Brighter Than the Stars

Annabelle - Bald is the New Look

"Alright." James held up his hand, like he was calling for order. Considering people usually had to use the same move on him, I didn't find it–or him–very impressive. "Same rules for each of us–if you win, I shave my head, but if I win, you shave your head." Leo nodded and reached out to shake his hand across the table.

Nicole smacked it away. "No way!"

"He agrees," James protested. "C'mon, Nicole, it's not like you can stop him anyway. Might as well give up now." He reached across the table again to shake Leo's hand, but before he could, Nicole took both of Leo's in hers.

"I can and I will." She scowled at Leo. "You're not going bald."

"Okay, okay." He shrugged at James. "I guess I'm not going bald."

"You're no fun." James turned to me. "How about you, Annie? We spar–three rounds, ten minutes each. Loser goes bald."

"Have you seen my hair, James? I'm not going bald." I started wrapping it around my hand protectively, as if he could whip out the shears and start cutting right then and there. Honestly, I wouldn't put it past him. "If you want to shave your head, by all means, go for it, since it seems to be such a passion of yours to go bald. Otherwise, good luck convincing Nicole to let Leo shave his head. Unless you can do it while she's not there..."

James perked up, and Nicole glared at me. "Not helping."

"Sorry." I shrugged. "I'm kind of curious, though. Leo, how serious about this were you? Because I might need to put in money–"

Nicole kicked me in the shins under the table. "You're not betting money on this, and Leo's not going bald. Leo, why were you about to agree to this in the first place? Now you've got Annabelle spending money she doesn't have–"

"Hey!"

"--and James bent on having someone shave their head. Assuming he even wins, which is up for debate–"

"Hey!" James's turn to be offended. "You know, as much as I admire the fact that you can insult everyone at this table in a single breath–please, teach me–leave me out of it next time!" He brightened again. "Unless you want to spar? Same deal–loser goes bald?"

Nicole gave him a look, and he slumped back down in his seat.

"But your hair isn't long or anything–"

"And that's supposed to mean I'm okay with going bald?"

"Maybe–"

"Are you okay with losing your hair?"

James paused at that. "Well, no," he said eventually. "I don't lose, though."

"You want to find out?" Nicole asked him.

"Would you be willing to go bald if you did lose?" he asked.

"No. But you wouldn't have to, either. It'd just be to see. Winner gets bragging rights–loser gets a lifetime of shame." James hesitated, before he finally stretched his hand across the table and shook hers.

"Not quite what I wanted," he said, "but it works. We go till someone's disarmed. I would say take-down, but, you know," he grinned, taking on the same expression he always did when he was about to say something cocky and stupid, "I wouldn't want to hurt you."

"I think it'd be more likely to be the other way around," Nicole said, "but we'll see. Tomorrow afternoon."

"Please. I could stomp on you–"

He didn't get to finish (which was probably for the best). The entire room shook and plunged into darkness and I sat frozen. I heard screams and distantly realized it was me; I pinched James's arm probably harder than I should have. Stunned, he didn't even shake me off. I could barely see James's outline, much less Nicole and Leo, who were sitting across from us.

It seemed like we'd been pitched into the middle of the sea, and my head spun. Another crash sent me to the floor, and I crouched there as I tried to get my bearings. The entire room was spinning, and loud pops and cracks filled the space. It sounded almost like fizzling, and, for a moment, everything was deathly still. I sucked in a breath and tried to get my bearings. I had just started to push myself to my feet when another bang shook the entire world again.

Finally, everything went quiet again. I could hear who's breathing I guessed was Nicole's coming in sharp breaths. Faintly, I heard a small, "Leo..."

"We're okay," he replied. Louder, he added, "Belle? James? You guys alright?"

"Alright is not how I'd describe it," I said, "but sure." I snapped my fingers, letting a sphere of light grow between my palms. It illuminated everyone in a golden glow, which looked a lot more peaceful than anyone felt. Leo had one arm around Nicole, both of them wide-eyed, Nicole paler than usual, making her freckles stand out. Leo tapped his free hand on his knee in a nervous pattern. I was sure James and I had the same freaked-out expressions mirrored on our faces.

"What," James said, slowly, "was that?" He had a few other choice words to describe what "that" was, too, which everyone decided to ignore. "I mean, I'm all for explosions, but the timing seems a little inconvenient, doesn't it? And before anyone asks, I had nothing to do with it."

"Well, that was my next question," I said, "so, I guess that solves one mystery."

Leo got to his feet and reached back down to help Nicole up. "I'm going to go find everyone else. Anyone else, really. And make sure my mom and sister are okay. Maddie might know what's going on by now; it's been a few minutes..."

"Seemed like a bomb," James said. "Can't tell how close, really, though. Close, obviously, but was it targeting the palace?"

Leo pressed his lips together. "I hope not."

I headed toward the door, balancing my sphere of light above my palm like I was about to start doing tricks with it. Honestly, I probably should have learned some. Lighten the mood a bit. "Let's go see, then. I don't hear anything, still–that's the weird part. No screams, or footsteps, or...anything."

"Is that bad?" James asked.

"I guess we'll find out," I said, then glanced at Leo out of the corner of my eye. "It's probably fine. In the palace, anyway. Not hearing screaming is usually a good thing." Usually. But I didn't add that part. 

Word Count: 1,072