When Reality Escapes

– Chapter One —

Everything had changed when the Earthlings had arrived. The structure of the Kellarians' buildings, the materials they built with, and even their medical equipment had improved. Even the fashions had changed—not that there were many trends on Kellaria-to the styles the new people had brought with them. Hairstyles had changed; Tavin had cut his hair short and was getting used to leaving it messy and not slicked down anymore.

There had only been 5 of the new people, four girls and one guy. The girls were cute, but only one of them had really caught his interest. Not that he would admit that yet to anyone, since they were considered lowly by his group of friends.

"Tavin, wake up!" someone, he couldn't tell who, yelled at him. He hadn't actually been sleeping, just daydreaming. He looked up and remembered he was in the meal room, and it was lunchtime.

"Tavin." He felt a hand on his shoulder. Teza.

I thought I told her to leave me alone? We're not a couple anymore.

"What?" he asked, sharper than he had intended.

"I thought that maybe… possibly… that we could, you know, get back together." She stroked his jaw. I wish she wouldn't do that, Tavin thought. Teza had a way with touch. She may not be persuasive with words, but she'd paw her way into anything. Besides, he thought, I don't even like her much less love her. I never did. And she wanted to… to… Tavin stopped his mind before he got disgusting pictures in his mind. And I don't even know what love even is, he continued. But I'm pretty sure that the raunchy vomiting feeling I get every time I see her and every time I touch her isn't love.

Tavin glared at Teza and she backed away.

"I said no. Nothing has changed since then. And it'll never change," he told her. A disappointed look crossed her face and she stiffly walked away. Tavin turned back to the rest of his friends and listened to what they were talking about.

"I love your new hairdo, Astuar!" someone said. Tavin looked over at Astuar. Her dark ruby red hair had been chopped off at ear length. It looked good on her, Tavin decided.

"Have you seen the color of her hair?" Sariyya said, jerking her hand in the direction of the new people. "The yellow-haired one? Who ever heard of a shade of hair that… boring?" she laughed.

Tavin maintained a calm exterior, while thinking, Hey, that's the one I find attractive…. There's nothing wrong with her hair color! It's better than ugly magenta…

"What's wrong with it?" Tavin asked Sariyya.

"I don't know," she retorted sarcastically. "Look at it! Doesn't it make you want to shield your eyes? And, okay, look what she is wearing! Isn't that the most horrendous color combination you have ever seen in your life?"

Tavin looked over at the short golden haired girl, and looked at what she was wearing. It wasn't bad: a tight green t-shirt with a pair of tight flared jeans. In fact, Tavin couldn't see anything wrong with it.

They must all be jealous, Tavin chuckled to himself, looking at what the other girls were wearing. They had on their shoddily woven tunics with their scratchy brown pants. Both were a one-size-fits-all deal and were the only type of clothing formerly available to the people of Kellaria. He then realized that he was wearing basically the same thing, and mentally shrugged. He didn't really care that much about clothing or what he looked like. He knew what was going to come in later years. The fact that he might not live to see later years hung on his mind always as a bitter reminder.

"So, Tavin what do you think? Should we?" Kian snapped him out of his thoughts.

"What?" he asked, wondering what they had been talking about.

"Go talk to Alxra. I hear she was spreading rumors about Sariyya." He laughed.

"Uh, you do what you want, but I think you shouldn't." Tavin knew that by talk Kian meant that there was going to be some harm done.

"Okay. So, let's go," Sariyya said enthusiastically, obviously wanting to get a few shots in because of the supposed "rumor" that Alxra had started. It was probably true, Tavin thought, and that's what has got her so mad. That she doesn't like the truth about herself so she has to act every single day just to get people to have a good impression of her..

Tavin's group of people got up from the table and inconspicuously followed the trio of Alxra, Renyx, and Orz. Tavin followed them only because he needed to be there to prevent anything too out of hand from happening. He hated to see people being beaten up like that, but his friends would do worse if he wasn't there to stop them. He silently walked by the new people, and stole a side-glance at the golden-haired girl. Her wide eyes, he thought anyway, were a light green, and she had a round, petite face. She looked slightly younger than her friends, but then again he had no idea how old she really was. She was quite short compared to him. But even if she was small, she still had a few curves hidden amongst those sweatshirts of hers. She was pretty, not just from far away, in her own way. Tavin didn't think that P'zaz or any of his other prejudice guy friends would share in his opinion, but then again he didn't really care what they thought. He continued down the corridor to where the brawl had already begun.

“Don’t hurt me!” came a desperate scream from down the corridor.

“I bet you ten bucks that’s Sariyya and her gang beating on Alxra, Orz, and Renyx again,” Kivessa said with a grim smile.

“I’m not betting you because you’re going to win anyway,” Kaya answered, glancing over at Kivessa.

“What shall we do this time?”

They both left this question unanswered as they quickened their pace, squinting because of the lights that had just been installed a few days ago. South Telleka had always been a dim place until the rebels went to earth and found artificial light.

They followed the continuing cries for mercy until they found Sariyya. Alxra was pinned up against the wall by Sariyya, who was holding her by the collar of her shirt, her fist ready.

“Hey! Stop that you freak!” Kaya yelled directly to Sariyya. Sariyya let go of Alxra, turning around to face them.

“Why are you guys sticking up for them? They’re worthless pieces of trash.” Sariyya retorted.

“Why does anyone stick up for you, then?” asked Kivessa, feeling that she should have a part in the argument.

Sariyya responded with vulgar language, and threw a punch at Kaya, which hit her in the jaw. Sariyya didn’t know that she had made a bad move. Kivessa had almost gotten her black belt in Karate on Earth, although leaving before she could complete it, and Kaya had won several championships in wrestling.

Given the time to make a move, Orz had discreetly snuck up along the wall behind Sariyya and kicked her in the back of the knees. As Sariyya fell forward, her group of friends turned from looking at Kaya and Kivessa to Sariyya.

Kivessa started to laugh, because the expression on Sariyya's face was so surprised and scared. Sariyya, who had recovered from her fall, grabbed Kivessa's ankle and pulled hard. Kivessa fell, somehow twisting herself around, and landed on a young man's shoe. He, being the only popular one there who didn't like beating up on the so-called "less fortunate", helped Kivessa up with one pull of his arm.

"Are you okay?" he asked, slightly laughing as he brushed some dust off her arm.

"Yup, thanks," she said and looked up at his face. He was about one whole foot taller than her, and he had the oddest hair. It was dark brown and short yet it had a slight tinge of green to it. His eyes were a dark chocolate brown, and his smile was one that could make anybody's heart melt. He had a strong jaw and a masculine nose. From the way his clothes hung on his body, she could tell he wasn't just skin and bones. Not even what he was wearing bothered her the slightest bit; he was wearing a dark, navy blue t-shirt, strangely V-necked, and a pair of brown loose-fitting pants. His shoes were like all shoes on Kellaria, made out of the same brown fabric layer upon layer.

Somebody tapped Kivessa on the shoulder, waking her up from her daydream. She smiled at the guy whose name she didn’t know, and turned around. Sariyya was standing behind her! Her fist was moving super fast, and was about to connect with Kivessa's unsuspecting face, but Kaya jumped in and shoved Sariyya away just in time. Sariyya's fist came within one inch of Kivessa's nose.

"Thanks!" Kivessa yelled to Kaya, who was busy punching Sariyya in the stomach. "When will they ever learn not to mess with us, eh?" She then proceeded to kick a different girl in the back.

Kaya didn’t answer her. She was busy looking at the young man who had just entered the scene.

"That was my girlfriend you just punched, you know," a masculine voice arose from the shouting. Kivessa turned around, expecting the worst, but she realized that it was Kaya who had to worry.

"I ought to beat the hell out of you for doing that," the tall sandy brown-haired young man said. He had a mushroom-cut for hair, an odd shade of brown. It was light in color, yet it wasn't. And then his eyes seemed almost black from Kaya's distance. Kaya stood directly in front of him and glared at him with squinted eyes.

"Do you know what kind of bitch you are going out with?" she said, not afraid of him. She flung her waist-length hair behind her shoulders.

For a while there was only glaring and shouting, but Kaya finally sucker-punched Sariyya's boyfriend, canned him, and ran as fast as she could out of there.

She didn't stop running until she reached her suite. Kaya didn't know how long the fight had gone on. Thoughts kept running through her head. She had thought that the tall brown-haired guy was kind of handsome, but his taste in women lacked certain respect. Surely he was only going out with her because she was flirty, and for the social position. Their dragons could never be "together", which was a good thing, Kaya decided. He had bonded a blue, whereas Sariyya had bonded a purple. There was at least a fifty-foot size difference between the two.

My Fyra can go with his blue, she thought. It's so perfect, we both bonded larger dragons. But he is going out with Sariyya, and I can't quite compete with her, even though I know I'm better than her. Oh well, she mentally sighed, he's a jerk anyway.

Fyra, what time is it? she asked her gold dragon.

It's… past dusk. Approximately 11:00PM. Dragons always knew when it was.

Okay, thanks, Kaya said, are we doing anything tomorrow?

Yes, tomorrow we go flying. We're supposed to search for new caves while we're at it. The cities are getting overpopulated.

Don't tell me, let me guess. Early rise, right?

Yep.

Oh. She liked sleeping in. Well, I guess I better get some sleep then. Goodnight.

She didn't wait for Fyra's reply, for she was already in bed, half asleep.

"You're actually going to do it?" Sariyya asked.

"Yeah, I mean, I'm sticking up for you," P'zaz replied. In his hands were dull silver scissors. He and Sariyya were in P'zaz's room, on the blue level, in the Citadel. It was somewhat dark inside, for the sun had set outside already. P'zaz and Sariyya now sat side-by-side at the kitchen table.

"So? I wouldn't if I were you."

"Why not? Seriously. I won't do that much damage. Just a little."

"I don't care. That's just sinking to their level. That's something they would do Come on, we're better than that."

"Well, I'm going to. She canned me! Embarrassed me in front of all of my friends, even my so-called enemies!" P'zaz was really angry about the way that Kaya had acted, and wanted to get revenge. His eyes were ablaze with fury.

"Well, then I guess we'll just have to break up then, if that's what you want," Sariyya said, her voice edgy.

P'zaz's rage quickly turned to sorrow as he heard this news.

"Why?" he simply asked.

"Because, well, you knew it was going to happen sooner or later. Warian and Iomethe can't go together, and you know that. That's why it has to be. Besides, I could tell that you thought Kaya was pretty. I could see it in your eyes. Think of this as a favor," Sariyya said as she pushed a cup of water away from her.

"But…" P'zaz was finally realizing that no, the two dragons could never be together. The size difference was too great. After realizing this, he blushed because Sariyya had somehow read his thoughts.

"Well, I guess we will still be friends?" Sariyya tried to comfort him, putting her arm around his shoulders.

P'zaz opened his mouth to say something but decided against it. He was emotionally hurt. He thought that he had loved Sariyya.

But it was time to move on. P'zaz got up and ran for the door, leaving before she could talk him out of it. Tavin came in the door unexpectedly.

"Hey, watch it!" Tavin yelled. He had been an inch away from being stabbed by the knife-like scissors. Luckily, P'zaz stopped suddenly hearing footsteps from the hall.

"Sorry," P'zaz made a face. He was angry with everyone, even his best friend.

"Jeez, what's your problem?"

"Well… s-someone needed to borrow scissors, and they wanted them quickly," he stuttered, lying.

"Yeah, sure." Tavin wasn't convinced.

"He's going to…" Sariyya yelled from the living space, which was directly behind them.

"Shh!" P'zaz yelled back, and ran out of the room.

He stole away into the dark hallways, and wandered around trying to find Kaya's room. He went up two floors and looked on the doors for her name. There was no sign of her. He was about to give up and return to his room in shame when he looked at the last door. It was very brightly decorated, with peace signs and hippie things occupying every space. In many places, the name was drawn. It happened to be Kaya's door. He went in. Hopefully, she would be asleep by now. If luck was with him, so would be her dragon. He checked the door handle. Not locked, like so many trusting others. He walked carefully into the lair. He wondered where she slept. He had never been into a gold dragon's lair before. He found his way up the stairs, and peered into her bedroom. There she was, sleeping almost silently, in her colorful tie-dyed bed. He walked into her room. Pictures cluttered the walls, and children's toys and plush animals littered the shelves. He stood above her. He knew he shouldn't do it, yet he had to. He couldn't let Sariyya know if he had chickened out. That would be yet another embarrassing moment for him. He peered at her face. It was oval and long in shape, and she had clusters of freckles on her cheeks. She was obviously not the kind of person to care about her looks that much. Her eyebrows were somewhat bushier than other girls. As he looked down at the rest of her, he decided that she wasn't that curvy. However, she wasn't as tall and gangly as she dressed either. He looked back at her face. Her eyes were slightly open, and they suddenly fluttered. This scared him, and he quickly ran out of the door. But she only turned onto her back from her side, and mumbled something. She was deep in sleep, P'zaz decided.

He took a handful of her long tangled hair and brought the scissors up to it. He went to snip, but he couldn't bring himself to do it. This would ruin her looks for a while, and since Sariyya knew that he secretly liked Kaya (although she canned him) she would tease him.

Oh well, he thought. It's now or never.

Kivessa awoke to screaming coming from below. That sounds awfully like Kaya, she thought, and hoped nothing bad was happening. But, no, she was yelling hardly distinguishable vulgar words. She put on her silvery housecoat and ran hastily down the spiral stairs and into the main hallway. She ran into Kaya's lair.

"Kivessa! Someone chopped my hair off!" Kaya screamed in Kivessa's face. It was true. What had been waist-length hair, perfectly straight and light brown, was now choppy, somewhat layered hair. The shortest length was now down to her chin.

"Gee, you can't even put it up to hide it, either." Kivessa tried not to laugh at her hair. It was cut off very chunky, and the back had stayed long, presumably because she had been sleeping on it. In some sections it stood straight up, while in others it was frizzy.

"Kivessa, cut my hair please. You're good at crafts and things," Kaya didn't ask, she demanded.

"Okay. Do you have scissors?"

"Um, I don't know. Just a sec," she closed her eyes, signaling that she was talking to Fyra.

"In the kitchen cupboard near the chocolate stash. I needed to open a bag one day. It's amazing the things I forget!" Kaya ran and retrieved the scissors from her kitchen, and, as she came back, tripped on a chair.

How on earth does she manage to trip on a chair? Kivessa thought as Kaya recovered from her fall and continued to approach Kivessa.

"Um, I hope you know that if I screw up, well, let's not worry about that right now," Kivessa said as she got Kaya to sit down in a chair.

* * *

She was done.

Kaya's hair was now chin length all around, with just a few mistakes, barely noticeable. On the floor was a mass of all different lengths of light and dark brown straight hair.

"It doesn't look too bad," Kaya remarked after looking in a mirror in her bathroom, just across the hall.

"What do you mean? Would you rather have had the hair before I cut it?" Kivessa said sarcastically.

"No, what do you think I am? A psycho?" Kaya said, not catching onto the sarcasm.

"Yeah, Kaya, you are psycho. Oh by the way, Charmiaz informs me that flying practice has been cancelled."

"But that would've been our first time," Kaya whined, fingering her new hairdo.

"I know. This isn't going to be a very good day, I just know it."

"Don’t mind them," Kivessa said to the group of popular snobs and guys snickering at Kaya. They were in the meal room and they had just gotten their lunches. They assumed that the person who cut her hair first was in that group.

"They deserve to die. I think I should beat them up just to make them mad," Kaya said loudly.

"Yeah whatever. Like you could," the guy who they assumed cut Kaya's hair yelled.

"I could any day," Kaya yelled back.

"Come on Kaya, we better go sit and eat. This is not going to turn into yesterday," Kivessa said.

"Okay," Kaya said, obviously steaming with anger. "What's his name anyway?"

"I don't really know. I think it starts with a P though," Kivessa replied thoughtfully. Both of them walked across the room over to their usual table and start talking to their other friends, who strangely didn't comment on her hair. Their "usual" table was near the back, basically secluded from the rest of the room. There were still people biased against the earthlings, even though they didn't have that many differences. Around the table was the original group: Rynn, Atlan, Ekyla, Kaya, and Kivessa.

"Can I sit with you?"

Kivessa looked up behind herself in surprise. It was the guy whom she met the other day. The one that she had thought looked really nice.

"Uh, sure," Kivessa smiles at him and makes room beside her.

"Who's that?" Ekyla said from the other end of the table.

"I'm Tavin," he said. "I'm really mad at my friends their being jerks to me lately. P'zaz almost stabbed me with scissors yesterday."

"Aha!" Kaya yelled. "That's his name. P'zaz."

"Yeah, I guess he cut your hair, didn't he."

"No, really?" Kaya said sarcastically.

"Okay, let me introduce myself," Kivessa butted in. "I'm Kivessa. You know, one of those so-called 'Earthlings'? That over there is Atlan, the tall one, the almost blonde girl is Rynn, she is Ekyla, and she is Kaya," Kivessa pointed to the people one by one.

Tavin asked them questions about Earth, and the conversation went from there. He asked a question about how Kellaria was different from Earth, and that made Kivessa think. How much had they adjusted? They no longer had any family, and hardly any responsibilities. Sure, they had all been quite homesick and wanted to go back when they first got here, but they'd adjusted since then. There was a type of school on Kellaria, which was mandatory for all dragonriders. They had learned that even they were vital to the Pashe-ki battles, and that they must stay and fight. It was a good cause: the safety of a planet.

Kivessa wasn't really in the conversation, she mainly just took into consideration what the others were saying, and occasionally added in a few words. Tavin kept on looking at her, as if expecting an answer from her, but she was off in her own world. She was in a good mood. The guy of her dreams was sitting next to her, and had asked to sit by her. She reached for her glass of water when her hand brushed Tavin's. It was if they both had decided to take a drink at the exact same time. As her hand touched his for that brief moment, she got that weird tingly sensation in her heart. She liked him. She had started to a long time ago when the five had first come to South Telleka. But not in the way that she did now. Before she had only seen him, not actually known what he was like. He wasn't really talked about much, except for his looks, by the female population.

Ekyla, Rynn, and Atlan got up, leaving the table to Kivessa, Tavin, and Kaya.

"Well, this is interesting," Kivessa said sarcastically, commenting on the silence.

"Yeah," was Tavin's reply.

"Oh great," Kaya said, looking up.

"What?" Kivessa turned around to see what Kaya was looking at.

"So, how do you like your new hairdo?" It was P'zaz and the popular group. Except Sariyya wasn't with them today.

"Don't even," Kaya said.

"Well, Tavin, what are you doing over here? We were looking for you," an unknown young woman said.

Tavin turned around. "Hello," was his simple reply.

"Well, Kaya and I have some business to take care of," Kivessa said as she beckoned Kaya to leave with her.

"I'll go with you," Tavin volunteers.

"Uh, no, that's okay," Kaya said, mouthing 'I need to talk to you' to Kivessa.

Kivessa gave Kaya the evil eye.

"What?" Kaya said.

"Nothing that I can't explain later," Kivessa replied, smiled at Tavin, and pulled Kaya away.

"Okay, so, what is up with that Tavin guy?" Kaya said once out of earshot.

"What do you mean what's up with him? He explained himself pretty good, don't you think?"

"Yeah, but I honestly don't think that was the only reason."

"Huh," Kivessa looked away, then smiled. "So, what do you think of Sariyya's boyfriend?"

"Nothing. Why? Does it look like I do?" Kaya said in a rush, blushing.

"Ha that's funny. I just knew you would like him somehow. You should talk to Rynn about that, I'm sure she'd find some way to get you two together."

"Yeah right, remember when she tried to set you up with Aaron… or should I say, Atlan?" Kaya laughed at Kivessa, although there was a slight hint of nervousness in her voice, as Kivessa had guessed what she had been thinking.

"Yes, that was just really, really weird, okay? And don't mention that to Tavin please?"

"Why, do you like him?"

"Maybe."

"Well, it wasn't obvious until now."

"Not as obvious as you, apparently."

"Hey you guys!" Ekyla yelled down the hallway a week later. "Wait up!"

"Hi," Kivessa and Kaya both said in unison.

"So, what's up?" the dark-skinned Ekyla said. As usual, she wore her frizzy black hair in a long braid down her back. She was a good two or more inches taller than Kivessa, and was fairly slim. Her skin color was of no issue to the Kellarians, however, since the races of Earth were also recognizable in some of the humans on Kellaria. Ekyla continued speaking. "You know, I'm angry about the fact that I can't go flying yet. So I was thinking. Maybe we could go flying anyway, without permission. I mean, Mellekey says that she can fly, and some of the older dragons agree with her. I'm sure your dragons can already, too. So, you up to it?"

"Well, I don't know," Kivessa started.

"Why not? It sounds like fun," interrupted Kaya.

"Whatever. I'll do what the majority says, I guess, for the time being," Kivessa mumbled, not really wanting to go, but she wanted to be with her friends.

"Let's go find Atlan and Rynn!" shouted Kaya.

The three girls found them, and they agreed with some reluctance. They were just lounging in the main floor, and Rynn was chatting with some guy named K'zaz.

"I wish Jeremy was here," Rynn sighed after walking down the extensive hallways. She had told her dragon to meet her outside, as everyone else had.

"So, where are we going?" Kivessa asked, ignoring Rynn's comment. Jeremy had been the five's friend until they had to leave. Talking about Earth made Kivessa feel morose.

"Personally, I think we should go southeast across the mountain range," answered Ekyla, who loved maps and such, and had eagerly learned the map of Kellaria.

"Okay, sounds good," Kaya responded.

"Who cares? I just want to fly," that was Atlan, never planning for anything, just doing whatever he feels like doing.

"Hey! Kivessa!" someone behind them yelled. Kivessa looked behind her. It was Tavin! She was glad to see him. Atlan, however, wondered why he was there.

"Is that that guy who was sitting with us at lunch?" Atlan questioned. "Do you have no better life than to hang out with us?"

"You people are really weird, but that's fine with me," Tavin replied laughing. "My friends are weird in a…different way. So what are you doing?"

"Um, that way." Kivessa pointed down the corridor.

"Oh. Isn't that the way to the training grounds?" He looked to Kivessa in question. "You're going flying aren't you? Yeah, I did that last year. Don't worry, you don't get in too much trouble if you're caught. Hey, I'll go with you. You probably don't know where to lay the riding gear anyway."

"Um, to tell you the truth, that thought hadn't even occurred to me."