Chapter 7

Finally . . . Friday! Aya was so excited to get back home and relax.

'This has been one hectic week.' She sang one of her favourite songs, 'Every Other Time' by 'LFO' while taking the long walk home. Her blue hair, which was in a high pigtail, swivelled side to side as she practiced some of her jazz moves. She was so glad Lina and Amelia made up with each other and her two friends were finally going out. "Sometimes it's black, sometimes it's white, sometimes she's wrong, sometimes I'm right. Sometimes we talk about it and we figure it out, but then she just changes her mind. Sometimes she's hot, sometimes I'm cold, sometimes my head wants to explode! But when I think about it, I'm so in love with her . . . Every other time! Na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na. . . ."As she danced passed the city's cemetery, she thought she spotted one of the Hell's Angel members, carrying a large bouquet of white flowers. She didn't know if it was a ghost or not, but she took the chance of following the young man. Aya worked her way up the black metal bars and cautiously made sure her clothes didn't get caught in the sharp arrows on the top. Successfully, she jumped down onto the dry, green grass of the graveyard. Now she had to catch up to the biker guy without him noticing. This wasn't her first time in a field of buried bodies, but she definitely hasn't visited it in years. The last time she went was five or four years ago, in Halloween night. Xellos and Gourry decided to dress like ghosts and scare the life out of the girls. They were pretty darn good, but the girls struck back. Aya hesitantly speed walked past large and small gravestones of different kinds, imagining something creeping out and attacking her from behind. The old ones had vines and chipped edges on them while the new ones were polished until it shone with clean grass and flowers around it. At last, she found the person she was following. Aya used an old fir tree as her hiding place and watched Valgarv halt in front of an enormous, rectangular gravestone. She couldn't see what was written on it, the words were hard to see from where she was standing. Valgarv divided the white tulips evenly into four bundles and put each one in the four vases before the gravestone. He knelt on one knee and glared at the grave for a long time. Aya never knew that he was so in touch with the people he lost. Maybe . . . there was more than just his bike gang and his reputation. The girl accidentally sneezed when a breezy wind swept by and automatically gave her away. Valgarv heard the sneeze and angled to the fir tree, not far behind. Aya held her breath and prayed he didn't notice. She heard footsteps coming toward her.'Please, tell me he didn't hear me!!' Then, the footsteps disappeared and the cemetery was allayed. Aya peeked behind. No one was there. Not long was it till the Hell's Angel member captured her from behind. His left arm wrapped around her neck while the right held a blade close to her cheek.

"Nani shini kita (what did you come here for)?" Valgarv tightened his arm around Aya's neck.

"Nothing! I was just curious."

"Didn't you know curiosity killed the cat?"

"That's cool, but I'm not a CAT!!" The girl slipped under the biker's arm and did a hook kick. Her heel whacked the knife out of Valgarv's hand and ended up somewhere on the grass. "This is a cemetery. Let's be mature senior highschool peeps and not fight here."

"Hmph . . . " The biker brushed his turquoise hair that was always done in the same style. Black hair band and hair gel to keep his hair up. He sat against the fir tree and took out a gum to chew on.

"You come here often?" Aya asked and leaned against the tree as well,

"Once in a while."

"How come you don't smoke like the other members do?"

"It makes me feel like shit." Valgarv picked up his pocket blade from the grass and tucked it away in his jean pocket. "Just the smell of it makes me wanna puke."

"Alcohol?"

"Like a human blueberry with one sip."

"Just like me . . . " Aya was surprised with what she was hearing. Here one of the toughest Hell's Angels couldn't stand smoking or drinking like her. He wasn't bad looking either. Kind of handsome . . . She checked her watch. It was almost three thirty and she still had a fifteen minute walk ahead of her. "I'd better go. See ya Valgarv!" Aya turned and got a glimpse of the names written on the gravestones. It read 'Gone But Not Forgotten ~ The Angon Family Members ~ Mrs. Sarah Angon, Mr. Tezukav Angon, Maria Angon and little brother who was not yet born.'

Aya was out of the graveyard and was ready to head home, finish up her homework, eat and phone her friends. She had to catch up on her jazz solo as well as her Tai Kwon Do with her father. Just when she thought she had enough surprises for a week, a black motorcycle with a burning angel skull jolted from behind and made a quick turn to block Aya from going forward. Valgarv had his silver shades on, but no helmet.

"We're out of the cemetery." Aya sighed and rolled her eyes,

"Don't tell me you still want to fight!"

"Bring it on." He was off his motorcycle and cracking his knuckles while Aya wrapped her two long tails of hair into balls. This made her look like someone from China. Valgarv threw his leather jacket on his bike to show his black tank-top and scars marked on his muscles and skin. They both got into their fighting stance and waited for the right time to attack. The sun was still up in the sky with white specks of clouds here and there with light breezes. Valgarv and Aya charged at each other and began an equal brawl for the entire round.

"IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIITETETETETETETE!!!!!!" Aya screeched from the stinging feel of medicine, being rubbed on her cuts and bruises on her body. She and Valgarv ended up in a tie and he said to continue another time and rode off. Aya lingered clumsily all the way to her house. It took her twice as long to get back and her parents were a little worried.

"Goodness honey, just look at you! You look like you just fought a bear." Her mommy continued cleansing her cuts with the medicine, but on a different place on her shoulder.

"You see! Aren't you glad daddy taught you those moves!" He punched his daughter on her aching shoulder.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!"

"Oops . . . sorry hun." Aya's mommy shook her head, worried of her child that her next fight would be worse than the last.

"I don't want you to get involved in fights Aya, even if it means saving someone's life. Do you understand?"

"What am I supposed to do then? Watch them beat someone to death and do nothing about it?"

"That's not what I said."

"C'mon ladies, stop fighting." Her daddy smiled reassuringly, "Our daughter is still here, isn't she? That's all that matters."

Shortly her painful bandages, she went to her room and foraged through her Chinese treasure box and found what she was looking for. Reading the gravestone Valgarv visited that evening reminded her of the golden locket she found almost six years ago near her neighborhood. It was exactly alike the oval one she had, except the shape was a rectangle. She attempted to open the locket with thin metal barns she borrowed from her daddy and hot water. After an hour of endless effort, the locket finally opened and inside was a picture of four happy family peers. The son, Aya promptly recognized, was Valgarv in the front row with his elder sister and their mother and father. The mother appeared to be pregnant, which she guessed was the baby boy who never made it. Aya tried not to cry, but she couldn't help and ponder what life would've been like for Valgarv, if his family was still here and her parents were the ones who passed away too soon.