Chapter XIV: Dances of Different Kinds - Saturday/Tuesday


AN:

Hey there, Fan-fic-folks!

Uh, author note, author note... *pats down pockets* I knew I put one around here somewhere... Darn. Nevermind. I guess you'll just have to make do with another update instead. :)

Oh, and I have a question for y'all. If you had a time machine about the size of an Iphone that could take you 30,000 years into the past or future, and teleport you to any lat-long coordinates of your choice while doing so, where would you go? I've got a time travel story planned, and I'm curious if there's anything in particular y'all would want from it. (For those of you who've seen this already, I'm just gonna be copy-pasting it onto every post I make until I manage to upload this planned story.)

Thanks for reading and, as always, please review.

Hithilion:

I definitely will. Half out of interest, and half because I'm an obsessive completionist who can't bear to leave things unfinished. Every story I post will be completed at some point, even if it isn't terribly soon.

Guest:

That's a vote for the future. Thanks, guest!

Scarletcream:

Yeah, it's been great fun to write that. I'm trying to build those two up a little more for a possible future story moment. I think there'll be a little more Chloe in the next few chapters. She does feature a little more with Rachel in this one, although less with Max now.

Momijifan Low-Ki:

Six of one, half a dozen of the other, I expect. :) I've been trying to keep Max's feelings about Rachel somewhat... vague and less well-expressed, part of the whole emotional-stunting-from-the-island thing. I have a couple ideas on where that might be going though, so stay tuned.

Aaron Leach:

Thanks Aaron! Awesome comment! :)


"Have you seen Max? She should be here by now." The party was at full fucking blast, me and Rach had been here for an hour already. But Max hadn't shown up. She's seriously fucking late. Like, the hella rude kind of late, not the fashionable kind of late me and Rach had down.

Rachel shrugs, staring off into the crowd around us. "Not since she snuck back into the dorms last night."

I frown. "Max was out?"

"Yeah." Rachel hmms, looking down at her drink as she thinks it over. "Late, too. Must've been four, maybe five when I saw her."

"Huh." The dj switched up the music, some kinda darkwave bullshit. Eurgh. Why do they let these fuckwits near a playlist?

I stay quiet, just swaying to the beat, until Rachel's arms suddenly wrap around me and her voice comes out hella low next to my ear. "What do you suppose she was doing out so late, hmm?"

I slump back against her with a groan. "Rach, for fuck's sake. We've been over this shit already. Leave it alone, okay?"

"But Chloe!" She whines.

Rachel. Fucking. Whines.

What the shit has Max done to her?

She counts off on her fingers. "She's out all the time, she barely talks about anything, her freckles are the freaking cutest thing I've ever seen, and-" I feel a mild burst of jealousy that I bludgeon down inside my head. Nope, no need to have that shit around.

But I can feel her thrumming with curiosity and it pisses me off. "-and seriously, Rach, leave it the fuck alone. If she wants you to know, she'll tell you. Max is hella unsubtle. She doesn't play all those shitty games you play."

"Moi?" Rachel puts a hand to her chest, and I have to force myself to pull my eyes back up to hers. "Games? You wound me, Chloe."

"Yeah, yeah. Knock it off, Rachel."

She blinks at the stern sound in my voice. I groan. "Fucking hell, I sound hella like Step-Douche."

Rachel grins. "I don't know, it's lacking something... Maybe add in a bit about how I'm a disappointment to my mother. Oooh, or maybe something about how I need to show more respect."

I roll my eyes, but I can't help grinning back.

She takes a quick swig from whatever the fuck she's drinking. It's like twelve different colours and has a piece of fruit on a stick. Rachel always did love her weird fruity shit. Me, I'm happy with a fucking beer.

Trevor stumbles past, clearly hella wasted, and Max steps suddenly out of the crowd in front of us. We both blinked at her in shock. It was like in those shitty spy movies, where a car drives past and the informant or whoever the dude was meeting just appears out of fucking nowhere.

I grin. Hella cool.

She looks fucking terrified though, which kinda ruins the effect, staring with hella wide eyes at everyone dancing around her. We wave, and she skitters over, shoulders hunched as she avoids looking at anyone else in the room.

D'aww. She's so cute.

She smiles when she gets to us. "Hi."

"Hey Supermax."

Rachel unlatches from me and twirls over to Max, putting an arm over her shoulder and guiding her over to our corner. "So, Maxie, what do you think? Your first Vortex party, right?"

Max blinks. "Um. It's very loud." She gives everyone dancing around her a hella distressed look. "And crowded."

I snort. "Uh, yeah. It's a party, Max."

She flashes a small, kinda absent smile, then goes back to watching everyone around us. It's... like she's trying to keep her eye on every single person around us at once. Rach stays clamped onto her for a sec, trying (and failing) to catch her eye with her usual flirty grin. When she doesn't get shit back, her smile drops and she slinks back over to me.

It takes everything I got not to laugh. She looks like a kid who just got told she wasn't tall enough to ride the rollercoaster (Something that'd actually happened to Max a couple times, the poor, short little fucker.).

Rachel flashes me an irritated look, mouthing "Oh my god..." and flicking her eyes over to Max. I scowl at her, opening my mouth to tell her I told her so, but I catch Max looking puzzled at me.

"Hey Maxie?" Max turns to look at Rach. "You thirsty? I'm going back over to the bar." She wiggles her empty glass. "Get a refill."

Max shakes her head. "No thanks. I don't drink."

Rachel grins. "That's not what I hear."

Max tilts her head curiously at Rach, then me. "Um. Sorry?"

Rach smirks, leans over to Max. "Oh, I hear you're quite the wine fan, right?"

Max immediately flushes and mutters something about 'being lead astray by a hella hot best friend'...

Okay, so she didn't say the last bit, but it's what she meant. Honest. My Powers of Best Friendship Max-Translation told me so.

Rach shrugs, pouts disappointedly. "So no wine then, gotcha. Chlo, do you want anything?"

I shake my head and hold up my beer. "I'm good."

Rach nods "Cool.", then slinks off into the crowd.

I watch her twirl and dance her way through to the bar. I'm not the only one. She brushes up against a few people, who turn to watch her as she goes past. When she goes past Hayden and his weird girlfriend-fuck buddy pair, Olive and Ellie (AN-1), she runs her fingers along his shoulders and laughs when he gives her a foggy grin. They chat for a few seconds, she nods to Ellie and Olive, then moves on to the next group.

That was Rach in a fucking moment. Able to drop in, make herself fit in in seconds, then drifts off whenever she fucking pleases.

I sigh.

Damnit.

"Hey, Max?"

She doesn't respond.

I look back around and Max has fucking disappeared again. Goddamnit. I really wanted to try loosen her up a bit. Maybe get her baked again. She's been hella high strung since she got back, I thought partying might kinda help her relax a bit.

Apparently fucking not.

I scowl at myself (So fucking stupid...) just as Rachel twirls back over to me, another multicoloured drink in her hand, and a flirty grin flitting hella lightly over her face. "Maxie hit the bathroom already? She really is a lightweight."

I shake my head. "She fuckin' ditched."

Rachel's eyes open a little more. "She's gone?"

"Yeah, she's fucking gone." I sigh. God-fucking-damnit...

"Who's gone?"

I whirl to see Max standing there, looking puzzled.

"Uh, wh-where'd you go?" I look anywhere but at her. "I thought you'd... gone."

She shakes her head, points off into the crowd. "Thought I saw someone. Went to say hi."

Rach tilts her head curiously. "Oh? Who'd y'see?"

"Kate Marsh."

"Oh, Kate! She's a blast, isn't she?" Rach smiles sadly. "Such a shame what happened to her."

I frown. "What? What happened?"

"She came to a Vortex Party and got... well... wrecked." Rach shrugs. "Turns out she can't hold her booze. She made out with a whole bunch of people and, like assholes, someone recorded it."

"Huh..." I don't know her, like, at all, but she doesn't seem the type. Guess you don't really know anyone until you've gotten them drunk at a Vortex party.

We all go quiet for a few seconds, before Rach flashes another grin. "You two wanna join me on the dance floor?"

I shrug and down my beer. "I'm down. This beat's not as shitty as the rest. You comin', Max?"

Max eyes the crowded dance floor and her mouth crinkles. "I, uh..."

I snort. Still Max Caulfield. "It's okay, Max. I'll let you sit this one out." I grin. "But I will get you to shake that bony white ass of yours one day, hipster."

Max gives me one of those genuine smiles again, then turns back to the bar and hella quietly asks for a water.

Rach and I hit the dance floor, and stay there most of the night. By the time we get back, Max has gone. We don't see her again until the end of the night when we're heading back to Rach's dorm.

Rach laughs, twirling around in front of me as we stumble back through the night, trying to get across the campus without triggering sergeant pepper-us-with-bullshit-and-pissy-uh... yeah. Stepdouche. "Catch me if you ca-an!"

I roll my eyes, trying to keep from falling, right foot, in front of the other, then the... shit, what comes after right? Three? Nah, I'm ballsy but even I don't have three feet. I take another couple of steps, somehow managing to stay stood up, and thunk straight into Rach's back. I fall back and eat dirt. "What the hell, Rach? Why'd you..." I get back up, and follow her gaze to the top of the hill and... "Holy shit."

I stop, and I stare, because Max is dancing and it's graceful as shit.

Like, I always thought Rachel was graceful, all precise moves and coordinated limbs that my clumsy ass couldn't ever hope to match, but Max is...

Woah.

She twirls and twists and turns, and it's... "Fucking wow." Rachel breathes out beside me.

I nod without saying anything. I can't take my eyes off her.

She goes hella smoothly from the twirling to sweeping out with her arms and legs, like she's trying to catch someone by the ankles.

We spin around as some vortexers stumble down the stairs from the main grounds. Rach quickly drops into the bushes. "Hide!" I roll my eyes and do as she says. We stay crouched in the bushes and watch as they go past, heading 'round the corner and in the door to the dorms.

When we turned back, Max was gone.


(Three days later... It's Tuesday)

I drop down from my perch, silently landing behind the lone figure staring off into the distance. "Hello, Stan."

Stan whirls, barely muffling a squeak of shock. "I, uh, I..."

I smile. "It's okay, Stan. Your friends say Tiny is here?" Stan had mobilised the homeless the minute I'd found a new target. Seeing everything, yet never seen themselves, they were the perfect informants. They'd managed to find my target in less than two days. He'd had to promise them another chunk of the reward, but they'd earned it.

He takes a few deep breaths and nods. "Y-yes. Over there, in the sewer." He points to a large metal door set into a stone wall. He says nothing for a few seconds, then suddenly starts "Oh, I have- I have a map!" He pulls a crumpled piece of paper from a pocket and thrusts it towards me.

I take it and carefully look it over. Hmm. Seems like tight quarters. Low manoeuvrability in there. "Thanks, Stan."

He grins. "No problem, Stranger."

I hadn't wanted to tell him my real name, so I used the name I had on the Island. It seemed appropriate.

Stan straightens up. "Nena says he's been seen using multiple entrances, so he's probably got a lot of ways to run."

I smile darkly. "That's fine. He won't have chance to use them."

He shivers a little, then nods. "Okay, I'll wait here for you."

Without another word, I turn and head for the sewer. There was a small chamber just beyond the door, with passages off to the left and right. The map said right so I went right, following the curving passage along to another t-junction. I followed the map left, then straight, then right, finding myself at the top of a steep incline.

The incline had a small, but steady, stream of... waste flowing down it. I carefully picked my way down, making it to about halfway before my feet suddenly slid out from underneath me and I... went with the flow, landing neatly in the darkness at the bottom of the incline.

Wowzers, that was good for the heart rate.

I reach into my pocket for the map and... fuck. I must've dropped it in the fall. It was too dark to see anything in my normal vision. I'd have to switch over.

The Foundation were scum, but they gave me a few useful gifts. I stop moving and close my eyes, concentrating as I'd been taught to. After a few seconds, I opened them again, blinking owlishly. The blue of my eyes had leaked from my iris to fill my entire eye, and my pupils had reshaped to thinned-ovals to allow as much light in as possible. The dark room was now visible, but only in black and white. They'd never worked out how to get Night Vision to allow for colour.

I scanned the room, looking for... there! I scooped up the now destroyed map with a sigh.

Damnit. I let it fall again.

Okay then. Lost in an unfamiliar underground area, with no definite idea of where to go. Heh. Not the first time.

There were three exits from the room I was in. One went down again, so that was out. The other two both went off in the same direction. They'd likely join up again later. So, I picked one at random and followed it along. Sure enough, they linked back up about 300 metres ahead, into a five tunnel crossroad.

I was about to pick randomly again, when I caught... something. The faintest sound, of... were those words? I couldn't tell, but they were something. And I didn't have any other leads.

So, I stood still, closed my eyes, and focused my hearing. Another of the Foundation's 'gifts'. I tilted and shifted my head, trying to pinpoint a direction.

Front... and to the left! I looked off down the corridor in that direction. Seemed clear, so I crept down it, listening for the possibly-voices. They were intermittent, so I had to stop often, but eventually I found my way to their source.

A light up ahead warned me of company, and that I needed to change my eyes. So, I closed them, then reopened them, smiling as colours spilled back into the room.

I ducked down behind a conveniently placed waist-high concrete wall and kept an eye on the two men leaning on opposite sides of a metal door in the far wall. One was laughing, the other was glaring. They were both holding submachine guns, stubby little things with short stocks and short barrels.

I snorted. If they were supposed to be guards, they were doing a terrible job. I stood, loaded two bolamites into my crossbow and quick-fired them down the corridor. Webbing exploded over the two guards, sticking them to the walls.

I sauntered over, quickly recovering the two expended bolamites and returning them to my pouch. I pulled the guards down, one at a time, knocking them out, trussing them up, and dragging them out of the light.

When I was sure the two were secured, I went back over to the door and listened for movement. Four..? No. Six. Possibly more. The room beyond was large, by the resonance of what I could hear, but that meant the sounds would echo too much to be exactly sure. Either way, there were too many for a frontal assault. I'd have to poke around, find one of Tiny's alternate ways in.

I spent the next hour scoping out the area, following tunnels and checking doors, and I found a possible way in. It wasn't going to be comfortable.

I hopped down into the freezing, shit-filled water and started wading through the pipe. I really hoped this went where I thought it did. It'd seriously suck to have gone through this to find a dead end.

After seven agonising minutes, I finally make it to the end. Lucky for me, it empties out into a smallish pool in the large room. It's simple to avoid, and I drop down onto the ground and dart behind one of the two pillars between the pool and the rest of the room.

Oh dog. I was right. There were definitely more than six. The room had two levels, a main central area below, and a metal walkway above that wrapped around the edge of the walls, with several doors leading to side rooms. Three tables had been pushed together in the middle of the room, and seven people were playing cards on it. Another two were patrolling the lower perimeter, three more were patrolling above. I could see two in a side room, but my view of it was obscured so there could've been more.

Tiny had definitely invested in his muscle. I couldn't see him anywhere. He had to be in one of the upstairs rooms, which meant I'd need to clear out down here first. Never leave enemies behind you.

I could pick off the goons on the periphery easily. The room was dark and sightlines were poor. It was just the seven card players in the middle that would be a problem.

A stunkz cloud to the middle of that table would scatter the players, but I'd be stuck dealing with armed, alerted people at distance. I'm fast, but not that fast. Sooner or later, someone would hit me.

The lights! The dark would be no limitation to me, but it'd make their lives far more difficult. They'd be lucky not to hit each other.

Okay, so. I had a plan, now all I needed was an opportunity. Kicking in the door wasn't an option here, I'd need to do this right. I watched the patrollers, trying to find a pattern in their movements. Oh shit! I ducked back behind the pillar to avoid being seen by one of the lower perimeter patrollers.

When I was sure he was gone, I leaped up, pushing back off the pillar and landing on top of the pipe. I waited, listening to the tink-tink of footsteps on the walkway until one was close, then leaped up, grabbing the goon, wrapping one hand around the his middle and putting the other over his mouth, and pulling him off.

I slammed his head into the top of the pipe, then bound his hands and dropped him behind the pillar.

One down.

Taking the other two down was easy. Nothing more than waiting, then doing. I bound them both and hid them in an empty side room, then hopped down to the lower level.

One of the patrollers had joined the seven card players, laughing at one of them. "Dude, you are gonna get hosed!"

The card player elbowed the laughing man in the gut with a growl. "Shut it, asshole. I will beat you."

Laughing man took the gutshot well, then slammed a fist down onto the card player's shoulder. "That ain't gonna happen, brother. Not with those fours."

I quickly used the distraction to take the other patrolling guard down. Four down. Eight to go.

I climbed back up to the walkway, then loaded a stunkz and a pebble into my crossbow. I tightened the bandana against my face, then fired the pebble at the lights and the stunkz at the table.

The lights went out, the acidic cloud exploded through the room, and everything descended into chaos.

For them.

I took a second to let my eyes adjust, then leapt off the balcony onto the table, kicking out at one of the goons and swiping at another with my fists. They both went down with muffled groans, but they were loud enough to catch attention. "There's someone in here! Boss, Boss!?"

I flipped over the yelling man and kicked him over the table.

Two goons closed in from the left and right. They were operating in total darkness, so the strikes they threw at me were clumsy and took little effort to dodge. I pirouetted around one, grabbed his shoulders and swept him into the other. They both clattered together, falling into an unmoving heap.

Six down.

The Stunkz cloud finally caught up to people. They started coughing and spluttering, wiping at their eyes. Four of them fell to their knees, and I quickly knocked them out.

Ten down and not a shot fired.

The other two were cleared up just in time for a loud clang to echo through the room as one of the doors upstairs was slammed open and the biggest man I'd ever seen climbed out of them. When he steps onto the walkway, it creaks audibly beneath his weight. "What in Heaven is going on out here?"

When none of his men answered his question, he started scanning the room, his eyes peering through the little pince-nez perched on his blocky nose. The stunkz cloud had dissipated enough that I couldn't hide in it, and his eyes quickly narrowed on me. "You. Who the fuck are you?"

I tilt my head and watch him, saying nothing. He snorts. "Very well then, Nameless. Let's see if you're more willing to talk after I beat the crap out of you." He hops down off the walkway, landing with a thunk onto the stone floor. It cracks beneath his weight. Good. Time to dance.

He settles into an easy fighting stance. Good posture, excellent form. He's had training. Disabling him was going to be difficult. The Hunter's voice crept into the back of my mind, whispering suggestions of how to kill him. Crushing his trachea, bruising his spinal column, tearing his... No.

I could do it.

I don't need to kill him.

It'd be oh so easy.

I am not going to kill him.

You know you want to.

Disabling him was going to be difficult, but I could do it.

I would do it.

I'm going to do it.

I blink as I realise I'd grabbed Tiny's wrist mid-swing, holding his fist an inch from my face. But I didn't..? Oh. The Hunter was testing the bounds of his cage again. I throw Tiny back with a growl and he laughs, sounding delighted. "You're very quick, Nameless. Excellent. Let's see how your form holds up."

He launches into a series of blindly fast strikes. Left, right, left, left again, below! I barely manage to dodge. When he swipes at my legs, I hop over him, using his back like a springboard. He slows and turns to face me. "Very well apparently. Very good, Nameless!"

He strikes out again. I bat his hand away from me. He laughs, wryly. "Your banter leaves significant room for improvement though."

I don't rise to his bait, staying focused on the fight. With a shrug, he launches forward again, charging at me like a bull. I pirouette left, dancing out of his path as he slams into the wall behind me.

I quickly dash into his side, punching at his ribcage. I hear them crack under my barrage. He hisses with pain after each blow. To his credit, he does stay standing.

I can remedy that, though.

I slam my foot down on his shin, turning that hiss to a scream, following it with a open-palmed strike to his lower back. Apparently, pain made Tiny quicker, as he suddenly whirled and wrapped his meaty hand around my throat. In a panic, I kicked out at his face, leaving a foot-shaped purple mark across his cheek and nose.

In response, he tossed me across the room.

I tried to roll with the fall but, either by accident or by design, Tiny's throw managed to spear me on a broken and rusted fence post sticking out from a broken part of the upper walkway. I screamed as it slid into the flesh of my shoulder, leaving me hanging from the wall.

Tiny pulled himself to his feet and strode over to me. "You..." He spat out a gob of blood and teeth. "You are an annoyingly persistent problem, Nameless."

Before I can attempt a block, he slams a fist into my own ribcage. I raise up a wrist to block, but he grabs it and slams it into the wall behind me. He punches again and again until...

I scream as pain shoots through my body and kick out instinctively. My feet hit his chest and push him back a couple of feet. Not enough to hurt him, but enough to stop him hurting me.

I wriggle, trying to make it look like I'm struggling to get off the post. The post twisted in my shoulder, probably making the damage worse and definitely making me grit my teeth against the pain, but it was necessary. The movements disguised my hand darting into my pouch and closing around a critter. Tiny grins at my efforts. "Having trouble, Nameless? Let me help you..." He reaches up again, his hands going straight for my throat.

I toss the stunkz straight into his eyes.

He falls back, screaming and clawing at his eyes. "You bastard! You fucking bastard!"

I bend my legs back and push off the wall, gritting my teeth against the pain of the post sliding out of the wound. I roll my shoulder, feeling the wound. Good, nothing important.

My ribs, however, were bruised. Maybe broken. But I was still breathing.

Dog, that was close. I turn to glare at Tiny. He's lying on the ground, writhing and clawing at his eyes. Direct Stunkz exposure like that was worse than tear gas and he was feeling every effect.

I fumbled in my pouch again, pulling out a Thudslug and loading it into the crossbow. I am not getting close to him again, even if he is...

Occupied.

I flick out the crossbow, take a shaky aim, and fire.

Tiny finally hits the floor, landing like a tree. He doesn't move again.

I pull out the zipties and quietly collect all the goons, including the ones I'd left outside, piling them on the table. Tiny gets pride of place, front and centre. A thanksgiving spread for the police.

Job done, I stop for a minute to breath. I close my eyes, tilt my head back. I breath out, hard. The wound in my shoulder seals and the bruising on my ribs starts to fade as the tiny cells in my blood get to work regenerating the flesh beneath. I wouldn't be able to do this again for a few days, not until I was healed.

Even making it out of here was going to be difficult. I wouldn't be able to climb that incline like this.

Maybe Tiny has a map of his secret entrances? Hopefully one of those will be easier on my ribs. It wasn't on him, so if it existed, it'd be upstairs. I take the stairs up to the walkway and head through the door Tiny came through.

The room was small, only a little bigger than my room at Blackwell. There was a messy desk against one wall, a bed in the corner right of the door, and a cage in the far right corner.

The cage was full of bags. I knew they held his latest bank-haul, about 13 million in total. I was tempted to take one or two, but the police would notice missing money and ask questions. Easier to take the guaranteed 100,000 than risk it.

So, I went over to the desk and started rifling through papers. Most looked like messages to Tiny's associates. I memorised the names. Hopefully they'd have bounties or rewards I could cash in.

I found a series of loose pages that Tiny seemed to have been using as a diary. They... weren't the most interesting entries.

One literally just said 'Slept today'.

Another was... oh, dog. Apparently Tiny was an amateur poet. Wowzers... He definitely should've stuck to the bank-robbing.

I stand up with a scowl. Damnit, nothing. I gave the rest of the room a quick check, no map.

Fine. I'd have to make do.

I left Tiny's hideout and reversed my route until I got back to the five-corridor room. The room with the incline had no other exits, so one of these five were my only option. Three, really. One went back to Tiny's and the other went to the incline room.

The two exits to either side of the exit to Tiny's hideout were out too. They both went in the complete opposite direction to my exit.

So, I took the last remaining exit, to the right of the incline room. I walk for about thirty, maybe forty minutes before I find a t-junction. I turned left. It was the direction of my exit, so maybe there'd be a ladder there.

There wasn't.

So, I kept going. There had to be something.

Eventually, I found a ladder hidden behind a rusty old door. It was covered in slime and muck. I struggled a little to climb it, my hands kept slipping on the rungs, but I made it up.

I didn't recognise the corridor but, after a little exploring, I managed to find my way to somewhere I knew, one of the corridors I'd taken to get in. I traced my route back to the main exit, shoving the door open and stumbling out into the morning dark.

Stan looked up suddenly when I appeared and his mouth dropped open when he caught sight of me. "Stranger! Are... are you okay?"

I nod, spitting out another mouthful of blood.

The look he gives me is not convinced.

The dorm was quiet when I finally got back. Everyone had gone to sleep, or gone out, hours before. I crept through the hall towards my room, trying not to hiss when the pain from my ribs shot out through my entire body. "Ow, fucking..."

"Hello?" A sharp, but quiet voice cut through the silence around me. "Who's there?"

I disappear into a dark patch, watching as Victoria Chase glares around the corridor. "Hello? Trevor, you idiot, you better not be sneaking around again or I'll rip your balls out of your-"

Seeing no other way out, I step into sight. "Hello, Your Majesty."

Victoria scowls the second she sees me. Even I can see the utter scorn in her eyes. "Oh, fucking fantastic. You again."

I nod. Hopefully if I say as little as possible, this will be over quickly.

"What the fuck are you doing sneaking around at this shitty hour?"

I shrug. "Just out for a walk."

She scoffs. "Bullshit, Jane. You're still a bad liar. What the fuck are you really doing up?"

I shrug again. "I was just out for a walk. I'm going back to my room now."

Her hand whips out and latches onto my bicep. She blinks slightly in shock when she feels the muscle there. "I will find out why you're sneaking about, sooner or later. You might as well tell me now, so I don't have to go to all the effort of destroying you."

I grab her hand and pull it off my arm. "I was out for a walk." I say slowly.

Her eyes narrow at my tone. "Bitch, I can ruin your life any fucking time I want. A little chatter here, a rumour there, and the whole school will turn against you. Or, you can just tell me the truth."

I avoid her eyes. "I am."

She scowls. "We'll see about that. Get the fuck out of here, hipster."

She steps back and lets me leave, watching as I head back to my room. As soon as the door closes behind me, I sag against it, holding my shoulder as still as I can.

Freaking Ow!


AN1 - I know I got this poly ship from someone else's fic, but I can't for the life of me remember which one. They weren't the main 'pairing', but they did feature pretty prominently. Loved the characters, so I used 'em here. If anyone can place 'em, please let me know. I really wanna read that one again. Also, for the record, calling them weird is just Chloe's opinion. I don't have any problem with polyamory. So long as everyone involved is honest and happy, it's none of my business anyway.