Faerie Land

Chapter 1

Gina couldn’t help smiling as she filled her locker with five-inch dictionaries. It didn’t matter to her now that tomorrow she would be having a history test, or that she just got an F at her recent English paper.

Michael Heeren, her all-time crush, just accepted her request of a date! Nothing was more important than that, or more wonderful, or more exciting… Now she had to plan what clothes to wear. New shoes might be necessary – ooh, she had been dreaming of buying a Jimmy Choo, maybe now her dad would let her. The date was next week and already she was anxious!

“Helloo? Earth to Gina?” said a male voice all of a sudden, breaking her daydream of never-ending planning.

It was Ernest Lihuan, her Chinese best friend. He has blue high-lights on his spiked jet-black hair. To make his looks more extreme, there is a five inch pigtail he grows just above his neck. Without a second look, he looks rather feminine. He’s not very tall, about the same height as Gina – 5”5 feet, with a terrible fashion sense. To cover that, he only wears black. His grandparents migrated here many years ago and they have been living in USA ever since. Li can’t even speak Chinese properly!

“Li! Ooh, did you know what just happened? I – “

Li cut her off cleanly, “You got a date with Heeren. Nice job, now can we please move on?” he said in a very bored tone, eyes rolled heavenwards.

“Hey! How did you know that? Now you ruin all my fun of telling you the great news!” Gina pouted, stomping her feet on the floor, her maroon pigtail swung left and right following her movements.

Li is called a genius not for nothing. He is one, indeed. With an IQ of 174, it wasn’t hard for him to get A’s in every test he took or simply guessing his best friend’s reason of suddenly being extra smiley.

“Reading your mind is like reading an open book with font size 70 printed on it,” Li replied – still with the same bored tone.

Gina’s clouded face soon was replaced with a cheerful one. “But do you know how I got the date?” Today she was reluctant.

“Not interested. Come on, we’ll miss lunch if you don’t hurry. I’m starving.”

Gina took almost all the books in her postman-shoulder bag quickly and slammed her locker. She knew Li was being a little rude, but that was because he was hungry! She’d tell him about how she got the date during their lunch – at that time, his personality would change, like usual.

The cafeteria of Oakland High School was modern and vast. Many of the students come from unimaginably rich families so the school never had any trouble with cash.

There were three large groups in Oakland High School: The Popular, The So-So, and The Geek. Just like a typical high school. The popular kids are usually the rich ones. They can afford a Porsche or a Mustang and thus regain their popularity. Michael Heeren is one of them; he’s also an acoustic guitar player. Gina is one of the so-so’s. They don’t cause too much trouble and try to lay low. Li, on the other hand, was accepted by scholarship. He was supposed to be in the geek group but refused. He doesn’t care much about that sort of thing so doesn’t think about it and doesn’t mind, as long as he can go to school and stay out of trouble.

“Yum, pizza! I luuuvv pizza,” Li said, more to himself than to Gina, who was walking casually beside him.

“We should take our trays first,” Gina replied. They walked to a busy corner of the cafeteria and each of them took a student ID card from their pockets. That particular corner is crowded everyday with students swapping their ID’s to the censor, which is connected to a machine. That machine will spit a tray every time an ID is swapped to the censor.

Only Li understood the machine’s mechanism, while Gina was simply uninterested.

Li was anxious while waiting for the queue to his beloved pizza. He was late and late was never a good sign. Never in his one year of high school, did he miss a pizza. He always has pizza for lunch and was reluctant to change that.

“Please, please let me get just one slice of that pizza…” he murmured. “Cursed you, Gina. If you hadn’t…” his voice trailed off knowing that his best friend was not listening.

Gina was there, but her mind wasn’t. She was looking at the cafeteria tables, trying to spot her prince-charming-on-stupid-white-horse Michael Heeren.

Li once again rolled his eyes heavenwards. He didn’t understand girls; why do they have to be so head-over-heels over a stupid boy who can only sing but doesn’t know the answer of two plus two? He had to admit, though, Michael Heeren was handsome. His wavy, golden hair and light-blue eyes matched his slim features and gentle voice. The girls even called him ‘Angel’ and they were not all that wrong. But still, Michael was an idiot, Li thought to himself bitterly.

He was relieved when he saw two slices of pizza left on Mrs. Carson’s tray. Mrs. Carson is the nicest cafeteria lady in Oakland High School – among the gloomy others.

“Another slice of pizza, Li?” Mrs. Carson asked in a sing-song voice as she took a slice of pizza and put it on Li’s paper plate.

“Thank you, Mrs. Carson. I was terrified I might not have one today!” Li smiled gleefully. His mood suddenly got a lot better than before.

“What about your friend there?” Mrs. Carson looked over Li’s shoulder, to Gina.

“She’ll have that last slice, too,” Li answered, thinking that if Gina didn’t want that pizza, he could have it and that would be double the joy.

After snatching this and that and swapped their IDs again for payment, Gina and Li searched for a table. They found one, uncomfortably near the popular kids’ table, but no other table was empty, so they sat.

Gina’s mind was still elsewhere.

“Ooh!” she finally shrieked. “There he is!” Then Gina got into some kind of Trans; admiring the infamous Michael Heeren from afar.

Li chose not to look. Gina’s admiration towards that boy was getting to a point of unhealthiness, he thought, gulfing down his favorite pizza – and sneakily took Gina’s too, as she didn’t seem to be interested in it.

“I haven’t told you about how I got the date, right?” Gina said, suddenly conscious again, ignoring the missing pizza on her plate. “It happened like this…”

Girls and diet. Girls and their weird crushes towards idiot boys. Huh, he didn’t understand them all.

Gina didn’t have to wait very long for another Friday evening to come. By that time, she was more than prepared.

She decided on a floppy white shirt and checked-mini skirt with a huge black belt. High heeled boots. Bangles. Earrings. Big-sized clutch that would hold her carefully thought preparation with ease. And of course, her favorite eau de perfume: Givenchy’s Angie ou Demón.

“You’re over excited,” commented Li the moment he saw her. He came by her request to check on her last looks and so on.

Gina had her maroon-hair tight up to her right. Her hair was slightly wavy, so it gave her a very cute look. She also wore light make-up and lip-gloss, something she wouldn’t normally do on a regular school day.

Gina chuckled upon Li’s sarcastic response, “I look pretty, don’t I? You’re just too shy to admit it!”

Li bit his lip to prevent himself from blushing and from saying another word. Yes, actually, he thought Gina looked beautiful… and he also thought she didn’t need any more encouraging to make her vanity fly high to the sky!

He glanced at his watch. “Michael will be coming any minute now to pick you up. I’d better disappear.”

Just as he was about to leave, Gina held onto his arm – an action that makes him strangely nervous. “What?”

“Could you please follow us?”

That received an immediately response: “What?! Are you nuts?!”

Gina looked at her feet. “I’m just worried that Michael won’t have a good time with me. I’m afraid that my judgment will be blurry because I’m the one who’s dating him. I need a third opinion, and you’re perfect for that! Please, please, oh pretty please?” she pleaded with puppy-dog eyes.

Li thought for a while and finally nodded. “But I’m using your car.”

“No problem! Let me get the keys.” Gina quickly disappeared into her house again.

They were sixteen and had their driver’s licenses. Actually, Gina took one first and persuaded Li to get one too – with the same puppy dog eyes she used a minute ago, something he couldn’t seem to say no to. Gina’s Dad also saw that it was time for his daughter to gain a little more freedom, something she earned for fifteen years of trust. So he gave her a car. Not a Mercedes, but a used Mazda – old and crappy, but could take her just about anywhere.

It was Li who brought salvation to that old Mazda. He fixed and did something to the engines, and voila! He made them roar. He also mixed some kind of a chemical formula to the gasoline every time Gina refueled. Now her car never coughed again!

Li immediately felt sorry for saying yes to Gina’s request. Now he felt incredibly bored – with nothing to do. If he had time to prepare, he’d snatch some of his comic books and laptop, but the moment Gina gave her keys to him, Michael came on his new BMW 335d. He immediately hid behind a bush, waited a moment, and then followed Michael with Gina’s old, red, Mazda car.

It was a Friday night, a night far too crowded for Li’s taste. Gina and Michael went to see a drive-thru movie and Li sighed as he realized he had to watch the film too to keep his promise. No matter what happens, he is a man who keeps his words.

He bought a large pop corn to cheer himself up, noting in mind to make Gina pay for every expense he made to follow her around.

The movie was On Golden Pond. It was released in 1982. Li almost screamed. Today was classic movies night. He never understood why the drive-thru movie was still filled, though mostly with teenagers galloping each other, the movies they play in that place was simply… old! Most of them were released in 1980s, for God’s sake. It was a surprise that the roll still played nicely.

Li tried to relax; he paid good money to get there and hopefully, the movie would be interesting.

Henry Fonda was the only actor Li recognized as he was insanely famous. The story is about Henry Fonda (he forgot the name of the character he plays there) who visits a summer house with his wife. He then meets a lonely boy and become somewhat friends with him, makes peace with his daughter, and suffers disorienting effects of mild dementia.

Not his taste - Li hates romance; he likes science-fiction, action, and fantasy movies. Star Wars is something he could relate to, but no drama!

After the movies, Gina and Michael apparently decided to take a walk. Li followed and felt like a stalker.

His phone suddenly rang, surprising both he and Gina, who was not too far from him. Li cursed quietly, he should’ve put his phone on silent mode.

“Hello?” he whispered.

“Li? This is Mr. Shenbor, Gina’s dad,” said the other man on the other side of the line. His voice was heavy.

Li wondered why Gina’s dad would call him at a time like this. 9.05 p.m., he had glanced. “Oh, hi, Mr. S. What’s the occasion?”

“Is Gina with you? I’ve been trying to reach her but apparently she turned off her cell.”

Li mentally cursed at Gina’s stupidity and at the same time, thanked God that Gina’s father was a friendly man. “Well, I’m kind of with her. She’s on a date with Michael Heeren and I’m following them – “

“Good idea, lad!” roared Mr. S almost joyfully before Li could finish his sentence. “I know I can trust you. Right, I can calm down now, knowing that my daughter is in good hands – your hands, I mean. Good evening.”

“Good evening, sir.”

Li focused on his tailing again. At least he wasn’t very bored now because he got a chance to walk around. It was also kind of fun, hiding here and there, trying to blend it and not get caught.

A police suddenly stood before him. “Boy, mind your business here?”

Li gulped and explained the situation honestly. The police first thought it was ridiculous but he was talking to Li, who is also a master of not getting into any trouble.

After a couple of tricks and a little mentioning of Gina’s father, the kind police finally gave in and let him go with a warning of: ‘Don’t look so suspicious’.

For someone so smart, he surely had a downfall sometimes.

Gina and Michael’s date was apparently over as he escorted her back to his car to drive her home. Li also got into Gina’s car and drove not too far behind them with his headlights turned off. He didn’t dare to reach the speed above 30 km/h, though, driving in the dark alone was very dangerous!

Li frowned when Michael made a wrong turn on the way to Gina’s house. So apparently, the date was far from over, he thought.

The two cars drove past a dark forest. Li just kept on driving, squinting his already-slanted eyes to see the car in front of him more clearly as the moon was not really helping with the light either.

Then suddenly, a loud, banging noise was heard. It was not a sound of a car crash or anything he had heard before. It was like a really loud gong.

The road in front of him suddenly became pitch black. Michael’s BMW was gone out of sight. Panicked, he pressed the brake and turned on his headlights, but there was no light – his car was not stopping, either. Instead, he felt like the car was quickly going around in a mad spiral, which was getting wilder and wilder and more uncontrollable by the second. Another noise was heard – this time it sounded like the earth itself was torn apart.

His cell phone vibrated in his jeans pocket. Trembling, and trying not to throw up, he picked it up. “H-H-Hello!” He hated jet-coasters and this felt like one of them!

“L-Li! H-Help us!” Gina cried.

“I’m right behind you, you just can’t see me! Calm down! I’ll protect you!” Li screamed on top of his lungs. He wouldn’t let anything happen to Gina, not ever! And where was Michael? He should be comforting her!

Gina felt tears in her eyes as the sound was growing unimaginably loud and the spinning was getting stronger. She felt like her ears were ripped out of place. Her one hand clutched on her cell phone, trying to make last contacts with Li – someone she trusted to get her out of this mess - the other on a death grip on her seatbelt. Somehow, Li’s words were her only comfort.

She glanced at Michael, who was covering his head in cowardice. A man she thought was her dream; abandoned her at a time like this. A real man should protect the girl he was with!

“LIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!! HEEEEEELP MEEEEEEEE!!”” she screamed with all her might, as she began to lose her consciousness.

To be continued.