Sunnyside Up with Red Ketchup

by Andrews, Ashley

  As the medic returned to Dexter’s side, he checked Seth’s basic first aid to make sure that Red hadn’t suffered anything worthy of their attention. When they were satisfied, they patted her on the back, nodded at her, and moved for the door.

  "Oh." Halfway through the door, he stopped and poked his head back in. "If you happen to come into contact with Blaine again, make sure he doesn't see your face. I’m confident he won’t recognize you, but the slight chance of him realizing you're a Hart is still there. I don't want to lose you, especially after losing your parents." He smiled sadly and closed the door.

  She was left with Seth, who was staring at her with surprise again. Dexter had said enough to really open the floodgate for questions.

  "You lived underground?" he asked quietly.

  She nodded, her face tilted toward the floor, her eyes avoiding his.

  He took a step toward her, resting a hand on her shoulder to turn her around. "Your parents are dead?" he asked her again.

  She lifted her head to smile at him and nodded. “Yes. They were killed, by that man who attacked you tonight.”

  Sympathy crossed over his face, and horror. "I’m sorry."

  That was all she’d heard after her parents were killed. She’d been ten, and hearing the words didn’t make the hurt go away. She shook her head. "It's fine." She sighed and moved away so his hand fell off of her shoulder. She walked over to Zane's bedside and sat on a footstool beside it. She rested her arms on his bed and stared at his face.

  "I’m going to stay here and look after him for a while. It's my mission after all," She forced a grin on her face.

  Seth nodded back, smiling. He opened the door and looked over his shoulder before he left.

  She let out a sigh and rested her head on her crossed arms that were resting on Zane's bed. Why couldn't her life be ordinary?

  * * * * *

  Zane woke up, feeling like he had slept better than he had in a long, long time. Not once had he got up in the night with chest ache, or suffered from general insomnia. He sat up slowly in bed, aching all over. He muttered under his breath. It felt like he'd worked out without warming up first, then gone straight to bed when he was finished.

  He winced at the bright light that poured in from the window and looked tiredly around his room. Then he felt something by his left side. Looking down, he recoiled and almost fell off the bed in surprise.

  Red was asleep, resting her head on the side of his bed. Her face was turned towards him, as though she had fallen asleep watching him.

  Why, and what was she doing in his room?

  He looked around. Eyes not seeing his room, as he mentally searched his memories. He kept his distance from Red while he tried hard to remember. He pressed a hand to his head, closing his eyes and thinking. Then they snapped open.

  He'd almost been kidnapped. The black van had pulled up; those people had jumped out…

  He touched a slightly tender part of his neck where the syringe had plunged in. He grimaced.

  He knew this should have scared him. But this wasn't the first time someone had tried to kidnap him. He had a lot of money, a lot of power. In fact, there had been numerous kidnapping attempts. He was usually a bit spooked afterwards, but he always got over it.

  He was somewhat famous for the number of escaped attempts. It was a shame he didn't remembered how he’d managed to get out of this one.

  He looked back down at Red, who still slept heavily. The bags under her eyes and stress on her forehead suggested she was troubled.

  He couldn't stop himself from moving forward to examine her closer. As he did, he noticed the cut on her eyebrow. And the bruise on her forehead. And the little spot of blood on her nose. AND the small cut on her lip.

  She'd been injured. In fact, it looked like someone had beaten the holy hell out of her.

  He moved her bangs away from her face, scanning her for any signs. He found none.

  What had happened the night before? He slumped back against the headrest, wincing when he pulled his knees up. They hurt a little from where they had come into contact with the ground. He stared at the mop of black hair on top of Red's head.

  Wake her up. Then you'll know for sure.

  He tapped his lip with his index finger. Should he wake her just to satisfy his own curiosity? He shrugged, then leaned forward and shook her arm.

  "Hey," he said loudly.

  Red grumbled and turned her head away.

  He shook her again. "HEY! Wake up!"

  She sat up quickly, almost colliding with Zane's head. There was a short moment of confusion, before she looked at Zane. Her face lightened up and she threw herself onto the bed, throwing her arms around Zane's neck and resting her legs against his side.

  His eyes widened and he went rigid.

  Red didn't notice and tightened the grip around his neck.

  "Zane! I can't believe you're alright. I was so worrie—" She stopped. She went rigid too.

  It looked like she had just realized her mistake. She moved slowly back, her arms untangling themselves from behind his neck to rest on his shoulders.

  His gray eyes met hers when her face came into view. Inches away from his.

  There was silence. Zane still stared at her in shock. No one had ever dared to invade his personal space before without getting permission. In fact, he didn't remember his personal space ever being invaded, even with his consent.

  And here he was, sitting on his bed with Red just inches away from him. In his mind, he was absolutely shocked.

  His mind said, push her away—but his gut urged him to pull her back. And that wasn't good. Surely the mind beat the stomach?

  Right. It was just his body reacting to the fact there was a girl in his room, alone, on his bed. That was the only possible reason for this conflict that he could understand.

  Red slowly untangled herself, moved away from him, and sat on the edge. She was smiling, and then started to laugh. She looked at him. "Sorry. I guess I’m just relieved you're still breathing." She struggled to hide the grin that was spreading across her face. He still looked shocked.

  He cleared his throat and focused his eyes on the wall. “I would let this little incident slip if you told me how I came to be in this condition." Although he wasn't looking at Red, he noticed her stiffen out of the corner of his eye.

  She looked down at the floor, fiddling with a piece of thread hanging from her shorts. His shorts. The ones he had given her.

  "Uh, well, you see…those people tried to kidnap you, but the police showed up and arrested them all!" She let out a fake laugh and scratched the back of her head. "That's it."

  Zane examined her. His eyes moved to the cut on her eyebrow and the bruise on her forehead. He lifted the heavy, plush quilt off of his legs and crawled to Red's side.

  She watched him cautiously, with eyes wide.

  He raised a hand and brushed her bangs to the side. Holding them gently in place, he touched her bruise with his right hand.

  She winced.

  "How do you explain this?" He brushed the cut on her eyebrow. "This?" He moved to the split on her lip. Did he dare touch it? His body had already compelled him to move towards the tomboyish girl and touch the cuts, which was completely unnecessary.

  His body was out of control. His hand cupped her cheek and he moved his head slowly towards hers, ignoring her wide, petrified expression. He brushed his thumb along her bottom lip, where the split was. Her lips were so soft. "And this," he whispered, his nose inches from hers. He raised his eyes from her lips to her eyes.

  He might as well have stunned her with a Taser. She was totally immobile.

  And he was insane. But being this close to the girl was making him dizzy, the kind of feeling you get after two glasses of wine. He was intoxicated.

  Wow, look at you. What are you? A hormonal, fourteen-year-old boy?

  It was the devil's time to turn up.

  The angel popped up beside him. What? Hormonal? Can't you see that he likes t
he girl? We're inside his head. You and I both know she's on his mind nearly all the time.

  Zane moved back, his hand freezing on Red's cheek. He felt cold all over.

  She's on his mind? Right. That's only because she won't leave him alone, so he hasn't got time to think about anything else. The Devil.

  No, that's because he's got feelings for her. Look. How can you not like such an innocent, pure girl? Angel.

  Zane stared into Red's eyes. Her blue, enticing eyes. They were as pure as spring water, the color of the sky. Such an innocent color.

  See? Totally pure. Angel.

  And that's reason enough to have her on his mind? Right. He's Zane Noble – do you think he'd fall for someone like this, someone so unimportant, so unladylike, and so impossible? Get real. Definitely Devil.

  Zane removed his hand, slowly moving back into a sitting position. Damn it, he was listening to himself.

  The angel inside him banged against his forehead. Hey, you're listening to him? He's bad, dummy! Look! Devil horns mean bad! Do it, go and kiss her—

  Whoa. Kiss her? He stared at Red, who still hadn't moved. He hadn't been about to kiss her. He'd just touched the cut on her lip and asked where it had come from.

  Really. Sometimes, the angel inside could be so ridiculous.

  He pushed both Angel and Devil to the back of his head. He could swear he heard the devil say 'I told you so,' before being shut away.

  He clambered out of bed to stand in front of Red, his hands were unusually sweaty. He crossed his arms. "Well? Can you explain where you got the injuries?" His voice was slightly shaky, but that was obviously the side effect of having nearly been kidnapped. Perhaps he was still suffering from shock.

  Red seemed to be suffering more than him, though. At the sound of his voice, she lifted her head to stare at him, seemingly still in a trance. Zane leaned forward slightly and waved a hand in front of her face.

  "Hello? I need an answer."

  She shook her head, trying to snap herself out of the stupor.

  He watched her swallow.

  “I fell," she croaked.

  He rolled his eyes. "You expect me to believe that you fell? How many times can a normal girl fall?"

  Red rose to her feet and swiped her hands down her wrinkled clothing, throwing Zane a grin. "I’m not a normal girl."

  He stared at her, and then snorted, resisting the urge to retaliate with 'yeah, I noticed.' But even if he didn't seem like the friendliest person, he still realized that would have been mean.

  Red looked around awkwardly. "Well, I’m glad you're okay." She looked down at the watch on her wrist. Her eyes widened. "Oh. We've missed our meetings."

  Zane looked down at the watch that was still on his wrist from yesterday. A sharp white crack ran through the center. He muttered under his breath, slowly undoing the band.

  "It's alright to miss one day—" his words didn't reach Red.

  She'd already run out the door, obviously in a rush to get to a class that would end in minutes.

  He stared after her and scoffed in disbelief. The strange girl stayed in his room all night without his permission, invading his personal space without asking, and then just runs off?

  He chewed on the inside of his cheek. She'd been attached to his side since the beginning of camp, thoroughly unwanted, an irritant. But when he wanted to speak to her, she made some excuse and dashed out to a class she’d never get to in time, leaving him alone with several unanswered questions. The only one he could think of right now? Was piano more important to her than spending time with him?

  Chapter 18: Lilac

  She couldn't miss the meeting. She needed to ask the leader whether Vikki was coming back. Sure, Tiffany had said she wasn't. But she wanted to hear it from someone else besides the bimbo.

  She collided with a figure at the top of the stairs and fell back onto the floor. She looked up, rubbing her forehead.

  Casper sank to his knees. "Red! Are you okay? You shouldn't run so fast you could hurt…" he trailed off and lifted her bangs away from her forehead. "You look terrible! Did something happen?" He looked around the hallway, as though he would spot the thing that had injured her.

  There wasn’t anything there to find. His eyes widened when he noticed that Zane's door was open a crack. "No! Zane didn't beat you up did he?"

  Horror spread across her face. "N—No! Zane wouldn't do that! I just fell. I fell." She pushed down the feeling of guilt for lying to Casper. When she noticed him get off his knees, a determined, bold expression on his face, she grabbed his arm, scrambling to her feet to block his way.

  He stared at her for a moment, scanning her face for the truth. He looked away. "Geez, Red, you must be really clumsy." He blew out, blowing his bangs into the air.

  She watched as they settled back into place.

  Casper crinkled his brow as he brought his blue orbs back to hers. "Hey, why aren't you in the meeting? And how come you just came out of—"

  She ran off, noticing that colliding with Casper had taken two minutes. She sprinted down the stairs as fast as she could.

  Casper stared after Red, his hand outstretched. He had called for her to wait, but she had run off. Had she ignored him?

  Was she hiding something?

  He dropped his arm and his eyes narrowed after her in speculation. He slumped against the banister, pressing a hand to his chest. His heart was thumping so hard, and he felt out of breath. Had his journey up the stairs over-exerted him that much?

  He frowned and bunched up his lips, ruffling the back of his head in frustration. Why had Red rushed off so fast?

  She looked guilty. Why would she be guilty?

  "Geez, Red, you must be real clumsy," he had grumbled to her, a slight sarcastic tone to his voice. Then it hit him, right in the face. He had frowned, opening his mouth to ask her why she had been in Zane's room and not in the meeting that morning.

  But she ran off before he could finish his sentence.

  Casper's mouth fell open and he slapped two hands to it, his eyes wide with horror. His heart sped up even more. There was only one explanation for this. The only explanation that could explain why Red was in Zane's room, and why she’d missed her meeting.

  Red was cheating on Seth…with Zane.

  * * * * *

  She'd gotten there too late. The leader had already gone home and there was only a few people left behind in the room, gathering up their bags and talking animatedly to each other. She didn't notice them staring hard at her face as they went by. She looked around frantically, searching for the Leader.

  She gave up and slumped against the wall as the last person left. This had been the last opportunity she had had to ask Leader what happened to Vikki. It was Sport's activity week starting from Tuesday.

  “I think I'll hunt down the people who did that to your face, so I can congratulate them."

  Her eyes widened and she lifted her head quickly. It was Tiffany, with Henrietta close behind her.

  The irritating girl smirked and crossed her arms, walking towards her with attitude in her heels. Tiffany flicked her hair over her shoulder and rested a hand on Red’s arm. "My Seth won't want a girl with a face that looks like that." She moved her head all around, closely examining Red’s face. She moved a finger up pressed the bump on Red’s forehead.

  The contact made her wince.

  Tiffany met Red’s eyes again, an overconfident smile on her face. "What a shame. You must have really pissed someone off."

  Red dropped her eyes to the ground and stepped around her, heading out the door. She didn't want to talk to Tiffany. Not after what had happened the day before, when she had almost allowed Zane to be captured. She was already losing all self-confidence as an agent.

  Tiffany’s hand reached out and landed on Red’s shoulder.

  Before Red realized what she was doing, her hands snapped up and latched on to the other girl’s hand, pulling it hard over her shoulder and bringing Tiffany with it. The blonde landed on the
ground and Red stomped her foot on her nose.

  She blinked, focused on Henrietta, who was kneeling by Tiffany's side on the ground. The blonde bully was yelping like a dog.

  Tiffany held her bleeding nose, her eyes scrunched up in pain.

  Henrietta's shaking hands pushed Tiffany's blonde hair away from her face. "Tiff! Oh my God, Tiff! Are you alright?"

  Red stared at her hands in horror, like they weren't her own. Then she ran out of the room as fast as she could, the image of Tiffany on the ground with blood spurting out of her nose went with her.

  Red had injured Tiffany. She hadn't even meant to do it! Her body had reacted on its own accord. And running away had seemed her only option.

  She sprinted back to the dorm, feeling frail and shaky. Her breathing was erratic. She surged up the stairs as fast as her legs would carry her.

  No. Not her legs, her body was no longer on the same team as her mind.

  When she spotted Seth coming down the staircase, she thought to run straight past him. She talk to anyone. She'd just injured an innocent girl, without meaning to. Well. Maybe not so innocent, but still, the point was that Red hadn’t meant to do it. What if she’d broken Tiffany’s nose? What if she’d seriously injured the girl’s back when she threw her to the ground?

  Without a doubt, she was going to be hated. It wouldn’t matter if they believed she was Seth Cooper's girlfriend or not. As she ran past him, he wrapped a hand around her arm. It took a great deal of effort to stop her body from reacting. She felt an almost overwhelming need to throw the hand and owner off of her, sending him crashing to the ground.

  Seth stared at her wide, gleaming eyes and her trembling arm. He wasn't smiling. He was looking at her like she was a ghost.

  Judging by how pale she was, she knew that it would be an easy mistake to make.

  He slowly released her arm and stepped forward. She stepped back.

  "Don't come any closer." She held out her hands in front of her, creating a barrier that wouldn't allow him to pass.

  "Red. Come back upstairs." He lifted an arm to rest it on her shoulder.

  She flinched violently away from him. She knew what had happened. She knew what was wrong with her. When she had saved Zane, all her training had rushed to the front. All of the information she'd read in books, all of the exercises and mock fights that she’d been participating in since she was little. She’d been trained to be paranoid around people. All of that training, all that research, everything had surfaced at once, and she’d lost control.