Markings

There Aibell stood, in front of her apartment, early in the morning. She had her hands buried in her coat pockets and shivered against the cool, fall breeze. She hated having to wear her uniform, considering it consisted of a skirt, and, for winter, a sweater with the schools name on it in tiny letters.

Finally, after a long enough wait, Ash and Ollie came outside, car keys in hand. They had a small parking lot next to the apartments that they kept the car, so the three of them began to head in that direction.

"So, how'd you feel about showering with pretty boy in the next room?" Ash asked, smirking. He laughed at Aibell's sour expression.

"He didn't try anything stupid, if that's what you're suggesting," she snapped. "Actually, he and Alice were still asleep when I went in to shower."

"Alice," Ollie said dreamily. "Now she is a classy girl. Very pretty."

"Dunno, she's cute. But I have my eyes on Jennifer, that pretty cheerleader in our grade," Ash said, shrugging his shoulders. "I can't say that she's to classy, though..."

"That's because she spreads her legs for everyone in sight," Aibell explained, rolling her eyes. "I swear, even girls. She made out with her best friend at some boys party, just for the attention."

"Well, when it talk about her like that, she doesn't sound that great. But, if you get past those little... details... Jennifer isn't that bad. She's a straight A student, and her parents are filthy rich!"

"Wow, money and looks... She must be just wonderful, eh?" Aibell laughed. She couldn't picture either of her brothers with cheerleaders as much as she could picture them with nice girls like Alice. Of course, only one of them seemed to be into the sweet and caring type, and that was Ollie.

Ollie and Ash had their fair share of girlfriends, but not many stuck around for too long. Girls just didn't usually understand their sense of humor, so they left often. But the boys didn't mind, because they had an advantage. They were twins, and, for some reason, the girls at their school loved that.

The drive to school was loud and pretty bumpy for Aibell, considering her brothers always purposely drove horribly to scare her. Once they finally arrived at school, Aibell hurried inside to meet her friend.

"There you are!" Mindy called, leaning against Aibell's locker. "My little crumpet!"

"I've asked you not to call me that," Aibell said with a laugh, elbowing her best friend. "What did I miss yesterday while I was out?"

"A brutal fight. One kid ended up dead. Tragic story."

"You're not very amusing."

"Amusing. I love your vocabulary. It just tickles me pink."

"I could say the same for you. Tickle me pink. What are we, 68 years old?"

Mindy and Aibell chatted on their way to class, and things were seeming normal for a little while. But then, Aibell started to notice that she was getting weird stares.

"What are they staring at?" Aibell asked, leaning in closer to Mindy.

"I dunno. Don't ask me," Mindy mumbled back, shrugging her shoulders and looking around the halls.

Finally, someone who had been staring approached the two girls.

"Aibell, hi, I'm Colin," he said, sticking out a hand and shaking hers quickly. "Out of curiosity, were you really in the hospital with a rare skin disease?"

"What?" Aibell stared at him in shock. Rare skin disease? Hardly!

"I mean, that's just what your brothers told me..."

Aibell's face turned red with anger, and her blood boiled. She stomped her foot and turned away from Colin before he could say another word, dragging Mindy down the hall.

"I can't believe my brothers," Aibell hissed through her teeth. "I swear, I can never take off one sick day, because they'll make a ton of crazy stories up to make their lives sound more interesting!"

"I'm just surprised people believe them," Mindy chuckled. "Look, don't worry about it. Your brothers pull stuff like this all the time!"

"Yeah, well, they should lay off!"

"Calm down, my little crumpet, your brothers are just having a good laugh. I'm sure you can make it the rest of the year-"

"Oh, that reminds me. Starting tomorrow, I'm going to be staying with family for two weeks, so I'll be out of school," Aibell said quickly, looking around as if she was interested suddenly in the kids around her.

"You're what?" Mindy gave her a confused look, followed by a shake of the head. "You can't just drop school for two weeks, Aibes."

"Look, I'm still getting all my school work, and I'll be able to come back as soon as I'm done with the family crap."

"Why exactly are you staying with family? There has to be a reason."

Aibell chewed her lip, thinking hard.

"Well, my grandmother, over in London, just died... And I have to go... help with the funeral." Bad idea.

"Oh, baby!" Mindy grabbed onto her friend and pulled her into a big hug. "I had no idea! I'm so sorry! That must be heart breaking!"

"I mean... I-I didn't really know her well! I only go to London for the summer, and-"

"Still! Oh, jeez, that's so awful!"

Eventually, Aibell managed to change the topic and get them moving again to class. She didn't want to talk about this fake dead grandma anymore. It was weird and depressing, and she didn't like lying to Mindy. But what was she supposed to say? "Yeah, I'm being taken away from home by these two teenagers because I woke up one afternoon with mysterious marks on my arm. I have no idea where I'm going or who these people are, but I'll be back in two weeks!"

That would just go swimmingly, wouldn't it?