A/N - Hello! Wow, so I'm back to working lots of overtime and that totally cuts into my creative time. That and I'm planning on moving soon, so, you all know how much time the future eats up. Huh, future eating my present time... makes a weird sort of sense. Anyways, thought I'd add in here that one of my friend's recent 'coming out' is a big influence on how my story will be heading. Updates are, I am afraid, probably to be far apart. Thanks as always to my reviewers, because reviews always give me inspiration to continue hint hint Read on!
Coach signals an end to another grueling practice. The team trudges toward the lockers, complaining about sore muscles and bruises. Duke leads the pack, his sweat drenched clothes clinging to his well-defined body. 'Sebastian' hurries to catch up to him, but takes a healthy moment to enjoy the view before 'he' grabs him by the arm. 'He' refuses to let go as 'he' demands explanations from him.
"Duke, man, why are you ignoring me?"
"Oh, get off it. I finally realized what a liar you are."
His eyes burning fiercely with emotion, 'Sebastian' can't help but notice the sensual appeal it gives him. 'He' shakes 'his' head to clear the image of them making out, remembering 'he' wants answers, and yells back. "Liar? What are you talking about? Is this about Olivia?"
Duke answers her with another sexily angry stare.
"Right. Stupid question. How could it not be about her? Dammit, when are you going to learn I have no interest in her that way? I didn't even want to go with her!"
"Why did you then? What, couldn't resist making me mad?"
"Like having you royally pissed at me is baskets of fun. It was either me or Malcolm. Was I supposed to subject her to a day with him just so I could say I wasn't betraying you? I'm supposed to be her friend too."
"Malcolm? Liv would never spend time with him willingly. Stop making stuff up."
"Why am I even bothering, you stopped trusting me after that kiss." The one you saw. Not that it should matter, she started both of those.
"I gave you another chance and this is how you repay me. Man, I thought we were tight. I was so wrong about you. If I'd known you were gonna steal my dream girl from me, I'd of never told you all those things. You probably laughed your ass off after I told you how I felt about girls."
Disgusted and tired of it all, 'Sebastian' throws 'his' arms into the air. "Fine. Whatever. Let's just agree for you to hate me. Now, if you don't mind at least acknowledge me on the field. That way we can wipe it with Justin's tears and not get our butts kicked. Then all your precious time training me won't have been wasted. OK? Will that work for you?"
"Fine. Just stay away from Olivia."
"When will everyone figure out I don't want her as anything more than a friend?" Oh, right. When they figure out I'm a girl. Screw this. I wish it would just be done with.
The soccer captain rolls his eyes and proceeds to storm away. Stragglers who had watched the confrontation quickly jump out of Duke's way. They spare uneasy glances for 'Sebastian' before making their own way inside.
Your sweetness factor is totally losing its charm with this awful jealous streak, superboy. 'He' groans loudly and follows behind 'his' teammates to retrieve 'his' belongings from the locker room.
Across the field Olivia briefly considers how entertaining the situation would be if she were not caught in the middle of it. Still too shocked for any emotion to take precedence, she is unsure of whether to scream at the top of her lungs or break down sobbing. Too many things ring far too true for her to ignore the truth in the article. Her mind, if not her heart has already accepted that her sensitive 'Sebastian' is really the beautiful Viola. With a completely blank face she finishes watching the end of the practice. As the Hastings twin exits the field, the blonde turns to collect her things, ignoring Julia's searching look.
"Liv, I . . ."
"I have homework to do. I'm going to the library."
Olivia carefully walks away, her posture and composure perfect, refusing to acknowledge her world has just been turned upside down. She decides on no emotion, just shut it away, pretend it never happened. After all, she was brought up to be the perfectly normal debutante who doesn't fall in love with girls.
Monique Valentine smiles viciously as she disconnects her call with Malcolm. On pain of losing Malvolio to a restaurant that specializes in exotic cuisine, his mouth on the article's topic, is closed for now. Her next order of business is to set about ruining the reputation of the author. The necessary texts and phone calls made, she sends Viola a link to the web page with a note to read it now. Good deed done for the week, the strawberry blonde wonders if she can use this to help tarnish Justin's name any further. Besides his disgusting performance on Saturday, he had embarrassed her and any excuse to ruin him is far too appealing to pass up. A few more phone calls later and her inner demons satisfied, she opens up her book for Modern English Literature to read the last few chapters. She can't wait to find out what happens to Hannibal.
Exhausted after another self-imposed late practice, Viola doesn't bother checking her messages before collapsing into her bed. Barely remembering to set an early shower alarm, she spares a sad glance at Duke's sleeping form before curling into her pillow.
Headmaster Gold replaces his sombrero for a red and black striped nightcap. Sipping his evening cocoa, he opens his mail, skimming through to the most interesting ones. Thirty minutes later, he powers down his PC and idly sets his glasses on the nightstand. Bunny slippers, now without feet in them, rest quietly on the floor. Normal workday demands and an afternoon meeting will prevent him confronting 'Sebastian' until the 'boy' will be at practice. Horatio thought this mess was settled once, when Sebastian had bared the family jewels. Sighing, he shakes his head, unable to fathom what in the world could be going on. His hand flicks the lamp's switch, then returns to rub his eyes. Thoughtfully he wonders why he didn't just become a ballet dancer like his dad before him.
BUZZZZZZ.
"Mmm."
BUZZZZZZ.
"Too early." Eyes half closed Viola grabs her shower bag and change of clothes and heads to the showers. Water running over her nude form, she relishes in the freedom from her bindings and wig. Lather, rinse, and repeat, she reaches to scrub her feet. Swirling around her toes she notices it is time to put her tampons to use, and it is not for her nose.
"Great. At least I have a few days before the game."
She finishes her shower, throwing on her pajamas and drying her hair before she puts her wig back on. Just as she is arranging the last adjustments to her facade, Andrew walks in with a mumbled 'mornin'. Caught off guard by his appearance, she almost forgets her other eyebrow is still on the counter and her bruises stand out like streetlights in fog. Hurriedly she adds on her last bit of false hair before grabbing her things.
"Latah, bro."
"Yea. See ya in biology."
Back in her shared dorm, she leaves her bathroom stuff and discreetly shoves a few tampons into her bookbag. Grabbing her stuff for the day, she intends to stay as far from Duke as possible. Avoiding him means staying away from the dorm. She chooses to skip her morning workout, which would require returning to change, and do homework instead. Dressed in her uniform and her books all packed, she leaves to meet Olivia for her morning makeup session. The door closes on Duke's own alarm beeping for him to get up.
Once again Olivia moves as if to leave, but changes her mind and sits back down. She fidgets with her makeup kit and glances at the clock. Six AM. Any minute now she will have to make her decision. Confront 'Sebastian' or feign ignorance. Why is this happening to me? Why couldn't he, no she, pull someone else's name for a lab partner? Or better yet, why couldn't he, she, have knocked someone else's books from their arms? What did I do to deserve this? As soon as Mom finds out, my life will be over. That's it, I'll just have to confront her, tell her how horrible she is to do this to me, and find out where the real Sebastian is. Then I can tell Mom I already took care of the crazy tomboy and . . . I must have kissed her brother by that taxi. That's why his skin was so rough, his six o'clock shadow, and her's was so silky and smooth.
Pushing her last thought aside she continues with her plans. I can finally find out what happened after that. I can't believe I didn't notice sooner! She's been lying all this time to me, to Duke, everyone. Damn her, I can't wait for her to show up so I can give her a piece of my mind. Still silently fuming she doesn't notice when the door opens and 'Sebastian' slips into the locker room.
"Hey, Liv. Thanks for coming again, I really appreciate it."
The blonde looks up, ready to unleash her tongue. Startled by the ferocious expression on Olivia's face, 'Sebastian' takes a step back. Oh, shit. What happened? Did I do something? Why does she look like she's about to take a bite out of me? Does she know? Crap, crap, crap, crap. 'He' tries to smile 'his' uncertainty away, but the scab on 'his' lip tears, instantly bringing a hand to it and a moaned 'ow'. Pulling 'his' hand away, 'he grimaces at the bright red blood smeared on 'his' fingers. Olivia sees it and immediately calls to mind the pictures from the party. Her anger is washed away in a flood of sympathy, easing her features to soft apology. She stands up and digs into her bag, pulling out a tube of Neosporin. A small amount on her fingertip, she dabs it gently onto the wound.
"Better?"
"Yea." Confused by the sudden emotional change, 'Sebastian' tilts 'his' head and looks at 'his' friend questioningly. "Is everything alright?"
"No. I don't know. Look, let's just get these bruises covered up. I have some homework to finish before class." Her voice strained, she refuses to meet 'his' eyes. She sits back down and retrieves a sponge and concealer.
Hesitantly, 'Sebastian' sits also, still wondering what could be bothering the usually composed girl. As Olivia dabs at the yellowing bruises, she can't help but imagine what Justin did at that Cornwall party. Her anger mounting at the jock's unforgivable actions, she does not notice the pained expression on 'Sebastian's face.
"Liv?"
The other girl is too lost in her thoughts and practically stabs 'Sebastian's' face during a particularly grim thought.
"Ow! Hey, that hurts."
Finally brought back to the present, Olivia drops the applicator and pulls her hands back. "Oh, my god. I'm so sorry, Viola."
'Sebastian's' eyes about jump out of 'his' skull. "What did you call me?"
Softly Olivia repeats the painful name again. "Viola."
Viola swallows several times before managing to stammer out another 'what?'.
"I realized it last night after reading that article about you and your brother."
"Wait, what article?"
"The one in the Cornwall Gazette. Here," Olivia pulls out some papers stapled together. "I printed it off the internet."
While the twin reads, her hands start to tremble. Olivia waits quietly until the other looks up, looking like she is ready to cry.
"It is true, right?" Silently, the smaller girl prays for her Sebastian to say 'no', that it's all just a bad dream. That her love wasn't misplaced and her future isn't so bleak. And that Justin really didn't do those horrible things to the nice girl she met in the kissing booth.
"Yea, all of it." The twin hangs her head, then looks back up, a single tear streaking down. "I'm sorry, Liv. I didn't mean for any of this to happen."
Feeling her heart breaking all over again, Olivia tries to ignore it and ask the questions that have been burning in her mind since last night. Her voice is soft, but cold. "Just tell me why and where the real Sebastian is."
"Well, like it says, the girls' team was cut and coach wouldn't let us try out for the boys' team. I decided that my dream was too important to not have scouts see me play this year and I really wanted to rub it in Justin's face that I beat them at their own game. My brother is in London right now. His band made into a music festival there. It was his lyrics you read that first day and he says the crowd loves them. So, while he's gone, I took his place here so I could prove I was good enough. I didn't mean for you and Duke to get caught up in my lie."
"When does he get back?"
"Thursday night."
"How long are you planning to go on with this?"
"Only until the game."
Squirming under Olivia's intense gaze, Viola wrings her hands before tentatively asking, "Can you forgive me?"
Olivia doesn't answer right away. Instead, she picks up the applicator and finishes the coverup. Her task complete, she drops her hands into her lap and looks into Viola's sad green eyes. "I'm not sure I can."
"Oh, okay then." Viola starts to get up and hesitates. She glances at her reflection in a nearby mirror. "You really did a good job, thanks. I suppose you won't want to do this again, huh?"
"Can you do as good a job by yourself?"
"Not a chance."
"Then we'll be back here tomorrow morning." Surprising both herself and Viola, Olivia's response is completely unexpected. She shakes her head and packs up her supplies. "See you in Biology."
"Right. OK."
Olivia exits without another look back at the stunned Viola.
Well, how did this chapter feel? I wanted to break it up with the different characters to give it some suspense... did it work?
Have any suggestions on where things could go?
