Okiedokie, short, sweet and kinda fluffy today, but the next chapter is the longest I've done, so balance will be restored. Hope you enjoy, and I will see you at the end - J
Chapter 10: Mine
It was definitely sometime around mid-afternoon; the sun coming in through the open curtains was warm against the back of her neck. She was so comfortable, Soph honestly couldn't even imagine what was waking her. A loud banging from across the room jolted her further into awareness and she growled into the pillow. Weight rested between her shoulders and she smirked to herself as she realised Jones was sprawled across the bed, using her back as a pillow. She felt the woman stir and groaned.
"Ugh. This fucking place." She grumbled into the pillow and felt Jones nod in agreement. The door banged again and Soph huffed.
"I'll get it." Aware that she was the only one even remotely dressed, she rolled out of bed, leaving Jones to burrow back into the covers as she padded across the floor, grabbing a hoodie from the back of the door and throwing it on before she yanked the bolt out of the way and pulled open the door.
"What?" She frowned at a very surprised Andrea, the girl opened her mouth as if to speak but no sound came out. Soph raised a brow, waiting patiently for the emo to reboot her brain.
"Erm... Miss Fritton's looking for you and er, Kelly." She glanced in the general direction of the Head girl and Soph smirked.
"Let her know we'll be by her office soon." She shut the door before Andrea could say another word and bolted it again, turning to Jones.
They stared each other down for a long moment before dissolving into laughter.
They got dressed together, Soph taking a quick trip to the dorms to grab a clean set of clothes. Jones tossed their ruined shirts away and they shared a smirk when they both found buttons pretty much everywhere. With less makeup and a lot less hair straightening to do, Soph was ready a few years before Kelly, but she didn't mind too much, using the time to lounge on the bed and watch the woman move about her room, something that was rapidly becoming her favourite pastime.
They walked down to Miss Fritton's office side by side. There were stares, but it was a testament to Jones' authority and reputation that not a word was spoken… loud enough for them to hear it anyway. Soph assumed the news of her appearing in the doorway of the head girl's room, first thing in the morning and mostly naked, had spread around the school pretty quickly, so anyone who hadn't caught onto them the night before would certainly know now. She repressed a rising sense of panic; respect and fear aside, Kelly received a lot of love and care from everyone in the damn place.
If she backed out and made a run for it, she'd be hunted to the ends of the earth. Not that she wanted to… it would just be nice to have the option.
They reached Camilla's office and neither of them bothered knocking, striding straight in.
"You asked to see us?" Jones dropped down in the chair across the desk and Camilla looked up with a smile. Soph, lacking anywhere else to sit, perched on the arm of the chair, resting her arm across the back.
"Yes, I'll need you to organise clean-up after last night, the girls certainly did have fun celebrating." She giggled and Soph smirked, however, it was wiped from her face In half a second as Camilla focused upon the pair of them.
"And it has come to my attention that you're in bed with my niece, Miss Jones." She narrowed her eyes slightly, focused on Jones. When Soph glanced down she found the Head Girl perfectly straight faced and unaffected. It hadn't been a question. The pair stared each other down for a lot longer than Soph could have managed, not a word passing between them and neither of their expressions changing even a little. An odd tension settled in the air as Soph looked between them with a frown.
Were they telepathic or had she missed something?
After what felt like an age, Camilla smiled.
"You best get about your duties, girlie." She winked and Jones stood with a smirk.
"No rest for the wicked." She shot a look Soph's way that revealed nothing about what just transpired but as the Head girl turned to leave and she made to follow, her aunt's voice stopped her.
"I'd like to have a word with you, Sophie." She looked back to the woman with a frown of confusion but as the Camilla watched her, clearly expecting no argument, she dropped into the chair. Kelly left with one last smile and a nod, leaving them in silence.
Within a second, Camilla was up and aiming for the cabinet.
"Whiskey?" Settling into the familiar routine, Soph chuckled and nodded.
"Straight, thanks. Though I wouldn't mind an explanation of what the hell that was." She arched a brow and her aunt gave a high giggle as she poured their drinks.
"Miss Jones and I understand one and other. Now, tell me, how long this has been going on?" She came back with the glasses and handed Soph hers before retreating behind her desk. She didn't seem mad, or particularly intense in her questioning… More sort of... Happy? Soph shrugged.
"I don't really know. To be honest it's been hard to… track." She took a long drink and frowned at the middle distance. When had it started? The night in Jones' room? Or when they were up on the roof? For her, it probably started the moment she set foot in St. Trinian's. Once she was in the damn building she was doomed. She blinked herself back into the room and found Camilla watching her, no longer so amused.
"You've not done much of this sort of thing, have you girlie?" She leaned forward on the desk, clasping her hands, and Soph shook her head.
"Absolutely not." She took a long drink and the woman nodded slowly.
"Well, you've chosen one hell of a first." The older woman let out a long breath and settled back in her chair. Soph arched a brow, a little confused by the sudden heavy tension in the room.
"I guess?" She voiced it as a question, Camilla took a drink.
"Any relationship in this school is watched like a soap opera, girlie. But to my knowledge, Miss Jones has not openly done this before either, you will both be under intense scrutiny." She frowned and Soph nodded slowly, taking a drink. She had assumed they would be a great subject of gossip, considering it was a building full of girls with little else to do, but she didn't see it as much of an issue, she was used to being watched like a hawk.
"And this is St Trinian's, Sophie, and everyone here loves our dear head girl. You had better be prepared to be tested." She laughed, but there was a dark edge to it that made Sophie swallow hard. Honestly, she'd been freaking out about hiding her plans to send her to prison, or opening up to a human being and letting the damn woman see what a fucked up head case she was… She hadn't even considered how much the whole damn school would be out for her blood if she fucked it up…
"Well, that's terrifying." She huffed out something close to a laugh and Camilla raised her glass.
"Cheers to that."
They both finished their drinks in silence, dwelling on the monumental task ahead.
It was safe to say, the chavs were the least subtle group in the entire school.
"Oi!" Taylor and a loose gathering of her minions stalked up to her in the stairway and she rolled her eyes as she turned to face them.
"Yes?" Tucking her hands into her pockets, she waited expectantly as the girl eyed her up, clearly judging whether she could take her.
"You fuckin' Kelly?" She arched a brow and Soph had to fight back a snort at the phrasing.
"I guess you could say that." She shrugged, Taylor nodded.
"Knew those dracula bitches weren't lyin'." She folded her arms and Soph smirked.
"Is it a problem? Or can I leave?" She tipped her head to one side and sobered her expression, arching a brow. It was a cold stare she'd learned from Jones herself, and it seemed to have the desired effect as the group stood down. Without waiting for them to verbalise a response, she turned heel and left, leaving them to deal with the information on their own.
Class was pretty fun, full of curious glances and whispered conversations; it was almost like she was the new girl all over again. Of course, she sat next to Polly in Spanish, and the geek spent the entire lesson re-iterating 'I fucking knew it' in both English and Spanish. It was all in good fun though, the red head seemed genuinely happy for them, though she did give her a stern warning that if, god forbid, Soph did something that hurt her best friend, she would see to it that Soph would be ruined for life. What exactly that entailed was unspoken, but she had no doubt that Polly meant something very… very bad.
When she finally made it back up to the roof that night, she'd received six death threats, four 'warning shots' (pranks that could have been detrimental to her health) and nine hugs, all of which made her increasingly uncomfortable. By the time she got up there she was wound tighter than a spring and in serious need of a drink.
So that was how Jones found her, the last of the sunset fading into darkness, a bottle of whiskey in hand and more tension in her than a drug mule next to a sniffer dog.
"Having second thoughts yet?" Kelly smirked as Soph jumped and spun on the spot, but it faded in the wake of an apologetic smile as she clearly read the situation. When did she learn to read her?
"Long day?" She tipped her head as she approached, reaching out a hand. Soph didn't want to be touched, so she handed over the bottle with a nod and moved to the wall.
"People are nosy." She grumbled, not willing to watch the other woman's reaction as she placed her hands on the cool stone, leaning heavily on them and letting her head dip down.
"They are, but they'll settle." Kelly sighed and Soph huffed, listening to the slow click of heels on stone as the woman moved to stand next to her. Close, but not touching.
"Who'd have thought dating everyone's favourite head girl would be so dramatic?" Her tone was bitter, even she could hear it, and she practically felt the older girl's wince.
"Sorry about that." Jones' tone was oddly quiet. Soph frowned to herself as she paused to reflect on the moment. One, Jones was apologising. Two, she seemed genuinely concerned.
Ah, fuck.
She'd been so lost in her own mood she hadn't paused to consider how all this might be affecting the other girl. Camilla had said Jones hadn't openly done this before, and Kelly herself had cautioned her on the seriousness of the situation at the party… Almost like she'd been worried about this exact outcome. She actually felt bad that Soph was dealing with social backlash from dating her. This was not good.
Gritting her teeth against her own mood, she reached out a hand and gently tangled her fingers with the older girl's, squeezing lightly.
"'s not your fault." She mumbled, staring out at the trees beyond the hockey pitch.
"I'm just being an ass." She offered a small smirk as she felt the other girl squeeze back.
"A bit." Her tone was gently playful, Soph huffed, tugging on her hand to bring her closer and rolling her shoulders to relax them as gentle arms appeared around her waist.
"They'll settle." Kelly repeated quietly in her ear and it honestly sounded like a promise, Soph sighed and straightened up to lean back into the gentle embrace, trying to let it relax her.
"I know. I was just…" She huffed and stopped herself, shutting her eyes against the conversation, but a questioning hum against the side of her head pushed her to continue.
"It's a lot, is all. To have them baring down on me while I'm still trying to get used to… This." She pointedly placed a hand over the other girl's on her stomach and felt Jones' sigh more than heard it.
"Sorry." The genuine remorse settled uncomfortably in her ears and Soph turned slowly, keeping the arms around her waist and reaching up to wrap a hand around the back of Kelly's neck.
"Stop." She scowled up at her and Kelly stared back, sadness in her eyes.
"Yeah I'm bitching about it, but I chose to get into this, and I probably should have seen it coming. Of course everyone's this goddamn protective of you, have you met you?" She grinned and pulled her down slightly, repressing the urge to scowl at the height difference.
"I'll deal. I might be an ass and complain a lot, but I'll deal." She grinned and leaned up to press their lips together. Jones kissed back, it was soft, emotional. Soph's gut twisted, but she kept a tight grip against it until she pulled back a bit.
"Getting a feeling you might be worth it." She winked with a grin and Jones laughed, squeezing her waist tightly to pull her close.
"You'd better." She smirked back and leaned down again, this time it was less gentle, and Soph was totally fine with it.
Very very short, but this chapter contained a whole lot of unnecessary rambling the first time around, and as I say, the next one is twice the average length, so you'll have to forgive me this time, and look forward to the pure hi-jinks and shenanigans of the next chapter. For anyone who recalls from the last time I wrote this, the next chapter is called War, and it might be my new favourite. I hope to see you all next week - J
