When They Come

The next morning, Alex felt her bones seemingly vibrate with excitement. She jumped into a lighter pair of jean shorts and a grey tank top with a red plaid shirt. She liked her plaid shirts.

Pulling on a pair of sneakers (for the Saimiens weren’t coming today or for the rest of the month), Alex snatched up her bag that had her finished homework in it and jogged down the steps.

Into the kitchen, she went where she met her mother who handed her a hairbrush. Alex combed her wavy hair and sat down for breakfast.

“You seem excited today,” Her mom commented, slipping her a bowl of cereal and orange juice.

“Well, it’s not Inspection Day. That’s something to celebrate, isn’t it?” Alex said truthfully.

“You’re right,” Her mother agreed. “I couldn’t’ve been happier to see those Saimiens leave yesterday,” She braced her hands on the kitchen sink. “So, what job would you like to cover for today? Your father’s already planting the autumn seeds,”

“I can take care of the cats,” Alex answered, shoveling cereal into her mouth. “I haven’t done it since Friday.”

“Then it's yours,”

Alex smiled and finished her breakfast.

Alex sat on the tiled floor, gazing at the cats in their cardboard bed. They needed watching because Sweetie’s kittens were known to get into dangerous situations fast.

Today, they seemed to be on coffee. They crawled around and over their mother, mewing as if communicating with each other. They probably were and Alex just couldn't hear them.

“Don’t you worry kitties,” Alex muttered. “Old Auntie Alex will get Cassandra for getting me in trouble and soon, she’ll be downgraded to one of these,” Alex held out her badge pinned to her shirt. “All I need to do is set the gears in motion,”

As Alex smirked at her words, Addir’s words came back and the grey cloud over her rumbled with a thunder of disapproval. Scowling, Alex pushed that away. She couldn’t let it affect her. Addir should stop bothering her thoughts and get a life. But then again—

No! She wouldn’t think about it. Sighing, Alex shook her head to clear her thoughts. And reprimanded her conscience for nagging her so. It never did this. Not until now…

“Alex you’re being stupid,” She muttered to herself. “And you need to think about the plan,”

Right! The plan! Alex began to go over it, again and again, to make sure she had it. Which she did. It was just a matter of not screwing up.

Riding the bus the way she did yesterday, Alex let the wind whip her face as her low ponytail flapped behind her. Her clothes waved wildly around, and Alex smiled, knowing the time was drawing near. The countryside soon melted away and formed into a small town—and her high school.

Alex dropped down from the back of the bus and saw John from one of the side windows. He turned and looked at her. She nodded to him and he returned it.

He bolted out of the bus and ran ahead where some of the football team was waiting with the empty canister. Alex watched and suddenly caught sight of the Ice Queen herself, her red hair bouncing as she strode towards the entrance.

Alex joined the crowd flocking to the school, and she pulled out a few books and pens from her bag. She neared Cassandra and waited until she passed under the scanner and made it a few feet inside before slamming into her.

“I’m so sorry Cassandra!” Alex cried, being very effective with her tone.

“Ugh! You clutz! Get your stuff and get out of my sight!” Cassandra yelled, flustered, drawing attention. She thought she was embarrassing Alex. Oh, how wrong she was.

Alex found Cassandra was wearing her pumps John had mentioned the day before and she quickly tied the laces together while Cassandra was fussing about ‘her finely quaffed hair and how she ruined it’.

Trying to hide her smile Alex picked up her books and pens, shoved them into her bag and stood up.

“I’m sorry again,” Alex said earnestly, a frown appearing on her face as she looked down.

“Don’t let it happen again! Or I’ll give you detention!” Cassandra huffed.

“Have a nice trip!” Alex said under her breath as Cassandra attempted to walk.

Cassandra shrieked, catching everyone’s attention and began to stumble. She seemed to be standing on ice she slipped so much. She finally managed to trip and fall into the open Gatorade jug John was holding, her upper half fitting inside.

Cassandra cried out as she fell to the ground, the jug reverberating around the now silent hall. The red-headed girl shoved off the container and looked around. The student body was laughing at her. She stared at her laces and scowled at the sight of them being tied together.

She snatched at them and furiously tied them the way there were supposed to before standing up. Cassandra brushed off her grey dress and shorts.

Alex was laughing so much she was crying. The plan had worked perfectly, and the results were immensely satisfying. She clutched her stomach it hurt so much, and her legs were about to give way.

Cassandra looked to Alex, her eyes ablaze with a fury no one could match. The hall fell silent. “You!” She called. “You did this!”

“And what if I did?” Alex replied, placing her hands on her hips. “Detention sounds wonderful. But no one will let you live this down. Believe me,”

It was true, many students had their phones out and were still recording.

“Soon, this will be the new viral video. And the Saimiens won’t care.” Alex continued.

“How could you!” Cassandra cried, lunging towards Alex. She moved with a surprising amount of swiftness for a girl in heels. She pounced on Alex and began to punch her furiously. “You’ll regret toying with me!” She hollered.

Fueled with new-found adrenaline, Alex punched back and pushed Cassandra off of her. Her lip was bleeding but she ignored it.

Cassandra launched again, uppercutting Alex. Her head snapped back and blood sprayed from her nose. Wiping it off, Alex smirked and kicked at Cassandra’s stomach and the girl doubled over only to meet a knee to the nose, breaking it.

Cassandra cried out in agony and then fury. She let her fists fly where they wished, and Alex could barely keep up but finally saw a window in which she caught Cassandra’s right arm and locked it in place before delivering several blows to her side.

The students around them were cheering and some of them were chanting ‘fight!’, ‘fight!’, ‘fight!’. It had been a while since they saw some excitement. John was watching worriedly because he was concerned that Alex might come out worse than Cassandra. He never thought that the Ice Queen might lash out.

Alex braced herself against a locker as she wiped more blood off her lip and nose and watched Cassandra pant, that angry fire still burning in her eyes.

“I think you’ve made your point,” Alex breathed.

“Not yet,” Cassandra snarled and sprung toward her.

Alex sidestepped the punch that was aimed for her head and Cassandra’s fist hit the locker with a loud ‘bang’. Yelling in pain, Cassandra turned to Alex and glowered at her.

Alex smirked at her and suddenly, an airhorn silenced everyone. In walked a man in a black suit, pushing his way through the crowd of students. He held his airhorn in his right hand and his left hand was on his hip. That was the principal.

“What is going on here?” He asked, tapping his foot on the ground.

Everyone was silent before Cassandra spoke up. “It was Alex!” She cried. “She attacked me!”

“I did not!” Alex said appalled. “You were the one who flew at me, all angry!”

“Yes, well you—yes you—tied my laces together and tripped me! Making me humiliate myself in front of the whole school!” Cassandra said with loathing in her voice she was practically spitting venom.

“Alex, is this true?” The principal asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Yes but—”

“Ladies, come with me,” He said, cutting her off.

He turned and strode off towards his office. Cassandra shot Alex a dirty look and followed after the principal, wiping the blood from her nose.

Alex sighed and followed, trying to clean herself up a little as she walked. She felt dirty and tired. But what she did felt worth it. And Addir’s words were the last thing on her mind right now.