Title: Pieces of Blue - Chapter 2
By: Ashley Delfín
Notes: After almost two months, chapter 2 is up. Please, please, please send me your thoughts and comments (and questions if you have any). Y'all know all you read here was created and belongs to me. No posting anywhere else w/out my permission, etc, etc.

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The halls of St. Marianne were eerie and silent, just like those in a solitary church. The voices inside the classrooms were heard as hushed prayers through the brick walls and solid wooden doors. Normally, students would crowd the halls and any sense of magnificence would be lost. Right now, however, only Amaranth and the currently anonymous platypus guy walked through.

Amaranth's blush would just not surrender. Of course this was partially due to the fact that every once in a while he would turn to look at the platypus guy and suddenly would feel too shy to talk to him. It also surprised him that his aura hadn't had any effect on the platypus guy. Normally he had strangers come up to him and spill their guts to him; the platypus guy seemed perfectly content walking quietly beside him. So they walked in silence. The infirmary was close but for some reason it felt like it was taking forever to get there.

Amaranth chanced another glance. The platypus guy was serious; Amaranth wondered if he was angry. He held his bored platypus, Lancelot, the same way Amaranth had carried him to class: holding the body with his left arm and letting Lancelot's head rest on his shoulder.

"It's here, right?" the platypus guy asked Amaranth, suddenly turning to face him.

Amaranth looked behind him, noticing the door marked "Infirmary" with a bright red cross painted on top. Amaranth had been here a number of times and remembered it vividly. It was almost like a doctor's office, except crosses and images of saints shared the walls with anatomy diagrams and medicine cabinets instead of diplomas.

"Umm... yeah... it is," Amaranth replied, his blush reaching levels it had never reached before. "I'll just go in, then." Amaranth pulled on the doorknob. The door didn't budge.

"You push, right?" Leonard pushed it open and motioned Amaranth to walk in.

"Right," Amaranth said, smiling sheepishly. He stepped in and immediately noticed Sister Beatrice sitting behind her desk.

Sister Beatrice was a plump nun with ebony skin and warm brown eyes. She was a no-nonsense nurse and usually looked over students and dispatched them as soon as possible. Only students that were very sick and had enough symptoms to prove it were ever allowed to stay there to rest. She wasn't mean or cruel; she was just fed up of students who tried by any means to get permission to leave school for the day.

"I'll take a guess and say it's the red-faced boy who's here to see me," The nun stood up and walked to Amaranth. She looked annoyed, and Amaranth thought of fainting or running away. "What's the matter with you?"

"Nothing, I'm fine," Amaranth responded with a half-smile, trying to lighten the mood. The nun stared at him and he fell down on a chair and let himself be inspected. They all kept silent for a few moments.

"Boy, there's nothing wrong with you," Sister Beatrice said as she straightened up. "Are you two trying to sneak out of class or something?" She placed her hand on her hip, looking defiant.

"No! I told you, I'm fine! I just blushed a lot and Mrs. Dietrich thought I was coming down with something so she sent me here." Amaranth's color was now returning to his normal albino tone.

"Leonard, is that true?"

"Yes, ma'am," the platypus guy answered. Amaranth, suddenly remembering his presence, blushed again.

"Boy, why are you blushing so much?" Sister Beatrice walked back to her chair. "I haven't seen you this red ever since the time your sister accidentally pulled your pants down in front of the PTA meeting."

Now there was a memory Amaranth had never wanted to revisit again for the rest of his life. He could hear Leonard (at least now he knew his name) trying to keep himself from laughing. He could feel his blush rising up even more again. How come reality had all of a sudden decided to make him miserable?

"Anyway," he said, trying to keep his cool, "we need to go back to class."

"Yes, you do," Sister Beatrice frowned at Amaranth and then addressed Leonard with a smile, "tell your parents I said 'hi'. Leonard, please take care of this boy. He can be quite a handful. Oh, and you brought Lancelot! How has the he been?"

Okay, so not only did Leonard know his name, he was also in speaking terms with Sister Beatrice. Heck, even his platypus was in speaking terms with her. This was a highly coveted position not achieved by many people. Besides, if Leonard was such a good friend of Sister Beatrice, Amaranth had to at least have seen him somewhere. He tried to remember but drew a blank.

"Amaranth, you coming?" Leonard was looking at Amaranth questioningly. Amaranth suddenly realized he had been standing there for a while, just thinking.

"Sorry, I was just thinking of something else and got distracted." Amaranth heard Sister Beatrice let out a sarcastic laugh. "Let's go," he finally said, wanting this day to be over as soon as possible.

They left, and again walked silently through the hallways.

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"Michael Jeremy Oakforest, if you hit your sister one more time, I will take your guts out and feed them to you uncooked!" Amaranth yelled at the boy who had taken a liking to punching his younger sister, Sarah, for the last two weeks. Little Mike got the point and muttered a "sorry" to his sister.

Monday, Wednesdays, and Thursdays Amaranth babysat the Oakforest children while their mother went to her painting classes. It gave him a little more money, which was always useful for his crime fighting team. It also kept him occupied while the rest of the team finished up their after-school activities. Matt had football, Cee Cee had volleyball, Esperanto had either Spanish classes or meditation with his parents, and his sister tutored smaller children at school.

"Amaranth, dear," Mrs. Oakforest said as she walked in, "you can't feed my son his own guts, I've told you I don't want them eating junk food. Besides, you'll ruin his appetite. Don't you have to be going home for dinner yourself?"

"Yeah, I'll just grab my stuff from the living room," Amaranth said, not taking his eyes off Mike so the boy wouldn't go all punch-happy on his sister while he wasn't looking. Once Sarah was safely in her mom's viewing range, he grabbed his backpack, and said good-bye to the kids. He checked his watch; it was already six o'clock. The rest of the team would be getting to his house soon.

Fortunately, the Oakforest family lived practically next door. Of course, in Amaranth's neighborhood, that wasn't precisely near. Amaranth's family happened to be one of the wealthiest in town, so his mother had managed to convince his father into buying this huge house in one of the better neighborhoods in town. The excuse was that it was closer to his job, but the whole family knew that it was really because the house was in a perfect location for spell casting.

Amaranth went in through the "back door". That is, one of the two other entrances through the high iron fence that surrounded the property other than the main gate. He closed the door behind him and walked through his mother's white rose garden and entered his house through the kitchen door. It was then that Amaranth realized he had no idea of where in his house the team would be meeting. The rose garden was out; but he still had the rest of the three-story mansion and the rest of the garden.

"Dude!" Matt yelled as he entered the kitchen. "Great timing, we're getting supplies for the meeting." Matt had had a chance to change out of his school uniform so he was now wearing jeans and a T-shirt. Amaranth was still in his uniform.

"Great, what did they ask for?" Amaranth asked.

"The usual, soda, chips, dip, celery sticks... you know." Matt opened the fridge and began taking out some stuff at the same time Amaranth searched the pantry.

"What, no beef jerky?" Amaranth looked at Matt oddly.

"Can't, coach's orders," Matt responded, not seeming too pleased.

Amaranth shrugged. "Take the baby carrots, then."

"Take them yourself, slacker. My hands are full."

"Sorry." Amaranth grabbed the carrots and closed the fridge. They walked up the stairs to the TV room in the second floor, the one with the various gaming consoles.

"That's not fair! I was busy making sure aliens didn't burst out from the couch!" That was Esperanto's voice; he was obviously not happy.

"Your randomness does not change the fact that I kicked your butt all around the place, mister," Cee Cee replied as she stood up to do a sort of victory dance. Noticing Matt and Amaranth standing at the door, she grinned evilly at them. "Amis said she'd be right back. Anyone want to play Bloody Roar with me?"

"Don't do it!" Esper said, taking one of sofa cushions and hiding under it. His next words were muffled but they were either "She'll kill you" or "She'll grill you." Amaranth didn't want to suffer either of those fates but Matt was quicker and took the baby carrots from him.

"I need to organize stuff at the table. Come on, Esper, let's allow these old chums to play with each other for a while."

"Actually," Amaranth said with a note of urgency in his voice, "I just remembered that my horoscope said to stay away from video game consoles today. Better safe than sorry, right?"

"Fine, then," Cee Cee said while dropping the controller and standing on the couch, "help me practice my wrestling moves."

With that, Cee Cee jumped off the couch, aiming towards Amaranth. All that the boy could think while he saw his best friend flying through the air, coming closer and closer was that he hoped his spine would live to tell the tale.

After a loud noise (that was more of a "bonk" with hints of "bam" rather than just a plain "crash"), Amaranth found himself in the floor for the fourth time that day. At least this time there were no rare mammals inside his clothes.

"Dude, I think you killed him!" Matt said, rushing to see if he could help.

"But he never told us the password for opening Mr. Sanrio's vault!" Esperanto was on the verge on panic.

"He's not dead," Cee Cee said, rolling her eyes. "And don't call me 'dude'."

Amaranth stood up and after a few seconds managed to catch his breath. "Cee Cee, next time, miss."

"But we need her to practice her moves," Amis said as she entered the room, Amaranth was still the only one in the room who hadn't change out of his uniform. "Who knows when they'll come in handy?" Amis had the newspaper on one hand and a teddy bear on the other.

"Yay! You brought the teddy bear," Esper said. The teddy bear instantly came to life and ran to hide behind Amaranth, who rolled his eyes.

"Esper, he's still sort of traumatized from last time," Amaranth said in an annoyed tone. "Did you have to bring him, Amis? You know, just because they don't have an actual brain doesn't mean they can't have mental scars."

"Oh, but they're so cute when they're all lively, and they only do that when you are near them," Amis said, almost squealing the word "cute."

Amaranth began saying something and then looked down in alarm and noticed the teddy bear was trying to hide inside his pants' leg. Esper, the reason why the teddy bear was trying to hide in the first place, was trying to reach in to grab it; so much for not having rare mammals inside his clothes.

"Esperanto, stop it. Dexterity, get out of there. Everyone else, laugh and die," Amaranth said with a glare. Of course, that didn't stop anyone from giggling at the sight. After a few moments, Amaranth had Dexterity on his shoulders, and it seemed calm enough. Esperanto moped for a second or two, but then he began looking for bluebirds under the couch and got distracted. Cee Cee turned the TV and Playstation off. Amis unfolded the newspaper and showed them the front-page headline.

"Grand robbery at downtown museum," Matt read out loud, "bummer."

"Not the robbery," Amaranth protested. "Amis, I told you, the police are taking care of that. It's not like we don't have enough with schoolwork and chores."

"True, and normally I'd trust our honorable police department with this. However, that was before I realized there was obviously some magick involved and thus it'll be impossible for them to solve the case."

"Amis, I hate to break this to you, but robberies have been taking place for ages, and magick has never been involved in most of them," Cee Cee said as she scanned the article to see where Amis had gotten such an idea.

"How about that Spanish ship, La Esperanza del Duque, that was magickally taken to a remote pacific island by wizard pirates?" Esperanto said as he made some sort of four-legged animal with baby carrots. Amis smiled triumphantly and Cee Cee turned to Amaranth for back up.

"True, but the ship was finally found and nobody ever knew there was magick involved." Amaranth rolled his eyes.

"Yes," Amis replied, "a few centuries later."

They all fell silent and turned to Amaranth, who rolled his eyes. "Matt, we haven't heard from you."

"You know me, man," Matt said while still chewing some chips, "As long as there's action, I'm there. But if you think we shouldn't get involved that's fine too. You're the boss."

"Okay, so that's two for, two against, and one abstention." Amaranth sighed, "What did the cheap thieves take, anyway? Not like any museums around here have that much loot. Last I heard the only thing they had was some old native pottery and old furniture."

"The county's History Museum had just opened an exhibition with some old jewelry," Amis explained, taking the paper back from Cee Cee to scan it and make sure she got the details right. "A whole display case was emptied. They shattered the glass and took everything in it."

"Last time I broke a window, my mom made me sit on my bed and make origami until my karmic balance between creation and destruction was balanced," Esper said, while trying to make a tower out of celery sticks. They all paused and stared at him. "But I didn't know how to make fish, so the monster under my bed helped me."

Cee Cee rolled her eyes and lounged on the couch. Matt looked at Amaranth, who shrugged.

"Well, I guess with all the glass breaking those guys did, they'll be making origami for a while," Amaranth said. Matt laughed a little and Cee Cee threw a cushion at him. If Amaranth had not been facing the exact opposite way, the cushion would've hit him in the face.

"That's the thing," Amis said, "nothing else was broken. All the doors and windows were intact. They went in and out without even leaving a trace of their presence but they brokw the display case. Don't you think it sounds fishy?"

"Maybe they were in a hurry," Matt suggested.

"Yeah, or maybe they magicked their way in," Amis responded.

"Well," Amaranth said, "if they did, then there's not much we can do about it. They already robbed the place. The museum owners will be tightening security now, so it'll be difficult for them to pull it off again."

"Difficulty does not equate impossibility," Esper said as he karate-chopped his celery building. Matt caught one of the pieces that became airborne and ate it.

"See, Esper agrees with me," Amis said with a grin.

"Esper expected to see a koala in History class," Cee Cee said, looking up from the couch.

"Failed, though," Esper said lowering his head. "Brother Ferdinand told me that koalas prefer leaves to M&M's and then he didn't let me get any."

Cee Cee looked at Amis and said, "And that's the one who's with you?"

"Stop acting like we didn't see a platypus," Amaranth said, flat.

"I had already managed to erase that from my memory," Cee Cee groaned. "Thank you for reminding me, not."

"Really?" Matt and Esper asked in unison.

"Yeah, he was in my locker."

"What happened to him?" Amis asked.

"Turns out his name is Lancelot and he belongs to this guy, Leonard, who's in the D schedule with me."

"How did you find this out?"

"There was an... incident." Amaranth centered all his energies in not blushing. Amis' triumphant yell made it clear he had failed.

"I know that blush, brother, you're crushing!"

"Am not!"

"Are too," the four responded in complete unison.

"Okay, so maybe he's cute."

Amis stared at him, obviously knowing there was more.

"Okay, so maybe he's very cute."

"Dude, I know Leonard, he used to be on the team," Matt said, "and no cheerleader ever described him as 'cute', they all agree he's 'hot'."

"So he used to be in the B schedule?" Amaranth asked. If the whole team knew about the crush, why bother hiding it?

"Not our grade's," Cee Cee said, "he was in 12th last year. He should've graduated by now. Don't know what's up with him."

"Well, obviously he failed." Amaranth sighed. "Great, just my luck that the one decent guy in the D schedule is a dumb jock."

"Actually," Matt explained, "he's supposed to be really smart. He used to get all A's in all his classes, or so the coach tells."

"Excuse me," Amis said, standing in front of Amaranth and facing the rest of the team, "are we discussing Amaranth's crush or the bank robbery?"

"Sorry, Amis," Cee Cee said.

"Yeah, sorry," Matt echoed. "Hey, Amaranto, don't you think we should at least go there and do our style of private security? You know, the one that actually works."

"Here, I found this." Esper handed Matt his wallet.

"Thanks, man," Matt said, obviously confused. "Where was it?"

"Your back pocket."

"Well, that's not good news for the museum." Cee Cee said, grinning sarcastically at Matt. The jock glared at her and stuck his wallet in his front pocket. "Anyone else have any smart-ass comments?"

"Yeah, but since Esper just stole your wallet, I think your ego has had enough battering for a day," Amis teased him.

"Look, I'm pretty sure the police will also be around to make sure the robbers don't get any ideas. Why don't we just make sure we don't have any major screw ups in this our first week of classes?" Cee Cee got off the couch and stood besides Amaranth.

"Yeah, but they'll only be there until Friday. What if they strike then?" Amis asked.

"Friday is the week-end. We'll just do the usual." Amaranth looked at them, a questioning look in his eyes.

"Isn't this the part where one of us has to say what 'the usual' is?" Esper asked in an audible whisper to Matt.

"Yeah," Matt responded.

"Why does he keep forgetting?" Esper said, confused. Even Amaranth couldn't resist laughing at the boy's comment.