When Your Novel Strikes Back

by Heather Lawson

  Chapter the Sixth – It Just Keeps Getting Weirder

  “That was certainly scary wasn’t it?” Wax said, crouching down beside Dan to see if he was alright.

  “Whatever you say,” Dan said, moving to get up.

  “Oh! You shouldn’t move, you might have injured yourself,” Wax said. “Let me check.”

  Wax winked at Dan and then started gently touching Dan’s arm and hand. Dan looked at him, confused, before snatching his hand away.

  “Dude! What are you doing?”

  “Trying to comfort the wounded,” Wax said, standing up and placing his hands on his hips impatiently.

  “Whatever you think you’re doing, stop it,” Dan said, holding out his hands to try and keep Wax at a distance.

  “What’s going on?” Ally asked, noticing the commotion.

  “He’s trying to seduce me!” Dan cried, pointing at Wax.

  The girls looked from Dan to Wax and then at each other before bursting out into laughter.

  “It’s not funny!” Dan and Wax shouted.

  “Aww look, they’re talking at the same time,” Heather said, making a cutesy face.

  “Shut up!” Dan said, stomping over to them.

  He stood behind them and folded his arms, the signature pout back in place. Wax was standing, fiddling with the edge of his cape and looking like a lost puppy. The girls’ hearts all melted when they saw him.

  “Oh you poor thing,” Heather said, patting him gingerly on the shoulder.

  Wax glanced at Dan and his bottom lip started to quiver.

  “It’ll be alright,” Ally said.

  “Yeah, Dan’s just a jerk,” Ayesha added.

  Dan’s mouth fell to the ground.

  “He’s the villain guys!” he shouted. “Or have you all forgotten that small detail?”

  “But look at him!” Ayesha said. “He wouldn’t hurt anyone.”

  The girls were all crowded around Wax now, Crast included. Dan threw his arms in the arm and turned away from them shaking his head in disbelief.

  “You’ll be fine,” Ally said, smiling at Wax.

  “Yeah, you can do better than him,” Heather added.

  “Aha!” Wax suddenly shouted, jumping away from the group.

  “What…?”

  Wax was making his way back to his vehicle, dragging Crast along with him.

  “Hey! What are you doing?!” Ayesha shouted, running after him.

  “I can’t believe you all fell for that!” Wax shouted back. “You fools!”

  He entered the vehicle and the door closed behind him. Ayesha ran up to it and started hammering on the metal.

  “Gimmie my character back!” she shouted.

  “Ayesha look out!” Heather shouted as orange smoke started billowing out of the vehicle.

  She ran towards Ayesha and dragged her away just as the vehicle rose into the air and disappeared out of sight.

  “That’s it!” Ayesha shouted. “We’ve got to do something about him.”

  They made their way back to where Dan and Ally were standing. Dan had a smug, superior look on his face as he looked at them.

  “What are you so happy about?” Ayesha barked at him.

  His smile slipped slightly at the harshness of Ayesha’s words. Heather and Ally were glaring at him too.

  “What have I done now?” he asked.

  “You couldn’t just keep the bad guy happy for a while, could you?” Heather said.

  “Hey! I was not about to let some guy come on to me!” Dan protested. “I don’t swing that way.”

  “Really?”

  “Yes, really!”

  “Could’ve fooled me.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?!”

  “Guys!” Ally cut in once again. “We haven’t been typing the story, this is all the computer’s fault. We have to start writing again.”

  “I am not into guys,” Dan said, ignoring Ally and turning his attention to Heather.

  “I really don’t care,” Heather replied, joining Ally on the ground and looking over at the computer screen.

  “I can prove it,” Dan said, desperation on his face.

  Heather and Ally glanced up at him, shrugged and turned their attention back to the computer. Dan bounced on his feet for a few moments and then he bent down beside Ally.

  “What’re you…” Ally started to say.

  Dan stopped her mid-sentence. Holding her face tenderly in his hands while moving closer towards her. Heather tried to stifle a laugh as she noticed Ally trying to pull backwards as Dan move closer. Their lips eventually met and Heather couldn’t help but laugh at the obvious concentration on Dan’s face. After a few moments, Dan and Ally broke apart.

  “See?” Dan said, his eyes almost pleading with them now.

  Ally slapped him across the face, causing Dan’s face to drop.

  “I have a boyfriend, thank you very much!” she said.

  “Hey!” a voice shouted from a little distance away.

  Heather and Ally looked past Dan and noticed someone running towards them. Ally’s face broke out into a huge grin when she noticed who it was.

  “Oli!”

  She ran to greet him and they hugged each other tightly.

  “Who is that?!” Oli asked, pointing at Dan.

  “Oh come on! They thought I was gay, I was just trying to prove I wasn’t,” Dan said, holding out his hands to protect himself.

  “With my girlfriend?”

  “I didn’t know she had a boyfriend!”

  “Right, sure you didn’t!”

  Heather watched the argument unfold with a huge grin on her face. None of them seemed to notice Ayesha grab the laptop and open it in front of her.

  “Now it’s my turn,” she said, typing quickly.

  They turned to look at her as another pillar of lilac smoke surrounded them and Rome disappeared.

  “Hey, what’s happening?!” Oli shouted.

  “It’s alright, we’re just travelling,” Ally tried to reassure him.

  “Sorry Ally but we’ve got enough people in this story already,” Ayesha said, typing something else onto the laptop.

  “What?”

  “Argh! What’s going on?” Oli shouted.

  They turned to see him being sucked out of a small hole in the pillar. Ally tried to grab his hand but his fingers slipped through hers and he disappeared, the hole he had gone through closing up again.

  “Did you just kill my boyfriend?!” Ally asked Ayesha.

  “No,” Ayesha said quickly. “I sent him home.”

  “Oh… that’s alright then.”

  The pillar vanished around them and they found themselves in a large clearing in a forest. Ayesha powered the laptop down and closed it.

  “Welcome to Buttercream Forest,” Ayesha said.

  “Where exactly is that?” Heather asked, looking around.

  “I have no idea!” Ayesha beamed at them.

  “Awesome.”

  “I thought it would be a cool place to sleep tonight.”

  “Seems like a nice place.”

  The girls set about trying to find a place to sleep for the night. Heather climbed a tree and lay, stomach down, on a fat branch, letting her limbs dangle over the side, Ayesha lay at the base of a tree, curled up in a little ball, Ally set about making a small shelter for herself out of some sticks and leaves.

  “Couldn’t just sleep in a tree?” Heather asked Ally.

  “Nope, I like my comfort,” Ally replied. “Plus, this gives me protection from anything that might come wandering in.”

  Ally crawled into the small shelter she made and closed the little door. Heather laughed and lay her head down on the branch, closing her eyes. Dan was still standing in the centre of the clearing, looking around at the girls, who were now ignoring him completely. He made his way over to the bottom of one of the trees and found a long stick. He grabbed it, sat down and then poked the ground aimlessly with it.

  “It’s going to be a long night.�
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