During breakfast, all the looks were straight for Hunter, who carelessly sat on a chair of the dining room to have eggs with the Belts.
"What's for breakfast?"
"Shoo dog, shoo," said Mr Mitchell.
"Don't shoo me, I'm not an animal."
"You're a dog and dogs don't sit at tables," replied Gina with a spoon of cereal in her mouth.
"I already said I was not a dog, I'm a human."
"Eh, weren't you a Teddysprout?" Said the man.
"He was yesterday," said the daughter.
"Yes, I am–I mean, I–I am a human, I was, but a witch made me a Teddysprout."
Gina was dubious, to the edge of losing her mind and patience. She dealed with the affair with dirt; she didn't believe this part. She thought the dog had identity problems.
The breakfast ended with the dog getting away the table, drinking milk from a cat tray on the floor.
---
At the entrance of the high school, the Public High School of Nettai, in charge of Mr Moonface, a very respectful and funny old man, Gina could see the most luxurious limousine from around parked. It was the same vehicle that soaked her in dirty water two days ago before classes. She smirked upset. She was amazed somebody that apparently rich studies in a public school. Who was it? She didn't see that limousine last semester.
The black main door opened and a lanky old grunt with an extreme phlegmatic face, a cliche of a butler, got out. He opened the back door and a slim leg was drawn out with fastness. After that, the other leg. Then there were two legs covered in shiny black boots. By the end we had a slim figure dressed up in black and white stripes, lift up in its apogee, catching every student's look. The girl, a red-tipped blonde with turquoise eyes, almost invisible, and her expensive designer striped dress was standing like in a beauty pageant. She was waiting for the gaped mouths and the envy draughts wafted towards her. The blonde moved forward with such sharp smugness that once Gina caught her profile, she detested her. Besides, it was her who played around against her, soaking her.
"Come, Zach," said the blonde, with a calm but supercilious voice to the limousine.
A short moloid boy appeared from the inside of the car. All moloids are mutated humans with an obscure origin. They certainly live separated from all New Heart Hill citizens in their own sand ghetto, Aznar town. He seemed as humble as the rest of moloids, as identical as any other moloid so, Gina had nothing to notice about him. They were all scarily identical; a pair of orange goggles and a very enthusiastic smile under the immense incisors were the highlighted elements in this one though.
'He's not rich as her,' Gina pondered. 'He isn't as well-dressed as that girl. It's pretty obvious he's her friend or her lickspittle.' The Belt girl was indeed precise upon descriptions and was almost never wrong.
"Don't you know who she is? Even I know, and I don't read magazines," Samantha said.
"She looks familiar but I can't say exactly why," answered Gina closing the locker.
"It's Paris Healtown."
Gina remembered now. She was a famous figure. The possible heiress of the giant that dominates the modern technology in New Heart Hill and half Japan. She knew but all about her mind whispered 'Teddysprout.'
"You know what, Samantha? She was the one who made me dirty the other day."
"So, what'll you do?"
"It won't stay like that. I'll ask for an apology."
"I don't believe you. She's too powerful, untouchable. Come off, Gina."
It was incredible that Samantha Wayne, the tuffest girl in school advised her like that.
"No one messes up with Gina Belt," she mumbled closing her fist. Samantha could take a close look at her tiger gloves. "I need an apology. On purpose or not–Paris absolutely did it willingly–, when I see her, I'll face her."
"Really? Well, make yourself be worthy, friend."
---
Just a few meters away, Gina caught a glimpse of the stripes. The black and white girl was closing her locker. She headed on fast and addressed her without barriers.
"Hey, you..."
"Mmm?" The blonde murmured as trying to forcibly see who talked. She closed the locker and noticed the pink top girl in front. She was some inches smaller or maybe Paris's high-heeled boots made her taller.
"Two days ago, when I was coming here, you made my skirt dirty with your limousine and the puddle from the sidewalk." Gina frowned, fists on her waist. She expected a 'Sorry, I didn't see you' or a very dull 'Forgive me,' something to half cover her obvious intentions.
However, the blonde laughed cynically, closed her eyes and said:
"Oh yeah, that was so much fun!"
"What a brazenness! I want you to apologize or I'll bother you for the rest of your life and trust me, I can be very annoying."
"Listen to me, lass, it wasn't my whole intention. The car went by there and well, we sprinkled you, it was funny, I can't do more to put a remedy on it," she said very blatant.
"HOW DARE YOU? I WANT AN APOLOGY!"
"Osh, get off. I have many classes today. How much do you need to leave me alone?"
As follows, the blond girl fished out a fan of bills and tossed them to Gina straight to her nose. The black-haired girl, in slow motion, moved her right hand covered in a tiger-patterned cotton glove, and slapped Paris's left cheek. Only three people in the hallway could witness what had happened: a reflex from Gina to such insult and a sample of disrespect for Paris Healtown.
Gina turned around to take classes chin high while grumbled small insults against the brazen nob girl. Paris was gobsmacked; it was something out of her knowledge. This typical spoiled girl was humiliated.
The moloid boy showed up. He rose an eyebrow. With this, he asked what had happened.
"I was hit, Zach! A girl from the caverns slapped me and didn't take my money," she pointed at the bills spread through the hallway floor, being picked up eagerly by some students.
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The boy made a drum sound.
"Everyone likes money, Zach! I don't understand why she didn't accept it." Only this seemed important but then she reacted: "You must help me find that lass, Zach."
"?"
"It's a jet-black hair girl, long. She's dressed in pink and blue. She looks vulgar."
The moloid boy was about to say words but somebody said: "She's Georgina Belt." It was a boy who just crossed along the hallway.
Paris Healtown needed no more info. A rivalry just began thenceforth. Gina told Samantha the news, who would have done the same–or worse–but taken the money too.
---
Teddysprout, Gina was looking for that word in the Public Library of New Heart Hill. This facility was one of the three libraries in the entire Japan which still had physical books and certainly, Gina Belt was one the few youngsters that approached to these reliquaries. She thought modern ebooks would contain nothing about it.
The stopgap that attended her by that moment was a friendly teen girl as her. She kindly sent her to the Fantasy section, to the back of the building.
Gina was keen on teaching herself about Hunter and all the jabberwocky it uttered. But it was difficult to locate that strange word onto any book's spine.
It was strange to find libraries nowadays. The few remaining are only portals to charge the PDF's or ebooks to your phone or tab. But soon the Belt girl found an odd detail. 'Legends of New Heart Hill.' Her instinct was a self-regulated mechanism and we could say self-handled too. Gina Belt was magnificent finding details, bugs, lies, and clues. Her results were infallible: there wasn't any chance for error. She then started eyeing that publication.
'Rhymes for Children,' 'The Witch of the Forest,' 'The Kitsunebi from the Ametaki Lake,' index, nothing. Gina thought that it was hidden somewhere under the tales and after 20 minutes of turning pages, she found a little passage inside the tale of 'The Legend of Alzar' which stated: 'When the town was founded, Inberi Heart decided to weaken the witch with a powerful magic; he altogether his Teddysprout made a prosperous city.'
"Big awkward folktale! What does the city foundation have to do with a Teddysprout? Besides, this doesn't contain much broad information."
---
It was about to be 5 pm and Gina hadn't appeared. Mr Mitchell had come time before and was working on one of his contraptions. He pretended to be an inventor but now and then his gimmicks exploded in his face. However, he was rather good. Agile but purposeless. For a month he'd been developing something regarding the house walls. Her daughter finally got in. She looked tired. He didn't talk.
"Hey, child, where the heck were you?" Hunter said watching tv.
"What language is that?"
"We were supposed to collect rubins today, remember?"
"Settle down, dog. I'm gonna eat something and then rest. Today was exhausting."
"Hey you! Tell her something!" Hunter referred Mr Mitchell, who had his screws and grease all over the kitchen counter. But he didn't do a thing, he was focused.
"Gina, there's beans and rice over the micro!" He only hollered.
"Unbelievable the way they live," said Hunter grudgingly lolling.
---
On the corner of the street, two shadows showed up. It was the striped girl and the moloid boy.
"So here it is where that lass lives, eh," she said.
The big-teethed boy only made drum-like sounds. That only answered her utterance.
Paris Healtown in suburbs. Who would tell? She sure was watching over the enemy. Yeah. She already considered Gina Belt as such. Unexpectedly, she moved forwards and opened the entrance grind. The Belt house was built on top a hill that functioned as a flowerbed. You had to ascend it to reach the front door. That Paris did. It was a flowerbed covered in calendula sprouts and adorned in cinder-block steps. Zach's tummy churned while he was looking at the apple tree to one side of the flowerbed. The moon changed the color of the apples to an intense wine red.
A ding dong was heard.
"Yeah?" Mr Mitchell opened the door. He was surprised, he didn't ever expect visitors, even less at night. His apron was full with grease blotches.
"You must be the father of Georgina Belt, am I right?"
"Gina. She dislikes to be called Georgina. I'm her father, Mitchell Belt." He saw the smiling girl. She smelled like expensive perfume but she had a bad choice in clothing, he mulled. Indeed she looked exactly like all the Healtowns, with the same eternal smirk and malignant eyes.
"We are classmates. He's Zach, I'm, well, you should know," she laughed supercilious.
They went in and sat on the living room sofa. The tv was on with nobody paying attention. He apologized for the counter, and headed upstairs to let Gina know about them.
"Gina, downstairs we have Paris Healtown and a moloid boy. They say they're your classmates. Come down." He told her.
She was looking up the word Teddysprout in her pc while Hunter drooled over a sugar donut on one side of her bed. She yelled at him, as it was a custom. She was a bit surprised too. What would be that nob bimbo doing in her house? Not an 'I'm sorry' for sure.
"What're you doing here, Paris Healtown?" Gina rose her name up as she started descending the staircase.
"Hello, Georgina!" Paris saluted effusively. Mr Mitchell washed his hands and heated some pre-made coffee in the microwave.
"Gina." The black-haired girl cut off annoyed. The father critiqued this tone but she emphasized everyone should shorten her name.
"I guess you owe me an apology." Paris had sat up. Zach was mute.
"What? You owe me an apology, girl. A humongous one." Gina finally got the living room floor. She wore white socks. Zach was blushed.
"Paris Healtown doesn't apologize."
"Gina Belt doesn't apologize."
Both girls used a despising voice and the Healtown girl seemed more natural to this. The grown-up there was a little alarmed. Gina turned her back and left for her room leaving the striped girl full-mouthed. The 'conversation' halted there. Mr Mitchell placed some cups of coffee on the little table in front of the tv, speechless. Zach widened his eyes but Paris was too much offended.
"Your daughter owes me a majestic apology. She slapped me."
"What? I'm sure ... I'm sure she's sorry, Ms Healtown."
"She started up. She humiliated me and offered me money to bribe me." Gina hadn't disappeared yet, she was in the middle of the staircase. "She soaked me in dirty water with her car. I defended myself."
The girl's father took back the cups from the table and asked the couple to abandon the Belt house. He knew how wealthy people act and over all, how the Healtowns believe themselves sort of Japanese gods. Gina then sweeps her long black hair and returns to her room and Mitchell goes up too, to the shower.
Paris's teeth shrieked. "She'll pay out."
The blonde and the moloid stared at each other absentmindedly. There was nothing else to wait. They were left on their own, they knew where the door was.
"You saw that, Zach? How dare they? Me, a Healtown, the most important person in this mediocre town. Those have-nots!" Her upsetness was as tangible as a millenary offense.
Zach made a drum-like sound. He was disappointed not to have drunk free coffee.
"Come on, Zach!" She strongly took him by his arm. He was way younger than her; therefore, smaller. They were going upstairs! Soon an argument was heard from the first room.
"I told you we were going to start looking for rubins today..." A new voice said.
"Let me be, dog!" Said a stirred Gina.
Paris, prying, pushed that door. It wasn't locked up. She along Zach saw Gina arguing with her Dalmatian puppy.
"I can't believe what a slack-jaw you are. I wish another person had found me..."
Gina turned around to see Paris Healtown's ice face and Zach Mole's gaped mouth. A quirky silence drenched the bedroom. The Healtown girl turns around and starts to tiptoe her way back clutched to her moloid friend. Gina's bedroom door closes. The black-haired girl covers her mouth while whispers insults against the dog.
---
A luxurious limousine awaits the couple of friends to the other side of the street. Paris continued her gait. Once inside the car, she puts on a pair of black sunglasses and when Zach was about to comment the situation, she interrupted him. "Move on, Alfred."
The black car hovers. Some back rockets give fire off and the vehicle gets lost. Gina is strangling the dog but it doesn't feel a thing.
"I'm made of plush."