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  “So I was a little bit of a challenge? Even for a girl?” I asked.

  His smile fell away. “For anyone. Cassie, I’m sorry for sounding like a complete ass earlier. You obviously put me in line.”

  “You weren’t a complete ass,” I said dryly.

  He bit back a smile. “Really, I’m not such a bad guy once you get to know me.”

  I shrugged. “If you say so…”

  “Well, I’ll be back tomorrow evening, if you want to stop in and practice again.”

  “I’m not sure if I’ll be here tomorrow, but thanks.” I replied, removing my chest plate.

  “Okay, well maybe I’ll see you around.”

  I nodded. “Sure. Good luck with your next tournament.”

  “Thanks.”

  I grabbed my gym bag and started stuffing my sparring gear into it. Mae, Master Jordan’s girlfriend, walked over and congratulated me on getting my Black Belt.

  “Thanks,” I said.

  As usual her makeup was flawless and she was dressed like she’d just stepped out of a fashion magazine. Her exotic Asian eyes glinted with amusement.

  She motioned towards Bryce. “So…you like that boy?”

  “What?” I shook my head vehemently. “No…he’s just an instructor.”

  I could tell by her expression that she didn’t totally believe me. Either did I for that matter.

  “Cassie, you… very pretty girl. You should let me shape your eyebrows and give you manicure. I will do it, no charge. Men like beautiful nails and tidy eyebrows.” Mae owns the nail shop in the same mini mall as the karate studio.

  “Oh, no…that’s okay Mae,” I replied, now feeling self-conscious about my eyebrows. I realized my nails were a lost cause but I thought I’d done a pretty decent job plucking my own eyebrows.

  She unexpectedly grabbed my hand and looked at my nails. “No. You come and let me do this for you. Your nails are…ugly. This is my treat for earning your Black Belt. Tomorrow night?”

  Embarrassed and defeated, I accepted her offer. “Um, okay. Thank you?”

  Master Jordan joined us and put his arms around her. “Better listen to Mae. She won’t accept NO for an answer.”

  “Either do you,” she replied firmly.

  “What can I say Mae? I didn’t want you to miss out on having such a great guy. Besides, you know you couldn’t resist me. You finally said yes.” He was actually pretty good looking for someone in their thirties. Blond hair, blue eyes, and kicking body, he kind of reminds me of Paul Walker, from the “Fast and The Furious”.

  She chuckled. “I gave in so you’d stop embarrassing me at my shop. How many times a week did you ask for both pedicure and date?”

  “I thought you liked massaging my feet?”

  She looked down at his feet. “I got tired of looking at your corns.”

  Master Jordan’s face fell, but I could tell he was amused. “Corns? Mae, you’re killing me!”

  Mae and I burst out laughing. She then grabbed him around the waist and dragged him away while he pretended to pout.

  I walked through the locker room and into the entryway, where Nora was standing. “So, that new instructor was smoking hot,” she said. “Did you get his number?”

  I scowled. “No! Are you kidding? He’s an instructor. Besides, he’s kind of annoying.”

  She smiled. “Well as annoying as he was, he certainly couldn’t keep his eyes off of you.”

  I rolled my eyes. “That’s because we were sparring Nora.”

  She shook her head. “No, it was more than that.”

  Her words pleased me though, I was a little intrigued with him; there was no denying that. But he was an instructor and too arrogant for my tastes.

  “You need a ride home?” I asked her.

  “No, Scott’s going to give me a lift.” This time Nora’s cheeks turned bright pink. “It’s no big deal. I guess he doesn’t live far from my grandma’s. Anyway, I was wondering if you’d want to hang-out this weekend? My dad sent a copy of his latest CD. We could listen to it and order a pizza or something. If you don‘t have anything else going on?”

  That was surprising. “I might be able to Saturday night. I’ll call you.”

  Just then Scott walked up and hip-checked me. “Hey girl, you ready for prom?”

  “Almost,” I replied.

  Nora’s face fell. “You guys are going to the prom together?”

  “Just as friends!” we both said at the same time.

  Her face brightened immediately. “Oh, well that’s cool! Have fun.”

  “You’re not going?” Scott asked Nora.

  She shook her head and began picking at lint on her karate uniform.

  “Well why not?” he asked.

  Eva sighed and lifted her arms up. “Are you kidding me? Could you picture me at prom?”

  “Actually, yes I could. I’m kind of shocked that nobody asked you,” replied Scott.

  Nora rolled her eyes. “Don’t be. It really isn’t my thing anyway. Look, we’d better get going. I have to check on grams, make sure she’s okay.”

  “No problem,” said Scott. He turned to me. “I’ll talk to you at school tomorrow.”

  “Bye, you guys,” I said. “I’ll catch you tomorrow Nora.”

  She nodded and I watched as they left together. When he opened the passenger door for her she appeared surprised, then flashed him one of her rare smiles. It suddenly all made sense to me; Nora was totally into Scott, and seeing the way Scott responded to Nora, he probably felt the same way.

  Chapter Four

  When I picked up Allie from her dance class, she was unusually quiet.

  “Is everything okay?” I asked her.

  “Yeah,” she replied, laying her blond head back against the seat. Normally she was a chatterbox, so I knew something was bothering her.

  I turned down my radio. “Spill it…what’s wrong?”

  “Nothing’s wrong.”

  Allie and I didn‘t always get along, but she’s still my little sister and I don’t like seeing her glum. “Okay. But if you need my advice on anything…”

  She let out a dramatic sigh. “Well, if you really want to know…” Then she rambled on about some boy she had a crush on at school. Apparently he teased her in front of everyone, completely humiliating her. “He actually said I was high maintenance!”

  It took all my will to hold back my smile. Obviously he knew Allie pretty well. “Listen, boys your age are clueless. Forget about him and focus on something else, like getting good grades, or hanging out with your friends. In a couple of years the guys will be following you around like puppy dogs.” It was true, with her blond hair, blue eyes, and radiant smile, she had absolutely nothing to worry about.

  “You sound just like mom,” she pouted.

  I cringed, although I agreed with my mother on this one. “Well this time she’s right.”

  Allie fell silent again and took out her cell phone. A minute later she was on the phone with Kylie, Paige’s younger sister. They were close friends. They chatted for a few minutes, making plans for the weekend. When she hung up, she was her usual upbeat self.

  “Kylie wants to see a movie this weekend and have a sleepover.”

  “That sounds like fun,” I replied.

  Allie‘s eyes lit up. “Hey, you should come over too. We could order a pizza and swim in the indoor pool at night. It‘s so cool.”

  Paige and Kylie’s mother, Kristie, just recently married this rich guy named Dan. He owns several restaurants in the area and they now live in a huge mansion with two swimming pools, a tennis court, and a shooting range. Allie spends more time there than she does at home.

  I narrowed my eyes. “Kristie is going to be gone? That could lead to trouble.”

  “What do you mean?” she asked, looking cross.

  Kylie is a nice girl, but she tends to attract trouble, even when she isn’t looking for it. My mom says that Kylie reminds her exactly of Kristie when she was little. Our mom’s had pla
yed together as children and I guess Kristie had been a real hell-raiser growing up. Frankly, she’s still pretty feisty and you never know what she’ll say or do next. Kylie has the same fiery spirit as her mom and it’s gotten both Allie and herself in trouble in the past.

  “Forget about it. Well, it sounds interesting but I promised Nora I’d hang out with her Saturday night. She‘s depressed about her dad being away. She lost her driver’s license a few months ago and doesn‘t have many friends.”

  “Nora? Awesome, invite her too! I’m sure Paige will be fine with that.”

  I snorted. “Unlikely. Nora scares the crap out of most people. I can’t imagine Paige being thrilled about her coming over.”

  “Just check,” Allie pleaded. “It would be so much fun! I haven’t been to a real slumber-party in ages. It’s usually just me and Kylie.”

  Shrugging I said, “I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to ask.”

  “It’s going to be so much fun!” my sister replied all giddy. She turned on the radio and started singing and bouncing around to the music. “Hey, it’s your song!” Ironically it’s called “Wild Ones” by Flo Rida, and she’s always playing it for me on her iPod.

  “Allie, don’t forget to check with mom too!” I yelled over the music

  She nodded, then leaned over and gave me an unexpected kiss on the cheek. Unlike me, she wasn’t shy about showing affection to anyone. “I get to hang out with my sister,” she sang. “The Wild One!”

  I smiled at her. Allie was growing up quickly, but to me she’d always be the mischievous imp dancing around in her crooked tiara and Little Mermaid gown.

  ~~~

  Later that night, when my mother read the information about the flu shot, she was furious. She crumpled up the permission sheet and tossed it into the garbage. “It’s ridiculous. They can’t enforce this. I’m calling the school.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Mom there’s nothing you can do. Maybe we should just get the stupid shot.”

  Mom put her hands on her hips. “Are you kidding me? Absolutely not! Did you notice how our family hasn’t come down with anything yet? It’s because we don’t get those stupid flu shots. If we did we’d probably be as sick as everyone else.”

  “Sorry…” I mumbled.

  Allie pouted. “Mom, I have to go to school. There’s a major test next week.” I also knew she didn’t want to be away from her friends or the guy she was crushing on.

  Mom put her arm around Allie‘s shoulders. “Don’t worry about it, sweetie. I’ll make some calls and get this taken care of.”

  I got up off the couch and stretched. “Well, if I can’t go to school, I’m definitely not hanging around Daycare Central,” I said.

  “I’m sure you’ll find something to do. Otherwise you can run some errands for me, like picking up your prom dress.”

  Although I wasn’t thrilled about wearing a dress, my mother had helped me choose one that I actually liked; a strapless, coral colored chiffon gown that made my waist look smaller and my skin look tan.

  After dinner, as my mom disinfected the daycare area of the house, I took a shower then retreated to my bedroom and turned on the television. There were news reports on every channel covering the flu epidemic. On channel eleven, Eva King’s mother, Veronica, was interviewing a spokesperson from the Centers for Disease Control Prevention (C.D.C). I actually like Eva’s mother, who’d I met back in grade school at a birthday party. Although she’s somewhat of a celebrity, she never once acted snooty or cold. In fact she was really sweet to everyone, unlike her daughter.

  Veronica definitely wasn’t herself today; she looked sick and miserable. Her normally tan face was pale, her nose bright red, and her blue eyes watery. Usually she looked so professional, with no red curl out of place.

  “This is Veronica King and if you’re just tuning in, I have Dr. William Blake from the Center of Disease Control on satellite. We‘ve been discussing this new flu virus that people are referring to as “The Creeper”, because it starts out slow and then hits it’s victim pretty hard. Does that about sum it up Doctor?”

  “Correct,” replied Dr. Blake stiffly. He was over fifty, slim, with round little glasses and grey wispy hair that didn’t quite cover the bald spot.

  “Thank you again for joining us Doctor. As I mentioned, this virus has been spreading at an alarming rate. It’s affected the entire country,” she croaked and then cleared her throat. ”Excuse me. I mean the entire world. The big question tonight is how do we control this growing epidemic?”

  “That’s easy Ms. King, we control it by making wise decisions; like getting vaccinated. It’s imperative, especially for our elderly and small children.”

  Veronica’s eyes narrowed. “And you stand behind this vaccine one hundred percent? Earlier we heard from other medical experts stating that they don’t feel the vaccine is having a significant enough effect on this particular virus. Millions of people have still contracted severe flu symptoms even after getting vaccinated. Emergency rooms have been flooded and can’t even care for their patients properly. They’ve had to turn people away. Let me ask you this, is the CDC working on improving the current vaccine?”

  Dr. Blake cleared his throat. “Yes, well our scientists are working around the clock to evaluate and improve the current vaccine. But, these things still take a considerable amount of time. I cannot stress enough, however, how important it is to the current vaccine that is available right now.”

  Frowning, she replied, “What’s the point if it doesn’t seem to be working? What about those people who’ve been hospitalized? Countless numbers of patients who’ve slipped into comas; reports indicate they‘d all received the vaccination.”

  Dr. Blake smiled smugly. “I can assure you that if they hadn’t been vaccinated, they would have probably perished. We are quite confident that the vaccine has lessened the symptoms and has saved many lives thus far.”

  She released a heavy sigh. “Well, I hope you’re right. One last thing…there have been accusations from certain leaders of the United Nations claiming the virus was created by terrorists. Specifically targeting countries the U.S. supports. What are your views on this?”

  He laughed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. “Utter nonsense. Come on, a terrorist virus? It’s just another strain of the seasonal flu. In a week or two we‘ll have a more powerful vaccine available to the public and this won’t seem like such a crisis. It‘s just the flu, nothing more.”

  Veronica sniffled and grabbed a tissue. “Excuse me.” She dabbed at her nose then smiled weakly. “A flu virus on… steroids?”

  “If that’s what you want to call it.”

  “Okay. Thank you for joining us tonight Dr. Blake. This is Veronica King with WCCL, reminding everyone to keep taking your vitamins and stock up on tissues.”

  I sighed and turned off the television, relieved that it was Friday and I’d have a short hiatus from school.

  There was a soft knock on my door and then my mother peaked in. “Cassie, Paige is on the phone,” she said.

  “Wow…nice look mom,” I snorted. Pieces of brown hair stuck out of a plastic cap and her face was covered with thick green slime.

  She smiled and patted her head. “Oh, you like this?”

  “It‘s awesome. Dad‘s going to love it, seriously.”

  Her hazel eyes sparkled with amusement. “You think? Your dad and I are going to a party this weekend and I’d hate to embarrass him.”

  “He‘ll be the envy of all the other guys with you on his arm.”

  She left and I could hear her giggling all the way down the hall.

  I picked up the phone. “Hi.”

  “Hi Cassie.”

  “So I heard about the slumber-party.”

  “Yeah, but unfortunately I made plans with Nora for Saturday night.”

  “Well, do you think she’d want to hang out with all of us? I don’t have any plans yet for this weekend and my folks are going out. As long as she behaves herself we should have fun.”
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  I cracked up. “Honestly, Nora’s not that bad. She told Eva King off in the bathroom earlier today; it was awesome! You both might have more in common than you think.”

  “Really? Well, in that case, she‘s definitely invited. Let me know what she says.”

  After I hung up with Paige, I called Nora to find out if she’d be willing to go to Paige’s Saturday night. Fortunately, she liked the idea.

  “So she has a swimming pool? That sounds cool. I’ll hang,” said Nora.

  “Okay. I’ll let Paige know.”

  “Sweet! See you in school tomorrow.”

  I hung up the phone right as Allie rushed into my room.

  “Excuse me? Knock before you enter,” I said.

  Her eyes were large. “Oh my God…you have to watch the news! Some hospital in France was attacked by a bunch of crazy patients. I guess they were acting like cannibals, eating each other’s flesh! Can you believe it? How gross is that?”

  I made a face. “Really?”

  We turned on the television. Sure enough, every channel was reporting about the incident. On one station, an anchorman stood outside of the French hospital where their local police surrounded the building.

  “So far there have been reports of at least fifty fatalities during this bizarre attack. The building has now been secured and everything seems to be under control. At least ten people have been arrested and detained; all were patients that were being treated in the hospital when this madness occurred. We’ll have more updates for you in just a minute.”

  “Okay, that’s enough.” I said, turning off the television. “I don’t want to hear anymore. This stuff gives me nightmares, so if you want to watch the news, do it in your room.”

  Allie blew on her freshly painted nails. “No, that’s okay. It’s too freaky for me to watch too. Anyway …did you talk to Nora yet about Saturday?”

  “Yes, she’s interested,” I said, picking up my iPod.

  “Cool. I like Nora and I really love her tattoo.”

  Nora had several tattoos, but the one Allie was referring to was of a small fairy on the back of her neck. A blue fairy covered in chainmail that was scowling and stood ready to kick-ass.