Princess of the Pridelands ☾𝐃𝐄𝐒𝐂𝐄𝐍𝐃𝐀𝐍𝐓𝐒☽

Chapter Eleven: Three. Two. One. SCREAM!

I don't know really know where I got the title... kinda stupid really. Also, hi! I'm not dead! The second picture is the starring VKs of Sapphire's Gang for this chapter. Enjoy! ^-^

It's been a couple of weeks since finding Mal's spellbook and I keep getting... strange messages. I decided to ask some of my friends about it.

Nama, Sage, Helene, Haven, Jacob, Petal, Mick, Minetta, Molly, Alyssa, Annie, Aquilla, Agness, Alene, Adele, Pike, Elliot, Starr, Opal, Hanni, Poe, Peggy and Zizi were all at our usual table-despite the size, there was still a lot of room for more people...

Brandon and Theodora were getting lunch together and would be over later, and Droplet-actually, where is Droplet?
"Hey guys. Anyone know where Droplet is?" I ask curiously as I come over to sit down. Nama shrugged and Starr began to speak, with her mouth full of salad, causing her cousin Opal to roll her eyes.
"I saw her with her girlfriend last." Starr explains and I squint my eyes.
"She has a girlfriend?" Nama nodded this time.
"Her name's Emmeline. She's Merryweather's daughter." A lightbulb lit up in my head.
"So... are her and Audrey... close?" I ask vaguely and it's Molly who snorts.
"Oh no! She loathes her with a passion. She doesn't like Audrey's attitude, but she  isn't very trustworthy of VKs either." I frown and stick my fork in my salad.
"Great." I mutter sarcastically.
"Yeah, it took her a couple of weeks to get used to us." Haven explains, laughing at the memory like it was something very nostalgic.
"I heard something about someone not trusting VKs?" Theodora asks, the terror clear on her face, which Brandon frowns at.
"Emmeline. The girl we talked to after Remedial Goodness class." Aquilla explains and Theodora stares at her blankly.
"Oh for the love of- DROPLET'S GIRLFRIEND!" Aquilla practically shouts, annoyed by Theodora's short memory.
"Ohhhhh, right!" Theodora says in realization as she and Brandon sit down. Elliot takes out his ear buds and he and Brandon have a polite conversation. I hear a giggle from behind and see Droplet a few feet away, arm in arm with a girl with tan skin, white wings, and waist length brown hair. That must be Emmeline, I concluded.
"I swear, what do have? The brain of a fish?!" Aquilla asks Theodora as she makes her way over to a spot.
"Oh. No! At least I don't think I do," Theodora says, mumbling the last part, "besides- that's very rude to fish!" Theodora scolds, making Aquilla scoff as Droplet makes her way over.
"Hey guys!" Droplet says in greeting as everyone says tired hellos back.
"Sylvia, Theodora! I'd like you two to meet my girlfriend, Emmeline!" Droplet says, her usual cheerful voice, gesturing to the table. Theodora beams at Emmeline and I give her a small smile as she shifts uncomfortable.
"Babe, you didn't tell me they were going to be VKs!" Emmeline snaps in a whisper in Droplet's ear, close enough for me to hear.
"We've been through this! It doesn't matter if they're VKs! They are MY FRIENDS!" Droplet snaps back through gritted teeth. Emmeline grimaced and Theodora stood up from her chair, grinning, unaware of what Emmeline and Droplet were saying. She holds out her hand.
"It's nice to meet you, Emmeline. I'm Theodora, but you already know that!" Theodora says with a giggle, making Emmeline laugh nervously back as she hesitantly shakes it and I also stand up so she can shake my hand. She looks between us, smiles and then tells Droplet she's gotta go to her next class, abruptly running off.
"So, now that's out of the way, what's troubling you, Sylvia?" Droplet asks as she sits down next to me.
"Ex-ex-excuse me?" I stammer, in shock that she's aware.
"You seem out of it." She explains and I set my fork down, unraveling all the strange notes.
"I don't know where they are coming from, but I keep finding them." I say with a frown.
"We can look at them together after lunch." Helene offers, handing them back to me.
"Are you sure?" I ask as I put the notes back in my red leather jacket's pocket.
"Don't you two have classes to go to after lunch?" Sage questions with a bit of an accusing tone, which was... odd. Haven rolled her eyes.
"That was one time!" Haven protests, holding up her index finger.
"More like 20 times.. no wait- in fact, it's 24 times if you count today!" Sage retorts angrily, as I simply blink in surprise dropping my fork, both at her tone of voice and the stupidity of this situation.
"Four times? Are classes really that boring?" Adele, Pike's sister, questions with an eyebrow raised.
"Well, one of them was sneaking off with El-"
"NOT ANOTHER WORD!" Haven nearly shouts, slamming her fist on the table.
"Oh, come on! We all know that you two are dating! Quit making it seem like we are all idiots!" Starr protested and Haven huffed, her cheeks red with embarrassment.
"You're not helping!" Haven snapped through gritted teeth.
"Guys- you do realize I'm right here!" Elliot protests, but it falls on deaf ears as Sage and Haven argue over her attendance record and Helen demands to know what Haven was doing with Elliot-meanwhile, the rest of us are trying to break up the fighting. I thought I heard someone clear their throat from behind me, but I couldn't be sure as I tried to stop Helene from killing her sister!
"Hey, guys! I need to speak to-"
"WHAT?!" We all screamed, eyes flickering with fury, and Desirée jumped back. Nama sighed and stood up.
"Sorry, Desirée! We tend to get... very passionate about certain subjects." Nama says cautiously with a bright smile on her face. Desirée eyes the table's group, probably thinking about how many VKs were at our table.
"Can't imagine why." She mutters before handing Nama a flyer. Nama gasps and puts her hand on her forehead dramatically.
"We are ruined!!! Ruined I tell you!!" Nama shouts, even more dramatically- if that is even possible. There was a silence before Helene spoke.
"You know, you don't always have to be dramatic for everything right?" But her Question was immediately drowned out by Desirée sighing and stating, "yes, I know. It is heartbreaking." Desirée says with fake sniffles as Helene muffled a groan.
"Who authorized this?" Nama asks Desirée incredibly angry.
"Aris, of course!" Desirée drawls with an eye roll, and low and behold, the adopted daughter of Artemis appears.
"May I help you ladies?" Aris says with a smirk on her face.
"This! Want to explain what this is?!" Nama snaps, putting the flyer in front of Aris' face. The blue eyed, brown haired archer stared at it blankly.
"It's my poster." Desirée scoffed and Nama frowned.
"You need to fix it!" Desirée protests as Nama nods. I had no words. I was honestly shocked that Nama was agreeing with Desirée and her demands. Aris rolled her eyes.
"Typical, I'm not surprised, considering you're related... them." Desirée muttered, giving Helene and Haven the stink eye, which left both sisters flabbergasted. Aris chuckled.
"Please! I'm not even close with them! They are, after all, VKs."
"Excuse me?" Helene drawled with an eye brow raise.
"Your father. Though I suppose your mother is at fault too for marrying him." Aris muttered. That made Helene even madder as both sisters stood up.
"Woah! Woah! You can insult my father all you'd like, but DO NOT insult my mother!!" Was all Helene said before a shouting match of insults ensued. It was all typical meanness until Haven shouted, "YOU'RE ADOPTED!" Aris and Helene stopped and blinked at Haven, unable to say anything (much like the rest of us). Haven turned to her sister with a hurt expression and a shrug of her shoulders.
"I couldn't think of anything else!" Haven explained weakly. Helene sighed.
"Truce?" Aris nodded and they shook hands.
"Anyway," Nama began as Helene and Haven both sat back down, "Aris, I will fix this myself!" Nama then walked off, Desirée following. I watched them walk out of the cafeteria and then turned to Aris.
"How do you put up with that?" I ask and Aris turns towards me.
"Nama's just stressed about the Castlecoming. Nama's a sweet girl, she'll come back and apologize for the way she acted profusely. And Desirée... well, Desirée is just Desirée." Aris explains.
Note from author: I'm still not ok with this scene... Nama isn't a bad person, just a little dramatic. If anyone has any ideas how I can improve this- PM me and let me know :-)