Chapter Three: Pink Rose
After that giant fiasco of an entry, Mira, Kayla, and Katie come into the store chatting happily, until they take in the sight. I'm looking at phones like they don't matter, Lyra is beside me, a bit pale but grinning like a psycho. I'm glad I was able to restore a part of her to normal. And the saleswoman, Sara? She's currently bowing down to me like I'm a goddess. Um… I'm getting really embarrassed but I can't stop her from trying to kiss my feet. Ugh sycophants. Just like my father. I hate people like this. They're nothing but trash that should be thrown away.
Mira's jaw literally drops while Katie's eyes look like dinner plates. I know Kayla has seen something like this happen before so she's a little better off. She raises an eyebrow and asks me "Again, Min? This is overkill. What did this girl do to you this time?" I smile. "Oh, she called me a lying Marked piece of trash, that's all." Kayla understands immediately and nods to me. "Respect Marked people Miss… I don't know your name, sorry." She haughtily snubs Sara, baring a part of her collarbone to show off her ribbon Mark.
Mira falls into the role too. "Hm… this idiotic girl called you a piece of trash? Does she even know who we are Minuet?" she acts out to me, seemingly ignoring Sara. "Oh, she knows who Lyra and I are but I didn't have enough time to tell her who you guys were." I reply. Mira's eyes gleam, a sure sign that she'll reveal her true self. "Oh, that's a shame. I'll tell her myself." She turns to Sara. "Do you know who I am?" she asks. "Um… no." Sara says uncertainly. "Well, I'm the lost princess of Jilyn. Mira Belle."
In the end, after teasing the poor girl a little more, we get to looking for new devices. Mira and Kayla scatter to the laptops and Katie, bless her little heart, goes to the Nintendo game systems. Lyra doesn't know where to go, I think. I offer her my hand. "Do you want to come with me? I'm going to look for phones." She hesitates a little bit, but in the end, she takes my hand. I can't stop myself from grinning, so I cover my face with the other hand and lead her to the phones and fashion aisle of the store.
Lyra squeals when she finds her dream electronic. It's a designer: a device that has many outfits preprogrammed into it by theme. It lets you choose an outfit and it 3D prints it seamlessly. You can even design your own clothes and print them off with the materials you want. And this one's theme is Harajuku fashion, one of Lyra's primary styles. Her face falls as she sees the price tag, instantly alerting me that it's not within her price range. I reach over and take it. "Hm… This will make a nice addition to my room!" Trying not to notice her crestfallen face, I walk away to the phone section and immediately see the perfect phone for me. I snatch it up and walk with Lyra back to the cashier. Along the way I pick up a pair of music earrings, they can play music and act like earphones.
Mira and Kayla and Katie are loaded with electronics. I stifle a laugh. They will never be able to pay for this. So, I do the only thing that I can think of that will help. "Everything's on me today!" I yell, provoking a round of cheers and a tidal wave of electronic upon the poor cashier's desk, her hands scrambling to scan everything. Feeling bad, I help her scan everything and put it away. She gives me a grateful look, telling me that my help was appreciated. Quickly, while no one is looking, I whisper into the cashier's ear a plan that I had. She quickly agrees and hands me a wrapped package, which I quickly give to Lyra, who's standing to the side, head bowed.
She asks "What is this?" as she holds the package. Curious, she gently unwraps it, without ripping any of the paper, carefully. She gasps. "But… I thought you wanted this!" Lyra holds out the designer to me. I hand it back to her. "That was a front. I know this is out of your budget, but I knew you really wanted it, so I pretended to take it for myself." Lyra laughs in disbelief and happiness. "Thank you so much!!" she gushes, and gives me a hug. And even though I know it's just a simple thankful gesture, my body lights up like a candle, and I practically have to tear myself away from her. "No- no problem." I say, hiding the feelings I have for her behind a curtain once again.
We walk out of the store with so many bags even Kayla's organizational skills can't fit them all in our trunk. Mira suddenly has a great idea, even though I'm not sure where it came from, given we've never talked about it really. "Hey Lyra, Katie, do you guys want to live over at our place?" she asks the pair of sisters.
Before I can protest or add anything else, Katie immediately starts nodding fast as a hummingbird, while Lyra bows in her seat. It's obvious that neither are against this happening. "Then it's decided!" Mira announces, side-eyeing me, daring me to protest or say anything. I don't have anything to say anyways, because I was going to say the exact same proposal. Well, in a minute, we gained two additional people. And one of them is my crush. Okay. Marvelous. Fantastic. Awesome.
I need to watch out now. I can't fall for Lyra no matter how much I want to, now that she's living with us. If I can't keep my emotions to myself, I'll break our friendship, as shaky as it is. Better to stay friends than lose her forever. Better to hide my feelings away than to have them rejected.
The ride back home is more happy, more interesting, because Katie decided that it would be a good idea to turn on the radio. A song from Dissent, the top band here in Kiriluna, pops up, a song named Glass Princess. Katie squeals and starts singing along to the radio, while tapping all our heads like she would to a microphone. Eventually, all of us are singing to the radio like we're one happy family. And I guess we are one now. It's a calming thought, thinking about how I have a real family now.
"We're here peasants!" Mira yells from the passenger seat, provoking a round of laughter from everyone. She pouts. "Well, what? I am the lost princess of Jilyn after all!" she declares. "I never got to reign over anyone! Let me have my moment for once people!" she yells at the rest of us, who are still smirking like a bunch of delinquents. She's steaming. Suddenly, she gets out of the car, opens the door, and shoves us all out, making us all fall unceremoniously on hard gravel. Ouch. That really hurts! But it's soft... Weird.
I turn around and see that I fell on Lyra's lap, the owner blushing like a strawberry. "Ah! I'm- I'm- I'm so sorry!" I stammer, trying to get my apology across. Noticing that I'm still on her lap, I quickly get off. She looks... disappointed? Oh well it's probably my mind, still being hopeful. I don't blame it right now. I'm still trying to be hopeful too, even though I know that I will never ever ever happen again. Because to be blunt, she doesn't like me anyways. Everyone knows that. I dust myself off and wait for the pile of writhing limbs to unravel. Stupid Mira.
It's taking too long. I'm pacing back and forth, back and forth, until I snap and sprint off to the nearby park. It's polluted, crushed beer cans everywhere and newspaper bramble wood everywhere, but I just need to get away from everyone. I hear Lyra try to stop me, yell out a warning, but I don't want to listen to her. Or anyone for that matter right now. I just need to clear out my brain, and I do while walking. It sure does take a long time to get to the park that I thought was so close.
I'm sitting on a park bench right now, the only thing in this clearing that isn't littered with cigarette butts, beer cans, or suspicious stuff. Eww. But I really do feel a lot better now. I stand up, dust off my jeans, and start walking back. I'm thinking about what I should say to everyone when I get back. Are they looking for me? Are they organizing search parties for me? Or are they just like my parents, who didn't care when I went missing. They didn't even put up a show! Parents shouldn't act like-
"Ah!" Suddenly I'm shoved against a wall, pinned to it by two hands. They seem like they've done this sort of thing before. Disgusting. I look up and see the boy that I insulted earlier today. Wow. He seems really mad. "I take it you couldn't get enough of me earlier?" I smirk at him, letting him see all of my figure in its glory. He runs his eyes over me, definitely undressing me in his mind. "Yep. I intend to make you pay back the ego that you stole from me." He replies, lewdly grinning at me. "Well, you really should thank me. It's a lot of weight I took away. Weight that should have been taken away." I snark out at him. His face purples, and he suddenly tries to tear off my shirt.
All the fear that I've been repressing comes back, and I struggle against his hands. But they won't come loose. He won't let go. I start to scream and he covers my mouth, smiling sadistically. I bite his palm: a string of curses flies out of his mouth and his grip loosens a bit. Not wasting any of my time, I bat his hand away and sprint away back to the car, holding the shirt to my side. The idiot tore some of it off: I need to make sure it doesn't show any part of my body. A swarm of thoughts overrun my mind. Why did I provoke him? Why did I even walk here? Why, why, why? I run, stepping on brambles, shards of glass, bits of newspaper, hurting my sandaled feet: I'm not running hard enough. I can see him chasing after me. With all of my heart, while I'm still running, I'm praying that I get away from this maniac: the one who thinks that by trying to assault me, he'll silence me like a canary.
He catches me just as I reach the building. None of my friends in sight: no one to save me. He licks his lips salaciously and approaches me step by step. I've backed myself into a corner: nowhere to run, nowhere to hide. "Come on, kitty!" he whispers tauntingly. I'm getting ready to defend myself however I can, but he grabs my wrist and every thought gets pushed out by fear. I've resigned myself to suffering, I've given up. But suddenly he coughs up blood and crumples to the ground, the hilt of some sort of blade stuck in his ribcage. Lyra's standing behind him, speckled in blood, an icy glare in her eyes. It's not hard to see who saved me.
Lyra rushes to me and starts checking on how I am. She discovers my ripped shirt and curses under her breath. All the while, I'm just shell-shocked that I narrowly escaped. And that the person who attacked me is lying dead next to me. "I should have gotten there sooner, I'm so sorry." Lyra keeps murmuring to me over and over. I cup her face in my hands. "You don't have to worry Lyra. You saved me in time, and that's really what matters." I kiss her cheek. "Thank you." She grins. "You could thank me with a kiss, just saying." She replies.
Without hesitation, I comply.