I Know it Hurts
"I'm very grateful for being chosen as the Everyday Heroes Winner for the Everyday Heroes..."
Victoria sighed in frustration, in front of her mirror.
"It was your incredible photography that brought me to Blackwell and I hope I can be as good as-"
Victoria growled, and slapped herself as hard as she could.
"Again!"
"It was your incredible photography that brought me to Blackwell and I hope I can live up to your name. Thank you, and to everyone at Blackwell."
Victoria gave herself a sly smirk, but then looked deeply into her own eyes, through the mirror.
"You will be the winner of the Everyday Heroes contest."
"You're their queen."
Victoria started to put on different kinds of clothes, trying them on for the Vortex Club Party for the same day. October 10th. She's been waiting for this for months.
But first, she had to go to the hospital, to see Kate. Victoria was always confused by this. She hasn't felt sorry for anyone in a long time, up until now. Maybe it's the guilt of her involvement, even if she denies it in public, she does recognize her involvement in Kate's attempted suicide.
Besides, a little visit wouldn't hurt, and would help me kill some time before the party.
As Victoria entered the hospital, she felt more and more guilty, the more she walked to Kate's room.
Victoria took a second to breath in, calm herself, and knocked on Kate's door.
"Come in!" Kate said, as she saw the door being opened by her unexpected visitor. Kate was shocked Victoria would even come to visit.
"Um, Hi Kate." Victoria said, with no response from Kate. "I...I'm so glad you're okay, I was so worried."
Kate nodded, in what looked to a slightly sarcastic way, that Victoria noticed almost instantly.
"I'm sorry if I hurt you, in any way possible. I want to apologize if I did anything wrong-"
"The bullying throughout the year. The Video. The link to it you left out in a mirror, in the bathroom." Kate said, with an honest, tired voice. "That is what you did to me."
Victoria didn't expect this to hit her so hard. The guilt had hit her like a wall of bricks. Because she knew Kate was right about everything.
And Kate noticed how Victoria felt, she could see right through her, behind all the make-up, the false smiles and mean jokes. She was petrified for a few seconds, so Kate gave a small sigh and tried to comfort her.
"Victoria...I want to thank you for coming here. I think you are truly sorry, I'm going to choose to believe you, Victoria, and I don't think I'll regret it." Kate said. "I'm going to start to trust you now, even if it may be the wrong move, but-"
Victoria was moved by this. So much so, that she went towards Kate and hugged her, with all of her strength.
And Kate, being the forgiving soul she was: Hugged her back.
Victoria's emotions were all over the place. She was never going to feel sorry, for anything, or anyone. Her plan was to be as cold as she can get, be merciless, without any weaknesses.
Maybe she could make an exception here. She felt human, she felt alive, for the first time in a long time.
They disconnected the hug, after a couple of minutes, and sat on the hospital bed. Kate offered Victoria something to drink or eat, but she refused.
"Victoria, I don't want to regret this."
Oh shit. What is she going to say?
Victoria was confused, as Kate gave her a flash-drive. A pink flash-drive.
"What...what's this, Kate?" Victoria asked.
"It's a warning. This is Stella's flash drive. She told me someone's planning to betray you, and stab you in the back." Kate said.
"Who?" Victoria asked.
"I haven't checked the flash-drive myself, but Stella only said it was someone close to you." Kate responded. "I didn't check it myself, but I want you to. I don't want you to get hurt."
Those last words made Victoria's heart skip a beat. Kate was so forgiving and kind, Victoria thought.
Victoria sighed and took the flash drive with her, as she got up to leave. She felt Kate's hand on her arm.
"Be careful, Victoria."
"I...I will, Kate." Victoria said, blushing a bit and giving a genuine smile to her, as she left the room.
Victoria put the flash drive in her computer as soon as possible, and what she could see were three files:
Conversations
Audio Files
Photos
She clicked on Conversations and saw an online chat, from a cellphone. She recognized the number instantly: It was Courtney's.
Looks like she's been talking to Taylor, which is no big news. They can talk for hours upon hours of anything.
As Victoria started to check the conversation, it started to get odd:
"yo taylor, I have what we need :3"
"u got the goods?"
"yup we got some pics from V and jeferson"
"dem 2gether? Good job courtney"
You little bitches. You are not going to do what I think you're going to do...
She continued to read the conversation, even if it hurt her to read even a few more words.
"so what shall we choose taylor: blackmail OR humiliation"
"I prefer blackmail. itll humiliate her personally and get us some goods in return"
"and after that? Then we can send them pics?"
"sure, dat and that audio file from her flirting with jeffershit is more than nuff proof 2 destroy her"
Victoria was shaking. She was shocked at how easily they caught her. She saw through the rest of the files. Screenshots upon screenshots of multiple conversations between both of them, planning a mass assault against Victoria.
The photos were taken when Victoria would talk to Jefferson, with her certain poses and failed attempts to flirt. Not only in the classroom, but also sightings where both of them would talk outside the classroom, and sometimes even, at night. Which would cause a lot of bad attention to Victoria.
They also caught close audio recordings, from where they would leave their phones on tables, near Victoria and Jefferson. Leaving her desperate flirting fully recorded as evidence.
Victoria knew what this meant: A death sentence.
Her reputation would be shattered in a few hours.
Calmyourselfnowjustcalmthefuckdownweneedtofindawaywhatway?there'snowaytorecoverfromthisyoudumbidiot
Her mind was all over the place, until...
Kate warned me. Stella and Kate warned me beforehand. They got the information, but how? Ugh, it doesn't matter.
They helped me for a reason. They could have dumped the information everywhere around Blackwell and destroyed me sooner, but they didn't.
They want me to find a way to stop this. But how? How can I convince them otherwise? How can I trust them after this? How can I even let them roam around freely, while they were planning something so despicable towards a friend and-
Silence. For just a few seconds, made a significant difference.
After she realized what she had to do, Victoria calmed down, stood up, and looked herself in the mirror.
"You now know what you must do. I am cold. Ruthless. Merciless. And I must remind my sweet little bitches just that."
"You will be the winner of the Everyday Heroes Contest."
Victoria said, as she looked deeply, into her own eyes, and as she started to put on make-up, like if it was War Paint.
The Vortex Club Party. Just 2 hours before the announcement. Good, I have time to deal with both of them.
"Hey Vicki!" Taylor said to Victoria, as she spotted her entering.
"Have you seen Courtney?" Victoria said.
"Um, yeah, she's in some couch. Behind the DJ." Taylor responded, with a bit of discomfort. "You...you sure you don't wanna dance with me first-"
"No." Victoria said, in the coldest way possible, as she walked away from Taylor, and closer to Courtney.
As Courtney saw Victoria approaching, she stood up from her spot in the couch.
"Victoria, we need to talk about something." Courtney said, to which Victoria responded with a confused (yet fake) look. "It's serious, It's about Taylor. Where can we speak privately?"
"The rooftop."
"What? Victoria, come on..."
"I know a way to get up there without getting spotted, and with no locks. Come on, it's right above us."
Courtney responded with an unsure nod, and followed Victoria around. After 10 minutes of sneaking into a staircase, leading to the rooftop, right above a giant window, that had the Vortex Party right below it.
"It's freezing up here! Couldn't have we just talked in the bathroom or some-"
"No." Victoria responded. "Start talking."
Courtney sighed.
"Taylor has been gathering information against you." Courtney said, as Victoria pulled the fakest surprised stare she's ever given. "Pics, audios, all related to you and Mr. Jefferson."
She's "snitching" on Taylor and throwing her under the bus. Ugh. No. This stops tonight.
"Interesting." Victoria said.
Courtney started to shake her head in frustration.
"You know what this can do, right? This can destroy you, and your reputation."
"You're absolutely right." Victoria responded, with a small growl coming out of Courtney's mouth. "Wow, is that a double-moon?"
"Vic, this is some serious shit you're in, you should take this more seriou-"
"I just love this song..." Victoria said, as she started to hear a song coming under them, from the DJ: "I think it's called FKA Twigs – Two Weeks, or something."
Courtney looked incredibly confused, and slightly irritated. She began to get more and more nervous as Victoria started to approach her.
"Thank you for telling me this, Courtney." Victoria said, gently touching Courtney's cheek, as their faces were inches away. "You're such a good friend."
And that's when Victoria pulled in for a kiss. Courtney was frightened at first, but started to enjoy it quite quickly and kissed her back.
They started to kiss, more and more passionately, as Victoria grabbed her hips, and pulled her to the ground, alongside her. She started to kiss Courtney's neck, as she started to give quiet moans.
The kiss got more and more intense, until Victoria was on top of her, as Courtney was against the ground, they kept kissing as she was cupping Courtney's head with her hands, and she took them to her neck.
And Victoria pressed her hands harder on her neck.
And harder.
And...harder.
They broke the kiss, as Courtney was starting to get hurt.
Victoria was not going to let go, as she pressed harder.
"G-get...off me!" Courtney said, as she was suffocating.
As Courtney was trying to defend herself, her legs started to move erratically, her arms desperately trying to reach Victoria, her breath getting lower and lower. Her eyes were widening at first, but started to slowly close.
The last thing Courtney saw were Victoria's eyes, focused on her, deeply.
Courtney's legs didn't move, her arms started to quickly fade their movement, and her eyes were widely open, but didn't move.
Victoria got up from the ground, and realized what she had done. It took her some time to process what happened. She was starting to quickly hyper-ventilate, shaking her hands over and over, as she looked at the her late-friend's corpse.
As Victoria took a napkin to clean her hands, she cleaned up Courtney's neck and lips. So that there was nothing hinting at her involvement.
Victoria wanted to cry, but couldn't. Out of all of the things she was feeling, regret wasn't one of them. She looked at her watch.
"Good, I'm not late to see how I win the contest." She said, as she walked to the door where she came from, giving one long, last look to Courtney's corpse.
As Victoria went down from the stairs, she sighed, took a deep breath, crossed another door and into a hallway where no one would see or witness her coming out from the stairs.
She then entered to the actual party, and onto the VIP Section. She looked right at Taylor.
"Hey Victoria! Have you seen Courtney? I haven't seen her in almost half an hour."
"Last thing I heard from her, was that she was going to the bathroom." Victoria said, as Taylor was expecting some cruel joke to follow, but she didn't.
"So, um...wha-" Taylor was about to ask something, until a voice over the speaker interrupted her.
"Okay, everybody calm down."
It's Jefferson. This is it, Victoria.
"I don't want to get in the way of the party, but it's time to announce the winner of the Everyday Heroes contest. Before I do, I want to..."
Jefferson's voice started to fade away in Victoria's mind, as she anticipated her name being mentioned by him. She's been working on this for a long time, and she's finally done it. The things she had to-
"Oh my, what a shocker...Victoria Chase!" Jefferson claimed.
As Victoria went towards Jefferson, she remembered what she just did. She murdered someone. A friend. Someone she thought she cared about.
But no. Victoria realized Courtney betrayed her in a heartbeat. Questions like "Did I do the right thing?", "Should I feel sorry?", "Should I confess?" started to cross her mind.
As she took the microphone off Jefferson's hand, she said what she rehearsed dozens and dozens of times. None of the things she did to get her distracted her from what to say.
"It was your incredible photography that brought me to Blackwell and I hope I can live up to your name. Thank you, and to everyone at Blackwell. I'd like to dedicate this prize to Kate Marsh, who is the true Everyday Hero of Blackwell, and the best student we could ever ask for."
"Thank you."
She walked off the platform and sat on the couch, alone. The world around her started to become a blur, more silent, as the party went on.
As people started to go back to the dorms, Victoria was actually headed to the Hospital and spend the night there, taking care of Kate. As she took her things in a bag and leave, she saw Taylor in her room with the door open.
"Come on, reply you biatch!" Taylor said, as she was screaming to her phone.
"She still doesn't show up, huh?" Victoria said, as she scared Taylor.
"Um, no Vic, how do you-"
"Taylor." Victoria said, as she got closer and closer to Taylor. "Don't worry about her."
"Um, V, what are you-?" Taylor said, as Victoria started to softly put her fingers in Taylor's cheeks.
"You wouldn't betray me, would you?"
"No, I would never-" Taylor said, before Victoria grabbed her neck, with a bit of force.
"Really? Hmm. That would be a shame, wouldn't it?" Victoria said, as Taylor quickly nodded. "Whatever happens in the next few hours...we will never speak of it."
Taylor didn't understand what she meant, or what was going on, but she quickly responded "Yes.", as Victoria let loose of her neck.
Victoria grabbed her things and left, as Taylor was gasping for air.
As she arrived to the Hospital, before entering Kate's room, she went to the bathroom to clean herself up. As she cleaned her face and hands, she looked herself in the mirror, giving herself a deep look, in her own eyes.
Remembering everything, clear as day, as how her hands were pressing in Courtney's neck. The feelings, the urge, the deep last look they had.
Victoria slapped herself, as hard as she could, and looked at herself again.
"You have to be cold to be their queen."
"You did what you had to."
"No one else would have done what was necessary."
"Except you."