a cup of punch, then “tripped” on her long, blue ombré dress and “accidentally” dropped her drink all over the
snob. As Bess bit back a scream, Mrs. Knickerbocker came over to scold the boys
for taking everything. Not wanting to cause more trouble, Bess and Courtney
simply stalked off with the boys.
That had surprised Will. Her previous “bff,”
Andrea, would’ve never done anything like that. She would’ve laughed at Will’s
expense and then called her a baby for getting mad over it. Instead Cornelia got more punch, and the others
assured Will that she looked rocking and to forget them.
They did everything Cornelia had said they
would the day before; they danced like they were on crack, complimented lots of
others on their costumes, chased Martin the Mummy away, ate lots of junk food.
Two boys even danced with her during the covers for Adele’s Skyfall and Lorde’s
Royals. She didn’t want the night to end.
But, of course, it did.
Badly.
She was on her way to the bathroom with
Taranee, who had come as “the sexy scientist.” She was talking about some of
her favorite Disney movies, and mentioned how she used to think the 1994 Thumbelina
from Warner Brothers was a Disney film.
“Oh, really?” Taranee asked.
“Yeah,” Will responded with an embarrassed
laugh. “I was always asking my mom, ‘play the Disney princess with the singing
frog!’ ”
Taranee laughed.
“I loved Charo’s performance in that movie,”
Will confessed. “She was the one who got me into frogs.”
“Really?”
“Yeah.”
“I also loved that movie,” supplied Taranee.
“The frog freaked me out, though.”
“Hah!”
“How cute.”
Will whipped around at the mocking tone, all
her comfort and happiness gone. Fear spiked through her body like ice water had
flooded her veins. Her hands curled into fists while a whirl of emotions made
her stomach churn.
It was Uriah and two of his flying monkeys,
Kurt and Nigel. Over the past few days, Will had been working on not reading
her friend’s minds. In a large group it was easy; it was a loud blur to her. It
was the same in class. But now she focused on Uriah’s gang. Sure enough, he was
planning on “getting her back” for Bess.
Deep, pure rage flooded the red-head.
I’m so sick of this, she thought viciously. When will people
leave me alone?
Meanwhile, Uriah had been talking the whole
time, not noticing anything out of the ordinary.
“That’s such a sweet story, Wilhelmina,” the
delinquent jeered.
“Her name is Will, blockhead,” Taranee
sneered.
“Yeah, whatever, Tyranny,” came the short bark.
The smooth, sleazy smile returned an instant later.
Watching the play of masks come on and off
made Will’s temper spike.
Just get on with it and attack me, dirtball.
“So,” he called to her, “you like frogs?”
Will didn’t respond. The lack of retaliation
seemed to amuse him more than anything, which put Will on edge even more.
“Well,” he called softly, his eyes alight
with malice, “we have a gift for you.”
The second he said “we,” Will’s stomach
dropped. She’d been so focused on Uriah and Nigel she hadn’t realized that the
others had come up behind her. Before she could turn someone—probably
Clubber—grabbed her, pinning her arms. As she started
to squirm, they shoved something wet, cold, and slimy down her back. Will let
out a scream only a few seconds after Taranee’s shriek. She managed to spin out
of their grips and ripped the frog out of her dress—right
as a bucket of filthy water was dumped on top of
her head. It wasn’t tap water.
By the time she was able to wipe the gunk out
of her eyes, the boys were already gone. Their cruel, wicked laughter echoed
off of the lockers.
Infuriated, disgusted with herself, and
extremely tired, Will sank to the floor and began to do the only thing she
could.
Cry.
