Gorgeous, Gorgeous, Gorgons : A Mythiverse Story

1

Juice-bar with Kelly

I reached for a worm and fed it to my snake hair. Only after I grabbed my protective sunglasses did I look into the mirror and gently outline my full lips with lip liner. Can’t be too careful. Looking in a gorgon’s eyes equals a life lived as stone. Even through a mirror.

Another worm for my hair and a lipstick for me. I filled in the outlines of my lips. Two smacks, and I was ready.

“You’re looking gorgeous again today, Veronica.” I blew myself two kisses in the mirror before grabbing my bag and heading downstairs.

“Any breakfast this morning, Pumpkin?” Mother asked.

I rolled my eyes. She’s called me Pumpkin since I was a baby.

I hate that.

“Don’t call me Pumpkin, Mother. I’ve asked you several times now. No, I’m going to grab a smoothie with Kelly this morning before school. I’ve got to run,” I said and left the house.

A red scrambler pulled up loudly behind me. I didn’t even have to look. I knew it was Tommy. He wanted to offer me a ride on his two-wheeled death machine.

Male gorgons have little to no power of their own. Their hair is nasty and thin. Like thinner than worms! Their hair can’t bite anyone, and their eyes can’t turn anything into stone. Thus, the boys tried to assert themselves in other ways.

No matter how dumb.

Scramblers were popular. They had motors and made loud noises. Some male gorgons are obsessed with doing pialers. A pialer is a death-defying leap off a cliff where, in the span of a few seconds, you’re forced to assemble wings in the air, slip them on and float before you squish on the ground.

So juvenile.

“Not today, not ever, Tommy,” I said and kept walking.

A beep in my purse let me know a text had come in. Kelly was confirming our smoothie date. It was only a few blocks from my house.

Tommy murmured something at me before I walked away. He was probably pleading and begging for my attention as usual, so I ignored him.

The sun hung low in the sky, casting long shadows on the ground. My snake hair stretched out as wide as it could so that each strand could bask in the rays.

I was feeling good.

It was going to be another beautiful day.

I nearly reached the front of the smoothie shop when I saw a familiar face.

“Good morning, beautiful. Cute outfit,” Kelly said.

“Not as beautiful as you,” I said as I looked her up and down. “Are those new shoes?”

“Yes. Daddy took me shopping this weekend and let me get anything I wanted,” she spun from side to side so that I could see the shoes from all angles.

“What was the occasion?” I asked.

“It was the weekend, and I got what I wanted,” Kelly said. We both giggled and walked inside the smoothie shop.

2

The New Kid

“Did you hear that we have a new student coming today?” Kelly asked.

“Really? No,” I said.

Kelly’s mother worked at the school and always had the latest gossip.

“Yes. Apparently, they’re transferring in from New Atlantis.” Kelly ordered her smoothie and grabbed us a table in the corner near a group of boys.

“New Atlantis? Why would they move here from New Atlantis?” I asked sitting down next to Kelly.

“I’m not sure. Mom only heard that they were coming from New Atlantis, and they had two children. A boy and a girl. She didn’t know which one was in our grade though,” Kelly explained.

“We’re getting a new student?” one of the boys overheard and asked.

“This is a private conversation, Jason. You should mind your own business,” sneered Kelly.

“Hi Jason,” I said.

Jason had been in almost every one of my classes since grade one. His parents were friends with my parents, and we’ve known each other since my snakes were just stubs.

“Good morning, Veronica.” Jason smiled at me. He wasn’t all bad, especially for a male gorgon. “Is it true, are we getting a new student?”

A new student was not a common thing in our town. We lived in a small community a few hours outside of New Atlantis. When something interesting like this happened, it was practically viral news.

“That’s what we heard,” I said. “So far just rumors, so don’t go posting it all over. You don’t want to be the guy with false information.”

“Well, it would be your false information,” he smiled. “But I understand being cautious with the potential news.”

The rest of the boys were barely paying any attention to our conversation. They were talking about their pialers from the weekend. They were laughing so hard that they were disturbing the entire smoothie shop.

“Were you jumping pialers this weekend, Jason?” I asked.

“No. You know I don’t do that scary stuff,” Jason said.

It was true. In all the time I knew Jason, I never knew him to be dangerous. He didn’t ride a scrambler, he didn’t jump pialers, and he was never mean to anyone.

“I know,” I said.

Unlike the other male gorgons who all seemed to have something to prove. It was his confidence that I admired the most about him. I would never let him know this though.

Kelly, Emma R, Emma H, and I all had agreed that we were not going to be mingling with male gorgons. We had a pact. We were essentially a club. Well, maybe not a club. But we were a group, and we had a whole set of rules and guidelines that we followed. Red lips on Mondays, snake-hair always wild – no ties, and most importantly, no male gorgons allowed.

“Should we get a head start?” I asked Kelly.

“Yes,” she said and stood up. Kelly looked over at Jason and the rest of the boys. “It’s too stinky in here anyway.”

We walked out of the smoothie shop. I didn’t say goodbye to Jason, but he understood the rules. The whole school knew about us. We were a popular clique that everyone wanted to be like.

Emma Richardson, Emma R as we called her, was very beautiful. Her snakes were down past her shoulders. Everyone wondered how she got such long snakes being so young. She also had the most beautiful protection glasses of all the girls, bright pink with studded diamonds. Emma R’s father owned a diamond boutique, and her family had the largest home in the entire town. Emma R hosted the best parties at her house. They were always fully catered and lavish.

Emma Hendricks, Emma H as she is known, was also beautiful but she was also incredibly smart. Her family owned the apothecary in town. Her mother, a famous scientist, made sure that Emma H knew all about the world of potions and medical cures. If there was news and it got to Emma H, the entire school knew about it in milli-seconds. I swear she could text faster than she could talk.

“Good morning Emmas!” Kelly said as we approached the school.

I waved as well and we greeted each other with compliments about each other’s outfits.

“Kelly tells me that there’s going to be a new student today,” I told Emma H knowing full well, she’d have a text typed up before I even finished my sentence.

“Oh really,” said Emma H. Her snakes perked at attention. She looked to Kelly for more information.

Kelly smiled a forced, angry grin.

“Yes, my mother says that their family is moving here from New Atlantis. They have a boy and a girl, but we don’t know which one is our age,” Kelly explained.

“It’s a girl,” said Emma R.

“How do you know?” I asked.

“She’s right over there.” Emma R pointed. We all turned to stare.

She was the most gorgeous gorgon we’d ever seen. Her snakes were as long as Emma R’s, maybe even longer. Her protection glasses were a bright white with pink inlaid rubies. She wore a long pink dress that clung to her body like it was sown right onto her. Her shoes were sparkly and matched both her dress and her protection glasses.

“Wow,” was all I could say.

The girls all turned to stare at me.

“What?” I said. “She is stunning.”

3

The Trifecta

We assembled in class, and everyone was buzzing about the newest addition. Emma H had blasted it to everyone’s cell phone in a matter of seconds. She even managed to snap a picture of the new girl. Rumors were starting about her.

Someone whispered that they heard the new girl was the daughter of a politician. Others said she was a pop-star singer or an actress who was hiding out in our small town. None of this was true as far as we knew.

Mrs. Scuttle walked in with the new girl behind her.

“Settle down, class,” Mrs. Scuttle said. “We have a new student joining us today. I’d like you all to meet Emma Dawson. She is a transfer student from New Atlantis. Her family moved to town this last weekend. Would you like to say a little about yourself?”

“Good morning, everyone,” Emma Dawson said. “Like Mrs. Scuttle said, my family moved here from New Atlantis. My mother is Justice Darlene Dawson, the new judge taking over for Justice Carlson, who retired last month. She was an attorney in New Atlantis. My father is also an attorney and will be commuting back and forth. I have a little brother, Ryan, who is 3 grades younger. I have a kitten named Max. I don’t know what else to say.”

Emma blushed, and her snakes moved and seemed to blush with her.

“Oh, that’s wonderful. I know we will all do our best to make you feel welcome, won’t we, class?” said Mrs. Scuttle. “You can take a seat right over here. We’ll be starting our lesson on gorgon history. I’ll make sure you get the syllabus before you leave for the day.”

Mrs. Scuttle continued lecturing about the Great Gorgon War of 1200. None of us paid much attention. We were too focused on the new Emma.

After school, Kelly, the Emmas, and I waited for our opportunity to introduce ourselves formally to the new Emma. She came out of the building right at us. Emma R took the opportunity first and walked up to Emma Dawson.

“Hello there! Emma Dawson, right?” Emma R asked.

“Yes. Hello,” Emma Dawson said and waved at the rest of us.

“This is Kelly, this is Veronica, this is Emma H.,” said Emma R.

“Oh, another Emma,” said Emma Dawson, smiling at Emma H.

“And I am Emma H,” Emma H grinned at Emma Dawson, turned, and winked at Emma R.

“Wow. Three Emmas! Well, I guess I have to be Emma D,” Emma D said. “Pleasure to meet all of you.”

“You as well. Would you care to join us for an afternoon coffee? We usually go on Wednesdays, but we thought we should go today and celebrate you joining our school,” Kelly said.

Emma D agreed to our invitation, and we walked to the café. Emma H was live posting the entire event.

The entire school would know that the Emmas had become a trifecta. The Emmas hit it off immediately. Not only did they share a name, but they also each had a prominent family, an undeniable fashion sense, and a lot of money.

The Emmas barely spoke to either Kelly or me. We understood that they had a lot more in common with each other than with either of us. We tried to shake it off. Even if we knew it was better to be at the table than reading about it on Emma’s live stream.

Several hours passed while the girls kept chatting. It was getting late, and Kelly and I knew our families would be worried, but interrupting the Emmas felt somehow worse.

“Sorry, ladies, but the café is closing,” the waitress said.

“Oh wow. Look at the time. Thank you all for a wonderful afternoon, but I got to get home,” Emma D said. When she rose, everyone rose, and we finally left the café. “I’ll see you all again tomorrow. Tuesdays, we do red lips?”

“You can, but Monday is the red lip day. Just remember, we don’t tie our snakes on Tuesdays,” Emma R said.

I was a little in disbelief that Emma R told Emma D about the rules of our club. We had never invited anyone into our group without consulting the entire group. Emma H was the most recent, and that was three years ago. Back then, Emma R wasn’t sure she wanted a second Emma in the group. She thought it would be confusing. Now they were letting in a third Emma without a vote?

I was worried.

4

Ghosted

The next morning, I rushed through my routine, nearly forgetting to feed my snakes their worms.

No one wants a lousy snake day! I grabbed their worms and fed them as fast as they would eat. I matched out a nice outfit and grabbed my black shoes from my closet before I ran downstairs.

“Good morning, pump—er—Veronica,” Mother said. It was about time she remembered to cut it with the pumpkin nonsense.

“Good morning, Mother. I’m off to meet Kelly for a smoothie,” I said.

“Wait, you were out pretty late last night. That’s a little too much staying out for a young gorgon. Everything okay?” Mother asked.

“Of course! We had a new girl join our school, and we took her out for an afternoon coffee to get to know her and introduce her to our friends,” I explained.

“That’s nice of you girls,” Mother said.

I didn’t reply.

Instead, I almost sprinted to the smoothie shop.

Once again, I heard Tommy rumbling from behind on his scrambler. This time, he didn’t stop and offer me a ride.

Kelly usually waits for me outside, but after reaching the smoothie shop, she was nowhere in sight. I went inside.

The woman behind the counter said she hadn’t seen Kelly yet. She pointed out that I was early.

That part was true.

I don’t know why I felt in such a rush this morning. After last night, I felt uneasy about where I stood with my friends. It sounds silly, but I wanted to talk to Kelly and see if my feelings were justified and if she felt the same way.

Another few minutes went by, and I saw Kelly strolling up. I looked down at my phone, and it was, in fact, the usual time.

I settled down.

A little.

“Good morning, gorgeous, gorgeous, Veronica!” Kelly said as she strolled up.

“Good morning, beautiful girl,” I said with a smile. “Goodness, Kelly, how many new pairs of shoes did your father buy you last weekend?”

“A few,” said Kelly, and we giggled as we headed inside.

Everything seemed fine with Kelly this morning, so maybe it was all in my imagination, and nothing will be different with our group.

I decided not to bring my insecurities up with Kelly. We grabbed our smoothies and sat in our usual spot, except this morning, there was no group of annoying gorgon boys.

“Did you finish all of your science homework?” Kelly asked.

“Oh, most of it. It’s not due till Thursday, right?” A moment of sudden panic washed over me. “I tried studying when I got home last night, but I was exhausted.”

“I was too, but then I got into the zone and got it all done,” Kelly said, beaming with pride.

“That’s because you’re not just gorgeous, you’re also brilliant,” I smiled.

We finished up our smoothies and walked to school. Kelly and I arrived at our usual spot to meet the Emmas, but they were nowhere to be found.

We waited for a few minutes.

“Huh, that’s weird,” said Kelly.

“Yeah, lemme text Emma H,” I said and texted, “Where are you?” I clicked send and listened to the whoosh of my text.

“I wonder if they are with Emma D?” Kelly said.

“Yeah, they were inseparable last night at the café,” I said.

Kelly and I waited for a few more minutes. I rechecked my phone for any messages, but there were none.

We decided to walk into class without the Emmas.