Chapter 2 - Repercussions!
Corrine and Marshall continued to talk. Most of the time the conversations ended up about Marshall and how good he was, and what an opportunity it was for her to come back to him. A few of them went a more casual way, but only if Corrine really fought for it.
"Have you seen Josie?" She asked, noticing her best friend gone.
"No, I haven't. They're probably off pumping each other... for information, I mean," Marshall said in reply. "How would you like to do something. With me. I could think of a few fun things," he asked her, moving his hand though her hair.
Corrine cleared her throat. "Sure, why not. Let's go. Where do I meet you?"
He grabbed her arm. "Now."
"But what about class?" She asked surprised.
"I know it will be hard, but they'll get on without me," he told her in reply.
Corrine allowed herself to be pulled along by him, and they left the drama room. "What did you have in mind?" She asked as they walked down the hall.
He shrugged. "Not sure. We could go to the movies. It's dark in there."
"Okay," she said quietly. "Uh, let's go to the movies. What movie do you want to see?"
"Does it matter?"
Vaughn, Lucas and Marshall were walking around the school. Vaughn had something important to do, as he was wearing his serious face. Lucas and Marshall trailed behind Vaughn arguing about something. They didn't have their hearts in it the way Vaughn did. Of course, that could have been because Vaughn hadn't actually told them anything about what they were doing.
"Vaughn, this is stupid, we have class," Lucas complained. "And it's kind of hard to help you if you don't tell us anything!"
Vaughn ignored him.
"Alright fine, I'm going to class. I'll see you later," Lucas said and walked off.
Vaughn turned to look at Marshall. "Aren't you going to follow him?"
"No. Why would I? It's not like we're dating or anything, I don't do what he does," Marshall said. "Let's continue on... After you tell me what we're doing."
Vaughn sighed. "I want to know more about this John guy. He seems too weird—to perfect. I don't like that."
"This is about you being Jealous?" Marshall asked.
"Shutup and help me," he snapped avoiding the question. "We're going to go into Durst's office and look at his permanent record."
"That's really not very smart. If you get caught..."
"We," he stated. "If we get caught. There'll be trouble all around. I know. We just won't get caught!"
"You aren't filling me with confidence," Marshall muttered. "Hey do you have any chocolate sauce left?"
Vaughn stopped suddenly. "What do you mean?"
"Do you?"
"Yeah," he said slowly, unsure if that was what he should have said. "Why do you want to know?"
"I need some for an... uh, experiment." Marshall looked away quickly and saw Corrine walking away with a guy. "Hey! Corrine!" He called out.
Corrine and Mirror-Marshall started to walk towards Marshall and Vaughn.
"Why don't you introduce me to your—Holy God! You're me!" Marshall cried in disbelief. "What's going on? Did we clone me?"
"This isn't why you want the—" Vaughn was cut off by Marshall clamping his hand of Vaughn's mouth.
"Oh, Marshall, this is Mirror-Marshall. I don't think this could be any more awkward," she told him smiling. "He came from the mirror world. Have you seen Josie around here? I'm going to the movies with Marshall. I just wanted to tell her."
"Are you Corrine or the mirror one?" Vaughn asked pulling Marshall's hand away from his mouth. "This is confusing. Very confusing. When did you go through a mirror and meet all these people?"
"About a week and a half ago," she replied.
Mirror-Marshall was busy looking Marshall up and down. "I'm so puny in this place. I really don't like this. Also, why haven't you moved in Corrine yet?"
"Excuse me?" Marshall asked surprised.
"Look at her. She obviously likes us—me. I'm the sexy one. You're puny and small. You should have moved in."
Marshall raised his eyebrow. "Moved in? Puny and small? What are you talking about? I don't—"
Corrine, Vaughn and Mirror-Marshall just stared at him.
"You don't what?" Corrine asked softly.
"I don't... I, uh, don't..."
Marshall didn't need to worry about finishing. Lucas ran up to them breathlessly.
"Marshall, Marshall... Two Marshall's? Well that might explain the two me's. And the pink Josie I saw," He said trying to process what he was seeing.
"Pink Josie?" Vaughn asked.
"I'll explain later. I didn't see John though," Lucas told them.
This fact pleased Vaughn. "Yes! I knew he had something to do with this!"
"We don't even know what this is," Marshall muttered dryly.
Mirror-Marshall yawned as he played with the chain around his neck. "This is fascinating, really it is. But me and Corrine have to go the movies."
Corrine nodded in agreement. "Sorry guys. I've got to go. If you see Josie tell her where I am."
"Is Corrine skipping class?" Vaughn asked in disbelief. "This is getting stranger and stranger."
"I'm still only getting the two me's thing," Marshall said as he watched Corrine and Mirror-Marshall walk away. He was kicking himself for not telling her how he felt. She seemed happy enough with the Mirror Marshall—at least he was interested in... well, her didn't seem interested in much except himself. But Corrine was interested in him.
"Right with you there, Marshall," Lucas muttered.
Josie hadn't moved one inch. Her eyes looked as if they would explode if they grew any bigger. John was shaking his head and muttering 'it's impossible' to himself constantly. The figure remained in the bathroom doorway, grinning.
"But... but... but you're gone—were gone—should be gone. What's happening? My brain hurts," Josie said trying to get her head around what was happening.
John jumped to his feet. "This is stupid!"
"How so? I mean, I remember you." She said softly. "You had a broken arm. You couldn't play sport. We started talking. I got a crush on you. Then you disappeared."
"But you're Josie!" He yelled at her, surprised at how much she knew and at the vehemence in his tone.
She moved from the bathroom door. "Actually, I'm Josie-two. A clone."
"This is getting seriously screwy and I don't think I can handle this..." John muttered. "First alternate realities and now clones?"
"Remind me to fill you in sometime," Josie muttered staring at the clone. "Why are you back, I thought we got rid of you?" Josie demanded, venom drowning her words.
"My superiors requested I check on Peardyne's progress, for official business," Josie2 replied casually, dusting her outfit lightly with her hand. "I mean the mistress-of-pain get up doesn't really say casual visit does it?"
"I hadn't really noticed," John said a small smiling growing on his face. "But that's beside the point entirely."
Josie resisted the urge to hit John. "Superiors? Official business? You've moved up in the world haven't you?"
"I have and—"
"The Janitor!" Josie cried as if something had just shocked her. "Him! He! The Janitor! It's him isn't it? Your superior, I mean. It certainly explains a lot."
John sat down on the bed taking all this in.
"Possibly. You think I'm going to just give away all my secrets. How would that be fun?" Josie2 answered her smugly. "But you and your mind will come in very handy, Josie. Keep that in... well, mind."
Playing the events over and over in his mind, John finally had something important to say. "I think I should sit down."
"You are," Josie told him bluntly.
"Oh. Okay then, I need to stand up," he replied monotone.
Josie2 yawned. "This is fascinating. Really. But I have to go."
"Of course, your official business," Josie teased. "Bye then." She muttered as she waved Josie2 out of her room.
She turned away from Josie and gave a mock salute to John. "Be careful. Things are about to heat up. Hopefully not literally."
"She looks really good in that leather," John muttered, slightly less monotone than before. "She looks kind of like Vamp-Willow."
Josie2 walked out of the room slowly, humming a dreary tune to herself as she closed the door behind her.
Josie gritted her teeth and punched him in the back. Hard. :She' is standing right behind you! I can't believe you would just say something like that about me! About her! About us! Oh, god, what's happening?"
"I was just saying, Josie. It suits you," he caught the rage burning in her eyes and continued quickly. "Not a bad skanky way or anything. In a cultured, sophisticated way."
Josie's eye twitched from the anger. "Let's go before I kill you. We need to find the others."
Josie and John found the other three fairly quickly. Something they didn't expect was that Mirror-Vaughn, Mirror-Lucas and Mirror-Josie had seen Marshall walking around and followed him thinking he was Mirror-Marshall.
"Don't you people stay in class at all? I'm the rebellious one who skips classes and breaks curfew!" Josie cried when the eight of them found each other. "And why are the Mirror-people with you?"
"They saw Marshall and followed him," Vaughn told her softly. He was taking notice of how close she was standing to John and not liking it one bit. "Does anyone else have the suspicion that it's all going to fast?"
"She did say it was going to heat up, Josie," John reminded her.
"Corrine told us that you liked Vaughn, is it true?" Mirror-Josie asked Josie giggling.
"Please. Shutup. Now," Josie warned her. "I can't believe I'm like that through the looking glass, so to speak. It's depressing."
"I don't know. This whole Mirror-Us thing is kind of cool," Lucas said looking everyone up and down. Mirror-Lucas leaned in closely to say something. "Whoa! Come on, personal space please!"
He pushed Mirror-Lucas away and stepped over next to Josie.
"I guess it's less cool than I thought," he muttered.
Mirror-Vaughn looked doubtfully at Josie. "I think we should all calm down," he said quietly, blushing slightly and putting his book down. "Why don't we just approach it rationally and then we can figure out the best solution to the problem as hand."
"That's the thing, we don't know the problem!" Vaughn said to him gesturing to the other Mirror-people. "Just go back to your book."
"That was kind of harsh, Vaughn. Just because you're well muscled and nice to look at doesn't mean you can tell people off!" Mirror-Josie snapped.
"This whole thing is depressing on a level I hardly knew existed," Marshall muttered to himself. "I should have just told her how I felt. Made her see that I don't feel for her the same way she feels for me. Maybe then she wouldn't have to be with Mirror-me. If only I—" Marshall looked up and saw everyone staring at him.
"Why didn't you just tell her, Marshall?" Josie asked.
"Tell who what?" He tried to play innocent. He failed miserably.
"Corrine that you don't like her more than a friend," Josie replied knowingly. "We all heard you talking not even five minutes ago, you didn't really leave much to the imagination."
"It's kind of obvious that she like's you," Lucas added in. "And it's equally obvious you just want to be friends."
"Are done analyzing my love life yet?" Marshall asked irritated. "We should be figuring out how to send the Mirror-people back to the mirror."
"Fixing this won't be like dusting crops, farm boy," John muttered. "That Josie-two clone thing was pretty adamant about how hard this would be."
"Josie-two's back? Why didn't you tell us?" Lucas asked.
Josie slipped into defensive mode. "It just slipped my mind. Besides I bet there's things you haven't told me."
"Yes. And those would be secrets. That's the point of a secret," Lucas countered her argument. "This isn't a secret it's a complication!"
Josie spun around to face Vaughn. "Did you know about this?"
"Know about what?" He asked, furrowing his brow in confusion.
"That Peardyne is involved. That your father is doing something that involves me, my clone and the wormhole?" She accused him.
"No. I didn't. Incase you hadn't noticed, my dad and I don't on very well. Ever. Why would he tell me something like this?"
She admitted defeat. "Fine. But if I find out you do know something, I swear I'll kill you. And I'm not joking. Playtime has ended. This is serious."
John placed his arm on her shoulder. "So how do we go about this? You've all done this mind of thing before I haven't. I'm the new guy. Fill me in."
"Alright, I'll tell you everything. Here goes..." She started.
John and the Mirror-people listened intently hanging on every word as she explained the secrets of Blake Holsey High to him. He was impressed that they had all been through much. The Mirror-people were less than impressed and more freaked out. Except for Mirror-Lucas. He didn't pay much attention at all. He kept giving Lucas and Marshall knowing looks, and smiling at them.
"And that lead's us to right now," she finished what she was staying. "How do you enjoy your time here so far?"
"In a word; disturbed," John admitted this wasn't what he had in mind for school. "Impressive story though. Sold the movie rights yet?"
"It all happened, What you've seen in the past few hours should make that obvious," Josie snapped at him.
He nodded. "I know. I just thought we needed some humor."
"Maybe later," she said gently. "Anyone got any ideas on how we stop this?"
Josie2 stood in the basement, alone, waiting for the janitor. Finally he appeared. She greeted him with a polite smile. He acknowledged it with a nod.
"You have your orders?" He asked breaking the silence.
"I have some orders, not sure if they're the ones you're talking about, but I have some."
"Good. Here is your access card for Peardyne. Stay out of anyone's way. If you get caught you know what to do."
She nodded somberly. "Of course. No evidence." Josie took the card and paper from the janitor's hand. "Wish me luck."
"You don't need luck. You need skill," he said as he turned and left.
Corrine and Marshall continued to talk. Most of the time the conversations ended up about Marshall and how good he was, and what an opportunity it was for her to come back to him. A few of them went a more casual way, but only if Corrine really fought for it.
"Have you seen Josie?" She asked, noticing her best friend gone.
"No, I haven't. They're probably off pumping each other... for information, I mean," Marshall said in reply. "How would you like to do something. With me. I could think of a few fun things," he asked her, moving his hand though her hair.
Corrine cleared her throat. "Sure, why not. Let's go. Where do I meet you?"
He grabbed her arm. "Now."
"But what about class?" She asked surprised.
"I know it will be hard, but they'll get on without me," he told her in reply.
Corrine allowed herself to be pulled along by him, and they left the drama room. "What did you have in mind?" She asked as they walked down the hall.
He shrugged. "Not sure. We could go to the movies. It's dark in there."
"Okay," she said quietly. "Uh, let's go to the movies. What movie do you want to see?"
"Does it matter?"
Vaughn, Lucas and Marshall were walking around the school. Vaughn had something important to do, as he was wearing his serious face. Lucas and Marshall trailed behind Vaughn arguing about something. They didn't have their hearts in it the way Vaughn did. Of course, that could have been because Vaughn hadn't actually told them anything about what they were doing.
"Vaughn, this is stupid, we have class," Lucas complained. "And it's kind of hard to help you if you don't tell us anything!"
Vaughn ignored him.
"Alright fine, I'm going to class. I'll see you later," Lucas said and walked off.
Vaughn turned to look at Marshall. "Aren't you going to follow him?"
"No. Why would I? It's not like we're dating or anything, I don't do what he does," Marshall said. "Let's continue on... After you tell me what we're doing."
Vaughn sighed. "I want to know more about this John guy. He seems too weird—to perfect. I don't like that."
"This is about you being Jealous?" Marshall asked.
"Shutup and help me," he snapped avoiding the question. "We're going to go into Durst's office and look at his permanent record."
"That's really not very smart. If you get caught..."
"We," he stated. "If we get caught. There'll be trouble all around. I know. We just won't get caught!"
"You aren't filling me with confidence," Marshall muttered. "Hey do you have any chocolate sauce left?"
Vaughn stopped suddenly. "What do you mean?"
"Do you?"
"Yeah," he said slowly, unsure if that was what he should have said. "Why do you want to know?"
"I need some for an... uh, experiment." Marshall looked away quickly and saw Corrine walking away with a guy. "Hey! Corrine!" He called out.
Corrine and Mirror-Marshall started to walk towards Marshall and Vaughn.
"Why don't you introduce me to your—Holy God! You're me!" Marshall cried in disbelief. "What's going on? Did we clone me?"
"This isn't why you want the—" Vaughn was cut off by Marshall clamping his hand of Vaughn's mouth.
"Oh, Marshall, this is Mirror-Marshall. I don't think this could be any more awkward," she told him smiling. "He came from the mirror world. Have you seen Josie around here? I'm going to the movies with Marshall. I just wanted to tell her."
"Are you Corrine or the mirror one?" Vaughn asked pulling Marshall's hand away from his mouth. "This is confusing. Very confusing. When did you go through a mirror and meet all these people?"
"About a week and a half ago," she replied.
Mirror-Marshall was busy looking Marshall up and down. "I'm so puny in this place. I really don't like this. Also, why haven't you moved in Corrine yet?"
"Excuse me?" Marshall asked surprised.
"Look at her. She obviously likes us—me. I'm the sexy one. You're puny and small. You should have moved in."
Marshall raised his eyebrow. "Moved in? Puny and small? What are you talking about? I don't—"
Corrine, Vaughn and Mirror-Marshall just stared at him.
"You don't what?" Corrine asked softly.
"I don't... I, uh, don't..."
Marshall didn't need to worry about finishing. Lucas ran up to them breathlessly.
"Marshall, Marshall... Two Marshall's? Well that might explain the two me's. And the pink Josie I saw," He said trying to process what he was seeing.
"Pink Josie?" Vaughn asked.
"I'll explain later. I didn't see John though," Lucas told them.
This fact pleased Vaughn. "Yes! I knew he had something to do with this!"
"We don't even know what this is," Marshall muttered dryly.
Mirror-Marshall yawned as he played with the chain around his neck. "This is fascinating, really it is. But me and Corrine have to go the movies."
Corrine nodded in agreement. "Sorry guys. I've got to go. If you see Josie tell her where I am."
"Is Corrine skipping class?" Vaughn asked in disbelief. "This is getting stranger and stranger."
"I'm still only getting the two me's thing," Marshall said as he watched Corrine and Mirror-Marshall walk away. He was kicking himself for not telling her how he felt. She seemed happy enough with the Mirror Marshall—at least he was interested in... well, her didn't seem interested in much except himself. But Corrine was interested in him.
"Right with you there, Marshall," Lucas muttered.
Josie hadn't moved one inch. Her eyes looked as if they would explode if they grew any bigger. John was shaking his head and muttering 'it's impossible' to himself constantly. The figure remained in the bathroom doorway, grinning.
"But... but... but you're gone—were gone—should be gone. What's happening? My brain hurts," Josie said trying to get her head around what was happening.
John jumped to his feet. "This is stupid!"
"How so? I mean, I remember you." She said softly. "You had a broken arm. You couldn't play sport. We started talking. I got a crush on you. Then you disappeared."
"But you're Josie!" He yelled at her, surprised at how much she knew and at the vehemence in his tone.
She moved from the bathroom door. "Actually, I'm Josie-two. A clone."
"This is getting seriously screwy and I don't think I can handle this..." John muttered. "First alternate realities and now clones?"
"Remind me to fill you in sometime," Josie muttered staring at the clone. "Why are you back, I thought we got rid of you?" Josie demanded, venom drowning her words.
"My superiors requested I check on Peardyne's progress, for official business," Josie2 replied casually, dusting her outfit lightly with her hand. "I mean the mistress-of-pain get up doesn't really say casual visit does it?"
"I hadn't really noticed," John said a small smiling growing on his face. "But that's beside the point entirely."
Josie resisted the urge to hit John. "Superiors? Official business? You've moved up in the world haven't you?"
"I have and—"
"The Janitor!" Josie cried as if something had just shocked her. "Him! He! The Janitor! It's him isn't it? Your superior, I mean. It certainly explains a lot."
John sat down on the bed taking all this in.
"Possibly. You think I'm going to just give away all my secrets. How would that be fun?" Josie2 answered her smugly. "But you and your mind will come in very handy, Josie. Keep that in... well, mind."
Playing the events over and over in his mind, John finally had something important to say. "I think I should sit down."
"You are," Josie told him bluntly.
"Oh. Okay then, I need to stand up," he replied monotone.
Josie2 yawned. "This is fascinating. Really. But I have to go."
"Of course, your official business," Josie teased. "Bye then." She muttered as she waved Josie2 out of her room.
She turned away from Josie and gave a mock salute to John. "Be careful. Things are about to heat up. Hopefully not literally."
"She looks really good in that leather," John muttered, slightly less monotone than before. "She looks kind of like Vamp-Willow."
Josie2 walked out of the room slowly, humming a dreary tune to herself as she closed the door behind her.
Josie gritted her teeth and punched him in the back. Hard. :She' is standing right behind you! I can't believe you would just say something like that about me! About her! About us! Oh, god, what's happening?"
"I was just saying, Josie. It suits you," he caught the rage burning in her eyes and continued quickly. "Not a bad skanky way or anything. In a cultured, sophisticated way."
Josie's eye twitched from the anger. "Let's go before I kill you. We need to find the others."
Josie and John found the other three fairly quickly. Something they didn't expect was that Mirror-Vaughn, Mirror-Lucas and Mirror-Josie had seen Marshall walking around and followed him thinking he was Mirror-Marshall.
"Don't you people stay in class at all? I'm the rebellious one who skips classes and breaks curfew!" Josie cried when the eight of them found each other. "And why are the Mirror-people with you?"
"They saw Marshall and followed him," Vaughn told her softly. He was taking notice of how close she was standing to John and not liking it one bit. "Does anyone else have the suspicion that it's all going to fast?"
"She did say it was going to heat up, Josie," John reminded her.
"Corrine told us that you liked Vaughn, is it true?" Mirror-Josie asked Josie giggling.
"Please. Shutup. Now," Josie warned her. "I can't believe I'm like that through the looking glass, so to speak. It's depressing."
"I don't know. This whole Mirror-Us thing is kind of cool," Lucas said looking everyone up and down. Mirror-Lucas leaned in closely to say something. "Whoa! Come on, personal space please!"
He pushed Mirror-Lucas away and stepped over next to Josie.
"I guess it's less cool than I thought," he muttered.
Mirror-Vaughn looked doubtfully at Josie. "I think we should all calm down," he said quietly, blushing slightly and putting his book down. "Why don't we just approach it rationally and then we can figure out the best solution to the problem as hand."
"That's the thing, we don't know the problem!" Vaughn said to him gesturing to the other Mirror-people. "Just go back to your book."
"That was kind of harsh, Vaughn. Just because you're well muscled and nice to look at doesn't mean you can tell people off!" Mirror-Josie snapped.
"This whole thing is depressing on a level I hardly knew existed," Marshall muttered to himself. "I should have just told her how I felt. Made her see that I don't feel for her the same way she feels for me. Maybe then she wouldn't have to be with Mirror-me. If only I—" Marshall looked up and saw everyone staring at him.
"Why didn't you just tell her, Marshall?" Josie asked.
"Tell who what?" He tried to play innocent. He failed miserably.
"Corrine that you don't like her more than a friend," Josie replied knowingly. "We all heard you talking not even five minutes ago, you didn't really leave much to the imagination."
"It's kind of obvious that she like's you," Lucas added in. "And it's equally obvious you just want to be friends."
"Are done analyzing my love life yet?" Marshall asked irritated. "We should be figuring out how to send the Mirror-people back to the mirror."
"Fixing this won't be like dusting crops, farm boy," John muttered. "That Josie-two clone thing was pretty adamant about how hard this would be."
"Josie-two's back? Why didn't you tell us?" Lucas asked.
Josie slipped into defensive mode. "It just slipped my mind. Besides I bet there's things you haven't told me."
"Yes. And those would be secrets. That's the point of a secret," Lucas countered her argument. "This isn't a secret it's a complication!"
Josie spun around to face Vaughn. "Did you know about this?"
"Know about what?" He asked, furrowing his brow in confusion.
"That Peardyne is involved. That your father is doing something that involves me, my clone and the wormhole?" She accused him.
"No. I didn't. Incase you hadn't noticed, my dad and I don't on very well. Ever. Why would he tell me something like this?"
She admitted defeat. "Fine. But if I find out you do know something, I swear I'll kill you. And I'm not joking. Playtime has ended. This is serious."
John placed his arm on her shoulder. "So how do we go about this? You've all done this mind of thing before I haven't. I'm the new guy. Fill me in."
"Alright, I'll tell you everything. Here goes..." She started.
John and the Mirror-people listened intently hanging on every word as she explained the secrets of Blake Holsey High to him. He was impressed that they had all been through much. The Mirror-people were less than impressed and more freaked out. Except for Mirror-Lucas. He didn't pay much attention at all. He kept giving Lucas and Marshall knowing looks, and smiling at them.
"And that lead's us to right now," she finished what she was staying. "How do you enjoy your time here so far?"
"In a word; disturbed," John admitted this wasn't what he had in mind for school. "Impressive story though. Sold the movie rights yet?"
"It all happened, What you've seen in the past few hours should make that obvious," Josie snapped at him.
He nodded. "I know. I just thought we needed some humor."
"Maybe later," she said gently. "Anyone got any ideas on how we stop this?"
Josie2 stood in the basement, alone, waiting for the janitor. Finally he appeared. She greeted him with a polite smile. He acknowledged it with a nod.
"You have your orders?" He asked breaking the silence.
"I have some orders, not sure if they're the ones you're talking about, but I have some."
"Good. Here is your access card for Peardyne. Stay out of anyone's way. If you get caught you know what to do."
She nodded somberly. "Of course. No evidence." Josie took the card and paper from the janitor's hand. "Wish me luck."
"You don't need luck. You need skill," he said as he turned and left.