From Another Place (A Zodiac Story)

~14~

I should've stayed away was all Serpent was thinking as he showered in the school's shower room. At first, it was just interesting for him to mess with the daughter of Cinderella. But during that run, he felt strange emotions around her.

He turned off the hot water and grabbed the towel from the rack. The towel rack, not the other kind.

After he finished changing into more comfortable clothes, he walked out into the locker room where the rest of the guys were. Andrew and Charles still weren't talking. Among the villain guys, no one is as good at holding grudges as Andrew and Charles. Maybe perhaps me.

Serpent walked up to his locker and took out his phone and backpack. Anton was clearing out his own locker next to him.

"You know you change when you're with those good royalty kids," Serpent decided to tell Anton, "You're like, nice with them. More humble."

Anton rolled his eyes, "Oh please, I'm still the same person. You guys just never give me a reason to be nice to you."

"Where's your invisible servant anyway?" Serpent looked around, "I figured you'd use him around more." Anton flashed him a 'how did you know that' look, and Serpent responded with a 'be fucking real, is that even a question' look. That ended with Anton rolling his eyes.

"He's doing my chores," Anton answered, "Doing my laundry, ironing my clothes and shit."

"Guys, we should get going," Vincent started, looking at his watch, "If we want to be ready and prepare for the pool party in time."

"What pool party?" Charles finally spoke.

"The pool party Simon wanted to throw," Vincent said with raised eyebrows. He and Anton had gotten closer to the 'good kids' after this whole Zodiac shit started.

.

.

.

"I've never seen you more motivated to do homework in my life," Liam commented smugly as Simon rushed through his homework. Everyone was back at the mansion, doing their own things until it was time for the party. Simon and Liam were in Simon's room doing their homework together.

"Yeah whatever," Simon rolled his eyes as he finished his foreign relations assignment and slammed his book shut, "Do we have a Zodiac meeting to organize the party and invite people and stuff?"

"Yep, we're supposed to be in the common room in 4 minutes," Liam reminded him and started packing his own stuff.

They made their way downstairs to the living room where Terri, Gianna, Coraline, Vincent, Serpent, Charles, and Phoebe were waiting. Simon was surprised the villain kids were there.

"You guys are joining the party?" Liam asked, with a touch of grouchiness. He plopped onto the large couch. Simon sat next to Gianna at the other end of the couch.

"Knowing it'll piss you off? for sure," Serpent replied with a smirk. Coraline, who was sitting next to him, flashed him a glare, which made him shut up.

"Are you inviting your royalty friends?" Vincent asked with a raised eyebrow, "If so, shouldn't we get to invite people over too?"

"I don't think that's allowed," Phoebe replied with a shrug, "The portal closes at 6 PM, and we party at 7." The rest of the villain kids rolled their eyes.

"That's so unfair," Terri grouched. Just then, Liliana and Andrew walked in; each of them holding a bag with a 'Hansel and Gretel Baked Goods' logo on it. Simon could see Liam fuming from the corner of his eyes.

"Where were you?" Gianna asked, in confusion, "I thought you were still doing homework."

"I finished a while ago," Liliana grinned, "Then I wanted to go buy some cheesecake, and someone decided to follow me." She flashed Andrew a glare.

"Ooh! Cheesecake!" Phoebe got up and rushed over. Liliana brought out the cake and placed it on the table. Phoebe started cutting it and putting the pieces into small plates.

"What's in the other bag?" Simon asked, gesturing to the bag that Andrew was putting down.

"Macarons," he answered before sitting down on an armchair and started going on his phone.

Coraline reached over for a macaron. "Anyway, back to the pool party?" she reminded the rest of them.

"Right," Simon started as he swallowed a macaron, "So I was thinking that we invite some um... unproblematic friends. Not much, maybe just 2 people. Just Ryder and Malcolm?"

"Meh, I don't really care about the people coming to the party anyways," Serpent shrugged.

"Are you going to invite Angelina?" Charles asked them, "Y'know, Alice's daughter."

Gianna cringed, "Yeah I don't know about that."

"Do we need food and stuff?" Phoebe asked, looking around the room, "What are we eating?"

"We can let Simon cook," Liam suggested with a smirk.

"Fuck no," Simon rolled his eyes, "Just order a  pizza or something."

"What about we order pizza and have a barbecue? We can send some people to the supermarket and get some meat and frozen skewers," Gianna suggested. Everyone else agreed.

"Alright then, let's separate into 2 groups," Vincent suggested, "The 1st group is going to organize the pool area and bring out the floats and barbecue grill and stuff. The 2nd group is going to the supermarket and getting the food."

"Don't count me in," Charles got up, "I'm out. Tear Bear?"

"Don't call me that and I'm out too," Terri rolled her eyes, and got up, "Maybe I'll show up for the party." With that, they both walked away.

"2 people down," Simon shrugged, "Where's Anton anyway?"

"He's on a call with his mom," Gianna said with a bored face, "He'll be here later."

"Alright then," Phoebe clapped her hands once, "Who's on which team?"

"Gianna and I are in 2nd group!" Liliana volunteered. The daughter of Rapunzel nodded excitedly.

"Simon and I will go too," Liam suggested, smiling at Liliana, "That makes 4."

"Does anyone else wanna go? 1 more seat available for the supermarket trip," Gianna reminded them, and turned to Andrew,  "You wanna come, Andrew?"

His gaze flickered between Liliana and Liam before he nodded and got up from his armchair.

"Yeah sure," he smirked and followed them outside.