The Purple Haired Craze

In Which The Dead Men Flirt

It was a Saturday.

Valkyrie woke suddenly, initially not recognising her surroundings. She looked sharply at the other bed and noted the boy lying there, snoring heavily, and then the events of the day before hit her.

She sat up, dragging herself out of her warm bed and grabbed the brown uniform that she had left at the foot of her bed. Checking that Skulduggery was still in a deep sleep, she stripped of her nightgown and quickly dragged the tunic over her head.

Stepping into the bathroom, she glared at her long hair that was reflected by the mirror. She had no idea on how to put it up. She was able to braid her hair, but not neatly and was definitely not skilled enough to pin it up. She growled as her fourth attempt proved unsuccessful.

"You okay?" came a voice from the door.

Val jumped. Skulduggery, with a very amused expression on his face, was standing there, his frame filling the doorway. "I'm fine," she muttered and turned her attentions back to her locks.

"I can put up hair, you know," he stated. She turned around, a surprised look on her face. "I could do it for you."

She was tempted to refuse, but that would look a bit stubborn on her behalf. "Sure," she said, dropping her hands to her sides.

He moved into the bathroom with grace and Valkyrie watched the reflection of them both. She felt his gentle hands tugging at the knots she had made with a comb and he began to gently plait her hair. His hands were deft and in no time at all he had fixed her hair up perfectly.

"Okay?"

She nodded, touching her hair lightly, checking it was secure as well as pretty. It didn't fall out immediately. Valkyrie turned to say thank you, but he had already gone.

She found her way to the dining room easily enough; most people had been heading in that direction, so she just followed the crowd. A pat on the head and she turned, finding the purple haired time traveller smirking down at her.

"How you doing Val?"

"Fine," she replied, a little tersely.

"Bit of a shocker to see Skulduggery alive I bet."

Val gave her a look. "You knew I was going to get roomed with him?"

Liv nodded.

"But that's dangerous!" she whisper yelled, not wanting to draw too much attention to herself. "I'm not supposed to meet him yet!"

The time traveller gave her a look. "Did you seriously think that I would defy the rules of time travel? It's my bloody discipline!"

Val gave her an incredulous look before realising that Liv was right. She knew what she had to do, and she probably would not have dragged Valkyrie to a school where Skulduggery was (and probably the other Dead Men) if it wasn't necessary.

They got into the queue to get breakfast. Valkyrie had been up early and the hall wasn't too crowded yet. She spotted Skulduggery on the other side of the hall, along with Ghastly, Saracen, Dexter and Erskine. And was that Anton Shudder's scowl that she could see?

Val groaned inwardly. She kept her head down, wishing that she had a curtain of hair to cover her face, and grabbed an assortment of food, trying to get to a seat as soon as she could.

Liv had other ideas.

"Come on, Val!" she yelled from across the hall, near to the teenage Dead Men. "I found us a seat."

Damn.

She could feel everyone's eyes watching her as she shuffled awkwardly to Liv, shooting her 'cousin' a look. "Hello again," she said, with an air of reluctance in her voice. She could see all the boys watching her, only Skulduggery showing recognition in his eyes. It hurt a bit to realise that she would have to reconnect with these men, the people that were her closest friends back in the future. She sat herself down, opposite Liv and next to Vex.

Oh, damn, thought Skulduggery to himself, watching as the dark haired girl walked towards their table. His plan to keep the eyes of his flirtatious friends had backfired. Even Anton, he noted, seemed to give the girl a look which suggested his interest in Valkyrie. Sly grins broke across their faces. He tried to keep the recognition from his face.

"Hello," she muttered to them, giving the purple girl who had strode confidently to their table just now and yelled at Val from across the room a glare.

Vex was the first to jump at the opportunity, probably assuming that because the girl had sat next to him that he could. He earned glares from all his friends, including Skulduggery himself. "What would be your lovely name then?" he said, addressing Valkyrie.

The girl barely looked up from her bread and beans. "Valkyrie Cain," and pointing at the purple girl she then said, "Livena Estrange, my cousin."

"Oh." Put off by how unresponsive she was, he was a bit lost for words. Most of his lines were rehearsed, and if a girl went off script it never turned out well for Vex.

Rue stepped in next. "Nice name! Mine is Saracen Rue. The idiot who just spoke to you was Dexter Vex, Ghastly Bespoke is the one with scars, Anton Shudder is the one that doesn't speak, Erskine Ravel flirts too much-"

"Say's you!" came Ravel's indignant cry.

"- and Skulduggery Pleasant is the brains."

"I know Skulduggery," she said, giving Rue a small smile before giving me an unreadable look. "He's my roommate."

"You what?" Rue gave him a startled look which reminded Skulduggery of a surprised fish.

"Did I not mention that?" was his cool reply, managing to make his face look indifferent.

"That you are now sharing a room with a drop-dead gorgeous girl that is as beautiful as China, if not more? No, you didn't," retorted Vex, a little miffed.

A blush swept across Valkyrie's face. Livena arched an eyebrow, amused.

"Sorry," was all Skulduggery could say before China Sorrows herself sat herself down next to Skulduggery.

"Hello boys!" she said cheerful.

"Hi China," said Erskine. All of them (except Livena and Valkyrie) knew that Erskine had a thing for China, and Skul decided to let him do the talking with the spoilt, regal-like brat whose hobby was to pick up guys using symbols to make her seem more attractive. Not bothering to acknowledge China's presence, he instead turned his focus to Valkyrie.

If it had been possible for the girl to look even more uncomfortable in her surroundings, Val had managed. Her body had frozen at the sight of Sorrows, her eyes trained, glaring at the other girl with malice, although the expression did seem foreign on her face.

Livena picked up on Valkyrie change in mood and stood quickly. "We'll probably be seeing you guys later," she said and Val managed to recover herself to stand and follow her cousin.

It surprised Skulduggery himself when he found that he had chased after the girls. "Do you girls need a tour of the place?" he asked to cover over his impulse.

Livena smiled. "I don't," she told him, good-naturedly. "I have a photographic memory so I memorised the map of the place. Plus my roommate gave me a quick tour this morning.

"Oh." He couldn't hide the slight disappointment from his voice.

"But I'm sure Val needs a tour!" she finished as he was turning away. He felt himself perk up and looked quickly to Val for her response.

"Sure," she said, giving him a smile. "I want to try and figure out this place before Monday."

He struggled to stop the massive grin that was threatening to plaster itself on his face.