The Misadventures of Daria Pigwidgeon

by Amy Lunderman

  Besides the obvious embarrassment of being startled and wondering when the heck I became a fashionista, my back is now killing me. Great start to an already presumably horrible day huh? And ooh bonus. My anger has no effect on her. If anything, she seems to find it hilarious. Clearly I’d have better luck trying to scare a kitten from the way her grin widens. Wonderful. Darn perky morning people. This, I am not.

  A stinging sensation grates down my back, making me think I might have lost some skin on my fall. I could get up to investigate, but that would involve moving. And I’m rather comfortable at the moment, lying here glaring at Ashley. It’s almost therapeutic, until she winks at me. Why is she winking at me?

  “What’s with you today, rough night?” She says with a quick glance behind her. “You look like crap warmed over.”

  Before I can say anything about that last comment, her brother comes from around the stairs. That explains the wink and weird glance. It also explains why my thoughts drift off and away. I find myself wondering why I’m such an emotional human girl. If I was straight up demon, his hotness would totally override anything getting in the way. But whatever, the boy gets props as the glare marring his features matches up with mine from a moment ago.

  Only his is more believable.

  He steps up beside Ashley not glancing down at me. “Nice Ash, real nice. Where’s your sympathy huh?”

  Sympathy? Oh right. I am splayed out like a fallen damsel.

  “Oh please, she knows I didn’t mean anything by that. Don’t you Daria?” She looks to me for assistance, as if I’m in the mood to give it. She must see that I do not because she has the grace to appear guilty. “Geese, I was only picking. What’s gotten into you anyways? Come to think of it. What’s up with both of you? Clearly sleep was not on the agenda for either of your nights.”

  Um, should I answer that? Knowing the reason for my ‘tude’ and probably Chance’s too, I think not.

  Chance must have the same thought process, because he literally lifts his arm and points behind him. “Ashley, seriously, enough is enough. Why don’t you go get in the car and wait for us.”

  I have to try really hard not to laugh at the picture he makes. It’s cute. Surprisingly, Ashley sulks a bit and turns away from me. As soon as she rounds the corner and disappears from my line of sight Chance finally faces me. Damn. Those eyes sure are pretty. Why I’m suddenly crushing on him again, I have no clue. Maybe I’m delirious from all the stress? I wouldn’t doubt it.

  His face softens with a slight smile. I can feel my own building as he steps up to me. “You all right down there rabbit?”

  “Oh you know, just relaxing. Didn’t I tell you it’s my thing to cleverly throw myself on garage stairs?”

  “Can’t say that you have, but I get the relaxing part. There’s nothing like a good back breaking to make for a good start to the day.”

  Chuckling, I hold my hand out to him. “Give a girl a hand would you?”

  His hand shoots before me palm up before I can even blink. I slip my smaller fingers over his and am instantly started by the warmth of him. My eyes flick up only to meet his. My stupid girl heart flutters from the intensity that seeps from him. His grip tightens a second before he deftly pulls me to my feet. A smirk spreads across his lips as my legs quiver in search for some balance. Finding it takes some work on my part.

  But it’s not really my fault.

  Is it weird that Chance’s gaze never left mine?

  Or that he isn’t bothering to let go of my hand wrapped in his?

  Oh yeah, definitely.

  Not feeling uncomfortable in the least (total lie) I lightly extract my hand from him. It slips down to my side as if made of lead, whereas his stays outstretched for a heartbeat before letting it too fall to his side. Ignoring the hurt that plays across his beautiful face, I glance away and break the eye contest we had going.

  “Um, er, we should probably get going huh? To school I mean.” I glance back at him. “Right?”

  His eyes probe mine for something I can’t figure out, but then he steps away from me with a nod.

  “Right. We wouldn’t want to be late for school. What a travesty that would be.”

  Turning on his heels, he stalks around the stairs toward his still running car. My shocked gaze follows him. Okay then. Did I miss something? Because, seriously, why is he all in a tizzy. I’m the one that has to go to school with scrapes marring her back. I’m sure there is probably blood too. Whatever, boys are dumb. I still stalk after him though. Here’s hoping a ride is a given.

  Rounding the corner I notice that the back door on the driver’s side is open. Assuming this isn’t a new trend for him and is in fact for me, I hastily slip inside before he can pull away without me. What comes next is an awkward five minute car ride full of eye avoidance. The tension must be pretty heady because even Ashley is strangely quiet. If only I had my back pack to fiddle with for a distraction. It’s not until we’re pulling into the school parking lot that everything hits me from the night before.

  Now Chance’s obvious weirdness makes sense. And the bitchy award goes to? That would be the ungrateful demon that can’t even mutter a thank you or an inquiry to his state of mind over certain revelations. I’m definitely feeling this is going to be one of those days that I wished that I stayed in bed. Since we’re basically late on arrival Chance has to park a good distance away from the school to find a parking spot. As soon as the car comes to a complete stop, Ashley makes a quick escape and rushes for the school without a glance back.

  Chance pretty much follows suit. Feeling guilty, I hurry to catch up to him.

  Slipping into step with him, my breath quickens at his tense posture. “Hey. Hold up a minute. There’s something I need to say to you.”

  He instantly comes to a stop, turns to me, and since my middle name is clearly grace, I all but stumble into him. Thankfully his reflexes are better than mine. His arms around me save us from falling into a pile on the pavement. My eyes widen from the closeness of our bodies. I’d forgotten how strong he is. It seems like nothing for him to straighten us out and take a giant step back. He narrows his eyes, patiently waiting.

  Oh right. I wanted to talk.

  “How are you dealing with all this?” I wave over my head, indicating ‘this’ means demon baggage.

  His right hand goes for the back of his neck and tries to work out some tension I know he’s obviously feeling. Now I really feel like crap.

  “Do we even have time for this conversation?”

  A rare blush stains his cheeks. Oh. He so took the arm waving as something else. Awkward. “I meant the whole incident last night.”

  His cheeks go the color of a ripe tomato now. Man, I really suck at apologizing. This isn’t what I had in mind. With a grimace, I start for the school again and wave an arm out for him to follow. For a moment I think he won’t, but then he is at my side keeping up.

  “I just want to thank you again, and you know, see if you okay with it all. I know when we left things last night you were. But I have a tendency to worry about these things. Demon things.” The last part comes out as a whisper.

  He doesn’t say anything. When we are just about to reach the steps leading up to the entrance, I risk a glance in his direction. Again, he’s already watching me. Our gaze continues to hold all the way up the steps and through the door that he pushes open for us. It’s not until we breach the threshold that he stops me with a light touch on my elbow. He leans in close until his mouth is a breath away from my ear. My heart flutters in my chest for the second time this morning.

  “Rabbit, you don’t have to worry about me. I actually slept better last night than I have in months and that is because you cleared things up for me last night. I can handle it.”

  He steps away from me with a wide grin. At ease once more. Either my apologies are getting better or he was totally pulling my leg. I doubt it’s none of the above though. I’m thinking he was irked from my hand removal earlier, freaking boys. Am I
right? Shaking my head, I finally turn away from him and realize we’re not as alone as I felt we are.

  The hallway is crowded with bustling bodies of our classmates. Out of nowhere an unsettling feeling grates down my back, brining all the hairs at the back of my neck to stand up straight. I’m being watched. And not just by Chance beside me. The scent of ozone is thick around me again and my inner Taser rushes up from its depths. Stepping out of reach of Chance, I spy the reason for my sudden danger warning. It looks like my school has some new students today; my siblings.

  Oh joy. This can’t be anything good.

  ***

  The blood chills in my veins. “Oh. My. God. No freaking way.”

  Distantly I sense Chance nervously following my gaze, but I can’t offer him reassurance. The earth feels like it is moving below me and is trying to knock me off balance. I don’t dare take my eyes off them. I can’t. It would be fundamentally life-threatening if I did, because they are all here. All three of them. From my older and unfortunately better looking sister Riana with her eerily similar looks, to the twins Logan and Landon.

  It is so not a good thing that I can see the way their creepy whitish blue eyes sparkle at a distance. Meaning they are watching me look at them. Not good. Not. At. All. Feeling like I might pass out now, I can only watch as the trio approach me with haunting smiles gracing their familiar faces. My first instinct is to memory block them so they go away, but I can’t do that. Not with Chance standing beside me. He wouldn’t understand. Heck, I haven’t even told him about them yet.

  Plus there is no telling I could off that kind of thing. I couldn’t even do it with just my sister.

  But, I don’t even have time to process what they could still be doing here in the first place. I clearly told them to leave me alone. Of course, if idle threats actually worked on them, I wouldn’t be here in the first place. Instead, I turn to Chance who is watching them with fascination. I can almost see him placing the familiarity between them and me together in his mind. He’s not going to be happy with me again, I just know it.

  Moving faster than I would’ve thought possible, I curve around Chance so that I am facing him with my back to the others. His eyes widen in surprise taking half a step back. I advance closer, but enough to still be wary of my inner Taser that is practically vibrating within me. Now he watches me in fascination.

  “I am so sorry to do this, but I need you to walk away from me right now. Do not look back, just go. I’ll explain everything later I promise.”

  His pretty eyes narrow down at me before flicking over my shoulder. He knows now. By the clenching of his jaw, he doesn’t appear happy with it either. You and me both buddy, honestly. He makes like he’s going to move around me, but I block him with a two-step still staying careful of touching.

  “Dammit Chance, I mean it. Get out of here now. Please.”

  He must hear the urgency in my plea because his features soften to a dull annoyance. Thank goodness he’s going to listen to me, there are miracles after all. Relief floods through me. But before he can move away and blend with the crowded hallway, I feel the sickly tendrils of my family’s abilities reaching out to me. They are too close for him to flee. Double Dammit.

  I squeeze my eyes shut and try to catch my breath. I so should have stay in bed after all. My eyes slip open to find an anxious Chance watching me warily. His posture subtly shifts like he’s going to reach for me, but I shake my head and he stills. When the tendrils are close enough to rake down my back leaving chills in their wake, only then do I turn around. The three of them are directly behind me. With Rania front and center, with a smile making her appear nicer than I know she isn’t.

  “Daria, as always, it’s a pleasure. Did ya get home all right last night?”

  Her voice makes me flinch. It even brings Chance closer to me. Though, with my inner Taser making the hairs on my arms stand on end, I keep a good distance between us. All the while everyone in the hall remains oblivious to us, and I don’t even have to use my power to accomplish that. Don’t you just love public high school?

  I push myself in front of Chance. “Riana, what brings you here? I vaguely recall telling you to move on. Did my clear words not penetrate that thick head of yours? Or maybe none of you can take a freaking hint.”

  The twins laugh in unison. Creepy. Riana doesn’t.

  She throws a prissy look over her shoulder that makes them stop. Not so creepy.

  Her smile does slip though. Bonus.

  “Apparently you’re the thick one.” Riana tells me “We told you that we’re not leaving. It doesn’t take a genius to figure we’d join you here at this fine establishment of learning. We’re in for the long haul baby. Deal with it.”

  Long haul? This is so not good. I much prefer murder attempts to stalking any day of the week. But wait. Why aren’t they using their abilities like they did last night? Not that I condone any of it, but usually at this point most of the student body and myself included would be succumbing to some sort of torture from them. Only we’re not. I can feel them yes, but not at full throttle. In shock I take half a step back from them and almost collide into Chance’s chest.

  I freeze just shy of him and glare at my siblings. “Don’t think for one moment that I believe anything that comes out of your mouth. Or any one of you for that matter, so really you’re just wasting precious time by being here. I suggest you go back the way you came and just fade away.”

  I can feel the blood pumping inside my veins at this point. It’s alive with a charge that leaves me pulsing from my inner Taser. A shaking begins from my chest and quickly spreads to the tips of my fingers and toes. I want so bad to let loose the energy that is building inside. No. I need to. I can feel it begging me. It almost hurts. But I don’t use it, not even when my sister steps up closer to me looking positively vengeful.

  She steps up to me, as close as she dares unfortunately. “Do not mistake our being here for acceptance of you dear sister. I could lay you out and make you beg for mercy at any given time. The fact that I haven’t must reach inside that head of yours. So do not test me.”

  A retort is about to slip past my clenched lips, but someone else beats me too it. Chance moves all six foot of him in front of me, causing Riana to take a step away otherwise be pushed by his body. She does so with a feigned ignorance of what he could want. I want the same thing actually. All I see is a strong quivering muscled back through an extremely flattering tight shirt and hands that are white knuckled in fists at his sides.

  “Do not test me little girl. Back off of Daria now. I won’t be held responsible for what will happen if you don’t.”

  Sweet. Baby. Jesus. What now?

  Riana’s unique flavor of ability fluffs out in the air around us dancing in wavelike tendrils that seek out for something to sink into. And hers isn’t the only one either. I can feel that of the twin’s reaching out as well. The tendrils reek of fear, hate, and breath sucking need that fills me with a dread I’m not ready for. I have the urge to whip out my memory block and cling to it like a security blanket, but there isn’t time. The distant student body suddenly quickens their pace, sensing the change. The hall will be empty in a matter of minutes. It will so not be good for Riana and the boys to see Chance standing against their abilities like that. If he even can. This is about to go from bad to a whole lot worse.

  Dammit.

  Mindful of skin touching skin, I skirt around Chance again and place myself front and center. I am now nose to nose with my very pissed of sister. The twins flank her like frightening bodyguards. Ignoring them, I make certain I have all of her attention. I do this by lifting one delicate hand up between us. I wait until she moves her gaze downward, then I wiggle each finger causing tiny sparks to dance upon them.

  I smile when she flinches from the fear. “Knock it off Riana. He doesn’t know any better. Just let it go. What do you think huh? Do we have an accord here?”

  Her gaze travels back up to meet mine. The fear in her eyes is extr
emely satisfying to see. It’s not every often I can inflict that on her. But then it was just last night that I had her sprawled out on the ground. Her body jerks like I zapped her even though I know I didn’t and she takes a step back. Then another one until she is wedged between my brothers. All three of them look at me as if I grew another head. Maybe I have. Anything is possible. Who knew I could be so threatening? All it took was encroaching on what is mine to do it. Or you know, just Chance. And no, I’m not blushing.

  Squeezing my open hand before me closed, the sparks go out like a light switch I flipped. Effectively making me feel totally badass, if only for a moment. I’m not completely confident that I could pull such a thing off again. But whatever, it works for me now. Hands at my sides, I confidently walk up to all three of my siblings. I fix a glare at each of them in turn until all the tendrils fade back into the depths that once they came from.

  When it is just them standing before me, I sigh in relief. “Now, what is it you really want? I’m not fooled, just so you know.”

  I never get to hear their answer though, because in the next instant the bell signaling the start of the school day alarms down the silent and still hallway. We all flinch like we were struck by some unseen force. Even I release a shaky laugh when they do. All tension seeps out of them in an instant and they are back to appearing all tough and ballsy. The twins hurry off down the hallway without a word each heading to two separate closed doorways, leaving only Riana.

  The way she looks at me is a little terrify, like she can’t figure me out. “Because we just got here, I won’t retaliate. But believe me little sister. I won’t be so kind again. Are we clear?”

  I start to shake again when she peaks behind me to what can only be Chance standing there. When she glances back to me, her eyes are two pools of darkness. She only wants to hear one response. Nothing else will suffice.