A Web of Lies, and The Opposite of Skinny Dipping

now playing: every teardrop is a waterfall/coldplay

Summary: Diana sets off for Washington.

"Snack?"

"Check!"

"Pyjamas?"

"Check!"

"Toothbrush and toothpaste!"

"Check!"

Madison and I raced around my room in preparation for the Washington trip. Guilt hung dormant in the air as we threw together a duffel full of everything I would need for the trip, because I may have forgotten to set my alarm, and I may now be late for the bus leaving at the school.

"Your camera and film?"

"Not check." That was probably the most important item I had to bring, yet my Canon sat on the corner of my dresser, waiting to be remembered. I rushed over and stuffed my photography paraphernalia into the side pocket of my duffel. That was about it.

I couldn't help a glance towards my closet. Nightmare uniform? Not check. I was quite against the idea of Nightmare travelling to Washington. It would be too risky- and if Liz's dad became aware that Nightmare was there, he'd naturally look into it, and probably come to the conclusion that I was Nightmare.

So, not check.

I had the advantage. He wouldn't know I attended the trip, mainly because I would be the one behind the camera. Any pictures taken wouldn't be of me.

"Are you sure that the bus leaves at seven-thirty?" Madison questioned me as I balanced my backpack and tote bags on my arms as I raced out the door. "I could have sworn you told me a while ago that it was at eight."

"No," I lied, sliding the sleeve of my backpack painfully back up my arm. "Seven-thirty. I have to leave now if I want to get there in time."

The look Madison gave me was nothing short of bewildered as I teetered impatiently in the doorway. She had eased up lately, and I was glad of it. I wondered if she still thought I had been using drugs away from home. Aside from leaving, and maybe the heavier clothing, and random bruises, I still thought her conclusion was plain conjecture. Hopefully this nerd convention trip would put those thoughts to rest for good.

Speaking of bruises, my arm was no better than the day before. The only change was the initial redness had disappeared, leaving purple splotches along my forearm. I would have preferred not to carry two bags in my current condition, but I had earlier declined Madison's offer to pay for a taxi. Timing was important this morning, because above all else, I had to avoid Liz's father seeing me. I didn't know if he would even be the one dropping her off, but I wasn't going to take that chance.

"Well, just so you know, when you get back, Finch will be here."

I paused in my steps out the door. "Finch is coming?"

Madison nodded. "He's going to be here later tonight. He's off work for a few days, so he'll be staying here. Why do you look so surprised?"

I composed myself with a slight blush that arose from Madison reading me so well. "I just thought you had to work this weekend."

"I do," my sister confirmed. "Finch is going to look after Chewie tonight and tomorrow morning, and then he's staying until Monday. You'll see him when you get back from your trip. Now, you'd better get going if you want to make it on time."

"Right," I said, darting fully out of the door and into the hall. "Bye!"

"Good luck!" Madison yelled from behind me, still in the apartment.

It was barely seven o'clock when I made it outside, and the sun was dipped just below the horizon. I still jogged to the corner of Winter Street, because even though I didn't have to worry about the bus leaving without me since I was a half hour early, I was still meeting Nitara. When I arrived, she had beat me there, and was the sole person standing on the sidewalk. My side of the street was also empty, so we spotted each other easily.

"You ready for this?" Nitara asked me, hauling her four bags along with her as we made the trek to Midtown.

"I am," I said. "All I have to do is photograph you answering questions. So, are you ready?"

"Honestly? No. But if I'm not now, then I don't think I ever will be, so I'm just going to wing it, I guess."

"What are the three levels of outbreaks?"

Nitara's face blanked. "Epidemic. Pandemic. And… oh, god, there are three?"

I suppressed a smile at Nitara's struggle. "Yup. Starts with an E."

"Shoot," Nitara drawled. "No… don't tell me. I'll think of it on the bus."

The bus, it seemed, didn't arrive at the school before we did. The streets were slowly coming alive on out way to Midtown, but when we got there, there were only a couple of cars in the staff parking lot, one of them being Mr. Harrington's green Bug. No one was outside, so he must have been waiting indoors.

"Can we find somewhere to wait? My arms are about to fall off."

I looked over at Nitara, who was holding two bags around her shoulders and two around her wrists. The handles were clearly digging into her skin from the weight of her luggage. "You do know we'll be back by Saturday. This trip is three days, and you brought four bags."

"Sorry that we aren't all perfect like you," Nitara sighed. "Some people are high maintenance and need more than two carry-ons to survive. What did you even pack, anyway? Did you bring your… uniform?"

I stood up straight, proud that I had in fact done the opposite. "Actually, no. Nightmare is staying in New York City. Diana is the one going to Washington."

Nitara didn't look relieved like I was. "Well- what if something happens? What if you need it?"

I stared at her quizzically. "Weren't you just saying how I needed to stop carrying 'the weight of the world'? Well, I stopped. Nightmare can't come to Washington, anyway, or else someone's going to connect the dots."

"No one's going to connect the dots! There's probably hundreds of people from Queens alone in Washington as we speak."

"With my demographics, they will. A five-year-old could connect those dots with their eyes closed."

A third voice came out of nowhere. "Who's connecting dots?"

Nitara and I both spun around to face the one and only Michelle Jones, gripping a singular large backpack and looking at the two of us curiously.

I scrutinized the relatively tall Decathlon member. "How long have you been standing there?"

Michelle blinked. "Since demographics. What dots?"

My mouth went dry. "Um, it's actually not important. And if we told you, uh… I have no doubt you would, like, connect them."

A small curve formed on Michelle's face; the closest I've ever seen her come to a smile. "That I would."

In the span of the next ten minutes, more of the Decathlon team started arriving at the side of the road, all with varying amounts of luggage but none surpassing Nitara's haul. It was around seven-forty when I alerted Mr. Harrison that I would be inside in the washroom.

"Sure thing," he said, granting timid permission. "Just don't be too long. We leave in twenty."

I smiled at the Decathlon leader and raced indoors, and went to the trophy hall and not the bathrooms, because there was no service there. Instead, once I arrived, I texted Nitara.

Let me know when she gets here. Be careful.

Nitara: U got it. Mr. H is gonna wonder why ur in there so long lmao

I sighed. Maybe Mr. Harrington would question my extensive absence, had he been confident and had I been male. Instead, I had a myriad of excuses just from being a female.

Three minutes passed with no word, then four, then ten. I checked the clock hanging from the wall, and it was five to eight. Had Nitara's phone died? Liz had terrible timing.

Footsteps echoed down the empty hallway, and I spun around to be facing Michelle.

"Woah," she said, putting her hands up defensively. "Mr. Harrington just sent me to come find you. We're leaving soon."

"Oh," I spattered, looking at Michelle like an idiot. "I know. I was in the bathroom. I just… needed reception."

Michelle slid her hands into her pockets and slumped against the trophy case, probably smudging the glass beneath her. "You don't have to lie about texting someone. I'm not going to tell Mr. Harrington."

Okay, I thought. I'm hiding out here because the Decathlon's leader's father is out to murder me because I know about his extensive crime syndicate, and he's dropping his daughter off any minute now.

"Thanks." I stiffened. "I was just checking my phone, though. I guess I got carried away."

Michelle, although nonchalant, looked like she wanted to be anywhere but here. "So, did you want to, like, go now? Are you done?"

I was cringing at how I probably looked like a shallow, egotistical popular kid that put her social life above the punctuality of the Decathlon team, but it's not like I could tell the truth. "Yeah. Just…"

At that moment, my phone dinged. Nitara had answered. Ur all good.

"…Let's just get to Washington on time, right?" I covered, sliding my phone into my pocket and heading down the hall to the exit.

Michelle gave me a puzzled look but sauntered behind me. I could feel her eyes on my back, scrutinizing me after that beyond awkward conversation. I knew Michelle wasn't an idiot, and she knew that I knew. My cover was nothing but a transparent blanket that only blurred the real situation, and did nothing to hide it.

Michelle was anything but stupid. She was aware of her surroundings, beyond the physical sense, in the same way I was. She probably watched even more true crime documentaries than me. So, I had no doubt that she could read between the lines and notice that this was nothing but a stupid ruse, and I had to make sure she never got the final piece of information to finish the puzzle.

I broke into a slight sweat as we rejoined the rest of the Decathlon team. What if she didn't need the last piece to see the whole picture?

No. That was a stretch. She couldn't come to a conclusion about Nightmare without me dropping another hint blatant enough to connect the two happenings. And I wasn't even sure that Michelle knew anything at all. The resting inquisitiveness on her face could just be her default demeanour.

Mr. Harrington drowned in relief when he turned to see me arrive alongside Michelle. "Diana! Thank God! You had better not pull that in Washington. What exactly took so long?"

I froze in my steps. "Um. Girl problems."

Ah, the go to answer. Mr. Harrington dropped all interest in the subject after the words left my mouth.

"Yes, okay," he mumbled, losing his composure. "Well, this is everybody. Let's do a roll call. Liz, you're one. Peter, two…"

I turned in surprise to lock eyes for a moment with Peter, and then see a pissed off Flash in my peripheral. He had shown up? Why?

Nitara and I boarded the bus as seven and nine, respectively, and snagged seats directly behind the rest of the group. No sooner had the bus left the parking lot did Liz start shooting out practice questions, even while most people were still waking up from the early morning.

It was almost ridiculous how easy some of the answers were, and when Nitara hit a bump in the road, I would nudge her with the answer if I knew it. It made sense. I was more academically inclined to sciences, while Nitara didn't hold back from geographical and political questions. It made me wonder how she struggled to remember outbreak levels.

I was certainly no expert on current events. Learning from the past was a more viable method of planning for the future, but Nitara had an opposite philosophy that I liked to call winging it. So, it was no surprise that she slacked in history as well. But, to my surprise, she made up for it with her musical knowledge.

It occurred to me then that I had never really seen the Decathlon, much less Nitara, in action. Peter wasn't fond of photographing them for yearbook after he quit the team.

Peter, in a moment between questions, strode to the back of the bus with his phone to his ear. His tone was hushed, and I wondered who it could be before stopping myself.

Don't be weird. He can talk to other people.

Why was I weirded out by him talking to other people? It was probably his aunt. He never hung around with anybody else except for Liz and sometimes Michelle.

Did I have a reason to worry? And about what, exactly?

Peter slowly made his way back to his seat, but as he passed the seats Nitara and I shared, I put my hand on his arm and stopped him in his tracks.

"Hey," I whispered under the chaos of the next question. "I thought you weren't coming. You know, your internship?"

Peter didn't sit down, but stood dormant in the aisle. "I got tomorrow and the weekend off, actually," he said. "It was last minute. But it's still good that you came. Mr. Harrington wants me on the team."

My eyebrows shot up. "Really? But does that mean you're replacing Nitara?"

Peter shook his head. "No. Flash is back to first alternate."

I stifled a laugh and stole a glance at Flash's bored posture at the front of the bus. It wasn't saddening at all to see him miss a chance to inflate his ego so much that it would pop.

I grinned. "Well. I'll be catching you in action. Flash gets enough pictures in the yearbook for clubs as it is."

"Endemic!" Nitara blurt out, shocking Peter and I and the students in the two rows ahead of us, as they turned their heads in shock. "…Sorry."

My grin turned into a sly smirk. "Took you long enough."

Peter drummed his fingers on the top of the seats he was leaned upon. "I gotta get back in on the action. I haven't practiced in a while, you know."

I nodded. "Are we still on for Sunday night?"

Peter nodded. "No matter what. I have the weekend off, I'll make sure of it."

I was soaked by a wave of reassurance. "Go get 'em, tiger."

Peter dashed back to his seat with Ned closer to the front of the bus.

I hated the constant reassurance I seeked. What was that, the third time this week I had confirmed Sunday with Peter? He was so rarely available that I didn't want this chance to get away from me. And I was now pretty sure I was coming off as annoyingly adamant about it.

If I gave Peter space, I was sure he would just disappear again.

I could almost hear Madison in the back of my head with her shitty relationship advice. 'If you love something, let it go'. There were so many situations where this rule didn't consider external forces. If I let Peter go, he would just get pulled away, and I would only be able to watch him get dragged off into the distance.

Was it even safe for me to keep him around? Was I being selfish? Hell, I had nearly gotten my friends killed by being myself. If the secret about Nightmare got out, everyone I know would be in danger, no doubt. So if I loved Peter, why would I put him in that kind of danger?

If I loved Peter.

We weren't even dating. I was moving way too goddamn fast.

I guess him being dragged away and in danger induced by my identity canceled each other out. Which left me back at square one.

I buried my face in my hands. Relationships were aggravatingly stressful, and more stress was the last thing that I needed right now.

"D," Nitara spoke, her voice low compared to when answering the questions. "What happened to your arm?"

I glanced up from my palms to see my sleeves bunched together at my elbows.

I cursed the fundamental law of gravity.

"It's from work," I quipped, fixing my sleeve and buttoning the cuff together to stop that from happening again. That was careless. What if Madison were the one to see that? I had already pulled the work card once with her, and even with Finch to back me up, I doubted the same excuse would work again.

Nitara raised a disbelieving eyebrow. "Do you really expect me to believe that? Are you sure it isn't from that tree you fell into?"

My blood froze. Shit, did I tell Nitara about the tree part of Tuesday night? It sounded like it. I had been trying to avoid revealing the dangerous details of missions that she wasn't present for, which was most of the time, because all my best friend did was worry about what I was getting myself into.

"You know, I don't actually remember," I said, any sense of previous sangfroid ejecting itself from my body and up to the heavens. "I hit it at work a few days ago." Lie. "But I probably roughed it up more from that, now that you mention it."

I clenched my teeth as Nitara scanned the rest of me with analytical eyes, like she had x-ray vision or something. I probably- no, definitely- needed to stop vacillating between work and Nightmare, at least with Nitara. But that brought me back to her safety. Being close to what I did only put her in unnecessary danger, and if she got hurt because of following me somewhere, how would I live with myself knowing that she wouldn't have if I had listened to her and stopped fighting Vulture?

I wasn't just getting deeper into his crime syndicate. I could totally picture him sending a hitman to my door if he ever uncovered my identity, but beside that, I was getting deeper into an empty cesspool of lies. If I was going to deceive people, I needed to at least do it right.

I could tell that there was concern laced within Nitara's next words that were used to lighten the mood. "You sure you didn't hit your head on the way down from that tree?"

I shrugged and looked out the window across the aisle, wanting desperately to escape her gaze. "If I did, I wouldn't remember, would I?"

Nitara leaned back, tuning out the questions coming from Liz at the front of the bus. "Very funny."

I relaxed a bit in the seat, not at all comfortable with how I alleviated the situation. I needed to come up with a new alibi, one that could explain to anyone why I always had the shit beat out of me. But no matter what I could come up with, Nitara would never stop trying to make me stop.

For now, it would be a thought to ponder.

The bus arrived in Washington half an hour late, thanks to Flash losing his phone at a food stop. The rooms in the hotel were three floors up, and I felt out of place in my casual clothes and ragged backpack walking through the eloquent halls to the Decathlon rooms. More out of place than I usually did, considering that I was the only student here not on the team.

We passed a pool on our way up to the rooms. Nitara nudged me. "Yo. Imagine jumping from this balcony to the pool."

I gave her a look of disgust that Madison would be proud of. "Are you stupid?"

Nitara just laughed. "Did you bring a swimsuit?"

I elected to give Nitara a deadpan stare instead of answer her question, and when she gazed back at me questioningly, I held up my gloved hands and she let out a little oh. A side effect from Vulture's fantastic gift was that on top of forcing me to forsake all my crop tops, swimming in public would never happen for me again unless I was in a wetsuit. Perhaps I could take up diving.

Our room was the first down the long corridor reserved for the Decathlon, and Nitara used the room key to swing the door open. Inside was a room as big as my apartment, with a television mounted on the wall across from two queen sized beds with cushioned headboards almost as tall as me.

"Woah."

Nitara and I had spoken in unison. I flicked on the light, and Nitara rushed over to the other side of the room to peel back the curtains and reveal the late afternoon Washington D.C. Cars sped down streets with a multitude of lights, and in the distance, a tall obelisk poked above the surrounding buildings. In the distance were gray clouds, but above us, a blue sky shone brightly.

"Check this out," Nitara said, picking up a pamphlet from the nightstand. "We can get room service for supper!"

I dropped my bag at the door and rushed to see what was so exciting that Nitara was looking at. Sure enough, whole meals were offered on the room service card.

I flipped through the prices on each meal, which were all kind of outrageous. Nitara looked at me as though she had read my mind. "Don't worry. It said on the field trip form that meals were paid for."

I gasped. "And this trip was already free in the first place. Since when does Midtown funding go towards stuff other than sports?"

Nitara kicked off her shoes and did a swan dive onto the bed farthest from the door. "I don't know," she said, her voice muffled from the giant duvet. "But I'm glad it is."

A knock sounded at our partially closed door, and Mr. Harrington poked his head through the crack. "Hello, ladies. Just wanted to let you know that you have free time until you have to be back in your rooms by nine. That's when I'll be making rounds. Make sure you know where you're going, and don't go anywhere alone."

As he said those words, Michell stalked by behind him, not sparing a glance. Mr. Harrison decided to ignore her.

"Got it," I said, in turn for Nitara, who supplied nothing more than a crooked thumbs up.

Mr. Harrison nodded and gave an awkward wave before heading to the next room.

"Well," I said, laying on my back on my own bed. "What should we do first?"

Walking around the streets of Washington with Nitara was one of the most liberating activities I had done in a while. I didn't need to worry about Vulture being around, I didn't need to worry about crime on the streets, and I didn't have Madison breathing down my back or nagging me to not go anywhere unsafe. So, when I arrived back to the room with Nitara at five to nine, I felt pretty good about myself for actually being responsible on my own accord.

It wasn't until ten after nine that another knock sounded on the door.

"I got it last time," I told Nitara, who reluctantly rolled out of bed and hit the floor with a dramatic thump before sludging over to the door and seeing who was there.

"Liz!" I heard her exclaim.

I craned my head to look over at the door. Liz stood in a swimsuit with a towel over her shoulder, and nervously looked to the sides of the halls while speaking to Nitara.

"You guys! We're going swimming. You should come."

Nitara perked up. "Swimming?"

Liz nodded fervently. "Yeah. The pool's supposed to be closed, so no one's down there. It's all to ourselves. Group activities are, um, good for morale."

I could tell Liz was saying that to convince herself of those words just as much as Nitara and I, judging by her nervous jitters.

"Yes!" Nitara said, speaking for the both of us. "We'll be down soon. We'll meet you."

Liz rocked on her heels and bit her lip. "Okay! See you soon."

Nitara closed the door and looked so happy, her head could explode. "Diana!"

I smiled at her. "You go. Have fun."

Nitara rolled her eyes. "I'm getting changed, and then you're coming anyway. I don't care if you swim. But we're going down there together! It'll be fun!"

Before I had a chance to object, Nitara grabbed her bag and dashed into the bathroom.

Could I go swimming? It had been forever since I had last gone. I had brought Nitara to my sister Anne's new house north of the city, that had a lake, and we had swam in there, but that was in June. I didn't have any clothes that I trusted to not turn see through when wet or float above the water and expose my back. I didn't want to get my current jacket wet, either, because I knew from experience that it took just short of forever to dry.

"Ready!" Nitara squealed, hopping out of the bathroom in a two-piece.

I stared at her. "You actually brought a swimsuit?"

Nitara grinned and pulled me up off the bed by my arm. "You never know when you'll need to go swimming."

My brow furrowed as I was pulled out of the door against my will, barely remembering to grab the room key in Nitara's haste. "Um, actually, I feel like you would."

Down by the pool, Flash and Liz were splashing water at each other next to the wall, and a few other students were racing down the far length. Nitara made a running jump for the deep end of the pool, making her presence known with a fairly large cannonball, and nearly managed to land on top of Michelle, who shielded the book in her hands with her body to keep it from getting wet from the splash.

Ned was the only one out of the water, and I had to admit, he looked a little lost. I glanced around and did a double take of the pool, only to find no presence of Peter.

I sauntered up to Ned with my hands in my pockets and watched Nitara swim towards the group racing. "No Peter, huh?"

Ned finally noticed me standing next to him, and looked up from his Adirondack chair. "Diana! Peter's actually, um… he doesn't… know how to swim."

Peter couldn't swim? I stifled a laugh. "That… sucks. Are you sure he doesn't want to come down anyway? I mean, I'm not planning on going in the water, either."

Ned stared off into the pool. "Yeah, he's actually just really worried about tomorrow, so he slept early tonight."

I sneaked a glance at Ned's watch. "It's nine fifteen."

Ned nodded. "Yup." He popped the 'p',

Okay… weird. I knew Peter didn't like to be around people all that much, but I wouldn't have pictured him leaving Ned to do his own thing. Those two were weirdly attached at the hip.

Another moment passed before I resumed the conversation. "So, how about you? Are you feeling good about tomorrow?"

Ned shrugged. "I've actually been worried this entire trip."

I sat on the wide armrest. "You don't have to be, you know. You're going to kill it. Especially with Flash back on first alternate."

Flash must have heard that, because he shot me a questionable look from the water and sent a wave flying my way. Fortunately, it only reached my feet. "Shove it, Bennet."

"That's not actually what I'm worried about," Ned sighed, then immediately wiped the somber expression off his face and replaced it with one of shock. "I-I just mean, I get worried when I travel. Washington is pretty far from New York."

I nodded in agreement. "I guess that's fair. If you want, I can take a picture now. You can be in it. Traveling can be fun."

Ned shrugged. "If you want."

I took my camera off from around my neck, where I had kept it from walking around the city earlier, and stood back a bit. I made sure to get Ned in the frame as the other students realised what I was doing. "On three."

Flash swam up to the edge of the water with Liz grasping her hands on his back, and she said, "Don't you want us to say something? Decathlon?"

I shrugged a shoulder as I adjusted the contrast. "If you want."

Liz waved over the racers and Michelle. "You guys, get in!"

Flash grinned as I snapped the picture. "It sure is a good thing Parker decided to make the slip for tonight. I mean, it's like he was never here."

Liz jumped off Flash's back and rolled her eyes at him. "You obsess over him a little too much."

I put the camera down on Ned's armchair. "You guys should know that if that goes in the yearbook, Mr. Harrison will find out about this."

Liz actually laughed. "Don't worry. I'll be gone by then."

Right. This was Liz's senior year.

"That doesn't go for the rest of us!" Nitara said, but her voice was lighthearted. "In that case, Peter will be the one off the hook."

Flash waved me over. "Bennet! You wanna grab me my water bottle?"

I looked over to where Flash pointed, and out of the kindness of my heart, picked it up and walked over to the edge of the pool where he waited with his hand out.

"Go crazy," I said, passing it to him. In one slick motion, Flash went to grab his water bottle, but reached above it and wrapped his hand around my wrist. "What-"

I couldn't get another word in edgewise as I was pulled into the freezing pool water, fully clothed.

"Flash!" I sputtered, emerging from the deep waters. "You fucker-"

I was cut off when he pressed my head down into the water again.

I was pulled back up by a laughing Nitara. Flash had started to backstroke away from us. "You've got to learn how to have fun, Diana!"

"You're so lucky I put my camera down!" I seethed, now absolutely soaked from head to toe.

In my current state, I was all of a sudden glad that Peter had neglected to show up. I struggled to stay afloat before getting a perpetual tread going, while Flash laughed in the background. "You could take off your jacket, you know."

I scoffed at Flash. First, he pushes me into the water, then expects me to listen to what he has to say. "And you could take off your douchiness, yet here we are."

I received a splash of water to the face, but at this point, I didn't care.

Nitara swam up to me. "D, you're already in the water. You might as well have some fun."

I sighed. It wasn't like my jacket was going to magically dry the second I stepped out of the water. I checked the buttons, making sure that it was closed tight around my waist, and decided, yes, I may as well swim.

A/N

I wrote this instead of starting an overdue essay. Hope you enjoyed :)