Invictus

Chapter 3

April

The alarm goes off. Two more minutes, I hit the snooze button and roll over to the sleepy side. Here I have dreams of fluffy unicorns and ice cream covered Chris Hemsworth.

The alarm goes off again, I peek at it. 8:00am, hell no, I'm late.

I burst out of the sheets and head for the bathroom. Thirty minutes later, I'm on the bus. I crane my head in search for a black leather jacket and blondette hair. She's not in the bus, maybe she's ill.

Gym is my first period, so I bustle off with my bags and get changed into my leotard, that's when I noticed it. A small orange, yellow and red image on my wrist, in the shape of flames. Right where the chicken can burnt me, something is going on.

Denise walked in and looked at me, I noticed a blue joint guard on her elbow.

"Is there a bruise?" I ask, feeling pity for her.

She looked at me as if she was about to cry. I opened my arms and I gestured "c'mere". She rushed into my arms and hugged me.

"It's not a bruise, April. Its like a tattoo " She shifted it and showed me. It was an ocean image, in shades of blue, all over her elbow.

"I had something like this too." Turning my wrist for her to see the flames. "A can of soup burn."

"Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwn, gym class  bonding time " Lyanna said, standing by the door, she looked out side and crossed over to us.

"Since we are doing Show and Tell " She pushed up the hem of her jeans. A little Rock with some leaves on it was on her ankle. 

" And no. This is not a tattoo. I kicked some tumble weed and it vanished." She froze  "Why am I Telling you this?"

"I have flames and Denise has Water" I say, rubbing my thumb over the flame image.

"Liu has a cloud" She said, pulling up her hair.

"Who's Liu? " Denise asked, wrinkling up her little nose.

"Liu Hamamatsu " She replied, paying no attention to Denise "She does chemistry "

"Great. Asian nerd" Denise rolled her eyes and went to change.

"That's racist! " Lyanna yelled after her.

"Denise?" I say "I don't think we should tell anyone."

"Yh, sure." She said absently.

"Everyone including Aimee Ferryhill. " Lyanna added.  " you should know how stuck up bitches respond to tattoos "

" She's my best friend" Denise said, "we've never-"

"-fine, tell her" Lyanna said "see what happens "

She stared at me for a while, her lips set in a thin line,then she breezed away.

DENISE

Who are they to tell Me about keeping secrets, I have known Aimee since I was sucking. She loves me, and she won't hurt me. I'm telling her right now.

Class just ended and April went in search of Liu with Lyanna. I walked along the hallway and noticed that new teacher searching through the crowd, I find Aimee and I hug her. She then proceeds to tell me who's hot, who's not, who's hating and who's dating. Cliché relationships really. The quarterback and cheerleader, the Nerds. Surprisingly, the school Loner and the Perfect attendance guy.

"So, hey. I have a tattoo, it's temporary" I said, airily.

"Shut up, you don't. " Aimee said, her voice oddly calm. "You can't, you're joking. we did the Anti-Ink Campaign as a fundraising project. Remember? "