Anonymous

Part VIII - Invitation To The Team

Nessa had a strange relationship with Natalie. With all the words Nat said, the books she read, the pictures she made and the grades she got, Nessa had always thought of how smart, intelligent and skilled Natalie was.
She had also looked up to Natalie Verona's soft, fluffy platinum hair; often a nine-year old Nessa would try applying silly things to her own chocolate brown messy net of curls in order to miraculously get them like Natalie's.
Vanessa also had a strange protective side towards Natalie - soft, sensitive Natalie, for whom Nessa would break necks and scream the world down.
If Natalie was the wise and intelligent little girl - with a halo of bright golden and white, then Nessa was the sassy and sarcastic girl, wearing a halo of dark black. They both made a strange pair, but were best friends regardless.
Nessa had called Nat over her place for the first time during Halloween. Natalie had joked that Nessa wouldn't even require a proper costume; she could just pull out a scowl and go and scream at everyone she met, and they'd get hella scared.
And Nessa had jokingly replied back that at any case, she was going to be ten times more successfully scary than Natalie.
When Natalie had walked up to her friend's house with all the modern tiles and slabs, the delicate art pieces and sophisticated furniture, she had been taken back. Seeing Nessa with Kohl carelessly smudged around her eyes, wearing a black dress with a pointed witch cap, carrying a broomstick, made the child laugh.
"Heavens, Nessa! You look hilarious!" Nat laughed.
"That is such an insult! How dare you insult a witch?! I will curse you now with my magical broomstick! And you shall turn into a rotten pear at the blink of an eye." Nessa roared.
"Pears are tasty." Natalie said as a matter of fact.
"Well, rotten pears won't be as tasty, mind you! Let's go, now." Nessa hurried, tying her shoelaces.
"Do I look nice?" Nat asked.
"Obviously not. You look hideous - like a vampire."
"I am supposed to be a vampire, Nessa. Duh."
"My bad." Nessa finished tying her shoelaces, and then the both exited the door - with Mrs Orville blowing kisses to both the children. "Which house do you want to go to first?"
"That one looks nicely decorated." Natalie pointed at a very nicely illuminated bungalow with a thousand little pumpkins hanging from the roof.
"Are you sure the people inside will give us a lot of candy?"
"Don't be so greedy, Nessa." Natalie laughed.
They walked over to the house, and Nat knocked once. When no one came to open the door for the first 3 seconds, Nessa started banging the door with both her hands, until a teenage boy and an older woman were forced to rush down the stairs and open the front door, out of their breaths.
"Trick or treat?" Both the girls cried unanimously.
"No treat here, so trick." The boy said, looking like he was bored out of his mind.
"Hey! Don't be so rude to the girls!" The woman beside him scolded the boy, and then turned to Nessa and Natalie "Of course we have some sweet treats for you lovelies. I'll just go fetch you some." And saying so, the woman turned back to gather candy for the girls.
"Well, you've got some tricks?" Asked the boy, rolling his eyes of boredom.
"I have one. And it's really amazing!" Cried Nessa with a passion and a seriousness which made the listener think that she was going to indeed telekinetically lift a tree. Even Nat looked at her companion with a little surprise.
"I am a witch. I can do some wand magic and hurt you real bad." Nessa said seriously, and the guy smirked her a look of sly challenge.
Nessa closed her eyes, pulled out a plastic wand from her pocket, and after slowly spiralling it around the air for a few seconds, she promptly went and stomped very hard on the teenager boy's foot. "OWW!!" He cried, in both pain and surprise.
The woman arrived then with a small bag of candies for each of the girls; Nessa and Natalie had hurriedly accepted their gifts and taken off (giggling madly) before the boy could rattle off with his complaints and get them into trouble.

Nessa practically started crying with relief when her parents called to only ask her about how she was doing, what all this cruel girl Titania did to her, and what a nuisance this girl was. No scoldings; no complaints; none of those silly parental tears that made you feel horribly guilty.
For a millionth time, Nessa felt glad that her parents were still with her - no matter how terrible things might still be going on.
I don't know why I'm saying this; I guess it's for the moral support - and for showing me that there r others who have suffered more than I have.....but, thank u. Nessa wrote to Bibliophile.

I can only assume things have been sorted out now?

They have. Or they weren't as critical as I had expected they would b.

Good. After some days you may continue living your life normally and forget about that stage you went through - that stage of hopelessness and anger and loneliness. Therefore, that was only a temporary grief with a temporary source. You will know the one that is permanent when the grief of one incident never wears off. Ever.

I've experienced that permanent grief - I still am.

And I know, my child. I know, because I lost what you lost too - along with a million other things.

Thankfully for the past 1 week Titania Cross had not bothered Nessa anymore; well, to be frank, nobody had much talked to Nessa for the past week.
She continued being the Sarcastic Bitch to other minors, promptly ignored Titania, her boyfriend and her lackeys, survived the classes and showed off during PE. Speaking of PE, Nessa had again got herself into trouble (or so she assumed), when she had kicked a soccerball at the senior, school soccer team captain - Nathan Davis.
He had seemed to pass by the grounds when Vanessa had her PE class; the day was cold like every other day, and very few people actually stayed to play soccer (the coach had in fact sent the girls inside the gymnasium to do yoga, though Nessa had insisted in staying and challenging the weather).
Nathan Davis had been passing over, without much of a glance at the freshman kids, when Nessa's powerful soccerball kick hit his arm. A couple of students gasped, Nessa snorted and the coach had only whistled at them to continue the game.
Later when two hyperexcited girls delivered the message that the soccer team captain Nathan Davis had asked for Nessa during dinner in the cafeteria, she could only groan - assuming that now she was in trouble with someone three years older to her - not that she couldn't handle someone of the age.
She arrived tardily in the cafeteria (stomach rumbling with irresistible hunger), walked over to where Nathan was getting his special coffee ordered and cleared her throat.
"Hey! So, you're the girl who hit me with the soccerball?" He narrowed his eyes humorously. "Grab your tray; we've got to talk."
Nessa gladly grabbed over some fried shrimps, boiled broccoli and baked beans, and then tailed Nathan to an isolated table.
"Go ahead, hurry up if you're gonna ass me about hitting you with the ball. In my defence, I'd say that it was absolutely unintentional, and in your criticism, I'd say that since you're some kind of a Greek god soccer player, a ferocious kick from a tiny girl shouldn't be bothering you."
"What? No, I'm not going to ass you or anything. I, well, happened to observe that you're a pretty passionate player, and I'd really like to get some of those moves in the school soccer team." Nathan said casually.
"Are you asking me to join the team?" Nessa asked skeptically, and Nathan Davis nodded. "I refuse to be some charity case to suffice anti-sexist minds on the matter of soccer!"
"You're not a charity case to suffice anti-sexist minds." Nathan said. "I'm genuinely asking you to join the team; in fact we all would be honoured if you do, really. I've even talked to my fellow teammates and the coach, and we're all pretty unanimous on the subject.
"It's a matter of pride really, to be on the team. Fame is like your second cousin here. Besides, people really agree that you'd make a wonderful addition to our team; Edmund Caliber said that you're some hot player -"
"Edmund Caliber says what?!" Nessa rose from her seat. "I'm gonna go kick his ass!"
"Hang on! Give us an answer at least!" Nathan grabbed Vanessa's wrist, restraining her back.
"Well, I don't know." Nessa threw her hands up in the air - or well, at least tried to. Her brief peripheral vision told her that almost everybody in the cafeteria were staring at her and Nathan Davis - and possibly making the wrong assumptions about them.
"Well, you can't go until I get what I want to hear."
"Fine. I'm in."