Always One More.... [Finished]

Day 16 - Part 1

The last four days had been more than amazing. Karyl and him had spent most of their waking hours together.

Still he felt like he was missing out on something. Like there was something Karyl was hiding from him.

Duh, her secret. She's hiding that from you.

Well don't worry. Homecoming is only six days away. You'll survive that long.

Growling to himself, he listened as the professor droned on. All he could think about was Karyl. Where was she, how as she doing, and was she thinking of him? The questions kept buzzing through his head, driving him mad.

He looked at the clock and ground his teeth. Two minutes and twelves seconds since the last time he checked. Which was at the beginning of class, on the hour.

Slumping in his seat, he resigned himself to a slow mental death caused by his math professor.

[three hours later]

"You're going to homecoming with Louis, right?"

Karyl looked up from her textbook. The girl who spoke to her glared at her with hateful brown eyes. Long black hair flowed straight over her thin shoulders and cut off at her waist. Skinny jeans covered her legs, a black leather jacket hid her top, and designer boots covered her feet.

Brooklyn Mandox. Head cheerleader and most popular girl in high school. Now, head cheerleader of the college and dating one of the other football players. She'd been wanting to date Louis for seven years, but after some incident in grade school Louis wouldn't tell her about, he'd refused her advances.

She had to be the most beautiful woman Karyl had ever seen, and she'd seen serious beauty. The perfectly formed body, not an ounce of fat on her. Curves in all the right places, a husky voice that drew men like moths to flame, and exotically shaped eyes that looked like she was ready for whatever her man wanted to do.

A beauty to behold, indeed, but a wretch on the inside. The witch had threatened her before, when news got around that Louis had let Karyl babysit Kevin while he went to practice a few days ago. Something he'd never let anyone else do; not even Aeron got that privalege.

But when Karyl had pointed out Aeron couldn't because he was on the team as well, Brooklyn had only shoved her back against the wall and told her to stay away from Louis. She deserved him, not Karyl, and she would have him.

Karyl seriously doubted that, since Louis had all but declared his love for her. She had a distinct feeling he only kept the words in because of his promise to her. But his love showed in everything he did: buying her food, holding her stuff when she moved to sit down or stand, and offering a hand to help her up or down. Helping her remember things when she forgot, correcting her when she was wrong without getting upset about it.

She had no doubt that Louis was hers for the long run, even though they couldn't be together. Still, Brooklyn was not a girl to anger. Karyl knew that much. She'd seen the way the girl treated others, and she'd witnessed her trying to steal Louis from her more than once in the past several days.

"Can I help you?" she asked polietly, prentending she hadn't heard the question.

Brooklyn let out an irritated noise. "I said, you're going to homecoming with Louis, right?" she snapped.

Karyl closed her textbook, sensing something was off, but not sure what that something was. "Yes, he asked me. And I agreed. What of it?" She caught the time on the wall clock and felt her heart flutter. Louis would be out of class in fifteen minutes.

She began packing her things.

"Well, I'd like to congradulate you."

She paused, looking up at the girl. "What?"

"Congradulations, stupid. She's telling you good job," one of her cronies snarled.

Karyl barely kept from snapping at the girl. She knew better, though. Her temper might be short, but her time here was shorter. Getting into a fight would waste precious time she would rather spend with Louis.

Louis.... Almost together again. She smiled at the thought and stood, slinging her bag over her shoulder. "Thanks, I guess." She moved to walk past the girls.

"Wait." Brooklyn grabbed her arm and turned her around. "I have something for you. A gift, if you will. From the loser to the winner. You understand that, right?"

Nervous, Karyl slowly nodded, a frown drawing her brows together. "Hurry. I have to be somewhere in a few minutes."

Brooklyn's eyes flashed with maliciousness. "This won't take long. I give you my word." Taking Karyl's hand, she led her from the library study room to the back of the building.

The place was reserved for the student during this time of year to keep their homecoming dresses and tuxedos. Security was well maintained during the night hours, and a guard roamed the place during the day.

At the entrance, Brooklyn veered to the left into one of the changing rooms. The only places in the library that weren't monitered 24/7. The room was sound proofed, though that was more a remnant from the old building's old use as an insane asylum than anything.

Once they were all in, one of the girls shut the door while another flicked on a light.

Blinking against the light for a moment, Karyl glanced around until she saw the mannequin in the back of the room.

And resting on it was the secret she'd been trying desperately to keep from Louis.

A strapless lavender gown, varying in shades down the skirt, hugged the mannequin, the neck tie keeping it in place. The tie was lined with silver that flowed down the back of the dress to create a beautiful pattern of flowers Karyl knew was there, though she couldn't presently see it. Down the front was a similar design of flowers in the same silver coloring.

Around the middle, where the top met the skirt bottom, in deep brown and small enough not to take away from the dress, were enscribed three words. Kevin & Joe. Since they weren't allowed to bring the two of them to homecoming, she'd thought it appropriate they be present in spirit.

"It's a beautiful gown. I certainly can't say mine was better," Brooklyn cooed. "I would have done a different color scheme, and left off the offending names. But the rest is gorgeous."

A wicked smile curved her lips as one of her cronies reached into their bag. Two others came forward so fast, Karyl never saw them coming. They grabbed her arms and held her still while the one with the bag pulled out a knife.

"What a shame if something were to happen to it. Say, it got torn to shreds by some random theif?" Brooklyn snapped her fingers and the other girl went to the dress.

Karyl's eyes widened. "NO!!!!" She screamed, fighting the two girls holding her. "STOP! PLEASE!! Don't do this!" Tears fell down her cheeks as the girls watched and laughed.

She continued screaming as they shredded the dress, tearing it into pieces so small she could have eaten them.

Finished with their torment, the cronies released her as the one returned her knife to her bag. They all left except Brooklyn, who stepped closer to Karyl as she sobbed on the floor.

"Too bad the thief was never caught. Because if that were to happen, worse consequences might be in store." Brooklyn petted Karyl's head. "Don't worry, sweetie," she cooed, her voice gentle and motherly. "I'm sure Louis would be more than willing to embarass himself by taking a girl in jeans and a shirt to the dance."

Her piece said, Brooklyn left the room.

Crawling to the dress, Karyl felt her world falling apart. "I'm sorry, Lou," she whispered. "I'm so sorry. I tried to make this special, and she ruined it. I'm so sorry."

With no strength to do otherwise, she stayed there and cried.

Warm brown eyes stared at the weeping blond. Fury gathering in their depths, they went in search of someone who could do something.

Only one person came to mind.