Chapter 7 (the shortest "chapter" in the history of the world. Really, it should be an addition to Chapter 6 but, I don't really feel like doing that.)

Chapter 7

Lissa jumped out of the cab while Ag paid the driver, wishing she could ride in something a little more… classy. As the two walked into Nordstrom Lissa had a tugging at the back of her mind. It sort of felt like she was wearing the wrong color or something. Lissa checked her shirt. Nope. Black with rainbow lettering. Perfect. Ag interrupted her thoughts

“Where to first?”

“I dunno” Lissa responded “Shoes?”

Ag looked thoughtful. “Nah, I am in desperate need for some jeans.”

“Jeans it is then.” Lissa agreed. “But where to get the jeans, that is the question.”

Ag looked at her. Lissa looked back. They both cracked up.

“Forever 21?” Lissa said through giggles.

“Sounds good”

“Now,” Lissa said jokingly, “What type of jeans?”

Ag punched her lightly. “Let’s go, you”

~*~

                As Ag and Lissa walked toward the elevator in the middle of the store, Lissa got that tugging again. For a second she stopped, trying to figure out what was wrong. Ag looked back at her, worry disfiguring her expression “What’s wrong?”

                “Nothing, just…” Lissa’s sentence faded away. She plastered a smile, said “Nothing” and grinned even broader. “Let’s go get some jeans” She said confidently, however, it should be noted that for the rest of the day Lissa had a disturbing expression of confusion on her face.

Chapter 6

Chapter 6

        Lissa sat down tiredly at the kitchen table just as her mother put a fresh stack of pancakes on the table. “Good morning sleepy-head!” Her mom said as though she was a five year old. Lissa sighed and speared a pancake on her fork.

“Where’s the peanut butter?” Lissa asked as she realized that the key breakfast staple was missing.

“Oh, sorry honey, I forgot. It’s in the fridge.” Mrs. Ahn said while she dumped some more blueberries in the cookie batter. Lissa grudgingly put her pancake on her plate and got up and walked towards the fridge. She felt there must be something wrong with her younger brother’s brain; he was on kitchen duty and he had put her peanut butter in the fridge. Who puts peanut butter in the fridge? Lissa thought as she grabbed said object out of the fridge door shelf.

“Where’s Josh?” Lissa said, hoping he was out of the house for the day. Her mother looked at her disapprovingly.

“Yes, he went to Dael’s house.” Mrs. Ahn said knowingly disapproving voice. Lissa smiled, happy now that she knew she would have the house to herself as her dad had to go to work (sucker!) and her mom was volunteering (um why!?) at the library.

“Finish your pancake now.”

Lissa ate as fast as she could without looking like a humanized wolf that hasn’t eaten in days. After what felt like—well, five minutes, she finished her pancake and grabbed her phone off the counter. As she ran upstairs towards her room she fished thru her contacts looking for her best friend Ag.

      “Finally!” Lissa said as she jumped on her bed and clicked the “call” button next to “Imeson, Agnes”

     “Arg, I have GOT to change that to Ag.” Lissa muttered to herself. As the phone rang for Ag Lissa picked at her nails

     “Ollo Lissa” Ag said brightly

     “Hey, wanna go to the mall today?” Lissa responded

     “Sure. I’ll drive. See you in a half?”

     “Totally”

       Lissa stared at her wardrobe.

      “Arg! What am I going to wear?” Lissa looked at her many shirts “Aeropostle? Or Abercrombie? Or maybe American Eagle?!” Lissa said in despair. “And what am I supposed to wear for pants? Jeans or sweatpants?!”

     “Does it really matter?” Came her mother’s voice from the doorway.

     “Yes!” Lissa said indignantly “You can’t really expect me to go to the mall wearing a t-shirt?” Lissa added incredulously.

      “Oh, yes, because if you did that the world would come to a sudden and disastrous halt.”

      “I don’t appreciate the sarcasm, mom.”  Lissa said with a glare.

      “Just trying to help.”

      “Well, uh, no offense, but you’re not helping.”

     “Okay, okay, I’ll leave you and your wonders in peace.”  Mrs. Ahn said as she walked out the door, closing it quickly to protect herself from Lissa’s rage.

    “What do mothers think their doing anyway?” Lissa muttered rhetorically.

   “Well, I would think they are trying to help you and prepare you for the rest of your, hopefully, long life”

     “Dad! It was a rhetorical question! I know the answer I just don’t want to think about it. Plus, what are you doing here? I thought you had to go to work today!”

    “I do. I just thought I’d say goodbye first.” Lissa’s dad said sounding slightly hurt.

    “Why?”

    “I figured you’d like to say goodbye to your old man.” 

    “Well, okay, goodbye! Have a good day at work!” Lissa said sounding fake.

    “Thank you! You too, honey.” Mr. Ahn responded, apparently not noticing the sarcasm in Lissa’s voice.

     Lissa sat on her bed. Well, that’s the last of the Ahn’s in the house. Lissa thought. Now I can, finally, get ready to go to the mall with Ag.

      

One Life by Hedley

Alek watched Deryn with fear in his eyes. She was working on the topside and Alek hoped she wouldn’t fall. Deryn glanced at him “Dummkopf! What do you think these safety lines are for?!?” She shouted over the howling wind. Alek knew that he shouldn’t be scared but he just couldn’t bring himself to believe that they would hold against the wind pounding against the main rutter control room he was currently resting in. 

Heaven's Gonna Wait (Acoustic Mix) by Hedley

Newkirk had no idea what he would do if it was him who got kicked off because of this boffin. His ma would kill him for one thing. She would have gotten mad if she had even knew they would be docking in London; she was scared of big cities, and of beasties and of a whole host of things that where irrational and at the same time had a small amount of truth to them which just made them even worse.

Newkirk hoped it was that Dylan that was kicked off. He seemed like the kind of boy that all the village lassies would love back home. Oh, how Eugene hated those ones. The ones that seemed to have an inexplicable swagger and charm about them. Sadly, and clashing with his tendency to fall in love with every girl he saw, Newkirk was not one of those boys.

I Won't Let You Go (Darling) by Hedley

Alek walked along the corridors, listening to Bovril chattering away in Russian; Alek had just finished a tedious supper with the Clanker boffin, who, rather than listening to Alek, chose to have a heated argument with the former captain of the ship Tesla had fed to the fighting bears. He wished he could go into the middy’s mess and have an adventure with Dylan-no Deryn- But, alas this was not the case; for Alek had, and he was quite proud of himself, discovered her secret. Unfortunately this had led to him being punched in the stomach by her and the resulting fight leaving him with just Tesla and Bovril for company. Of course neither of these were terribly excellent companions. Alek missed Deryn more than he cared to admit. Not that he could even if he wanted to; Count Volger would scorn, Tesla would call him mad, and Bovril, well, the best comfort the creature could offer was speaking in Deryn’s soothing Scottish lilt, which usually did nothing more than make him miss him best friend even more.

Chapter 5 of Lissa and the Mall

Chapter 5

Lissa opened her eyes. She thought about all the movies she had seen where the main character woke up from some ridiculous dream gasping and sitting up in their beds with a look of sheer terror on their faces. No one ever does that. Lissa thought incredulously as she lay in her comfortable bed. She remembered her dream vaguely; almost like she recalling some piece of renound art she had seen in some famous museum, remembering the basic idea of it but not the details. Her dream, she recollected, had involved her living in a shopping mall downtown and meeting some peculiarly dressed man who had some importance of which she couldn’t remember. Lissa looked at her clock and saw that the display read 11:13. Lissa jumped out of bed, forgetting that it was a week into summer and didn’t need to rush to school. As soon as she realized this she also remembered that even if it WAS a school day, quarter after eleven was far too late to have slept in; even with her peculiar dream. Her mother or brother would have woken her up; her mother shouting up from the kitchen while cooking breakfast, her brother jumping on her bed, and eventually her, in a never-ending attempt to wake her up.

      As Lissa walked downstairs towards breakfast, she thought how wailing strange her dream had been. This thought made her stop in her tracks. She had seen that dream awfully vivid. A little too vivid. Lissa’s muscles relaxed a bit for she had remembered she had been dreaming about this world for a good time now.  

    

Chapter 4 of Lissa and the Mall

Chapter 4

       “What are you doing?” Lissa said with wide eyes. The old man looked up, clearly startled.

      “I-um-I’m the-uh-elevator fixer guy?” He said as Lissa stared with at him with both anger and question in her eyes

      “No you’re not. I know the elevator repair man. One time he…” She had been about to say that he had chased her once too. “And you’re not him.” She ended, determined to stay on good terms with this man.

     “No I’m not him.” The old man said dejectedly “I’m just the old man who wanders around and pretends people aren’t pointing at me behind my back.”  Lissa stared at him.

      “Why don’t you just change?” The old man looked at her.

      “Because I have been shunned.” Lissa continued to stare.

      “O-kay d-okay.” Lissa said, confused “What I really want to know is how you know how to get into my room.”

     “What? Your room? That room is belongs to my wife and I.” At this point the old man got a sad look in his eyes. “It was my wife and mine. Now I suppose it’s just mine.”

     “Well, look, I’m sorry your wife died and everything but I’m afraid that that room is MINE.” Lissa stated clearly, wanting this man to know that whatever he might have once had, he no longer had it.

     “I look forward to picking your nose.” The man said awfully mysteriously.

     “What!?!?!” Lissa said as some random TV started floating before her eyes shouting,

     “I love you Kevin!”

     “What!?!?!” Lissa repeated feeling like the only one not in on a—um—hilarious, she supposed, joke.