| Fan Fiction |
by Hibiscus
“Yeah, what’s up?” Ariel replied looking surprised. Rosalinda was actually talking to her out of her own violation?
“I…um…need your help with something.” Linda squirmed.
Ariel looked curious. “Okay, I’ll see you at three then.” She replied.
“Cool, see you then.” Rosalinda gave her a peace sign and walked off.
After class, Ariel wandered out of the lecture hall to find Rosalinda already there. She was acting nervous, with two spots of bright colour in her cheeks.
“Spill. What’s up?” Ariel said.
The relationship between the girls and her had changed for the better after the Sam Incident. They seemed to have accepted Ariel in their fold and Ariel while still prickly as a porcupine about letting down her defenses was unconsciously loosening up around them.
Rosalinda shuffled her feet and looked embarrassed.
“I…er…need your help.” She finally said, blushing a deep red. Ariel gave her a questioning look and she squirmed, speaking as though in excruciating pain. “I like this guy, see. He’s an exchange student from Spain. The thing is, his mandarin is horrible and my English is just as bad. And my Spanish is nonexistent. So I was wondering if you could play translator for me.”
Ariel was so surprised by Rosalinda’s request that she opened her mouth once or twice without saying anything. Then she started laughing and Rosalinda scowled.
“You don’t have to. Forget I asked.” And she turned to go. Ariel caught her arm and made an apologetic face. “Sorry, sorry, I just figured you would ask me to go beat someone up instead of being a translator.”
“Oh, not this time.” Rosalinda muttered, still uncomfortable.
“Who is this paragon of hunkiness who has managed to capture fair Rosalinda’s interest?” Ariel said teasing.
“His name is Rafael.” Rosalinda mumbled.
“And where do we find him?”
“He is sitting on a bench in the courtyard.”
“Well lead on, Fair Rosalinda. Let’s go meet your knight.”
“You are so annoying.”
“You want me to leave?” Ariel pretended to be angry and made as if to walk off in the opposite direction.
“No, no! I’m sorry!” Rosalinda dragged Ariel back.
“What do I get for doing this?” Ariel smiled cherubically.
“My undying gratitude.”
“Cute. But how about you cook when it’s my turn for two weeks.” Rosalinda stopped and glared at Ariel.
“That’s unfair!” She cried out.
“One week?”
“Set and deal. Shake on it.” They shook on it.
They reached the courtyard and Rosalinda dragged Ariel behind a post. “There he is.” She whispered dramatically.
“This is not a James Bond movie, Rosa.” Ariel rolled her eyes. “Let’s go!”
“NO!” Rosalinda looked panicked. “I haven’t prepared myself yet!”
“What? You are going to do yoga exercises now? Deep breaths and all that?”
“Shut up, Ariel.”
“I’m going to be the one doing the talking!”
Rosalinda got out a compact mirror, refreshed her gloss and put on another coat of mascara. And then she offered the mirror and mascara to Ariel who refused.
“I’m just saying so you know, I’m not translating any moans and kisses.” Ariel told Rosalinda solemnly and then burst into laughter and ducked as Rosa tried to whack her with a bag.
Rafael had his back towards the girls as they walked towards him. Ariel and Rosalinda paused a decent distance from him and Ariel cast a look at Rosalinda who made begging motions. Finally she rolled her eyes again and walked nearer to the guy.
“Hola.” She called out, hoping that the Spanish greeting would get his attention. It did. Rafael turned around and Ariel’s face lost all its colour.
She walked nearer to the guy, to Rafael. He was lithe and lean, wearing a white shirt that stood out starkly against his dark skin. He was wearing reading glasses and had a book bag open beside him on the bench. He looked like the most harmless creature in the entire world. Ariel knew better.
She cast a quick look back at Rosalinda who looked hopeful and nervous and gave her a reassuring smile. The smile leached completely from her face when she turned back to Rafael. Her eyes grew cold and her stance stiffened and she held herself as though ready for a fight.
Rafael was her grandfather’s favorite assassin. He was used mostly as a body guard but when circumstances called for it, he could easily kill a body.
“¿Qué hace usted aquí?” Ariel hissed to him, asking him what he was doing here.
“Usted debe saber.” He replied saying that she should know. Ariel went cold.
“If you harm one single hair of any of these girls, I will kill you.” She told him in Spanish, calmly and surely.
“I’m here as your bodyguard.” Rafael replied.
“I don’t need one. I can take care of myself. You know that better than anyone here.” She kept her words pleasant, aware that Rosalinda was listening intently. “Mi abuelo, go back to him. And stay very, very far away from my girls.”
Rafael stared at her and she stared back. “Si. I will tell your grandfather what you’ve told me.”
“Lo siento, I’m sorry to bother you.” Ariel said the last part in English; sure that Rosalinda would recognize the words.
“What happened?” Sure enough, Rosalinda grabbed Ariel’s arms and dragged her away. Ariel arranged her features to look embarrassed and a bit rueful.
“Sorry, Rosa, the guy has a wife and kid waiting for him in Spain.” Ariel gave the guy in question an unreadable look as she said the words loud enough that he would hear.
“Oh lord, I’m so embarrassed!” Rosalinda hid her face with her hands.
“It’s okay. The bas-… er, the guy, that is, Rafael doesn’t wear a ring so there’s no way you could have known. Let’s go home, it’s your turn to cook today.”
“What? It’s Thursday, it’ your turn! Oh…right.” Rosalinda grumbled loudly as they walked over to the bus stop. “But you do the dishes.”
“Oh no problem. Mina owes me for doing her math. She’ll do the dishes.” Ariel replied happily.
Rosalinda muttered about tiny undomesticated squirts all the way home.
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It was rainy that night, a soft gray night with the rain falling in rhythmic bursts in tandem with a slight wind. They were all home for once and everyone was gathered in the living room. Ceci was sprawled on the sofa tapping away on her laptop; she had a paper due. Mina was watching the TV, headphones on so that it wouldn’t disturb the others. Rosalinda and Patience each had half of the rugged area and were doing something that looked math-ey and complicated and Ariel was sitting on the chair, legs over the arm reading.
Then, as though remembering something, Patience took a newspaper from her bag and threw it to Ariel. Ariel caught it with a questioning glance.
“Classifieds. You are looking for a job?” Patience said.
Ceci looked up interested. “There’s an opening at the nursery where I work. It’s just part time, helping the teacher clean up and then set up lessons.”
Rosalinda started laughing. “She’d scare the kids, Ceci. Can you imagine Ariel looking after your 3 year old brats?”
Ariel shot Rosa a dirty look but had to concede that she was right. She didn’t have a single maternal bone in herself.
Suddenly an article caught her eye in the paper and she read it out loud. “Corporal punishment being considered by parliament.”
“What do you think of corporal punishment, Ariel?” Patience asked.
“The death penalty? I am for it.” Ariel replied shrugging.
“Really? You believe people have the right to decide whether another human being lives or not?” Mina was paying attention to the conversation now.
“Yeah. Humans who do not respect the rights of the other people should have no rights themselves.”
“Isn’t that a bit callous?” Ceci asked.
“No. Tell me Mina, do you never feel like hurting Sam?” Ariel asked. “When he was hurting you, did you not want to hurt him back?”
“That’s different! If we kill someone who kills others, how are we any different?” Mina replied heatedly.
“So what should we do? Leave them to rot, perchance to be set free when they appeal, to flow back into society and commit the same heinous crimes they were caught for in the first place?” Ariel spoke in a measured tone. “Justice is weak and society is too quick to forgive. It annoys me when they blame psychological trauma as the reason a mother lost her daughter to a murderer. How do you explain to a woman whose child was raped, beaten, butchered that the man who committed the crime had no choice but to do as he did because his dad beat him when he was a kid?”
“I agree with Ariel.” Rosalinda bit on her pen. “Some criminals deserve the death penalty.”
“What about God?” Patience spoke up.
“What’s God got to do with anything?” Rosalinda asked.
“Aren’t you supposed to leave justice to God?” Mina replied.
“Ideally.” Ceci gave a half smile. “But what about those who don’t believe in God. Do you believe in God, Ariel?”
“I don’t know. Do I think there is a God? Maybe. I’m undecided. Do I fear for my immortal soul when I die? Do I fear to stand before a God who may or may not exist, so he can serve justice to whoever I wronged? No. I live in the here and the now. I may pray sometimes when I want to believe that I am not alone, that I have a saviour and that when I mess up, someone will pick up the pieces. I suppose for me God is the coveted clean up crew.” Ariel’s lips twisted in a smile and Patience gave her an odd look.
“I thought we were discussing Ariel’s job prospects,” Rosalinda said. “I want ice cream.”
“Talking about God gives you cravings for ice cream?” Patience nudged Rosa with her foot.
“Omg Ariel, look!” Mina yelled pointing at the TV. Ariel looked.
There were four boys dancing (badly) on the screen and presumably singing though she couldn’t hear them cuz Mina had the earphones. Oh right, she was giving them to her.
“Mina, I don’t wanna.” Ariel pouted.
“It’s Fei Lun Hai!” Mina insisted. Ariel looked at the screen again and it was the guy she had bumped into. The pretty one who had grabbed a hold of her hand. Ariel’s face darkened.
“Fine.” She put on the headphones and them almost immediately took it off again. “They can’t sing.”
Mina gasped in outrage. “They can too! You are a snob. A Canadian SNOB who doesn’t understand true talent when she hears it!” And she turned her back on Ariel and sat watching the music video in a huff.
The others smirked at Ariel. Ariel was bound to be in the doghouse for a while until she did something to win back Mina’s favour. Mina was very loyal to her favourite boy band, Fei Lun Hai.
Just then the phone rang and Ceci answered. Her expression changed to one of extreme surprise and she said in a shocked tone, “Dean Kang?”
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Author's Note: I'm hungry.