Falling From Grace

Chapter 2 Punished

Sophie didn't search Lexis right away. Instead she sat next to the older twin on the bed, and waited until Lexis looked up at her. She wore an angered expression, though Sophie would have to admit that it was half-assed. Lexis didn't seem to be as angry about her situation as Cooper. "So," Sophie said, twisting her fingers together nervously. "Cooper doesn't want to be here, does she?"

Lexis made a rude snorting noise. "What tipped you off, Barbie?"

Sophie blinked at the outburst of sarcasm. And did Lexis just call her Barbie? "No, my name's Sophie."

"I know," Lexis said, looking back down at her hands. "I meant like the doll."

"Oh."

"And no, Cooper doesn't want to be here."

"Do you?"

Lexis didn't respond immediately. Sophie gave her time to think her answer over. "I don't like not having control over my life, over my actions, and I honestly can't remember the last time I was in control." She took a shaky breath. "I want to change, I don't want to be a slave to my bad habits anymore."

Sophie nodded, knowing the feeling, and being able to relate. "But Cooper?"

Lexis gave Sophie a long sideways glance. "Cooper has issues."

"Like what kind of issues?"

"You think I don't know what you're doing? I bet Peter's off quizzing Cooper about me. The old play one twin against the other..." She picked at her fingernails. "Well, Coop and I have been through a lot of therapy sessions, and they've all done the same thing."

Sophie nodded, mentally kicking herself for understating the twin's connection. Surely Lexis wouldn't give up things about Cooper that Cooper didn't want her to. And Cooper...well, Lexis was pretty much an open book, or so her file said. It looked as though Lexis was eager to get help for herself, but had no problem with keeping secrets for her sister. "Well, we promise not to resort to that, if you'll cooperate with us."

Lexis looked at her, suspicious. "Cooperate how?"

"Cooper cuts herself, correct?" A small nod. "And you know why. Correct?"

"Not really."

Sophie hesitated. "You don't know why?"

Lexis sighed. "There's no one reason a person cuts themselves, Sophie. Its very complicated, as is Coop."

Sophie stood up, seeing the Cliffhanger girls walking towards the dorm through the window. She looked at her watch. Classes were over. Her quizzing session with Lexis would have to wait. "Well, your roommates are coming back from class, I'll introduce you, then we'll head back to the office for your search."

Lexis nodded, standing up. She looked towards the door as three girls walked in. Two brunettes and a blonde. The very skinny brunette on the right broke out into a grin. "Newbie?"

Sophie nodded, gesturing towards Lexis. "This is Lexis Sparks, she and her sister Cooper will be joining you girls."

Lexis shook hands with all three girls. The skinny brunette was Juliette. The bored looking brunette was Daisy. And the mean looking blonde was Shelby. Lexis grasped Shelby's hand a little longer than normal, as she saw something distinctly familiar in the blonde girl's eyes. Abandonment. Fear. Alienation. The feeling that, though you haven't told them, everyone knows your secrets, and everyone is laughing at you behind your back.

It was the same look she saw in Cooper's eyes.

"You got a staring problem, Newbie?"

Lexis blinked out of her thoughts, and dropped the blonde girl's hand. "S-sorry."

Sophie, noticing the sudden change in Lexis' nature, took the new girl by the elbow. "I think we should head to Peter's office and get this search over with."

Lexis nodded, her eyes glued to the floor. "Yeah. Whatever." She stooped to retrieve her bags, chancing a look at Shelby, who was staring down at her questioningly. "What?"

"Your name is Lexis?"

"Yeah," Lexis said, shrugging. "What can I say? My parents wanted a new car."

"And they settled for twin daughters?"

"Sucky deal, huh?" Lexis said, revealing more about her relationship with her parents than she'd ever realize. For someone would have had to put it in her head that her parents had settled for their kids, and that it'd been a bad deal, and judging from the animosity Sophie had witnessed earlier, she had a pretty good idea who that was.

Sophie tightened her grip on Lexis' elbow, leading her towards the door. "C'mon Lexis, we'll see if Peter's done lecturing Cooper yet."

Lexis tore her eyes away from Shelby, and followed Sophie out the door.

"So, Cooper. Anything you wanna talk about?"

Cooper glared at Peter over the nurse's shoulder. The plump Hispanic woman was busy bandaging the clean slice in Cooper's arm, pulling gauze pads and medical tape tight around her bicep, all the while muttering incoherently to herself. Cooper had a mouthful of snide remarks she wanted to throw at peter, but she settled for just glaring.

"I think that bandage will hold for now, Gloria."

Cooper thanked Peter silently for calling the nurse off. The woman was talking a blue streak under her breath, and smelled strongly of disinfectant. Cooper's thanks faded quickly as the nurse left the office, shutting the door behind her. Cooper was alone in the windowless room with Peter. Sarcasm kicked in to helped fight off her nerves. "I suppose you think that I'm gonna talk to you just because you called off the skitzo nurse?"

Peter brought his chair over to the side of the bed that Cooper sat on, and sat down. "No. I think you're going to talk, because you know that if you don't get it over with now, I'm just going to be your shadow for as long as it takes for you to tell me."

Cooper, knowing that he probably meant what he was saying, felt defeated. She'd been there less than an hour and already he'd convinced her to spill. "What do you want to know?"

"Lets start with why you cut yourself in the bathroom," Peter said, leaning back in his chair. To the untrained eye he looked completely at ease, calm, cool and collected. But Cooper had seen so many therapists in her life that reading Peter was as easy as it came. She could practically see him going over her files in his mind, trying to place things together, trying to fill in the blanks that she knew were there.

"Because had I tried to cut myself in the bedroom, Sophie would have seen me."

Peter let a slow breath out through his teeth. "Okay. How about this: what made you want to cut yourself?"

Cooper opened her mouth, then closed it. Opened it again. Closed it again. This was a tough question, even for her to answer. "I guess...I don't know."

Peter sat forward. "You don't know? That's not an answer, Cooper."

Cooper glared at him. "What do you want me to say?"

"I want you to be honest with me."

"Why should I?" Cooper stood up, pulling her sweatshirt on, and pulling the sleeve down fiercely over her bandages. "I've known you for what? Ten seconds? There's things about me my best friends don't know, things I wouldn't even tell Lexis, and they're exactly the questions that I know you want to ask me."

"Maybe its time you told someone," Peter said, standing as well. "Talking about it makes you feel better."

"Sure it does. It makes it feel better, but it doesn't make it go away. Its always there, always haunting me, and by talking about it I'm just bringing more people into my problems. I don't need anymore people involved in my problems."

Peter took a step towards her, watching as she flinched and stepped back. He noted the reaction, but didn't dwell on it. "We're here to help you, that's what Sophie and I do."

"I don't want your help. They're my problems, not yours." Cooper found the doorknob behind her, turned it, and left the room.