The Night Before

[Ginga]

Part One.

Stasis wished that it were true: that her heart was frozen. That would be preferable to fluttery, which was far too aggravating and happening far too often. It happened when Lucas had kissed her. It happened on the rooftop in the early dawn with the Rooster. And it was happening now, waiting for Jai Marchan.

She sat on her bed, trying to watch television, but she found her eyes continually wandering to the door. She found herself unable to follow what was going on in the show that was on, which made it even more difficult. She breathed out a long sigh, watching her breath turn into tiny flakes of ice.

“He’ll be here when he gets here,” Lycia said, and Stasis sucked in her breath, embarrassed. Lycia was looking at herself in the full-length mirror, pulling her best glamorous supermodel impression: kissing the air, turning her shoulder, winking. She had her new dress on and she couldn’t wait to show it off at the dance the following night. She hadn’t been able to stop talking about it.

“No, I know,” Stasis said awkwardly. She shook her head. “Or maybe he won’t. He’d do that just to start an argument with me.”

“No he wouldn’t!” Lycia cried, turning from the mirror to face her, hands on her hips. “Don’t say that, Stasi. He’s only been here for a little while, but so far, Ginga hasn’t broken his word to either of us.”

Lucia looked up from her book. “I don’t really know him,” she said quietly. “Remind me again why we’re breaking the rules to have him here after curfew?”

“Well he was going to come by whether we let him or not,” Stasis replied quickly. Too quickly, she thought.

“Ginga’s great, Lucky,” Lycia said, flopping down onto her bed. “We had a great time in the park the other day, right Stasi?” Lucia looked interested, so Lycia continued. “He knows martial arts, like Rooster! But, they’re so different! He fights by dancing! It’s really beautiful!” Lycia looked back at Stasis. “Wasn’t the park a riot?”

Stasis nodded. But it was after the park that had left an impression on her. The trolls they had fought. That ogre, so strong, trading blows with her until she thought she would lose consciousness. And then Jai, twirling past her, forcing her back into August’s arms. August channeling her energy to heal Stasis’ broken bones, even as Jai tried to keep the ogre occupied. Dodging, but not quick enough, Striking, but not hard enough. And as she rose, ready to return to the fray, she watched him fall. Her whole gut had felt the last blow he took, the one that sent him spiraling through the air to land on the pavement. And then, just when she thought he couldn’t get any crazier, she watched as he struggled to stand. She charged, the ogre turned. Jai was on his feet, impossibly. And even as he wiped blood from his mouth, he moved in. Then he was airborne, twisting gracefully, and his heel came down on the back of the ogre’s head. And the unthinkable had happened. The ogre dropped to his knees. Such beautiful idiocy.

Lycia was still talking, and Stasis suddenly realized she didn’t know about what. So she smiled and nodded, and hoped it was the right response.

Lucia giggled. “That does sound fun,” she said. “But now I know why the hamper smelled so bad, too.”

“Plus,” Lycia added, a sly look on her face, “you get to hear him call her Tara.”

Stasis started at the mention of her name, which even Lycia seldom used. Lucia turned and looked at her, a shocked smile on her face. “Really?”

Stasis was about to respond, when a quiet knock on the door made them hush. Stasis glanced at Lycia, and Lycia grinned. Stasis rose from the bed and crept quickly to the door. “Who is it?” she whispered through the door playfully.

“Lemmie, in, sometimey, fuh jeez-an-ages,” came the hushed and panicked reponse.

For a moment, Stasis considered making him sweat. Leaving him in the hallway as a joke, to make him squirm. But only a moment. She swung the door inwards. Jai slipped inside, his silly grin splitting his face, holding a knapsack. He wore a red t-shirt with a black bull’s head emblazoned upon it. Beneath the bull’s head, the t-shirt read “Charge!” She didn’t recognize what it meant, but then, she was getting used to that. How could anyone who spoke English be so foreign?

Lycia had jumped into the bathroom to change out of her dress, but her voice came cheerfully into the room, “Hello Ginga! You can’t see my dress until tomorrow!”

Jai laughed, and nodded at Lucia as a greeting. “Yuh take yuh time, Miss Lycia,” he replied. Then his eyes fell full upon Stasis. “Allo, Tara. Yuh doin’ well?”

“Jai,” she replied, looking away and shutting the door. She turned back to face him, but he wasn’t looking at her anymore. He had knelt in the center of the room, fishing through the knapsack.

Lucia peered over. “What’d you bring, Ginga?”

“Only da bes’, deah Miss Adriaens,” he said, mischief in his voice. He held up a bottle of a pale golden liquid. “I bring da rum,” he continued, and pulled a thin black rectangle out of the bag with his other hand. “An’ I bring ‘De Little Mermaid’.”

Lycia squealed in delight from the bathroom. Lucia shifted between smiling at the DVD case and frowning at the bottle. Which, strangely, was almost the exact opposite reaction that Stasis felt. “Y’ can’t be serious, Jai,” she groaned. “We’re not watching that.”

Eerily, her three friends responded in almost perfect unison: “Yeah we are.” Stasis blinked by the sudden show of unity. Resistance was useless.

Stasis shook her head. “Well, fine, but we’re not drinking, I don’t drink.” But though the words came out right, she realized her tone didn’t sound as definite as she had intended. Her tone, she realized, said convince me.

Jai didn’t miss it. He looked back over his shoulder at her, with that damned impish smile. “Yuh don’ tink yuh can handle it?” His eyes dared her. He slowly began to put the bottle back in the knapsack. “Don’ worry, I understan’.”

“Damn it, Jai,” she groaned, exasperated already, even as she felt that damnable flutter again.

But it was Lycia who settled the matter as she came out of the bathroom in her nightshirt. “Well, I’m having some.” She walked to the center of the room and knelt down by Jai, a plastic cup from Mega-Market in her hand. Lucia stared in disbelief, and Stasis felt her own face tighten.

Jai nodded. “We need ta chill it down firs’,” he chuckled, and he turned and tossed the bottle to Stasis. “Here yuh go, gyul,” he said, eyes flashing. “Use yuh power fuh somtin’ constructive.”

She glared at him, but she found herself smiling anyway. Infuriating boy. She held the bottle in both hands, until a thin veil of frost formed on it. She held his eyes with hers, and his smile broadened. And then, she acted on impulse: defiantly, she unscrewed the cap and drank a swallow from the bottle. It wasn’t what she had expected. The liquid was cold, but made her mouth feel hot. Jai laughed and held out his hand. She handed the bottle back to him.

“Well den,” Jai said, tipping the bottle to Lycia’s cup, “it seem dat once again, a night wit Tara is anodduh night a’ surprises.” Even though he wasn’t looking at her, Stasis made a face.

Lucia grabbed the DVD case from the floor and opened it. “I just want to watch the movie,” she said.

“Mama yo, den, start it up, Miss Adriaens,” Jai said, and took a drink from the bottle himself.