Tyler and the Valaholics: The Beginning

Chapter 31

Song of the chapter- 'Impossible' by Shontelle

'Falling out of love is hard,
Falling for betrayal is worse,
Broken trust and broken hearts.'

"Thia, stop glaring at him like that! The poor boy seems barely able to keep from running away," I berate Cynthia in an attempt to make her stop glaring at him in a way which would make close to anyone want to avoid.

"I'm just saying he--"

I interject before she can say something to upset him further, which probably wouldn't go over all that well, "Say, Josh, it'd probably be for the best if you were to hurry on home now and get ready or else you might be late and we don't want that, do we?"

"Yes, Ma'am," he tells me in a low tone and salutes respectfully at the two of us before turning around and briskly walking away.

Cynthia's dulcet giggling tones waft to my ears as I eye her with a raised eyebrow highlighting my disbelief, which causes her to retreat with her hands raised in surrender as I am told by her excited voice, "That's a good catch, Val! Where ever did you find one like that? Wait, I now where you did, you told me and, also, anyone who watches that show knows. You two were super cute when you performed the other day, ya know?"

"That doesn't mean you can glare at him like that! I know you wouldn't hurt a bug and I was slightly scared so just imagine how frightened he'd be, you lovable twat," I pat her shoulder carefully with my uninjured arm so as to not let her see the wound and to avoid all the questions that are sure to cascade out of her mouth all at once.

"Cynthia! What the microspore mother cell are you doing outside, get in- my goodness, Val!" Rosaly comes barreling out of the building to berate and quickly changed track when she spots me and envelops me in a hug.

Two more pairs of hands encircle me from behind me, which only turns out to increase my anxiety at them finding out. It's perfectly logical for them to ask and me to tell them but I just can't seem to bring myself to explain it all for they might not let me perform today no matter how much I plead with them.

"Lauren, get in here!" Rosaly's voice rumbles leading me to peek through her hair to see a hesitant but jubilant Lauren approach us and gingerly drape her hands around Ros to join in on the group hug.

I smile at Rosaly's form of an apology. She's never been the kind to be good at expressing expressions, especially the sad or apologetic ones. Knowing her for as long as we've known her, Lau and I should both know she's trying to convey her apology but doesn't know how to go about it.

"Group hug? I want in!" a shrill voice rings through the air as footsteps run towards us and, before I know it, Tracie and Violet have somehow managed to sneak in past Ros and Lau and are hugging my calves for life.

My mouth involuntarily lets out a grunt when someone's arms seem to add extra pressure to the not-so-mild abrasion. Unfortunately, Rosaly observes it and immediately pulls back, glaring at me as if demanding to know what happened. I shake my head at her and begin to pull the girls off me, who resist but quickly step back when they look at my face which must don an expression of explicit anger by the nervousness and concern dominant in their expressions.

"Look, I'd love to hang around and stuff but I've got to get going and get ready 'cause I've got to be there soon," my voice streams behind me as I power walk inside in hopes of a good shower.

"But you just got here! And--"

Thia's whining is cut off by Van's relieved voice as she quickly pulls me into a hug and directs me inside, "No buts now, y'all can catch up later. Right now, she looks like she needs a bath and some food, you do, don't you?"

I smile at her as if in acknowledgement of her timely help and close the door behind me once I enter my room. Grabbing some fresh clothes and a clean towel, I race to the bathroom just seconds before my bladder would burst. There must be almost nothing as relieving as this feeling!

Though my body craves a long warm shower, I force myself to quickly finish up for the hot water seeps through the bandage and gives a somewhat stinging and itchy sensation and keeping it elevated doesn't help a lot either. After quickly drying myself off and dressing in the clothes I brought in, I eye my reflection in the mirror, nothing out of the ordinary.

Chocolate brown eyes peep tiredly through eyelids that are only a quarter of the maximum distance between them apart and flecks of blue sparkle in my left eye as I yawn. Splashing my face with some cold water manages to awaken me a little as my eyelids widen apart and I can see more clearly now that the exhaustion is, for now, swept right out of my eyes. My jet black hair hangs damply around my head and partially in my face. I gingerly caress the side of my face in an attempt to soothe the scathing scratchy feeling but, of course, it does nothing so I do my best to ignore it while I coat my face in a thin layer of face cream and pull back a few strands of my hair to ensure my hair is out of my face but it can still air dry.

I've never been particularly too proud of the way I look but I've been praised by several for them. I could probably get where they're coming from if not for the fact that I clearly ooze tiredness right now. Although a lot of people have acknowledged my eyes looking pretty, many have even ridiculed me for them. I've always 'had that youthful feel (well duh, I'm twelve) immersed in inexplicable beauty', according to Mom. Right now, though, I look far from that but that's not what I ought to focus on right now.

After ensuring that the wound is maintained as I was told to and that I'm ready, I walk out to find Stacie, Tracie, Violet, Vanessa, Lauren, Cynthia, Rosaly and Natalia all ready and seemingly waiting for me. When they're asked if they're all accompanying me, Nat clucks at me as if to indicate the answer being obvious.

We're about to walk out the door when Stacie asks me, "Say, Val, isn't it way too hot to be wearing a jacket like that? Why don't you remove it?"

She pulls off the jacket and stares at me with an extremely bewildered expression as I nervously look up at her. Her hand latches onto my shoulder and she pulls me towards my room as I dramatically ask the girls for help and everyone bursts out laughing.

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Damn, this chapter was in the works for so long! How do you feel about this chapter? Does Cynthia sound scary enough for Josh to have reacted like that or do you feel he was just on edge after the long night? And here's an interesting (well I think so) question- which of the girls do you feel you'd be most frightened of and who do you feel you'd not at all be intimidated by (if any)?



If anyone is annoyed by the scarcity of male characters, you've got to hold on for some time longer. In other news, I watched 'Beauty and the Beast' today and it was so cute! Emma Watson as Belle is so freaking adorable and I did like the Beast/Prince and his subjects disguised as objects but is it weird that I liked Gaston's character more? His sidekick Le Fou, though, was the most entertaining character. I love the portrayal of her father Maurice the most! Have you watched it? If you have, what did you think of it? Lemme know!



I'll try to get out the next chapter as soon as I can so 🐻 with me for a little while.

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