Blood in the Water.
Nicole Julian hated sneaking around – at least when she wasn't doesn't anything sneaky. Yet here she was, peeking into the Novak to make sure no one was there before going in. It'd been like this ever since Brooke came back, ever since their first almost-conversation, which consisted of a near-collision in the hallway followed by the mother of all awkward silences. Sam looked ready to kill her but Brooke held her back, saying "it's not worth it." She looked at Nicole while she said it, making it clear that she meant Nicole simply wasn't 'worth it.'
Since then Nicole made sure to avoid Sam, Brooke and their friends, all the while acting as though she simply considered them all well beneath her, and only avoided them because they weren't 'worth bothering with.' After all, Brooke had chosen to those losers over her, and deserved to rot in loserdom with them.
But today she had a headache and really didn't want to deal with any confrontation. So she crept into the Novak and took some Tylenol out of her purse, walking to the sink for some water. Swallowing the pills she almost gagged as she realized that someone was behind her.
"Hi Nic!" Harrison's smile beamed as he threw his arm around the stunned girl. "How's things?"
"How the fuck did you get in here!" she screamed. She was sure the room was empty.
"Oh Nikki, relax," was the response. He tried to massage her shoulders, adding, "You'll have a heart attack with all that stress."
She pushed him away, glaring at him. "What's up with you? You're acting weirder than usual. Playing at being possessed again?"
Harrison laughed. "No, no. Nothing so... exotic – I'm just in a very good mood, and you're going to make it even better."
"I'm not doing anything to make you feel 'better' freak. We covered that – remember? I may fuck a lot of people, but I still have standards – and you don't meet them."
Harrison's smile was starting to creep Nicole out. "Oh Nikki, I have no interest in going where practically everyone's gone before."
Nicole sneered at him, then, rubbing her aching temples, sighed. "Just tell me what you want."
"Nicole, why so touchy? Still mad about Brooke surviving?"
"Fuck off!" Nicole shouted. Her entire head was throbbing now.
"Ouch! Touchy subject I see." His smile turned into a bemused smirk.
She put her hands down and glared at him. "What... Do... You... Want?"
"I've got a job for you," he replied, his grin returning. Nicole pushed her way past him, moving towards the door.
"Not so fast." He grabbed her arm, spinning her around. "I've something you need to see."
Nicole stared while Harrison took a file out of his bag, and handed it to her.
Snatching it from him, she opened the folder to see pictures of herself. "What the hell?" she said. The grainy photos showed her behind the wheel of her car, grinning. She didn't have to ask where the pictures were taken. She knew it was the night she'd sent Brooke to the hospital, near death.
"How could you have these?" She couldn't pretend she wasn't shocked .
"Oh, it gets better. Keep looking."
The first photos showed Nicole's homicidal glee, but the rest were far stranger. Nicole was shaking her head as she saw them. They showed her and Brooke in an intimate embrace. They looked like they were taken through the window of Nicole's room. "That's impossible! That never happened!"
"Amazing what you can do with a little creative editing," he said, "but you missed the best ones – keep going." Nicole noticed that the annoying grin was back.
The rest of the photos were similar, only they showed Brooke, once again in an intimate embrace, only with Sam." Nicole grimaced as she looked at them. "Ewww... gross! Brooke and... Spam? What's the point of this? I don't really want to hear about your sick fantasies, perve boy!"
"Think about it Nic – You and Brooke, Brooke and Sam, you looking very much like you were intentionally trying to kill Brooke." He arched an eyebrow and rubbed his chin in an exaggerated 'I'm thinking' pose. "Hmmm... screams 'love triangle' to me."
"Nobody's going to believe that." Nicole said.
"People believe what they see, sunshine, and you can see those photos. Everyone'll think you tried to kill Brooke on purpose because she dumped you for Sam, which, except for the girl-on-girl sex, is pretty much what happened. Oh! and I'll tell them all about it of course. How they sat me down and told me all about their little 'relationship' at the prom." He put the back of his hand to his forehead and tilted back his head. "'I feel so bad, your honor, if I'd only been more accepting of my friends, they wouldn't have stormed out and Brooke wouldn't have been hurt. Brooke told me that Nicole had threatened her, but I never believed she really do anything, etc. etc.'" His looked directly at Nicole, the smile fading from his face. "Short version: Even if you manage to stay out of prison, you'll forever be – and very publicly be – the dyke who ran down her ex in a jealous rage."
"You son of a bitch!" Nicole actually looked scared. She didn't like the feeling. She backed away, still holding the photos."
"You don't need to make a run for it Nic, you can have that set – I've got more. But don't worry, I won't show them to anyone – If you do as you're told."
"What do you want?"
"Well, in return for not being cast as the jealous dyke in a McQueer love triangle, you get to play the supportive heterosexual 'pal' whose going to help them 'come out' to all their high school friends."
Nicole smirked. "So you want me to 'out' Brooke and Sam as a couple of dykes with your fake pictures."
"Oh, those ones aren't fake actually. But then, neither are the one's of you playing Deathrace 2000 with psycho grin on your face."
Nicole blinked. "What? Of course they're fake – Brooke's no dyke. You've been hanging out with your mom too much."
"No Nikki, they're real. Sam and Brooke have been swept up in a..." he adopted his best 'breathless romantic' voice, "...forbidden passion. It's really quite romantic, but I don't care. I just want to destroy the bitches – or you. Take your pick."
Nicole stood up straight, trying to appear more confident than she felt. "Ok. I'm in."
"Of course you are," Harrison said, his smile beaming as he took back the photographs. "You'll have to do it without these though – at least for now. Can't have the gals wondering where these came from."
Walking to the door, he turned back. "Oh, and, of course, no one knows we had this conversation."
"Of course," Nicole answered.
As Harrison walked down the hall, he threw the folder into a trash can, spilling newspaper clippings and crude drawings as it fell.
Too easy, he thought to himself.