Hello hello and welcome back, I actually enjoyed writing this chapter, so I hope you enjoy reading it. Have fun, and see you at the end - J
Chapter 7: New day
Slowly, she could feel herself being pulled back into consciousness, her senses lazily exploring around her. She was laying on her arm, and something soft but harder than a pillow. A frown crossed her face as her sleep riddled brain tried to work out what was going on. It occurred to her then that she was listening to a heartbeat that wasn't hers, that a hand rested on the back of her neck. For half a second she panicked, but then the memories flooded back.
Kelly Jones.
She still lay across the older girl's chest, their legs entwined under the covers. Going on the amount of light coming through her eyelids, it was morning already… She'd slept all the way through. This morning was already weird and she'd yet to even open her eyes.
"Do you ever stop thinking?" A tired grumble above her head almost made her flinch.
"Er… Probably not." She muttered back and felt, more than heard, Jones' answering chuckle.
"I didn't think so." Her voice strained slightly and the body beneath her shifted and arched as the woman stretched.
"We have to get up, the girls will be awake soon." Sleep was already leaving her voice so Soph finally allowed herself to open her eyes, shifting out of the way to let Kelly get up and rolling into the now unoccupied space beside her to watch the other woman move about her room.
She was methodical, picking up yesterday's clothes and tossing them into a hamper or onto the edge of the bed, seemingly completely unperturbed by both her lack of clothing, or her audience. That said, there was no reason Soph could fathom that Kelly shouldn't walk around like that all day. It would be a goddamn public service.
"Hello?" She didn't realised she was being watched until Jones spoke and she blinked, finding the woman watching her with an amused smirk.
"Sorry." She blinked a few more times in an attempt to clear her mind and sat up. Jones arched a brow.
"No comment? What? Did I break you?" She laughed and pulled a dressing gown off of the back of her door. Soph laughed and rolled to her feet.
"Well…Maybe, actually." She paused as flashbacks from the night before forced her to make a quick mental reboot before she was capable of grabbing her jeans off of the end of the bed and pulling them on. She'd managed to keep her underwear and shirt, so that was keeping her from freaking out too much, which was nice. Still, the head girl grinned as she sauntered over.
"If I knew this was the way to shut you up I'd have let you in here weeks back." Jones' reached down to brush her fingers through her hair, an oddly gentle smile pulling at her lips and Soph couldn't repress a shiver. She dropped her gaze, unable to hold eye contact.
This was not good. Carefully, she ducked away, trying hard not to think about how much she missed the contact as she buttoned her shirt. She swallowed hard to gather herself before turning around with a grin.
"Maybe you should have, could've eased some of that tension you've been carrying around." She winked and Jones rolled her eyes.
"That tension was a new pain in my ass." She cruised past and batted her arm with a smirk, Soph held her hand over her heart and turned to face her, feigning hurt.
"Oh, you wound me." They shared a laugh for a moment before Jones opened the second door in her room, confirming Soph's suspicions that it was a bathroom.
"I'll see you at breakfast, grab a table with Polly." She made a shooing gesture toward the door and Soph smirked, stepping into her boots and grabbing her tie off of the bedpost.
"Yes, ma'am." She offered a joking salute and a wink before turning on her heel and slipping out quietly.
Upon her return to the dorm a few of people were stirring but no one was alive. They should have been up half an hour ago. She supposed she was to blame really, she'd been lounging in the head girl's bed when she should have been around to wake people up, but that was beyond the point.
She took advantage of the lull to change into some clean clothes, all of which had been adjusted to suit her new style over the course of the evening, but she was fine with that.
Once dressed, she gave a sharp imitation of Kelly's whistle, something that never failed to wake everyone.
"Alright, get 'em up." Her voice was met by a chorus of groans and annoyed complaints but, begrudgingly, everyone began to drag themselves out of bed. Satisfied with the results, she headed off for a shower before anyone else got in there.
The hot water stung the scratches on her shoulders and she grinned to herself at the memory of the night before. Jones was beyond anything she could have ever seen coming.
She snorted at her own choice of phrasing, turning to face into the spray.
It didn't change her plans. The heist was incoming and Jones was going to be a big part of it. She already had three or four ideas; some opportunities she could exploit to get her caught. It would be ridiculously easy to find a chance now she was sure the woman had dropped her guard, at least a little.
The dining hall was filling up when she finally made it down so Soph grabbed a plate of toast and a cup of coffee, black, no sugar, before her own choices. As she set them down Polly gave her a questioning look.
"Jones." She shoved them both toward the empty seat beside the redhead and the geek gave her a slight smirk, though it vanished under Soph's scowl. She was observant, that was all, and she just happened to have a strong memory of being absolutely disgusted by the head girl's horrifically bitter choice of beverage.
To kill time, she asked how they managed to get hold of the answers for the first round and Polly filled her in on the twin's heroics breaking in and get them. Soph made a mental note to find some kind of reward for them.
Eventually Kelly joined them, offering a small nod to Soph for the breakfast as she sat. She did note that the older girl had done up the buttons on her collar for once and had to repress a grin. Though, judging from Jones' knowing, and very stern, glance, she'd noticed her looking.
They quickly set to business and called the Tottys over to discuss everything that they had to do for the day. Each of the girls had a third of the answers written down for them to learn so Soph, Kelly and Polly spent the whole of breakfast testing them. Sophie had to admit she was pretty impressed they'd actually managed to remember most of them. They hadn't learned the questions, just the answers and the order they would need them in; one slip up and the whole thing would be revealed. It was not the kind of risk she liked to have kicking around but they didn't have much choice anymore. Sophie tried hard to concentrate on the positives, worrying would do no good.
They all left the dining hall just after everyone else, the Tottys heading off to get ready for their 'TV debut' while Polly, Kelly and Soph aimed for the planning room. About halfway there, Taylor's voice echoed down the hall, closely followed by Andrea shouting back. Almost in sync, the three of them rolled their eyes and Soph sighed, turning on her heel without missing a beat.
"On it." She stalked off, absolutely not repressing a smirk at the grateful look in the older girl's eyes as she'd watched her go. Jamming her hands into her pockets, she stormed down the corridor.
As it turned out, Taylor had started this one; stealing wristbands from the emos was a good way to piss them off but also a good way to get jumped. With a heavy sigh she stepped through the gathered crowds and bent down, wrapping an arm around Andrea's waist and pulling, hard. For leverage, she dropped a foot squarely onto Taylor's chest, wrenching the two apart. The pair struggled against her for a beat, but as soon as they realised who it was they stopped and Soph soon had them both stood before her, looking slightly ruffled and very annoyed.
"Taylor, get your girls to give them back." She was too busy for niceties today and clearly the look on her face made that clear. Taylor nodded to her girls, who sulked but threw the bands across the room to the emos, who promptly busied themselves handing them back to whomever they belonged to.
Soph gave an approving nod before turning to face the pair again.
"Listen, we've got a lot at stake at the moment. You can kill each other, rip each other limb from limb if you must, but for god's sake do it on your own time. I'm calling a truce. From now on if you two are caught fighting during the day it's Darcy clean up duty for both of you and I don't care who started it. Trust me, the dog may be gone but he's still left a hell of a lot to clean up." She looked between them, making sure they appeared appropriately grossed out before huffing out a sigh.
"Look, I know it's unreasonable to expect you to leave each other alone for more than 12 hours. So we'll cap it; from 6am to 6pm no fighting. Deal?" She folded her arms and waited, they scowled back at her for a good 10 seconds before nodding, reluctantly.
Pleased with herself, Soph flashed a grin.
"Good, play nicely girls." She turned and meandered through the crowd to get out, waving over her shoulder as she left.
They would undoubtedly be fighting before 6 but it was a good way to get the field clean. That dog had really made a mess of the place; it was damn near impossible to walk to the garage without stepping in something.
With a smirk on her face she started back toward the planning room.
She didn't get very far before someone grabbed her by the tie, yanking her into an empty classroom. The yelp that came out of her mouth was wholly unexpected, as was the body that pressed her up against the door and the lips that descended on hers. Reflexively, she kissed back, her hands flying to the taller girl's waist. However, something was off. Expensive perfume practically assaulted her nose and curls tickled the sides of her face. Chelsea?! Her eyes snapped open and she shoved the other girl back.
"What the hell?!" She raised her voice, a little too loudly, but she didn't really care, she was a little off-beat today. A flicker of guilt did itch at her, however, at the hurt look on the other girl's face.
"What do you mean 'what the hell'? You started this." She somehow managed to pull off a kicked puppy look and Soph rolled her eyes.
"And I told you I couldn't anymore." She folded her arms across her chest, she had to sort this out now, if Jones found out... She probably wouldn't take it all too well. The tenuous trust she'd managed to build would collapse like a card house in the wind. Another reason nagged in her gut but she'd be damned if she'd give that any attention.
"Well sorry if I wanted to relax before going on TV to save our school." Chelsea's stubborn glare didn't seem to be going anywhere and Soph sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose and closing her eyes tightly for a moment; this was giving her a headache.
"Look, it's no reflection on you, believe me, you were great and we had a lot of fun." She paused to offer a hesitant smile, Chelsea's glare eased back a bit.
"But I can't do this with you anymore." She looked back to find Chelsea staring at her like she'd just said the sky was green.
"Why not?"
"I just can't." She held up her hands and Chelsea arched a brow.
"It's fun, so why can't we keep doing it?" Soph was almost amazed at the girls logic, normally she'd have agreed, actually if she was being honest, this conversation wouldn't normally have taken place at all. She scrambled for a moment, trying to find a logical lie she could spout but in the end, she settled on a truth.
"You were right. There's someone else, okay? She's… I don't know, but she probably wouldn't be okay with me... having fun, with other people." Soph braced herself against the tidal wave of questions that were, undoubtedly, about to come her way.
"Oh, right... Well that's fair enough then." She smiled cheerfully and Soph blinked in confusion. That... was a hell of a lot easier than expected. She allowed herself a bemused chuckle as she stepped back.
"Thanks for understanding, I guess?" She tipped her head in sheer bewilderment, but didn't argue the point.
"Casual is casual, but that sounds like it has feelings to it. I'm not going to mess with that." Chelsea smiled and Soph struggled hard against some kind of reaction to the implication of 'feelings'.
"Right, you go get ready, I've got to meet Polly and Jones in the planning room, bring Peaches and Chloe when you're done. Okay?" She ruffled the back of her hair and Chelsea swept forward and pressed a kiss to her cheek as she left, leaving Soph to let out a long breath and slump against a nearby wall.
That could have gone much worse.
A thought suddenly occurred to her and she whipped around, spotting the camera in the top corner of the room and praying to whatever gods that popped into her head that no-one had been watching that.
She finally managed to make it back to the planning room and her fears were very much confirmed. Jones was seething. It hung around her like a dark cloud, radiating off of her. Hell, even Polly looked uncomfortable.
Shit.
She sat through the planning meeting watching Jones deal with everyone quickly and efficiently. She wasn't snapping at anyone, which was impressive, but then Jones was an impressive woman… Her mind began to wander so she shook her head, yanking herself back to reality. She needed to work out some kind of damage control, though for that she'd need to find out exactly what the damage was…
As it turned out, Jones was plenty straightforward.
She had her follow her up to the roof immediately after the meeting, once there, she locked the door and rounded on Soph so fast she honestly didn't see the backhand coming. Man, did it hurt though.
"Okay, ow." She stepped back and watched the other girl storm across the roof. Anger was something she was familiar with, it was easier than any other emotion to understand. She cautiously approached, aware of the angry red mark growing on her cheek.
"Jones." She didn't try for sorrow, or guilt, it would do no good.
"Daniels." Her tone was mocking, Soph resisted the urge to roll her eyes.
"You want to tell me what exactly I just saw?" The blazing rage had regressed, Kelly was back onto ice cold, quiet, fury.
"I'm assuming, myself and Chelsea in a compromising position?" She arched a brow and Jones scoffed humourlessly. Soph took that as confirmation.
"Look, I think we're a bit past bullshit here. So let's face it, you had your suspicions when you asked me about it weeks back." She held up her hands and Jones rolled her eyes, but nodded once.
"Yes, I lied about it, and for that, I suppose… I'm sorry. If you're at all interested, it ended, as of this afternoon." She folded her arms and cruised off toward the edge of the roof, giving the woman some space. After a moment, she appeared next to her, a good few feet away.
"I don't particularly care if you were fucking. I'm not a child." Her tone was hard, but the fury had abated somewhat, Soph nodded.
"But I am pissed that you lied, even more that I couldn't tell." She huffed and placed both hands on the low wall, looking out over the grounds.
"Do I even want to know what else you're hiding?" She shot her a glare and Soph gave a rueful smirk.
"Definitely not." She ran a hand through her hair as she debated the pure lies she'd spouted over the years, and more specifically, the last couple of months. It was enough to fill many, many books, and she should know; she used to journal it all.
"Then how the fuck can I trust you? In any way?" She turned toward her and Soph snorted, shifting to rest her hip against the wall. She considered lying, spouting some appeasing bullshit that would smooth over this moment and put her in the clear, but somehow...
"I told you already, you can't. You shouldn't." She wasn't going to lie to her, not right now. In spite of everything she'd done, everything she planned to do, she really couldn't lie here. She wanted to destroy the woman's life, not her mind. Maybe at one time in her life, she'd have considered it, but now? Maybe she was going soft, maybe she couldn't help but respect the woman, but something in her wanted her to know that last night was not about anything nefarious. She certainly hadn't even been thinking when it happened, let alone plotting. She let out a long breath.
"But if it helps at all, the feeling is mutual." She gave a hollow smirk and Jones actually appeared offended.
"I wouldn't take it personally, I don't trust anyone." With a shrug, she fell silent, waiting for Jones to think things through.
After a long pause, which was honestly beginning to take up more and more of their conversations, Jones spoke.
"You're impossible." She huffed and pinched the bridge of her nose, Soph gave a rueful smirk.
"So are you." Jones shot her a look and she laughed.
"No, really. I told you before I'd never met anyone like you. It wasn't a lie." She shrugged and folded her arms, watching the woman before her. Even post-rage and confused as all fuck, she was hotter than hellfire.
"I shouldn't have hit you." Jones shuffled almost uncomfortably and Soph nodded slowly.
"Yeah, I'm not into that." She was only half joking, and she was sure the other girl could hear the warning in her tone.
"Yeah... I'm sorry." She cast her eyes down and Soph sighed.
The rage was definitely gone now, though she was clearly still not happy. Sophie frowned at the twinge in her gut that reared its ugly little head.
Unable to really face the woman for what she could feel coming, she looked away, out over the fields.
"I've bounced around a lot; been to schools up and down the country. You've probably read my record." She glanced at her and Jones shrugged in a way that definitely didn't say she hadn't.
"I've slept with a couple people, not nearly as many as people seem to think, but hey, rumours got to rumour." She offered a half-hearted smirk and looked back out over the fields.
"I never expected to run into someone I… Didn't know how to handle." She looked down at the stone beneath her hands, not particularly wanting to see the woman's reaction. Hell, she didn't even know where any of this was coming from.
"You're unreasonably intelligent, weirdly funny and really… Really hot. So honestly, last night… Whatever that was." She paused to blink as flashbacks assaulted her again.
"It wasn't for any kind of endgame, alright?" She should have stopped talking some time ago, but saying it was sort of easing the pain in her stomach, so she kept going. Maybe Kelly would forget all of this when she was realised what had happened, but hopefully, one day, while she was sitting in prison, she'd remember this conversation... Maybe it would help.
"I'm a pretty fucked up person, but I don't do that shit to gain advantage." She ran a hand through her hair and shook her head, shutting her eyes tight against the words about to come out of her stupid goddamn face…
"I don't know why, but I just can't… ignore you." She flailed internally, she was so bad at this. Reassuring people was not her talent- woah.
It was at this point she was shoved backwards into a wall and pinned there in a move that was… Really hot; particularly as Jones descended upon her like a goddamn hurricane. She kissed back on relfex, not even embarrassed by the groan that rumbled its way out of her throat when Kelly's leg pushed between hers.
"Fuck." It was a, completely involuntary, way-too-breathy, gasp, as she broke away for pure need of oxygen and Kelly took the opportunity to make her way down her neck, a hand winding into her hair to tug her head back. It was insane exactly how little her brain was doing to keep up with the situation, she couldn't do anything but hold on helplessly as Kelly pretty much destroyed her tenuous sanity.
Her hips rolled as Kelly came back to reclaim her lips and she repressed another groan.
"Goddamn it, Jones." She growled as she opened her eyes and was met with nothing but a purely smug smirk.
"Problem, Daniels?" She arched a brow and Soph huffed, though it turned into a gasp as the older girl shifted her leg.
"Only if you fuckin stop. Christ." The expletive was more punctuation than anything at this point and Soph could swear she had no control over her hips. She shut her eyes tight and let her head drop forward onto Kelly's shoulder. She wasn't used to this, alarm bells rang in her head and tension crawled up her spine but it just felt so damn good. She wanted to run, to push her away and bolt, but she just... Couldn't. She wasn't pinned here, she wasn't being made to stay but against everything in her head that screamed against it, she wanted to stay. Jones seemed to pause for a minute but before Soph could complain she was back, pulling her head back around and sealing their lips together with renewed fury. The hand in her hair eased for half a beat, nails scratching gently over the short hair at the nape of her neck and sending a deep shiver down her spine that seemed to drag all of her tension away with it.
Who the fuck was this woman?!
Her grip tightened once more and Kelly leaned down, pressing closer than before but it was far from a pin, Soph could figure out a million easy ways to get away from the wall and out into open space, and she was certain it was only that which stopped her from screaming.
She broke the kiss to gasp for air and buried her face in the older girl's neck, her hazy mind failing to grasp anything for more than a second as Jones' hands found her waist and guided the motion of her hips, pulling her down harder. She bit down hard on soft skin as she heard her own whine, it wasn't enough, she wanted… needed more. As if Kelly could read her thoughts and the button on her jeans was open in seconds, the zip trailing not far behind as long fingers wasted no time dipping down into her jeans.
At first touch she gasped and her hips jerked, beyond that, she was lost. Her hand wound into tight fists in the older girl's shirt and she clung to Kelly like a fucking lifeline as she rode out the storm building inside, lost the the world and holding desperately to the only solid thing she could find. Her grip tightened as lighting struck, wave after wave crashing through her as she grit her teeth hard against a far-too-loud moan.
Holy. Fucking. Shit.
Seconds ticked by, turning into minutes as time dragged on. Soph wasn't entirely sure if her legs could hold her, but she needed to step back from this. Sure enough, as she slipped out from between Jones and the wall, her legs decided they weren't ready to hold her up and she fell, rather gracelessly, on her ass.
She was sure she must look pretty damn low right now, her hair dishevelled, her jeans undone and she could feel the flush in her face as she panted for breath. Honestly, she was tempted to jump off the roof at this point. Her heartbeat thundered in her ears, a remnant of what just happened. Her eyes darted between the edge of the roof and the door.
For her part, Jones had remained where she was, one hand on the wall, just watching her. Once it probably became clear that Soph was floundering like a cat in a bath, she moved, approaching her slowly like one might a stray dog. Soph froze where she was, sprawled in the floor, supported by her elbows, as the woman sat beside her, her legs tucked to one side. After a long silence, she spoke.
"You're pretty funny too." She spoke to the air, probably purposefully not looking at her to avoid freaking her out. Soph huffed a sort of half-laugh.
"I sincerely hope that's not a reference to what just happened." She rolled her eyes, only half joking, but she let her head drop back to stare up at the sky. Her heart had slowed a bit. Jones hummed in thought.
"Nah, that… Was pretty hot." The smirk was evident in her voice and Soph actually managed a laugh, though it sounded a little manic, even to her.
"Well, I'm a little… Out of practice." She heaved a sigh and sat up, resting her elbows on her knees and letting her head hang between them. After a second, an arm appeared around her shoulders, it was more comforting than she would have liked.
"You and Chelsea. She didn't…?" She trailed off and Soph ran a hand over her face.
"It's not really something I generally… Allow. Not for a long time." She couldn't look at her, so she kept her eyes on the floor. Kelly's hand appeared on the back of her neck, her thumb brushing gently back and forth, she wouldn't admit to a soul exactly how pleasant it was.
"Why not?" She didn't seem to be prying, just curious, Sophie pinched the bridge of her nose.
"Long story. Let's just leave it at, 'I have issues'." She huffed and Jones laughed.
"Yeah, I'm getting that." She gave her shoulder a squeeze and stood, offering a hand that Soph politely declined as she got up, turning away to do up her jeans.
"Look, I don't know what the fuck this is. So for now, are you okay to just…" She gestured between them, at a bit of a loss for words, but Jones smirked.
"See how it goes?" She arched a brow and Soph nodded.
"Yeah, that." She ruffled her hair and Jones stepped forward, goodnaturedly rolling her eyes.
"Works for me, as long as it's kept between us." Her tone turned serious and Soph smirked back.
"I think that goes without saying."
As they reached the door at the bottom of the stairs they looked at each other, from here there were cameras and people. Soph smirked and opened the door, stepping back out of the way.
"After you, Jones." Kelly grinned and walked through; Soph pulled the smile from her face and quickly followed her, falling into step on her left.
What a weird day.
Back at the planning room with a very confused Polly, Jones made up some excuse as to why they'd left and Soph played along. Polly looked at them both suspiciously but didn't say anything. The geek was definitely onto them, but Kelly seemed to trust her, so Soph was willing to let it slide, for now.
Besides, with the first round of the competition incoming, they had bigger fish to fry.
It turned out the Tottys did a damn good job remembering most of the answers because, as they were heading back to St. Trinian's for the night, everyone on the bus was celebrating. Quite a few of the girls had gone with them to be in the audience, so it was fairly funny watching the twins trying to drive and celebrate with them.
As they got back Soph just about managed to send them both to bed, two late nights for the terrible two could lead to disaster. Though being fair, Jones didn't let everyone else keep the party going either, ordering them all to get their asses to bed. While she sorted that out, Soph did a quick loop of the school to check for stragglers.
On her return, she found Jones leaning against her door frame.
"All's clear downstairs. I think everyone was too tired to bother tonight." She spoke quietly, the lights already out in the dorm. Jones nodded.
"Busy day." She smirked and Soph mirrored her as she moved to lean against the wall across from her.
"You could say that." She grinned and Kelly chuckled.
"You coming in or not?" She pushed her door open and Soph arched a brow.
"Three in two days? A bit eager." She folded her arms and Jones tipped her head with a challenging smirk.
"Well, come in if you want." She turned on her heel and strode into her room, leaving the door open. As she watched, Jones pulled off her tie, dropping it on the bed. When her shirt followed, Soph swallowed hard around a suddenly dry mouth.
She should go into the dorms to make a point, just go to bed.
Kelly's hands came around to undo the zip of her skirt.
Seconds later the door was closing behind her, making a point be damned.
That roof scene has changed quite a lot from the original... I like it better now, and it was a lot of fun to write. I hope you all enjoyed reading, and I look forward to seeing you all next week, when things are really going to come to a head. Hope you all have a lovely week, see you soon - J
