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Lapras Valley High – Hell Blastoise

Chapter Two – Undeserved

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To put a long story short, Ashley was really upset as we walked to the train station through the cold early morning. It was pitch black, the only light were street lights about to burn out as they flickered dimly. We walked, Sugar, Fury, Ashley and me. Only four other people were going to Lapras Valley High.

Two were this 17-year-old couple that would be graduating in a year or so, and the other was the girls cousin, so they all walked in a group, leaving me with Ashley. Not that that was a bad thing mind you, I was just hoping that Ashley wouldn’t have to walk through the streets of a really bad town at 4 AM. Things could happen.

"Hello girls, would you like me to escort you anywhere?" a man asked appearing out of an alleyway.

"We’re right you old hag, we can handle ourselves," I replied shortly. I was too depressed to pick a fight.

"Come on," the guy insisted.

I whipped out my dagger and pointed it at his throat. "How’s no sound to you?" I snarled. He backed off, leaving us to continue walking.

"I’m going to miss the forceful you," Ashley said once we were walking again. "I won’t have anybody to protect me now."

"Sugar is real tough," I pointed to the furball, who grinned. "He’s been trained by the best." This time it was Fury’s turn to grin and look proud.

By the time it was 4 AM we had reached the station and one of the older girls going to Lapras Valley High called me as the train pulled up. Ashley looked at me, I looked at Ashley and hugged her for the first and last time in my life. I then slipped off the chain I was wearing and shoved it into her hand before leaving.

Fury nuzzled up beside Sugar, saying her own goodbye before running after me and jumping through the closing doors into the train. We were going to sit down but seeing the seats were either taken, or ripped to shreds with syringe needles sticking half way through them, we ended up standing by the door, holding onto the steel pole.

I don’t remember much of the trip except that I sat down half way through it on the cold dirty floor, and fell asleep three-quarters of the way. It was a long grueling trip, with people stopping to get in to the train wreck and trying to find a place to sit. Just before I fell asleep we happened to enter some of the ritzy towns, such as Aspite or Tyranville. Smart looking boys and girls wearing clean clothes and carrying brown leather suitcases stepped into the train and were wrinkling their nose in disgust, horrified at the normal state for a Quagsire Heights carriage.

One girl, about 13, stepped into the train. She was wearing a large pink bow in her mousy brown hair, which was tied in two pigtails, Nurse Joy style. The rest of her hair was braided and looked stupid in my opinion. Oh that’s right, nobody cares about MY opinion. How silly of me to forget. Her eyes, caramel brown, darted around the train, from the three other Quagsire Heights Orphanage people, to the ripped and torn seats, to the syringes, to the graffiti on the wall, to the gum stuck on the pole, to all the other sophisticated and not-so-nice-looking kids like me, and frowned.

"I thought this was the train to Lapras Valley High, best school in Cascade West," she said, her face screwed up as if somebody had just puked all over her short skirt and leather shoes and she was trying not to scream.

"Well what do you think ****wit?" I snapped. How dare she judge a carriage by its looks.

Even if it was messy it got us there didn’t it?

"Who… I mean… What are you?" the girl asked in disgust.

"I’m a person, what do I look like? On the other hand you are quite unidentifiable," I retorted, too tired to get up and get fierce.

"Ooh big words," the girl taunted. "I’m so scared." A few of the ritzy kids from Zharman Lake laughed at her ridiculous comeback.

I growled, and stood up. She was still looking at me with those piercing brown eyes, as if she was so much better than the rest of the world. A true snob. I took a step forward and glared at her. "What the hell is your damn problem?" I demanded.

"I don’t really have a problem here," the girl answered, acting innocent as a Beedrill that just stung a Butterfree. "I’m not the one aggravated here."

"Don’t use it yet Sal," I whispered to myself. Why waste my precious blade on a Zharmaner.

The Zharman Lake girl happened to hear. "So, your name is Sal," she said, spitting out the word Sal as if it were a bad word. If Fury hadn’t been asleep I would have had this girl down on the floor looking like a piece of toast from the kitchens. Black and crisp with no like left. She smirked at me. "What a name. SAL. I’m sure everybody would love that." She raised her voice. "Guess what everybody! SAL here is afraid to use the special secret weapon. What is it? A sewer Rattata? Or a picture of herself?"

(I will admit I wasn’t looking at my best. I had a smudge on my cheek from when I tripped over before I left the orphanage. My hair was a short mess, and the bandanna I was wearing wasn’t my best. The shoes I was wearing were kind of half torn, and my shirt was a tad on the ‘non-sophisticated’ side.)

"That does it," I growled. Instant reflexes. My arm whipped around to my back pocket and my hand snatched the dagger out of it. I held it up, prepared to strike if I had to. But that was the extreme, the dagger was mostly for show.

To get this Zharman Lake priss pissed.

"You going to hassle me?" I asked threateningly. She looked at the dagger, its freshly sharpened blade gleaming in the early 7 AM sun, the handle carved out with mystical designs, my deadly emerald eyes and my tough attitude.

Then she laughed.

She just burst out laughing right in my face. "You wouldn’t dare," she giggled.

The last straw had been placed. My hand lunged, blade first, and tore the sleeve of her jumper. She gasped and jumped back, as a bit of blood began to slowly slide through the small opening a graze of my dagger had caused. She glared at me, holding her arm as if it would fall off.

"I’m sure you’re happy," she snarled.

One of her Zharmaner friends ran up to her and began to help her with the small cut. "I hope your happy, look what you did to my arm you dirty Rattata," she glared. I glared back. "Now look what happened. You made Kayla bleed. How dare you."

"You want to bleed too obviously," I replied quietly yet dangerously. People were looking at me, but I didn’t really care. That ‘Kayla’ girl, she deserved that. Most people from Zharman Lake were snobs. And that wasn’t my problem.

I settled myself down again and tried to get some sleep.

When I awoke the train was just pulling into Lapras Valley High station. Fury was awake as well, and I stood up. That Kayla girl was no where to be seen though, which was good because I was hoping she wouldn’t be causing any more trouble.

"Are you Sal?" some boy asked, walking up to me as I entered the platform.

"So what if I am," I asked evenly. Fury watched, ready to attack if she had too.

"I just wanted to say that that was cool what you did to Missy back there," the boy complimented.

I frowned. "Right. Her name is Kayla isn’t it?"

"Yeah, Kayla Myssina, but people who don’t like her call her Missy," that guy replied. "By the way, hi. I’m Blaron Haystacker."

"Nice to know you have a name," I snorted. "Now please move, I’d like to get moving. Maybe I want to get away from this Hell Hole."

"Wait," Blaron protested, calling me as I shoved past him roughly. I whipped around and glared. He seemed to sort of blush, a bit afraid. "Can I walk with you?" he asked.

"I don’t really give a damn who walks with me," I answered shortly, turning around. That Blaron guy ran up beside me and started walking with me.

He had short flaming red hair, really short and probably was soft to touch too, like an Ova’s fur, but I wasn’t about to touch it. His eyes were light blue, like the sky, and he seemed to be a nice guy, but then again, so did the devil at first. He seemed shy and full of questions, the type that gets annoying fast, but if I ignored it I would be okay.

"So where are you from?" Blaron finally asked.

"What do you care?" I snapped back coldly.

"Sorry, it was just a question," Blaron apologized.

"Like you mean it," I snorted.

"What?"

"Like you really mean you’re sorry. That’s what everybody says ‘I’m sorry’ the two words that are said the most with the least meaning," I exploded. "It’s becoming as pointless as ‘How do you do.’ Nobody cares for the answer."

"Look, I’m sorry I asked a question that would make you so touchy, honest," Blaron apologized.

I snorted.

"Are you from Quagsire Heights?" Blaron guessed.

"So what if I am?" I cried. "Just because I’m tough, and don’t want to be friends with everybody, because I have ripped clothes, messy hair, a tough attitude and really rough like I’m on drugs, doesn’t mean anything."

"I see," Blaron agreed nervously, not seeing the point at all.

I grumbled to myself the whole way. Once we arrived, to get into the school we had to pass through these turnstiles after checking in. There wasn’t a really long que, those people who already had school cards were allowed through a quick ‘slot’ place.

"Name?" a person asked bored.

"Sal."

"Sorry we have no listing of ‘Sal’."

"That’s because my real name is Sally-Anne McGregor."

"Oh, here you are Sally-Anne, your school card. It has your name, a photo, and your dorm written on it. You stay in the same dorm all the years you come here. You may now go."

As soon as I got into the school grounds, I scratched off the rest of my name, leaving Sal.

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Name: SAL//////////////

D.O.B: 14^th November

Tower: Flaria

Dorm: 6-F

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Lapras Valley High seemed to have four towers, one at each end of the school. Flaria, Joltaria, Aquaria and Solaria. I was in Flaria, which was pretty close. Those in Joltaria and Aquaria had a long way to walk. I didn’t know how they assigned the towers, but I didn’t care.

"Come on Fury, let’s go."

"Vul."

We headed over to the tower, which was taller than I had thought. It took practically forever to walk up those stairs but finally I stood outside my dorm. The brassy letters nailed into the door shone dimly, bearing the name of the room, 6-F. I kicked the door and it swung open.

The room was a pleasant place, quite different to the rooms of Quagsire Heights. It shone brightly thanks to the late morning sun, lighting up the room. Its walls were a light orange color, with a border of flames just below the ceiling. The window was large and open, letting a gentle breeze blow through, creating the red curtains to wave about in the wind. The large wardrobe was painted a blend between orange and red, and the rest of the room seemed to be red and orange. Not too bright though, just enough to resemble the flames of a fire.

It was welcoming, but I didn’t feel welcome here.

What was I doing in such a merry place like this? Somebody whom nobody cared about, who was hated for her tough attitude shouldn’t be living in such a place. It was the wrong place for me.

"Excuse me please," a voice interrupted my thoughts. I turned around, and Kayla gasped.

"You’re in THIS room? In THIS tower. Of all the rooms you’re in THIS room," I stated.

Vulpix had already claimed a bed for us, and was currently sleeping on the doona. The light fluffy cream doona with rows and rows of fire pokemon and flames that only people well off and good should have. She gave a soft snore, letting me know I was on my own again.

"Great, I’m stuck with an ax murderer," Kayla groaned, dumping her stuff on her bed and packing her possessions in the tables beside our beds.

I stared at them. "What’re these for?" I asked, kicking mine.

Kayla just looked at me. "A bedside table, duh," she replied. "For putting stuff into so you can reach it in the night and just for storage space."

What was the point in that? I looked around the room.

Such luxury.

I didn’t deserve this.