Chapter 45 – Photo Jump - Friday 18th 7:30 pm
Set on their course, the girls disembarked to fulfill their respective roles. Victoria and the mean girls proceeded to the Vortex Party, Max diverted to the parking lot, having decided to search Jefferson's vehicle first. On approach, the hipster paid only a cursory glance to the surroundings while closing in on her objective. Finding the immediate area relatively deserted upon arrival, Max withdrew the pistol before firing a single round through the back driver side window. An ensuing car alarm immediately broke the tranquil silence that had previous occupied the area. Noting the presence of a muffled scream in the distance, she reached through the broken window to unlock the driver side door. Breaching the vehicle's exterior, the hipster raised her right hand while gathering her concentration in order to initiate a rewind. Perhaps the measure was a bit of overkill, but the act of shooting Jefferson's car to be particularly cathartic nonetheless. As time receded into the past, Max watched as the shattered remnants of the back window slowly lifted off the seat, subsequently beginning to merge into larger sections before converging together to reform the solid plane of glass.
That never gets old, Max thought to herself with a laugh.
Settling into the vehicle, Max conducted an extensive search of every compartment she could think of. In effort to uncover the flash drive, she checked; the glove compartment, center console, all of the little pockets and cup holders, in addition to under the seats and behind the visors. Despite the effort, in the end she came up empty handed as nothing of note was uncovered. Falling back into the seat, the hipster swung both of her fists down against the steering wheel in frustration, before being immediately startled by the sound of the horn. In the midst of her frustration, the hipster's swing had become slightly unaligned as she inadvertently hit one horn buttons thereby announcing her presence to anyone in the vicinity.
Making their way toward the entrance to the pool building, Victoria along with Courtney and Taylor, attempted to mingle with other members of the student body as natural as possible. Along the way, checking with the various people working the party to ensure the various functions were operating efficiently as the party was still a Vortex Club sponsored event. Approaching the main doors, Victoria paused to check her phone after feeling a sense of vibration in her pocket. Noting the message was from Max via the commandeered phone, a tinge of nerves surged through the blonde.
Prescott: Car was a bust, omw to the office
That's my girl, Victoria though as she smiled to herself.
Shortly thereafter, no more than a few seconds or steps later; Victoria felt her phone vibrate once again. The level of nerves that had accompanied the initial text was replaced with a subdued level of unease with concern over what could've necessitated a subsequent text in that short of order.
Prescott: office was no good either, omw to you now.
Unable to suppress a frown over her girlfriends lack of success, Victoria and her cohorts passed through the entry way and into the party proper. Greeting their arrival was an influx of thumping base, circulating lights from a disco ball, and the presence of a red hue saturating the entire area. Struggling to navigate their way through a sea of drunken people swerving to the beat, the trio eventually reached a relatively secluded area before being startled by the presence of Punk Max waiting impatiently for their arrival.
"Ahh…Damnit Max," Victoria said while pouting, "don't do that.
"I'm sorry babe," Max said, smiling apologetically, "but I over shot... so I had to wait for you."
Reconvening in order to update the other team members, Max was faced with the challenge of reconfiguring the plan in sort order as a result of the initial phase not proceeding as planned. The initial plan was predicated on the presumption that the search would uncover the flash drive. Therefore, assuming it contained sufficient evidence, the contents would be uploaded to the internet prior to placing an anonymous tip to the authorities. Or rather, if all things enfolded according, that was what the hipster hoped she would do. While informing the police in the event the flash drive was acquired was the favored option of her other team members, there existed a sense within her that outcome wouldn't satisfy her need for justice. Begrudgingly, she went alone with the idea of Victoria and the others, but after what Jefferson had done to Warren, she couldn't deny that part of her wanted to take revenge. Witnessing another die at his hands further stoked the anger that had begun to fester within her, and Max had become afraid of that anger. Ultimately she was scared, if the two of them were alone and she managed to gain the upper hand, she may be tempted by that need for revenge. As of now, the prospects of him going down easy seemed bleak at the moment, and Max realized the two of them would more than likely face off as some point.
"So what now?" Victoria proposed.
"I don't know… we need to find some way to get that flash drive." Max suggested, clearly frustrated by the lack of success thus far.
"Wait... how did you do those searches so fast?" Courtney injected, skeptical the searches could've been completed in that amount of time.
"I can rewind time," the hipster stated bluntly, drawing a look of shock from the blonde. "I did the searches… then rewound to beat you here."
"Alright then… never mind," Courtney muttered, looking sorry she even asked.
"Forget it… how about this…" Max began, attempting to refocus.
At an important juncture, Max was faced with two options; either searching for Jefferson or waiting for his anticipated appearance. Eventually, the decision was made to wait for him to announce the winner as it enabled them to observe their target before being forced to commit to any course of action. Speculating that Jefferson would be far too focused on Victoria to notice much of anything else, it was decided Victoria and company serve as a diversion while Max would use the opportunity to get into position to tail the professor after the announcement. Shortly after their new plan had been established, Jefferson finally emerged to announce the winner of the contest allowing the girls to put their plan in motion.
With the rest of the group on route to VIP section of the Vortex Party, Max broke off diverging from the other girls allotted path, as she began to navigate through the crowd to the familiar beat of "Get Well Soon" by Breton. While making her way through the crowd, Max heard a familiar thud from the other side of the pool before looking to see that someone had fallen in. Peering through the crowd, she was not surprised in the least to see that the unlucky individual was in fact, Alyssa Anderson, as her head reemerged from beneath the surface. Subconsciously raising her right arm, she abruptly pulled her hand back dismissing the notion entirely having become exhausted at the thought. Moving on, the hipster felt a mix of guilt and relief over accepting the idea that she couldn't save everyone.
I guess something are just meant to be, Max thought after sighing at the sight of Alyssa struggling to pull herself out of the pool.
Shortly thereafter, Jefferson emerged onto the DJ stand tapping the microphone to test in functionality as the music cut off.
"I don't want to get in the way of the party," Jefferson started trying not to show the applause actually stroking his ego, "but it's time to announce the winner of the "Everyday Hero's" contest."
Sneaking around the right side of the pool to enter the VIP area unnoticed, Jefferson's speech played out largely the same as it had in the initial timeline. As Max approached the DJ stand, she was surprised that no one had called out to her. Or at least no one that knew her had called out to her; as she passed right by Dana without the other girl offering as much as a second glance. Her disguise was proving to be more effective than she had anticipated. She had however received a few calls from guys as she moved through the crowd, which wasn't an entirely new experience for her but the new look had certainly seemed to make her more susceptible to them.
Max had reached the back of the DJ area just as Victoria was being announced as the winner. Watching from a distance, her initial reaction was one of surprise over differently the encountered played out in comparison to the first time Jefferson had announced her as the winner. If any attempt to lead her away from the party had been made; Max couldn't tell as the blonde had executed the plan perfectly. Victoria thanked everyone, in a much more humble speech than the first time, and promptly exited the stage while ignoring any attempts at conversation from the professor. While he likely hadn't anticipated simply just leading her out to his car, the man probably intended to at least get a read on the blonde. Frustrated over his in ability to act with so many people around, Jefferson abruptly stormed off of the stage.
Max couldn't help but enjoy the exchange she witnessed between the two. With its conclusion, as Jefferson made his way to the exit, Max realized she was slightly out of position. Not wanting to take chances, she decided to rewind back to afford herself additional time. Acting in anticipation of his movements, Max made her way to the outside entrance of the pool building where she intended trail him to a more suitable location. As she stood, waiting for the man to emerge from the exit, a sense of panic came over her as she noted the multitude of bystanders upon surveying the scene. When she and Chloe went to the End of the World party in the original timeline, with the exception on Warren, the surrounding area had been relatively deserted. For whatever reason, that wasn't the case at this Vortex party as there were people loitering about throughout the area. Max hadn't considered this possibility when devising the plan.
Shit! Max thought. This is no good… not with all these people…
Deciding the only option was a last minute change of plans, Max immediately rewound as far back as she could. Reaching for the phone she had commandeered from Prescott, the hipster sent off a couple of quick texts in rapid succession before racing back to the "borrowed" vehicle as fast her skinny legs would take her.
