This chapter's Mean Girls reference is dedicated to twilightmoon777, who always leaves the best comments on my fics. Four for you Glen Coco, you go Glen Coco!
Special thanks to my friends at Croft Manor for their continued feedback and support and another thanks to deberzer and burritorat for beta-reading this for me!
All feedback appreciated!
Lara frowned and shrugged her bag up onto her shoulders more securely as she walked out of the library. Her first week of college was almost officially over, and yet she didn't quite know what to make of it. On one hand, her professors were all wonderful people who encouraged her to think outside the box, and they were usually more than happy to take the time to sit down with her after class and answer any questions she had. On the other hand, however…
Would they have set aside as much time for any other student?
The concern wasn't groundless, either. Every single time her identity was made known to her professors, Lara could always detect the subtle shift in their overall demeanors as well as the sudden piquing of their interest in her. In just one moment, she had gone from just another student to a human enigma as they tried to determine if she had any "Crazy Croft" in her.
She frustratedly rubbed the butt of her palm into her forehead while she made her way to the athletic building for a gymnastics team meeting. Damn Deranged Dick and his ludicrous theories… she thought to herself. She hated the thought of people seeing any bit of her father in her; she'd opted out of Cambridge and Oxford and taken on a heavy financial burden for the express purpose of setting herself apart from him. She wanted to prove she was normal and had her head on straight-that she wasn't "that type of Croft."
She shook her head to clear the thoughts from her wandering mind. Her father was unwell, nothing more, and she was very much in good health. If people couldn't see that then that was their problem, not hers. Besides which point, she had more pressing concerns than the man who had simultaneously besmirched her name and torn her family apart, such as her finances, grades, gymnastics…
"Lara!" came a voice from behind, derailing Lara's train of thought. She stopped walking and looked back to determine the source, immediately spotting Lexie and another first year gymnast whom she didn't know by name, "Going to the meeting as well, I take it?" Lexie asked once she and her companion had caught up to Lara. "By the way, you remember Hannah, right?" She gestured to the other first year gymnast beside her.
"Of course," ...not, Lara finished in her head. With how busy and preoccupied she had been, she could barely remember what she had for breakfast-assuming she actually had breakfast. "And yeah that's where I'm headed," she added, "though I can't help but feel like it's pointless; how likely is the coach to put first years in competitions?"
"Oh sod off with that!" Hannah began as the three of them walked to the athletic building together, "I don't know why you of all people are worried, you're definitely better than some of the returning gymnasts. You work a hell of a lot harder too. I feel like we all do."
"I don't know," Lara sighed emphatically, "I just can't shake the feeling that the coach might favor old blood over us is all."
"But you're better than Catherine," Lexie said, "you said so directly to her face during the first practice."
"Catherine's a cow," Lara stated bluntly, "but to be fair she's still a decent gymnast."
"Still blows my mind how she's a captain though," Hannah remarked.
"I think we're all scratching our heads over that one," Lara responded dryly.
"Okay but can I be honest about something? At least Paige isn't as bad as Catherine or Brittany. I mean, okay she was pretty bad the first day but she hasn't been actively participating in the initiation process since," Lexie said, swatting a hand at a bug flying by her face.
"Yeah, but it's not like she's discouraged Catherine and Brittany either…" Hannah shook her head in disgust.
"Not true!" Lexie protested, "She tried to get Catherine to lighten up on us last night, remember?"
"I guess…" Hannah replied unenthusiastically.
"Wait, what happened last night?" Lara asked, raising a curious brow. Lexie and Hannah exchanged a look with each other before Hannah answered.
"The captains...well, okay, Catherine and Brittany mainly, all forced us to participate in a drinking contest last night until there was only one person left standing."
"It's not like we had a choice either because Catherine wouldn't let anybody leave until we had a winner," Lexie added, "that's when Paige started arguing with her to get her to lighten up-not that it worked." Lara couldn't suppress the look of utter bemusement that crept up on her face as she regarded the two of them.
"So...why did you go there in the first place? You had to have known that it was another one of those stupid 'initiation rituals'...and hasn't anybody gone to the coach about it yet?"
"I really don't know why we went. I couldn't tell you," Lexie said sheepishly, "and none of us remember what happened because we were so drunk, so it's not like our word would be worth much even if we did go to the coach."
"Think about it this way," Hannah said, "it's pretty much a given that the upperclassmen will vouch for the captains, so going to the coach is going to accomplish nothing but painting targets on our backs. And, well, we all know how awful Catherine can be already."
"I could go to the coach," Lara offered, "I could even talk to her right after the meeting today assuming the captains aren't still around to hear us. That way I'm the only person who'll get targeted if they find out." Lexie and Hannah both blinked at her in surprise.
"Wait, you're bloody serious?" Hannah asked incredulously, "You sure about that? I mean, if you are then that'd be awesome of course." Lara shrugged.
"I went to an all-girls Christian school so I've dealt with more than my fair share of mean girls like Catherine." Lexie snickered.
"Somebody should give her a Kalteen Bar," she remarked, and Lara could only blink at her in response.
"A wot now?" she stammered, and Lexie gave Lara a look that suggested that she had just committed a heinous crime.
"Haven't you watched Mean Girls?" she asked.
"No, I can't say that I have," Lara answered, not entirely sure why that was so reprehensible.
"Dear God, you definitely went to a Christian school alright…" Lexie shook her head in disbelief, "Okay, remind me to lend you my copy of it at some point."
"Alright," Lara said for lack of having another response, not that she needed one as they reached their destination. "Shall we?" she asked, and they entered the athletic building together. They found their way to the meeting room a few minutes later, where the captains had already found their seats in the front right corner. Lara looked over at Paige and noted the dark-skinned girl appeared to be distancing herself from her fellows in sullen silence.
"Let's sit over there," Hannah said quietly, pointing at the corner completely opposite the captains' before walking that direction. Lara and Lexie followed her lead without complaint and took a seat. Over the course of the next ten minutes the rest of the gymnastics team began to slowly file into the room and take their seats, followed shortly thereafter by the coach, who instead walked up to the front of the room. She was a short, thin, Spanish woman who appeared to be in her mid-thirties, and was usually good natured towards the gymnasts while still managing to exude an air of great authority.
"Alright ladies," she said. She set her bag down on the front desk and pulled a folder out of it, from which she removed a stack of papers, "Everybody here? Yes? Good, let's get started." She set the folder down next to her bag and carried the papers over to the podium at the front and cleared her throat, "Before I read these off, I want to remind everyone that these placements aren't necessarily permanent and that it's certainly possible for a substitute to become a competitor or vice versa. By the same token, I made the selections that I did for a reason. Okay, so...for the vault we have: Paige, Destiny…"
Lara almost immediately tuned the coach out while she observed what was happening in the opposite corner. Catherine appeared to be attempting to talk to Paige, but the more she tried, the more Paige slid herself away from the former and ignored her. Lara found herself speculating on what had happened to make Paige act in such a manner. Perhaps her and Catherine had a row? Lara quickly lost herself in her reverie as she ran through all sorts of different scenarios in her head until-
"All-around gymnasts: Lara, Catherine, Mercedes. Congratulations to everybody competing, are there any questions at this time?" Lara could only stare at the coach wide-eyed and slack-jawed while Lexie and Hannah lightly rapped her on the shoulder with their fists and congratulated her. She was an all-around gymnast? With Catherine? She chanced a glance at the redhead, who didn't look happy in the slightest as she drew her face into a scowl and clenched her jaw.
"I have a question, coach. Why aren't I doing all-around? That was my event for the entire season last year!" said one of the older gymnasts.
"Because you didn't earn the spot," the coach said simply.
"But-"
"No buts! Tell me, can you honestly say that you put in every last bit of effort that you could have to earn that spot?" The gymnast didn't respond. "Did you do everything that you could have on your part to refine your technique and prepare yourself for competition?" Still no answer. "Allow me to answer for you, then. No, you did not, and it shows. I suggest you work harder next time if you want the spot."
The coach looked around at everybody in the room before continuing, "I'm beginning to feel like some of you are under the impression that just because you had certain spots last year I'd simply hand them over to you again this year. So, let me clarify something for all of you: as far as this year goes, last year doesn't matter. At all! Not in the slightest! Understand? Handing these spots to you on a silver plate is not the way I operate. We have a lot of strong, young talent this year, and if they're putting in more effort, showing more improvement than my older gymnasts? Well, they're the ones who are going to be competing. Period. End of story. Do I make myself clear?"
"Yes ma'am," muttered everyone in the room.
"Good. You should know if you're one of the individuals I'm talking about, and you should also know that I expect a radical change in attitude from here on out. I will not coach a group of underachievers," she slapped a hand down on the podium and took a deep breath to calm herself, "now that being said, the Thursday after this Thursday we have pictures, during which the photographers will be taking headshots of the competitors as well as a team photo. Plan accordingly. Everybody follow?" The team nodded to indicate they did, "We don't have practice today so be ready to get back to work on Monday. Wait-one more thing! If you're doing the floor exercise as an individual event or for all-around you should start working on a routine soon."
Everybody got up and headed for the door once she had finished speaking. Lara, on the other hand, picked her bag up and struggled through the mass of bodies conglomerating around the front of the room. She finally managed to dislodge herself from the crowd after a few moments and made her way over to the coach, who was packing her bag. Much to Lara's dismay, however, Catherine beat her there.
"Hey coach," Catherine said in an uncharacteristically polite tone, "do you think we could speak privately for a moment?"
"Of course," the coach responded, "I have to pick my son up though so let's talk while I walk to my car." She picked her bag up and walked out the door behind the rest of the team with Catherine in tow. Recognizing defeat, Lara could only watch them go before taking a deep breath and leaving as well.
With how distracted she was, Lara couldn't even focus when she sat down to do her schoolwork that evening. When she read the same paragraph for the third time in a row without absorbing any information, she swore and slammed the book she had been reading shut. If college was the beginning of the rest of her life, her future looked bleak indeed. Figuring continued efforts to do schoolwork would only be met with a disappointing lack of progress, she decided to get an early night.
She slid her chair out from under her desk and walked over to her bureau to find some clothes to sleep in. She pulled the top drawer open and sorted through the clothes folded up inside before pulling out an old t-shirt, which she set aside. As she looked for a pair of sweatpants, her phone buzzed in her pocket. She pulled it out and looked down at the caller ID to see she was being called by Lexie, and answered.
"Hello?" she asked tentatively.
"Lara?" Lexie asked in a quiet voice. Lara was alarmed to hear how scared she sounded. "This is so fucked! I don't know what to do!"
"Huh?" Lara blurted out, completely taken aback, "Wait, what's fucked? What are you talking about?"
"This initiation bullshit!" Lexie exclaimed loudly, pausing to take a few deep breaths. When she spoke again, her voice was softer, "Remember what I told you about the drinking contest last night? Apparently they took pictures-really, really bad ones. Catherine showed us printed copies to prove she wasn't lying and if we don't do what she says tonight she'll put them online!" Lexie was speaking so rapidly at that point, Lara almost missed what she said.
"Wait, wait, wait, hang on," Lara said, taking a seat on the edge of her bed, "who do you mean by 'they?' The captains? I thought you said Paige wasn't that bad."
"I thought she was- fuck if I know! She's not even here right now!" Lexie's voice wavered, and Lara quickly ran a hand through her hair several times.
"Lexie, listen to me," she said seriously, "I need you to calm down for a second. Where are you right now, and what exactly is going on? What's Catherine doing? You have to explain everything to me or else I can't help you."
"Okay, okay," Lexie breathed into the phone, "I'm in a bathroom right now because I managed to slip away for a bit but everyone else is at the rugby fields and what Catherine and Brittany are trying to do is just awful! They want us all to sing 'Lord Save The Queen' at the top of our lungs. Naked. In the middle of the rugby fields which are on campus," Lara struggled to hear her over the sounds of her own heart pulsing violently coupled with the ringing in her ears, "what if security walks by and calls the cops on us? What if students hear us and come out to investigate? What do I do?!" Lexie sounded on the verge of tears, and Lara racked her brain for a solution.
"Alright, keep it together just a little bit longer for me. I know what to do-"
"Please tell me you'll get us out of this mess," Lexie pleaded.
"I'm going to try but I need you to listen and do what I ask, can you do that?" Lara asked.
"Yeah, anything, just please help…" Lara heard a sniff through the phone, and she found herself somehow hating Catherine more with each passing minute.
"This is what we're going to do," Lara began as calmly as she could, "you're going to talk to Hannah and anybody else you can get on board. Then, you're all going to stall Catherine and Brittany until I get there. Once I get there, you're going to try to get a hold of those printed photos for evidence and let me handle the rest. Got it?"
"I...I think so?" came Lexie's shaky reply.
"Good, I'll see you in a bit." Lara hung up the phone and only then became conscious of how much she was shaking from anger.
She stood up, snatched her pullover off the back of her desk chair, threw it on along with a pair of sneakers she had left at the foot of her bed, and bolted out the door. She didn't even remember exiting the dorm hall or getting to campus, only that rage fueled her every movement and propelled her into action. They were only a week into the term and Catherine had successfully gotten on Lara's every last nerve. Enough was enough, Catherine was going to pay for everything she'd done.
The rugby fields soon came into view along with the gymnastics team, and Lara slowed her approach to a walk so she wouldn't be out of breath when she came face-to-face with Catherine. "Catherine!" she barked angrily, causing the heads of everyone there to turn in her direction. She could see the first years exchanging looks with each other out of the periphery of her vision, but all she cared about were the two captains standing before her. "Are you fucking kidding me right now?" She demanded, coming to a stop a few steps in front of them and crossing her arms over her chest.
"This doesn't even involve you so I suggest you leave while you still can," Catherine jeered with narrowed eyes, but Lara remained unmoved.
"It kind of does involve me when I'm getting calls from five different people claiming that you're blackmailing the first years and hazing them for the grand finale of hell week." The bluff had the desired effect as both Catherine's and Brittany's faces went ghost white.
"Bullshit!" Brittany blustered in disbelief, and Lara shook her head with a slight smirk on her face.
"Oh, you wish… Say, I wonder what the coach would think if I told her about this? Shall we find out?" Lara asked, pulling out her smartphone and opening up the keypad to dial a number.
"Don't you fucking dare!" Catherine shouted, lunging out at Lara.
The sound of Lara's fist connecting with flesh coincided with the gasps of several girls. Catherine was down on the grass with a hand over her nose, from which blood ran down her face and neck and onto her shirt. Lara looked down at her still-clenched fist in shock, up at Catherine, then back down at her fist, which throbbed painfully. Had she really just done that?
"Shit!" Brittany screeched. Lara shook her hand out and backed away a few steps in case Brittany struck out at her as well, all while still observing Catherine with the same shocked expression, "What the hell is wrong with you?!" At that moment, Lexie came up to Lara with a stack of papers turned upside down to conceal the offending photos from the public eye. Lara took them without looking at the images so as to spare the girls from further embarrassment.
"Thanks," she said in as even a tone as she could manage with how much adrenaline was pumping through her veins. Lexie only nodded in response while looking back and forth between Catherine and Lara, who turned her attention back to the captains.
"You're fuggig dead, bidch!" Catherine spluttered through the blood in her mouth as Brittany helped her back up onto her feet, and pinched her nose in an attempt to stop the bleeding. Lara opened her mouth to fire off a response, but couldn't find the words to do so.
Toughen up! she mentally berated herself, and took a deep breath before she finally spoke. "Is that so?" she demanded, mainly stalling for time while she thought of something better to say.
"That's assault! I'm calling the cops!" Brittany pulled her phone out to dial the emergency services number.
"I wouldn't do that!" Lara cut in quickly, her heart and mind racing, and Brittany paused. "Catherine attacked me first-I only acted in self-defense!" The look Catherine gave Lara at that point was one of pure malice, and she felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand up.
"Whad proof do you hab?" Catherine spat at her, spraying a few drops of blood onto the ground. Lara swallowed thickly past the nervous lump in her throat, aware that one small slip up could put her behind bars.
"All of the witnesses we have here right now," she answered matter-of-factly, remembering the photos in her hands, "plus, do you know what these are?" She held the stack of papers up for Catherine to see, and the latter blanched at the sight, "that's right. The photos that you took last night. So if you even try calling the cops I'll use this evidence to nail you and Brittany for hazing and blackmail. And that's assuming you don't get charged with attempted assault on top of that..."
"What do you want from us?" Brittany demanded, her voice hard but her eyes reflecting the fear she felt. Lara had to resist the urge to let out a sigh of relief.
"Nothing, actually." Brittany and Catherine gave her a look of mixed perplexion and disbelief, as did nearly everyone else, but Lara shook her head and steeled herself before continuing. "No, really. I don't give a damn about ruining other peoples' lives because I'm nothing like you two. Just consider Catherine's crooked nose a warning to never piss me off or harass the younger gymnasts again…" She glared at the two of them before speaking directly to Brittany, "Now get the hell out of here, and take that stupid bint with you." They stared at each other in silence until Brittany eventually tugged on Catherine's arm. Lara watched them go until she was sure they actually left before folding the photos and putting them inside the muff of her pullover. She turned to leave but Lexie got in her way.
"Wait, Lara-" Lara held up her sore, bruising hand to stop her.
"I'm not in the most sociable of moods considering I just shattered a person's nose so can it please just wait?" Lexie looked rather taken aback but ended up nodding in the end despite that. Lara pulled her hood up over her head without another word and started the trek back to her dorm.
Despite her best efforts to focus on other matters, the entire confrontation kept replaying in her mind over, and over, and every time she could feel Catherine's nose breaking beneath her fist again. The entire scene made her feel sick to her stomach, even if Catherine had deserved what she got. She never cared much for violence, it was one of the few things she had in common with Deranged Dick-not that she wasn't capable of looking after herself, either. She just preferred to avoid the worst case scenario when possible.
Good thing I didn't end up boxing like mum… Lara thought, recalling the conversation she had with Roth at the beginning of the week. She opened and closed her right hand, wincing at the way the tender flesh stretched over her bruised knuckles. Then, something unexpected happened: she felt bad for Catherine. What if her nose actually did end up permanently disfigured? Lara rubbed her knuckles and wondered if she should tell anyone what she'd done before quickly discarding the idea. Getting herself in trouble wouldn't change that or assuage the niggling sense of guilt she had. She'd just have to accept and deal with the consequences of her actions. She made it back to Connaught Hall sometime later and lumbered up the stairs to her floor instead of using the elevator before going back inside her dorm to-
She froze and pulled her hood back down when she opened the door and found the room occupied by another person. Both her and the asian girl who was now in there stared at each other in mutual shock for what felt to be an eternity before the girl got up from where she lay on the bed that, up until then, had been unused and neglected. She looked to be roughly an inch or two shorter than Lara, with brown eyes and black, half-shaven hair that she nervously ran her fingers through.
"You must be my roommate then?" Just like most of the people Lara had been meeting recently, the girl was an American. Lara nodded wordlessly to indicate she was correct, "Cool! Lara, right? You're in my lit class."
"Yeah," Lara said almost robotically. Her entire body was still in defense mode. She shook her head to try to snap herself out of whatever trance she was in, "sorry, and you are…?"
"Sam. Nice to meet you," Sam took a few steps forward and stuck a hand out with a sheepish grin on her face. Lara shook it with her injured hand without thinking, wincing almost immediately when she realized her mistake. Sam looked down to see what Lara had winced about and raised a brow at her injured hand, "what'd you do to your hand? Is it alright?" Lara took her hand back and cradled it protectively.
"Long story," she said wearily, shuffling over to her bureau to get the sweatpants she had been looking for before.
"Meaning?" Sam asked without moving an inch. Lara found a pair of black sweatpants and grabbed the t-shirt she had set aside earlier.
"Meaning I'd rather not discuss it right now," she squeezed her eyes shut and grimaced when she noticed how irritated she sounded. "Sorry. I've just had a really long night and I'm still processing everything myself." Sam shrugged dismissively.
"It happens, we've all been there. I won't bug you about it if it's really that bad," she strode over to her bed and flopped back down onto it.
"Thank you," Lara said gratefully, surprised at the fact that somebody hadn't deemed snooping around in her personal business necessary for a change.
"Anytime," Sam replied, already setting her laptop back down on her lap to resume what she had been doing before. Lara hesitated, wondering if she should say something else before deciding against it and picking a towel up to go shower. As she let the warm water run down her tired back a few minutes later, she was able to relax to some degree. Catherine had been dealt with, and everyone was safe. Although...
Lara closed her eyes with a sigh and leaned her head back to let the water run through her hair. She knew Catherine would seek revenge soon enough. The question was, would the evidence now in her possession be enough of a deterrent for the captain? Lara's eyes snapped open.
Best she kept the photos on her at all times, just in case.
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