Lightning Streaks the Sky

Dylan had lost the bet. Which made me pretty smug, and Kevin twice as smug. Although, that took a lot of energy, and I was panting by the end of it. And then we got an unexpected visit from Thunder. Joy.

“Jenny. Round up all the new-bees and go to your houses.”, I growl, glaring as Thunder comes walking onto the cloud, straight toward me.

“No! We stick together, Melody!”, Lynn says, crossing her arms over her chest.

“Fine! But just back up!”, I explode furiously, hearing Joan snicker.

“Where is he?!!”, Joan growls in my face.

“Hmm … I don’t know a he.”

“Josh.”

And everyone was silent. I kept the glower on my face, staring Joan down.

“Wasn’t he just here a moment ago?”, Jenny asks innocently. I turn toward her sharply, waiting for Kevin to explode.

“He was here?!!!!!”, Kevin snarls.

“Of course he is!! He hasn’t shut up about her for the past year. We were about to kick him out, anyway.”, a girl who looked almost exactly like me — except for the black eyes — growls. “But I still don’t see what’s so grand about her.”

“You know, Tacey, I have a name.”, I say, forcing a smile.

“Yeah, don’t care. Just show us where you’re hiding our leader. Sebastian wants to talk to him.”, Tacey says dismissively.

“I’m not telling you anything.”, I growl, glowering at her.

“Look, you bottle-blonde wanna-bee, just tell us where you’re hiding Josh, and we won’t have to hurt you.”

“Hmm, no,” I say, making fire shoot up around her. “You won’t hurt me.”, I say, smirking. “But, Timber, Thunder, and Wood might.”, and right on cue, they come, baring their teeth and snarling.

“Ugh!!! Let me go!!!”, Tacey shrieks.

“Maybe,” I say, smirking. She shrieks at full volume, making me cover my ears and loose concentration, also letting her free. I scream at the top of my lungs, our two noises growing in volume, shattering the air around us. Eventually Tacey’s shrieks died, and she fell to her knees, clutching her head. I shake my head, my screams continuing to echo through the two clouds.

“Where. Is. Josh.”

“I don’t know. And in all honesty, I don’t frickin’ care.”, I growl, glowering at her.

“Really?”, another girl, bleach-blonde, vivid fiery eyes. “Because I’m sensing otherwise.”, she says, smirking. She screeches then, clutching her head, falling to her knees, as all the Thunders soon follow.

“Go,” I growl, stomping away angrily. I stomp into my house, slamming the door furiously. I walk into my bedroom, plopping down on my bed tiredly, and soon falling asleep.

~ ♠ ~ ♣ ~ ♠ ~

“Melody?”

“Josh?”

“Melody, I’m so sorry for all that I did to you! Just … please give me a second chance?”, Josh asks, giving me the puppy-dog eyes.

“You’re gonna have to earn it, Josh. I’m not giving in so easily!”, I say, glancing around at the darkness surrounding me. “And why are you in my dream?”

“Because Thunder’s being annoying as hell.”, Josh says, rolling his eyes. “And sorry about Tacey. She’s just angry because Kevin and I wouldn’t go out with her. And then here you come, looking almost just like her.”

“Yeah, but Kevin’s just a friend,” I say, rolling my eyes. “And you’re just a jackass.”

“Yeah, yeah. You’ve still got that same humor you had a year ago.”

“I’ll be here for eternity,” I say sarcastically, bowing. “Unless you’re planning on changing that.”

“Only if you get tired of the Lightnings.”

“Which will never happen,” I say, smirking. I spin around, walking deeper into the darkness, hearing Josh follow behind me.

“Where are you going?”, Josh yells behind me, making me smirk.

I start running through the darkness, seeing the specks of light as Josh’s footsteps pick up speed with mine. I finally break through the darkness, my smile taking up my entire face as I look around. There was the Hollywood sign, glittering up the dark night sky. I go running toward it, hearing Josh following.

“What are you doing?”, Josh yells, running right behind me. He picks me up, making me squeal.

“Josh! Put me down!”

“Not until you tell me what you’re doing!”

“Following my dream!”, I laugh, breaking free and continuing to run toward the bright Hollywood sign. Once I finally get there, Josh ran up next to me. There was a party, right behind the Hollywood sign.

“You dreamt of a party?!”

“I never went to one before,” I say, shrugging as I start dancing along to the song. Josh smirks at me, dancing next to me.

“Well, you should’ve just thrown a party yourself. I would’ve crashed it.”, Josh says, smirking at me.

“Then you would’ve been thrown out,” I say, smirking as I skip away from him. And then everything went back to the darkness.

~ ♠ ~ ♣ ~ ♠ ~

“Melody! Wake up! We’re gonna be late!”, Dylan yells, knocking on my door. I jerk awake, grabbing some random clothes, and running out of my bedroom, into my bathroom. I take the quickest shower possible, slipping on the black mini-shorts and red tank-top, and soon hopping on one leg out the door as I slip on my favorite ashy-grey sneakers. I pull my hair into a ponytail, zipping up the white mini-jacket half-way, as I hopped out the door.

“Alright! Lets get going!”, I say, already flying off the edge of the cloud, feeling my wings spread out, until I land on the ground, soon running through the streets, thankful for track.

“Forgot something,” Dylan says, throwing me my iPhone. I smirk, plugging in the headphones, checking the sports paper I had stuffed into my jacket pocket.

“Okay, football try-outs are today. During lunch.”, I say, looking at everyone.

“Are you trying out?”, Jenny asks excitedly.

“No,” I laugh, smiling as I ruffle her hair. “I’m gonna be showing Miranda that this is still my school.”

“Cheerleading?!!!”, Leo asks excitedly.

“Why yes. And I’ll hopefully still be able to make it to track.”, I say, smirking.

“Track, then cheer?”, Dylan guesses.

“Better believe it!”

“You’re such the athlete, Kendall.”, Dylan says sarcastically, as we walk into the school.

“Awww, thank you,” I say, skipping onto my first class.

“Oh, hey Kendall!”, Frankie says, throwing me a mini-football. I catch it, smirking as I throw it back. “Wanna play some football today at lunch.”

“Sure, why not. I know I’ll make the team.”, I say, smirking.

“Settle down, settle down!”, the teacher says, walking in.

♠ ♣ ♠

It was lunch, and I had made the track team with a record-breaking time. Now I was doing football, earning snickers from all of the girls in the cheerleading try-outs.

“Kendall! Catch!”, Frankie says, throwing me a football. I jump, dodging a tackle and grabbing the football.

“Gonna have to be better than that, Kev.”, I say, smirking.

“I thought you said you weren’t doing football.”, Kevin says, taking off his helmet.

“Frankie offered. And I never go back on a challenge, Kev.”, I say, throwing the football down at Dylan.

“Nice throw!”, the coach yells.

“Thanks,” I say, shrugging indifferently.

“Lets see how you tackle, though, girly.”

“Alright,” I say, smirking as I crouch down with Dylan.

“Go!!”

And I tackled Dylan to the ground, sitting on his stomach.

“You win,” Dylan grumbles.

“As always,” I say, standing up to kiss his cheek. “Now excuse me, I have cheerleading try-outs.”

“Wait! We could use a girl like you on our team!”, coach says, grabbing my arm.

“Alright, fine,” I say, shrugging.

“Great! We haven’t had a girl who could play since … umm …”

“Melody,” Dylan finishes, rolling his eyes.

“Oh, her. Yeah, we were close. She taught me everything before she died.”, I say, shrugging. “And playing football’s more entertaining than cheering for it.”

And I walked away, toward the cheerleading try-outs. Hey, who said I couldn’t try-out?

“Umm, excuse me?”, Miranda sneers.

“I’m trying-out,” I say, smirking.

♠ ♣ ♠

I had made all three teams. Track was Friday, and football was Saturday. Right now, I was watching Kevin try-out for football.

“Go Kevin!!!”, I yell, smirking. All the other girls snicker at me, but I didn’t care. I had all my friends here. I was good. Dylan had made the team without even having to do anything.

“So, Kendall, coach says you gotta practice.”, Dylan says, rolling his eyes.

“You mean, get the boys to chase after me?”

“Yeah, pretty much. You made the track team with a record time.”

“Alright,” I say, shrugging as I walk onto the field. “Betcha can’t catch me! Betcha can’t catch me!”

And I was running. With about every boy in the school chasing after me. I smirk, ducking as Frankie jumps at me.

“Too slow,” and I was off, running from them all. Even perverted Leo had joined the chase, and he wasn’t even trying-out. I run past all the cheerleaders, kicking the fence and making them jump back in shrieks. Dylan gives me the thumbs up, as I quickly do a flip in the air.

“I’m gonna get yah!!”, Kurt yells, right beside me. I flip right over him, ruffling his hair and smirking.

“Keep dreaming, shorty!”, I yell over my shoulder, smirking as I jump over the fence, having about the entire school of boys run into it. Well, all but Kevin, who jumped over the fence and started chasing me.

“I’m gonna get you just like yesterday!”, Kevin growls, coming up behind me.

“That was a lucky shot, Kev,” I laugh, hoping back into the field with Kevin on my tail.

“Oh, yeah?”, Kevin laughs as he tackles me.

“Nice,” coach says, smirking at us. Kevin quickly gets off of me, as Dylan jumps over the fence, running toward me.

“I’m fine, Dyl. I’ve taken a harder beating before.”, I say, standing up. “Remember that wrestling match … with that fat guy?”

“Ooh, yeah. That broke just about every bone.”

“And I still didn’t quit,” I say, smirking. “I beat that guy, though, didn’t I?”

“In a boxing match,” Dylan chuckles.

“You wrestled, and boxed?”, coach asks.

“I did everything. Although, soccer is my favorite.”

“A kicker? Well, lets see just how good you are,” and I caught the ball he threw at me, immediately kicking it clear across the field.

“Can you catch?”

“’Course,” I say, passing Dylan a ball and already running down the field as he throws it, catching it and running clear across the field, avoiding tackles and whistles all the way. “Score!!”, I cheer, laughing slightly. I fling my arms in the air, completely aware that I was covered from head to toe in mud. But I didn’t care. I was having the time of my life. Being me.

“Yeah! Go Kendall!”, Dylan yells, smirking at me.

♠ ♣ ♠

Because of all the people who had tried out for sports, lunch was extra long. I had pulled my ponytail out, and been getting congratulated all through lunch.

“You did great, Kendall,” Dylan says, as we exchange high-fives.

“Yeah, it was just so much fun to play again. I had nearly forgotten how addicting it was to play sports!”, I say, sitting down with my tray of food.

“Why do girls give you their phone numbers?”, Kevin asks, staring at the pieces of papers.

“Because you’re on the football team,” I say, rolling my eyes. “Speaking of which, how many girls have asked you out?”

“About half the school,” Dylan grumbles. “Again.”

“You mean this happens a lot?”, Kevin asks.

“Hold on, Kev. I don’t see Miranda’s number.”, I say, reading all the papers. “She still thinks she’s Queen.”

“Looks like Kendall’s gonna be getting in a fight later today.”, Dylan says, smirking.

“No! Not unless she — alright, yes I am!”, I growl as Miranda walks over here.

“Congrats on making the team, Kendall. Just too bad you’ll be busy getting … dirty.”, Miranda snickers, picking up a muddy strand of my hair.

“Yeah, well, in some cases, we think it’s hot for a girl to run around and get covered in mud.”, Ash says, glaring at Miranda.

“Yeah, whatever loser.”

And that’s when I lost it. I punched Miranda furiously, feeling his nose break as her blood trickled on my knuckles.

“Don’t you ever call my friend a loser!!!”, I growl, glowering at her.

“You’re right! Because the only loser here is you, whore!!”, Miranda sneers. I punch her again.

“You know, last time I checked, that was exactly what you called Melody. After she beat you in that cheerleading competition.”, I growl.

“Melody was just everybody’s whore!! She had to be best!!! She couldn’t stand for anybody to be better at anything!!”, Miranda yells. “She competed, and challenged, until she was the best at everything!!!!!!”

“She wasn’t the best at being a whore!!!”

“Oh, you wanna bet?”, Miranda sneers. I punched her, and was immediately regretting it as the principal’s voice roared through the cafeteria.

“Miss Anderson!!! Report to my office!!!”, the principal roars. I wince, walking away sadly, hearing Miranda snicker at me.

♠ ♣ ♠

“Sir! You can’t do that! I’ve been waiting all summer to play!”, I beg, knowing it was no use.

“I’m sorry, miss Anderson, but this is what you get for pinching miss Moore.”

“She’s been harassing my friend and I since we got here! She’s called my friend, Ashton Stryder, a loser. And she called me a whore!!”, I say, standing up from my chair.

“And I will talk to miss Moore about that, miss Anderson. But you are no longer allowed to play any sports this year!”

I sigh, nodding. I stand up, walking out the door, and toward the front door of the school. I had spent the rest of the day arguing with the principal about that.

“Aww, poor baby,” Miranda snickers.

“Why don’t you just get the damn hell away from me, Miranda?!!!”, I snarl furiously. “And I damn sure you don’t wanna broken leg, and an arm to match!!”

Miranda flips her hair, rolling her eyes as she walks away. I walk down the street, past my friends.

“Mel, what’s wrong?”, Dylan asks, running up beside me.

“I’m not allowed to play any sports for the entire year,” I say through my teeth, staring at the concrete sidewalk.

“What? He can’t do that! If he knew who you really were —”

“Then what? I’d be known as a liar, and still be banned from doing anything! I’ve waited an entire damned year to play! And now thanks to that bitch I can’t do anything!!!”, I growl, flying up to the cloud. I stomp straight into my house, slamming the door in everyone’s faces. I wasn’t in the mood to talk to anyone.