The Opening

Chapter One: Death is My Enemy

The thought makes Nova squirm. She's not the squirming type, but when death jumps in her mind's way, she just can't help herself. Even when she's in a fight.

    "What's the matter, princess?" Leon quips between breaths. "Are you scared? Do you want to run and hide? I'll give you a ten second head start if you'd like."

His condescending tone and mocking sneer makes Nova want to put a hole through his head. So that's what she's going to do.

    Circling the hallway, dancing around each other, she locks her eyes on her still-open locker, and she's sees a pencil. Averting her gaze as to not give away her plan, she slowly grows closer. Then she appears next to it . She grabs the pencil and lunges at Leon, jabbing it at the centre of his forehead. Except Leon is quick. Damn him. He now has a hold of her hand with the pencil just barely grazing the spot in which Nova was so intent on piercing. The smile never leaves his face.

    "Go to hell," is the best she can manage to snarl through all her rage, and definitely the most innocent of things she is thinking at the moment. Oh how she wishes he could hear all the words that she would have said if she had the guts to do so on school grounds. After what he did, he would deserve it.

Actively ignoring Nova's storm of emotions, he responds, "I'll go if I please."

That does it. Her fury explodes at him and all of her training begins to take hold of the situation. Boxing, although not relevant here, has taught her to control her emotions and target them toward her opponent. Surprisingly it's when her emotions get out of control that her thoughts become clear. She grabs and holds onto that thought, refusing to let it slip away. Nova digs her nails into her palms as if to physically display her grasp on the logic.

She twists her hand, which is still held by Leon, and turns so that her back is facing him, and drops the pencil. With her arm above her head, Leon still holding it, she lifts her left leg and jams it into the side of his knee, which is absolutely not a part of boxing, but that doesn't matter here. She's been in enough fights to know that playing dirty is how you win. She didn't kick hard enough to dislocate his knee, but kicked with just enough force to knock him into a kneeling position. She then elbows him in the face, hearing a crack in his nose, and his grip on her hand finally releases as he lets out a cry of pain. Good. Let him be the one to suffer for once.

Her anger is only growing more and more as she turns around and kicks him to the ground, him now on his back, her foot planted on his chest. He gasps for air, blood trickling from his face to the floor, and Nova finds herself enjoying this. He is helpless. His sly look broken as easily as it was to break his nose.

"If you're going to live your life as a prick, why not own it when you're defenseless, too?" she says, giving him the most heated stare she has ever managed, not even intentionally.

"You're insane," he breathes.

That makes her push her foot into him even harder. "I'm insane? You bend everyone and everything to your personal bidding, you treat everyone like they're just ponds waiting for you to give them purpose, waiting for you and doing whatever it takes to please you. They're people, Leonardo, people with their own lives and their own stories." She takes a pause to let it sink in, then continues, "They're just people. And I'm done being one of your ponds."

And for a second, just for a second, she thinks she sees a glimpse of regret in his eyes, she thinks she sees a boy who could change. She almost forgets what he did, and just then, the thought of death comes back to her. She lifts her foot off his chest just the slightest, and he notices.

Damn him.

He grabs her foot, lifts it just enough to roll away from under its pressure, and he gets to his feet.

And then, even though the school day is over and everyone has gone home, a teacher shows up at the end of the hallway.

Just great.

She takes one look at Leon, and then starts staring and stamping towards Nova with a demand that can only be compared to a cop marching toward a puppy murderer.

Nova comtemplates running, but decides against it. Running will make her look guilty. She needs to make sure that all the guilt is placed on Leon.

"What in heaven's name is going on here?" the teacher asks, directing the question straight at Nova.

"She attacked me, Ms. Gardner," says Leon, holding his face, exaggerating his pain.

The teacher looks back to her, "Is this true, Nova?"

"Yes, Ms. Gardner."

"Did you hit him?"

"Yes, Ms. Gardner."

She looks shocked that Nova's so blatant about it, not breaking her stone cold stance. She will not give her the satisfaction of seeing her cover herself with lies, trying to make herself look better.

After a long, awkward second, the teacher finally says, "Go to the principal's office, both of you." Ms. Gardner gestures down the hall, "She'll settle this out."

She makes a call into her walkie-talkie, and then leaves us.

"I'll never forgive you," Nova says as soon as the teacher is out of ear-shot. "And you'll pay for what you did."

And then she storms away to the principal's office, letting Leon do whatever the hell he wants. She won't let him win.