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| | “I'll learn!” promised Chloe, her grin broader than ever. | | “I'll learn!” promised Chloe, her grin broader than ever. |
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| − | =='''What is Love?'''==
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| − | Jason looked out the window and sighed. There she was again--- Judy Nesmith. His sister's best friend... and his first love. He wasn't sure when he'd fallen for her, but, thinking back, it had been a while now. She'd been so pathetic and sad when she first started staying over at the Jeong residence-- his heart had gone out to her, the more so when he realized how incredibly smart she was. He'd wanted to help her, to make her smile... to impress her with his kindness and intelligence and ability. But it had always been in vain. He'd tried telling her how he felt as best he could, but he could never find the right words. He'd hoped, as clever as she was, that she could figure out his feelings for her, but it never happened. No matter what he did, whenever he saw her, she was with Hana, oblivous to his feelings for her. It didn't help that Hana's gang turned up a little too often, either-- they'd started out by ignoring him or regarding him contemptuously, but lately, it felt like they were deliberately sabotaging his efforts to get closer to Judy. At least Hana herself wasn't interfering. He wasn't sure what he could do if she did-- he didn't like to admit how frightening she could be, but she was. He found himself frequently wishing that Hana would find a boyfriend already, as well-- it might keep her busy, giving him a better chance with Judy. If he could only get up the courage.
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| − | And there was Judy, outside. With Hana, and several of Hana's hangers-on. Again.
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| − | "Goddamn ''bastard!''" snarled Grace as she threw her cell phone down at the ground hard enough to break it. "After all that, he's ''breaking up'' with me! What if I really ''am...'' you know..."
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| − | Sorcha shook her head. "You have got the worst luck with men, Grace. D'you want us to invite Timmy-boy over for a little boot party?"
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| − | "No, damnit," Grace groaned. "No, he's just like the rest of 'em. One little hint--"
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| − | "One broken Trojan--"
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| − | "One hint that he might have to take some responsibility for something in his life, and Tim's gone. Just like every other boy I've gone out with, damnit." Grace kicked the remains of her phone along the street.
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| − | "You've had better luck than me, though," Sorcha pointed out. "I can't get two dates with one guy."
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| − | "Maybe. But I fall for them more than you do, too. And they always either play around with other girls, or run out on me!" Grace snarled. "Damnit, isn't there anything better?"
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| − | "Well," Sorcha grinned, "if you was to ask Judy, now..."
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| − | "Not an option," said Grace, firmly. "I like boys. Period. And there are no good ones, anywhere."
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| − | "You might just be right, there... you might just be right."
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| − | "All right. I'll see you at eight," said Blue, closing her phone.
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| − | Ruby shook her head. "We're on our way to meet the others, Blue. This might run late, and are you really going to go on a date after, ah..." She glanced around the crowded bus. ''"Business?'' You won't really have time."
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| − | "I'm not," answered Blue firmly. "I'm standing him up. His pride needs to take a hit, or he'll think that he's in charge." As far as Blue was concerned, this was not an option-- if she was dating someone, what she said, went.
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| − | Or if it wasn't going to be that way, whoever she was dating had better damn well stand up for himself.
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| − | "If I treated boys the way that you do, Blue, I'd never have a boyfriend," said Ruby.
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| − | "And instead you've got Justin, who is entirely weak and useless," replied Blue. "Does he ever do anything but what you want?"
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| − | "Now wait just a minute, Blue," said Ruby, angrily. "That's exactly what you're trying to turn John into!"
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| − | "A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of simple minds."
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| − | Tilly tried to conceal her disappointment as she approached the others. She shouldn't have been surprised that Judy was already talking to Hana, of course, and she didn't want to get in the way of Judy's feelings, if Hana returned them. But Hana seemed entirely oblivous to Judy's feelings, just as Judy seemed to not notice Jason's attraction.
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| − | ''Really,'' she thought, ''this entire gang is one big soap opera. Malika likes Jason. Jason likes Judy. Judy likes Hana. I like Hana. Hana likes... well, I don't know. Fighting, I guess. And then there's Blue and her boys, and Grace and ''her'' boys... at least Ruby's been halfway steady with Justin, even if he is a total wimp... and pretty much none of them have noticed when somebody likes them. I don't see how they miss it. I'm pretty sure ''I'd'' notice if somebody liked me... maybe I should write a poem about that. Oh, God-- here comes Chloe... I hope she doesn't...''
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| − | Malika couldn't help but laugh as Chloe put Tilly in an arm bar. Chloe's behavior, while erratic, was still pretty funny at times, and she seemed to have latched onto Tilly as the perfect person to torment in strange way, like now, as she tried to force a Hello Kitty temporary tatoo onto Tilly's arm. ''Well, Tilly really needs to learn to stand up to her better. At least she's stopped bothering Emma...'' Emma had spent the night with Malika's family again, and was watching Tilly and Chloe wrestle with amusement.
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| − | ''That's good. I wonder if...'' Malika looked up at the window to the Hana's apartment. Sure enough, there was Jason, looking down on him. ''Jason... he's so nice.'' She waved up at him, and his face disappeared instantly. ''Shy, too. And clueless. Like Hana.'' Malika looked at Hana, who was laughing as she talked to Judy.
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| − | ''I think I've been friends with Hana longer than anybody but Judy. I gues I'm kind of clueless, too-- I didn't see what was going on with Judy until Sorcha pointed it out-- but I'm still ahead of her. I mean, Hana's in a class of her own. I can see why she'd miss Judy liking her, but there were those two guys, last year, and the year before that. And she just didn't get it at all. No matter what they did, she just didn't get it. Nobody else could have missed it... maybe it runs in her family, though. I mean, Jason's missed it every time that I've flirted with him, and he's totally missed that Judy likes Hana.''
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| − | Judy laughed at Hana's joke, and gave her a sad smile as Hana ruffled the hair on Emma's head. ''Hana... I don't know if I'll ever be able to tell you. I could stay like this with you forever, really. As long as you're happy. Even if you decided that you liked some boy, or even Tilly. Although you might have some competition if you liked Tilly... but I don't think that's going to happen soon. And that's fine. Even if I can't be as close to you as I want, if I can stay by your side. If you can be happy.''
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| − | ''That's all that matters. Because I love you.''
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| − | =='''Hana and Judy at the fair'''==
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| − | Blake St. John sighed. He'd taken his new family out to the Doccombe Village Fetê in the hopes that some good, old-fashioned fun would be a good chance for them to bond together. He was quite fond of his stepdaughter, and would have liked to spend more time with her, as well as to get a chance to get her away from her frankly thuggish pack of friends. She'd be starting at a new school now-- thankfully, a much better school, away from the gang (and you really had to call it a gang) that she'd been associating with.
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| − | Except that Judy had ''insisted'' that her friend Hana come along.
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| − | To be fair, Hana had been perfectly well-behaved on the trip so far, and even friendly with him (if more familiar than he would have thought appropriate), and, as his new wife had pointed out to him more than once, she'd been Judy's friend through some very bad times in her life, protecting her from her beast of a father. And he certainly didn't hold Hana's relative poverty against her-- Jeong and Son was a perfectly respectable plumbing business, if small, and, after all, he was very wealthy indeed.
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| − | But... Hana Jeong was another matter. It was a wonder that the girl hadn't been jailed, really... and, to be honest, she made him... nervous. Not scared, of course. A man his age had no reason to be scared of a young girl, no matter her reputation. It was important that he remember that. But... nervous. There was something in her eyes that unnerved him... something predatory.
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| − | Aside from that, though, the day wasn't going all that badly. Hana and Judy hadn't done anything illegal, or even really questionable so far, instead playing cards on their trip out, and not even for money. Now they were at the fair, running around, having fun like two normal young girls... and he could spend more time with his new wife, which wasn't bad at all.
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| − | “Come on, Hana!” said Judy, leading her best friend towards a tent. “Let's check this one out!”
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| − | Hana followed reluctantly. “Juds,” she said, “why a fortune teller? You're the smart one. You know that this stuff is fake, right?”
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| − | “It's just for fun, Hana,” Judy answered. “Come on. What's it going to hurt?”
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| − | “Fine, fine...”
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| − | Hana followed Judy into the tent, watching as an old woman had Judy stir loose tea leaves into a cup, stir them, and drink most of the tea. Judy was then told to swirl the remainder (three times clockwise), and concentrate on a wish while touching the edge of the saucer to the cup, and then turn it upside down into the saucer, and she did, passing the cup to the old woman, who looked at the leaves remaining inside.
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| − | “Ah, I see...” she began. “Do you see here, the axe at the top, away from the handle? You will face difficulties, but you will be able to overcome them. This cigar indicates new friends-- several of them, from the stalks placed near it. The goat, though, warns of enemies, and from the size, you will either face strong ones or many ones. You will need the help of your friends to overcome them. This snake warns of the danger you will face, as well-- a subtle danger, as well as the overt one symbolized by the flag. From danger may come knowledge, though.”
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| − | Hana was looking skeptically over Judy's shoulder at the cup. She couldn't make out any shapes in the blobs that the leaves formed, although at least all this talk of danger and enemies was at least more interesting than the usual rot about journeys and mysterious strangers. Perhaps the old lady had heard of the Bales School Girls, and knew who she was talking to.
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| − | “...and finally, the star on the bottom signifies that your wish will come true, although the rabbit nearby suggests that you will need bravery to make it happen. Clearly, your life is going to be very interesting.” Judy glanced at Hana, smiling, and got up.
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| − | As they left, Judy gave Hana an amused look. “You know, Hana, I'm supposed to be the rational one. Why are you so skeptical?”
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| − | “Eh, me whole family is mad for fortune tellers. They even got some fancy one in all the way from Korea for dad's wedding. She told 'em that him and ma would have a few kids, and that the oldest would be strong and loyal, and the youngest would be gentle, kind, and studious. Now, I'm the youngest, and nobody would ever describe me that way,” Hana explained. “Talk about a waste of money!”
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| − | Judy laughed. “Well, you're really kinder than you give yourself credit for, but you're right. That's not you at all. Although...” She thought about it for a moment. “It's not a bad description of Jae-Sun, you know. And the description of Chung-Ho is dead on.”
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| − | Hana snorted. “Where does that leave me, though? I'm the youngest-- not Jae-Sun.”
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| − | “Maybe you're an alien or something,” said Judy, laughing. “Come on, let's go get something to eat.”
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| | =='''Hana and Judy meet a monster'''== | | =='''Hana and Judy meet a monster'''== |
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| | ''Fine Spartan indeed. By the blood of Hercules, you hardly make a good sparing partner. You'll be dead soon enough.'' He didn't even think about what the trainer could want with him as the left the field. | | ''Fine Spartan indeed. By the blood of Hercules, you hardly make a good sparing partner. You'll be dead soon enough.'' He didn't even think about what the trainer could want with him as the left the field. |
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| − | =='''Tamaa'''==
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| − | ''Africa''
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| − | ''A long time ago''
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| − | What was left of my tribe huddled together at the base of the cliffs. The sun was falling low in the sky, and when the daylight faded, doom would arrive. The monsters always attacked at night – our warriors had fought bravely, but they were no match for these creatures. Now, we had no warriors left – women and young boys and old men carried spears, but they stood even less chance. If they wanted too, the monsters could have taken us all at once, but they didn’t. Instead, they took a few of us every night – it seemed as though the fear and despair those remaining felt.
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| − | I hated seeing everyone feel that way. I had to do something. I jumped onto a rock and spoke to the rest of the tribe.
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| − | “Everyone, we traveled many nights to reach this place, didn’t we? They say the spirits live here! Surely, they will protect us!”
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| − | But the rest of the tribe no longer believed the spirits would save them. They simply waited for the night to fall, and the monsters to come again, and take more of us. Mother dragged me away from the rock, to my screams of protest. Well, if nobody else was going to try to contact the spirits, then it was up to me. I closed my eyes, and began my prayer.
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| − | When I opened them again, I was looking straight at a cave that I hadn’t seen before. I remember the elders telling the children that we should avoid strange caves, for they may be gates to the spirit world. But wasn’t that exactly what I needed, now? I started into the cave.
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| − | As I walked deeper in, an odd feeling came over me – it was as if the fear and sorrow I had felt since the monsters first came were being gently lifted away from me. I saw strange shapes on the walls, and odd lights sparkled like stars around me, eventually cascading into the shape of a man.
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| − | “Who are you, child? Why are you here?” I should have been afraid – the elders say that the spirits can do terrible things if angered. Maybe I was just so desperate to save my tribe that it didn’t matter to me.
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| − | “My name is Nika. I beg of you, spirit, please save my tribe! The monsters will come again at nightfall, and the whole tribe has lost hope that they will be saved.”
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| − | “Not the whole tribe, Nika. You have not lost hope. What strength you have, child.”
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| − | “So you will save my tribe?”
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| − | “No, Nika. You are the one who shall save them.” The strange shapes on the walls began to glow, and then, one after another, I understood what they meant, and how to make them. “Nika, I bestow upon you the title of Tamaa, Hope. With that power, you shall save your tribe, and others.”
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| − | Suddenly, I found myself outside, with my tribe again. The last rays of sunlight were fading, and my tribe huddled in terror as the monsters’ shadowy shapes became visible.
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| − | But they would take no more of my people.
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| − | I traced a pattern in the air, and a circle of glowing light appeared around the tribe. Once again, I leaped onto the rock I had stood on before.
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| − | “Do not despair!” I cried, light glowing from my body, forcing the monsters to back away. “The Spirit of Creation has answered! I promise, these creatures will take no more of us!”
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| − | I traced a different symbol in the air, and the monsters froze where they were standing. Yet another, and they were consumed by that brilliant light.
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| − | ''Thank you, Spirit of Creation,'' I prayed silently. ''From now on, I, and my descendants, will walk in places where there is no hope, and the people are defenseless. And in those places, with your aid, I will protect the people who are helpless, and light once again the flame of hope. My name is Tamaa-Nika, and this I swear.''
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