Malia's Might

Chapter 6: Dragon armor and fairy dreams.

                Malia groaned and smacked at the alarm clock near her bed.  Squinting she glared at the tiny machine as it refused to shut up.  The sun was just starting to make its way over the tops of the trees and into her room.  Like she thought it was a beautiful view, but right now she had other things to do than stare at the view from her own personal sanctuary.

                As it turned out picking a room at the top of the house was the best decision she made all night.  Her step-monster was pleased that the her mother’s chair would not be an eyesore in the rest of the house and the room was so much work to get to that once Malia closed the door at the bottom of the stairs Shannon deemed it too much trouble to cause her any grief.  In a word it was bliss.

                Stretching in her covers Malia contemplated just pretending she didn’t hear the alarm and snuggling back into the warm covers to hide out the day.  Her father’s voice soon ended that thought as she heard him calling to her from the bottom of her staircase.  Thinking to herself she kind of liked the sound of it being her staircase.

                “Malia, honey, you have to get up now.  If you don’t hurry you are going to miss getting a ride with me to the bus stop.  Then you are going to have to hoof it there yourself.”  He had decided he was going to drive her to the stop her first day so they could talk.  They hadn’t really had much time to talk lately since they had dropped the “were moving and uprooting your whole life, have a nice day!” bomb.

                “I’m up dad.  I’ll be down in twenty!”  Malia yelled back to her dad.  She really needed more like thirty-five minutes to get herself worked up to go but she knew she wasn’t going to get any time for her self-pity party.  Grumbling to herself she looked at the clock as she shuffled off to the bathroom.  Did that really say five-thirty in the morning!  Of course it did, because there was nothing more a teenager liked than getting up at the c***k of dawn to head off to a building full of more angsty people all trapped like prisoners between four walls and being force fed information they probably would never need again.

                “Ugh!  Why couldn’t I have just hidden in Mack’s basement like she wanted me to?”  Malia was thinking that plan was looking better and better now.  Smiling to herself she picked her clothes up of her mother’s chair and headed to the bathroom to shower.

                When she was done exhausting the last of the hot water she got out of the shower.  The steam was swirling around her in the room and she had the oddest thought that it was like one of those scenes from the movies where the girl doesn’t realize she is being watched.  She stifled the shiver that tried to go down her spine and shook her head.  “Get it together Malia, you are already the new girl in a senior class do you really want to be the crazy girl too?”

                Finally she was dressed and giving herself one last look in the full length mirror in her bathroom she nodded her head in approval.  Her outfit reminded her of her friends, and it should since each piece belonged to one of them.  She had on Mack’s grey henna long sleeve with the finger wholes that she was constantly borrowing, Sienna’s jeans with the artfully torn holes going up the legs and the rhinestone dragons on the back pockets and finally Davis’s charcoal grey knit beanie that he practically wore every day.  She smiled thinking of her favorite people in the whole world.  Their last night together had been one she never wanted to end and when they had walked her home they had each given her these pieces as mementos of themselves.  They had all cried as Mack and Sienna had handed them the shirt and pants.  The memories of all the times she and Mack had swapped the sweater between them flowing between the two along with the memories of Sienna’s painstaking efforts with that bedazzler making those dragons after she had just ripped holes into the new pair of jeans her mother had bought from the mall. 

She stifled a giggle at the memory of her friend’s mom’s jaw dropping to the floor when Sienna had shown off her final artwork.  Her mother had closed her mouth and then walked out of the room mumbling something about never understanding teenagers thinking that ripping holes in clothes made them better.  The three girls had all broken down into fits of giggles that ended in tears streaming down their cheeks as Davis had hurriedly shucked off his beanie and thrust it into her hands.  He hadn’t realized the girls were giving her presents and mumbled something about his beanie being the only piece of clothing he could actually part with since he was wearing everything else.  His hat hair was the funniest thing they had seen all day, combined with the distinct shade of cherry red his face had turned.  Malia fitted the head wear onto her raven locks with a smile and took in the gifts her friend’s had given her.  It felt more like armor for the current situation.  She was heading into uncharted territory and she needed something to shield her heart from the pain of leaving her old life behind.  What better than pieces of the best parts of that old life?

                Thinking of her old life Malia turned and headed back into her bedroom.  Once there she opened her jewelry box and took out the necklace that belonged to her mother.  It was just a simple silver chain with a filigree pendant on its fragile links.  She had gotten it when Malia was born and the chain was meant to be worn long or double wrapped.  The filigree pendent was of a mother and daughter embracing and she smiled as she fingered the small talisman in her hand.  She had always thought it was cute that the mother side of the pendant had wings and a crown and the daughter side had tiny wings and crown to match.  She had asked her mother once why the mother side was simply that and the daughter side had the added addition of a small jewel that seemed to glow all on its own.

                Her mother had told her that was because she was the light of her world and someday when she was older all that she was capable of would be known and explained to her.  Her mother had never gotten the chance to explain what she meant by that.  Her life had been too short and Malia felt her heart squeeze painfully at the memory of all that was lost.

                Malia looked into the mirror on her dresser and took a deep breath to push off the pain that was tempting her to curl back up in bed and ignore the world. “For you mom, I will try to do the best I can, I won’t give up.  I know you wouldn’t want me to stop just because the world seems hopeless right now.”  She gave her image a sad smile as if her mother could see it and with that walked towards the staircase and the fresh hell that was no doubt waiting for her.

Sure enough when Malia made it to the kitchen to grab a muffin and juice for the car ride to her bus pickup she couldn’t help but run into Shannon.

“What on earth are you wearing Malia?  Could you have at least picked a color other than grey or black to wear?  You are trying to make a good impression after all and make friends.  You don’t want to scare everyone away on the first day do you?  And what is with that silly necklace, don’t you think you are a little old for fairies?”

Malia froze at the last sentence and had to remind herself to take a deep breath.  This was her step-monster’s usual routine for her anyways and she would not let her ruin the good vibes she was feeling from her friend’s gifts.  Suddenly she felt a surge of strength in the pit of her stomach and turned to Shannon with a crooked grin on her face.  She was feeling a bit mischievous and she couldn’t help the words that tumbled out of her mouth as she faced her step-mother.

“Oh Shannon, new friends are so highly overrated don’t you think?  If the old ones aren’t broken why replace them and besides I hear that black is supposed to be slimming so maybe if I turn sideways I can disappear myself back to the good old U.S. and my old life.  You also hadn’t noticed my dragons are with me as well and I fully intend to never be too old for fairies or dragons.  Maybe someday I can find my prince and he will take me away from all this to a better life where no one tries to uproot my life and take me away from everything I love.”

Malia had no idea where that had come from but couldn’t help but love it as Shannon’s mouth fell open and she was speechless for the first time since Malia had met her.  She knew that there would probably be hell to pay when Shannon recovered and she got home from school tonight but as she turned on the heel of her chunky boots and walked out the door she couldn’t bring herself to care about that right now.

                Malia hoped into the car with her dad and belted her seat belt firmly into place.  Her mother had died in a car crash and ever since she had decided she would take every safety precaution she could when in those giant metal death boxes.  Her friends had understood her not wanting a license because of that but it was still awkward explaining to new people why she was going to be eighteen in a month and still didn’t drive.  She had a license now because Shannon had insisted she get one, but she would never drive if she didn’t have to, it was just too nerve wracking to think about and she would much rather walk and take in the scene of nature around her instead.  She was kind of hoping it wouldn’t be an issue here since the school had told her that everyone arrived at school through the bus system and they didn’t allow students personal vehicles on the grounds.  At least that was one point in her favor she thought as she saw the “bus” stop loom into view.