47. Day 4 Part 4

"Can't catch me, princess! I'm going to find all about your secret..."

"Don't you dare! When I get ahold of you, I'll... AARRGGHH!"

This wasn't a measly bucket load of dirty water, a trifling whoopee cushion or a pathetically fake rubber spider down Chloe's back that caused her current consternation. In fact, right now, the heiress longed for the predictable banality of the practical jokes she'd half-expected from her newest 'buddy' Alix during their time together.

What she actually got was worse. Far, far worse.

That morning, two girls were spotted rollerblading through the outside grounds, to the amazement of the local faculty. Some students watched with rapt fascination as the yellow and pink blurs rushed by, while a few teachers who weren't privy to Miss Bustier's unique new schedule for Chloe felt obliged to tell them to get to class.

At the high-octane speed the young ladies were careening at however, the educators firm objections were little more than whispers in the wind. Trying to confront the duo head-on would be most unwise too, unless any potential protestors wanted to be mushed into human roadkill.

So, the two wannabe daredevils are left in peace to do their thing,.. the professional skater way out in front, and the rank amateur in second and last place, as they lapped the circumference of the grounds like a pair of sparring F1 racecars.

It was quite elementary to figure out who was who. The pink haired one was at top speed, switching direction effortlessly with an arrogant flourish, while the unlucky blonde was about to eat brick wall pie while helplessly gibbering something about 'not having a license'.

And, as she prepared to embrace her brutal fate which was now mere seconds away, Chloe couldn't help but reminisce, almost as an epitaph, how this entire farrago started...

...

After initially panicking when she'd discovered exactly what Alix's plans were for their 'special time' together, Chloe found herself changing into the tomboy's spare rollerblading gear, which were a surprisingly snug fit.

So with the shoes and helmet intact, she took a deep breath, and against her better judgement, set off at a steady speed. Left foot first... then, right foot... I seem to be picking up pace... Maybe I should open my eyes now.

Having had no previous experience with any kind of skating other than an ill-fated venture onto the ice as a tot with her mother around the Christmas season, the young girl had sworn afterwards that she'd never attempt anything so dangerous again. Back then, the disastrous day out was harrowing for both mother and daughter: Chloe with her soggy, sore bot (the result of falling over an average of once every ten seconds) and Juliette having to comfort the perpetually screaming child afterwards.

Despite all the bad memories associated with the distressing event though, and totally against her best expectations, Chloe was actually starting to enjoy herself. After greeting daylight once more, and adjusting her stance a bit, the heiress found it wasn't too hard at all. Kinda fun, actually. Who'd have thought it?

She even found herself wanting to thank Alix, regardless of the tomboy's horrendous behaviour earlier, for introducing her to yet another entertaining activity she'd have missed out on if she'd continued being her old pompous self. She looked around for her companion, intending to say those very words...

Alix however, was the one who made the initial contact with Chloe, as she pulled up alongside the heiress from out of the blue. "So, you look as though you're having a good time, would I be right in thinking that?"

"I never thought I'd say this..." Chloe remarked, with her arms spread wide for balance. "But, yes I am. It's much easier than I thought it would be, and you can really feel the breeze, can't you? I might even buy some equipment like this for myself, as soon as Daddy restarts my allowance..."

Alix rolled her eyes upon hearing this, and responded in a mock sympathetic tone. " Oh, well... that is a shame. The poor, pampered princess is penniless at the moment. What's the matter? Did your precious 'Daddykins' finally grow a pair, and punish you for once in your sheltered little life?"

The abrupt change in Alix's tone from friendliness to snark startled Chloe, and she glanced at her fellow skater in annoyance, all while trying to maintain her position. "N-now just hang on a minute, you have no idea what you're talking about. The reason why my father has stripped me of funds is the complete opposite to what you said. It's because..."

"You know what, I don't really care..." Alix sneered at the heiress, making her contempt for the heiress clear in both inflection and words. "You value money so much, yet you'll never realise it can't buy you the most important things in life: Goodness. Integrity. A watch passed from generation to generation. The loyalty of a good friend. A soul. Or maybe, what's in this bag..."

Chloe's eyes widened considerably upon seeing what Alix now held in her raised hand, almost toppling over in total shock. It was the heiress's holdall, that she'd dumped on the ground just after putting all this gear on, and Alix had seen fit to grab it before they'd set off together. And, inside was...

"Give that to me, now!" Chloe growled in abject fury, as she made a futile snatch for the bag there and then, her failed efforts only causing her to stumble further.

"So, I was right..." Alix gloated triumphantly, while dangling the holdall just out of the heiress's reach. "There is something dear to you inside here, something that you no doubt want to treasure for years and perhaps want to give to a special person when you're older. Remind you of anything, Chloe? Starting to get some idea what it was like for me, that day at the track? Unlike you though, I'm going to give you a chance to get back your beloved item. I challenge you to a race, like I did with Kim. Only this time, instead of beating me, you only have to catch me. If you manage to do that before our ninety minutes are up, I'll give this straight back to you. Otherwise, I'm taking it for myself..."

"No, don't!" Chloe practically screeched the place down, realising a few seconds later that maybe she doth protest a little too much.

Alix picked up on her desperation as well, and a wry grin soon appeared on her face. "Oh-ho! Looks like I really hit the jackpot here. I can't wait to peek inside, once I've made you eat my dust! Well, I would wish you luck... but I get the feeling you're going to need a lot more than that. Smell ya later, princess!"

It was at this point Chloe saw that Alix had basically been toying with her up until now, in terms of skating ability. There really was no contest. In as much time as it took for the heiress to blink, Alix was but a speck on the horizon... jumping and twisting her way through the miscellanious obstacles that dotted the schoolyard, all while twirling the bag with it's precious contents like a lasoo around her head.

Chloe had no other option. Despite her flagrant inferiority in using these blades, and the major hazards that lay ahead for anyone proceeding at such an obscene rate, she copied Alix's posture and she was off, whizzing away at who-knows-what speed while determinedly trying to keep the obnoxious little imp in her range of view.

Somehow, through some minor miracle, the heiress managed to do herself proud. She ducked, weaved, parried her way through her surroundings, as she was forced to escalerate with each passing second. This feeling of adrenaline rush was intense, and nothing in her previous cushy life before had prepared her for this level of physicality.

Despite her superhuman efforts though, nothing could keep Chloe apace with the tomboy in front, who seemed to have been born wearing a set of rollerblades. Even with her colossal lead, she got the impression that Alix was holding back.

Nevertheless, on the heiress pushed... her teeth grit... her eyes narrowed... her will unbent... ready to retrieve her precious 'possession' at all costs.

That's when Chloe had noticed a stray pigeon on her route that she'd instinctively swerved to avoid...

And now, we return to the present.

...

"AAARGH!" Chloe continued to scream, as she lurched unremittingly to certain doom.

This is it... I'll never be a superhero now.

Just when I'd recieved the priceless gift of a second chance, I've never gotten the chance to use it. All those wasted years, just thinking of myself, shut off from the world...

I'll never fly... never know what it's like to have real friends... never get to save the world... never make things up with my father... never see Zzubo again...

Zzubo!

The yellow and black image of the bee kwami flashed in her mind... and immediately, it was like something miraculous truly did happen.

Mere inches from being flattened like a pancake, Chloe performed a hairpin turn which would have impressed Tony Hawk, saving herself in the nick of time. If this had been the Olympics, she just might have got a gold medal, in addition to a well-deserved standing ovation.

But Chloe had no time for personal glories anymore. There was but a single thing on her mind... and it had two wings, four arms and one very irritating buzzy voice. And, she loved it to death. She pressed on with renewed vigour, determined to get her cherished friend back, especially as the time was nearly up.

Alix on the other hand, was more distracted than she'd ever been while skating. Slowing down momentarily to savour Chloe's inevitable squishing, she couldn't believe her eyes when the spoiled brat pulled off a move that even an expert like her would've been hugely proud of. But.. how? She shook her head in amazement while starting up again, still pondering how on Earth her nemesis had managed that trick...

...In fact, so absorbed in her thoughts was Alix, she completely failed to spot the long flight of steps just in front of her. Oh no! Like someone chatting on their mobile while driving before they crash, the slightest diversion while skating can lead to serious harm. Alix had committed a beginner's mistake, and now it looked as if she was about to reap the consequences. She'd had a couple of fractures before at the A&E as a result of her antics, but these steep stairs looked like they could cause her some serious harm. Six months in traction, maybe? Hey, at least I'll get lots of time off school...

While trying to accentuate the positives of her upcoming major injury, Alix didn't see the blonde blur that suddenly materalised next to her, to grab the tomboy by the arm and halt her progress while teetering on the top step. Alix opened her eyes to discover that Chloe had somehow caught up and grabbed her just before she'd plummeted off the edge, a no-nonsense look on her face. The 'useless' snob who she'd poured a bucket of mess over that morning, taunted relentlessly about her apparent lack of skating skill and whose bag she'd tried to steal, had totally just saved her sorry patootie. She was speechless...

Chloe was less interested in her companion's safety though, being much more focused on grabbing her bag back to look inside. Upon finding out the contents were secure, she breathed a long sigh of relief, before turning back to the shell-shocked Alix with a face like thunder.

"Don't ever, ever, ever do that ever again!" Chloe snarled at the nonplussed girl, her eyes ablaze. "I know I helped destroy your watch that one time, and I'm very sorry about that... but that's no excuse for you to dash off with my prized 'possession'. That makes you no better than I was! I'll take this back now, if you don't mind..."

Apart from the irony of being lectured to about ethics by the school bully, another inconceivable thought kept flashing through Alix's mind. "You... saved me?"

"Huh?" Chloe contemplated her actions over the last few seconds. "I guess I sorta did..." she admitted, convieniently neglecting to mention the fact that the kwami was her real target, not the pink-haired girl.

"I-I don't believe it..." The long-held negative stereotype that Alix had formed of the heiress was being well and truly torn apart. "A-and that move you did to avoid hitting the wall, t-that was incredible..."

"Well, it was more luck than anything, to be honest." Chloe shrugged her shoulders, not wishing to mull over how close she came to being embedded in the brickwork. She survived, that's all that mattered.

Chloe... being humble?! Alix's overworked brain was beginning to flip out, and she struggled to reconcile her old feelings about the heiress with this strange, new person standing in front of her. "I don't understand..."

"What are you talking about?" Chloe stared at the bewildered tomboy, with a raised eyebrow.

"How could you betray Alya like that, when she only wanted to be your friend?!" Alix practically clung onto Chloe's collar suddenly, causing the heiress to back away in surprise. "Are you trying something similar with me? Is this another one of your evil schemes to befriend someone, before dumping them? Because it's working, okay?! I like the girl I see before me. Mainly because she's the complete opposite from the spoiled, selfish brat that's been plaguing me for years. I'm actually starting to think she's... kinda cool. Listen to me, you upper-class twit... you better tell me know if this is some cruel game, because if I find out that it is..."

Chloe was initially perturbed by Alix's demeanor, but given the heiress's past conduct, she supposed she couldn't blame the pink-haired girl for feeling that way. "Alix..." She sighed, trying to sound as candid as possible. "I don't know whether I can ever convince you or not, but I had nothing to do with Mrs Cesaire being sacked. That was all down to my father, who disapproved strongly of me having new friends. I'm sorry if you don't believe me, but it's the truth. I'm trying to be a better person, and regardless of how difficult it is for me here and at home, and how many doubters there are, it's something I'm going to do. I know you don't trust me for now... but all I ask is you give me a chance. Do you think you can do that?"

Alix considered the heiress's proposal seriously, leaving it a while before eventually replying. "Okay, princess... you got yourself a deal. I owe you a solid anyway, for saving me from an extended stay in intensive care. But if I find out you're lying to me..."

"Then your revenge will be 'swift and merciless', I know..." Chloe offered the tomboy a rueful smile, glad that they'd reached some kind of understanding.

Alix smirked back at Chloe, before an alarm suddenly went off in her pocket. "Oh, it looks like our hour and a half is up..." Alix noted, feeling a lot more disappointed than she thought she would. "Just try and make things right with Alya, 'kay? I don't know what she's more upset by, the fact that her mother just got fired, or that someone she thought she'd formed a real connection with turned out to be, from her perspective, a vindictive bitch. No offense..."

Chloe felt a pronounced lump appear in her throat upon hearing this, and told Alix sincerely. "None taken. And I'll do my best. I won't rest until her mum gets her job back, either."

The tomboy nodded at her to show her approval. "You do that, and I'll know you're on the level. Well, we gotta go. Oh, and princess..."

"What?" Chloe was in the middle of taking her helmet off.

"You can borrow the rollerblades, if you like." Alix gave her a telling wink. "It looked like you were really having fun out there, and if you can't buy any yourself, you can use my spare set instead. Besides, by the sound of things, the mayor would hate it... and after what you told me he did to Alya's mother, it's totally worth that alone."

"Wow, thanks Alix..." Chloe couldn't believe her ears, and she found herself putting a grateful arm around the tomboy's neck.

"Y-yeah, well... don't mention it." Alix said diffidently, while slipping out of Chloe's grasp, before adding. "And I mean 'don't mention it', because 'reformed' or not, you're still pretty much despised in the class, and I have a reputation to uphold, ya know?"

Alix's words sounded harsh, but Chloe appreciated the true meaning of them. "Sure, Alix. Don't worry though, I intend to do something about that very soon. Maybe, when everyone's talking to me again, we c an become true friends..."

"Well, gotta say I admire your optimism..." Alix commented, as the two of them walked side-by-side to the entrance, intending to separate as soon as they reached the corridor. "I'd like to help if I could, so if there's something I can do, just ask. Do it in private, though."

"Fine..." Chloe acknowledged the gesture, before something else popped in her head. "Alix... can I ask you something else? How did you know that this bag was so important to me?"

"Well, it wasn't exactly difficult..." Alix remarked, with a knowing chuckle. "You were always looking inside every day, and staring at it adoringly. It was easy to spot how much you cherished the contents. What have you got in there, anyway? Diamonds? Rubies? Pearls? Your old personality? C'mon, princess... I'm all ears."

"N-never you mind, shorty. And stop calling me 'princess'!" Chloe playfully shoved Alix as the two of them stepped into the school together.

"Alright... what about 'Blondie' instead?

"Better, 'Pinkie'... but, no."

...

AUTHOR'S NOTE: I'm going through some major relationship drama right now... but writing this helps take my mind off of things. Hope you enjoyed it.

Now, back to real life... (sigh) :/