Hanky Panky.
definition: unfinished chapter
part of a chapter that hasn't been edited yet, and isn't quite up to the standards of Penguin's writing. normally saved in notepad on the desktop as a constant reminder until it is eventually finished.
Unfinished Chapter #3
Titled: Meetings
[Part of the Pseudo Chronicles]
The first day of school of sixth grade was promising to be something of a bother to Kali as she travelled along the small cement path that led to the back of her new middle school. The second she had stepped off the bus there had been administrators waiting to usher all the newcomers to the back of the school were a large expanse of cement, tennis courts and basketball courts all fenced in by wire awaited. She naturally hated crowds and all of the bustling backpacks and grim or eager faces around her wasn't helping the clenched feeling in her gut.
"Kali! Hey! Wait up!"
She paused in her trudging and looked back over her shoulder to search the swarming people around her for the owner of the voice. It didn't take long for her to find the wide grin and mischeivous eyes of her friend Samantha, blonde bobbing pigtail and all. Samantha was about ten to twelve feet behind her, but after much shoving and pushing she was right next to Kali's shoulder. Kali let an amused grin stretch across her face which she quickly ducker her head behind long bangs to hide. It wasn't a good idea to show a personality to soon in a place like this, or at least that's what her older sister had told her.
"So what's up? You nervous? Boy, I am! Sheesh, the bus ride was long! And look at this crowd! I hope the tennis courts are huge, I hate being crowded. Hey, watch it, buster!" Samantha rambled on and Kali looked straight ahead towards the end of the winding cement path, noting that it curved behind a brick wall up ahead. They had to be close. Samantha's cheerful voice was a normal background noise for Kali and she would normally join in with comments, but she was too tense in the new atmosphere. She had heard a lot about this school and not much of it was good. They turned the corner around the brick edge of the building and saw the large tennis courts. There were four settled horizontally across the rugged cement surface and there appeared to be some basketball courts behind them. All of the cement was covered with kids of varying sizes and ages, but it was apparent who was the most respected or feared. There were two large groups lined up against the fence that surrounded the courts while the rest of the students were settled comfortably on the nets seperating the courts or directly on the ground.
"Jesus! Look at all the people!" exclaimed Samantha directly in her ear and she tilted her head towards her long time friend. Samantha took this as a hint that Kali was actually paying attention to her and smiled brightly in return. Kali merely winked back, not wanting to smile just yet. Her jaw was too tense and she was afraid she'd break something.
"You okay, Kali? You seem tense. What did Saeko tell you about this place that's got you looking like it's a morgue?" Samantha's wide blue eyes were filled with concern and worry as she overlooked her friend. Kali merely shrugged, flicking her head back slightly so that her lond angled bangs drifted to the side to give her a better view of her friend.
"Don't you dare shrug at me! Tell me what's got you so hyped." the girl nagged, grasping Kali's elbow firmly to get her point across. Kali let the touch slide and tried a reassuring smile on for size as she replied, "Nothing much, just a bunch of those stories of sixth graders stuffed into lockers and teachers spitting on you in the first row." The smile seemed to work when Samanatha lost the jewish mother face.
"You? In a locker? Ha! Don't worry about anything, tough gal. I know you can handle anything." Samantha laughed and Kali grinned at the old line. She realized they were walking across the tennis courts, but wasn't sure where her friend was heading. Not liking the idea of heading in an unknown direction, she stopped walking anfd looked pointedly at her still laughing friend. Samantha quieted at her look, only to burst out laughing again.
"You look like a puppy with those eyes! Don't worry, I'm not leading you anywhere dangerous. Natalie told me that she was going to hang out by the third tennis court with Jessica, Catherine, and Mabel." she grabbed for Kali's arm again and she let her take it as they started once more across the courts. Kali noticed the girls Samantha had mentioned standing in a small half-circle. She didn't care much for Samantha's friends, but didn't mind hanging out with them as long as it kept Samantha from nagging her to accept her friends more. Samantha called out to the girls and they all turned to look at her, happy smiles and waves in her direction. Samantha kept Kali's elbow in a firm grip as she began to half run half skip to them.
"Hey Sam! Hey Kali! What's up?" asked Natalie, flipping her cell phone open with the question.
"Nothing much, Kali's nervous about her first day." Samantha replied and Kali flicked a glare to her. Samantha, immune to such looks by now just giggled and playfully shoved at her shoulder. Kali rolled her eyes in return.
"Am not. I just have an older sister who was trying to psych me out this morning." she replied, sticking her toungue out at Samantha before realizing how immature that probably looked. All of the other girls laughed.
"What kind of stories, Kali?" piped up the smaller brunette standing next to Natalie and Kali just shrugged.
"Let's not worry about that, Jessica!" cried Natalie, grinning. She flicked the cellphone in her hand closed and immediately began to look around. Kali raised an eybrow at her, noticing the curious looks on Jessica and Catherine's faces. Samantha's face was blank except for her trademark smile. Catherine seemed to take the bait first, and leaned across the half circle to look at Natalie with wide eyes.
"Whatchya lookin' for, Nat?"
"Mabel told me she saw this hot guy on her way in, said he's at the fence. He's supposed to be wearing a red shirt and has blonde hair." the brunette smiled, green eyes still flicking around the courts quickly. Kali was reminded of a hawk searching out it's prey and immediately felt sorry for the targeted boy.
"So, where is Mabel?" Kali asked and Natalie swung around to meet her eyes with a small shrug.
"She wandered off to scope out the place. She said she was bored with just standing around." Natialie replied, rolling her eyes. Apparently it was rude to wander away from friends on the first day of school. Catherine nodded along in agreement.
"I meant to ask you earlier, Nat. Where'd you get that jacket?" interrupted Jessica, flicking her fingers in the direction of the mentioned clothing. Natalie immediately moved her attention to the jacket, smiling proudly.
"Found it at a sale in Nordstrom. Isn't it cute?" she answered, tugging on the edge of her green sleeve. Kali let her eyes wander over the jacket now and raised an eyebrow at the store mentioned. She had never been into one of those expensive high-brand stores. She was normally watched like a hawk by the attendants anyways. Thrift shops suited her much better. The jacket was longer than regular jackets, stopping about three inches above the knee. It was a bright green suede and matched perfect with her suede flipflops. Vines of flowers traveled from the bottom of the front right panel to stop at her left shoulder. She had it unbuttoned over a lacy white camisole over a formfitting green edged tanktop and a pair of light blue jeans cuffed at the bottom.
"It's adorable. Did they have any other colors?" said Catherine and Samantha immediately picked up on the conversation.
"Oh, like blue? I love blue! We could all get matching jackets and wear them all at once! It'd be like a gang thing or something!" she excalimed, clapping her hands in delight. Natalie's eyes widened at Samantha's suggestion before she began to grin connivingly. Kali tried to cover her automatic tensing of the shoulders a tht emention of a gang by shrugging at the idea.
"They sure did! That'd be awesome! There was a dark blue that'd be perfect for you Sam, a red perfect for Catherine, a white perfect for Kali, a purple perfect for Jeska, and even orange for Mabel! Thats awesome, Sam! Brilliant!" she flipped her cellphone open again and immediately began dialing a number before holding the cell phone up to her ear. Kali ignored all of it, looking over the girl's outfits and realizing just how much she stood out of their group for the first time that day. Jessica looked the future buisness woman in her fitted khaki jacket with matching slacks and hair twisted up in a series of twists and braids that fell into a waterfall of brown over her shoulders. Her eyes glittered with white eyeshadow and her lips were tinged with pink. Catherine was wearing a pink girly skirt like the ones she had worn back in third grade with a white tanktop that proclaimed her as a "Superstar!" in shining glittery pink letters and a pair of pink converse with white ankle socks. Samantha was wearing a denim jacket over a lemon colored tee that had some popular brand in sprawling letters on the front. Her jeans were purposefully torn at the knee and ragged over the tops of her white and yellow sneakers. Kali looked down at her own clothes with a inner sigh. Her jeans were the one of the few pairs in her closet to actually fit her perfectly as they were one of the few actually bought at a true department store. She was wearing a loose Manchester United jerseyshe had nabbed from a closet of one of Soeka's friends over a form fitting black long sleeve shirt she had snagged from her sister's hamper that morning. She never did anything with her hair as the style was layered and styled at an angle due to personal at home hair cuts done by her sister or herself. Her converse were not brand new like Catherine's but smoothed over from long wear and a faded grey from their original dark black. The laces were worn down to the edges and permanent marker told everyone who they belonged to. The snap of Natalie's cell phone startled her from her study of her clothes and she looked up at the girl's triumphant grin.
"Mabel said she can definitely agree with getting matching jackets. It's a yes! We'll all go this weekend and get the jackets together, I'll wear mine so we can make sure they're the same!" she said, tucking the cell phone into her green handbag.
"That's awesome!" cried Catherine, bouncing excitedly at the prospect. Kali looked at each of the girls in turn, seeing the ideas already forming in their mind. This couldn't be good. She leaned over to Samantha to whisper fiercely in her ear.
"Sam, I can't get one of those jackets!" Samantha turned, a surprised look on her face at Kali's statement.
"Why not?" she whispered back.
"You know I won't be able to get that kind of money for a jacket from my sister!"
"Would it be okay if I paid for it and you just pay me back as you can?"
Kali blinked at her in surprise for a moment, thinking it over. She knew Samantha wouldn't hound her for the money and was only suggesting she pay it back since Kali hated gifts. She could prolbably work up the money over the year and that way she wouldn't be making Sam feel guilty for buying a jacket herself. She shrugged one shoulder and nodded in agreement. Samantha flashed her a smaile of thanks for agreeing so quickly just as their small half circle was invaded by a Mabel with four to four guys behind her. Kali noticed one of them was blonde with a red t-shirt and repressed a knowing grin.
"Hey girls! Meet Justin, Daniel, Akay and Patrick. They're eigth graders and are willing to help some newly sixth graders like us around on our first day." drawled Mabel, waving a hand over her shoulder at each of the tall boys behind her as she named them off. Their faces were a mixture of boredom and interest. The blonde haired boy Mabel had named as Patrick was looking the other direction entirely, his attention locked on something near the basketball courts, something Natalie was working to change by raising her voice to get all of the guy's attention.
"That's really sweet of you guys! So, what's some advice you can give us?" she asked, batting her eyelashes for the full effect. Kali repressed the urge to roll her eyes, deciding that angling herself away from the circle was a better choice. She followed the direction of Patrick's attention to find he was looking at an expanse of sparsely populated courtside where a tall figure dressed all in black stood leaning against the fence. She dismissed him immediately as she heard her name mentioned. Apparently Samantha had taken on the duty of introducing everybody and Akay had recognized Kali's name.
"Kali? As in Kali Nevarka?" he asked, one eybrow raised in interest. She tilted herself back just slightly enough so she could meet his gaze fiercely. Kali's sister, Saeko, had built quite the reputation around town as a troublemaker that had led a powerful gang known as "The Blanks". Needless to say, Kali was used to this type of reaction and was always annoyed by the useless questions that tended to follow.
"You called?" she asked, raising an eyebrow to mirror his. Samantha immediately sensed her friends discomfort, reacting with a hand against her elbow that both comforted and warned her not to react to violently. She ignored both and narrowed her eyes at the boys confident smirk.
"You as good as your sister?" She rolled her eyes and dismissed the question by turning away from him with a flick of her hair. Samantha's hand tightened briefly beforel etting go altogether. She leaned back to bump a shoulder against her worried friend in silent reassurance and felt a slight bump in return that brought a small smile to her face.
"Yo, I asked a question." he persisted and she heard him scuff a foot against the rough surface of the tennis court.
"Why, so you did." drawled Kali in return with a barely noticable nod.
"You gonna answer me?" His voice was beginning to pick up that annoying tone of superiority. He was obviously bucking up for a fight, physical or verbal, and this time she couldn't repress the urge to roll her eyes soon enough. She finally swung around to glare at the tall, olive-skinned boy with the infamous Nevarka stare. It was apparently hereditary and Soeka had once told her how icy her version seemed with her light blue eyes. Akay seemed to falter for a moment at the fierceness in her gaze, but she could see his male pride win over quickly.
"I would think it obvious I was letting the rudeness of your question slide for the moment. Must you persist the issue by looking like a complete ass?" she asked, letting irritation bleed into her soft voice. Akay's eyes flared with anger at the insult and she noted the resulting tense of his shoulders. She also noted how he tensed first on the right, giving away his preferred fighting side. His lean form gave him speed that a bulky form would not, but his personality seemed to be a combination of arrogance and passion that might lead to weakness.
"You calling me an ass?"
"Why do you keep asking innane questions?"
"You're just like your sister."
"And you think you know anything about me or my sister?"
"I know for a fact what a bitch she is. You seem to have picked up the genetic trait."
"Hmm, I hope you don't pass on your genetics of stupidity on to future children."
"First I'm an ass, and now I'm stupid. You sure do pile up the insults."
"And you sure do like to talk about things you know nothing about. Are you sure it's smart to toss around the word bitch so easily?"
"I call them as I see 'em."
"You're blind as fuck."
"Wanna do something about it?"
Their banter was quick, no time for thought between barbs and the tension seemed to rise with each return of words. Kali began backing up, barely registering Natalie's squealed protests as Samantha maneuvered her and the others out of the way. The other guys were backing up a little as well, giving their friend curious looks. Either they didn't know who Kali was, or they knew all too well and didn't think a fight would be wise. Which it wouldn't be. If Seoka heard of this, Kali'd have her ass chewed for fighting without permission and Akay would simply have body parts removed for even thinking of bothering with Seoka's little sister. Everyone who knew of the "The Blanks" also knew that Kali was severely off limits due to big sister's protective issues.
"Are you sure up for it?" she asked slowly, taking a moment to roll up her sleeves with the air of someone with much better things to do with her time. He was becoming riled up, too caught up in his emotion. She had guessed correctly when she thought his passion might be a weakness and breathed an inner sigh of relief that this wouldn't take long.
"As sure as ever, little girl." he replied, rolling up the sleeves of his expensive button up shirt. She was glad to see it wasn't white and wouldn't show blood easily. She rocked back on her heels, resting her hands on her hips as she looked at him from the corner of her left eye.
"Are you waiting for a personal invitation? I don't do calligraphy." He came at her quickly with a snarl as expected and she watched the muscles in his right arm tense up for a hit. She didn't stop the small grin of victory from making it's way across her face as she easily ducked under the hit the hit, grabbing onto an overextended wrist to take advantage of the vulnerable position he had thrown himself into. He didn't have much time to register her movements before he was rushing towards the ground as Kali used gravity to her advantage, just as Seoka had taught her. Her knee shoved roughly up into his gut and her other hand delivered a quick blow to his nose before she used her momentum to flip him over her other knee. He landed roughly against the cement and didn't move for a few seconds as he seemed to get a grasp on what had just occurred. The blood now running freely from his nearly broken nose began to pool on the ground, not drying on contact due to the cool autumn morning air. He stood shakily, one hand grasping at his stomach with a grimace. He snarled at her, taking a step forward before Patrick stopped him with a hand on his shoulder. The blonde leaned over, whispering lously in his ear, "I think she didn't break your nose on purpose as a warning." Akay's eyes widened, anger not fading the slightest as he straightened out of his second advance. Kali continued to stand, face blank of emotion once again. Her thoughts were self-incrimating as she cursed herself for ever letting it get so far. While she had criticized the boy's weakness in emotion, she was just as guilty for letting her emotions decide the situation. He had called her sister a bitch, but that wasn't good enough reason to spoil the first day with a fight. She briefly wondered where the administration was before figuring that it must have been to quick to gain any attention. That was a small relief at least. Kali finally registered the high pitched squeals on her right and turned to look at a shock faced Natalie and Catherine, an appraising Jessica and a sullen Samantha. Mabel was grinning ferociously, reminding Kali of why she liked the girl so much. She guiltily shrugged at her blonde friend who was now shaking her head with a disapproving frown. It would take a few trips to the mall to cure the girl of her disapproval, something Kali was not looking forward to. She flicked her eyes to glance at Akay and his friends. The boy was stemming the bloodflow from his nose with a bit of help from the tall dark skinned boy named Justin. It seemed like Daniel had bailed at the first sign of a fight, finding what looked to be a large circle of seventh grade cheerleaders much more appealing. She was startled by the intense stare directed at her from Patrick and noticed with further uneasiness that the black clad figure of before was now standing behind him, staring at her as well. The mysterious figure that had been standing against the fence appeared to be of high school age, either or a junior or senior from the mature facial features. His dark brown eyes were cold, the kind of eyes Kali saw when sitting in on her sister's meetings. They were the eyes of someone who cared very little for morals, rules, and humanity in general. Seoka called them "the eyes of a killer", although she couldn't see how the dark haired older boy still standing behind Patrick staring at her could be a killer. Not yet anyways, he was too young. She took one look at her still disheveled friends and stepped towards the two staring boys.
"Can I help you?" she asked politely once she was close enoguh to talk softly and still be heard, without putting herself within easy reach. Kali suddenly realized that Patrick's eyes had a similar feeling of cold to them, although it seemed more muted.
"Hello, Kali. You can call me Holic. Would you care to talk with us in a more private setting?" spoke the older boy, and she took a moment to think. She could probably handle the both of them if things went wrong, but she'd prefer not to take that sort of risk. Then again, she was honestly intrigued by the both of them.
"As long as we stay in sight of others and obvious exits, I don't see why not." she replied, raising and lowering one shoulder in indifference. Patrick tilted his head towards a pair of doors that led into the building, she nodded in acceptance and the three of them walked towards the doors he had indicated. When they reached them, instead of walking inside like she had expected, Holic leaned against the right door while Patrick turned away from them to watch for oncoming traffic. Kali took a second of recon to gather her surroundings before leaning against a railing a three arm lengths away from both strangers.
###
She twisted herself on the rail so that she could easily make an escape towards the wider space of the courts while still facing the two strangers. She took a moment to look over the two of them, judging any visible weaknesses or strengths. The older boy named Holic was of a darker complexion than Patrick, with rich brown eyes that matched the color of the smooth lines of hair along the edges of his face. His clothes were all dark, varying shades of black artfully so that it was nearly impossible to see where the lines of clothing stopped. She caught sight of a holstered weapon before he shifted his shoulders, causing his long jacket to fall closed across his chest. She swung her eyes to Patrick briefly, having already seen him from before. He seemed the average blonde haired, surfer type of teenager, althought he seemed to be more muscular and confident in his posture than someone his age. He was leaning on his left, but hsi stance was otherwise unfavored. The same went for Holic, and she sighed inwardly at not getting anything factual from sizing up her opponents. She didn't have the experience her sister had, soemthing that still annoyed her to this day. She finally let her eyes rest on Holic's in a chilling glare, waiting for him to speak. He met her gaze evenly before speaking.
"As I said before, my name is Holic. This is not actually Patrick, but Accent. He came with me today to help search out recruits for an organization we both work for. Your name is Kali?" he spoke in a quiet tone, although loud enough to be heard. She realized his voice held a slight english accent and giggled mentally. Samantha would say english accents were hot and she'd have to agree on it for once. She nodded in answer to his question.
"Do you mind if I ask you about the sister Akay mentioned?" he asked and she rose both of her eyebrows at the sudden question towards family.
"Yes." She kept her face blank out of habit, and let her voice stay as soft as his but without any lack in steely strength. She was surprised when he merely nodded politely to her refusal. 'So much for dealing with an arrogant bastard and getting out of this quickly,' she thought to herself, suppressing a nagging grin. Patrick, no - Accent, leaned over his shoulder towards her.
"Did Akay mean Nevarka as in 'The Blanks'?" She shrugged in answer."Ch. Figures he's an idiot for picking a fight." she heard him mutter and let the nagging grin show a small bit. She quickly stifled it and turned back to Holic.
"Can I ask why we're standing here talking of nothing in particular? I do have school to attend to." she spoke up, tired of not getting directly to the point. Holic nodded once more, still just as polite in even the smallest of actions.
"I'm here as a representative of the DA. It's a little complicated to get into as of right now, but the point is that we're looking for recruits to train and later employ within our walls. It's a distinguished association, and Accent seems to think you have the right kind of potential towards the training. Are you even remotely interested?"
Kali took a small second to let his quick wording sink in, mulling over the words for any hidden meanings or twisted contexts. She didn't trust the words "organization" or "recruits". Putting those two words together in one sentence normally meant it was gang-related and she had enough trouble with that at home on a daily basis. She began to shake her from side to side slowly in habit while thinking, before stilling the motion so as to not reveal any emotion. She flicked her eyes back up to Holic's, clearly expressing suspicion.
"Gang?" It was a simple question in just one word, revealing the summarization of her suspicions without convicting either of them of soemthing that could be considered an offense on school grounds. Holic immeidately shook his head, eyes still locked with hers.
"No. Hardly. It's more of a business, hired by different contractors to perform different tasks. You will find it quite different that a gang. Interested?"
"Yes." Holic nodded, stepping away from the doorframe to look at Accent. Accent dutifully turned to the two of them and smiled at Holic's nod.
"Welcome to the DA, Kali." he said, before walking away back onto the tennis courts. Kali shrugged, looking back to Holic.
"Now what?" Holic smiled slightly, the first sign of emotion to cross his face during their encounter.
"You go to school. We will contact you personally with further information towards training. If you need to contact me, simply search out Accent and ask it of him. Only, please remember to call him Patrick while in school." he answered. She nodded in return and watched as he too walked away, heading towards the expanse of unpopulated fence he had occupied before. Kali rolled their eyes at the oddity of the situation before realizing what exactly she had agreed to. She reached up to rub at her neck while heaving an uncharacteristic sigh of frustration. She hadn't even started her first day yet and already she knew Seoka was going to be furious with her when she got home.