Chapter 22- Devious Retaliation
"That'd be so mean though!" Serena cried from the bedroom floor, passing the half empty liquor bottle over to Heather.
"Sweetheart, this is war. You have to protect your territory," Heather said before taking a sip of the hard liquid. Serena sighed. It had been a three weeks since Tom and Rebecca had first had night duty and it didn't take Serena long to find out that Rebecca had scheduled for them to have duty together almost every other night. Obviously it wasn't hard to see how upset Serena was over this.
"Tom, this is ridiculous!" She had complained after seeing the schedule. "She is so doing this on purpose!"
"You're overreacting," He said, with a dismissive wave of his hand. Serena growled and stomped away to find Heather and Eve. Now, an early Saturday afternoon, they sat on the floor in their dorm room with the door locked and an emergency bottle of hard pumpkin juice in hand.
"Seriously Serena, you don't want her to win do you?" Eve asked.
"Well no-" Serena started.
"No, of course you don't. Winner reaps the spoils. You definitely don't want her to get Tom," Heather said.
"But that's the thing! I would if he wanted to be with her," Serena said.
"Serena! You are stupid. The only reason Tom would go for her is if you let him- if you backed off and chickened out," Heather shouted. "You have to fight." Serena rolled her eyes.
"Uhg, I don't know…" She muttered.
"Ok, we don't have to embarrass her in front of Tom," Eve said, "But we can't just do nothing!"
"I know, but honestly, what can we do?" Serena said. "She's a.) head girl and b.) completely gorgeous! And c.) been super sweet to me. I don't have any reason to go after her." Serena said.
"Except that a.) who cares that she's head girl…although we could try to remove that title," Heather said, drifting off.
"Heather!" Serena cried.
"Ok fine, but anyways, b.) she's flat, so don't worry, and c.) she's trying to steal your man! That's reason enough!" Heather finished.
"Ok, point made. But, what should I do about it?" Serena asked, begging them for an answer.
"hmmmm…" Eve thought out loud.
"Well I wasn't planning on nice revenge ideas," Heather said, "so I'll have to think of some new ones. But you have to prepare yourself, ok? This is war." Serena smiled grimly and sighed.
"Fine."
0-0-0
The next day was the students' first outing to Hogsmeade. A warm day with a light breeze met them, and Serena, Heather and Eve found themselves thankful it wasn't frigid out as they walked around the stone paths.
Their first stop was in the candy store where they stocked up on chocolate frogs, Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans, and a variety of new items. Then they traveled around other stores, mainly clothing ones. At around one o'clock they stopped at the Three Broomsticks where Tom met them for lunch.
After spending about two hours there, eating lunch, drinking butter beer and stealing samples of their newly purchased candy, they paid their bill and meandered back towards the castle.
After dinner that night, Serena had plans to meet up with Tom in his personal dorm. She had to admit she was a bit excited as it was the first time being alone with him all day. She walked out of the great hall with Heather and Eve and saw him at the end of the corridor, nodding his head occasionally to the person with which he was conversing. Serena clenched her teeth when she heard the high-pitched laugh and saw her fling her golden curls over her shoulder.
"Ok Serena, now GO FOR IT!" Heather said, trying hard to refrain from pushing her towards Tom.
"Be a bitch," Eve added.
"Hold your territory," Heather said. Serena took a deep breath, pushed her shoulders back, shortened her skirt with another roll, and forced her legs forward.
Very flirtatiously, she sauntered over to Tom and linked her arm through his. He glanced down at her, surprised, and then smiled at her before turning back to an almost glaring Rebecca.
"I'm sorry for interrupting…Rebecca, right?" Serena said giggling. Quickly Rebecca pasted a smile back on her face.
"Yes, that's right. Anyways Thomas, I'll try to work on that, but you'll keep it secret, won't you?" She asked, her voice like syrup. Serena's breath caught and her heart started beating five times faster. Her. Having a secret with Tom? That insufferable blonde slut!
"Of course," Tom said politely, as always. Rebecca flashed him another sugary smile before uttering a bubbly "bye-hehe" and skipping away. Serena was quiet as she watched her move out of sight. That bitch! Now it really was war. A snigger from Tom brought her back into reality.
"What?" She asked, snapping her head back to face his smirk.
"Could you be any less obvious of your jealousy?" He asked, with a glimmer in his eye, apparently finding this situation very amusing. She sighed.
"Could she be any less blatant about her attempts to steal you from me?" She cried. Tom's smirk grew.
"My, my, I didn't realize you were so possessive," He said. Serena shot him a glare.
"It must have rubbed off," She said, folding her arms across her chest as Tom laughed.
"I guess so," He said, his arm leaving hers to encircle her waist, drawing her close and kissing her.
"Come on," He said, after he released her, dragging her back to his room.
Serena didn't start harassing him until they got there.
"So, what's this secret you two share?" She asked, once he had shut the door. Tom looked up from laying his school robe on his couch.
"You're still going on about this?" He asked, smiling. She desperately wanted to slap that amused grin off his face. However, she refrained and waited for an answer, tapping her foot instead.
"Now Serena Darling, didn't you hear her?" He asked, walking towards her. "I'm not allowed to tell. I promised."
"Since when do your promises mean shit Tom?" She asked, angrily. Tom stopped and he lost his grin.
"When I promise you things, Serena, I mean them," He said quietly. Serena sighed.
"Oh Tom, I know that," She said, meeting him at the center of the room and taking his hands. "But I mean for other people. For her. Are your promises to her the same as the ones you make to me?" She asked softly, fluttering her doe eyes up at him. His eyes caught hers and he stared deep into them before answering.
"No," He said, tracing her chin with his thumb. A shiver ran up her back.
"You're too self conscious. You need to stop worrying about Rebecca," He said. She dropped her eyes. "You'll find out soon enough anyways. But, just think of it as a surprise." Serena exhaled slowly. He moved his face to lock eyes with her again.
"A good one," He said, as his arms wrapped themselves around her waist. She smiled softly and let herself be pulled against his hard chest.
"So you're not going to tell me," She asked with defeat, through his soft woolen sweater. Even without looking at him, she could see, no, feel him smile.
"I'd rather do other things with you than continue talking about Rebecca," He said, moving her chin up and catching her lips with his. She closed her eyes and let herself be taken to the couch. She blocked off her mind to her and everything else and just let herself enjoy his skillful touch.
Afterwards, Tom escorted her back to her common room so she didn't get in trouble for being out late, although she was still technically within her curfew. He stopped outside the portrait hole.
"Goodnight Princess," He said, kissing her gently. She blushed as the woman in the portrait made "ooohs" and "awwws". He pulled away, as she said the password and went in.
"Goodnight," She whispered to him, before the door swung shut behind her.
"Well we weren't expecting you back tonight," Eve said from Heather's bed. Heather looked up from her book.
"You guys didn't have sex?" She asked, concerned.
"I didn't say that," Serena said, shutting the door behind her and coming over to join Eve on Heather's bed.
"So how did it go with Rebecca?" Heather asked.
"Fine I guess. But like she mentioned something about Tom keeping something a secret and he wouldn't tell me what it was!" She said, wrapping her arms around her legs.
"Really?" Eve asked.
"He wouldn't tell you?" Heather asked.
"Well…he said it was a surprise that was going to be announced soon…but I don't know…" Serena mumbled.
"This calls for a new operation!" Heather cried. "Operation: Extracting the secret"
Serena smiled.
"I'm up for it," She said.
"Me too," Eve said. And so it began.
0-0-0-0
Ok, so their "operation" wasn't going so great, but after another two weeks, they didn't need to do it anymore anyways. The big "secret" was announced.
"Thanks to the careful and dedicated planning of our Head girl, Ms. Rebecca Flemings," the Headmaster was saying, "I am excited to reveal a long-awaited surprise: this years Halloween dance!"
This was met with much clapping and hurried whispers.
"That was their secret!" Heather said, turning to Serena.
"I hope so!" She whispered back as the Headmaster continued.
"This has been carefully planned so I expect all of you to attend and behave yourselves, but mostly, this is a time to relax and get to know your fellow students. After all, this is just the beginning of another long year…" He rambled on as the girls (mainly) giggled and gossiped with each other.
"Oh no! We totally have to get new dresses now!" Alexandra, a girl to their right whispered loudly to Elizabeth. "We only have one month left!"
"So we'll have to get dates," Heather said to Eve.
"Do you think I'm automatically going with Tom?" Serena asked suddenly. "Or do you think Rebecca would get to go with him if she asked him?"
"I don't know," Heather said. "I guess you'll just have to fight her for it." Serena wrinkled her nose.
"Come on, you can totally do it," Eve said.
"Besides, I'm sure you'll be able to get him to ask you," Heather said. "Just take another trip to Hogsmeade and rent out a room again."
"I don't think I'll need to do that," Serena said, rolling her eyes. But just as she said that, Heather gasped and began nudging her frantically.
Serena put her cup down and followed Heather's eyes. There by the Slytherin table, Rebecca walked by and motioned for Tom to follow her. He nodded and then left the table, walking out of the great hall with her.
Serena's heart sunk.
"Then again,…maybe I do," She said, staring dejectedly into her tea.