ChapterSixteen: Hidden Denials

Week before Halloween. October 2155

It was the week before Halloween. The cheer squad, which now included Emily, Hannah, Lilly, and Cassie, were in a meeting with Kylie. So far, practice had been going well, yet Kylie was forced to tone down the tricks and the routines for most of the Undergrounders. There were a few of them that were able to do the difficult stunts, but other than that, the Gen-Mods had to accommodate the Normals.

The cheer squad were in the dance studio. Kylie was standing as she began the meeting: "Okay, Next Saturday is Halloween, and I'm hosting an awesome party! The theme is a masquerade party. Everyone must wear their party dresses and tuxes. They must have a mask, of course. And here's a first: I'm inviting the entire school and their friends' friends to my fabulous house!"

The entire squad cheered in excitement. Kylie was known to throw some really elaborate parties. She would typically invite the most popular students, so her parties would be a bit on the small side, but they were the most-talked about on the social media site of O.N.E., which was a combination of all social media sites of the past. All of them merged shortly after the War of 2070. When GH569 was starting to be inhabited by the Gen-Mods, the social media giant was made to be intergalactic so both planets would know whatever is going on at the same time.

Kylie then continued, "Okay, I highly recommend going to ForMero21 for both your dresses, your tuxes, and your masks."

Cassie grinned as she chimed in, "I work at the ForMero21 store in the Eiffel District! I can help you all find your stuff! And I work tonight!"

Everyone liked what Cassie had to say, but Kylie made a face that anyone could tell she was annoyed. Kylie wanted all the attention to be on her, not on the pasty-ashy Earth Gen-Mod Cassie. So she cleared her throat, and said, "Yes, that sounds fun and all, but I'll be personally ordering my dress and mask online! Everything must be a surprise!"

Cassie could sense Kylie didn't like her. Back on Earth, Cassie was kind of popular, but her status was nothing compared to Amanda Jenkins. Amanda was the daughter of parents who were famous movie and Broadway actors. She was wealthy, beautiful, and extremely talented. She got accepted to go to Julliard! Cassie, on the other hand, wasn't sure what she wanted to do. Joining the military wasn't something she was interested in. Other than that, she was stuck. She had to come up with something soon before she enters her senior year.

Cassie spoke to the others in the squad, "Look, I think everyone should decide how we're going to buy our things. Online or in person. It shouldn't matter."

Kylie glared at Cassie. Cassie noticed the glare, so she asked, "Is something wrong?"

Kylie walked up to Cassie, and told her sternly, "Don't overstep me. Whatever I say goes. Maybe your last word was important back on Earth, but this is GH569. Your words are irrelevant."

Cassie sighed and rolled her eyes. Soon it was time for practice. Everyone could feel the tension between Kylie and Cassie like it was sharp needles. Yet there wasn't anything anyone could do.

It's an hour later, and cheer practice was over. Hannah, hoping to patch things up for both her new best friend Cassie, and for the cheer captain Kylie, walked up Kylie. Hannah greeted, "Hi."

Kylie looked up. She sighed heavily, making it clear she didn't like Hannah. She asked, "What is it, ZV?"

Hannah also sighed heavily as she replied, "Are you sure you don't want to go shopping with us? It would be a fun experience. Maybe you'll warm up to us Earth People."

Kylie scoffed as she grabbed her bag, and soon stormed out of the dance studio. Hannah then turned around, and saw Cassie, Lilly, and Emily walk up to her. Cassie gave a sympathetic smile, and said, "Thanks, Hannah. At least you tried."

Lilly asked the small group, "Don't any of you get the feeling something is up with Kylie?"

Hannah replied, "I think everyone, no matter what species they are, can tell something is up."

Cassie added, "Plus...I think something bad is going to happen."

The three girls stared at her as they waited for some kind of deduction. Cassie shook her head, "I got nothing. I mean, I can tell there is something, but I can't deduce it. Something is blocking me from finding out what it is. I just know I got a bad feeling in my stomach."

Lilly sighed, "Same here. Something is definitely up."

Then there was silence for a second or two until Cassie spoke up, "I have to go home. I have work today."

With that, the girls walked out of the dance studio.

A bit later. Cassie was now dressed for work at ForMero21. On the way to work, she stopped by Damon's house. By now, the couple has grown closer, but there was still a bit of distance coming from Damon. Cassie, once again, was hit with the ever-present mental wall. She knew something was strange about Damon. She had seen his grin, which had no canines. She saw his fingertips have bandages on them. He wasn't the only who was like this. She saw a lot of students with them same flaws, including Kylie. The students with these strange flaws were from both Earth and GH569.

To make things even stranger, a few weeks earlier, Damon told her about what had happened during the trip to the fence surrounding the city. He told her that James was suspicious as him, and that they heard growls from the Forest Natives. He even told her that James and Hannah knew about the Natives. Cassie knew herself too, but she wasn't planning on telling Damon anytime soon. She has yet to tell him.

When she arrived at his house, she knocked on his door. The door was opened by Damon. They both smiled and hugged each other warmly. Then they kissed passionately. The love for each other very strong, to the point it was unbreakable.

Soon they pulled away from each other. Damon smiled lovingly, "I'm glad to see you."

Cassie blushed, "I'm glad to see you too. How was basketball practice?"
Damon sighed as he replied, "It was good, but James..."

Ever since the night of the little road trip, James had been keeping his distance from Damon. Not that he was afraid of the German, but because he didn't trust him. James had been suspicious of Damon for a while now. Then again, James had been suspicious of those who had missing canines and bandaged fingertips. Damon didn't understand why. No one, not even Damon, has done anything to James.

Cassie sighed, "Look, you two need to talk things out. James is Hannah's ma-boyfriend..."

Damon smirked, "You were about to call James Hannah's mate."

Cassie smiled slightly, "I know. It's still taking time to get used to the Normals' ways of life."

She rubs his arms gently as she said, "Look, I have to go to work now. Just try to talk to James. Okay?"

Damon nodded his head reluctantly. They both hug each other one last time, then they pulled away as Cassie walked back to her car. With that, Damon grabbed his makeshift, very old skateboard he brought from Earth, and skated off to James' house. He didn't have a car yet, and he preferred his skateboard with scratched-off illustrations and writings on it over a bicycle.

He soon arrived at James' house. He walked up to the door, and knocked on it a few times. He waited until the door opened. It was James. Damon smiled with his mouth closed, and said, "Hey, James. Can we talk?"
James sighed, but he nodded and let Damon inside. The two entered the living room. James sat on a comfy chair, while Damon stayed standing up. The two stared at each other through their sun-goggles. Even though they couldn't see each other's eyes, it was obvious this was a staring match, but they both knew it.

Then James rolled his eyes, and asked, "Okay, what did you want to tell me?"
Damon took a deep breath, and replied with a slight crack in his voice, "Okay, I don't know what's going on with you. You're suspicious of me for some reason, and I don't know what's going on. What have I done to you that turned you against me? I mean, we barely know each other!"

James sighed heavily as if everything went from one ear and out the other. Damon continued, gaining a hint of confidence, "And it's not just me. I've noticed you're suspicious of a lot of other people! And they haven't done anything to you! At all!"

James got up from his chair as he had enough of Damon's accusations. He told him, "Look, dude. Relax. You're just paranoid. Nothing is going on."

Damon blinked as he couldn't believe what he heard. So he told him angrily, "Don't deny it, James. You're suspicious of me and many other students. What's going on?"

"Damon, relax, please."

Damon growled in an inhumanly way, "No! I will not relax until you give me the truth!"

Suddenly, Damon smashes the coffee table in front of him in half with his fist! That shocked both him and James. He stared at James with a shocked expression. James asked him, "Dude! What the fuck was that?! Your...your growl, and this?! What are you?!"

Damon stammered out of both shock and fear. Then he bolted out of the door. He got on his skateboard, and skated off as fast as he could. He soon somehow ended up on the street. He saw car driving a bit too quick on the neighborhood street. He jumped off his skateboard, and ran onto the sidewalk.

The red-colored car stopped in front of him. The door opened, and it revealed Kylie. He stood there, and exclaimed, "You almost hit me with your Scheiß-car!"

Kylie stared at him. He realized he just spoke a hint of German to her, which meant "fucking." Damon sighed as he looked away. Kylie said, "Look, I didn't mean to try to ram you down, but I'm glad I ran into you."

Damon raised an eyebrow as he asked, "Why?"

Kylie grinned at him with her canine-less grin...