A/N: Hey, everyone! Thanks to Brandibuckeye, Zanita475 and Soccerchick6 for reviewing chapter 14. Hope you all continue to enjoy this story!
MJ followed Sabrina through the crowded cafeteria to a table near the windows. It was empty except for one girl, sitting with her back to the rest of the room, hunched over a book, her shoulder length, dark hair blocking her face from view. She looked up when Sabrina took the seat next to her. MJ noticed she had really bad acne and wore an expression like she had just sucked on a lemon.
"Hey, Lauren. This is MJ. She just started today." Sabrina said as MJ took a seat with her lunch tray.
Lauren considered MJ carefully. MJ smiled politely, taking in the girl's sour expression. "Nice to meet you." MJ tried, still smiling at Lauren. Lauren just looked back to her book, her expression never changing.
Alrighty, then, MJ thought.
"So, MJ, how long are you staying in Farmersville? Is your Dad gonna be gone a long time?" Sabrina asked.
MJ picked up her milk and started shaking it. "Probably just until the end of this school year."
"That's only like, 3 more weeks. Then where will you go?"
MJ shrugged. "Wherever he finds work, I guess."
Sabrina just nodded, although she had a curious look on her face. Lauren on the other hand looked plain disgusted, as if MJ's non-conventional family personally offended her.
"Hi, guys." A tiny blonde girl said, sitting down on Lauren's other side. She smiled shyly at MJ, opening up her lunch bag.
"Carrie, this is MJ." Sabrina introduced them.
Carrie's smile widened. "Hi." She said quietly.
"Ugh. Look at them. It's almost comical." Lauren suddenly said, looking behind MJ. MJ turned to see a table of girls sitting huddled close together, somber expressions on their faces. They were all wearing cheerleading uniforms and half of them had tears in their eyes. "They're like lost sheep. No idea what to do without their fearless leader." She sneered. "No one to tell them what color eye shadow to wear, what music to download on itunes." She turned back to her book. "How will they ever get by?" She said with mock sadness.
"Come on, Lauren. It's awful. Their friend lost her eyes." Carrie said quietly, not really meeting Lauren's eye.
MJ was listening carefully, but made no comment.
"Yeah, well, if you ask me, she had it coming." Lauren said, glaring at the girls again, hatred plain in her eyes.
"Lauren, that's terrible." Sabrina said.
Lauren just srhrugged.
"No one deserves that." Carrie said. "Not even her."
Lauren let out a derisive laugh. "Listen to you. After what they did to you, you still defend them. You still hope you can be one of them someday." She accused.
"Lauren don't be mean." Sabrina said evenly.
Lauren just shrugged, going back to her book.
Carrie nibbled at her sandwich, not saying another word for the rest of lunch.
After lunch, they all left the cafeteria together and MJ waited until Lauren and Carrie had headed off to their classes to ask Sabrina about the exchange at lunch.
"Oh. Yeah. Well that girl, Tressa that got her eyes, ya know." Sabrina seemed to be struggling to find the words. "Just before spring break, she and her friends played a trick on Carrie. She's always wanted to be a cheerleader. She volunteered to help out during practices and games. You know, filling their water bottles, making sure their pom poms were...fluffy or whatever other stupid crap they could think of. They would order her around. So after months of this, they tell her they've decided she could be in one of their routines. They had her put on this ridiculous leather corset and gave her a...paddle. Ya know, like an S & M paddle. Told her it was a prop and that they would all be wearing the same thing. She was so desperate to fit in, she went along with it. She was supposed to pop out of the top of this stupid, giant volcano or something. She burst out of the top of that thing to see all of the other girls in their regular uniforms. Tresssa and the other girls just gawked at her, shocked that she actually bought it. The entire school was there and everyone was laughing at her. She didn't come to school for weeks after."
"That's horrible." MJ said, appalled by the story, and thinking that this was exactly why she hated high school so much.
"Lauren's not a bad person, she just has a hard time forgiving them. Carrie never did anything to them to deserve to be treated so badly." Sabrina said.
MJ was preoccupied for the remainder of the day. She had eaten lunch with some likely suspects for the attacks. They certainly had a motive. She wanted to talk to the cheerleaders, but couldn't work up the nerve to approach any of them. She did find the time to sneak off to search Paul Kane's locker, but came up empty handed again.
She was walking out the front doors at the end of the day, lost in her thoughts about Carrie and her public humiliation, when she literally ran into Spencer, the force of bumping into him sending the books in her arms flying down the front steps, scattering all over the sidewalk.
"Whoa! Sorry!" MJ cringed as she watched her books come to rest on the concrete. She looked up and saw Spencer grinning down at her.
"Yesterday you can't get rid of me fast enough and today you're running into me on purpose to get my attention." Spencer said, stooping down to gather up her books. "Make up your mind, would ya?"
"Thanks." MJ said, taking the stack as he handed them to her. She saw the Impala pull to the curb. "That's my ride, so I guess I'll see you tomorrow." She said walking past him.
"There's a dance this Friday night!" He called after her. She turned back, but didn't say anything. "Come with me. It'll help you get to know your classmates." He grinned.
"How long before the entire school knows you asked me?" MJ asked, biding her time. She didn't love the idea of going on a date with a guy she just met, to a high school dance, of all places. But she knew that it would be the perfect place to get some dirt on the victims and maybe a lead on what had caused the incidents.
"They already knew I wanted to."
"How? You told them?"
He shook his head. "No. They all wanted to ask you, too. I beat 'em to it." She rolled her eyes in response. He closed the distance between them, standing over her. "Come on. It's just a dance. Say yes."
MJ was hyper aware of the Impala parked at the curb, mere yards away, Dean waiting inside, no doubt watching Spencer's every move. She nodded. "Okay."
"Cool." He said backing away. "See you tomorrow."
"So what did you find out today?" Sam asked as MJ climbed in the back of the Impala.
"Well-" MJ started, but was cut off by Dean.
"What was that all about?" He asked, inclining his head in Spencer's direction, who was now sitting on the steps of the school, talking to a group of guys. "Is that the guy from the office yesterday?"
"Yeah, his name's Spencer. He knew one of the victims. CJ Pratt. I think he might know something about what happened."
"Is that why you were flirting with him?" Dean asked, a hint of annoyance in his voice.
"I wasn't flirting." She defended, "I was doing my job."
Dean put the car in gear, and looked over his shoulder, pulling away from the curb. "You were flirting." He muttered.
MJ ignored him and turned to Sam. "I searched the lockers, but I didn't find anything. I did find out that the chick, Tressa, is kind of a heartless bitch." She told them the story about Carrie, and filled them in on Lauren's comments during lunch.
"Wow." Sam said shaking his head. "Okay, so Tressa did some nasty things. What about the other two victims?"
"Well we know this Paul guy isn't squeaky clean. The jock didn't have anything in his file." Dean replied.
Sam shrugged. "So whatever this is, maybe it's going after people who've done wrong. Who deserve to be punished."
"Like a vengence demon?" Dean asked.
"Yeah, if that's a real thing. It's nothing I've ever come across." Sam said. "MJ, any idea if there's a reason someone would want revenge against CJ Pratt?"
MJ shook her head. "No. But Spencer would know. I should ask him to hang out tonight, get him to talk about it. It seems like he knows something about it, but I think he'll be reluctant to tell me much."
"Hang out?" Dean practically yelled. "That's awfully convenient." Dean spat.
MJ shared a look with Sam. She had no idea what Dean was suggesting, but she knew it was nothing good.
"Dean, what the hell are you getting at?"
"You like this idiot and you're looking for an excuse to go out with him."
Sam gave his brother a sideways glance. He knew where this was coming from. Dean couldn't help but assume the worst of people, especially where MJ was concerned. He couldn't really blame him. After some of the things they had encountered, it was near impossible to put your trust in anyone other than family. But Sam couldn't help but think Dean was going about voicing his concern the wrong way.
MJ just glared at Dean for a moment. Then she ripped a piece of paper from her bag and waved it in Dean's face. He batted it away.
"See this, Dean? It's your stupid list of people I need to befriend and get information from. See who's first on the list? Spencer Cole! Guess how you get information from someone, Dean? You talk to them!" She leaned back in her seat, arms crossed in front of her. "You agreed to have me do this job, so let me do it."
"Yeah, I agreed to let you go to school and talk to people at school. Where there's lots of other people and, and- witnesses and...teachers around. Not going out alone with some crafty kid who just wants to get you in bed!"
"He's not gonna open up to me at school, with everyone listening and watching! You know how this works, Dean. I've gotta get him alone, get him to trust me-"
"Get him out of his pants." Dean cut in.
"Dean." Sam quietly admonished. "Knock it off." He said evenly, leveling a glare at his older brother.
MJ had no response. Dean's words stung in a way she didn't know was possible. It was one thing for Dean to assume the worst of a teenage boy, but to turn it around and question her intentions? It was like a punch to the gut. She averted her eyes to her window, fighting back tears.
Dean was instantly contrite. He hadn't meant what he said and he certainly hadn't intended to hurt MJ's feelings.
The silence that filled the car was deafening, but lasted only a moment before Sam's ringing phone cut through it.
"Yeah? Hey, Bobby."
Dean looked back at MJ through the rearview mirror. She wasn't crying, but he could tell she was fighting to keep her composure. He looked back to the road, his jaw clenched.
"Romani gypsies?" Sam asked, surprise in his voice. He listened for a moment. "No, that actually makes sense. Would there be hex bags? An altar? Okay, thanks, Bobby." Sam flipped the phone shut.
"Gypsies." He said simply to his siblings.
"Gypsies?" Dean asked, incredulously.
Sam nodded.
SPNSPNSPNSPNSPNSPN
They pulled into the motel parking lot a few minutes later. Sam jumped out and headed into the room, no doubt anxious to look into the gypsy theory.
"Wait a second." Dean said loudly as MJ grabbed the door handle. "Just-wait."
MJ sat, looking at Dean, waiting for him to continue.
"I was being an ass before. I didn't mean what I said." He said, his hands gripping the steering wheel tightly, eyes staring straight ahead. "You're just working the job. I get it." He finally turned to face MJ. "I just don't want to see you get hurt. Again."
MJ nodded, knowing that was as close to 'I'm sorry' as Dean was going to get. "I've only known this guy for twenty four hours, Dean. I'm gonna be careful. Give me a little credit."
"I know, I just-" he took a deep breath. "You can't let your guard down, ya know? You can't get comfortable with someone, 'cause if you relax, even for a second, that's all it takes."
MJ gave him an incredulous look. "Seriously? You're lecturing me about being naive? I trust no one, Dean. You're pretty much preaching to the choir."
"I just know how...convincing boys can be. They'll tell you anything you want to hear to get you naked. A few well placed compliments, and before you know what you're doing, your panties are on the floor."
"That's so poetic, Dean. They should put that on your tombstone." MJ kidded, reaching for the door handle again.
The found Sam hard at work on his laptop when they reached the motel room.
"So there's a lot of lore about the Romani people, more commonly known as gypsies. They can cast powerful curses, most often as a form of vengence or justice. Most of the stories suggest that the punishment would fit the crime. Like the 'an eye for an eye' theory."
"Like the Steven King book. The lawyer's a fat glutton, he gets cursed with losing weight until he wastes away." Dean said.
"Right. Poetic justice." Sam said, looking up. "Kind of like losing your tongue after you start a nasty rumor about someone."
"Or sitting back and watching while someone is humiliated and then getting your eyes removed from your skull." MJ said, thinking this all made perfect sense.
"The gypsies also have a lot of beliefs surrounding body parts. Finger and toe nails have to be filed because to clip them is considered taboo. Genitalia is considered unclean because it...spews...emissions." Sam finished awkwardly. "Anyway, there's lore about people losing certain body parts as punishment for lewd or inappropriate behavior. If a woman tried to entice a married man with her looks she might be cursed with hair loss or leprosy. A thief would lose his hands. You get the idea."
"So we've got a gypsy running around the school? It couldn't be a student. No way a kid is powerful enough to cast a curse that dark."
"Well, according to this, some traditional sects of Romani learn how to cast curses as young as ten years old. If someone was raised by them, they may be able to work some heavy duty curses by the time they got to high school."
"So all three victims messed with the gypsy and got jacked up?" Dean asked.
"Well, maybe not directly. Gypsies are big on vengence, but also justice in general. Whoever is doing this might just be an observer who's taking matters into their own hands when they feeel like something's not right and someone needs to be taught a lesson."
"So, it's like a superhero, defending the weak. Like Batman. A deranged, twisted Batman." MJ said, thinking about Lauren's reaction to the cheerleaders at lunch today.
There was silence for a moment while they all considered the possibilities.
"So what do you think CJ Pratt did with his hands that warranted losing them?" Dean asked.
"I don't know," MJ said, looking at Dean, "but I know someone who does."
Dean looked at her carefully, determined not to lose his cool. Sam looked back and forth between his siblings, waiting for Dean's reaction.
"Fine. Call him. You can meet him somewhere for coffee. Someplace crowded and...well lit." Dean ordered.
MJ grinned. "Thanks, Dean."
"Just remember what I said." He warned.
"Oh, yes, Dean. I'll carry your sage wisdom with me everywhere I go." She teased. "Remind me. What was that part about my underwear again?"
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