by R. J. Ross
Several throw pillows hit him from different directions. He pushes them off and blows a feather off of his nose. “Your jealousy has been noted and filed appropriately,” he tells them all, as they start to laugh.
“Hey, Davis, they finally implemented the Mirrorlands in the game,” Whitney says. “That opens up a whole new way of winning for us, right?”
Davis looks at her, and then looks more closely, his mind running several processes at once. “Whitney,” he says after a second.
“Yes?”
“You’re going super villain, aren’t you?”
“Yeah, I am,” she says. She looks him in the eyes and a tiny smile pulls at her lips, as if she’s reading his mind. They share an evil grin, even as the rest of the group groans.
“They’re going to be a pain when they work together, aren’t they?” Jonas says, almost cheerfully.
“You only sound like that because you won’t be facing off against them,” Treble accuses him.
“I already have several ideas for a long-term plot,” Davis says, bringing up another hologram. “We’ll have South Hall taken over by the time we’re sixteen.”
“But we’ll give it back,” Whitney says.
“Why would we want to do that?” Davis asks.
She gives him a look, and he throws his hands up. “I’m kidding, I’m kidding. We’ll give it back… after a week or two. If I’m going to be a super villain, I at least want to throw a territory-wide party.”
“Deal,” Whitney agrees, hopping to her feet and holding her hand out. They clasp forearms, grinning ear-to-ear. Neither of them notices the pout on Marisol’s face at this.
“But for now, shall we regain our position?” Davis says, tapping on his phone. His character appears on the screen, just as nerdy looking as his real form. He taps a few more times, and makes a change.
“Glasses?” Treble says incredulously. “Why did you add GLASSES?”
“I grew quite fond of them,” Davis says. “It’s a shame they were destroyed. That was the only cool part about this mission, if you ask me.”
“Oh!” Marisol says. “Wait here!” She races off, leaving them to start the game without her. A few moments later she appears again, holding a small case. She holds it out to him. “Nico said to give this to you.”
Davis takes the small case, opening it almost reverently. The glasses are a lot better looking this time, with wire rims. He puts them on, only to burst out laughing. “Oh, this is GOOD,” he says, flipping the chair off and starting to tap on the air. “He put my game in!”
“Then move, I want your chair,” Treble says.
“I thought you disliked the screens,” Davis says.
“I do, but it still looks cool.”
“That would be a complete waste of good technology. How about this? We’ll have a fighting tournament for the chair,” Davis says. “Whoever wins… well, no, I’m lying. This is my chair. Get your own.”
“Can I beat him up?” Treble asks the others.
“Just go get another chair,” Jonas says. “There’s an entire room full of stuff like that.”
“There is?” Treble says, shocked.
“The place was created by a technopath, Treble. It has… almost as many cool toys in it as the Central one does,” Jonas says.
“Then I’m going to go do that!” Treble says, heading into the dorm building.
“He’s not going to find the room, is he?” Marisol asks after a long second. “It’s one of those hidden ones, right?”
“It took Davis a week to find it, and he had the school blueprints, right?” Jonas says.
“It didn’t take a WEEK, exactly. I spent a week finding all of the unaccounted for spaces on the blueprints, I just happened across the chair room while I was at it.”
“So… what other rooms did you find?” Marisol asks.
“Forget asking, let’s SEE them!” Whitney says, hopping to her feet. “Davis, you’re leading the way!”
“But the game—“ Davis says, only to get dragged away by the rest of the group. “My high score!” he almost sobs.
“Oh, get over it, Brainboy,” they say.
Competition
The tension in the class is palpable. Everyone wants to turn around and look at the two women sitting in the back, but they know better. Cheval has already told them that they can’t. Of course, that just makes the temptation greater. I can read it in their body language, partly because I’m sitting in the back, as well. I look at Dolly, who’s almost vibrating with excitement, and then I look at Ruckus, who’s close to falling asleep.
“Okay, okay, I’m not blind,” Cheval says, throwing her hands up in the air. “You’re all dying to know why the Nemeses have joined us today, so why don’t we ask them? Ladies? Would you please come to the front?”
Dolly hops up so quickly that she almost knocks her desk over. “Eeep!” she says, stabilizing it. “Sorry, sorry, I just, um, I didn’t expect it to do that—oh, wow, it lit up. Ruckus, did you see this? They light up!”
“They do wha?” Ruckus asks, only to blink as a picture of her nodding off appears on the desk. “Thanks,” she complains, tapping on it, “I didn’t need to see that. I guess this makes texting during class easier, though, huh?”
“Would you two care to tell us why you’ve come to visit?” Cheval asks.
“I… have no idea?” Ruckus says after thinking about it for a moment. “Dolly, when did we get here?”
“I borrowed your truck,” Dolly tells her.
“That doesn’t seem to be the only thing you borrowed,” Ruckus mutters, reluctantly getting up. She looks down, and I’m positive it’s to make sure she’s not wearing her pajamas.
“She talked you into dressing for work,” I tell her, earning a sharp look.
“You were there, weren’t you?”
“Mmmmmaybe?” I say, trying to look innocent. She rolls her eyes.
“Then you’re coming to the front with us,” she says. I get up, heading to where Dolly is silently squealing with excitement as she asks Cheval to sign an autograph. Ruckus pulls out her phone, glancing at it for a second before pocketing it again.
“Get a text?” I ask.
“Nothing important,” she says.
“Okay, so…” Dolly says after Cheval has signed her picture, “I’m Dolly, and this is Ruckus, and we’ve come to sit in on your class!”
They stare at her. Davis lifts a hand. “I think we figured that much out for ourselves,” he says.
“What you HAVEN’T figured out is that your teacher, here, is a LEGEND!” Dolly says. “I grew up in the North Pole—I’m an elf, you know? And we would have Friday night showings of super heroes throughout the ages. My favorite one was, obviously, THE Cheval! So when I heard that she—that YOU were working here, I had to come meet you! This is such an honor, really it is!”
“I’m… a bit stunned, really,” Cheval says. “I didn’t have that long of a career, compared to most. I never thought that someone your age would have heard of me.”
“I grew up watching you!” Dolly says.
“Well, these lovely children will grow up watching you, in exchange,” Cheval says, motioning to the class. “You do us proud, ladies. So… would you, by any chance, be willing to answer questions?”
Ruckus and Dolly look at each other, and then at me. Dolly looks excited, but Ruckus has a frown on her face. “You don’t have to, if you don’t want to,” I say to her.
“No… I can, I guess,” Ruckus says, looking around. She grabs one of the empty desks and sits down on it, her feet in the chair. Dolly perches on one, as well, looking at the kids excitedly.
“So, who has a question for the Nemeses?” Cheval asks.
“You fight the Deadly Darlin’s, right? Is it hard?” Whitney asks, waving her hand but not bothering to be called upon.
“It can be?” Dolly says, glancing at me and Ruckus. “Well, you probably know by now that Skye can get out of my toy houses, so she’s faking it most
of the time. Or was I not supposed to tell them that?”
“Most of them will run into the same problem in the future,” I say, shrugging. “The Deadly Darlin’s are actually extremely professional, in their own way. They always play by the book. Of course we have a few other villains down here, but they’re our main stars. Now, are there any questions NOT about them?”
“You’re an elf?” Davis asks Dolly. “Please tell me that the job doesn’t come with bells and pointy shoes.”
“Well, the bells are a big part of the job, yes,” Dolly says.
“How?” Davis asks.
“How can you be a holly jolly elf if you don’t have bells?” she asks.
He opens his mouth, only to close it again a second later, a strange expression on his face. Our classmates start to laugh, even as Jonas pats Davis on the back in a consoling manner. “I think I understand why Century moved this far down south,” Davis says, shaking his head as the group starts to roar with laughter.
“Is he making fun of me?” Dolly asks me silently.
“No, he’s just… one of those non-believers being forced to accept reality,” I tell her.
“Oh,” she says. “One of those ‘stopped believing at seven’ type?”
“Much, much younger than that,” Davis says. “It was quite the shock to find out it was true.”
“Oh, I can see how that would be a shock,” she says sympathetically.
“Are Century and Santa good friends?” Marisol asks, waving her hand.
“Ah, well…” Dolly says, looking over at me.
“Not really,” Ruckus says before I can reply. “From what I’ve heard, Century doesn’t like his brother much at all.”
“That’s not true!” Dolly says. “They just have a… sibling rivalry.”
“Well, we know where you come from, then, so what about you?” Davis asks Ruckus. “Where do you come from?”
“The slums,” Ruckus says flatly. Her phone dings again, but she ignores it completely, and the subject changes to the actresses playing the Darlin’s. I can’t help but glance at Ruckus as the class finishes. When the students have trickled out of the room, she pulls her phone out and taps on it. “Technico?”
“Yeah, Ruckus?” he replies.
“That phone number, block it, would you?”
“Are you sure?” he asks.
“I’m sure,” she says, pocketing the phone.
“Is it something… serious?” I ask. She gives me the most irritated look EVER, and then pulls out her phone, tapping on it a few times before showing me.
It’s a picture of Doris’s abs with her finger pointing at it and the words “TOP THIS” written across the bottom. I choke, spluttering for a second before laughing so hard that I almost cry.
“Don’t be such a spoilsport!” I say, when I can breathe. “Send her a picture! Your abs are just as good as hers are!”
“Not when she pulls that monster form for it,” she complains.
Dolly comes over, taking the phone and looking at it. “Oh, it is ON!” she says. “We’re talking a full blown photo shoot!”
“Jimmi, sweetie, shouldn’t you be heading for class?” Cheval asks, walking over.
“My partner’s honor has been threatened!” I say dramatically, completely blowing it by the grin on my face. “We must avenge!”
Cheval takes the phone, looks at it for a long moment, before smiling. “This does seem entertaining. Did you really block her number?”
“Unblocking it, now,” Nico says over the phone.
“I have the PERFECT place to take the photos at!” Cheval tells us. “To the restrooms!”
“The restrooms,” Ruckus repeats.
“That’s where the best mirror is, sweetie,” Cheval says, pulling us along.
“Huh… alright, why not?” Ruckus says. “Let’s show her who’s got the best abs!”
A few seconds later, Ruckus’s phone dings again. We all crowd around to see what’s going on, and just stare as picture after picture appears.
“That’s Star Spangled, isn’t it?” Dolly says.
“Oh, look, there’s Firefly!” I say, pointing.
“Is that a guy’s?” Cheval asks, “Oh, no, that’s Marigold, isn’t it? Wow. She is really ripped, isn’t she?”
One more photo is uploaded, and the stream of pictures stops just as quickly as it started. We’re all too busy staring. “Those… would definitely be Tatiana’s abs, wouldn’t they?” I say, a bit awed.
The words, “We have a winner,” cross the chat.
It’s quickly followed by someone else posting, “Yeah, but what about biceps, huh?”
The photos start up again.
~About the Author~
R.J. Ross has been writing since junior high, when she discovered that it could help her keep an A in English Class. She lives in Missouri, where she spends all of her time writing. If you would like to see more of her work, you can find several short stories at amazon.com/author/rjross!
Like her on Facebook for bonus material such as character profiles, unpublished information, and status updates at https://www.facebook.com/capehigh! Or check out her blog for free Cape High short stories at https://capehigh.wordpress.com or follow her on twitter @rjrosscapehigh
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~About the Cover Designer~
Artist, designer, programmer - you would think that by growing up near the Gulf Coast Leslie Zielinski would spend more time on the sandy beaches. No, she spends her time in front of a computer screen creating digital art and making it come to life.
