Roxy Ran: Red Samurai Part 7

'Like numchuck skills, concentrationing, understanding Shakespeare, having real friends that like you coz you rock, not just coz you're pretty,' she explains.

Rain begins to slosh against the window. Lecky wipes her face again. I pinch the corner of the doona on the far side of the bed and wrap it around her shoulders. She opens it up and invites me into the folds. I snuggle next to her. She smells of peaches and coconut.

'I'd rather be Gate One,' I say.

She turns to me, her face restored to its flawless complexion, like a still lake after a skipping stone. 'No, you wouldn't. It's overrated. Roxy, you're smart, gutsy, fast, people are still talking about the way you saved that kitten. You'll always have friends because you know who you are, you don't just adopt your friends' personalities.'

I sink deeper into the doona and the warm embrace of my sister. I've never heard my sister speak like this before. I feel like I could conquer anything.

Lecky laughs again, shaking her hair out of her eyes. 'It must be these powers. They're making me drop truth bombs.' She pauses, then says, 'I'll let you help me with my powers now. And if you help me, you could end up in my favourite things song.'

'I'd like that. As long as I don't have to listen to it again,' I say. 'It was catchy, but you can't sing.'

'I know,' she admits and we burst into laughter.

'Hey, I almost forgot,' Lecky says. 'I'm having a viewing party in the living room for the Teen Choice Awards red carpet after school on Monday. You want to come?'

My heart does a gymnastic leap. 'Cool! Do you want me to bring anything? I'll wear whatever you want me to.'

'Come as yourself.' Lecky smiles. It's the first time she hasn't tried to style me.

Mum knocks on the door. 'This is new,' she says, pointing to the two of us under the blanket. 'May I?'

We open our arms and Mum jumps under the doona with us. Then we gossip in the glowing warmth of each other's company until we gently fall asleep.

EIGHT.

'Thanks for coming with me, Lecky. This is my favourite place in the world,' I say.

Elecktra is quiet as we walk along the tree-lined street on Sat.u.r.day afternoon. Jackson walks just behind us. He found out about the motorbike attack and insisted on coming for extra protection - I'm not complaining.

'Don't you love trees?' I ask as they rustle in the biting breeze.

Lecky is lost a million miles away in thought. 'Hmm?'

'Trees are so positive,' I say.

'What's negative?' Elecktra asks.

'Trucks and whipper snippers.'

'True,' she agrees.

'We're here!' I sing.

In the front window of the pet shop, puppies pad the gla.s.s with their miniature paws. Elecktra leans her face against the gla.s.s. A puppy rushes up to lick the window and she giggles.

'I can't believe you've never been here,' I say.

Elecktra traces her finger along the gla.s.s and the puppy follows it. 'Neither can I.' She giggles again.

'Cute,' Jackson says. 'I'll wait out here.' He parks himself on a bench in front of the shop.

Inside there are cages of kittens curled in paper, parrots on perches pecking seed bells and fluorescent aquariums filled with coral, fish and teacup-sized turtles. I run to a box filled with my favourite pets and scoop up a white rabbit. Ted looks up from the counter where he is feeding a parrot on his shoulder and I wave. Ted is a Gate Two in Year Eleven. I come here a lot with Cinnamon and he allows us to hold the animals. I think Ted is Cinnamon's secret crush.

'Here.' I hand the rabbit over to Elecktra. At first she is awkward trying to find the right position for the fluffy parcel. She crosses her legs and sits down on the spot so she can better cradle the animal. The rabbit burrows into her lap and she gently pats its head and threads its ears through her fingers.

'I've been working my way up to a rabbit,' she says. I look at her, confused. 'In my magic.' She holds the rabbit up above her head, then nuzzles its stomach into her cheek.

'I really wish Mum would let us have a pet,' I say.

'Mum says we have to be more responsible. But I am responsible, environmentally at least - I recycle my outfits.'

I smile. No matter how much change Lecky is experiencing, I know some things will stay the same.

'Are you okay?' I ask when she clutches her forehead.

'I'm dizzy.'

'I was dizzy when my powers came in. Don't worry - it's all part of the transformation to ninja,' I whisper, picking up a black rabbit and settling in beside her.

'I tried to talk to Mum about it. She said everything will be fine: I've always been different and we'll deal with it,' she says sadly, tracing the rabbit's nose. 'I'm sick of being different to you and Mum.'

'It's better than being different at school,' I say.

Lecky shrugs. 'We'll leave school one day.'

I pat the rabbit. I guess I'd take fitting in with my family over fitting in with friends any day.

'Chantell is being weird about the magic thing. She told everyone at school I'm a freak,' Elecktra says.

The rabbit tries to bury itself into my bent knee. I scoop it up and rub my cheek against its fur. 'I've been called a freak heaps of times,' I say.

'I know! At this rate, I'll be Gate Two by the end of the week,' she says.

'Gate Two's not that bad. You wouldn't have to work so hard to get volume in your hair - the spit bombs do all the work for you.'

Elecktra laughs.

Ted comes over with the parrot on his shoulder. He gently takes the rabbits out of our hands and places them back in the box. 'Would you like to see something totally awesome?' he asks.

'Would I ever,' Elecktra says.

Ted looks at her warily. He never trusts Gate Ones.

'Jackie!' Ted calls and a caramel spaniel pads out from the back of the shop. Jackie sits at Ted's feet and wags his tail. Ted puts his index finger up to his shoulder and the parrot steps onto it.

'This is Smurf,' Ted says, holding the parrot out to us. The parrot bobs his head. 'Smurf want a ride?' Ted asks the parrot.

'Smurf want a ride,' the parrot repeats.

We laugh. Smurf sounds exactly like Ted.

'Parrots are very social creatures, willing to adopt humans as their flock, but only if you're nice to them,' Ted says. Even birds like to fit in. Everyone needs a tribe; Gate Twos, ninjas, sisters, we all want to belong.

Jackie stands up and places a paw on Ted's shoe. Ted slowly lowers his finger and Smurf steps onto the dog's back. Jackie wags his tail and walks off.

'Smurf want a ride,' the parrot says as he is carried between the cat cages and along the banks of aquariums. Elecktra and I clap.

Ted holds up his hand. We silence. Then we hear it.

'Smurf want a ride. Left,' the parrot says and Jackie turns left. 'Right,' Smurf says and Jackie obeys.

'The dog knows his left and right?' Elecktra gasps.

'More importantly, the parrot can say left and right,' Ted says.

Jackie continues to march to the bird's command, weaving left and right around the store. 'Left, right, left, right,' Smurf orders.

'This is a YouTube video waiting to happen,' I say.

'A million hits here we come,' Elecktra says, taking out her phone to video Smurf and Jackie. I watch her laughing and suddenly realise I haven't seen her this happy in weeks. Perhaps she isn't really mean - just confused and scared.

'You were right, Cat. This is cheering me up.' Lecky turns to me and smiles.

Ted scoops up Smurf onto his shoulder and pats Jackie.

'Smurf want a ride,' the parrot says.

'Thanks, Ted,' I say.

He holds up two fingers. I copy him. It's a Gate Two thing. Elecktra holds up one finger. Ted rolls his eyes and walks back behind the counter. I grab her finger and twist it.

'Do you always have to do the opposite?' I ask.

'Bet your best fly kick on it,' she says.

Jackson barges into the shop. 'We've got trouble,' he says.

I look through the window and see Hero and his clan loitering out the front. 'What's he want?'

Elecktra glances over her shoulder. 'd.a.m.n,' she says.

'What?' Jackson asks.

'I promised I would go somewhere with him,' Elecktra says.

'Um, excuse me. Go where? With him! Why would you even talk to him after the way he treats Roxy?' Jackson asks. He's standing up for me again and it feels awesome. I could stand up for myself, but the protective thing Jackson has going on is really cute.

Elecktra scrunches the ends of her hair with ringed fingers. 'He says he understands what I'm going through.'

'He doesn't understand. He's the enemy! All he knows is how to cause pain.' I feel tears bubble. Lecky has been so nice to me lately. I love hanging out with my sister and now she's going to leave me to spend time with that thug. Jackson puts a hand on my arm.

'He's just a friend,' Elecktra says, looking out the window again when Hero calls her name. 'Something you obviously don't know much about.'

Her words sting. Elecktra is back to being her usual mean self. I turn away from her and go back to the rabbits. I pick up the white one and stroke it as it nestles into my arms. Elecktra's unkind remark throbs in my chest. Maybe Cinnamon and I like rabbits because they never turn on you. I hear the pet shop door slam behind Lecky.

'Want to see a movie?' Jackson asks.

I look up at him, surprised. 'With you?'

'Nah, with Bugs Bunny. Course with me!' he says.

I nod. I like humans again.

'How many tickets?' the girl in the ticket booth asks. She is wearing cancer fundraiser bandanas around her wrists.

Jackson looks in my direction. 'One,' he answers.

The girl hands him the movie ticket.

'This feels wrong,' Jackson says without moving his mouth as we approach the usher. The boy rips the ticket in half and we walk through to the candy bar.

'It's not stealing if I'm invisible. Technically I don't exist,' I whisper.

'Yeah, it's stealing,' he says in his best impersonation of a ventriloquist.

'We're seeing a remake of Pocket Ninjas,' I say. 'An underworld killer pollutes the atmosphere so much a dragon sends his pocket ninjas after him. Yeah, I think it's safe to say, they're stealing from us.'

Jackson laughs and forgets how silly he looks laughing to himself.

I'm tempted to sneak some sweets from the candy bar, but I know that Jackson wouldn't eat them. He's too good. He probably doesn't even like soft drink or birthday cake.

As soon as we enter the molten darkness of the theatre, my stomach is attacked by b.u.t.terflies. This time it feels like they have teeth. Jackson leads me to the back of the cinema and their fangs sink in. I know what kids do in the back. Jackson selects two seats where no one can see us and we sit down. I break a sweat.

'Hey, you can come alive now,' he whispers to me. 'No one will see back here.' The realisation that he was trying to hide me, not kiss me, smokes out the b.u.t.terflies.

In the cinema, I bet it's mostly ninjas. All the samurai would be in the next cinema watching Hidden Blade.

The movie begins, but all I can think about is Jackson's arm leaning on our shared armrest. I take a deep breath and exhale my arm onto the armrest too. Our skin touches. I'd be the envy of all the Year Ten girls right now, sitting in the dark next to Jackson Axe.