The Key To Combat

Chapter 6

When I usually wake up I don't ever feel sufficiently rested. Today I do but I'm not upset about it, just confused. I was hoping the weirdness from yesterday wouldn't sink into today but I guess simulation testing can make things seem wonky. I stretch the night off, stand up and head downstairs. Do I smell french toast?I love french toast. I always wonder why no one else hypes about french toast. It's the best breakfast food by far. It has the most flavour and it's the most filling. It's cinnamon flavoured goodness combined with salted eggs and to top it all off, the sweet juicyness of the syrup that melts everything togeher. Mm, mm, mm. I reach the kitchen and take my seat as my mom brings my plate over with two pieces of french toast, just how I like it. "Morning sweetie." mom and dad say in unison and with smiles. I look to my right. "morning mom." I smile. I look to my left at my dad sitting next to me at the island. "morning dad." I say. He smiles and then puts a bite of food into his mouth. I start to eat and realize this is the first time I'm seeing my little sister since she came back from school. I stand up and walk over to her. "hey, where's my hug?" I ask sadly. She stands up and hugs me quickly then gets right back to her food without even looking at me. I look over at dad with a concerned look on my face. "she's rushing to go play with her friends over at the Zaviers house." he explains. "oh. I thought she was," I stop realizing I can't be too quick with my words right now, while this weird stuff is still going on. My parents look quickly over at me with concern. Keivy looks up and glances at everyone, then goes back to stuffing her face. And now I guess they want me to finish my thought. I don't want to lie. From now on I'm going to be honest. We just gained a charm for this, we can't revert our progress. So I say the second thing I was going to say. "I thought she was, getting over the bond that we share." I say looking back and forth from mom to dad. Keivy shoves the last bite of her french toast in her mouth, hops down off of her chair. "bye, mom, bye dad, bye Wavi." she says while running down the hallway and out the door. "bye honey," mom calls. "have a good time sweetie." dad adds. "later keivy." I call. "honey your sister loves you. I'm glad that's all you're worried about and not this morphing nonsense." Mom says with a laugh. I look at her and force a smile. "haha, nope." I fake. I take a bite and it's delicious. "so sweetie how was your first day of school?" dad asks. "Awesome." I say half heartedly. I look over at mom who just ignores the conversation, biteing into her french toast. "really? tell me more." he says interested. "I got a new charm. I won it after winning my first battle." I say. I take another bite of my french toast. "Really? You won?" dad asks surprised. I look at him with disbelief and he quickly corrects himself. "I mean, you won! Nice!... really." he tries. "nice try Dad, God when are you and mom going to be happy for me? I'm finally doing something that makes me feel good inside and you can't even pretend to be my cheerleaders. The only thing worse than not being able to live out your dream, is not having the ones you love runnning with you like it's their dream for you, too." I say. I put my fork down on my plate and walk out of the house. Anna and I talked about combat school ever since we met. I told her about it and I knew we'd be great together when she was so excited. A best friend that's into what I'm into. That's all you look for in the 8th grade. We decided to tell our parents about combat school and get their permission. When I told my mom and dad I wanted to go to combat school, of course you can guess what they said. It wasn't even a 'no' it was an 'absolutely not'. After months of begging and training in my room online through summer combat training courses, they finally agreed to let me go. My parents definitely never thought this would be my direction in life I know that, but they would never make me feel like I could never achieve my goals. That's the kind of people my parents are. The kind of people to allow me to freely do what I want for my life. The kind of people to let me go to the most dangerous school in their minds because they know how happy it will make me. I don't know who those people are in my house, but they are NOT my parents. I head over to Annas house to see if she wants to go to the mall. When I raise my hand up to knock on the door it opens and Anna is standing in the doorway. How does she do that? At least that hasn't change in this weird alternate universe I somehow ended up in. "oh, hey Wavi. what are you doing here?" Anna asks surprised. Anna steps onto her front porch holding a garbage bag. I spoke too soon. She didn't know I was coming here she's just taking out the trash. I step out of her way and she walks down her porch stairs and I follow. We reach the end of the driveway and Anna lifts up the garbage bin and places the garbage bag she's holding into the bin. "I was wndering if you wanted to go to the mall." I ask as she closes the garbage bin. "sure, let me tell my dad." she replies while walking back to her front door and I follow. She opens the door and we walk in. I close the door behind us. "dad!" she yells. "dad is in the shower, he can't hear you." says Libby, Anna's younger sister. Anna has two sisters. Libby and Bella. Libby is eight just like Keivy and Bella is ten. "I'll be right back." Anna says looking over to me and then she rushes up the stairs. Bella walks over to me with a barbie doll in her hand. She looks up at me with a sweet smile. "hi, Wavi. do you wanna play dolls with me and Libby?" Bella asks. "No thanks Bella. Plus don't you already have one wyatt sister to play with? I ask a little worried. "Keivy? she said she didn't want to play and left?" says Bella. "left to go, home?" I ask concerened. "yea, where else genius?" Libby snarks. Anna walks down the stairs. "ready?" she asks opening the door. "yea" I say turning around. "I thought Bella was the mean one?" I ask pensively, then walk out the door. "oh, they both have their days." Anna says following behind me, then closes the door. I don't know how I'm allowed to drive this car, I don't even know who it belongs to. Anna never questions it so I guess I don't need to either. It's another weird alternate universe thing and I'm guessing once I figure it all out the reason for the car will reveal itself too. For now I'm just going to try to live in the moment. I have this car and I'm heading to the mall with my best friend. Despite all the crazy personality swapping that is happening I can't complain. The first store we go into is 'Cherry pops'. It's a lingirie store and I'm so confused. Why did Anna want to come in here? I don't have a boyfriend and neither does she. Wait. Does she? No, she doesnt. She's my best friend, I would know. Then again me not knowing could be a cause of this alternate universe situation. She never keeps secrets from me which means here she would. I'm losing it. I need to get a hold of myself. I'm not in an alternte universe. "Why did you want to come here?" I ask, very curious. "because you and Kyscin have to be together, if you show up in this," Anna says holding up a sexy red lace spaghetti strap crop top. "he will drool." she finishes. I shake my head at her, then I grab the top from her and hang it back on the rack. I link my arm with hers and start walking towards the exit. "Show up where, exactly?" I inquire. "To his house, where else?" she says as if its obvious. I look at her in disbelief. "okay first of all, I would never be so thirsty. And second of all, Kyscin and I are never going to be a thing. He doesn't like me like that." I stop and turn towards her. "I am really loving your 'go best friend' attitude, but where was it when I would embarass myself in the high school hallways?" I ask. "I guess I couldn't see how perfect you two would be together. More accurately I didn't want to admit it." she says sincerely. "He doesn't feel that way so it's time I move on." I tell her. We start walking again and I see Pumped world. They have the best shoes. Pumps to be exact. I'm a heels lover. I grab Anna's arm and pull us to the left of the mall. "Anna look, 'Pumped world'!" I scream. "ugh, you have only ten minutes." she says trailing behind me. I know Anna only gave me ten minutes but it takes me at least twenty five to find the perfect pair. A total of thirty minutes to try on my favourites and see which one highlights my leg structure and which ones do not. The pump also has to have the perfect amount of inches or it's no good. Sometimes the inches can be overlooked if the shoe accentuates my leg well. You can not rush the search of the perfect pump process. And well, then I have to pay for the shoes and I don't control how long the lines are. I walk out of the store triumphantly holding my shopping bags and Anna follows. "that was an hour and twenty minutes, Wavi." Anna says annoyed. "hey, you know how it is when we go in there." I say looking at my bags. "whatever, I'm hungry. Food court time." Anna demands. "one more," Anna grabs my arm and pulls me with her. "how about 'boo jew' you love 'boo jew'." I say quickly. "yes but you know what I love more than 'boo jew'?" she asks as I look up at 'thigh Hi's'. "'Thigh Hi's'?" I ask hoefully. "no you love 'thigh hi's'. I love food. Now lets go and get some." She says as we make our way down the escalator. "bye 'thigh Hi's'." I whisper, and wave. We sit at a table with our food and drinks and Lynn walks over. What is she doing here? She's going to ruin my happy shopping day at the mall now too? For someone who doesn't like me she seems to always want to be in my company. "Wavina, you know what the mall is?" She snarks. "yes and now thanks to you I also know what unattractive is." I quip. Did I just say that? That's not like me. What is going on? Everyone is laughing. "I'm so sorry, Lynn. I did't mean that." I say sincerely. "You're gonna be sorry. Sorry that you messed with me." She says walking over to the centre of the food court. She snaps her fingers at someone who walks over to her with a bullhorn. "Attention, everyone. Quiet down. Trust me, yo'll want to hear this." Lynn calls and then looks over at me. I put my head down, coverng my face with my right hand knowing what's about to come. "In seventh Grade Wavina Wyatt, that girl standing right over there," she says pointing to me. "farted ten times on command for show and tell." she says. Everyone is laughing, this is my worst living nightmare. "Little miss princess isn't so lady like or attractive anymore is she?" She snarks. I walk over to her. "why do you hate me?" I ask. "I'll tell you. After you let everyone here know why you hate me." she says. I shake my head. I turn around and take a step forward and stop abruptly. I can't walk away from this challenge. If I can't be brave in this moment, how can I call myself a warrior. This is something I never thought I'd have to admit. A 'take it to my grave' type of secret. It takes an unbelieveable amount of bravery to embarrass yourself in front of people or tell someone how you truly feel about them unaware of how they might react and I did that. Even though I didn't have to I know I can handle anything and that's what makes me the powerful warrior I am today. I can do this, I'm brave enough to know I don't need anyones approval on how I chose to feel and I'm strong enough to be honest and take whatever comes with it. I spin myself back around and grab the bullhorn from Lynn. Lynn steps off to the side to stand beside Priya. I turn to Lynn as I say this. "I always hoped you'd get past this. You've hated me ever since grade seven and I still don't know why. You ever think maybe that's why I don't like you? Well I wish it was that so this could just be over. The reason I hate you Lynn is because the minute you found out I liked Kyscin you couldn't keep your hands off of him. All of a sudden he was so alluring and attractive to you. I hate you because you'd rather pretend to like a guy so that he doesn't notice me no matter how sad it made me feel. You could see the hurt you were causing me and didn't even blink." I admit. She walks over to me. "Cute, but I'm not the one who caused your pain, that is all thanks to your bestie." she says and I look over at Anna who looks down ashamed. I look back at Lynn. "Now you're trying to get between me and my best friend?" I snap. The mall starts to blur and the walls move in closer. I close my eyes and when I open them I see Lynn morphing into me. I see the charm. I guess accepting the challenge is how you win this little game I seem to be playing. Bring it on copycat. You're going down. "Are you sure she's someone you want to call your 'best friend'?" copycat asks. She shoots her right arm forward. I jerk to the left. "you don't even know her." I retort and jab her in the shoulder. She stumbles and spins around to face me. I take one leap forward, jump and hit her with a left jab to to the face. She stumbles back and lands on her left knee. I look down at her. "I don't know what's going on," she tries to uppercut but I backflip out of the way. "but I know I'm not going to listen to another word," She leaps forward and follows that with a spin kick. I grab her leg and flip her upwards. She lands on her feetand I take a step towards her. "That anyone says, until they start acting like themselves." I say. I whip a right hook at her. She swings her head underneath it and jabs me in the side with her elbow. I stumble back and let out a small grunt. "and I'm definitely not listening to anything some copycat has to say." I force out. "If you can't trust yourself, yada yada yada. Look, Anna isn't being very honest with you." She says taking a step towards me. "I'm not listening to you." I snap. I run over to her and jab left then right. She throws her left elbow up blocking my left jab and then she throws up her right elbow blocking my right jab. She opens her palms and pushes me in the chest causing me to take flight and bang against the mirror. I fall to the floor as it shatters. I slowly get up and brush the glass off of me. "you don't have to listen to *hear* what I'm saying, and I know you're wondering what I'm talking about." she replies. She takes three leaps over to me and kicks me in the side with her right foot. I stumble to my right and spin along the wall as she throws a punch that hits the mirror. Pieces of glass fly at her and she throws her arms up in front of her face. I spin back towards her and kick her in the stomach. She's thrusted backwards and hits the already shattered mirror. "Enlighten me," I relent, stepping towards her. She jabs me in the face with her left fist and then twice her right fist. I stumble back and wipe the blood off of my lip. "Don't you ever wonder why sometimes you catch kyscin starring at you?" she asks. She spins around and lifts her left leg but before it can connect with my face I lean to my right side and roll down underneath her foot. "because I'm starring at him." I say bluntly. I jab with my left hand and she leaps backward. I leap forward and jab again with my left hand. She leaps back again and hits the wall. She grunts and then looks at me and she laughs."no, sweetie." She says. I throw another jab with my right hand it hits her so hard that she recoils and shatters the mirror. "well, now that you mention it, there are times I'd go to admire him and catch him arleady looking at me." I admit. She coughs and then spits out some blood. "And don't you wonder why him and Anna seem to have such a weird relationship without supposedly ever talking before?" she inquires. I punch her in her stomach and she grunts then drops to the ground. She makes a good point, but Anna is my best friend. I have to give her the benefit of the doubt. I shake my head. "She's my best friend, I'm sure there's a justifiable explanation." I say. I grab her head and bang it against the floor and it cracks. The blood from her head emurges quickly and as quickly as it came it disappears along with her body. I turn around and walk towards the case with the second charm. I stand there waiting for the bell to go off. It only takes a few seconds but it feels like an eternity as thoughts and questions run through my mind about Anna. Would Anna really jeopradize my chances with Kyscin? Anna would never do that. I have to believe this is just this world messing with me. Anna wouldn't get in the way of my happiness, I know as my best friend she wants to see me happy and most importantly be apart of my happiness. But how can I overlook the evidence that it could be true? If Kyscin isn't in to me like I believe then why do I catch him gazing at me? If Anna is so innocent why does she get flushed whenever Kyscin and I are near each other? I have to find out. This could be another trick to have me fall back into the loop of flirting and making a fool of myself in front of everyone to impress a boy who isn't interested in me. How can I ask her when she and everyone else in this place are acting out of character? I wish everyone would go back to being who they were two days ago. This is just makng everything more difficult. I still have to deal with Lynn who by the way must not have a good side because she is still a bitch in opposite land. I have to deal with my extra unsupportive parents and people with a personality opposite of their real self. I wish I knew exactly what was going on. It just feels like I'm in a nightmare everytime I wake up. The bell sounds and the case opens up. I reach in and grab the charm. This charm is a flame. I think it's supposed to represent the flames we have inside. Sometimes our flame gets blown out but we have to ingite it and burn our fears and be brave. I connect the charm to my bracelet and when I blink suddenly I'm at 'Sweet fruits' which is once again, empty. This is definitely opposite town because when I'm not dreamng 'Sweet Fruits is a Sweet spot. It's so filled with people every seat is occupied.