Disclaimer: Still waiting for Jim Raspas to become insane enough to give the show to me, but as that probably won't happen any time soon, and I admit this with chagrin, I still don't own Strange Days.
Ch. 5: A Strange Return
Corrine made her way to back to the room trying to calm herself the whole way. She wasn't worried about Vaughn or Lucas knowing something was wrong, but she knew that Marshall and Josie would know something was up. And something told her that Nikki would know as well.
Taking one final breath, she walked back into her room, trying to convey to the incite full ones to wait till the others were out of the room.
Nikki caught on rather quickly and suddenly spoke, "Ok, guys, time to go back to your room, curfew is any time now and if Durst catches you all in here, I'm guessing there will be hell to pay. Oh, hey Marshall, wait a sec, the fact that you have never see Phantom is a crime, and while I don't have a video copy of the play, I have the soundtrack, if you wait a sec, I'll loan it to you," she finished, going over to her suitcase and pretending to rummage for the right CD case.
"Yeah, sure. Go ahead, Luke, I'll catch up," Marshall told Lucas.
"Yeah, see you in a sec," Lucas called over his shoulder as he was leaving.
"I'll see you tomorrow, Jose," Vaughn said, kissing Josie on the cheek, and following Lucas.
Nikki pulled out the soundtrack as soon as they were outside the door and handed it to Marshall. "My guess is you have two minutes tops. If I knock once, it means Durst is coming down the hall. Twice means she is at the stairs. Three times means she is next door, and four means we have to somehow turn Marshall invisible because she is right outside," Nikki finished, following Josie to the door.
"Done this much at your old school, Spot?" Marshall asked.
"Once or twice. Don't get caught, Jacky-Boy," she called over her shoulder.
"What happened?" Marshall asked, as soon as the door had shut.
"As I was coming out of the bathroom, the janitor grabbed me and told me we have to trust her. That she is the key. That without her we will fail. What does that mean?" she asked.
"What do you think it means?" Marshall asked.
"I think it means the janitor knows more than he is letting on and he thinks we need to trust Nikki or we will all be in trouble. What can he know that we don't?" she asked.
"I don't know. I do know that we need to figure out what we are going to do soon, before-" Marshall was cut of by a sharp knock on the door. "One knock. We will talk more tomorrow. We will figure this all out. Just do me a favor and remember that she seems to know what we are all thinking before we tell her. I'll see you in the morning," he sighed, kissing her cheek as two knocks sounded.
"Night Marshall," Corrine sighed.
"Night," he said, reluctantly turning the knob and tucking the CD into his pocket. "Thanks, Spot," he whispered as they passed each other. "Night, Principal Durst," the three of them heard him say as they shut the door.
Breakfast the next morning was kind of tense. Corrine hadn't slept well, Marshall was concerned about her, Josie was mad that Corrine hadn't told her why she was so upset when she came in last night, and even Vaughn and Lucas seemed to be aware that there was tension in the group. Nikki kept trying to start conversation, if only between her Lucas and Vaughn to cover the silence. She gave up after realizing that it just made the silence more striking.
After breakfast they walked to the science room to see if Professor Z was there so that they could introduce Nikki.
"Z?" Lucas called as they walked into the room.
"Lucas, how was your weekend?" Z asked. He looked a little startled for a second when he noticed Nikki, and tried to recover. "Hi, I'm Professor Zachary. I teach science, and I'm guessing you have fallen in with my favorite students. Um, there was a note," he mumbled, searching his desk. A second later he surfaced with a piece of paper, "Yes, here we go, Nicola Vatrini from New York. How did you meet the science club?"
"Please, its Nikki. And I'm rooming with Corrine and Josie. I've heard a bit about you. Don't worry, it was mostly good," she joked.
"I deny everything they said about me," Professor Z laughed.
"Nikki is going to join the science club," Vaughn blurted.
"Really," Professor Z mused. "Well, you'll need a book. Vaughn, will you do me a favor and run Miss Vatrini, sorry, Nikki to the library?" Z asked.
"Yeah, sure, we'll be right back," he agreed, leading Nikki out of the room.
As soon as they were out of ear shot, Professor Z asked, "Does she know about the vortex?"
"No. She saw it through the door yesterday, but I'm almost positive she didn't see it fully. She just saw the purple glow," Lucas sighed.
"How did you explain it?" Z asked.
"I explained the light as a senior prank that we haven't been fully able to counter, and the wind as a wind machine on a timer. I think she believed me. I can't be sure, but she seems to not like it when people lie to her, and she did not say anything," Lucas replied.
"So why did you let her in the club? Do you think she is a spy?" he asked.
"How come that is everyone's immediate reaction? From what I saw yesterday, no. Corrine still has her doubts, but I don't and I spent hours with her yesterday. I honestly thought at first that it was a distinct possibility, but now I highly doubt it," he sighed.
"So, we have no reason to suspect her?" Z inquired.
"Not as far as I can see," Lucas replied.
"Well, you don't know what I know," Corrine muttered darkly.
"What do you mean?" Lucas asked.
"Last night, when I was leaving the bathroom, the janitor grabbed me and told me that we have to trust her, that without her we would fail. That she was the key," she tapered off.
"Which leads us to another question of character. How well do we trust the janitor? We all know he is involved, but do we believe him?" Marshall mused.
"I don't know, but I think that this is all going to become an issue soon. We have been ignoring too many potential problems. First there is Tyler, then the Qi-Gong ball, what happened to Vaughn's mother, where is she, what happened to Pearadyne, and most importantly, how is the lab related to the vortex?" Josie asked somewhat rhetorically.
"Now is not the time to figure that out. Take your seats, we will talk later," Z ordered, as other students came into the room.
"Class, we have a new student. Her name is Nicola Vatrini, but she prefers Nikki, and she comes to us from a performing arts high school in New York. Would you like to come up and tell us a little about your self?" Z asked five minutes later, when every one was in their seats.
"Yeah, sure," she agreed, walking to the front. "Ok, I'm Nikki, I'm sixteen, I grew up in Brooklyn, but went to a performing arts school in Manhattan, with emphasis on drama, but some of the choir girls were out for my blood because I always got the female lead in the school musicals. I have a strange affinity for musicals, I have seen most of them that have ever come to Broadway. I have five siblings, three brothers and two sisters, and all but one is younger than me, and one is my twin. I am rooming with Corrine and Josie, and I hope to make it to graduation before I get so home sick that I run back home to New York," she finished.
"Why did you leave the city?" Madison asked.
"I wasn't aware that this was a question and answer kind of thing," Nikki replied, getting uncomfortable.
"It's a simple question, why does it make you so nervous? What are you hiding?" Madison prodded.
Getting her emotions in check, she shot back, putting a measured amount of venom in her words, "I'm not hiding anything. I just don't think it is any of your business. All you need to know is that was I there and now I'm here. Now, if it is ok with you, I'm going to sit down, before you stick your foot so far down your throat that it comes out the other end. Excuse me," Nikki spat, storming down the aisle back to her desk next to Lucas.
"Ok, now that everyone knows not to mess with the new kid, lets get started, shall we?" Z tried to joke and take control of the class at the same time.
"New girl," Madison called as they were leaving science class later.
"Look, in case I didn't make it clear before, I don't need a best friend, and you don't want to mess with me, so unless you are going to tell me that I left my pencil in class, it is in your best interest to just keep walking, and I'll pretend you did not just try to talk to me," Nikki tried to brush her off.
"Can you do the splits?" Madison asked.
"Yes, I can, but no, I don't want to join your cheerleading squad," Nikki replied.
"So I see that you asked about me, I can't say I'm completely horrified," Madison smirked.
"I didn't ask a thing, the only person who has ever asked me that question was the cheerleading captain of a rival high school, you conceited little diva. In fact I think the only people who go around randomly asking other people if they can to the splits are cheerleading captains. So please excuse me if I don't demonstrate, but cheerleaders rub me the wrong way, and if you even start to give me the speech about hanging around with the science club hurting my social standings here, I will be forced to tell you that you are full of it and will realize ten years from now that you wasted your life doing the popular thing and that your life is meaningless, and that you have no true friends, and would give anything to have any true inkling of what people really think of you. Now when that day comes I would like for you to remember this, but I know that this particular memory will have been pushed out of your brain by next years cheer routine, seeing as half of the words are too large for you to understand. But mark my word it will come, and when it does, a little voice will tell you I told you so, and that voice? That voice is me, so please move on, before I am forced to do something that will make you remember this moment," Nikki spat.
"Oh, yeah, what kind of-" Madison was cut off by a voice at the end of the hall.
"You should listen to her, Madison. She means every word she says," the voice spoke.
They all turned to the end of the hall, and saw a figure that none really wanted or expected to see.
"Tyler," Nikki whispered.
"What is he doing back and how does she know him?" Josie whispered to the rest of the science club.
A/N: I know, evil cliffie. What can I say, I like them. I'm so sorry that I haven't updated in so long, things got really crazy at work this holiday, and didn't have any time to write. I'm sorry. I promise I am almost done with the intro stuff, and I will start going somewhere with this story soon. Read and review, please. Luv, Kat
