“Lost Souls”
“I’m supergirl and I’m here to save the world, but I wanna know, who’s gonna save me?”-Krystal, “Supergirl”
~**Chapter Eight: Never a Moments Peace
Anastay Lorden sighs as she lies on her bed. She sleepily plays with the silver necklace she’s wearing. The dazzling opal in the center of the heart pendent gleaming as it hangs from the chain around her neck. The gem radiates with a pure whit light when she begins to use it to watch her pale violet aura dance about her; the colorful emotions shooting through it crazily. She frowns, and stops. Anastay lets her aura become invisible to her eyes again, the way it is to everyone else. The opal immediately stops glowing. She rolls her deep blue-green eyes; she was only using it as a distraction anyway. Ana runs a hand through her tangled flaxen curls with frustration. She has no idea of what her next move is going to be.
“Okay, I’m finally here. I know who they are. I’ve even met the boy of waters and the girl of nature. So now what do I do?” she asks herself, hoping an answer will come to her.
For the past two weeks she’s been here on Earth, Anastay's been carefully observing the other seven beings like herself. They’re nothing like what she pictured them to be. They seemed helpless to her, completely defenseless, and that disgusts her considering the skills they should possess. If she didn’t know better, she wouldn’t think they were the ones. At first, she though it was a mistake, and that they are normal humans just like everyone else on this boring planet. The only reason she knows that’s not true is because of the silver amulets they each wear, much like the heart amulet around her neck. Each one is shaped, designed, and equipped with a different gem and shape to fit each unique being and the gifts they possess. She twirls a blonde lock around her fingers thoughtfully. Anastay realizes they might be different than what she imagined because they’re oblivious to their origin, unlike herself. She was the one chosen to remain on their home planet, Amarella.
The others were placed on Earth for protection. See, every life/essence was injected along with a few genes from another species, into host infants chosen at random on Earth. This endows them with the powers of the species whose genes each got, and a former life gets reincarnated into that body. Studies had shown that a child does not have its own essence/spirit until it is the age of three, according to Amarella’s greatest scientists. If this had been false, the spirit would’ve been rejected from the child immediately. They weren’t. Anastay was one of the eight experiments, each with a different past life and a different species’ genes entered into them. All eight were a success. Supposedly they were once all great different historical figures on Amarella. She doesn’t know for sure though. She’s been trained for this mission all her life. She knows she must begin when all to reach the age of adulthood. So, here she is.
“Great, now I’ve gotta protect them from those damn Hankilltas until I can figure out what to do next.” She grumbles, grabbing her stuff and walking out of the dorm room.
“She understands she’s got fifteen minutes until class. The problem is, Ana's got to get to her first period, world history, which is on the other side of the campus and she doesn’t feel like being late.
“I hate this so much sometimes.” She growls, and runs off for class.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Ray Anne taps her pen impatiently as she listens to her teacher drone on and on in her geometry class. She sighs; she doesn’t even have anyone even being nice to her now since Jamelet started that vicious rumor about her being an alcoholic. The girls at Bright Sky already hated her, so they jumped on this opportunity to make her miserable. She tugs on a blonde strand. She wishes she had Julia in this class with her instead of AJ. It still hurts when she thinks about the way they acted at the club. Neither had bothered to even consider her or her feelings. Painful memories come to mind as she fights to keep calm, pushing them away. Too many memories come to mind.
She watches a note appear on her desk, her sapphire eyes going to AJ and sees him bat his lovable coffee eyes at her. She roles her eyes playfully as her soft pink lips curve into a smile. Ray groans inwardly, her golden curls bouncing when she ties them back in a ponytail distractedly. The guys just like a puppy, no matter how mad you get at him, he always makes you smile.
‘Come on Ray.’ She scolds herself silently, ‘It’s only a note. You may as well read it. Plus admit it, you miss him.’
She shakes her head. Ray and Nick had earlier in U.S. History, and had gotten into a fight again. Not about what happened before, but about Justin. As much as he tried to hide it, she knows he doesn’t like the idea of her renewing her old friendship with him. Ray knows Nick has no faith in himself, but that does not mean he can own her. She feels her understanding can only go so far.
Her gaze goes back to the note. She glances back at Mr. Oakie, who is going over some stuff with his back to the class. the curiosity finally gets the best of her and Ray Anne eagerly opens the note AJ tossed her.
*‘Ray,
Listen, you have no idea how sorry I am for what happened last week. It was stupid. I have no idea what got into me. Do you forgive me? Hopefully you do. So you know, I talked things out with Nick, so we’re cool. He’s really pissed though and he won’t tell me why. I know it has something to do with Saturday. I talked to Julia, but she told me to ask you. See, I saw you and Timberlake together at rehearsals and again at Backstreet. Why there? Now you’ve got me curious. I understand if you don’t tell me, but I’ve got something I need to tell you. I need a friend right now. Nick’s too upset to even try, and I CANNOT tell Kev. I’m in a tough spot, and I have nowhere else to turn? So are we friends?
Alex.’*
Ray reeds the note again, feeling incredibly guilty. She knows she overreacted. Is it really his fault that it brought up things she wishes had been buried long ago? No it isn’t. She likes AJ, a lot. This isn’t worth ruining one of the few friendships she has at this school. She grabs a piece of paper, writing hastily. Ray Anne soon tosses a note back to AJ.
Alex McLean runs a hand through his brown messy spikes as he sees Ray’s note land on his desk. He doesn’t know why he feels he can trust her so much already. He shyly glances at the mysterious girl. There’s so much he doesn’t know about her. AJ doesn’t know what it is about her either. It’s as if he’s meant to end up with Ray Anne Littrell. Maybe that’s why he was so willing to risk his own highly valued friendship with Nick last week to get her. What bothered him, as he read her note telling him she’s sorry too and of course they’re still friends; is that he is still willing to risk it. And so is Nick Carter.
He sighs as he begins to write his problems down to her. That doesn’t matter now. This is more important. He needs her to help him. The rest can just wait.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Nick slowly walks into the crowded theaters for the after school rehearsals. This day seems like it’s dragging on forever when all he wants is for it to end so he can move on to tomorrow. His azure eyes narrow when he spots Justin going over to where AJ and Ray are. He growls angrily, what’s the guy trying to do take all his friends away? He turns to go there when he suddenly crashes into someone.
“Oh I’m sorry,” he says softly, looking away shyly at the ground as he helped the girl up.
“It’s okay.” She pushes her blonde locks away from her face. “Oh hey Nick.”
“Hey Anastay, or should I say Rizzo?”
She grins, “so where are you off to in such a hurry?”
He points to Ray Anne, AJ, and Justin. “Over there. I wanna make sure Justin doesn’t try to take my friends.”
“It can’t be that bad. Ray seems like she’d be a true friend to you.”
“It is trust me, Timberlake is always trying to ruin my life. But I can’t tell Ray that, she’d just think it was me being jealous. In fact she does think that after the fight we had this morning.” He says angrily, the emerald in his Sharkish dolphin amulet beginning to glow. She then hears the harsh, pouring rain and hail outside. Anastay smirks, the powers are reaching their peak, figures it would come out in his emotions.
“Go talk to her.”
“No, I mean-”
“Go!” she cries, pushing him playfully. “You’ll have to sooner or later and it’s better if it’s sooner.
“Fine.” He hugs Anastay and goes off to find Ray who had disappeared in the crowd.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Ray sighs as she runs through her lines with Justin. She throws her scrip down she just can’t concentrate after what AJ told her. She couldn’t believe what he was dealing with. She had thought his life was perfect like everyone else in the school. Boy was she wrong. She scratches her head slightly, trying to think of a solution. How can she help AJ McLean with his desperate troubles without Kevin knowing and making sure Kevin doesn’t overexert himself at the same time…
“Hey BB? You there?”
She looks up with surprise. “Sorry Ju-Ju, I’ve got a lot on my mind right now and I just can’t-“
“Hey guys.” Nick calls coming up to them.
Justin gazes at Rose with concern, his baby blue eyes fiery at Nick because of the distraction. “Um, Nick now may not be-”
Nick ignores him. “Um Sunny can I talk to you for a sec?”
“Well Nicky boy this may not be-”
“Please?” he almost pleads, running a hand through his spiky blonde locks nervously.
She nods with defeat. “Sure Nick.”
“BB, are you sure-”
“Leave it be Justin, I’ll be back in a minute.”
Justin nods, he knows something is up between her and Nick. He doesn’t know if that’s the smartest thing for her to be doing now. Her past hasn’t let her go and he knows that will not help in a new relationship. He can’t blame her for wanting to bury it, but it won’t go away until she can face it. He may be crossing a few lines here, but he’s only trying to protect like he’s always done.
“Okay.” Is all he says about it though.
Ray walks out of the theater with Nick into an empty hallway. She knows they need to talk, but with the whole AJ thing, she’s not in the right state of mind to deal with it. All this will do is make it worse if she says the wrong thing or spaces out like she has been all day.
“What’s up Nick?”
Nick looks away, shuffling his feet. “I’m sorry. About everything. It’s not your fault me and Justin don’t get along.”
“How were you to know he was my old best friend?” she asks, lifting his chin up so he looks into her face.
“but still. And I acted like-like- like a jackass at the club before-“
“I overreacted but you still shouldn’t have acted like that.”
“I don’t know what came over me.” Nick grabs her hands softly. “But when I look into your eyes, I don’t know it’s like there’s nothing else in the world, just me and you.”
“No Nick, we can’t-”
“Yeah we can, you have no idea how I feel.” He grabs hold of her waist, pressing his lips against hers. Her soft lips meet his sweet ones. Instinctively she closes her eyes beginning to kiss back. Pleasure and excitement races up her spine. His tongue begins to slip its way into her mouth eagerly. She feels the tongue enter gently, suddenly realizing what they’re doing and opens her eyes in shock. Ray Anne pushes him away forcefully.
“Nick I said no. I can’t do this. I just can’t.” she whispers to him and runs off into the hall, leaving a very upset and confused Nick to stand there alone.
Lost Souls by Rose
