I'm back! If you're reading this, I hope you've already read Another War Begins, otherwise you're really not going to understand what's going on. If you haven't read it yet, than look the story up on my profile, read that, then come back to this. If you have read Another War Begins, then disregard all of what I just said and start reading. Happy reading! Oh, and for those who don't know, I don't own Witch
Chapter 1- Problems Already Starting
Irma's POV
Irma Lair blew a strand of hair out of her eyes and glared at the board. She was tired of being in school all the time, she had more important things she could be doing than sitting here listening to Mr. Collins talk about the Queen of Switzerland, or whatever he was talking about. She doodled on her notebook cover and looked back at the board. She looked at the clock and was disappointed to see they still had twenty minutes left of class. This is cruel and unusual, she thought, I have about a million things I could be doing, but no, I'm here, listening to Mr. Collins babble! That's unfair
Irma squirmed in her seat and looked around boredly. She'd been a bit hyper lately as it was, and now here she was, stuck in class, and she felt worse than ever. She squirmed a little more. Lately she just hadn't felt settled with anything. She shot the clock another glare. Twenty five minutes. She sighed and turned back to her notebook.
There is so much more I could be doing right now, she thought, I could be at home watching the episodes of Boy Comet that I taped. I could be having a snack. I could be visiting Will…now that I think about it, scratch that one off my list, something tells me Will doesn't want visitors. Of course, her mom wont let her come to the phone, so I don't know!
She sighed and looked back at her notebook. With everything that had happened in her life lately, she was surprised a little hyperness was all she had to deal with. She squirmed again and grabbed her pen. A little before school ending doodling never hurt anyone, and maybe she would settle down a little. She cast Taranee a glance and saw that the fire guardian was scribbling notes busily in her notebook. She sighed and went back to her own notebook. The school bit is getting old, she thought bitterly as the bell rang. She stood up and made right for the door. She was going to make one more attempt to talk to Will before completely giving up. She told Hay Lin her plan as the two walked out of school.
"Anything to get her to the door, huh?" Hay Lin said with a smile, "We do need to talk to her, it's been a week since, well…"
"Yea, I know", Irma said with a shrug, "A talk is long overdue I assure you"
The girls talked the until they got to the point of intersection. Irma turned down the road that led to Will's, and Hay Lin turned down the road to home.
"Good luck!" she called over shoulder. Something told Irma she was going to need more than luck.
"Hi Mrs. Vandom", she said in the cheeriest voice she could muster, "May I please talk to Will?"
"Nice to see you again Irma", Mrs. Vandom said, letting the girl in, "Just hang on a sec, let me see if she's awake"
Irma flopped down on the couch. Pretty cheery for a woman who almost died in a car accident, she thought. She quickly shook her head of the thought.
"She's in her room Irma", Mrs. Vandom said behind her, "I think she'll be grateful for the company"
"Thanks Mrs. V", Irma said cheerily as she made her way down the hall to Will's room. She peaked in around the door, "Hey!"
"Hmn?" Will looked around wearily, "Oh, hey Irma, I thought my mom was joking when she said someone was here to see me"
"No joke!" Irma said in her cheeriest voice possible, "I'm real! So how you feeling?"
"Fine…"
Irma's cheeriness died away instantly, "No you're not", she said quietly, "Look, I know what happened scared you--"
"Scared me?" she laughed hollowly and sat up, "Irma, I almost died, not much can scare me anymore"
"How much does your mom know?" Irma asked.
"Nothing past I ran away because I felt like I messed everything up here", she said, "You never showed her the note did you?"
"I wasn't there when your mom found out", Irma admitted, "I was laying into Cornelia. Hay Lin and Taranee told your mom. They said they never showed her the note"
"I figured as much"
"Listen Will--"
"Just say what you came over to say Irma"
"Well…" Irma hesitated, "The girls and I are…kind of waiting for next call"
"What?"
"You're still our leader", Irma pointed out, "And we still have a mission. So what should we do?"
"I'm no leader", Will said, laughing hollowly, "I dunno what you're talking about Irma"
"Will, listen--"
"Look Irma", Will said sternly, "A lot's happened. Phobos came back, we found out Elyon was truly against us, and everything else. We've done nothing but fight for I don't know how long, can you really still call us a team? After what happened, are we even still friends? Don't give me that look", she said, catching the look on Irma's face; she was shocked Will was talking like this, "You know I'm telling the truth. You know you've wondered about the exact same thing for a long time. Maybe I've just wondered longer"
"Fine", Irma said after a minute of silence, standing up, "Fine. You think like that. Even with every bump we've hit in our lives as guardians, I never once questioned our friendship. I've occasionally wondered if maybe something was wrong between the five of us, but I never truly questioned whether or not our friendship was truly on the lines of dying. I don't know how you can. Sure, I've wondered if something was wrong. I've wondered if maybe dealing with Cornelia was a lost cause. But I never questioned whether or not our friendship really existed. You sit there, you think like that. I won't. And I know the others don't either"
She stormed out of Will's room before the red-head could say another word, and slammed the door as she left the apartment. Will's words had stirred something in her though. Maybe she's right, Irma thought as she made her way home, Maybe our friendship really doesn't exist. Maybe it is a lost cause. How in the world did this happen?
At least she knew the answer to that question. It had started when they became guardians. They'd fought monster, battled Phobos, and held evil at bay. But through all of that, there had been a bump. A bump in their friendship. It'd really started with Cornelia. She didn't think Will was a good leader, and was constantly arguing with her. That didn't help much for the team. After their last battle with Phobos, Cornelia had gone into hiding. Phobos had turned the love of her life, Caleb, into a flower, and it had devastated her. But it had also, in a way, turned her against her friends. She'd started yelling at them whenever they tried to talk to her, slammed doors in their faces, and treated them like the enemy. While the other girls thought she was just upset, Irma thought she was over exaggerating. Caleb was turned into a flower. It was sad, yes, but that didn't make them the enemy. They had simply tried to help. But stubborn old Cornelia had blasted them left and right. Then, to make matters worse, right as they had started getting their friendship back on track, they'd discovered a horrible secret. Elyon, their friend, and Queen of Meridian, had been a spy. She'd been sent to Earth by Phobos to try and find the guardians. Before she could finish her work though, she had to return to Meridian. But she kept up her shield that she was still good. It'd been an all-around accident the girls found out, but they still found out. Will had wanted to write it off as another lost cause case, and the other girls had gotten mad at her for it. Hay Lin and Taranee didn't like how Will could blow something off like that, Irma didn't like Will's attitude about it, and Cornelia didn't like how Will wouldn't even try to help Elyon, who had been Cornelia's best friend. While Irma, Taranee, and Hay Lin had made up with Will quickly, though, Cornelia had held her grudge, and, in the process, said a lot of mean things to Will. She'd ended up telling Will she hated her, and of course, that upset Will. They finally made up after a lot of commotion (in which Will almost died), but evidently Will didn't forget that easily.
"How could she say those things?" Irma thought out loud, "Our friendship isn't a lost cost. Sure, we hit some bumps here and there, and yea, a lot has changed in our lives. But that doesn't mean we aren't still friends. Does it?"
"I dunno Miss", said a kid from behind her, "But I really don't care either. Do you mind speeding it up, my grandmother walks faster than you, and she's in a wheelchair!"
"What do you think Hay Lin?" it was later that night. Irma had called Hay Lin after supper and recounted everything that had happened at Will's.
"I dunno", Hay Lin said, "Maybe it was just Will being worried. I think it was her feelings talking, not Will herself""I suppose…"
"Try asking Taranee, she's better with people's feelings than I am", Hay Lin suggested
"Her family went out tonight, remember?" Irma reminded her, "I'll ask her tomorrow though, good idea"
"You're welcome"
"I've got to go Hay Lin, see ya later"
"All right, bye", Irma hung up feeling worse then ever. Will's words still buzzed in her mind like angry bees. Their friendship wasn't lost. If she knew one thing, it was that their friendship wasn't lost. "I'm going out!" she called, grabbing her jacket as she made for the front door.
"This late?" her mother asked.
"I'm just going of a friend's house", she said, "I'll be back in a bit"
She left before her mom could say another word. It was chilly night, the wind was blowing and a promise of rain was in the air. That didn't stop her though. The rain didn't daunt her, she was the water guardian after all, water was her life. Besides, it wasn't a long walk to Cornelia's apartment.
"Hi Mrs. Hale", she said as cheerily as she could, "Is Cornelia busy?"
"No, she's in her room", Mrs. Hale said, smiling gently, "Go on up if you'd like"
"Thanks", Irma bounced into the apartment, bounded past Lillian, Cornelia's annoying sister, and stopped in front of Cornelia's bedroom door, knocking cheerily, "Cornelia!"
"Irma?" Cornelia's surprised sounding voice carried out. A second later the door flew open, and Irma was left facing a rather surprised looking earth guardian, "What are you doing here?" she asked suspiciously.
"Can't a girl come and say hi to her friend?" Irma questioned innocently, "When did that become against the law?"
"It isn't", Cornelia admitted, letting Irma into her room, "Or I don't think it is, laws change all the time…"
"Right", Irma said distantly, "Anyways, down to business, I wanna talk to you--"
"Great"
"We need to get back on track", Irma said, ignoring the interruption, "I know I'm the last person to be saying this, but Hay Lin and Taranee don't want to take responsibility, and Will would be just as happy forgetting any of this guardian deal ever happened"
"She's not the only one", Cornelia muttered, "How is Will anyways?"
"She's better", Irma said with a shrug, "Shaken, obviously, but other than that, fine. She wants to throw in the leader towel though. Which is why I am here. We still have a job to do, and in order to do it, we all have to be on board. And that includes you Cornelia. I know you're upset about Caleb, but life does still go on--"
"What do you know?" Cornelia snapped, whirling around to face her, "Huh? If you came over to try and help me, you're doing a lousy job at it!"
Irma stared at her, bewildered, Why is it, she thought, My mouth can never get out what I want to say the right way?.!
"I didn't mean it like that", she stuttered, "I-I, just meant that you can't keep avoiding us, and…and reality, I--"
"So now I'm avoiding reality?"
"No!" Irma said, her temper rising, "Nothing like that! I just meant that we need your help, so you have to snap out of it already!"
"The last time I helped you", Cornelia said evenly, "I found out my best friend is a traitor. So give me one good reason why I should help you now"
"Because it's your job", Irma pointed out quietly.
"Well someone else can have it", she snapped, "I'm sick of this job!"
"So what, you're going to quit on us, is that it?" Irma asked angrily, "I came over to try and talk to you, what a waste of time that was! I'm just going to leave you to mope over your silly flower then!"
"Don't you talk about Caleb like that!" Cornelia yelled, "Get out of here Irma! Now!"
"My pleasure!" Irma shot back. She stormed out of her so-called friend's room, slamming the door as she did so.
"What's going on up there?" Mr. Hale asked as Irma made for the front door.
"Nothing of great importance", Irma said as patiently as she could, "Good bye Mr. and Mrs. Hale"
It was all she could do to keep from slamming the door. How had a simple job to help a friend gone so terribly wrong? Cold air whipped Irma's face as she walked, and rain drops started beating down on her. She ignored it though, and didn't head straight home like she should of. She didn't have a general direction of where to go, so she just sort of walked, mulling over everything that had happened. She's just wanted to help Cornelia, and now the blonde girl really hated her. Well who needs her! Irma thought furiously, She's too over-sensitive, she took everything I said and twisted it! All I wanted to do was help, and look what happens!
After about half an hour of angry thoughts, she headed home. She was wet from rain, and immediately changed into her pajamas when she got inside so that she wouldn't catch a cold. Her parents hadn't seen her soaking wet, so she was off the hook. She flopped down on her bed, wondering what Hay Lin and Taranee would say when they found out about the disastrous conversation she'd had with Cornelia. Hay Lin's voice drifted into her mind.
What were you thinking Irma? You know she's in a bad state right now, and you went and made it worse! You should have let one of us talk to her, you guys didn't even get along when were kids!
That would be what Hay Lin would say. That Irma was crazy for trying to talk to Cornelia. What about Taranee?
Well, your heart was in the right place Irma, but maybe you should have let one of us talk to her , you know you two don't always get along…
Yea. Taranee would definitely be nicer about it than Hay Lin. She closed her eyes, imagining what Will would think of what she did.
What in the world was going on in your head Irma?.! Are you crazy, you know she gets mad at you easily, now things are worse than ever! That was a job well done Irma, very well done…
Right. Irma's face contorted into anger as she imagined what Will would say. She really had made things worse. She'd done the same thing when the girls tried to talk to Cornelia right after Caleb was turned into a flower. Will had been mad at her then to. Could she help it if Cornelia was impatient? Could she help it if her words never came out the way she wanted them to? No! So why did everyone always get so mad at her? Her mind buzzed with these questions before she finally managed to fall into an uneasy sleep.
It's gotta be a record. The story is already starting off bad for the girls, and it hasn't even started! Yea, that's right, there are worse things to come, so stay tuned. Review please!