Pricefield - Time Warriors

Chapter 7: The New Queens Of Blackwell

One second I was dreaming about my childhood with Chloe; pirates, adventures, happy fun stuff. The next, I found myself back in the Dark Room tied to that fucking chair again. Jefferson was leering at me from across the room. He just stood there, taking picture after picture, while laughing at me. I knew it was only a nightmare but that didn't stop me from panicking at the very real sensation of my wrists being bound with tape exactly how they were when I was actually here. I began flailing my arms and twisting my hands in an attempt to get myself free. My breathing started speeding up and becoming more erratic the harder I struggled. I vaguely felt my arm make contact with something nearby but considering I had other things on my mind I didn't pay it any attention. Jefferson continued to laugh as I fought against my restraints. That's when I felt myself being shaken violently. At first I thought it was the storm shaking the bunker, in my panicked state I didn't register how little sense that would've made since it was underground. Then I looked up at the ceiling, and saw... not the ceiling? I blinked, trying to focus on the weird shape above me. Blinking a few more times, I realized it was Victoria's face. I heard her saying something. My name, perhaps? That must've been it. I looked away for a split second in my confusion and that's when I suddenly noticed Jefferson was now leaning over me with his predatory grin. He whispered into my ear, "You put on a brave face for your friends, Max. But you can't fool me. I see right through you. You're terrified of me. You know that you can't escape me, Max. I'm a part of you now." He looked up at the face of Victoria peering down from above and sighed. "I guess that's all for our session today. Until next time, Max." Then he raised the syringe held in his hand and brought it to my neck. The feeling of it sinking into my skin was enough to force me to wake up, my eyes instantly snapping open.

I just laid there and focused solely on getting my breathing back under control. After a minute or so, I began to pay more attention to my other senses. That's when I began feeling something soft pressed up against me. I turned my head slightly and blinked. Victoria was laid next to me and staring at me with concern in her eyes. It took several seconds for my brain to kick back into gear and take stock of the situation. Victoria wasn't just laid next to me. She was in my bed. With her entire body curled up against me, except for the one hand currently rubbing her chin.

Victoria noticed that I'd finally come out of my nightmare and cleared her throat. "You okay, Maxine?"

I was too frazzled to lie. Groaning, I replied with a quiet, "Not at all."

Her brow furrowed slightly. "Want to talk about it?"

I shook my head. "I'd rather not. At-least not yet, it's too fresh."

She nodded at me and thankfully dropped it.

I turned my head to look her in the eyes and raised an eyebrow at her. "What I do want to talk about though is, um... You know you're spooning me, right?"

Victoria yelped and scrambled to extricate herself, which resulted in her falling unceremoniously out of my bed.

I heard a snort coming from across the room and spotted Kate laid on my couch, peeping out of one eye.

I smiled at Kate and then leaned over the edge of my bed to watch Victoria, her face beet red, trying to sink into the floor. Things were starting to make a lot more sense with both of them in my room. I figured they thought none of us should sleep alone and if my nightmare was any indication, they were right. Glancing towards the window, I noticed that the sun had only just started peeking over the horizon and now that I was on my own, I became acutely aware of how I was still trembling from head to toe.

I huffed. "I didn't say you could stop, Vic."

Her head snapped up to look at me with wide eyes. I didn't think she could blush any harder but she did. All she could stammer out was, "I- uh... what?"

I rolled my eyes at her. "Relax Vic, I'm just teasing you. But, um-" I blushed slightly. "It was kinda nice and once you stopped I realized how much I was still shaking-" I held out a hand to show her. "See? So I'd appreciate it if you'd hold me again like you were doing before."

Victoria hesitated a little before nodding at me. She stood up and reluctantly crawled back into my bed, then slowly curled her arms around me.

I shuffled further back into her embrace and sighed contentedly, not caring how awkward it felt. Right now I just needed the company.

I heard Victoria's breath hitch. She froze for a second before relaxing and pulling me closer.

I yawned. "So, why are both of you in my room? I mean, I can probably guess but I assume there's a story to go with it?"

Victoria groaned, her breath tickling my neck slightly.

Kate giggled from the couch. "Well, I couldn't sleep much at all. Granted, I've barely been able to sleep recently anyway because of, you know... Anyway, I was tossing and turning in the middle of the night when I heard Victoria muttering in her sleep, loud enough to hear through the wall. From what I could gather, she was having a nightmare of her own. So I panicked and went to go wake her up-"

Victoria snorted. "That's an understatement. She practically broke my door down trying to get in, since it was locked. Thankfully the noise was loud enough to wake me up so I let her in. She offered to keep me company but then we thought of you being on your own without Chloe and decided none of us should sleep alone."

Kate spoke up again. "Yeah. So, we came into your room and... well, since I still probably wasn't going to get any sleep done, I took the couch and suggested Victoria sleep next to you so that you could keep each other company." I didn't need to look to know she was smirking. "At first she just awkwardly hung off the edge of the bed but once she fell back to sleep, she kinda naturally gravitated towards you, as if you were a big teddy bear. So clearly she needed the company."

I grinned to myself. "Well, I think there's enough room for you to join us, Kate. I don't want you to feel left out. We'll have to get up soon anyway so you might as-well take the opportunity while you can."

I tilted my head to look at Kate out of the corner of my eye. I could tell she was blushing but appeared to be considering it. After a moment, she nodded to herself and cautiously made her way over. The bed shifted slightly as she got in. I felt Victoria stiffen when, I assume, Kate shuffled closer to her. Though like me, it didn't take long for her to relax into it. Kate hummed happily and then whispered, "Wow, this really is nice, isn't it?" Causing all of us to start laughing.

A couple of minutes later, we all managed to fall asleep, Kate included. None of us had any nightmares this time.

Sadly, we couldn't stay asleep forever. My 7am alarm blaring made sure of that.

I momentarily forgot that my bed had other people in it. Frustrated with my alarm, I blindly reached over to turn it off... Accidentally groping Victoria in the process. I didn't even realize where my hand was until Kate had turned the alarm off herself and began giggling uncontrollably. I cracked open an eye and saw what she was giggling at. I withdrew my hand, staring at it in horror as I felt myself turning red in embarrassment. That certainly woke me up a lot faster than my alarm ever could. Thankfully, Victoria was a heavy sleeper and neither the alarm nor my groping had woken her up.

I turned to look at Kate with a mock-glare and muttered, "Don't say a word, Kate. This never happened, understood?"

Kate glanced at Victoria's still-sleeping form and back to me before smirking. "Of-course. It'll be our secret, Max."

I rolled my eyes and slowly extricated myself from Victoria's grasp, then climbed out of the bed, careful not to wake her. Not that it mattered because as soon as Kate did the same, Victoria immediately began to stir.

Smirking at Kate, I leaned in and whispered in her ear. "Interesting how she wakes up the instant you're no longer spooning her, isn't it?"

Now it was Kate's turn to blush. Rather than giving me the satisfaction of a reply, she simply swatted me on the arm instead.

Victoria sat up and yawned. "What time is it?"

Stretching my arms, I replied, "7am. Just enough time to shower and get ready before we head out to breakfast."

She nodded and made her way towards the door.

Kate smiled at me and said, "See you in the shower room, I guess." Then followed Victoria out into the hallway.

Now that I was alone, first thing's first, I got out my phone and texted Chloe.

Long Max Silver: "Wakey, Wakey, Eggs And Bakey! :D" 07:32am

Captain Bluebeard: "Ugh, already?" 07:32am

Captain Bluebeard: "AND NO EMOJI!" 07:33am

Long Max Silver: "Get your ass up and I'll stop. :)" 07:33am

Captain Bluebeard: "Fine! I'm awake now. When am I picking you up?" 07:34am

Long Max Silver: "Be here for 8am. We should be ready by then." 07:34am

Captain Bluebeard: "Will do, Max. See you soon." 07:35am

With that taken care of, I scrolled through social media for a little while then grabbed my shower caddy and headed off to the shower room. When I got there, Victoria was in the middle of brushing her teeth, having already showered. Grabbing my own toothbrush, I stepped up to the sink beside her.

Victoria stopped brushing and glanced at me. "Caulfield."

I looked behind us and saw all the shower stalls were empty, then turned to face her with an eyebrow raised. "There's nobody in the showers. You don't need to be like that, Vic."

She huffed. "Yes I do. You didn't see everyone's faces when I knocked on Kate's door yesterday. I can't afford to drop the Queen Bitch persona, it'll be social suicide."

I sighed. "Actually I did see their faces. I uh... Froze time when I opened the door, so that I could see what the situation was. Fuck them. It obviously took you a lot of guts to do what you did in-front of everyone, Vic. I can't say I understand the whole social ladder crap but as far as I'm concerned, that doesn't mean you have to be something you're not. Especially not when we have more important things to worry about." I shot her a pointed look so she knew what I was talking about. "The way you let down all your walls with me, Kate and Chloe was, honestly, amazing. If you want to be better than before, if you want to be nicer than before, then do it. Be the person you want to be, not the one everybody thinks you are."

It's easy to tell when Victoria has her mask on and when she's dropped all her defences. The way she holds herself, the way she stands, the way she expresses herself, even the way she talks all changes. This time was no exception, as she stood there absorbing what I'd said, her walls gradually dropped and the mask came off. She glanced around again before pulling me into a quick hug then practically fled the room. Not fast enough to hide the sniffle I heard, though.

Sighing, I finished brushing my teeth and jumped into the shower. Ten minutes later, I hopped out, dried and walked back to my room. Once inside, I rifled through my wardrobe, picking out a t-shirt featuring a doe on a white background and a pair of jeans. Along with my usual grey hoodie, of-course. The exact same outfit I wore last time around. Not my fault I only have like four different t-shirts. Okay, it is, but still!

Shaking myself out of my thoughts, I got changed and grabbed my bag, making sure my camera was inside. Then I walked back out into the hallway and spotted Kate coming back from the shower room. She stopped at her door and told me, "I'll be ready in a few minutes, Max. Go see if Victoria's done yet."

I nodded at her and walked over to Victoria's door. Taking a deep breath, I knocked. "Vic, it's me. Are you ready?"

I heard Victoria sigh from inside before she spoke up, "Come in, Maxine. I... need your help with something."

Steeling myself for whatever was waiting on the other side, I opened her door and quickly stepped inside.

What I saw next stopped me in my tracks. Victoria was standing there in the middle of her room wearing an outfit that was nothing like she usually wore. Her walls were completely down and I'd have noticed sooner if I wasn't so shocked at the outfit. She looked totally different. Her insecurity was on full display, she looked so small and vulnerable. I had to mentally slap myself when she mistook my shocked staring for... something else, I'm not sure what, and began hugging her arms around herself.

I groaned and took a step forward. "Sorry, Vic. I didn't mean to look so, uh... shocked. I just wasn't expecting that."

She lifted her head up to look at me. "That's kind of the point. What you said in the shower room really got to me and... well, if I want to change and leave my Queen Bitch persona behind, I figured why not wear the cheapest outfit I have? Honestly, I've been wearing this mask for most of my life so I don't even know what's really 'me' any-more. I know I'm rich as fuck but dressing like it was just a part of my persona so I'd rather not continue that trend, you know?"

I nodded and finally gave Victoria a proper look over. Gone was the designer make-up, expensive cashmere shirt, jewellery and skirt. In it's place was a very insecure Victoria wearing no make-up at all, a plain yellowish t-shirt, no jewellery and a pair of jeans. Once I'd taken it all in, I spoke. "It's not actually that bad, Vic. It'll do for now until you can find something more your style. Once you figure out what that is. This contrast between old and new is a good way to show everyone that you really are trying to change. I know how insecure you must be feeling right now so a word of advice. Don't be like I was before all this shit happened, don't let people walk all over you. If you have it in you to fight back without slipping the mask back on, go right ahead. If you don't, just say the word and I'll kick their fucking asses for you, okay?"

Victoria blinked, then gave me a genuine smile. "Thanks, Maxine. I'll be out in a minute."

I threw her a small smile back and nodded, then headed back out into the hallway. Kate chose that moment to do the same and I had to do a double-take. Even she had decided to change what she was wearing. She wandered over and awkwardly shuffled her feet before muttering. "Is this too much?"

I blinked, looking her up and down. She'd swapped out her usual dress outfit for a regular t-shirt featuring a rabbit eating a carrot, a pair of jeans and apparently a denim jacket. That one was the most surprising change. The most shocking one, however, was I noticed a distinct lack of a cross around her neck.

I hummed. "I think it really suits you, Kate. The denim jacket is a nice touch. I think Chloe is already being a good-bad influence on you."

She giggled at that.

I cleared my throat and asked, "Just one question. I don't mean to pry but uh... Why did you take off your necklace?"

I watched as Kate swallowed and moved her hand to clutch at the now missing necklace. She caught herself and groaned before responding. "Let's just say... Now that I know that the truth is worse than what I first thought, I'm having a little trouble keeping my faith." She growled in frustration before continuing. "Especially when most of my f-fucking family will end up treating me even worse once they find out what really happened to me. I'm done being controlled by them."

She started to tremble the more she got herself worked up, so I just dove in for a hug. She practically squeezed me to death trying to ground herself. When she finally let go, I said, "You know, Victoria's changed her style too. I feel like I'm the only one who hasn't." I looked down at my outfit and sighed. "I'm not the shy hipster I used to be. You know what? Screw it, I don't have much in my wardrobe but I'll be right back."

I spun on my heel and stomped back into my room, threw off everything, exchanging the doe t-shirt with the black moth-butterfly t-shirt I had on when I was trapped in the Dark Room. "I was going to burn this but that won't undo the damage he caused. I lost my innocence because of him. I wore this when he broke me. Now I'll wear this when I break him. How fitting." I thought to myself in anger. I swapped out the blue jeans and hoodie for the black jeans and cream-coloured button shirt I wore in San Francisco. This was as 'different' as I could get.

I sighed, then stepped back out into the hallway where Kate was patiently waiting.

Kate looked at my changed outfit and nodded. "Nice, Max. I think that represents your new personality pretty well, honestly. Darker but also more confident. I like it."

I grinned at her. "Thanks, Kate. It's the best I could do, really."

Victoria chose that moment to leave her room, capturing Kate's attention and subsequently causing her jaw to hit the floor in surprise.

I giggled. "I had the same reaction, Kate."

Victoria rolled her eyes. "If you're done staring, can we go now?"

I turned to Victoria and spoke up. "Oh by the way, I was originally going to suggest you drive with Kate in your car but if you're committing fully to the whole non-rich thing, I'm sure there's enough space for all of us in Chloe's truck."

Victoria groaned. "Fuck. Do I really have to choose between my fancy sports car and Chloe's rusty deathtrap?"

I smirked at her. "Hey, it was your idea not mine."

She sighed. "Okay, fine. Normally I wouldn't even go near Chloe's truck but... I'd be rather out of place wearing this while riding a sports car, don't you think? So I'll, reluctantly, pick Chloe's truck."

I nodded. "Good choice, Vic."

She rolled her eyes at that. "Whatever. I hope you're both ready for the entire school population to be staring at us. I'm certainly not-" She muttered under her breath, "I'm shaking like a fucking leaf here."

I watched as Kate glanced down at Victoria's hand, bit her lip and hesitated for a second, then grabbed it with her own.

Victoria's eyebrows shot into her hair as she looked at Kate who was very quickly starting to blush. "What are you doing?"

Kate blushed even harder as she stammered out a response. "S-Stopping you from shaking. You may care what people think-" She gained a bit of resolve and pushed forward. "But I don't. Not any-more. So fuck them. If you don't want me to-"

Victoria suddenly cut her off. "I do. Uh... want you to."

Kate blinked, then nodded.

I snorted. "Okay, now that's been dealt with, let's go show Blackwell who's boss. Just because you're not Queen Bitch any-more doesn't mean you aren't still in charge. In-fact I'd go as far as saying all three of us are."

Victoria rolled her eyes at me. "I think that rewind power of yours really has gone to your head."

I smirked back at her. "You know what? I'm not even going to deny that because it's probably true. Still, it'd be nice if you shared yours with us. It's only fair, since we're all helping each other through this shit."

Victoria groaned. "Fine. Blackwell will have three queens by the time we're done with it."

With that said, we finally began walking down the hallway and took a collective deep breath before heading outside.

Almost immediately, heads turned and people started staring at us. Most of them focused on Victoria, though. In a bizarre turn of events, me and Kate were the ones shooting glares back at those who dared to stare in our direction, while Victoria was struggling to keep her head held high and was pointedly avoiding eye contact with everyone.

Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted Taylor and Courtney making their way over to us. Both of them had vastly different expressions on their faces. A smiling Taylor reached us first. "Well shit, I never thought I'd actually see the day."

We all stopped as Victoria turned to face Taylor and managed to give her a small smile. "Yeah, Sweet-T. Queen Bitch is dead. Now it's just Queen Victoria."

Taylor smirked. Of-course. You've ranted about doing this for so long but you never actually did it... Until now. What gives?"

Victoria shrugged. "You've always been a great friend, Taylor. Not like everyone else who only got close to me so they could be a part of the 'elite', so to speak. I had a little help from a few others besides you that gave me enough of a kick up the ass to actually take the plunge."

Taylor glanced at me and Kate, then nodded at Victoria.

Courtney finally reached us with a frown on her face. "What the fuck are you wearing, Victoria? And why are you hanging out with these losers? Did you hit your head or something?"

Victoria didn't respond. Courtney flinched slightly from the glares me and Kate gave her, while Taylor looked ready to rip her throat out right there and then.

Since nobody else was speaking, I decided to. "Courtney. You call us losers but we are Victoria's friends. Real friends, unlike you who clearly used her just so that you could climb the stupid social ladder. Well, things are changing at Blackwell and not to toot my own horn or anything but I think at this point me and Kate are much higher on that ladder than you are. Now get the fuck out of our face before one of us does something we won't regret."

Courtney frowned and stepped forward at that. "Who the fuck do you think you are? You can't talk to me like that-"

Victoria looked up and glared so harshly that Courtney almost fell on her ass. "They can if I say they can. And I say they can. But just so the message is clear, I'll say it myself. Despite my new appearance, I still run this shithole. I just won't be treating everyone like shit while doing so. Only those who actually deserve it. Fakers like you, for instance. Oh by the way, you're out of the Vortex Club. Now get out of my sight, Courtney."

It was immensely satisfying to watch Courtney's jaw drop. "Y-You can't just kick me out of the Vortex! I'm one of the board members!"

Victoria smirked. "Actually, I can. I founded the Vortex Club, and ultimately my word is law. A majority vote isn't really necessary, we just do that to give people like you the illusion of control, when you have none. Also, since I'm changing my ways, I'll be changing the Vortex Club accordingly. You'll be gone, and so will Nathan, who I only allowed to be the co-founder because of his daddy's monetary backing, which again I don't need and as the Vortex Club was originally my idea, I still outrank him. For too long did I let idiots run the Vortex Club into the ground. That stops now. Goodbye, Courtney."

Bombshell dropped, the three of us walked past her with Taylor bringing up the rear, laughing her head off while Courtney sat on the ground staring after us in shock.

I looked at Victoria and cleared my throat. "You okay there, Vic?"

She shrugged in response. "I think so. The only reason I tolerated Courtney for so long is because she was eager to do my homework for me. Again, she'd do anything to climb the social ladder. Funny thing is, she was only the Vortex Club's secretary. A role I invented just to keep her busy dealing with all our crap. I've been waiting for a reason to drop her like a rock and I figured this was as good a time as any."

Taylor snorted at that. "Is it true what you said about the Vortex Club? Do you really have full control?"

Victoria hummed. "Honestly, I'm not sure. It was my idea to create it though and I have my reasons for wanting Nathan gone – Sorry, it's private, Sweet-T – So if he tries to resist then... I'll just have to fight him for it. Or I could disband and recreate it again without him. Either way, I'm tightening my grip on it, regardless of if my new personality ruins my social standing or not."

Taylor sighed. "Hopefully it doesn't but even if it does, screw what anyone else thinks so long as you are happy."

Victoria smiled and gave her a one-armed hug. "Thanks, Sweet-T. We're heading off to breakfast but I'll catch you later, okay?"

Taylor nodded and said goodbye before turning around to do whatever it is Taylor does in her free time.

At this point we'd almost reached the parking lot and after the encounter with Taylor and Courtney, Victoria appeared a lot more confident. Her head was held high and she had a small smile etched on her face.

After a minute of waiting, Chloe's truck came screeching to a halt next to us. She raised her eyebrows upon noticing our new appearances. Her mouth was still hanging open by the time we'd all squashed ourselves into the truck and closed the door.

I rolled my eyes at her. "Chloe you can stop staring now. Drive. Two Whales. Food. You can question us later."

Chloe blinked, then turned to face forward. She twisted the ignition and smirked at Victoria's groan when the truck struggled to come to life. Eventually, she managed to get the truck to start and, laughing like a maniac, burned rubber before firing like a rocket out of the parking lot. Typical Chloe.