Beatty & The Beast

TWENTY-NINE: Where the Beauty and the Beast Vanish Into the Night

 "Shit, Andie!" Keefe had to use all of his strength to grab Andie around the waist and wrench her away from the yelping Becca. Andie had been on her way to jumping on top of the other girl to continue her beating, but in all the confusion of the now riotous students, he was able to stop her.

"Come on, COME ON!" Keefe yelled, pulling her away as she struggled against him. "We've gotta get out of here before the deans get to Becca."

Deans Mulberry and Mayweather, who had been fraternizing outside the gym and were called in by the huge eruption of noise, were now trying to make their way through the mob of students, screaming for composure and demanding answers.

Screeching and clutching her bleeding nose, Becca leapt to her feet and pushed against the students holding her back. She fumed like a raging beast, ready to rip Andie to pieces it seemed.

"Not so pretty now are you, you psycho?" Andie cackled, flipping Becca off.

"Andie, stop it!" Keefe roared as he finally got them both to an exit and rushed through it. "It's done, damn it!"

Somehow – and quite miraculously he thought – he got her away from the school and right into the carriage without interruption. Boris and Escher were confused by their body language and Keefe's obvious terror but, as usual, they didn't ask questions. They just shut the door behind the teens, took their posts and got the horses moving.

"Oh man, I'm worse than Cinderella!" Andie chirped, her voice effervescently cheerful.

Keefe, so deep in panic his eyes were clouded by it, looked over at her.

She smirked as she lifted her skirt and showed her bare, dirty feet, "I managed to leave both my glasses slippers at the ball."

Keefe stared at her, completely aghast, before turning away, unable to respond. She, in turn, giggled triumphantly.

Then she hummed a happy little tune as the carriage sped and bumped along the dark road.

~*~

Halfway back to Whistlebeck's, Keefe had regained his ability to speak. Once everything had fully registered, he had plenty to say to her. Naturally – and quite unfortunately in her opinion – he wasn't whispering sweet nothings in her ear as they finished their last stretch of romantic carriage riding.

As they climbed out of the carriage and sped across Whistlebeck's extensive grounds (with Andie leading the way), Keefe was spitting out his frantic, angry words.

Andie remained cool and calm the whole time, smiling and singing and making Keefe want to rip his hair out. Too worked up to question why they ended up in their fairy tale clearing, he just followed her, continuing his panic.

All the while she observed the pristine night sky and breath-taking stars spread across it. She wanted to skip and trill something inane like "Tra-la-la!" but she refrained.

She stopped in the middle of their clearing and soaked in the majesty above her, smiling at the beauty, the romance, the serenity, thanking whatever was in charge for this moment. She was with her love on this magical night in a magical setting. It was hard not to be grateful for it all.

Now if only he would stop freaking out.

"I can't believe you did that." He rubbed his temples, shaking his head, reiterating what he had already yelped several times on the ride home. "Maybe she deserved it, but Benny's definitely going to come back now."

"Did you honestly think we would get out of this town without Benny coming after us again at least one more time?" she snorted, ignoring his panic and grabbing his hands to pull him into a languid waltz.