Chapter 9: Chapter 6 – Silver Lining (part 2 of 2)

It wasn't until Friday that something changed in my routine. I woke up a little later than normal. I had to meet with the squad before school. We were going to do a pep rally before we went to an away game. And we needed to drop off our bags and go over any changes to the show, if any, before the rally. I hadn't even known about it until Wednesday. I had thought we had off because in my last world, the cheerleaders didn't go to the normal away games.

Since I was going to put on a show later in the day, I didn't want to tire myself out by doing my regular morning routine. Instead, I decided to just jog to school, shower, and then meet with the other girls. I figured that carrying a duffle bag loaded down with clothes and a book, I would get a decent enough workout going to school. Plus, I enjoyed the fact that there weren't many people on the road that early. It gave a sense of freedom, like I was the only person in the world and all my problems didn't exist.

It was just that when I was approaching the school, I heard my phone give out an alarm like you'd hear for severe weather. It shattered my relaxed mood, but the sky was clear, and the phone was in my backpack, so I didn't stop and kept jogging. It was only when my phone kept going off and I didn't see the normal flow of early students that I finally stopped. I wasn't sure what was going on but before I could take out my phone the sky in front of me began to change. A tiny silver ribbon appeared in the sky. It reflected the morning light making it hard to see what it was, but it flowed like somebody put dye in water and looked extremely pretty. I watched for a while, until I realized it was getting bigger and coming towards me.

The ribbon expanded and became a cloud. I began to see that the "cloud" was actually silver crows. Hundreds, if not thousands of them were coming my way. As they got closer, I could make out details, like their dagger like claws, blood covered beaks and wings that looked like flexible swords. 'F’ that,' I thought, turned, and ran for it. I needed to take cover but while I was close to the school, the crows were between me and it. To make matters worse, the school's open landscape design was now working against me. Even as I ran, I knew I wasn't going to make it to anyplace I could take cover. They were coming too fast, and I began looking around for options. I finally settled on the school's electronic display. It wouldn't offer any protection, but it was set on a hill and had huge stones around it to draw attention, so it stood out. Those stones were what I was hoping would save my life.

I ran and hugged onto a bolder below the sign. I quickly cast. My skin took on the same color as the stone I was holding. It was the most successful spell I had cast so far. I had deeply remembered the first lecture I heard Mr. Stagnik give. His demonstration with magic was so beyond what I had been used to I couldn't forget it. Now, I was hoping that the natural stone I was holding would give me the durability to survive.

It didn't take long before the silvery bird swooped down. The natural camouflage that the spell offered didn't trick them and I felt the impact of their sharp wings slashing at my skin, backpack, and clothes. A few gripped onto my hair trying to peck out my eyes and I was forced to close them. Soon all I could hear was the fluttering of wings and the clash of metal on stone. Minutes passed as I gripped the rock helpless to retaliate but safe from their attacks. There were several explosions in the distance and if they received a signal, the crows that were attacking me flew away.

They were gone when I opened my eyes. My workout shorts and half shirt were in tatters and were barely intact enough to stay on my body. The gaps revealed my skin below and no longer hid my private areas. What was surprising was that my duffle bag was completely intact. There wasn't even a scratch, even though I knew the birds had slashed at it. I opened it and took out the dobok. It was the one item in there that I hadn't planned on taking it on our trip. I had gotten blood on it yesterday that I had to take it home to wash. I was afraid of forgetting about it over the long weekend and planned on tossing it into my locker. Now, I was relieved that I wasn’t going to have to flash the school. I put it on because it was long enough to cover my shredded shorts and underwear, so I was at least not indecent.

I grabbed my bag, let go of the spell and ran for the school entrance. I only relaxed once I was inside and stopped to check my phone. On my screen, a bold exclamation mark was above a biohazard icon that I had taken for a download game. I click it and an early warning broadcast system started up. An alert in bold letters read *WARNING: FLOCK OF SILVER WINGS DETECTED. THOSE WITH E GRADE DEFENSES OR BELOW ARE ADVISED TO TAKE COVER IMMEDATELY*

I muted the alarm and looked at the warning. I knew enough now to know that 'E' grade was just a step above having no defenses at all. I thought of the crows that were right out of a horror movie and could probably devour a small town; then looked at the defense grade again. How dangerous was this world?

A little shaken, I made my way to the locker rooms. I tossed my ruined clothes and quickly showered. I went to get dressed and put on my away game uniform. It was pure white with dark red and teal green stripes that ran along the edges of the tiny top. Because of the design, the stripes drew men’s attention to our breasts. I placed it on the bench and looked at my original underwear. They were trashed and had to use the set I had packed for tomorrow. I just going to have to use them twice. While the cheerleading uniforms had a piece called spankies that looked like underwear they weren’t. They were made to go over them so when were cheered our underwear would be hidden and also added a layer so people couldn’t see every detail of our girlie bits. It was the first time I wore something so revealing and was a little self-conscious, but after every was on, I didn’t see any noticeable lines down there.

Once I was fully dressed, I did a few poses. I pulled my leg high and looked into the locker room mirror and finally relaxed. I had thought I’d mind wearing this miniskirt but found that it wasn’t much different from wearing shorts. The skirt had over lapping layers so that it would fall back into place no matter what tricks, jumps, or tumbles we did. The top was a form fitting crop top that showed off my firm breasts and belly, while the skirt showed off my fantastic ass and slim waist. The outfit didn’t leave much to the imagination. The spankies perfectly matched the white of the skirt, so anytime I might flash people they would be make it hard to tell if the person looking saw the skirt or my undergarments. As a result, the more bashful girls on the team didn’t have to worry about bending over or going up stairs.

I walked back into the gym and saw several cheerleader and football players standing around talking in groups. I expected to hear them talking about the attack today, but nobody was. It was all about the upcoming game and rally as if the attack wasn’t even worth mentioning. I milled about, waiting for morning meeting to begin. As I waited, more girls showed up. While those already here, went to get changed if they already weren’t.

I suddenly heard a shout of, “Oh my God, Stephanie why aren’t you answering your phone?!” I spun around only to see Janet rushing toward me. Victoria and Ann were running behind her. Janet ran up and grabbed onto my shoulders and spun me, this way and that, to check me for injuries.

She only stopped when I finally managed to get out an “I’m fine.” The others had joined us by now but were standing a foot away, so they didn’t get caught up in Janet’s movements. Victoria was on her phone. “… Yup, she’s right here. She’s fine…. No…. Maybe her phone battery is dead…. Un huh…. I’ll tell her. Don’t worry.”

Janet let me go and I was soon surrounded by my friends. Victoria started talking first, “Why haven’t you replied to any of our messages. Your mom is freaking out.”

“What messages?” I asked as took out my phone from my backpack. Sure enough there were over twenty new messages and just as many missed calls. I checked and the volume had been muted. Did I mute everything when I muted that annoying alarm? Damn it! I quickly replied to my mom’s [Where are you! Call me!!!]

I kept my reply simple, [Sorry just got your message. I’m fine and at school]

[We are going to talk about this when you get back. I was worried to death.]

[I’m so sorry for worrying you.]

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I looked at the friends around me and said, “I’m fine. The phone somehow got muted and I didn’t hear it.”

I looked at Victoria because she knew I didn’t have a clue what was going on but all I got was, “I’m glad you’re ok. I saw the report and knew you’ve been jogging into school and then I couldn’t get through and began to worry. Then your mom called and didn’t know where you were either and…”

“And we worry about you.” Janet chimed in when Victoria trailed off.

“Even if it’s only a grade E threat and old ladies and toddlers are in danger, you should still let us know,” Ann added.

I shot Ann a look but didn’t know if I was reading into her statement too much. Was I this world’s version of a crippled person? Was that why nobody cared about the crows, because nobody was in danger?

I looked at the girls around me, a little lost on what to do if that was true. I saw Victoria mouth ‘I’ll tell you later’ and then out loud, “We still need to get changed.”

“I don’t. I still don’t understand why you don’t just come in uniform. You used to.”

“I told you I had planned on working out a little before changing.”

Ann looked at me then Victoria. “Whatever.” So, her attitude wasn’t just for me? Somehow that was a relief. I was beginning to think I somehow pissed her off.

The others didn’t seem to care because they left her and me standing there and went to get changed. Ann didn’t stick around, and as soon as they left, she went to join a clump of football players. Left on my own, I began to search about the ‘Silver Wings’ that were mentioned in the alarm. It didn’t take much effort to find relevant information because they were a pest. To normal people, they weren’t much of a threat. They preyed on small animals. A level ‘E’ alarm was more a warning to not let your pets out and to watch your kids if you were going out.

The thought that I was as powerful as a dog... No that’s not right, the dog could have fought back… Was I a weak, helpless, parasite? I felt so powerless for a second but then I remembered I wasn’t. I had some magic. I could get more and be stronger. I fell into contemplation on what I was willing to give to get such power and only came back to my senses when Victoria began waving her hands in front of my face to get my attention. “Earth to Stephanie. Are you sure you’re ok?”

“Yeah, just thinking.” I decided to tell my mom about having some magic so she wouldn’t worry every time I left the house. I would have done it earlier if I had known she worried about my safety. That was the easy decision, the other one I was still thinking about. I needed to start getting more spells. The only sure-fire way I knew was to sleep with men. Victoria and I haven't slept together again since the first time, but if the results were similar then women weren’t going to work. Even if they were, this wasn’t my body and sleeping around, even with women, would destroy Steph’s reputation. That would be fine if I knew I was here forever. I didn’t care what others said, but what if we swapped back. Anything I did would reflect on her.

I also didn't know how I even felt about sleeping with others. My acceptance with sleeping with men seemed a bit too easy and the thought of sleeping with Victoria hadn't made me excited like it should have. It was as if my sexual desires had switched with the body and everything I thought I liked, fought against these new feelings. My prior thoughts on women made sure I wasn't repulsed by the idea of being with them, but they didn't draw attention like they had before. It was men that left me full of desire and that left me confused.

Janet’s voice broke me out of my thoughts. “Do you want to join us in planning for our booths?”

"Sure," I said although I already knew that as sophomores they wouldn’t be interested in my opinions. The seniors took care of almost every decision and those they didn't deem worthy fell to the juniors. The freshmen and sophomores just had to show up at our assigned times. It wasn’t that complicated, so I was only half listening. After they finished, I had to listen to Miss Mirth talk about behaving ourselves. It was a long, repetitive speech that boiled down to ‘we represented the school so any misbehavior would be treated harshly.’ After telling us to meet back here after fifth period, we went to our regular homeroom.

I have long gotten use to people looking at me. As a six' four teenager it was hard to go unnoticed, but as I walked through the hallways the gazes felt different. The boys would stare with ‘hungry' looks as we walked by. It wasn’t just me. My friends all had their own appealing aspects. Victoria was five’ eight but even on her taller frame her boobs were gigantic. Janet’s body was only in the 'good looking' category, but she had a face like a model. Even Ann had her share of looks. It just varied on what the boy in question liked more.

I normally could shrug off people looking at me, but for some reason as I turned the corner on my way to class, a group of boys gave me the impression that I was prey that stupidly walked into their den. And if I wasn't careful, they'd devour me whole. Their torn jeans and faded shirts made them look poorer than me. It was just that their arrogant smiles and how they held themselves didn’t match. It felt wrong and I broke out in a cold sweat and balled my tiny fists ready to punch anybody that made a move.

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