Chapter 3 - Regret
Hours had passed since the group had split off to work on the problems that seemed to be appearing at an alarming rate. Lucas sat at his laptop trying to find out something on alternate realities 'bleeding' into one another.
"This is fruitless," Lucas muttered to Marshall.
"No fruit for us," Marshall quipped slamming the book closed and yawning. "The best thing about this is everyone's to confused to care about us not showing up for class."
Lucas turned away from the laptop. "This can only get worse."
"That's something that has been thrown around to much today."
"Do you want me to say something else? Like about Corrine and you maybe?" Lucas asked grinning.
"Do you want me to give you a sucking chest wound?" Marshall countered
"Not a chest wound..." Lucas murmured. "You can't hurt me anyway! I've got dirt on you!"
The various amounts of dirt Lucas had on Marshall ticked through his mind. And Lucas was behind a lot of them. Of course, Marshall had some dirt on Lucas. No where near as much as was on him mostly because of Lucas's inability to... keep his thoughts to thoughts to himself.
"Good point." He rubbed his eyes and blinked hard to focus his eyes again. "I'm getting some sleep. Where not any further than what we were at the start so why keep trying?"
"I guess," Lucas conceded.
Lucas and Marshall turned in for the night, the darkness surrounding them when the lights were switched off. It felt different knowing they could be dead in the morning—one of the unpleasant side effects of bleeding realities. At least they'd found a room for the Mirror-people—John's room. Vaughn and John would stay with Josie and Corrine. Vaughn didn't really want to go home with his dad doing something... terrible, they all assumed.
A voice whispered 'wake up' into Lucas's ear softly. He opened his eyes slightly, and glanced at the clock. One A.M. He'd kill Marshall if this was some kind of joke. He shivered slightly when a cold breeze blew across his body.
He realized his duna was on the floor, and he was laying there in only boxers and a shirt. He also realized that someone was sitting on top of him. It was obviously female. She brushed her hand across his face and leaned in closely.
"Kiss, kiss, kiss... Kissing you one more time..." She sang to herself.
"Who are you?" Lucas asked, trying to place the voice.
"Before you walk out that door... Wishing behind these lips, oh baby, please stay..."
Lucas went to ask her again, until she cut him off by covering his mouth with her own. She let the fire of the kiss take over and continued to deepen it. Lucas pushed her away trying to catch his breath.
"Who are you?" He asked again catching his breath. Then it clicked. "Josie- two?"
"Ding. Ding. Ding. The reigning champion," she whispered sarcastically.
Lucas moved to his side to turn on the lamp, but Josie2 grabbed his arm and held it away from the switch. "No thank you. I don't want anyone to know I'm here."
He narrowed his eyes, not that either of them could really see. "Wouldn't it have been funny if I was Marshall?" He asked to distract her.
"Not really. It would have been embarrassing," she hesitated. "Besides, Marshall doesn't want me. Unlike you. Hence the kiss-age. And if you could see what I'm wearing..."
"Why did you kiss me though?" He asked, venom dripping form 'you.'
"I am still Josie. I'm more the Josie you... ahem... love..." She paused, as if to stifle a laugh after saying 'love.' "Than that Mirror-Josie. And I wanted to give you some happiness before you realize that you can never have her. Ever. Break free. Move on. There are other people worth your time, people who feel the same way about you." She looked over towards Marshall. He was stirring in his sleep. Now I have to go, she thought to herself.
"Why should I trust you?" Lucas asked, the pain of what she said overcoming him. "I mean, you're just a clone. I mean, you haven't been here lately. I mean... I mean..."
"I'm still Josie. Just more honest about it," she whispered cutting him off. "Marshall's waking up. I should go. We don't want any complications do we? Oops. Too late."
Lucas didn't say anything. Josie2 moved off him and walked over to the window. She smiled at Lucas sadly, and climbed out the window, closing it softly behind her.
"The doors are biting me!" Marshall yelled as he shot up in bed. "That was creepy. Hey Lucas, you awake?"
"What? Oh, yeah. Maybe," he murmured, barely audible.
Marshall moved out of his bed over towards Lucas. "Are you okay?"
"Why does that matter to you? You wouldn't understand!" Lucas boomed at him. "I just... I need some sleep." He added on, quiet again.
A pained look crossed Marshall's face. "Sorry." Defeated he climbed back into his bed and returned to his sleep, wondering what had happened to Lucas.
Corrine and Mirror-Marshall sat in the movies paying more attention to each other than the movie. They'd talked for almost the entire movie, ignoring the comments made by the people around them. Corrine was happy. The whole situation made her happy. She with Marshall.
Something Josie has said to her earlier popped into her mind when she started to think about her cutting school—which Mirror-Marshall had no problems with—"Love makes you do the wacky." It was true. She was putting her own happiness in front of everything. She'd never done that before, and she liked it.
Then Mirror-Marshall asked her something. "Come back with me. When we get to leave. Will you come back with me?"
She didn't think. She just opened her mouth and the words tumbled out of it. "Of course."
Corrine walked next to Mirror-Marshall, beaming, as they returned to the campus. She hoped Josie wouldn't mind her coming back so late. No one was trying to tell her about curfew being broken—which was surprising to Corrine—and she slipped in to the room. She knew it must be because of what was happening. Mirror-Marshall waited outside the room.
"Josie, are you awake?" She called out quietly. She walked towards her friend's bed. And fell face first over John. "Gah!"
John rolled over. Still asleep.
"Corrine?" Josie asked. "God, you were so loud I thought you were snoring..."
"Ha-ha. I'm sure to laugh any moment now," Corrine deadpanned. "What's happening?"
Josie crossed her arms after rubbing the sleep from her eyes. "You'd know if you didn't abandon us all to skip class and date someone who's not even from this reality!"
"I just thought I could use some me time."
"Except with Mirror-Marshall with it would have turned into he time," she countered. "He's fairly self-obbsessed."
"Fairly? I didn't think it was possible to understate something that much. But there you go," John added in waking up. "I'm guessing sleep isn't very popular at this school."
"That's great and all," Vaughn muttered angry that they had woken him up. "Could we just continue this tomorrow morning?"
"It is tomorrow," Corrine told him.
"Yeah, the rebel broke curfew by two-and-a-half hours," Josie said sarcastically.
Vaughn groaned and pulled the blanket over his head. "Sleep is good."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, Vaughn," Josie said not really listening or caring about what he said.
Looking suitably bad-and-moody, Mirror-Marshall leaned against the wall outside Josie's room, talking on a mobile phone. He looked back towards the door every now and then to make sure no one was coming. He didn't want and problems.
"You're sure... I guess that fills me with confidence of sorts... As long as I can convince her?... That will be no problem... Marshall doesn't seem to want to go any further with her... I do... Yes, I know that... But she also want's to go further with me... Alright... Good... Someone's coming... I've got to go..." He ended the call and slipped the phone into his back pocket.
John and Vaughn walked out of them room. Tired, yawning and angry. They walked past Mirror-Marshall, grabbing him by the arms and dragging him down the hall to where the other Mirror-people are.
"Where are you taking me?" He asked in a bored tone.
"To your friends," they replied in unison.
When they reached John's room, John opened the door and Vaughn pushed in Mirror-Marshall. Vaughn slammed the door shut and let John re-rig the lock from the outside.
"Nice job," Vaughn said begrudgingly. "We will have to talk to them soon."
John shrugged. "Does that really matter?"
"You didn't notice that none of us liked our Mirror-versions?" Vaughn asked. "You must be dumber than me."
John raised his eyebrow at Vaughn. "You're kidding right? You're one of a kind when it comes to that."
Vaughn shook his head and muttered something under his breath as they returned to Josie and Corrine's room.
Morning came, and the Mirror-people found themselves being invited to breakfast by Josie2—someone they naturally assumed was the real Josie—they walked off towards the cafeteria. Except Mirror-Marshall, who was grabbed by Josie2 and pulled away from the others.
"I need you to keep Corrine away, understand? Lucas should be able to distract John and Vaughn long enough and I can work on them further tonight," she warned him through gritted teeth. "I need to talk to Josie. This isn't a manipulation thing, this is important. Stupidly so."
Mirror-Marshall glanced around. He was bored, and Josie2 knew it. He knew better than to anger her. "Don't worry, I can do it. As long as I get what I wanted."
Josie2 laughed. "Of course. Now go."
He nodded, and walked away from her slowly, towards the cafeteria.
Josie was getting dressed in the bathroom when John, Vaughn and Corrine left for breakfast. She slipped into her uniform. Best to put in at least one appearance during the confusion, it would give them a chance to meet up without with out problems from Principal Durst. Assuming her Mirror-version hadn't done something to her.
"Hey, there, friend," Josie2 said happily as she walked into the room.
"What do you want? An ass kicking? 'Cause I really, really think I could do that and enjoy," Josie said back to her clone as she fixed up her hair. "You still look like a skank I see. If you wanted people to think you were me why—"
"This isn't about my clothes. This about you—my—our future," Josie2 interrupted her, suddenly serious. "And I think you should sit down before I tell you."
Josie snorted a laugh. "Right... Okay, what makes you think I'll believe you? Do I have a sign on my head that says gullible?"
"No. I don't expect you to believe me. Or trust me. I'm just an insane clone trying to make my way in this crazy world," she said sighing.
"Insane? You're insane? That isn't a side effect of me is it?" Josie asked worried for her sanity.
"No. According to my superiors, it's a side effect of being a clone. Our cloning technology is less than impressive," she paused for just a moment to regain he train of thought. "We won't be Gattaca-ising our lives just yet. The idea that clones degenerate faster does give some credit to the whole mankind will destroy itself theory though, doesn't it?"
Josie avoided her clone's eyes purposefully. "I'm sorry."
"Don't be. I'm not. I've had a good run. You'd be surprised what I've done since I was first created. Besides, death doesn't help," Josie2 told her gently. "As gloomy as it sounds that's life. Death is just a cliché when you look at it."
"I'm scared to ask what happened to you when you disappeared. Really I am," Josie told her, somewhat confused by Josie2's views of the world. "Maybe I'll ask when you've told me what you wanted to say. Damn sympathy."
Josie2 took in a deep breath. Unsure of how to say what she had to say she fumbled over her words. "When it... We'll... It won't... I mean..." She stopped and gathered her thoughts. "When it comes down to it, will you be ready?"
"What do you mean?" Josie asked intrigued.
"Fate has been written. Ours is..."
Hours had passed since the group had split off to work on the problems that seemed to be appearing at an alarming rate. Lucas sat at his laptop trying to find out something on alternate realities 'bleeding' into one another.
"This is fruitless," Lucas muttered to Marshall.
"No fruit for us," Marshall quipped slamming the book closed and yawning. "The best thing about this is everyone's to confused to care about us not showing up for class."
Lucas turned away from the laptop. "This can only get worse."
"That's something that has been thrown around to much today."
"Do you want me to say something else? Like about Corrine and you maybe?" Lucas asked grinning.
"Do you want me to give you a sucking chest wound?" Marshall countered
"Not a chest wound..." Lucas murmured. "You can't hurt me anyway! I've got dirt on you!"
The various amounts of dirt Lucas had on Marshall ticked through his mind. And Lucas was behind a lot of them. Of course, Marshall had some dirt on Lucas. No where near as much as was on him mostly because of Lucas's inability to... keep his thoughts to thoughts to himself.
"Good point." He rubbed his eyes and blinked hard to focus his eyes again. "I'm getting some sleep. Where not any further than what we were at the start so why keep trying?"
"I guess," Lucas conceded.
Lucas and Marshall turned in for the night, the darkness surrounding them when the lights were switched off. It felt different knowing they could be dead in the morning—one of the unpleasant side effects of bleeding realities. At least they'd found a room for the Mirror-people—John's room. Vaughn and John would stay with Josie and Corrine. Vaughn didn't really want to go home with his dad doing something... terrible, they all assumed.
A voice whispered 'wake up' into Lucas's ear softly. He opened his eyes slightly, and glanced at the clock. One A.M. He'd kill Marshall if this was some kind of joke. He shivered slightly when a cold breeze blew across his body.
He realized his duna was on the floor, and he was laying there in only boxers and a shirt. He also realized that someone was sitting on top of him. It was obviously female. She brushed her hand across his face and leaned in closely.
"Kiss, kiss, kiss... Kissing you one more time..." She sang to herself.
"Who are you?" Lucas asked, trying to place the voice.
"Before you walk out that door... Wishing behind these lips, oh baby, please stay..."
Lucas went to ask her again, until she cut him off by covering his mouth with her own. She let the fire of the kiss take over and continued to deepen it. Lucas pushed her away trying to catch his breath.
"Who are you?" He asked again catching his breath. Then it clicked. "Josie- two?"
"Ding. Ding. Ding. The reigning champion," she whispered sarcastically.
Lucas moved to his side to turn on the lamp, but Josie2 grabbed his arm and held it away from the switch. "No thank you. I don't want anyone to know I'm here."
He narrowed his eyes, not that either of them could really see. "Wouldn't it have been funny if I was Marshall?" He asked to distract her.
"Not really. It would have been embarrassing," she hesitated. "Besides, Marshall doesn't want me. Unlike you. Hence the kiss-age. And if you could see what I'm wearing..."
"Why did you kiss me though?" He asked, venom dripping form 'you.'
"I am still Josie. I'm more the Josie you... ahem... love..." She paused, as if to stifle a laugh after saying 'love.' "Than that Mirror-Josie. And I wanted to give you some happiness before you realize that you can never have her. Ever. Break free. Move on. There are other people worth your time, people who feel the same way about you." She looked over towards Marshall. He was stirring in his sleep. Now I have to go, she thought to herself.
"Why should I trust you?" Lucas asked, the pain of what she said overcoming him. "I mean, you're just a clone. I mean, you haven't been here lately. I mean... I mean..."
"I'm still Josie. Just more honest about it," she whispered cutting him off. "Marshall's waking up. I should go. We don't want any complications do we? Oops. Too late."
Lucas didn't say anything. Josie2 moved off him and walked over to the window. She smiled at Lucas sadly, and climbed out the window, closing it softly behind her.
"The doors are biting me!" Marshall yelled as he shot up in bed. "That was creepy. Hey Lucas, you awake?"
"What? Oh, yeah. Maybe," he murmured, barely audible.
Marshall moved out of his bed over towards Lucas. "Are you okay?"
"Why does that matter to you? You wouldn't understand!" Lucas boomed at him. "I just... I need some sleep." He added on, quiet again.
A pained look crossed Marshall's face. "Sorry." Defeated he climbed back into his bed and returned to his sleep, wondering what had happened to Lucas.
Corrine and Mirror-Marshall sat in the movies paying more attention to each other than the movie. They'd talked for almost the entire movie, ignoring the comments made by the people around them. Corrine was happy. The whole situation made her happy. She with Marshall.
Something Josie has said to her earlier popped into her mind when she started to think about her cutting school—which Mirror-Marshall had no problems with—"Love makes you do the wacky." It was true. She was putting her own happiness in front of everything. She'd never done that before, and she liked it.
Then Mirror-Marshall asked her something. "Come back with me. When we get to leave. Will you come back with me?"
She didn't think. She just opened her mouth and the words tumbled out of it. "Of course."
Corrine walked next to Mirror-Marshall, beaming, as they returned to the campus. She hoped Josie wouldn't mind her coming back so late. No one was trying to tell her about curfew being broken—which was surprising to Corrine—and she slipped in to the room. She knew it must be because of what was happening. Mirror-Marshall waited outside the room.
"Josie, are you awake?" She called out quietly. She walked towards her friend's bed. And fell face first over John. "Gah!"
John rolled over. Still asleep.
"Corrine?" Josie asked. "God, you were so loud I thought you were snoring..."
"Ha-ha. I'm sure to laugh any moment now," Corrine deadpanned. "What's happening?"
Josie crossed her arms after rubbing the sleep from her eyes. "You'd know if you didn't abandon us all to skip class and date someone who's not even from this reality!"
"I just thought I could use some me time."
"Except with Mirror-Marshall with it would have turned into he time," she countered. "He's fairly self-obbsessed."
"Fairly? I didn't think it was possible to understate something that much. But there you go," John added in waking up. "I'm guessing sleep isn't very popular at this school."
"That's great and all," Vaughn muttered angry that they had woken him up. "Could we just continue this tomorrow morning?"
"It is tomorrow," Corrine told him.
"Yeah, the rebel broke curfew by two-and-a-half hours," Josie said sarcastically.
Vaughn groaned and pulled the blanket over his head. "Sleep is good."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, Vaughn," Josie said not really listening or caring about what he said.
Looking suitably bad-and-moody, Mirror-Marshall leaned against the wall outside Josie's room, talking on a mobile phone. He looked back towards the door every now and then to make sure no one was coming. He didn't want and problems.
"You're sure... I guess that fills me with confidence of sorts... As long as I can convince her?... That will be no problem... Marshall doesn't seem to want to go any further with her... I do... Yes, I know that... But she also want's to go further with me... Alright... Good... Someone's coming... I've got to go..." He ended the call and slipped the phone into his back pocket.
John and Vaughn walked out of them room. Tired, yawning and angry. They walked past Mirror-Marshall, grabbing him by the arms and dragging him down the hall to where the other Mirror-people are.
"Where are you taking me?" He asked in a bored tone.
"To your friends," they replied in unison.
When they reached John's room, John opened the door and Vaughn pushed in Mirror-Marshall. Vaughn slammed the door shut and let John re-rig the lock from the outside.
"Nice job," Vaughn said begrudgingly. "We will have to talk to them soon."
John shrugged. "Does that really matter?"
"You didn't notice that none of us liked our Mirror-versions?" Vaughn asked. "You must be dumber than me."
John raised his eyebrow at Vaughn. "You're kidding right? You're one of a kind when it comes to that."
Vaughn shook his head and muttered something under his breath as they returned to Josie and Corrine's room.
Morning came, and the Mirror-people found themselves being invited to breakfast by Josie2—someone they naturally assumed was the real Josie—they walked off towards the cafeteria. Except Mirror-Marshall, who was grabbed by Josie2 and pulled away from the others.
"I need you to keep Corrine away, understand? Lucas should be able to distract John and Vaughn long enough and I can work on them further tonight," she warned him through gritted teeth. "I need to talk to Josie. This isn't a manipulation thing, this is important. Stupidly so."
Mirror-Marshall glanced around. He was bored, and Josie2 knew it. He knew better than to anger her. "Don't worry, I can do it. As long as I get what I wanted."
Josie2 laughed. "Of course. Now go."
He nodded, and walked away from her slowly, towards the cafeteria.
Josie was getting dressed in the bathroom when John, Vaughn and Corrine left for breakfast. She slipped into her uniform. Best to put in at least one appearance during the confusion, it would give them a chance to meet up without with out problems from Principal Durst. Assuming her Mirror-version hadn't done something to her.
"Hey, there, friend," Josie2 said happily as she walked into the room.
"What do you want? An ass kicking? 'Cause I really, really think I could do that and enjoy," Josie said back to her clone as she fixed up her hair. "You still look like a skank I see. If you wanted people to think you were me why—"
"This isn't about my clothes. This about you—my—our future," Josie2 interrupted her, suddenly serious. "And I think you should sit down before I tell you."
Josie snorted a laugh. "Right... Okay, what makes you think I'll believe you? Do I have a sign on my head that says gullible?"
"No. I don't expect you to believe me. Or trust me. I'm just an insane clone trying to make my way in this crazy world," she said sighing.
"Insane? You're insane? That isn't a side effect of me is it?" Josie asked worried for her sanity.
"No. According to my superiors, it's a side effect of being a clone. Our cloning technology is less than impressive," she paused for just a moment to regain he train of thought. "We won't be Gattaca-ising our lives just yet. The idea that clones degenerate faster does give some credit to the whole mankind will destroy itself theory though, doesn't it?"
Josie avoided her clone's eyes purposefully. "I'm sorry."
"Don't be. I'm not. I've had a good run. You'd be surprised what I've done since I was first created. Besides, death doesn't help," Josie2 told her gently. "As gloomy as it sounds that's life. Death is just a cliché when you look at it."
"I'm scared to ask what happened to you when you disappeared. Really I am," Josie told her, somewhat confused by Josie2's views of the world. "Maybe I'll ask when you've told me what you wanted to say. Damn sympathy."
Josie2 took in a deep breath. Unsure of how to say what she had to say she fumbled over her words. "When it... We'll... It won't... I mean..." She stopped and gathered her thoughts. "When it comes down to it, will you be ready?"
"What do you mean?" Josie asked intrigued.
"Fate has been written. Ours is..."