Rising Shards

Zeta had her hands in her pockets, looking surprised to see me.

"Oh, er, hi P.D." Zeta said, her annoying voice driving me to new levels of rage right away. "They told me to go get Kalei...have, uh, you seen her?"

The gust of wind was the only answer to her statement for a few moments, flowing the grass and flowers around us in gentle waves. I gritted my teeth, wanting to ignite my bloodsaber again and send a slash of energy directly at her stupid face.

"She's over there," I said, barely tilting my head in Kalei's direction, my mouth twitching.

"OK," Zeta said. "So, um...I know you hate me and all, but can I ask one thing?"

So nonchalant. Did she hear anything I shouted at her when I unmasked? Was she really this stupid?

"Are you like, for real my sister?" Zeta asked, barreling forward to an obnoxious degree. "I don't...like, not believe you."

"Yes," I said. "I'm beyond certain."

"Dang," Zeta said. "Sorry, that's really crazy. I remember when I was little and I wanted to know more about my family, I hoped I'd have another sister sometimes. My daydream other sister was younger though, I named her Clarabelle, because my middle name is Belle so she'd be like." She coughed. "Zeta Belle and...Clara. Belle. Heh."

Zeta's stupid tail flicked around, I wanted to pick her up by it and slam her into the ground. I felt the pains in my forehead, if I got any angrier I'd reach the devil state, horns and spiky tail about to jut out of my body as it readied for battle. Could I really get into a fight here, though? How angry would my friends be if I beat up Zeta after they were so furious at me just for telling her off?

"I don't have time for your foolishness," I said. "And you trying to act cute and innocent is utterly hilarious given what I know about you. Cheater. Liar."

"Oh," Zeta said. "Did Ovie tell you that cheating thing?"

"Yes," I said. "Ovie Chirhart told me everything I needed to know about you."

"OK, well, for your information, Ovie was dating this girl named Jeans, and Jeans asked me out and never told me about Ovie," Zeta said. "I still feel really bad, but I didn't steal Jeans away from Ovie or anything. Jeans was horrible, too, so. And Ovie's a huge bully who had issues with me before she knew about me and Jeans, so she made up a bunch of stuff about me. Just so you know."

"So what? Why are you still talking to me?" I said.

"I don't know," Zeta said. "I just...we didn't get off to the best start, I don't think. If you seriously are my sister—"

"I am! I am not lying about that," I said. "And you are being insufferable right now—"

"Kay, well, if you really are my sister, then I dunno," I said. "Don't you wanna do more than just hate me? I feel like I should be able to clear the air too if you only hate me because of stuff Ovie said. Or our parents. You know, they...lie a lot."

"I don't 'want' to hate you," I said. "But you make it very, very easy. I don't believe a word you said, and I don't care if you and I are technically related, you are a disgrace to the Kathron family."

"About that, I—"

"I don't care. I don't care what you have to say, because your actions prove otherwise! I've watched you ever since I got here! You're a loser with no hopes, no dreams, no goals other than getting through the day. You have no ambitions and no backbone, you're terrible in class whether it's education or Cani combat training. You're pathetic. Utterly pathetic. Beyond pathetic, and if you don't realize it now, I'm making it my mission to achieve such greatness that you will have no choice but to realize the error of your ways leaving the Kathron family, and to realize just how worthless you are."

Zeta blinked. "Dang." A few more blinks, tears forming in her eyes, streaking down her cheeks. "Dang, that's...a lot."

I expected her to run away, sobbing, but she just stood there.

"Ugh, it's so weird," Zeta laughed through her tears.

Laughing? Seriously? What was wrong with her?

"This reminds me of how I cry when Stella yells at me sometimes," Zeta said. "That's so weird. I don't cry like this when Ovie says something, or when something really bad happens, ha. It's that Stella feeling like when I forgot to do chores for too long or busted something and she chewed me out for it. Except instead of that, it's just...horrible stuff from you. Stella doesn't say things like that to me, thank goodness. But it's the same kind of cry. That's like...that's so weird."

I shook my head. "Are you going to babble mindlessly, or are you going to leave?"

"I'll go in a sec, just," Another laugh mixed with tears. "That's the first time I actually really felt like you might be my sister. That's so weird." She wiped her eyes. "Before I go, though."

Why was she smiling now? Still crying like a toddler, but a smile?

"When the devils got to school, even though it was really scary what they did to Penteldtam, I couldn't shake this idea that I could be friends with them," Zeta said. "I mainly was thinking the group with Sai, Myles, Ash, those ones, not so much Caeda or Chickadee...or you, I guess. But now, my gut is saying that I could be your friend someday. And I'm gonna make that happen."

I stammered, choking on my own rage, but Zeta just waved.

"That's all I had to say. Thanks for hearing me out, Anastasia!" Zeta said.

She took off, and I just stood there. The person I'd dedicated years and years to being enraged by just told me she wanted to be friends.

It just made me hate her even more.

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