Disclaimer: Still don't own it
A part of me knew this was wrong.
But I didn't care because I had considered Jenna a close ally, and her betrayal was hurting me the most right now.
I watched Jenna change into her gym clothes, and pondered on what to exactly do to her that would not be considered overboard. I didn't want to hurt her per say, but I felt that Jenna needed to understand that siding with Alison had been a bad idea. It wasn't about revenge this was about justice. While I had yet to fully realize what I could do yet, there were some things that knew that I could do now.
Taking a seat next to Jenna, I closed my eyes and allowed my anger to boil; accomplishing that by reminding myself of the situation that I was now in. As my raged rose, the lights began to flicker and the air began to get cold until you could see Jenna's breath. I was trying to mimic what I had done earlier to give the blind girl a bit of scare.
That is in the end all I wanted to do; just scare Jenna since it was Alison that I wanted to see suffer for all of the things that she had done.
My little show was starting to pay off even though it was a bit mediocre at best so far. Jenna seemed spooked as she hurried to get her shirt on, using her ears to hear if there was anyone within her vicinity that could be considered a threat. From what I understood, Jenna's eyesight was getting worse every day, and I wondered how much of it was left since my death all those months ago.
When she was done, Jenna closed her locker and went for her walking stick which I was sitting on in a sense. To reach for it, her hand had to go right through my body, and I was curious to see what would happen; the area where we were in was already cold and my present form had to be a lot chillier. My suspicions were right when she reacted violently by jerking her hand back suddenly as if it was in pain.
"What the hell?" Jenna asked, both in confusion and in pain.
"A little cold for you Jenna?" I asked in a mocking tone, watching as she tried to reach for the stick again but to no avail.
As she sat there and appeared to not know what to do, I realized how vulnerable she must be feeling right now. An old part of me cherished what I was doing to Jenna since I felt it was for justice. Jenna had hurt and betrayed a lot of people in her time so I didn't feel too bad by doing this; especially after what she did to Toby.
Then again, this could count against me by the Reaper and that thought was enough to sober me up. I got up and stepped away from the blind girl as she reached for her stick for a third time, finding the cold spot gone. She was still confused and I could see the fear in her eyes, causing me to feel slightly guilty for what I had done. I let her walk away and sighed as I sat down on the bench.
Maybe, just maybe Jenna and Sydney had good reasons for what they were doing. Maybe they were scared after what happened with me, and took Alison's offer for friendship to stay safe. Maybe they were playing Alison for a fool and working against her in order to get justice for me. They were reassuring thoughts and might be true; though I had no proof.
As for Cindy and Mindy; they were weak but I suppose I couldn't blame them for wanting to fit in.
Getting up, I decided to look in one last spot before heading back to Caleb's side. I left the locker room just as Emily and Paige made their way inside, still in their swimsuits. Emily headed towards my way and had quite a serious look on her face while Paige followed closely behind. I stepped aside and just observed their curious activity. Water dripped from their bodies, and I concluded that they had just emerged from the pool.
When I was last alive, Emily had just became the assistant coach for the swim team and was too injured to swim. Seeing her in the team uniform caused me to think that there was a chance that she back on the team as a participant; though I wondered if it was in an official capacity. Maybe Emily went to some sort of rehab or had an operation that put her back in the pool.
"See anything?" Paige asked as Emily appeared to be looking around for something. They were checking out the area where Jenna's locker was and I wondered what was up.
"No; whatever freaked Jenna out isn't here," Emily said and I shook my head, cursing at myself.
"Maybe it was nothing; Jenna just having a guilty conscience about what she's doing," Paige suggested, looking around to see if there was anyone else was in the locker room. Currently it was just the three of us.
"Yeah, it was me; I'm sorry," I said and I meant it since it obviously gave them a false alarm. Even if they couldn't hear me, it didn't hurt to be apologetic to them.
"I guess you're right; I was just hoping for a clue of some sorts," Emily admitted, turning back towards her girlfriend. It was nice that they were together now with Emily throwing off Alison for good.
"You'll get through this; I promise," Paige declared, taking both of Emily's hands in hers and pulling Emily close. Their lips met and I wasn't sure to find the scene touching or groan in boredom.
Their lip locking continued for another couple of seconds and I became somewhat alarmed when Emily's hands left Paige's, going to her back to move her closer. This was a bit more intense than what I have seen before when it came to Emily's make out sessions; and I have seen a great deal of those ever since Maya. What was interesting about this was that Emily was the one who was aggressive instead of being dominated.
I became even more alarmed when Emily's hands went to Paige's butt and saw that there was some serious grabbing going on. I could hear a sensual groan coming from Paige, and I looked around to see if anyone else was watching. Not only was this little escapade going from a PG-13 to an R-Rated thing, I was risking seeing something that I really didn't want to. When did Paily become so intense?
"We should stop," Paige said, breaking off from a kiss and nervously looking around for spectators. Emily nodded and stepped back, smiling at her girlfriend, clasping her hand.
"Sorry; just got caught up in the moment," Emily stated sheepishly, looking a little guilty.
"I am not mad, but this isn't the place for this; we might get caught," Paige said and Emily smiled in agreement.
I breathed a sigh of relief that I didn't have to escape the lesbian p*** that might have occurred just now. While I had done a great deal of surveillance of these girls over the years, I had been somewhat respectful when it came to intimate moments like this. I had even turned off the camera when Aria and Ezra had that night at his apartment last year.
"So did you want me to come with you and Hanna on Saturday?" Paige asked as the two started making their way back to the pool. I decided to follow them more out of curiosity than anything else.
"Umm…..let me check with Hanna but I have no problem with it," Emily said as she held the door open for the other girl; amusingly chivalrous in my opinion. I just followed behind, going through the door.
As expected, the school pool hadn't changed much since the last time I saw it. Of course, it was only a few months since my death so there wasn't really much that could change physically in the school. The pool looked like it was partitioned off for the period with the gym class in one section and the swim team in another. It was unusual to see in this time of day and I wondered if this was the new norm for some reason.
I saw Jenna in the pool at the far side with her class; also seeing Cindy and Mindy as well. The three of them were huddled apart from the rest of the class but with no Alison; making me conclude that she wasn't in their class for this period. Sydney was with the swim team and practicing laps, but I thought I spotted her glancing at Jenna in between strokes.
I watched Emily and Paige squeeze each other's hands before the both of them dived into the pool to rejoin the team. The coach was on the cement, barking out instructions and looking at her clipboard. It appeared that the team had a new swim coach since I knew every administrator and teacher in the school, she looked unfamiliar. The woman appeared to be quite young, maybe Ezra's age, and I found the blue streak in her hair quite contemporary for a teacher at Rosewood High.
I thought about leaving and heading to another part of the school, but the idea of causing a little bit of mischief seemed a little enticing. While harassing a blind girl was a bit out of taste, there was her partner currently in the pool. Come to think of it, I wasn't sure what to classify the relationship between Jenna and Sydney; I knew they were close but was unsure if they were bed buddies. Jenna's relationship preference's always seemed to change like the seasons and keep you guessing.
With a smirk on my face, I jumped into the pool since I knew that I couldn't get wet. I sank to the bottom and it felt weird that there was water all around me though I couldn't feel any of it. I could hear the faint sounds of what was going on above; though muffled by the water itself. I briefly tested my voice with a La and found that the water had no impact on my voice; which meant that I could carry on a conversation down here if I chose.
Seeing what I could do, I jumped up lightly and found that I could float upwards if I wanted. This helped since it meant that I could reach the pool stairs at the far end so that I could simply just walk out. Finding myself back on the bottom, I watched as various swimmers from either the school team or class move about above me. I zeroed in on Sydney though and made my way towards her.
When she was right above me, I jumped and floated towards her in an effort to change the temperature of the water around her; more as a harmless prank than anything else. I wasn't going to touch her per say since I was unsure what the effects of my cold form would be in the water; for all I knew, I could cause her death by giving Sydney hypothermia, and that would definitely send me to the abyss.
Something surprising happened though as I moved closer to Sydney. While I moved closer to her as she swam, she suddenly stopped with her head still in the water and almost appeared to be looking straight at me. While I moved closer and was curious to her new behavior, Sydney also moved her head more into the pool and appeared to be focusing her eyes through her goggles.
When I was a foot away and stared right in to her eyes, Sydney suddenly screamed and filled her lungs full of water. I watched as she flayed in panic, doing her best to get out of the pool as fast as she could until I saw exit. Realizing that she might have seen me for some unknown reason, I also quickly made my exit, practically running to the other end and leaping for the surface.
I didn't even cause a ripple as I broke the surface of the pool, climbing out as quickly as I could. When I was fully out, I watched as everyone huddled around Sydney while she was coughing up pool water onto the cement floor. Jenna was trying to comfort her while Cindy and Mindy looked around, seeming lost on what to do; guess that without Alison, the two were nothing but herd less sheep.
Having a sinking feeling, I moved closer to the group of teens to see what Sydney was say. On closer look, Sydney was in full panic and practically jabbering to Jenna; though a concerned Emily and Paige had joined their side. Jenna hugged the girl close to her and was whispering in Sydney's ear out of a rare compassion that came out on occasion.
"I saw her," Sydney said in a low whisper, though I am pretty sure Emily and Paige could hear her too given their sudden eye contact.
"Who did you see?" Jenna asked, keeping her voice as quiet as possible so that no one else could hear. Like me, Emily and Paige could hear her; doing their best to lean in close since Jenna was too blind to notice.
"I saw Mona. She was in the pool and coming right at me," Sydney stated with pure fear and I closed my eyes, mentally kicking myself for my stupidity.
"Mona's dead; okay? It was just your imagination," declared the blind girl, continuing to hold her close but trying to get Sydney to her feet. I noticed that the other pair of girls just looked at one another in confusion.
"It was her; she's back just like the cards said," stated the panicking teen, fully believing her own words.
While the three other teens looked unsure, I was curious and wanted to know more. Before that could happen, the coach appeared with the school nurse, and with Jenna they took Sydney away. I thought about following them but figured that I had done enough damage for the day. This was another lesson for me about how revenge led to very bad things; though the bit about the cards was something to follow up on.
Leaving the school pool, I headed to the library to check out another potential spot. It was still in the middle of the period and so the halls were still empty; which I was thankful for since I couldn't afford any more attention. If Sydney started blabbing about seeing me in the pool as well as the incident with Jenna, I had no doubt that someone would put two and two together and think this place was haunted.
Not to mention what was going to happen when Caleb found out about this little escapade.
Before I could enter the library, I once again saw a familiar face walking out of the office. I had been surprised that Alison hadn't been with her new posse at the pool, since she would have made sure that the group would have every class together. Seeing her alone perked my interest and I decided follow her; hoping that I could contain my emotions around her.
The way she walked down the hallway, it was like Alison ruled the school; which wasn't far from the truth in a sense. The way her strutted in the blue dress and brown boots was almost diva like, making me nearly sick because of what she did to get on top. It was the smirk though that really made me mad; the smirk that told everyone that she was the Queen and everyone in this town was beneath her.
Originally, I thought that she was heading back to class but as I followed closely behind, she seemed to be going for the exit of the school. This was peculiar because despite Alison's many flaws, skipping school was something that she never did. While it could be an emergency, I had my suspicions that it was something else so I stuck to her; thankful that I didn't have stay out of sight when tailing her.
I watched her walk right out the front doors of the school, flashing some sort of form to the hall monitor as she passed. The way he waved her off made me believe that Alison had done this before; making me wonder if this was a usual thing. Out of spite, I passed right through the man at the door; causing him to shake violently which brought a smirk to my face.
Once she was out the doors, her step seemed to quicken with me speeding up in order to remain close. I saw a black sedan pull into the parking lot and Alison headed towards it, almost running. The windows were tinted so I couldn't see who the driver was but I might get a good look once Alison opened the passenger side door. So I made sure to be in the right place to get a good look once the door was opened.
To my surprise, it was Cece Drake.
Please R&R and another thanks to Paraddicted for the pre-read.