Of Thieves And Do Gooders

Most people would wake up in a disoriented state, looking around the room wondering what had happened the day before. But not me. I jolted upright with panic grasping tightly at my throat. It was just like I had blinked for a really long time rather than fallen asleep.

I had told two other people about my secret! Willingly! I was stupid. I was an idiot, a bumbling, drooling, helmet-wearing moron.

“Shit…” I murmured and threw myself out of my bed and into the bathroom, where I slammed and locked the door. I stared into the mirror with a grimace, all of my bruises and cuts never seemed to vanish no matter how many days I woke up and looked in that mirror. Of course, I knew why that was. But still, I didn’t like seeing my face beaten up like a tenderized steak.

There was a soft knock at the door, followed by Hayden’s voice, “Ray? You all right?”

It was only seven, what was he doing up?…Oh…That might have had something to do with my slamming of the bathroom door…Oops.

“Yeah. I’m fine,” I said with a grunt, and swept some of my hair out of my face with my hand. I sighed and waited for Hayden to answer, but somehow I knew he wasn’t leaving with a simple reassurance like that.

“You sure?” I could hear the hint in his voice that said he wanted that door open, and being the thief that he was, locks weren’t obstacles for him.

I strode over to the door and yanked it open, revealing a disgruntled, shirtless Hayden, his golden hair sticking up in several directions. I momentarily forgot what I had been about to say, but found it lodged away in my memory, “Yep. I’m all good, except for the fact that I’m waiting for the right opportunity to slit my wrists.” I added at Hayden’s panicked expression, “because I told my secret. And what’s the point of a secret if everyone else knows about it?” I demanded and sauntered out of the room, then paused to whirl around and look at Hayden. “That is, of course, if Damion and Leon thought I was psychotic and didn’t believe me at all?” I asked with hopefully raised eyebrows.

Hayden scratched the back of his head with one hand, obviously not noticing that he still wasn’t wearing a shirt--which was fine by me. “They didn’t believe you first--”

“Yes!” I shouted, pumping my fist into the air and dancing around the room slightly, “My secret! My precious, wonderful, amazing secret is saf--”

“But I told them the truth.” Hayden flinched as my celebration ceased and I turned to look at him with a blank expression.

I didn’t say anything after that. I walked calmly over to my closet and began rummaging around the bottom, picking up random objects and examining them before returning them to the depths of my closet. I held up a shoe and shook my head and tossed it to the side.

I heard Hayden occupy the space behind me and hesitate for a second before asking, “Ray…? Come on, say something, give me a reaction at least…” When I didn’t respond he asked, “What are you doing?”

“Oh, nothing important, just looking for a suitable item to kill you with.” I held up a belt suddenly and nodded to myself, that would work. I stood up and stretched the belt out in front of me.

Hayden took three hurried steps backwards, which amused me and said, “Hey, not funny Ray.” He looked completely serious. Which, to me, was completely hilarious.

“I didn’t say it was funny. Now, would you rather be strangled to death or stabbed? Because I could go find a knife and--” Hayden cut me off by clapping a hand over my mouth and he pulled the belt out of my hands with his free hand.

“You were the one that told them anyway,” he reminded me, tossing the belt to the side to be forgotten moments later.

I pried his hand away from my mouth so I could reply, “Yes, but if they doubted what I had said I would have lied, you know, the logical thing to do!” I spat, crossing my arms over my chest

“Listen Ray, it’s not a big deal. So, Dame and Lee know, so what? If anything they have a right to know anyway, they’re your friends. If you can’t trust your friends who can you trust?” Hayden asked carefully.

Damn it, he came into this argument prepared, I was spoiled and used to arguing with morons. Unfortunately for me, Hayden was no moron. I sighed and rubbed my forehead absently. “I know, they probably should have heard about it the moment you figured it out…” I grumbled and then turned to stare out the window as I said my next words. “But the thing is, I didn’t want anyone to know. It was supposed to be just me, by myself, going through life for myself without having to worry about anyone else. The more people I have in my life, the more complicated things get,” I stated grumpily.

There was a moment of silence, in which my words sunk in, and then Hayden said, “Well, maybe Lee and Dame didn’t believe me. So. There’s a chance that your secret’s still safe…well…you know, aside from me knowing.” He shrugged as I looked at him again.

“You’re giving me false hope,” I muttered but smiled despite myself. At least he was trying to make me feel better. It wasn’t working, but still, it was a nice gesture.

“Is there any other kind?” Hayden asked with raised eyebrows and I chuckled slightly.

I snorted. “I guess not.”

“Alright then, how about we forget about this for the moment. And you get ready to go to class?

“Sure, sure.” I waved him off and sauntered over to the bathroom to take care of my daily rituals.

______________________________________________

As usual, Hayden and I met Damion and Leon at English and went to the same classes from there. And neither of them said a single word about me. They said plenty to me, every word being a jeer or a joke, but that was normal. I, on the other hand looked like a paranoid crack head. I constantly stared at them suspiciously every time they made a joke, hesitating for a half a second before actually laughing or joking back.

The day seemed to be going perfectly, Mathematics left me with--surprisingly--no homework and I was off to work in the stables during my lunch hour, as was required every time I had a free moment. Damion, Leon and Hayden had decided to accompany me, both to make fun of me as I cleaned out stalls and lounge about mockingly as they ate. Great friends, really.

Finally, I stopped mid-scoop and dropped my shovel into the stall I had been cleaning just as Leon decided to make another “poop joke”. “Alright, that’s it!” I shouted throwing my hands in the air. “I’m a girl. Okay? If you knew that, great, if you didn’t than I really don’t care anymore. Just stop acting like nothing changes!” I half-pleaded for the sake of my sanity.

Leon and Damion both blinked as they contemplated something, then Damion spoke first. “I figured as much, you know, with you going all loopy last night, and it did explain a lot. But I’m not going to start treating you differently because of it,” Damion said with a shrug.

I blinked rapidly, sifting through his answer then looked at Leon as he added on, “Yeah. You might be a…um…different gender than we expected, but nothing does change. You’re still our friend,” he assured me with a shrug, hopping off of the stall door he had been sitting on.

Ahh! Sentimental moment! Disengage, disengage!

I waited as a minute stretched between us and then I sighed and finally said, “You guys are freaks.” Excellent way to deescalate a moment, call them names. I’m a genius.

Leon chortled at my response and nodded in agreement. “Yeah, no doubt about that one, but at least we aren’t cross-dressers,” he jeered and grinned as I glared at him.

However, before I could respond, something stomped in behind me and I pressed my back to the stall door, cursing profusely as I realized I had latched the door from the other side. I felt my weight shift completely against the door as I caught sight of the huge creature that had lumbered into the stall. It was by far the largest gelding I had ever seen in my life with a buckskin coat and a deadly appearance from my mere height of five feet three inches.

“G-guys,” I murmured, moving slowly, as if the horse’s vision was based on movement. “O-open the door.”

The gelding’s ears twitched forward curiously as he sniffed my hair indifferently, blowing hot breath down over my face where I swear to God something wet struck me. I flinched like I had been slapped and fumbled over the side of the door before finding the latch and freeing myself from the small room, no thanks to my so-called “friends”.

My heart was racing unnecessarily, while Leon, Damion and Hayden got a kick out of the look of horror on my face. Of course, I was much too slow to actually catch the three, since they were running the instant I was out of the stall, and howling with laughter as they did so. But I would be able to catch them eventually, because they had to sleep sometime.
______________________________________________

Two days passed before Derek realized I had relinquished my library duty and discovered that I was going to the stables in the dead of night instead. It was a worse trade off if you asked me, since I was out in the open, with less walls to dart around and hide behind.

A week passed and my curse of stable duty was lifted, and I was free of any encounters with Derek, besides the usual public “teasing” as it seemed to others. I can’t say anyone truly felt sorry for me though, besides Hayden, Leon and Damion, but they had a good reason to be pissed. Everyone else didn’t know any better, and besides, if Derek was focusing on me, he left everyone else alone. I was a godsend to nerds everywhere.

A month passed and my combat skills were improving scarcely, but at least I was able to dodge better than any junior in my class, and my reflexes were twice as good as Damion’s. He was a little butt hurt about it at first, considering he used to be the one with the best reflexes, but he shook it off, still content in knowing that he was the master of Guile and Agility. And, he informed me, he could actually fix a car if he wanted to while my knowledge prevented me from even replacing a flat tire.

Leon helped tremendously in building my physique, showing me workouts that would improve my upper body strength and he even volunteered to help improve my combat skills in general, especially with staves though, since I was apparently “so terrible that squirrels were laughing at me” as he put it.

Hayden on the other hand, seemed to not help me at all besides hanging out with me and keeping his mouth shut. Of course, it only seemed this way to normal people who didn’t notice every little insignificant detail around them. I noticed when someone would put glue on my chair and magically want to trade seats with me before I sat down, grinning good-naturedly with a missing tooth. Or, when there were eraser marks where my previous math answer would have been. He did subtle things that I noticed, even if he would never admit doing them.

More than once I was cornered by Derek and his two lackeys, because apparently I had “sent my bodyguards” after Derek. It was to my great pleasure that Derek seemed to have just as many perpetually unhealed wounds as I did. But it didn’t make my bruises and cuts feel any better. Not to mention that Hayden noticed every new bruise I had, even if it was under my clothing. I didn’t tell him that the newest fights were because of Damion, Leon and him though, I figured they were only trying to help, and they were doing much more damage than I was anyway. It was better to let them beat the living crap out of Derek in secret.

Other than that, I fell into a groove, and even succeeded in writing out a schedule for myself, just to keep everything straight in my mind. I wrote it as such:

8:30-9:00: Wake up

9:00-9:30: Hygienic stuff (deodorant, shower, etc.)

9:45-10:45: English with Mrs. Lilany

10:45-11:55: Mathematics with Mr. Jager

11:55-12:00: Lunch Hour

12:00-12:05: Five Minute Passing Period

12:05-1:00: Combat Training/Random Activities with Mr. Jager

1:00-1:55: Etiquette with Headmaster Wilkins

1:55-2:55: Homework/Free Time

2:55-3:55: World History/War Tactics with Mr. Jager

3:55-4:45: Anatomy with Mrs. Lilany

4:45-5:50: Homework/Free Time

5:50-6:50: Agility/Guile with Mrs. Lilany

6:50-7:45: Prepare for dinner/Free Time

8:00-9:00: Dinner Time

9:00-11:30: Fall Asleep

You might have read that and you might have just skipped over it to get to this part of the story, regardless, that was how my day carried on most of the time. You know, except for the off days when Derek would single me out in a dark hallway somewhere.

Another thing that I found myself dreading and then also looking forward to at the same time, was the weekend. I was looking forward to it, because every weekend I got was a free weekend, since the newest students weren’t required to participate in the extra work that most students were subject to. And on the other hand, Damion, Leon and Hayden got pulled for nearly every chance of weekend work, leaving me to either hide in my room when Derek had no where better to be, or--if I was feeling extra bold--I would run to the parking lot and take Damion’s “kid” for a ride into town. While I was in town I spent most of my time at the graveyard, since I had discovered a convenient tree near my brother’s grave, which provided an exceptional amount of shade with the perfect grass to sit on.

When I wasn’t doing either of the those things, I was hanging out with Laura Harding, who had found me first, I have no idea how she knew where my dorm room was. I wasn’t as wary as I once was when talking to her and I told her absolutely nothing about my past, but she informed me about practically everything in her life. I felt semi-guilty that I told her nothing about myself, but, only slightly so.

After the first time though, I learned not to tell Hayden about talking to her, since he got strangely defensive if I tried to mention her at all. Freak.

My days felt like they were starting to run together, until finally, something different happened, well something notable, anyway.

I was laying casually on my bed, counting the stitches in my bedspread, listening happily to my iPod, which blared from the speakers laying throughout the room.

“…First date, electricity
When you walk in, you suck my circuitry
Back it up, with attitude
When people sweat it out, you always play it cool…”

The door crashed against the wall, causing me to jump up and trip over my feet, thus landing on the floor.

“…Do you kiss on a first date?
He-ey, do you kiss on a first date?
‘Cause I do, cause I do, cause I do…”

“Ray, I--” There was a pause, and the door closed. “Where the hell’d you go?” Hayden demanded and I considered crawling under the bed, maybe hiding until he left. He sounded like he was going on a rampage, so it would be in my best interest to steer clear of him, especially if I was the source of his rampage.

I slowly pulled my foot toward me, so that it was hidden behind the bed as well, but that gave me away, “Ray!” Hayden barked and I heard his quick footsteps.

I scrambled quickly under my bed, barely fitting and feeling my slight claustrophobia kicking in, but I was safely away from Hayden’s wrath. I disappeared into the blackness and heard Hayden’s knees hit the hardwood floors just before my blankets were flipped onto my bed and his face appeared near my torso. “What are you doing?” he asked sharply, looking more annoyed.

“Hiding, obviously,” I retorted, scooting away from him slightly.

“Get out of there,” Hayden demanded sternly.

“No,” I scoffed, wishing there was a carpet that I could dig my fingernails into.

“Now, Ray.”

“No!”

“Why not?” he asked, scowling and becoming obviously impatient.

“You’re gonna yell at me,” I pointed out knowledgably.

“For Gods--” Hayden got up on his knees and then on his feet. “I’m not going to yell at you,” he assured me, but I didn’t believe him, he was a damn good liar.

“Liar, I don’t believe you. Remember? I shouldn’t trust thieves,” I said, throwing his words back in his face. Well since I was level with his feet, I supposed I was throwing the words at his feet.

“You stubborn--!” Hayden cut himself short and dropped the blankets back over the side of the bed. Haha, success! I knew stubbornness would go a long way with him, obviously this proves that through perseverance, one can--What in the hell?

I nearly shit myself when the blankets flew upwards, this time near my feet. Knowing full well where the quick movement was going, I curled my feet in toward myself just as Hayden’s hand shot under the bed. To my great embarrassment, Hayden started to feel under the bed, spitting curses as he tried to locate my feet and I yelped as his hand very carefully bumped against my butt. “Perv!” I roared in outrage and downright embarrassment, twisting painfully under the bed so that I could pound on his hand with my fist.

“Ow!” Hayden’s hand disappeared from under the bed and I smirked in triumph, despite how red my face was.

“Goddamn it Ray!” Hayden shouted, on his knees from what I could see.

“You touched my ass!” I objected as if it was obvious and that I had every right to retaliate.

“Well I can’t see shit down there, do you expect me to know what’s your ass and what’s your kneecap?” Hayden shouted back defensively, sounding embarrassed despite himself. “None of this would have even happened if you would have just stopped being so damn stubborn!” he pointed out sharply.

“I don’t care! I’m still blaming you, perv!” I exclaimed, trying to cool down my heated face.

Hayden growled his annoyance and reached under the bed again, this time locking onto my ankle instantly and then he tugged. I yelped as I realized my head was wedged between the floor and a metal bar on the bottom of my bed. When I didn’t budge, Hayden grabbed my other ankle and tugged again, a little harder this time.

“Oww!” I cried, kicking my feet wildly. “Stop, stop, stop!” I ordered and Hayden let go of one of my ankles to leer under the bed at me.

“What?” he demanded irritably.

“Do I look like Barbie? You can’t just pop my head off and put it back on later!” I shouted back, and elaborated, “My head’s stuck.”

Hayden let go of my other ankle now, and I rolled my body from side to side to emphasize my plight, “See? I’m not going anywhere,” I grumbled.

“Shit, Ray…” He sighed and stood up, disappearing from my sight, which was easy to do, since my line of vision was pretty limited at the moment.

“Hey…Hey! Where are you going?” I shouted heatedly, not keen on the idea of getting out of my unexpected trap on my own. From the silence that followed, I had to assume that he was already gone. Great, just fan-freaking-tastic! I swiveled my head a little and groaned as I realized that my neck was starting to hurt while my head remained painfully immobile.

“Fuck!” I shouted in something of a whimper and shifted so that my shoulder was pressing against the bottom of the bed, maybe if I could just, lift it slightly…I swore numerous times as I realized the bottom of my bed wasn’t completely solid, and had a weird cotton-like substance covering the bottom--Hell, what was that called? A box…something? The point is the cotton-thing ripped and my shoulder struck the wood on the other side. Not freeing my now aching head even a little bit.

Now, not only was my head stuck, but my neck hurt, my shoulder hurt and I had ripped part of my bed. This was a dandy way to start out my afternoon.

Then, the door to my room opened and footsteps signaled the entrance of several people. Shit, this was going to be unnecessarily embarrassing.

“Seriously Hayden?” Leon sounded like he had been laughing recently and I scowled as I heard his knees strike the floor by my bed.

Here it comes…

The blankets flipped up onto my bed and Leon’s face appeared directly in front of my face…how convenient. I scowled at him as he fell onto his side, howling with laughter.

The bed surged above me, squeezing my head slightly and I shouted in surprise as the pressure alarmed me. Then, Damion’s grinning face appeared over the side of my bed, speculating on how I had gotten in the predicament. “Wow, you really are stuck aren’t you?” Damion drawled mockingly, clearly more amused by the situation than me.

“Shut up. Unless you’re here to help me out, you can leave,” I told him icily, vaguely aware that my shoulder was still in the hole I had punched in the underside of my bed.

“Ouch. You want some ice for that burn?” Leon asked Damion as he eyed me with a similar grin.

“Nah, it’ll heal, but Ray’ll be stuck under that bed until she decides to play nice.” Damion’s head disappeared as he rolled off of the bed and joined Leon on the floor. “So...?” Damion raised a curious eyebrow, “What do we say when we want something to happen?” he asked, patronizing me.

I scowled and wriggled slightly, my shoulder ripping more of the cottony layer and I swore before actually answering, “How about ‘help me before I rip your arms off and beat you with them’?” I snarled, fully aware that that wasn’t what he had wanted to hear.

Damion made a tsk sound and shook his head, “If that’s playing nice, then Leon here must be my pet moose.” He patted Leon’s shoulder.

“Hayden!” I shouted, knowing he couldn’t be far off, “I know you’re over there, come help me pl--” I cut myself short, snapping my mouth shut and glaring at Damion, who looked like a kid on the edge of their seat. Pfft, hell would freeze over before he heard me say the “magic word”.

Hayden’s head poked around the side of the bed, joining Leon and Damion’s faces in my limited sight range. “I dunno Ray, if you want to get out of there you might want to kiss and make up with Damion. I can’t lift a queen size bed on my own, and I know Leon’s a walking car jack, but, it really is a three man job,” he said, sounding knowledgeable.

Urg. I was stuck under my bed and they were torturing me! What kind of friends were they?

I sucked in a deep breath, coughing once as I inhaled dust and asked in an even voice, “Damion, will you please get me out from under this bed?” I snapped my teeth together at the last moment and Damion rose a curious eyebrow.

“Of course Ray, thank you for your manners, I will gladly help you.” Damion sounded like he was on the verge of laughing and I vowed to tackle him the moment I was free of my bed.

Leon and Hayden snickered as they stood up as well, and I saw Leon’s feet near my face as he readied himself to pick up his portion of the bed.

“On three,” Hayden declared, sounding like he was on my other side, a half a second later, “Three!” and the bed was lifted, my head was free and I darted out from under the bed with a triumphant grin.

My three friends dropped the bed onto the ground again, and I completely blindsided Damion, tackling him into Leon, who then found himself in a tangle of limbs as I fought to pin Damion to the ground. In a matter of minutes, however, and I found myself in the exact opposite position, pinned to the ground by Damion, his green eyes dancing with amusement. “Now, that isn’t what I consider playing nice, Ray-Ray,” he teased, his hands holding my shoulders to the ground, while he straddled my stomach. Leon had disentangled himself and was grinning down at me and Damion, his eyes darting between the two of us.

I scowled and then managed to muster a smile out of some crevice as I said in a thoughtful tone, “You know if you still thought I was a guy, you would feel so gay right now.”

Damion blinked rapidly for a moment and then lifted himself away from me, his brows furrowing as he contemplated my words. “Then I suppose it’s a good thing you’re really a girl,” he hummed in a low tone, sounding almost like he was…Nah, not Damion…he wouldn’t…flirt with me…would he?

“Jesus, if you guys wanna do that, why don’t you get a room, that isn’t mine.” Hayden scoffed as Damion helped me to my feet.

“Whatever Hayden, you jealous or something?” I retorted with a snort, “’Cause I’m sure Damion wouldn’t mind flirting with you too.” I nudged Damion’s side playfully and his face turned a slight shade of pink.

“I was not flirting,” he replied, sounding a little too defensive as he denied the act.

There was an awkward silence, as Hayden frowned to himself, Damion stared at the floor and Leon’s gaze proceeded to dart between Damion and I. “So,” I said and everyone looked up, “What’d you come in here for in the first place?” I asked Hayden with a raised eyebrow, “I mean, besides to yell at me about something.”

Hayden blinked rapidly as he tried to remember, and then his eyes lit up, “Oh! Who are you taking to the Etiquette Ball?” he demanded, his old anger refreshed by the thought, and I knew that he already knew my answer.

“Er…” I looked at Damion and Leon expectantly, as if they would save me from his wrath.

“Don’t look at me like that!” Leon objected, waving his hands innocently in front of himself. “I’ve already got my date, and so does Damion. You’re all alone on this one.”

Thanks, really sticking up for me there, I thought sourly.

“I haven’t exactly asked anyone, quite yet,” I told him in a dignified tone.

“Didn’t think so. You do know that, the rehearsal for entrances and dancing are tomorrow night, right? You have to have a date for it--And a tux of course…wait…you do at least have a tux, right?” Hayden eyed me suspiciously, which made it very difficult to lie.

Truthfully, I hadn’t given the Ball much thought since the Headmaster had very casually mentioned it a month ago. And had anyone else noticed that the word “rehearsal” had the word “hearse” in it? I don’t think that’s a coincidence, just for the record. I’m going to want to be in a hearse by the end of this whole “Ball” thing.

“Not…exactly,” I muttered, shamefaced.

There was a moment of silence and Hayden shook his head sadly. “Alright, that’s it, we’re getting you a tux. Tonight. But the whole ‘date’ thing, you’ll have to figure that out on your own.” Hayden sounded like he was scolding a child and I shrugged.

“Find a date by tonight? Piece of cake,” I scoffed, considering several people before I realized they might already have dates. “I’ll ask Headmaster Wilkins about it in Etiquette.”

“In that case, we should start heading over to the combat field--unless, that is, Ray-Ray isn’t up to getting a few new bruises,” Leon drawled the nickname out and I glared pointedly at him, while Damion covered his face with one hand, realizing his mistake now.

“Then I guess getting some bruises from Ray-Ray will be pretty embarrassing for you,” I snapped challengingly, causing Leon to raise an eyebrow at the threat.

“Oh. It’s on,” he said, pushing me toward the door.