Villains in Training

Chapter Fifteen: No Rest for the Wicked

There's a certain amount of gall, an absolute belief in one's self and maybe even a bit of conceit, or maybe just a certain amount of stupidity to laugh at Belladonna Marimoore. She may threaten with words, facial expressions, and body language more than actually following through, but that's mainly because she hardly ever has to follow through. When the need arises, she doesn't hold back. So people hardly ever dared challenge her and never laughed... well, almost never. It had happened to her three times in her life.

The first time it was her mother who laughed. Bella was almost seven when she told her mother how she wanted to become an artist when she grew up. At first, Bella truly believed that the laughter was happy and supportive, the light kind of laughter an adult releases when a child says something cute and innocent but the adult wants to preserve that innocence and so follows up the laugh with a soft smile and supportive words. It wasn't until the final "ha", a loud and aggressive sound that was accompanied by a look of pure hatred, that Bella realized the truth: there was nothing kind about her mother's laugh. Immediately after she finished laughing, Bella's mother informed her that even if she managed to find a way to make money with her art, she'd still be nothing more than the villain she was deep down inside. She'd screw up like she always did and ruin any chance she had at having the "normal" life she seemed to want so badly. Seven-year-old Bella ran away crying, the last time she allowed herself to cry until recently.

The second time anyone ever laughed at her was when she was 11. Sydney McBeal was the first person Bella met when she entered middle school. Sydney was the newly appointed queen of the school since the previous one went on to high school. Having heard about Belladonna Marimoore, this odd girl who didn't follow the rules and challenged authority for no reason in particular, Sydney decided the first thing that needed to be done was to find this girl and show her how middle school was going to go for at least one year of her life. Sydney slammed Bella's locker door closed, very nearly smashing Bella's fingers in the process and was immediately met with a fierce glare, one which she laughed so heartily at that it began to spread through the hall. Bella, not one who liked this type of negative attention, met Sydney's laughter with a quick and painful twisting of the arm. The laughter quickly stopped, but Bella felt the need to cement the idea that Sydney was never to cross her again, so she snapped that arm and was suspended for two weeks on the first day of school.

The third time, the laughter came from the very core of the headmaster of Gallimore School of Entropy. The headmaster laughed nonstop as Bella crossed her arms and sent a look her way that would have killed her on the spot if Bella hadn't learned to control her powers.

The headmaster wiped a tear from her eye as her laughter calmed down, only to build back up to another several minute long hearty laugh once she saw the look on Bella's face.

She was serious! She truly wanted to challenge the headmaster to a Malent Talent Competition. Did she realize that this consisted of three rounds of fighting? One of which was with the headmaster herself. The idea that Bella thought at her level, a level in which she could barely handle Mitch, could beat the headmaster wasn't just comical, it was absolutely hilarious!

"So... so you want to..." The headmaster cleared her throat, trying to clear out the remainder of her laughter. "So you want to challenge me to a... Malent Talent Competition?" She'd almost begun laughing again, but managed to control herself.

"Yes," Bella responded curtly.

The headmaster began laughing all over again, unable to control herself as she thought again about how little chance Bella had at winning. Sure, it was a predictable move for someone who didn't want to complete a task given to them by the headmaster, but it was a predictable move for someone who had a chance. The headmaster couldn't help but think about how Bella had yet to even realize her full power, let alone master it.