A/N Thank you for being awesome readers. Here's the next chapter as promised. I will be back next weekend :)
Chapter 32
Spencer was delighted when she saw Ashley waiting for her at her locker on Monday morning. She was even more delighted when she saw that Ashley was wearing her cheerleading uniform.
Ashley could pinpoint the exact moment that Spencer noticed what she was wearing. The way the blonde's face lit up was impossible to miss. She had been pissed when Madison messaged her about an extra cheerleading practice after school. Ashley had missed being with Spencer the night before and with the practice it meant even more time before they could be alone together. Now being pissed at Madison didn't seem to matter anymore, not when Spencer looked like she'd won a prize of some kind.
"You really need to warn me if you're going to wear that unannounced." Spencer was raking her eyes up and down the brunette's body. "I was not prepared for this at all."
Ashley couldn't help but smirk. "Where's the fun in that?"
"Don't you be getting too cocky now, Ash," Spencer warned with no intention of following through on anything she threatened. "Just because you've had a taste of me doesn't mean you can get all egotistical and big headed."
Ashley suddenly felt overheated at the innuendo in the blonde's words. She knew that if she suggested to Spencer that they skip class and go back to her house, the other girl would say yes. But Ashley also knew that Spencer had to keep a good attendance record or else risk the school notifying Paula of her absence, which could only lead to disaster. There was an angel on one shoulder telling Ashley to behave, but there was a devil on the other shoulder telling her to say to hell with being responsible. Eventually good won out, but that didn't mean the brunette wasn't going to engage in another type of foreplay with her girlfriend. "I'm pretty sure it means exactly that." She edged ever so close to Spencer. "I hated being alone last night. I wanted more than anything for you to be there beside me, touching me."
Spencer's eyes noticeably widened. There was no mistaking exactly where Ashley was about to take their conversation. The breathy tones of the brunette made Spencer shudder.
"Good morning, losers."
"Must you ruin my day already, Madison?" Spencer asked irritably. She wanted to punch the other girl for interrupting what she and Ashley had been discussing. Even at her best moments, Spencer had no patience for Madison, but to have that kind of conversation ruined was an even more egregious offense.
Madison ignored Spencer completely. "Don't be late for practice or you're going to risk running laps. It's a new thing I've come up with considering how horrible things went on Friday."
"Sir, yes, sir." Spencer mock saluted Madison even though she wasn't the one being addressed. She couldn't help herself. "Whoops, I should have said ma'am, but that mustache of yours has really gotten out of control. My bad."
Madison whipped around in order to glare at the blonde. "Don't talk to me, troll."
"Don't look at me, bitch," Spencer replied with a shit-eating grin on her face. Getting under Madison's skin was too much fun to stop.
Madison wanted to escalate matters, but she wasn't going to let the blonde get in the way of what was coming. As much as she would enjoy telling Spencer off, there was a time and place for things and it wasn't right now. "Lucky for you, I actually have a life, so I don't care to spend any of it having to speak to a nobody like you."
"Oh, that is such a burn," Spencer said, her voice dripping with sarcasm and disdain. "I don't know how I will ever recover from how sick that was."
Madison flipped her hair at the blonde before she turned her attention back to Ashley. "Just remember, if you're late today, there will be hell to pay."
"Got it," Ashley said not wanting to prolong Madison's need to speak with her. "Now, where were we?"
she asked Spencer once Madison was gone.
Spencer shook her head, "Oh, hell no. I can't go from Madison back to our sexually-laden bantering. She's tainted it."
"Sexually-laden bantering?" Ashley repeated back somewhat amused. "But we were having so much fun before!"
"Sorry, Ash, it's not my fault Madison ruins everything she touches, looks at or breathes on."
Ashley couldn't blame Spencer for feeling that way. Madison really had ruined the mood between them. That didn't mean she couldn't sulk about it. "This sucks."
Spencer watched in amusement as Ashley took books out of her locker and put other books back in with a lot more force than necessary. "Tell you what," Spencer paused to make sure no one was paying them any attention, "let's skip lunch all together and meet me at our spot instead."
Ashley felt a tremble pass through her legs. "What about Sean? We're supposed to meet him."
Spencer licked her lips, the way that Ashley was staring at her made her throat dry up. In a month it would be time for winter break, at which point she and Ashley wouldn't have to worry about school acting as a barrier to what both girls wanted. "I'll tell him we're working on our project."
It probably wasn't the nice thing to do, but Spencer needed to be alone with Ashley. And it's not like they ditched Sean constantly, she was allowing herself this one time to act selfishly. She shouldn't be held responsible for her actions anyway. Ashley was to blame for being so damn hot.
"Don't be late," Spencer warned in a clear mocking of Madison. "Or else."
Ashley was certain that the punishment that Spencer would dole out if she was late would be infinitely more pleasurable than what Madison was threatening. Just in case, she was going to make sure to be right on time. Maybe she would even sneak out of class to get there early.
Spencer walked away from the brunette feeling much better about her day. Not only was she going to get one-on-one private time with Ashley at lunch, she was also going to spend the morning sending suggestive messages to her girlfriend. What could top that?
Things were getting out of control and Ashley had to put a stop to it. The only problem was she didn't want to. Not when Spencer was kissing her neck and not when Spencer was showing a very generous amount of attention to her bare breasts. Why should she put a stop to it anyway? Sure they were at school and sure they could get caught, but that seemed unlikely. No one had ever walked in on Spencer when she had used this place as a refuge and no one had walked in on the two of them together now that they used it as a place to make out while on school grounds.
But this wasn't making out anymore. It had gone beyond that when Ashley's bra had been removed. They had never gone this far outside of either one of their houses. It wasn't like Spencer had forced the brunette to do anything she didn't want to do. In fact, if there was a tape to review, it would actually show that it was Ashley who had taken her own bra off, not Spencer.
Ashley could hardly be blamed for wanting to push things further along with her girlfriend. Now that she had experienced what sex with Spencer was like, she only wanted more of it. Plus, when the blonde sucked on her ear in that way that she did, any control that Ashley had around Spencer was obliterated.
Ashley had tried to take charge so she could show Spencer how much she had been thinking about her all day. The texts she'd received throughout all of her classes had only fueled the desire she already felt for her girlfriend. But Spencer was having none of it. She was in charge and the brunette couldn't do a thing about it. Not that she wanted to, it was such a turn on when Spencer was like this.
The need to feel her girlfriend's lips on hers was the only thing that could tear Spencer away from the soft skin of the brunette's neck. She didn't care about where they were or what kind of trouble they could get into if they were discovered. She wasn't thinking about that, she was only thinking about doing to the brunette what she'd been planning to do since they had made their lunch time date. Spencer's imagination had served her well as a way to make time pass while she was stuck in boring classes.
"Oh, God," Ashley breathed out after Spencer had pulled away from her. She wasn't sure how she was even standing, her legs were quivering and the ache between them pulsated. The intensity of the blonde's gaze right then was making her melt inside. She was not surprised when Spencer's hands moved under her skirt, but that didn't stop her from jumping at the contact. "Spence, fuck."
Spencer's heart was thumping wildly in her chest. Being with Ashley was the best rush she had ever experienced. "Do you know how many times I've fantasized about this?"
"W-w-hat?" Ashley stuttered. She should put a stop to this. She wasn't going to put a stop to this. The blonde's fingers were moving dangerously close to where Ashley needed her most. "Fantasized about what?" she finally managed to get out.
There was no need for Spencer to ask Ashley if she trusted her. They had already established that. Besides, she knew that if she really did go too far, the other girl would stop her. "This," Spencer repeated before she got on her knees.
Ashley's eyes went back in her head. Every inch of her was on fire. She kept her eyes closed until the blonde demanded that she look at her.
Spencer hiked up Ashley's cheerleading skirt, maintaining eye contact with the brunette the entire time. She loved how wild and unfocused Ashley's eyes were. "I've thought about this a lot."
"You h-h-ave?" Ashley asked. The world around them could come crashing down and she doubted she'd care.
"I have." Spencer nodded her head. She was going to take her time even though she suspected Ashley was not a fan of this decision. Just in case, Spencer waited a bit longer before making her next move. If she was going to be told to stop, she would rather that happen now. Ashley said nothing but she did let out a very loud moan when Spencer began to move her underwear down her legs. Spencer did it painstakingly slow, making sure to look up at her girlfriend the whole time.
"I don't, shit, oh fuck." Ashley was making no sense. Not that she was to blame, the anticipation of what was about to happen was rendering her unable to form a lucid thought.
Spencer helped Ashley step out of her underwear. The blonde made a note to tell Ashley later that her fantasies paled in comparison to how this was playing out. "Stay quiet," she ordered. It was an impossible thing to ask of her girlfriend. How could anyone blame Ashley for the noises she was making?
Ashley was mildly concerned that she wouldn't be able to remain standing, her legs were officially jelly. That fear and the fear of someone hearing what was going on in the school's abandoned washroom flew out the window the second that Spencer's tongue came in contact with her throbbing centre.
The rest of the day, Ashley walked around with a huge smile on her face. She had gone from someone with limited sexual experience to someone who was having lunchtime dalliances that nobody knew about. It had been such a thrill to feel like she and Spencer had gotten away with something.
They had almost missed their next class and the rush to get back into a presentable fashion made the brunette's pulse race almost as much as the sex. The incredible and very hot sex. Madison had asked her why she was in such a good mood, but Ashley had just shrugged off the question. The only thing that was keeping her from dragging Spencer home was the promise of later tonight when Ashley would have the chance to return the favor.
It wasn't like the two of them were keeping score, but that didn't mean the brunette wasn't amped with ideas on what she could do to possibly match how Spencer had taken care of her. All the different scenarios that she wanted to play out kept playing out in Ashley's mind. Even during Home Ec, when Spencer and she were discreetly flirting and teasing one another. Spencer kept asking her why she was zoning out and all Ashley would do in return was smile coyly. She was keeping her ideas to herself until such time as she could act on them.
They parted ways after class with plans set for Spencer to hang around until cheerleading practice was over. Normally she would get a ride home with Sean, but he had to go take his grandmother to an appointment. Rather than take the bus, the blonde decided to wait for Ashley. She didn't like the idea of spending more time at school than necessary, but her girlfriend was worth making an exception for.
Ashley told Spencer to come by the locker room at four-thirty and she'd meet her outside. Spencer asked if Ashley would still be in uniform then and much to her disappointment, Ashley decided it made more sense to shower at school. She told a sad looking Spencer that meant they could right down to things when they got home and that made the blonde perk up. She made a dirty comment before she walked away and took pride in how red her girlfriend's face became.
Nothing out of the ordinary happened at practice. Madison was still being a supreme bitch to everyone and nobody, including Ashley, spoke up about it. It gave Madison great pleasure at how in control she was of her team. The power that she had was intoxicating. These were her girls and she got off on how much terror she induced in the people around her.
It's why she was so angry at Ashley for daring to defy her. She had tolerated her descent into Loserville because it benefited her own social life, but she would not tolerate Ashley and Spencer together. There was committing social suicide and there was whatever it was that Ashley was doing. She couldn't stand that the other girl had hidden such a big secret from her. Who did Ashley think she was? Madison was in control and she wasn't going to give that control up, especially to a nothing like Spencer Carlin. There were certain rules that needed to be followed and when they weren't, it was up to Madison to make sure that all parties involved understood that she wasn't to be messed with. Her mind might have been warped, but nobody wanted to get tangled up with an angry Madison.
She didn't even care that much about Ashley. She barely even tolerated her. But Ashley had brought with her a certain social credibility that Madison had latched on to. She had money and a famous father, two things that Madison knew was worth attaching herself to. When she had started dating Aiden, Madison couldn't stop the jealousy that took over. She felt in competition with Ashley even though Ashley never felt that way in return. So Madison had made it a point to go after Aiden. He responded to her advances almost immediately, which gave her so much satisfaction. She loved the idea that she was putting one over on Ashley. That she was somehow superior and better than the other girl.
But the best part of being friends with Ashley was the fact that she never fought back or stood up for herself. Madison fed off that kind of power. Things had started to change this semester and now Madison knew why. She wasn't about to let Spencer take something of hers away. That was unacceptable. Being different was unacceptable as well which is why Madison made it her mission to mess with blonde. It infuriated Madison when Spencer never backed down. She had been looking for a way to get even with her and now she had found that way.
If everything went according to plan, that is.
Initially, Madison had something different in mind, but after overhearing that Spencer was going to be waiting for Ashley after practice she had altered her plans. She needed Sherry's help to make sure that everything happened on cue which almost made Madison second-guess what she was going to do. She didn't want to rely on anyone when there were so many ways that could go wrong. But seeing as she was improvising, it would have to do.
"Hey there, Ashley," Madison said once everyone else had cleared out of the locker room. She had given clear instructions to the rest of the team that she wanted the opportunity to speak with Ashley alone and they were not linger around for longer than necessary.
"Uh, hey," Ashley replied. She had been too distracted to notice that everyone else had left. She was focused on getting dressed quickly so she could meet Spencer as soon as possible.
Madison's voice went ice cold. "You and I need to have a chat."
"Actually, I don't have time right now. Can we talk later?" Ashley suggested. She was still oblivious to what was going on around her. "I really have to run."
Madison's lips curled up into to sneer. "Late meeting your girlfriend?"
Ashley was throwing her stuff into her bag; she didn't want to leave anything behind. "Actually that is-" She stopped what she was doing when what Madison had asked her finally registered. Ashley's stomach dropped. "What did you just ask me?"
"Come now, Ash, let's not play games with one another." Madison circled around Ashley so that she could see the door to the locker room and Ashley couldn't. "I think you know exactly what I asked you."
"I don't," Ashley lied. She felt like she was going to throw up. "I need to go."
Madison took a step towards the other girl. "You're not going anywhere until you and I clear a few things up."
Ashley was terrified and desperate to get as far away from Madison as she could. "What is it that you want?" Her words sounded brave, but the quiver in Ashley's voice gave her true feelings away.
"I want to know what you have to say about this?" Madison pulled out her phone and pressed play.
Ashley watched in horror as a video of her and Spencer making out played on Madison's phone. She couldn't understand how or why Madison had filmed them.
"Cat got your tongue, chica?" Madison sneered. Confronting Ashley was even more fun than she thought it would be. "You have no clue what I have in store for you."
Every instinct that Ashley had was compelling her to bolt from the change room. She couldn't handle how Madison was attacking her. This was exactly what she had been avoiding for months. Now she had no choice but to face what she hadn't wanted to face.
"You lied to me. You lied to my face." Madison said with a fair amount of venom. "Did you really think you could get away with that?" She didn't wait for Ashley to respond. "Not mention how all of us changed in front of you, we trusted that you weren't some kind of pervert. Did you get your jollies by watching undress?"
Ashley felt paralyzed. She couldn't make her legs move no matter how hard she tried. She needed Madison to be quiet she could think.
"How could you?" Madison asked in disbelief. "You're disgusting."
"Shut up," Ashley managed to say even though it felt like she was choking to get anything out.
Madison laughed at Ashley. "After all of this you have the fucking gall to tell me to shut up? You're as stupid as you are delusional." She moved into even more of Ashley's personal space. She had to make sure that she wasn't going anywhere. "You're finished, Ashley. Do you get that? You're off the team because none of us want to be associated with a deviant like yourself."
Ashley was shaking. She was trying to be strong but it wasn't working. Her eyes were focused on the floor while Madison ranted at her. Everything was moving too fast and she couldn't process anything.
"Everyone in this school is going to know that you're a freak," Madison threatened.
Ashley was fighting as hard as she could not to cry. "What do you mean?" she asked fearfully.
"I'm going to send this video to everyone I know. I'm going to post it online. I'm going to make sure that when anyone says your name the first thing they think about will be this video and how gross you are."
"You can't do that!" Ashley was in full panic mode. She had to find a way to make all of this go away. She didn't want people staring at her or talking about her behind her back. She already had to deal with that enough in her life. Being judged and ridiculed was something she wanted to avoid at all cost. She knew that begging Madison not to do anything was futile, but she had to try anyway. "Please, please don't do this!"
"Oh it's going to happen, you can't stop me," Madison told the other girl. She was almost ready for the final part of the plan. "When people see you walking down the halls they're going to say, 'There goes Ashley Davies, a dirty little dyke,' because that's what you are."
"No, I'm not!" Ashley exclaimed. She could feel the bile in her throat rising. She couldn't stand what Madison was taunting her with. She wasn't a dyke. She wasn't a freak. She wasn't a pervert. She wasn't anything. She hated those words. She had spent so much of her life running from those words. She couldn't deal with them; she wasn't ready. She was too frightened to realize she didn't have to run from anything.
"But you are," Madison countered. "You're never going to live this down, you know. It's going to follow you everywhere and I'm going to make sure that happens. I'm going to make sure that everybody sees what kind of person you really are.
Outside the change room, Spencer was waiting semi-patiently for her girlfriend. She wanted to get out of school and back to her house as fast as possible. The blonde was scrolling through her phone, smiling at the messages Ashley had most recently sent her, when she felt someone tap her on the shoulder. When she looked up, she was surprised and horrified to see it was Sherry who was trying to get her attention. "What the hell do you want?"
"Ashley wants you to meet her inside the change room," Sherry explained trying to act natural.
Spencer eyed Sherry suspiciously. What she said didn't make a lot of sense to the blonde. "And exactly why did Ashley tell you that?"
"Girl, I'm not a mind reader. I did my part and now I'm leaving." Sherry made her way down the hallway, hoping that she had been convincing enough.
"Whatever," Spencer said to herself. She contemplated not doing what Sherry asked her, but then she didn't have a good enough reason not to. She used the wall that she was leaning against to push off and then she reluctantly headed towards the change room.
"I can't believe I never realized how gay you are." Madison was relentless in her attack. She was going to go after Ashley until the brunette cracked. "I should have been able to spot it. And now you won't be able to hide from anyone anymore."
Ashley couldn't breathe properly. She wondered if she was about to have an asthma attack. She hadn't had one in years. Every time Madison spoke to it raised the level of anxiety she was feeling.
"And to think you've been hooking up with Spencer all this time." Madison was going in for the kill. She'd been working up to this moment since she had confronted Ashley. "Did she seduce you or did you willingly drop your pants for her?"
Ashley didn't want to think about Spencer. She didn't want to think about anything but escaping this nightmare. She had to get Madison to leave her alone.
"Did she tell you that she loves you? Is that what that bitch convinced you of?" Madison was right in the other girl's face. "Is that how she seduced you? Is that how she managed to corrupt you? Tell me, Ashley, I'm dying to know."
"Shut up," Ashley repeated. "It's not like that."
"It's not? Then tell me what it's like?" Madison demanded.
"I'm not... That's not…" Ashley couldn't finish her thought. The pressure was getting to her—everything was getting to her. She had a choice to make: be brave or avoid the truth like she was used to doing. The truth had always scared her more than the consequences of lying. If the truth was out there, there was no hiding anymore. She'd be exposed and she didn't want to feel like that. Her choice to come out when she was ready had now been taken away from her. She had to stop Madison from sharing that video and she would do anything to get her to do that, regardless of the consequences.
Ashley couldn't face what those consequences could be when she couldn't face who she really was. She'd denied it once before and even though it had hurt Spencer when she'd done that, she felt like she had no choice now. If she could just get Madison to drop this, then she could talk to Spencer and they could figure it all out. That's what Ashley needed and she was going to do just about anything to get there.
"I'm not gay," she told Madison.
Ashley had no idea that right before she had said those words, Spencer had entered the change room. She was about to announce her presence, but hearing what Ashley had said had stopped her dead in her tracks.
Madison was thrilled when she saw that Spencer had walked in at the exact right time. "The fact that you had your tongue in Spencer's mouth would suggest otherwise. Just admit it, she's your girlfriend and she has been for weeks."
It was a defining moment for Ashley. She had an opportunity to do the right thing and not let the fear she'd been dealing with for years win. "You're wrong. I'm not gay. She's not my girlfriend," Ashley fired back. She had to end this once and for all. "It was just an experiment. It meant nothing to me. She's nothing to me."
Everything had turned out even better than Madison had expected. The way that Spencer's face dropped when she had heard what Ashley had said made Madison extraordinarily happy.
Ashley felt awful. She knew she shouldn't have lied, but she felt backed into a corner. It was a weak justification for what she had done and deep down she already knew that.
Madison didn't say a word. She just smirked victoriously at Spencer and at Ashley. Even she hadn't been a hundred percent sure of what was going on with Ashley and Spencer until now. Her guess had paid off and the way that Spencer looked devastated and angry let her know that what she had suspected was true.
And now Madison had destroyed that.
Ashley couldn't figure out why Madison was smiling so widely. She didn't understand until a horrible thought entered the brunette's mind. A realization hit her that she could only hope she was wrong about. With an enormous amount of dread she swiveled her body around in order to see behind her.
The second that her eyes connected with Spencer's, Ashley stopped breathing. The betrayal and hurt staring back at her tore Ashley's insides to pieces.
She wasn't surprised when seconds later Spencer bolted from the change room. This was Ashley's worst nightmare and she was living it.
Spencer had to get out of school and away from Ashley. She couldn't deal with what had she had just overheard. Her chest was tight and she felt sick to her stomach. She was racing down the halls as fast as she could.
Ashley didn't hear Madison laughing at her, not that she mattered anyway. Only Spencer mattered and she had to fix the huge mistake she'd just made. Ashley was numb and a part of her hoped that none of this was real. It couldn't be real. She had to get to Spencer and explain everything. It was the only thing she could focus on. She chased after the blonde in order to make things right. She finally spotted Spencer right as she was about to exit the school. "Spencer! Wait!" she called out but to no avail. She was being ignored.
Unlike Ashley, Spencer was anything but numb. She felt this pain searing through her chest. At the sound of Ashley's voice the pain intensified. Spencer didn't acknowledge Ashley, she couldn't.
"Spencer! Please!" Ashley was frantic with worry. She couldn't let what she'd built with Spencer fall apart. Not now and not because of Madison. Out of breath when she finally reached the blonde, Ashley reached for her arm to stop her.
Spencer's reaction was immediate and swift. She whirled around while at the same time yanking her arm violently away from the brunette. "Don't you dare touch me! Don't you fucking dare!"
"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry." Ashley was practically hysterical. The look on Spencer's face, the pain she could see there was too much for her handle. "Just let me explain, I-"
"You think you can explain this away?" Spencer barked. She was beyond livid and not in place where she was willing to listen to anything Ashley had to say. "Don't be so naïve and don't talk to me."
"It's not... I didn't..." Ashley was trying to figure out what she could do to fix this. "Just give me a chance-"
"A chance?" Spencer once again cut the other girl off. "You want me to give you a chance? You're unbelievable. I already gave you a chance. I thought you'd changed. I thought this time was going to be different. I guess I'm the naïve one after all."
"It's not like that!" Ashley exclaimed. "I didn't mean anything I said. I didn't mean it. I was just trying to get Madison to back off. This had nothing to do with you!"
"That's where you're wrong. This had everything to do with me and if you can't see that then…" Spencer couldn't even finish her thought. She had to get away. She couldn't stay here and listen to Ashley. It hurt too much. "I can't believe you."
"Please, Spencer, please don't leave." Ashley had to make Spencer understand. That's all that mattered.
But it was no use. Spencer was already out the door and there was nothing that Ashley could say to make her turn around.