Читать книгу A Bad Hair Day Everyday - Amy Mah - Страница 7

The Thrill of a Good Fight

Abbey arrived late for the training as she had had to catch up on the latest gadgets the nerds had on show tonight; she just did not have time for everything she wanted to do, let alone the school work that got harder every year. She also needed to finish off a project tonight, which she should have handed in on Monday.

She just did not have the time to train every night with that bitch Jilly! Looking around the training hall, she saw that both Zoe and Sue were sitting in the corner looking as though they had just walked away from a car crash. Zoe came over and told her she was so out of it that she was going to go straight home tonight for a nice long bath and then an early night.

She squeezed Abbey’s hand and whispered,

“Be careful with the bitch tonight. I’m sure she has PMS from hell—and it goes so well with her normal happy nature!”

Sue finished packing her sports bag and also left. She had an impressive number of bruises covering her face and arms from where Jilly had pointed out her slow defensive skills. Sue had finished all her anger-management training courses weeks ago, and now, from all the bruises, she looked as if she needed to be part of a child protection program! Everyone knew she had requested to be let back on the soccer team or have the school provide her with extra medical coverage.

She watched Jilly, still full of energy, throw a couple of towels over the CCTV cameras and say,

“That’s better. I can change now without being watched by pervy teachers!”

Watching Jilly remove her tracksuit, Abbey couldn’t stop herself from correcting her.

“They are just standard school CCTV. No one looks at them,” she said. “It just records to a hard drive that no one can look at and is automatically overwritten every 30 days.”

Jilly finished changing into tight-fitting sports skins, strapped on a couple of leg pockets, and laughed.

“If you believe that, then I will remove the towels, and we can fight naked!”

She laughed again. “Then we can take bets on how long it will take to turn up on one of those internet porn sites!”

Abbey removed her own tracksuit but didn’t answer her as the bitch was probably right. She didn’t have to get Daddy to buy her expensive sports skins. A single thought changed her underwear into black half skins, which were far superior to Jilly’s in every way. Her skin was almost an organic Kevlar. With just a thought she could make the skin anti-cut and slash-resistant. She slowly stretched and smiled at the idea of fighting naked, as that was in fact what she was doing right now!

“You will not insult me tonight.”

It was a flat statement without any emotion from Jilly as she prepared to fight.

“Nor will you continue to treat the noble arts with such contempt. If you do, tonight there will be a forfeit to pay!”

“I don’t know what the hell you are talking about,” replied Abbey.

A cold smile slowly formed on Jilly’s face as she spun a kick that forced Abbey to move back.

“Number one: The Coach is blind to your skills. You could make one of the best in the country, but you do not even try!”

A leg blocked Abbey’s arm with such power that it forced her to somersault backwards.

“Number two: I have spent years of painful training to do what I can do, but you are different, perhaps some incarnation of a great warrior. Your body produces moves that no one could have shown you, yet you do not make use of them!”

A flying double kick missed as Jilly stepped to one side and watched Abbey hit the floor and roll.

“Number three: You hold back all the time you are fighting me! You will run around until you can pretend I have beaten you! At least Zoe puts some real hate in her attacks. I know with her that if she knew how to use a killing blow, she would use it on the very first attack, but you…”

A fast-moving leg was only a decoy, as a fist winded Abbey as it sank into her stomach.

“Number four: You teach Zoe excellent moves, which you do not bother to use yourself.”

A foot on its way to meet Abbey’s face was blocked, which made her arm tingle.

“Number five: You can move your chi to different parts of your body. That is a skill that should take years to master, but you can do it instinctively. Without it, that last block would have broken your arm!”

A hand suddenly grabbed Abbey’s wrist and bent it back with such force that it forced Abbey to the ground.

“Don’t try moving, or your wrist will snap. Number six: You can block pain so that I could in fact break you wrist, and it would not slow you down until you needed to sign your name!”

Abbey stopped struggling. “Okay, okay! I give in! You win! Just stop the damn stupid commentary!”

“Number seven. You have forgotten the forfeit.”

With Abbey helpless on her knees, Jilly moved forward and kissed her.

Abbey was taken completely by surprise. For just a second, her body responded, and a thought entered her mind.

“RELAX . THIS IS NORMAL.”

Unnoticed by either girl, strands of soft blonde Hair were slowly penetrating Jilly’s skin. Shock then replaced the surprise, and with both mind and voice Abbey screamed.

“No! No, no, no! What the f*ck do you think you are doing! I’m not that way inclined!”

Jilly’s icy smile crossed her lips once more.

“Tut, tut! Mind your language. Number eight: Just a fraction too slow with the outrage. You like watching me change clothes, oh yes! And for someone not that way inclined, you are having a full and no doubt enjoyable sexual relationship with Zoe. Have I left anything out?”

“Just that I do not cheat on my girlfriend. Now let me up!”

Abbey tested the grip, and Jilly was right; any move to break away and the bones would snap.

“Number nine: I like your fighting skins; they are so thin and tactile.”

With that she moved a hand across Abbey’s breasts, and her smile widened as she watched Abbey’s nipples harden.

“As I said, really fight me - or pay the forfeit. Either way, I win!”

Abbey could feel Jilly’s hand on her thigh. The clothes were not real, and as her hand moved closer up to the obvious target, Abbey knew that she would be found out as soon as she tried to get fingers under her clothes.

“Okay, it looks like you win,” said Abbey.

Even with the wristlocks still painfully held in place, Abbey turned her head slightly and moved forward to touch lips. As soon as they made contact, she activated her body to full fighting mode and forced Jilly to let go or suffer a full hit in the face by stinging snake-like coils, which forced her back so fast that she almost fell over.

“Satisfied now?”

Abbey stood with her arms folded across her chest and with a hairstyle that could have won prizes in a best madwoman contest.

“They missed! But my Hair never misses a target!” She contemplated this revelation as her Hair now swayed from side to side, blown by a non-existent wind.

“Number 10: Oh, yes, yes, yes! Beyond my wildest hopes!”

Jilly’s breathless and excited voice uttered this praise, and she was almost panting with sexual excitement, which was not the sort of reaction Abbey was expecting.

Abbey then yelped in pain as a 6-inch dart sank into her left arm. Jilly had opened one of her thigh pouches and now held a handful of thin throwing darts. In a single movement, Abbey pulled out the dart.

“So much for Kevlar skin!”

She then blocked the pain and sent the dart like an arrow directly back at Jilly. The effect was only spoiled by the way Jilly caught it and casually added it to the others she already held.

“Number 11,” Jilly was opened-mouthed with astonishment. “No blood? Or can you just instantly repair your body as well! Oh by the celestial emperor, this is getting better and better!”

Abbey leapt upwards, and grabbing hold of the nearest bar of a climbing frame with a single hand, along with a good quantity of Hair, she managed to get out of the way of three more darts aimed directly at her in quick succession. They stuck harmlessly in the wall. With a somersault, Abbey sailed through the air, landing firmly on her feet only to face three more darts that looked very keen to meet her.

“Sh*t! I have never practiced against projectiles!” she thought.

But she was not on her own, as each of the darts was knocked off target by groups of fast moving golden strands - as was the following batch of three.

Jilly fell to the floor.

“And Number 12! Just shut up!” a voice from behind called out.

It was Zoe, standing behind her with the quarterstaff she had just hit her around the head with. Zoe was soaking wet and was wearing a very damp-looking pink T-shirt with a large teddy bear on the front and damp pajama bottoms, again pink but with lots of small bears all over. Both clung to her wet body so that it was obvious that they were all that she was wearing.

“Capillus said you were in trouble and to come at once.”

Zoe looked down at what she was wearing and added, “Well, I did say I was going to take a bath and have an early night.”

Jilly slowly got to her knees, looking very dazed and holding her head with both hands.

A man had followed Zoe into the room and looked ready to make a run for the door as soon as he got the chance, but his opportunity was ruined when Zoe pointed him out and said, “I hope one of you has some money to pay for my taxi!”

The man gave a nervous smile.

“And for God’s sake, let him in on the secret! This is all perfectly okay! We are practicing stunt-fighting for the next tournament.”

Abbey quickly brushed her Hair down and pulled a few dollars from a wallet she took from her carry-all. She smiled as sweetly as only a very guilty teenage girl can. As she passed him the money, she asked in an excited voice, “As an outsider, did it look real? We have all been training for months, you know.”

Jilly, who was still holding her head, looked towards the taxi-driver and added,

“Of course, we’re still trying to decide what to wear. Zoe over there wants us to all wear pajamas, but I still say that mini-skirts with tight crop tops would look better. Um, what do you think?”

The taxi driver muttered that they both sounded great and hurriedly made his exit. As he got back into his taxi, he thought about the difference between girls fighting in pajamas or hanging upside down from climbing frames wearing short skirts and tight white panties. True, they hadn’t mentioned the white panties his imagination had added for him. He knew he was getting old; who cared about the special effects?

They must have been good, as he hadn’t noticed them. They hadn’t done that sort of thing when he was in high school. “Oh, God! Now I sound like my father!” he thought, and quickly drove off.

Back in the hall, Abbey relaxed a little, as Jilly did not look in any fit state to carry on, and the momentum of battle had now passed.

Zoe was the first to speak.

“Okay, who’s going to tell what’s going on? And bear in mind that I have just traveled across town wearing nothing but some wet pajamas - so it had better be good!”

“I think we may have gotten a little carried away during tonight’s training session.”

Jilly was on her knees with blood still gushing from her head wound and swaying slightly.

Zoe looked more closely at her.

“You are losing too much blood. Now sit down before…”

Jilly fell to the floor.

“…you fall down! Not that anyone ever takes my advice!”

Both girls rushed over to where Jilly lay in a growing pool of blood. Zoe slapped her across the face to bring her around.

“Okay. Let’s fix you up, but expect it to hurt!”

Abbey stood back, amazed at the way Zoe was taking control. She leaned over to let two blonde locks of Hair start repairing the wound by using Jilly’s own Hair as a thread, so that in seconds the wound was stitched together and the bleeding stopped.

“That was fun! something live to practice on.”

Zoet

hen looked down at her pajamas.

“Oh yuck! Now I have blood all over my top! And just how am I going to explain that to Mom?”

And she continued the same theme.

“And speaking about explaining things, Abbs, my love, swinging from climbing frames and playing darts using one’s Hair is not the normal way to keep a low profile!”

Abbey parted Jilly’s hair with her fingers to get a better look at the damage before answering.

“Well, she knew about us. She suspected about me, and the choice was between sex on a cold, hard, dusty floor or an all-out fight with her. It was such a difficult choice! Perhaps I should have called you first to ask your advice?”

Zoe giggled.

“You always make the right decisions, babe! And anyway, it was your Hair that called Capillus for me to get over here as fast as possible.”

She rolled her eyes upwards to show that she was looking at her own Hair.

“And just think how embarrassed we would all have been if I’d rushed in to find both of you both naked and hard at it on the cold and oh-so-dusty floor!”

Zoe held Jilly’s face firmly in both hands to look her directly in the eyes.

“Don’t wash or comb your hair for at least a week, or the stitches will come undone. You can just lightly sponge the wound with warm water to remove the dry blood if you want to. Early nights, plenty of red meat, and no training—until next week, when you will teach me that fancy dart throwing, okay? What else?”

She turned away to look at Abbey, then looked back.

“Oh, yes. We will have private tuition, always just the three of us, as you are never going to be alone with Abbs again! Just nod if you agree.”

Jilly nodded obediently, so Zoe changed the subject.

“How are you getting home?”

“Er…. Daddy will send a car if I phone him,” Jilly answered.

Zoe pulled her up off the floor.

“Good. So go phone him, and you can drop us off on your way home, as I don’t plan to walk home dressed as I am.”

Jilly stood trying to come to terms with the change in fortunes, when Zoe raised her voice.

“Go on! Phone him! Meanwhile, Abbs and I will try to clean up the blood before old Jed sees it tomorrow.”

As Jilly moved over to the changing area to find her cellphone, Zoe turned to Abbey.

“Okay. Well, we now know we can communicate from a distance via our Hair.” She pulled a braid of her Hair to her lips and gave it a kiss.

“My Capillus is so clever! But also slightly stupid and tactless at times. Do you know he even warned me not to hurt Jilly, as she could make a perfect mate for you in the future. I think it was at that point I hit her!”

“Psychopaths!” thought Abbey. “I’m normal. It’s the rest of the world that’s full of psychopaths. First my Hair, then my girlfriend, and now my fighting instructor, any or all of them could kill in an instant and I thought I was the monster!”

Abbey lent Zoe her tracksuit to wear home, and for herself she created a nice pair of black leather pants with a short, blood-red halter top, which gave her a bare midriff. The Hair finished it off by taking on a blown dry look. She may not have been able to sew up wounds or throw darts like Bruce Lee or Jackie Chan, but she could still beat anyone on creative style!

If the Companion could have smiled at that point, it would have done so. It had taken a long time to transfer enough of its cells to the new handmaiden to start having any effect on the animal: just a few at a time with each and every meeting or fight. When hair from the Zoe handmaiden or from the Abbey Host would accidentally brush her skin, it impregnated Jilly each time.

The secondary handmaiden Host would have to willingly accept it for it to have any real control, but the Companion had been able to direct the right mixture of hormones to affect the animal every time it met with its Host. As a result, the animal would believe the hormonal actions tonight and the urge to mate were all its own idea, which would make the next part of the plan a lot easier.