Coral’s first reaction, strangely enough, was irritation. Why did Veronica, of all people, have to show up at the WORST POSSIBLE TIMES?!?!? So annoying! Her second and more reasonable reaction was terror. What’s Veronica DOING here? Is she going to tell Mom where I am? My life is over! Like, even more over than it was before! While all the thoughts went through her head, Coral sat there like an idiot, staring at her sister. “Surprised to see me, freak?” Veronica asked, smirking. “So I’m guessing this is the ‘evil sister’ you were talking about, huh?” asked Ruby. Coral glanced over. She had almost forgotten her friends were there with her, but there they were, glaring at Veronica. Even Ruby and Jamie seemed to have forgotten their disagreement in their anger at Veronica. Coral had never had people stand up for her before. It felt… really good. Veronica, however, was not so happy. “Evil sister?!” she asked incredulously. “If there’s one evil sister on this bus, it’s her.” She pointed one perfectly manicured finger at Coral. “Running away like that? Mom’s super worried, you know.” The familiar tug of guilt started gnawing at Coral. She tried to shake it off: Veronica’s probably lying! She’s just trying to make you feel bad! But Coral knew that, although Veronica was probably just trying to make her feel guilty, Mom was definitely worried about her. That probably should have occured to me earlier, she reflected. By this point, they were attracting a lot of unwanted attention. Almost all the people on the bus - which, since the town was on lockdown, were the bus driver and a few other really brave or really stupid people sticking it out - were watching their face-off. “I’m taking you home to Mom, you little monster,” Veronica sneered. “Oh no you’re not!” yelled Maggie, waving her fists. Coral felt a surge of gratitude towards Maggie. She didn’t even know Veronica - or Coral that well for that matter - but she was still sticking up for her, like a good friend. “And you’re gonna stop me how?” Veronica taunted. “I would show you, but there are other people on this bus!” Maggie yelled. “Yeah, right” Veronica yelled back. “You can’t do anything to me.” “Oh yes I can!!” Maggie screamed and started waving her hands in the air. “MAGGIE, don't!” Coral yelled but Maggie wasn’t listening. Suddenly the bus lurched a foot in the air. It landed back on the ground with a thump and and crash. The bus skidded across the road as the passengers screamed and the bus driver frantically tried to regain control. “What...” Veronica said, shaken “did you do!” “Oh,” Maggie said, trying - and failing - to hide her smile. “I’m just getting started.” “Uh…..” Coral said hesitantly, but there was no stopping them now. Ruby joined in. She chose the more obvious approach and lit her own hand on fire. “AAHHHGGGHH!!!” Veronica screamed. “Coral?” Xavier said. “Should we join in?” Coral tried to look disapproving, but she couldn’t hide her grin. Finally, FINALLY, there was a chance to get back at Veronica for all the horrible things she’d done to her over the years. Coral wasn’t about to pass that up. “Let me do something first,” she proclaimed. Coral walked to the bus drivers seat and told him to pull the bus over and let the passengers get off. The bus driver, who looked pretty freaked out about this whole thing, did as she asked. “Now,” Ruby said, rubbing her flaming hands together like a supervillain. “The real fun can begin.” Coral and Xavier joined in the fun. Xavier decided to make his whole body produce electric shocks (it was very scary looking), while Coral chose the safer route and just covered herself with a large bubble. Jamie, for his part, looked pretty freaked out by this whole thing and was edging closer and closer to the open door. But the others ignored him. “What is wrong with you?!” Veronica screeched at Coral and her friends. Ruby, who had been concentrating hard for the last few minutes, finally accomplished the remarkable feat of making her whole head burst into flames. Veronica screamed again. “Who’s afraid now?” Coral teased. She had been waiting for this moment the last ten years of her life. Yet somehow… this wasn’t her. Veronica did this kind of thing, not Coral, And as good as revenge felt… they should let her go. But a few more minutes couldn’t hurt… could they? “I can't believe you little freaks!” Veronica yelled from the corner of the bus. Xavier gave Coral a little smile, then electrified his finger and touched Veronica’s perfect hair. “Nooooo!!!” she screeched. Her long, shiny, perfectly styled hair was now sticking straight up from her head. It stood about a foot in the air
Coral couldn’t help but laugh. Veronica looked so silly with her hair like that. Oh, I really want to ask Jamie to grant unimportant wishes, Coral thought. I so want to turn her hair lime green right now. Sure, doing this felt a little bad… but Veronica had been doing the same kind of stuff to Coral all her life. Well, almost the same kind of stuff. Sort of. Ok, maybe not, but still! Veronica made her feel bad, so now she was making Veronica feel bad. Fair’s fair. Plus, it felt kinda good to see her new friends stick up for her like this. “Come on, Coral!” Ruby invited. “Join in on the action!” “My pleasure,” Coral replied, letting go of all her worries and guilt. She raised her hands, and two twin blasts of water shot straight at Veronica, further ruining her perfect hairdo. “Coral!!” she screamed. “We’re sisters! Don’t do this!” “Yeah,” Coral replied calmly. “we are sisters. But that doesn’t matter right now!” “Yeah!” Maggie chimed in. “It’s not like we’re going to kill you or anything, sheesh.” Her face twisted into a smile. “We’re just having a little fun.” “I HATE you, Coralyss!” Veronica hissed. Coral felt her face heat up. Veronica knew how much she hated her full name. “Well then, I guess we’re even,” she retorted. “Cause I hate you.” “Um, guys?” Jamie said. “I think the bus may be flooding” He was right. The water level was quickly rising. Within minutes it would be over their heads. And the weird part? It wasn’t spilling out through the broken windows or open door. It was just filling up the bus like a box. “Uh… Coral?” Xavier looked at her suspiciously. “Do you know anything about this?” “I swear I didn’t do this!” she yelled. “Then who did?!?!” Ruby yelled. “I-I don’t know,” Coral panicked. “Should we get out of here?” Jamie offered. “Or stay and let ourselves drown?” “I vote that I leave,” Veronica said. “and you guys stay here and drown.” “Huh, funny,” Ruby laughed. “I was thinking just the exact opposite.” “Guys!” Coral shouted. “We’re not leaving anyone here to drown!” Ruby looked shocked. “Even after everything she’s done to you?” “If we did things like that too, we would be no better than her,” Coral explained. “Besides, she’s still my sister. I don’t want to kill her.” “Funny,” Veronica said, slowly rising out of the water. “Because I want to kill YOU!” She jumped at Coral, trying to punch her. But Coral had dodged attacks from her sister all her life. She easily ducked to one side, and Veronica splashed into the water behind her. “We don’t have time for this,” Coral chided. She tried to make the water carry her sister over to her, but the water on the bus… it was resisting her command. Almost as if someone else was controlling it. Coral didn’t like that thought at all. “Come on, we need to get out of here!” she yelled. “You guys get out of here, I’ll deal with Veronica.” “Are you crazy?” Maggie shouted back. “We’re not leaving you!!” “Just do it!” Coral yelled. Xavier grabbed Maggie’s arm and dragged her and Ruby through the door - with a lot of complaining from both girls. Now it was just Coral and Jamie. “Go!” she yelled again dodging her sister’s attacks. “I’ve got this,” -dodge- “under control!” “This doesn’t look very ‘under control’,” he pointed out. “Look, the bus is about to fill up with water, just come out with me.” “I’ll be fine, I’ve got water power,” she called back, dodging another one of her sister’s punches. “Can you breathe underwater?” he asked. “Um…” Coral thought back to all the swimming she’d ever done, in pools, in lakes, in the ocean. She’d always held her breath for that. “I’ve never tried?” Judging from his expression, this wasn’t the answer he’d been hoping for. “Just COME ON!” he yelled, grabbing Coral’s arm in one hand and Veronica’s in the other. He pulled them out of the bus just as the water rose above head level. “What -” she started. “Come on!” Jamie grabbed her hand and pulled her away from the bus. It was starting to shake from the pressure, despite the fact that there were several holes the water could have run out of. Coral had seen what happened to overfilled water balloons. She knew what was going to happen next. “RUN!” she screamed. And the bus exploded.
