III
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Victoria woke up to her alarm clock ringing, groaning whilst getting up to turn it off. She stretched, satisfied when hearing her back crack. Looking at her messy bed, she quickly made it, then glanced around her room in satisfaction of the order.
Her walls were white, as were her furniture. The only pop of colour were the dozens of house plants scattered around her room, ranging from small succulents to a big fern. She prided herself in her plants; her parents never really allowed her to have a pet, since she was too young to take care of it properly in their opinion, so she decided to invest her time in growing plants to prove them wrong.
She walked to her closet, opening it and deciding to put on something appropriate for the weather in Greendale for once. Tugging on the black jeans and tucking here pumpkin coloured sweater into it, she sat down at her vanity. She quickly slipped on her ring and bracelet and started applying her make up.
Her dad knocked on her doorframe, "Hey Honey, I'm off to work. What's your day going to be like?"
Victoria paused whilst filling in her eyebrows, "well I have cheerleading tryouts today, so I hope I make the team."
Her dad smiled kindly at her, "I bet you will. You spent two years on the team in San Fransisco; they are lucky to have you." He paused, "well I have to go. See you at supper, I love you."
Victoria smiled, "okay dad, love you."
Her father having left, Victoria got up and grabbed her bag, heading downstairs. Having shouted her goodbyes to her mother, she walked out the door and into the woods she was beginning to love.
Though, this time, something felt off. She didn't feel as calm as the day before walking through it, not per say because of the forest itself. She couldn't see anyone, but she felt as if she was being watched, observed. It was as if something was trying to warn her, telling her to be alert. She glanced around in a panic, calming herself, telling herself she was just being paranoid. And it worked; for half of her journey through the forest, she was calm. But then happened something that proved her paranoia; she heard a twig snap.
Victoria's head snapped towards the direction of the sound, catching a glimpse of a dark head of hair. That's all it took for Victoria to take off sprinting.
Gasping for breath, Victoria finally arrived in front of the school. Heading inside, breathing deeply since she did sprint for 10 minutes straight, she went towards her locker.
She spotted Sabrina up ahead, who turned to look at her and hugged her. "Hey! How was the walk home from the movie? Did you get home safe?"
Victoria smiled at her, "yeah, I did, I love the woods so it's okay." She paused, weighing wether to tell Sabrina about the experience she just had. She decided on not to, not wanting to be labeled a freak again. "And you? Did you get home safe?"
Sabrina nodded, "yeah actually, Harvey walked me home so it was fine." Victoria accidentally grimaced, but she managed to cover it up quickly, at least that's what she thought. Sabrina laughed at her, "okay, out with it, what is up with you and Harvey? You could've cut the tension with a knife yesterday."
Victoria gulped. So it didn't go as unnoticed as she had thought. "Well," she started uneasily, "we just didn't get off to a good start. Yesterday he rammed into me, made my books fall, ripped my schedule in half and then bumped me in the head. On top of that, no offence, but I just don't really find him pleasant company."
Sabrina nodded understandingly, she understood that not everyone could get along with everyone. "None taken. I hope that just because I'm his girlfriend you won't want to not become friends with me too."
Victoria laughed, "no, never, don't worry about that. I like you too much for that. You won't be able to get rid of me."
Sabrina smiled at her, "okay good." Her eyes lit up, as if remembering something, "By the way! There's a halloween party happening at Roz's tomorrow night. Well, halloween/ my sweet sixteen. You are hereby invited."
"Oh, okay, I'll be there thank you for the invite." She paused momentarily, breaking into a smile. "I'm turning sixteen on the 3rd of November, so you beat me by three days Spellman."
Sabrina's eyes widened, "oh it's your birthday three days later? Well then this can be a joined birthday party!"
Victoria smiled and nodded, once again feeling thankful for the people she has merely known for two days.
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THE NEXT EVENING
Victoria glanced in the mirror, satisfied with her costume. She had decided to recycle her costume from last year; a long sleeved white dress and angel wings. Cindy wore a devil costume, and the girls were one nice pair, having coordinated their costumes perfectly. This year, she was a lonely angel.
She headed out the door, shouting goodbye to her parents, who yesterday at supper were delighted to hear about their daughters success at her auditions to the cheer team.
The walk to Roz's house was short, the black haired girl living surprisingly close to her. Arriving within minutes, Victoria knocked on the door, it opening to reveal Susie, who was extremely pleased to see her.
"Victoria! I'm so happy you could make it!" Susie said whilst pulling her into a hug. She glanced at Victoria's costume, "I love the costume!"
Victoria smiled, glancing at Susie's Dracula costume. "Yours is pretty frigging awesome too"
Susie laughed, "Thanks, come on, the drinks are in the kitchen!" She proceeded to grab her hand and drag her into the kitchen.
Raising the red solo cup to her lips, she swallowed some of the alcoholic punch inside. Susie glanced at her, "So you never ended up telling me if you figured out the name of the jerk who ripped your schedule."
Victoria choked on her punch, before downing the whole thing. She turned to Susie and grimaced, "well, I don't quite know how to put this..." She trailed of. Susie stared at her pointedly, so she cleared her throat and continued. "It was Harvey."
Susie broke out into hysterical laughter, "I can't believe it! The odds! You hid it pretty well though yesterday, I didn't even notice."
Victoria pulled a tight smile. "Yeah..."
Susie grabbed her cup and quickly filled it up, "well, to Harvey Kinkle then!"
Victoria laughed at her friend and raised her cup into the air. Hearing the monster mash come on, she quickly downed her cup and placed it on the cupboard behind her. Grabbing Susie's hand, they made their way to the dance floor, where they danced their hearts out. To be honest, this halloween might just be better than last year's halloween, Victoria admitted to herself. She was having the time of her life.
Having just finished dancing, and then proceeding to blowout the candles on her and Sabrina's shared birthday cake, Victoria headed out to the porch to get some fresh air with a fresh cup of punch in hand. Instead of finding peace and quiet like she had hoped, she found Harvey sitting on the porch steps, staring off into the distance like a lost puppy.
Victoria sighed, taking a seat a safe distance away on the bench. She decided to break the silence "so... what brings you here?"
Harvey sighed in frustration. "As if you cared. But 'Brina just ran off to god knows where, so I'm just sitting here contemplating I guess."
Victoria's eyebrows rose at that comment. Feeling emboldened by the alcohol, she spoke up. "Cut the crap Kinkle, you know I care about Sabrina. You're the only one I have a mild problem with..." if you could call deeply loathing mild, "nevertheless, for the sake of our friends I believe we should have a truce. Let's be neutral."
Harvey eyed her suspiciously. "Okay," he said whilst getting up, "neutral it is." He then headed inside.
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Victoria was drunk. Very drunk. She made this observation when she was saying goodbye to her friends, and instead of seeing one Susie and one Roz, she observed two Susies and two Rozes. She said nothing though; she bid her goodbyes, and unbeknownst to sober her, drunk her went left instead of right from Roz's house.
Which is what brought us to her current predicament. She was wandering around in a drunken haze in the dark forest, very much so lost. She was walking pretty smoothly in the wrong direction, until her right foot got stuck under a twig, and she fell face first into the dirt.
She tried to get up, but she didn't have the force in her current state. Just as she was about to give up and sleep on the forest floor, she felt a pair of arms grab her and lift her up into a standing position.
"For Satan's sake, an angel, really? You couldn't have picked anything else?" The mysterious stranger muttered.
Victoria glanced up, seeing double of the boy with curly hair from her dream. Her eyes lit up "Oooh... I know you!"
The boy looked at her quizzically, "I highly doubt that."
She continued, "yeah I do!" She squealed with excitement as they started walking, her arm over the boy's shoulder, him helping her walk. "You're the boy from my dream! You were showing me around some weird red building..." she hiccuped, "you kept calling it the Academy or something."
The boy's eyebrows rose, and he remained quiet for a moment, before muttering, "it is so unfair that you got all the cool gifts from mum, whilst I'm stuck with my mind reading from dad."
To drunk Victoria, that comment didn't even register considering her current mental state. Before she knew it, they were in front of her house. The stranger gently sat her down on her stairs.
He looked up at her, "can you take it from here? I don't want to freak your adoptive parents out."
Victoria nodded vigorously, and with a lopsided smile she looked at the stranger. "Thank you so much for bringing me home."
The boy just laughed, "It's nothing. Until we meet again, Vicky." And with a blink of an eye, he was gone.
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