Hello there. May I just say that I am so happy that you liked my story enough to move on to the next chapter? Okay, I changed my mind. No permission necessary. I LURVE YOU!
Here is the 50th chapter-... okay, my jokes are lame XD So here's the second chapter of "Switching Sides" by TheLastPrototype aka Her Royal Nerdyness aka MEEEEEEEEEEEEE (Go Team Hyper! As in GO! FIGHT! WIN! As in GO! READ! REVIEW!)
Man I love posting my writing. Gets me hyper like no amount of caffeine can.
And WOULD YOU BELIEVE IT? I am ACTUALLY over bashing Clover. Okay, almost. Bear with me here, people. I know there's probably a part of her that I will love. And this fic should really help me find it :)
WOW, YOU GUYS! OVER CLOVER! I AM A POETIC GENIUS!
Reality check: No... just no.
Oh, and, I just remembered:
I realise that the way I bashed Clover in my personal comment after Chapter 1 may have annoyed those of you who are actually Clover lovers (aka C-Lovers. Just came up with that :D Awesomenesssss), and I am sorry. Really. You know, this is exactly why I decided to make Clover the protagonist. I need to get over the fact that the way she is portrayed sometimes (in fics as well as the show) made me sorta hate her. And I don't actually hate her anyway, not really. I just need someone to bash after reading SSC fics, someone to blame for them not getting together like IMMEDIATELY.
I love her, really. I love all of 'em. GO TS!
Oh, would you look at that, it's another Disclaimer:
Okay. We all know it.
But let's say it again and really rip open that wound(lol), shall we?
TS belongs to Marathon Inc.
Not to me.
... Hurts every time.
...
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"So, honey, how is camp treating you?"
Stella's voice sounded so loving and sweet. Clover hated lying to her, so much. But she knew that any other option was completely unthinkable. Frowning, Clover lied yet again, asking herself whether she was really lying to protect her mom, or just to protect herself.
"It's fine."
"Fine?"
"I meant great. It's... it's really great."
"All right, baby girl, if you say so."
Clover smiled at the familiar nickname. It was as if she was still a little girl, a little kid who would be completely safe in her mother's arms. I would give anything to feel safe and loved and protected right now.
"But if anything happens, don't you hesitate to call and tell me."
Yeah, right. Like: "Hey there, Mom. I'm actually a top secret agent and I work for the World Organisation of Human Protection and I go on life-threatening missions all the time with Sam and Alex but now they think I stole some huge weapon so I'm pretty much fired and oh right I'm also in prison. So, how was your day?" Sure. That would be a GREAT phone conversation.
Her mother's voice jerked her out of her thoughts.
"And remember, Clover, it's important to always stay gracious and ladylike, no matter what happens."
Clover paused. She knew exactly what she wanted to reply to that, but she was so afraid of what the consequences might be. Deciding to take the risk, Clover took a deep breath.
"You know, Mom," she whispered quietly, cautiously, unable to stop herself, "even if I am always gracious and ladylike... it's not going to bring Dad back."
Silence.
Biting her lip, Clover waited nervously for a reply. She knew it would hurt her mother, bringing up her father's death like this, but sometimes Clover felt like it was her duty to remind Stella not to build her whole life around Clover's dad. It just wasn't healthy, trying to live her life completely perfectly, afraid of making even the tiniest mistake, in the hope that he would somehow return from the dead or something, when they both knew that there was no chance of that ever happening. And Clover always worried that, without her around, her mother would bury herself in denial and impossible expectations of herself until it broke her.
"Well, Clover. Do you think," Stella snapped, the hurt and frustration in her voice concealed by anger, "that satisfying your need for comfort by buying everything you can and throwing yourself at every boy you see, will?"
Clover gasped as if she had been hit. That was a low blow. Off limits. Even though she knew her mother was just lashing out at her because she felt cornered and hurt and, deep down, knew that what Clover had said was true, her words still made Clover want to curl herself into a tiny ball and stop breathing.
But Stella was obviously working herself into a rant, her anger making her blind to what she was doing to her daughter.
"What, you think I don't NOTICE how you would be with any man, as long as you're not alone? It's not normal, Clover. It's not! Do you think your father would be proud? Or would he be disgusted?"
Closing her eyes and breathing slowly through her nose, Clover set the phone back into its holster on the wall and stood there, silently, trying hard to keep from crying.
Concentrating only on setting one foot in front of the other, she walked to the automatic doors of the Communications room and let the guard escort her back to her cell.
While Clover was passing the other prisoners' cells, she kept her head bowed, staring at the unchanging grey floor. When she felt the agent pulling her through a side door, Clover's eyes narrowed suspiciously, but her mind was still numb from her conversation with Stella.
Finding herself in a dark office, Clover slowly lifted her head see what was going on here. When her eyes met those of the guard, she recognized him as the agent who had looked at her like some kind of sex object a few hours ago. Slowly, Clover's eyes widened as she realized what his intentions must be. Her body went stiff with fear as she watched a small smirk form on his lips, knowing that, after what had just happened, she was too weak to properly defend herself. At any other time, he wouldn't stand a chance against me, she thought bitterly as it dawned on her that he was both stronger and had a certain element of surprise.
A sort of hungry look entered his eyes as he brought his face close to hers.
"You can't do this. I'll-"
"You'll what? What are you going to do, sunshine?" he growled with a smirk.
Clover looked around in panic, and found herself utterly defenseless.
"I'll... I'll tell," she stammered hesitantly, unable to remove herself from his grip on her arms.
"Oh yeah?" he whispered throatily while his hands moved to cup her hips. "Who's going to believe you, princess? Last time I checked," - now he pulled her close, pressing their lower bodies against each other as his eyes moved to gaze at her full lower lip in undisguised lust - "you weren't a part of WOOHP anymore."
Clover registered the change in his eyes just before he acted. Moving quickly, he brought his mouth down on hers forcefully, crushing their lips together. One arm looped around her waist, he used the other to grab her butterscotch blonde hair and make her move her head the way he wanted. Feeling his tongue pushing against her sealed lips, Clover struggled to escape his hold, only to have him release her head and move his hand to her chest. As his fingers fumbled with the top buttons of her uniform, an idea formed in Clover's mind. Slowly, she brought her own arms up to encircle his neck, cautiously, to show him that she was not trying to hurt him. Then, as if responding to his kiss, Clover pushed her body against his.
"I always knew you were a little slut," he murmured against her mouth.
Clover continued to pull him closer, letting her lips part slightly so that their kiss could deepen. When he groaned huskily, about to push his tongue into her mouth, Clover bit down on his lower lip as hard as she could. As he made a surprised sound of annoyance and pulled away from her a bit, she smirked, knowing that her plan was working, and used her hands, that had been previously stroking the back of his neck, to establish a firm hold on his head. Then, using all her energy, Clover brought her knee up forcefully between his legs, making use of the distance that he had put between them in his moment of surprise.
He yelped in pain and loosened his grip on her body, allowing Clover to shake him off and then push him away from her. Still doubled over, the nameless agent struggled to stand upright.
Not wanting to waste any time, Clover ran over to the locked door and fumbled with the key. Turning around, she saw that he was beginning to recover from the blow and was now moving towards her. As she opened the door to escape the room, she used the key to lock it from the outside. Feeling his fists pounding against the door, Clover spoke quietly, not even really caring if that he probably couldn't hear her through the soundproof door.
"You are a disgusting excuse for a human being. I hope that you spend your life suffering, completely deprived of happiness. That's what you deserve."
Clover turned and leaned her back against the door, still panting. As her fingers moved to run over her lips, she closed her eyes in disgust, though it was no longer aimed at the agent who had almost raped her.
Clover was disgusted by herself.
Although she had only returned his kiss to escape his clutches, there had been the shortest of moments when she had relished his desire for her. She knew that this sort of moment was why she was so quick to go after any guy she thought was reasonably good-looking. Feeling wanted, feeling desired... it quenched her loneliness. Of course, it never lasted. But that wasn't enough to stop her anymore. It was as if she was addicted, somehow. And Clover resented it, resented herself for it. Especially when she couldn't ignore her own judgement, because it was reflected in the eyes and words of others. "Slut". Someone had spray-painted it onto her locker on her first day as a sophomore.
Clover had rubbed it off and wiped away her tears before Alex or Sam could notice any of it, and had dismissed their queries as to whether she was alright with light, empty, sarcastic words, just like always. She didn't want their pity. All their sympathy, all their denial of the truth in the word, it was all useless. Because Clover could just as well have written it herself.
She smiled, sadly. Even her mother knew what kind of a person she was. Everyone did.
And if her father was watching her from somewhere up there, she knew he would be disappointed in her, but, ultimately, he would blame himself - his death, the thing that had left her so lonely, had left her craving attention, longing for something to fill the void that had been left in her life.
It made Clover feel even more guilty. Because it was her fault, and only hers, that this was how she dealt with her pain. It wasn't like she was the only person to have ever lost someone they loved. And she knew that the words she had spoken just now were words that had been meant not for the agent, but for her.
Shaking her head to stop herself from drowning in self-pity, Clover decided that she should leave before another agent passed by and thought that it was suspicious: a prisoner standing in the middle of the corridor, completely unguarded. Still absorbed in her disgust, Clover hurried towards her cell, knowing that attempting an escape would be useless and stupid right now.
Oblivious to the figure standing on the steps leading to the holding facility, Clover gasped in surprise when she ran head on into a broad male chest. She heard a chuckle and raised her eyes, only to start in surprise when looking into the deep brown eyes that she couldn't forget.
"K-Kyle?"
Kyle Katz's eyes narrowed in confusion as they took in Clover's orange uniform.
"... Aren't you the spy that arrested me? Chloe, was it? What did you do to get in here? Must have been pretty bad..."
Clover shook her head intently. She just didn't have the nerve for this right now.
"Get out of my way, Katz!" she said decisively.
"Oh, well what are you going to do? Call the cops?" Kyle smirked at his own joke. "Anyway, weren't you the one that ran in to me?"
Sighing in frustration, Clover gave the man in front of her a little shove so that he would step aside. He grabbed her wrists tightly and brought his face close to hers.
"You locked me up, Chloe, and now that you're in here with me, it's payback time, whether you like it or not. What were you expecting? Did you think all the villains in here were going to... embrace you as one of their own or something? Well I'll tell you right now that I'm not buying it. You're probably just here to spy on us again and make sure we're all behaving like good little criminals. I'll be watching you, Chloe. One slip up and... get ready for a world of pain," he snarled.
Clover laughed.
"I wasn't expecting anything, Katz. Least of all for you to be this pathetic. Haven't you got anything better to do than using threatening clichés on me?" Escaping his grasp easily, she elbowed him out of the way, only to turn around again to face him. "And my name is Clover," she spat, annoyed.
Head held high, Clover marched towards her cell, only to realize that, during her exchange with Kyle, she had somehow forgotten all about what had happened to her. As the memories came flooding back, Clover had to steady herself against the wall to keep from stumbling. Finally reaching her room, Clover reluctantly looked at the guard, letting him know that he had to open the door. Confused at her returning from her outwards call alone, the guard furrowed his brow, but then let her in, locking the door behind her.
As she walked into the cell with her eyes cast downwards, contemplating the fact that Kyle Katz had so easily made her forget her worries, Clover gasped in surprise when she discovered that she was not alone.
"Hi, Little Miss I'm-So-Perfect-I-Hate-Villains-But-Oops-Now-I've-Become-One. Proud of yourself?" her cellmate asked, sarcastically. "Why don't you have a seat? Or do I have to force you?"
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Okay then. So that was Chapter 2. I'm kinda proud of it, actually. Am I the only one that thinks it turned out to be WAY BETTER than Chapter 1? Now I'm pissed at myself for not making Chapter 1 better :D Because some of the people who didn't like Chapter 1 enough to read Chapter 2 might have really liked Chapter 2...
And also, YAY, cliffhanger! I've been waiting for one of those :) So who do you think Clover's roomate is?
I will tell you right now that Mr. Unnamed Agent WILL in fact be returning later on in the story, in a BIG WAY. Big, and sort of terrible. But also really, really exciting. I'm already looking forward to writing that part!
All right, so I am officially over hating on Clover. I actually feel really sorry for her, after all that insight on her childhood trauma, etc. Oh well, looks like things aren't going to be getting better for her any time soon...
And may I just say, WOW? Kyle was finally introduced. For those of you who don't know/remember him, he was in the episode "The Suavest Spy".
Mkay, so please review, as always, and expect an update very soon. Okay, not too soon, it'll definitely take longer than this chapter.
Love from (as Mandy says :D) Yours Truly
