Shattered Mirror [Rewriting]

Chapter 6 - Deception

It had been nearly a week since the break-in at Corliss' house and, with the exception of the fight she'd had with Nomathemba the following day, everything seemed to have fallen into a comfortable routine again. Even having her characters around felt somewhat...normal. Then again, other than Bavita, Liss never saw or spoke to any of the others. Josh kept his presence distanced by being a permanent feature in the air above her and Aaron...well, Liss wasn't even sure where in the house the assassin was most of the time. Or if he was even there. The only character she hadn't met yet was Alena and according to Bavita the chances of her actually meeting the sorceress were slim because she simply hadn't returned after the falling out with the group. Liss didn't know if it was a good or bad thing; having unnecessary tension in the group might distract them from their duties but having a sorceress around was extra firepower. Much needed firepower in her opinion considering the foes they were up against.

'Don't,' Liss scolded herself, trying desperately to zone into whatever Mr Finnegan was saying, 'don't think about them. You promised yourself you wouldn't.' After having gone through what she'd originally planned in her novels for the three baddies with Bavita, she'd sworn to herself not to lend them a second of her thoughts for one basic reason; then she would start stressing. And the last thing she wanted to do was give the idiots that kind of satisfaction. Still, the week had gone by smoother than freshly shaved legs in the psycho killer character department even if several other things had gone minorly wrong for her. A number of her classmates had begun noticing her and not necessarily in a good way; passing nasty comments, trying to bump her lunch from her hands or even trying to push her down the stairs. Liss blamed the attention she was receiving on the little screaming fit she'd had with Nom in the homeroom, chastising herself for being so loud every time someone else tried to shunt her around. It's not like she'd been all too kind in her words. Yet she hadn't been overtly rude to anyone either. All she could hope was that they'd eventually get over their apparent fascination with her so she too could move on with her life.

"His hair's distracting," Nom leaned over and whispered, pulling Liss from her thoughts and she concentrated on the teacher's raven locks instead. Even when the light struck them they remained such an unnatural color it could only be described as bottle black.

"It doesn't look normal," Liss shifted in her seat and turned to rather observe her classmates. Every single female and even a few males were completely enthralled, hanging off the man's words as if he were spoon-feeding them the gift of eternal youth. To say the situation was disturbing would have been putting it mildly.

"It looks hot," the African smiled half-dreamily, tilting her head. It was...strange hearing the words coming from her mouth when she'd previously never been affected by him and it made Liss frown deeply, settling her inquisitive gaze on her friend again.

"I guess..." in all honesty, Liss less than preferred their home teacher's current hairstyle if only because it was causing a complete rift in the classroom atmosphere. And it was especially bad today; the school's annual casual day. It was as if the students had dressed to impress the man. Liss quirked a brow and looked at Mr Finnegan again, taking his entire figure in before she decided that, to the right kind of student, he probably was good-looking. For a man who'd never grown out of his nerd phase and there was something about immature men that just put the writer off. Rolling the thought around her head while she fidgeted with her pen, Liss looked out the window and immediately locked eyes with the golden brown hawk perched on a light pole just opposite her classroom window. A familiar tenseness and need to shut herself off from the reality of her situation settled in her chest and she glanced at Nom nervously. After the fight...Liss had forced herself to act normally even if it was just that; an act. A facade to satisfy everyone around her. At first it had only been for show and she felt everyone, especially her best friend, had known it exactly for that but now it was more a reality than a silly farce she was pitifully caught in. Liss had found it nearly impossible to worry about her so-called 'villains' when, after a week none of them had even made an effort to turn up to haunt her. It had even occurred to her that her characters might have been mistaken about the baddies intention; maybe they simply weren't interested enough in her existence to eliminate it. Or perhaps they just wanted to get out the Graveyard and away from Alena's apparent whining. With that knowledge behind her, it had become a whole lot easier to ease into routine again and the need to pretend slowly fell away. Until Nom got an unbecoming crush on their homeroom teacher. Like all the other girls in the class. Liss shuddered at the thought and brought her attention to the page before her, coloring all the 'o's, 'p's and 'b's in while she waited for the lesson to end. Hopefully then her friend would stop commenting about Mr Finnegan's choice of hair dye. Or his apparent vamped up style of clothing. Not that Liss could honestly see the difference in his geeky button up shirts, ties and formal pants all in a variety of earth shades of all colors. It was like the man was a walking wood elf with his wiry frame, or rather, had been a walking wood elf. Then the creepy black hair had come along. Maybe if he'd improved his physique instead of finding a quick fix for his hair...