Chapter Three: Art Contest

RHEA'S POV

I waited anxiously for my dad to leave and as soon as he did, I grabbed my backpack and bolted downstairs, I just had to keep this up till my dad gave up on punishing me

"Morning." I ignored Trisha's greeting, headed to one of the kitchen cabinets and pulled out a box of pancake mix "I already made breakfast."

"Why bother when I'm not going to eat." I poured some of the mix into the already heated nonstick pan and put it on a plate the moment it was ready. I plopped down on the chair farthest from Trisha and she sighed before getting up

"I'm going on a business trip," I kept quiet and poured some chocolate syrup on my pancakes

"Bye Trish." I glared at my brother and quickly looked down at my pancakes

"Bye Kyle, bye Rhea." I stuffed some pancakes into my mouth and she sighed before walking out the already open door and closing it

"You could have been nicer."

I glared at Kyle "You could have ignored her and not dated Lyra." He scoffed and looked back at his breakfast.

~~~~~~~~~

I looked at the paper pasted on the announcement board and cursed "Second." I mumbled suddenly feeling teary eyed, I tore off the sheet and crumpled it before tossing it in the trash

"Rhea!" I turned and glared at Lyra "Could you quit bothering me?"

"It's important."

I groaned "What?!" she opened her mouth to say something but quickly kept quiet as her eyes diverted to my left ear, I quickly covered my hearing aid and glared at her "Do you have something to say or are you going to keep wasting my time?!"

"Sorry."

I eye rolled "Of course you are."

"I had a vision, well two actually." She looked sad but I couldn't care less

"Who were they?"

"My dog and some lady named Nikki Brady."

I practically choked on my saliva "When's the death date?"

"They both happen next week Thursday by about one in the morning." I felt lightheaded but just glared harder at Lyra

"Don't bother me till then."

"But what about training?"

"You read the guide so don't bother me." I walked off to class before she could bother me and thankfully got to class before the bell had rung, as I sat down on my chair, a headache came and I quickly rested my head on my desk.

There was no way I could actually go through with that soul collecting garbage, I raised my head as I heard the teacher walk in and took out my math textbook.

LYRA'S POV

"Good job everyone, that concludes cheerleading practice today," I breathed calmly and walked over to the bleachers to grab my water bottle, I opened it and began chugging down the water when I spotted the coach approaching me and I reluctantly parted with my water "I need to talk to you."

"About?"

"You were a bit off at practice today," my mind drifted back to Rhea and how much more aggressive earlier, I also briefly caught sight of when she tossed a crumpled up sheet of paper in the trash and I felt intrigued "Lyra!" I broke out of my reverie and turned to my coach who looked curious "Were you even listening?" I shook my head too honest to lie to the coach and she sighed "Between being the head cheerleader, school president and your class valedictorian, maybe you just have too much on your plate."

I shook my head rapidly "I'm fine." She looked at me skeptically "I'm fine, I promise."

"Are you sure because if you have any problems you could just quit cheerleading."

I shook my head rapidly again "Seriously, if I have any problems I'll come talk to you." She sighed and finally gestured for me to leave, I quickly zipped off before she could question me any further.

I quickly stripped off my sweaty cheerleading outfit and took a shower before changing into my regular clothes, I headed out of the girl's locker-room and spotted the trashcan were Rhea had tossed the paper, it was still full which meant there was still hope I could get the paper from the and thankfully no one would see me since practice wwas after school I hesitantly made my way to the trash can and looked around trying to see if anyone was coming.

After confirming I was alone, I crouched down and started to roam through the trash, I finally found the paper and opened it

"Art contest." I mumbled, it was results for the annual art contests our school hosted with a cash prize of ten thousand dollars for the first place winner and Rhea's name was on the second place slot, I turned to the door and spotted the faint familiar looking golden mist and quickly cleaned up the trash can before rushing out to follow it.

I spotted my group of friends waiting for me I had to apologize for excluding myself from the hang out I planned for us today, the mist led to the same run down place she had gone to when I first found out she was death and I felt hesitant about entering the street without Rhea to run to if the people who lived there tried to attack me.

I stopped in my tracks when I finally realized part of my powers was teleportation and closed my eyes trying to focus on where I wanted to go, I breathed calmly trying to forget where I was but immediately lost focus the moment I heard footsteps and just decided to run instead.

I finally arrived at the run down house and made my way towards the dirty yard when I heard the rusty doorknob jiggling and panicking, I ran into the nearest bush I could find which I immediately regretted the moment I got injured by a piece of rusty scrap metal. I cringed and jumped out of the bush not failing to meet Rhea's cold glare

"Why the heck did you follow me?"

"Forget about that I was infected." I took out my handkerchief and started to wipe the scratch vigorously

"Let me guess you got scratched by scrap metal-"

"Correction infected scrap metal."

She glared at me harder "You're on your own you rich brat." She started to walk away and on instinct, I followed.

"Rhea!" I called out but she ignored me "What do you do here when you don't live here? And why did you sign up for the art contest?"

She stopped and glared at me "How's my life your business? You're my brother's girlfriend now and my vision but don't interfere with things that aren't your business."

"Sorry."

"You're always sorry," I looked down "Don't bother me anymore." She walked off and I picked up my pace while also keeping my distance from Rhea.