Chapter 02: Blackwell's Queen
When we got back to Blackwell, Victoria released her seatbelt and started to turn toward me, but she stopped herself before settling on a neutral posture. She sighed.
"Did I… do something wrong?" I asked, trying to gauge her expression.
"No, it's just…" Victoria sighed again. "Usually we'd make out a little whenever we got back before we had to get out of the car and go back to… normal."
I felt a heat in my face, burning through to my ears and settling in my chest. "Was our… relationship a secret?"
"An open secret," Victoria said. "Officially, we're just friends. Anything more than that might cause Blackwell's higher-ups to shove yet another stick up their tight asses and take it out on us."
"Who knows?"
"Outside of the Vortex Club and everyone on our floor? I'd guess just about everyone," Victoria said as she lowered her visor to open the mirror there and look at herself. "Open secret, Max. A bunch of stuck-up old geezers can't do shit about rumors. So as long as faculty or security don't see us fucking, we're fine."
The fire in me exploded into an inferno. "We… we've d-done… you know. Those things?"
An angry flip of Victoria's wrist sent the visor crashing into the ceiling. She turned to me, her emerald eyes piercing into me with emotions I just couldn't place. "You mean fucked? Yeah, Max. We have."
My stomach churned and I felt like I was going to throw up. I wasn't disgusted by the information. I couldn't even really place the emotions rolling through me. "Oh," was all I could manage to say. What else could I possibly say? That I was a virgin? That unsettling feeling in my stomach returned as it dawned on me that only my mind was a virgin. This body had been through a different five years than the original.
Hugging myself, I leaned back in the supremely comfortable leather seat feeling extremely uncomfortable. "Victoria, trust me when I say do not fuck with time. Shit."
"Come on. I'm not calling you Maxine," Victoria quipped as she opened her door and stepped out.
Right. I'm supposed to call her Vic. She likes that.
"Sorry, Vic," I muttered, reluctantly undoing the seat belt and stepping out of the coziest, most comfy car I'd ever been in. It took me until after I closed the car door to realize that Victo—Vic was leaning against the car, just waiting for me. Even after I closed the car door, she just hung out there, like she was waiting for something.
"So… uh, should we go in?" I asked, thumbing over my shoulder in the direction of the dorms.
Vic scoffed, doting on her flawless nails. "You're asking me?"
"Yes?" I replied. Somehow, I felt like she was trying to give me cues and my awkward ass just couldn't understand.
"If that's what you want to do, Max," Vic replied. She shuffled there a bit looking… uncomfortable? Anxious?
I grabbed my arm with a hand, an almost subconscious action that made me feel a little less insecure. "I guess I have a few loose ends that still need tying up," I surmised. "Gotta try to patch up things with Warren and Kate."
Victoria raised an eyebrow and scoffed. "Warren and Kate? You mean that science geek that does your homework and the church girl?"
"They're my friends…" The words died in my throat as I was reminded of their falsehood. "They were my friends. And really good people."
"Tch. Nathan and Taylor are really good people. Those two virgins redefine loser-geek and bible-bitch," Victoria replied. For just a moment, she stood again before me as Blackwell's icy queen.
I gave a curt turn, putting my gaze on the dorms in the distance. "I'd rather watch movies with Warren or have tea with Kate than go to any Vortex Club party."
Almost as soon as I started walking, Victoria was on my heels. "Your other timeline must be a lot more different than I imagined."
"Victor—Vic, are you really going to tell me you don't like anime, or that you wouldn't love to put on your fancy clothes and have a quiet cup of tea with good company?"
"Well… I—" Vic struggled to come up with a coherent response. A faint smile bit my lip hearing her at a loss for words. "Okay, I can see the romance of an old-fashioned tea party. Fine. But anime?"
My face scrunched up as I remembered her glow-in-the-dark figurine. Could this timeline be so different? "So, you're telling me you don't have anime figurines stashed in your dorm room?"
This time, Victoria rushed in front of me, making me stop. Her face glowed red enough for me to see it through her makeup. "I-I never—! Did you snoop around in my room?"
"Technically, yes," I replied. Oh my Dog, she was so embarrassed. Why did I not bring that up in the original timeline? "Not in this timeline… or at least not that I would be able to remember, anyway."
Slowly, Victoria regained her composure and stepped aside. "It-it's a guilty pleasure. A shameful secret!" she hissed as I walked up and she fell in step beside me. Well, about a pace behind me, actually.
"So you can have sex with me, but not tell me that you like anime like pretty much everyone else?" I asked, looking back at her over my shoulder.
"Like you tell me all your secrets?" Victoria bit back.
My blood cooled, and I hugged myself again as I tried to block out the memories that demanded to be seen. "Victoria, you are literally the only person on the whole fucking planet that knows about my power. I haven't even told Chloe… I really don't look forward to that conversation."
As we walked up to the dorms, I saw familiar faces. And, strangely enough, virtually everyone greeted me as I passed. I tried to reciprocate, but it quickly weighed on my social anxiety. I just tucked myself in close and made a beeline for the steps. There, sitting in the way, was Taylor.
"Max! Tori!" She greeted us with a big smile as she made sure to give us a wide berth. "How'd the date go?"
It felt like reality shattered. Already frazzled, I now had to diffuse this social nuclear bomb. How had I not thought to come up with some kind of plan with Victoria about this? We were supposed to be a couple!
"We're, uh…" Victoria spoke up, her voice wavering, "we're taking some time apart." Part of me hoped she was a really good actress. Part of me feared that I had truly hurt her. All of me was guilty as shit about how relieved I was at Victoria giving me such a good fucking out.
I tried to speak up. Say something about how we were starting over from scratch. Instead, my brain just jumped at the first out of this conversation that popped into my mind. "So, how's your mom doing?" I asked, wincing just a bit as I realized that things might not have all lined up with all the things I changed.
Taylor tore her gaze away from Victoria and she glanced at me before looking down. "She… the recovery is going really well. They say she might get discharged later in the week," she said. As the words spilled out, she seemed to brighten up. Though, she kept giving sad glances over at Victoria.
"I'm glad," I said.
"Yeah… me too," Taylor replied, this time her tone sinking into listlessness.
The urge to flee this social disaster became overwhelming as I started up the steps and reached for the door. "I, uh, I think I'm just gonna go to my room and decompress."
"Of course," Taylor said.
When I went through the door, it wasn't just Victoria following me. Taylor came in, too. I guess it made sense. After all, she was Victoria's right-hand woman. Her best friend. She would want to be there for Victoria after she told the half-lie.
The trip up to our floor proved excruciating. I kept hearing them whisper behind me, and even though I knew it was all about our supposed "break up," it still caused a short-circuit in my self-conscious brain. My anxiety threatened to overflow by the time we entered the hallway. There, Dana was talking to Kate. And as much as I longed to try to catch up and glean what information I could from them or even just try to restart my friendship with Kate, I couldn't bear another minute of socializing. I brushed by them and went straight to my room. Thankfully, Victoria and Taylor hung back once they made it to Victoria's room.
The moment I got in my room, I slammed the door shut, threw off my shoes, and jumped onto my bed. I grabbed my pillow and my stuffed bear and cuddled up into the blankets. I couldn't make a fort to protect me from the outside world but damned if I couldn't cocoon. Just make it all go away—even if just for a little while.