The Convention of Conventions

Part Four

I faced the wall, feeling empty. Nothing was the same. Everything seemed dull, devoid of the life that it once used to hold. The world’s colors had lost their luster, their shine, and were smoky ghost-like representations of what they once were.

Dinobot and the others had left, and returned to the Beast Wars.

I sighed, and rolled over onto my back, staring up at the ceiling. Three months had gone past, since they had left. Three long, boring months. Three months, in which nothing apparently had happened. I closed my eyes, and fell asleep, dreaming of one particular bot . . .

“SINEAD!!!!! WAKE UP!!!!!”

I jerked awake, to see Sapphire there. She rolled her eyes. “Jeesh, you sleep like Rattrap. Just this side of death.”

I rolled away from her. “Go away.”

“Aww, c’mon . . . doncha wanna see what I found out?”

“No.”

“Please?”

“If you beg, I won’t be happy. No.”

“But it’s summer vacation, Sinead! You’ve gotta be happy!”

“So I’m not. Go away.”

I heard her snort, and soon after, the pillow beneath my head was wrenched from its warm placement, and hit my head with a WUMPH. I sat up, and glared at her. “Get. Out.”

“Make me,” she replied, grinning. What was her problem? I glanced at the clock.

“Sapphire, it’s eight in the morning. I should still be sleeping. Go. Away.”

“Sinead, come on! I have to show you something!”

“No.”

She sighed again, and a chuckle came up from the ground. I looked over the edge, to see a reddish-haired boy there, about Sapphire’s age. His eyes were a strange golden-brown color, almost metallic, yet he seemed short for his age. I frowned down at him, as he spoke. His voice wasn’t too deep, but a warm baritone, that seemed friendly. “Did ’ya wanna bribe ’er with da Dunkin’ Donuts yet, Sapph?”

He held up a bag, and I sniffed in the aroma of a toasted bagel. He also held up a medium-size Styrofoam cup, grinning. “Tea with it, too, but ’ya hafta get out o’ bed, and get changed. I’ll be in da kitchen, waitin’ for ’ya.”

I sighed as he left the room. Sapphire grinned at me. “You’ll never guess who he is.”

“Some hottie from NYC? You get all the luck.”

“Well, you’ll see who he really is in a moment. Here. Get into these.”

She held up my favorite outfit. It was a pair of black bellbottom jeans. The top was a bulky white top that looked like a tunic from the mediaeval period. The sleeves went down to my elbows, and the waist was pulled in by a drawstring. I looked at it, then looked outside, sighing. “Great. Another rainy day.”

“Yep,” she replied, and pushed the clothes into my arms, then walked out of the room, closing the door after her. I didn’t change, but instead retrieved a few necessities from my bureau, and went to the bathroom. “Sapphire! I’m taking a shower! The Beast Wars DVD is in the player!”

“Which one?!” she called back up the stairs.

“Third!”

“Good!”

I walked into the bathroom, and locked the door behind me. With a sigh, I undressed, got into the shower, and turned it on, sighing again when the sudden warmth reached me. I washed my hair, and then got out, and dried off. I swiped at the mirror, and looked at myself. I was thinner than I had been, and my face wasn’t as rosy as it was a few months ago. I looked away, and started to dress again, still lost in my thoughts, my memories, of the three weeks that Dinobot had been staying with me. I walked out of the bathroom, down the hall, tossed my pyjamas into my room, and walked downstairs, still rubbing at my hair, which was starting to reach a reasonable length once again, after being cut too short.

There was another boy sitting with Sapphire. She looked around his shiny, black hair, and waved at me. He turned to look at me as well, and I saw his startling blue eyes darken with worry for a moment. I sat in a chair. “Spill the beans, Sapphire. Who are the boys, and why does one sound as if he had just walked out of Brooklyn.”

She indicated the short one. “This babe is Randon.” She nodded at the other one, who was still watching me. His stare was starting to become unnerving. “And that’s Dane.”

“Nice to meet you both, but why are they here? Where did they come from?” I said, glaring at Sapphire.

She sighed, smiled, and said, “Well, Africa, I think. Or . . . somewhere else.”

I gave here a bored look.

“Or Ivyana’s site. I remembered your description of your character Donovan, so I put it in for how you’d like a certain someone to look. Isn’t he adorable?”

I fell off of the chair, onto my butt.

The black-haired boy rose to help me up, then frowned, as I stood in front of him, staring into his face. “Have you been eating right? You don’t seem . . . yourself.”

I looked up at him. “Who are you? Really, that is.”

He sighed. “You remember that idiotic convention, do you not? You remember what happened there, and,” he chuckled evilly, “in the hotel on the way here.”

I sat in the chair, and let my face fall into my hands. “Dinobot.”

“Bingo!” a higher voice yelped.

“And Rattrap. I’m cursed.”

The door slammed open, and two dripping people ran in. I looked up, and recognized Moonraker, and a blond boy behind her with electric blue eyes, decked out in a rain slicker. “Moon? Don’t tell me that’s Cheetor.”

“Yep!” she replied, all to happy. “And he’s also known as Chandler.”

“Elegant name,” Sapphire commented. “Close the door! Sinead’s mom will flip, if she finds out that you’re dripping all over her front hall!”

“Naw, really?” I muttered sarcastically. “Hang your stuff up in the mud room, and try not to drip all over the place, please.”

Dinobot, Dane, sat next to me, and sighed. “We’re going to have to talk.”

I nodded. “Sapphire, what’s the plan for today?”

She shrugged. “No clue. I came over because I was bored. What about you, Moon?”

“I brought money!”

“The mall,” I said, and leaned over, rubbing harder at my hair. “We’ll go as soon as we can find a ride.”

“My mom can do it,” Sapphire offered. “No prob. So, when are we going?”

I flipped my hair back again, and shrugged. “It doesn’t open for another half-hour, so why not chill here for a while?” I looked back through the kitchen, which was adjoining the living room, and called, “If you two are done necking over there . . .?”

Moon and Chandler walked back in, both red-faced. I shook my head, as Sapphire and Randon laughed. Dane smiled, and sat back, and I reached for the brush on the table. Soon after, my mother walked in, and I got a reheated bagel and a large mug of tea. I smiled up at her. “Thanks, mom.”

She sat on the coffee table. “So, what do you guys have planned for today?”

There was a collective shrug.

“Mall, perhaps,” I said, then yawned, and looked out the window.

Mom turned my face back to her, and rubbed at my cheeks. “Good. You’re getting color back into them. Tell me if you need a ride, okay?”

I nodded. “Sapphire’s mum might be able to give us a ride.”

“If you think that’s best,” Mom said warily.

Sapphire stood. “My mom’s an excellent driver!”

Mom laughed. “I know, I know, I’m just giving you a hard time!”

I smiled, and Mom stood. “I have my cell phone with me, so if you need anything, call, okay?”

“Yes, mom,” I replied.

She started to walk to the hall, only to turn and glare back at us. “Who dripped in the front hallway?”

I sat back, my hair in place in a braid behind me. With a yelp, I sat up, and whirled to see Dane looking at me in a drowsy, half-surprised sort of way. I sighed, and yawned, then sat back again, this time intentionally leaning against him. “Sorry. I forgot that you were there.”

“Make ’im feel loved!” Randon taunted from across the room.

I sneered at him. “Hah! You wouldn’t know love if it smacked you in the face! Multiple times, no doubt!”

“Dat was harsh.”

I smiled too-sweetly at him. “Anything for you!”

He shuddered. “Don’t do dat.”

“I’ll do anything I want to, so there.”

“Brat.”

“Jerk.”

“Freak!”

“Scrap-pile!”

“Scum-eater!”

“Butt-kisser!”

He shuddered, and muttered, “’Raptuh-lover.”

I stopped, before I could splutter out a protest. I sighed. “Forget it, Vermin. Just leave me alone. And if you ever think about yelling at me again, I’ll kill you faster than you can even say, ‘uh-oh.’ Understand?”

He nodded, and a car horn sounded outside. Sapphire jumped to her feet, and grinned. “Mall-ratting time!”

I stretched, and stood, then turned to face Dane. He held out a piece of paper, and muttered, “This is what I was given, to give to you.”

I scanned over it, and nodded. “The basic rules of the Make-A-Wish site.” I smiled. “Well, at least they aren’t hard.”

He shrugged, and I put on my jacket, then waited for him as he did the same. We ran out to the car together, and climbed into the back seat of Sapphire’s Mom’s Monster-Size Van, and grinned to each other. I drew out the spit-ball makings, and began, while Dinobot insisted upon poking the back of Rattrap’s neck with a hot pink gel pen. I don’t want to know where he got it. Sapphire half-turned her head around, to yell at us to stop doing what we were doing, but I aimed, and she soon found herself trying to spit out a spit-ball. “Ewwww!!! Gross!!! I’LL GET YOU BACK, SINEAD!!!!!”

Of course, she never did.

It was night again. I was in my bed, staring up at the ceiling. Dinobot, Dane, was down in the den, where he chose to sleep this time. Mom could have cared less, once she found out who he really was. I was restless, and couldn’t sleep. With a sigh, I climbed out of my bunk bed, and grabbed my robe, then went down the stairs, around a corner, and down the second set of stairs, that led down into the den. I stopped at the doorway, and looked into the darkened room, to see the shape of a sleeping teenager. I sighed and turned to go back up the stairs, when I heard his voice.

“What is it?”

I turned. He was sitting up. With a shrug, I replied, “Couldn’t sleep. Nothing less. Did I wake you up?”

He shook his head. “I couldn’t, either.”

I sighed, and he looked away. I walked over to him, and sat on the couch that faced his. “Why not?”

He shrugged. “No reason.”

Our eyes locked, and held for a few minutes, before we both looked away. I sighed yet again, and said quietly, “I guess I missed you.”

“You denied yourself nourishment,” he said just as quietly. “And you were beginning to become depressed. I didn’t know . . .”

I couldn’t force myself to look at him. “That I could miss anyone so much?”

He was silent. I looked up at him, finally, and saw that he had been watching me. He blinked, and switched to my couch, carrying the blanket he had been using with him, and looked at me. “You’re as lonely as I am.” I nodded, and he smiled. “But you know how to keep your end of an argument pretty well.”

“Only ‘pretty well?’ Do you care to remember the times that I out-argued you? Or do you forget those on purpose?”

He chuckled, and shook his head, but said nothing. Dane looked up at me, and into my eyes. I looked down at my lap again, and felt his hand rest on my shoulder, then gently pull my head towards him. I closed my eyes, and leaned into his chest, feeling complete and totally at peace with everything once again . . .

Click here for part 5