The Tale of Zaharos

Chapter 14: Tea in my parents' friends' house

(Just a small clarification about the title: it's Mariana's parents actually, not mine)
Reader Idn'tkw: Lol!
Btw, did you know what L.O.L. stands for? It's for Laugh Out Loud. Now isn't that hilarious!
Reader Idn'tkw: No, you just ruined lol for me. And why is my name Idn'tkw?
1) I was being sarcastic and 2) Idn'tkw stands for 'I don't know who' because I literally have no idea who is the person that's talking.
Annoying reader: The adjective 'literally' was not needed.
The adjective 'annoying' is not needed. It is quite obvious that you are annoying. Moving on...

It was Thursday morning and Mariana's class had to suffer through a double session of PE. For most of Mariana's classmates, Thursday was the worst day of the week (because of the double PE session), but, it provided Mariana a chance to beat Sidonia. At least that's how Mariana perceived things.

Yesterday Mariana had been receiving mocking smiles every time Sidonia answered a question correctly. Eliana had been pretending to be exasperated with Sidonia's childish behaviour, but to Mariana it was obvious that she was acting. That surprisingly, didn't bother Mariana as much as Sidonia's behaviour.

Some part of her felt that she should be focusing on saving Sidonia instead of destroying her, but another side of her kept insisting that giving Sidonia a good dose of humility and a bit of the bitter taste of losing would be more appropriate.

If she had been paying any attention she would have noticed Veronica's constant stare, which for some reason had been more intense than usual and focused almost entirely on her. Then again, if she had been paying any attention she would have noticed how stupid her attempts at humiliating her best friend were.

After two periods of 'pure torture', as Ben described it, Mariana was feeling considerably better, meaning that the space Anger previously occupied was now empty for Guilt to settle in.

They had played football, and even though football was not Mariana's favourite sport, she had managed to show, once again, that she was by far the best athlete in their class. The human form was limiting her abilities a lot more than her cat form, but meta-polymorphics keep, for the most part, whatever abilities they might have acquired regardless of their form.

Mariana was sitting alone in the playground, cursing Eliana, herself, the polymorphics, the shape-shifters and the world in general for every misery she had suffered in her life.

Sidonia was never the best at running but even Mariana could not ignore the fact that she seemed sick. By the end of the lesson, Sidonia was leaning on Eliana to help her stand upright. She looked like she was going to faint. Mariana shuddered at the memory.

She hated herself for not being there to help Sidonia. Sidonia had always been there for her, regardless of the risk. She had chosen to help her over staying with her family. She had left her underwater home and all the comforts it provided, just to be alongside Mariana.

Mariana no longer had the childish determination to win against Sidonia. Seeing her friend so badly beaten had snapped Mariana back to her senses. She had to find a way to help Sidonia. I am going to help Sidonia, she thought, determination sparkling in her eyes.

"Whatever it takes," she whispered out loud.

***

Ben had seen a brown dog wandering around. When the bell rang, he ran after the dog. Max made sure that nobody was watching and changed form.

"Did you talk to her?" he asked urgently.

Ben didn't answer. He had not talked to Mariana yesterday because Erika was almost always with her and when she wasn't, Dean was there. If he was seen talking to Mariana, everyone would assume that he likes her and even though he knew that Sidonia and the fate of Zaharos were more important than the impression he would make, Ben couldn't bring himself to do it.