Lessons You Learn

[Suerte]

Authors Note~Chapters tend to run on heerre...so the next post will be like (Chapter #-(Whatever) Continued)

Chapter One: The Misfits

Ashley Davies, sixteen and sullen, traipsed unenergetically across the large gardens of the Lincoln Academy campus after being out all night in town. Sunrise would soon be rearing its unpleasant head, but the girl thought nothing of it, maintaining her snail-like pace while giving her flask one last drink.
She deeply despised this place and everything about it. She hated the people, the confinement and, of course, she loathed the headmaster, who in turn disliked her back, but the man was an ass kisser, he couldn’t impair her much.
And if people kissed exaggerated ass to one man it was Ashley’s father.
Eric Davies was a pompous, vain, obscenely rich media magnate who, in addition to controlling his family, controlled at least a dozen television networks, five newspapers, and an assortment of record labels. He was a busy man, but even if he weren’t, Ashley wouldn’t get much of his time.
She had three other sisters to compete with: Anna, 24, who was close to being some kind of rocket scientist and, therefore, by far the favorite child, but favored more by Eric. Anna was pretty detestable, taking advantage of her father’s preference over the rest of the girls.
Then there was Natalie, 21, who was in Yale studying journalism and communications. The youngest of the clan was ten year old Nicole, who was worshipped by their mother Isabella.
Ashley had always been the problematic one. The one who embarrassed the family. The sore thumb on a perfectly manicured hand. The dark sheep.
The girl, in her unkempt uniform, pulled her cell phone out of her black vest pocket. She watched a moving van speeding off and away from the girls’ dormitories but gave it no more thought as someone finally picked up her call.
“Hello?” Claudia Cole groggily mumbled as she answered the phone in her dorm. Her eyes were shut tightly, refusing any order to wake up, regardless of the time.
“Claudia, it’s me. Come down and open the door. I forgot my keys!” Ashley half-begged, half-commanded, slinking up to the large, redbrick dorm building and glancing around somewhat nervously. The last thing she needed so early in the morning was a dispute with a random guard questioning her whereabouts. She had enough with her friend’s interrogations.
“Ashley, what, what time is it? Where were you?” Claudia turned on her night lamp and sat up in bed, yawning. She decided not to sneak a peek at the clock, knowing it would only upset her.
“Not now!” Ashley urged, growing impatient with her best-friend. “Open up before someone catches me out here or I die of hypothermia!”
Claudia stumbled out of bed, blindly looking around for her slippers. Once she’d found and put them on, she quietly made her way down to the first floor, still on the phone with Ashley. “And this is the last time I do this for you, Davies.” She ended the call and took a left turn, making sure no one was in sight before she unlocked the door for her friend.
Ashley smiled puckishly as she made her way inside; ignoring Claudia’s sleepy, yet irritated, look. “Thanks, Claud. I owe you.”
“I’m taking your first-born,” Claudia muttered, not entertained with her friend’s usual antics. She ran a hand through her wavy blonde hair and yawned, closing her eyes, almost making it seem like she had narcolepsy and would snooze off on the spot.
“You can have my first, my second, my third...” Ashley grinned, stripping off her vest. She hated the thing, but they rarely let the girls run around in their white blouses. It had to be blouse, tie and vest or sweater vest. Her only relief was that except for the white shirt and the blue and red striped tie, the entire uniform was black. “You can have ‘em all, and I’ll shoot another one out as a bonus.”
Claudia’s light green eyes came into view as she heard this. “Charming,” she drawled dryly, in her agreeable southern accent. It was enjoyable because it wasn’t too thick; it was just the right timbre to be considered endearing. “I’ll be sure to remember your exact words.”
Ashley put her arm around the girl, leading her towards the stairs. It was too dangerous to be seen there so early and she reeked of alcohol. “I just saw a moving van out there. Know anything about it?”
Shrugging, Claudia slowly climbed up the stairs. She was so sleepy and the third floor seemed so far away. “No. And are you gonna tell me where you were?”
“In town. Some party. It ran late. You know how those townsfolk get.” Ashley made a disgusted face to convey she’d had a bad time; she wasn’t in the mood to verbalize it. And she’d really had a bad time. Why was everyone but Claudia such a bore? What happened to the cool humans? Were they extinct?
“We’re having Italian today,” Claudia suddenly burst out. It was abrupt but not unexpected. The girl was like a machine when it came to food. How she stayed so thin without barfing was a mystery to all.
“Is food all you think about? Seriously, Claudia, I think the first image you get in your head when you wake up is that of a cheeseburger.”
“Yeah, well, at least my morning rituals don’t consist of trying to remember what guy I slept with the night before and then drinking a pint of vodka with orange juice in hopes of it all coming back to me.” Claudia’s voice was calm, because she said none of this with malice. If anything, she constantly fretted over Ashley’s wild drinking and careless sex life.
Ashley playfully shoved her away, pretending to be offended. “That hurts, Claud. It does. Just be thankful I don’t sleep with your boyfriend.” On some level she was cynically proud of stealing other girls’ boyfriends. On some level, the rest of the time she wondered why she always wanted what was out of commission.
Claudia smirked, playing along, as they made their way to the third floor. “You wouldn’t, would you?”
“No...” Ashley stretched the word in a childlike voice.
“Because I’m your best-friend in the world, right?”
“No.” Ashley scoffed, laughing. “Because I find him repulsive.”
In reality, Claudia’s boyfriend was insanely and utterly gorgeous. He towered over the girl at 6 foot 3. He had sharp features, cloudy gray eyes, beautifully groomed brown hair and the body of someone who plays soccer like crazy. But, his flaw was being a nice guy. Well, according to Ashley. She loved that Claudia had such a good guy because she was passionately protective of the girl and would spare no expense to see her happy. But, unlike Claudia, she had nice boys for appetizers. She liked challenges.
“Go to your room,” Claudia ordered, shoving her towards a door marked 306. Her room was a few doors down from Ashley’s. “I’ll see you at breakfast.”
“Aw, I wanted to chat,” Ashley whined, sticking out her lower lip in a false display of disappointment.
Claudia rolled her eyes good-naturedly. “Go to bed, Ashley.”
“Fine,” Ashley gave up with a smile and kicked open her bedroom door. She slammed it shut behind her and flung herself on the bed, wide awake. She studied the side of the room she was staring straight at. A heap of her clothes were on the red and yellow striped couch—she loved that couch—she’d made her parents ship it in from Iceland. Her bulging bookcase, which couldn’t have fit another book to save its life, was starting to blur as she felt her eyelids droop. Sleep had to come at some point, even for a night owl like her.
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Claudia sighed repeatedly in exasperation as she sat on a bench in the courtyard with her strikingly hot boyfriend, Sebastian Sendel, while he intently read through the school newsletter.
“What?” he asked, finally tired of hearing her silently complain about something. “Claudia, what is it?”
“I’m worried about Ashley.”
“Yeah, what else is new?” Sebastian snickered, shaking his head at his own misperception. Claudia was always worrying after her demonic best-friend. Sufficed to say, he wasn’t a fan of the unruly, semi-mean and spoiled Ashley Davies. “What, is she pregnant or something?”
Claudia smacked his shoulder, affronted. The entire school was well-aware of Ashley’s promiscuous reputation, but they still seemed to respect and worship her. At that school money talked. Plus, Ashley was a badass, and those who didn’t respect her, feared her. “No, she was out all night in town, doing who knows what with God knows who.”
“Yeah, God knows who,” he joked, but not fully. “She’s been through every guy in the tri-county area. What can really be left? Senior citizens? Girls?” Okay, maybe it was an overstatement, but Ashley did get around, that was for sure.
Claudia rolled her head around briefly, trying to work out a kink in her neck. “I’m just scared that if someone doesn’t watch her closely she might destroy the world.”
Sebastian chortled lightly, putting his arm around her and pulling her close. He kissed the top of her head with utmost care. He loved that girl, he truly did. Ashley was lucky to have someone like his girlfriend looking after her. His opinion on the Davies girl was torn between his love for Claudia and his loyalty to his friend Aiden, who Ashley had used, abused and then left miserably and pathetically brokenhearted after two weeks. And everyone knew during those two weeks she was seeing someone else. She was a hardcore cheater. She didn’t care about anyone; she probably didn’t even care about herself.
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After waking up late that morning, Ashley had quickly showered, thrown on her uniform—sans vest or tie—and was now speeding across campus in a desperate attempt to get to her photography class. It was the only class she enjoyed and, despite threatening her counselor, she hadn’t been able to get it at a later hour.
In her haste, she failed to see another girl running madly in the opposite direction, right towards her. The collision inevitably came, sending both girls to the ground, books, mp3 players and Ashley’s camera crashing down around them.
Ashley scowled, gripping her head which also throbbed with the aftermath of her liquor ingestion the previous night. “Ow. Damn...” She turned to her fellow victim, frowning at the petite blue-eyed blonde.
The unfamiliar girl stared at her in bewilderment for a few seconds before lifting herself up and offering Ashley a helping hand.
Ashley, naturally, stubbornly refused the girl’s hand and got to her feet hastily. “What the hell?!” Her voice shook with annoyance and intolerance. She wasn’t too keen on strangers, especially strangers who knocked her down on her ass. “Did you not see me?! Are you sightless or something?! What the hell?!”
The blonde was taken aback by the brunette’s reaction. “Didn’t you see me?” she asked, defiantly calm.
“I was kind of in a hurry,” Ashley replied, infuriated. “I don’t have time to be on the lookout for reckless students.” She raised an eyebrow, looking the girl up and down contemptuously. “New ones, no less.”
“How would you know I’m new?” the girl croaked out incredulously, her eyes roaming the ground and her scattered books.
“Because I’ve never seen you before,” Ashley simply stated before picking up her things and stomping off, moodily.
“Nice to meet you too,” the blonde muttered after the rude girl, crouching down to retrieve her belongings. She hoped they weren’t all like her.
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“Davies, Ashley!” Ms. Randall, the Creative Writing/Literature teacher called out from behind her desk for the third time. She ran a hand through her thick, long black hair and tapped her pencil against her attendance book. “Ashley!”
“She’s here,” Claudia casually called out, not looking up from the magazine she and Ashley were huddled in a corner reading.
“Do you think she could answer herself, Ms. Cole?” Ms. Randall asked, rather pleasantly, shifting her eyes towards Ashley. Claudia pampered her best-friend beyond belief, it was ludicrous, and it made her job somewhat impractical.
“Here,” Ashley cried out laughing, unaffected, while pointing at something in the magazine for Claudia to look at.
The girls burst into a fit of laughter, but the teacher decided to ignore it. Ashley was impossible to argue with and she really liked the girl, to be honest. There was a certain wicked charm she had that people found hard to resist.
“Duarte, Madison,” Ms. Randall called out, looking at a surly girl with a pretty face but an extremely toxic personality. Madison could have been the next Anti-Christ, in her opinion.
“Here,” Madison lazily called out, slumping in her seat and taking out her notebook.
“Like an epidemic!” Ashley snidely piped up, exchanging killer glares with her worst enemy.
Ms. Randall finished attendance and clapped her hands for the students’ attention. “Okay, take out your books and go to page thirty-four. I want you to read silently—”
The classroom door flew open, and Ashley looked none too thrilled as the blonde from before stood there, a little out of breath.
“I’m sorry I’m late,” the tardy girl lamed out an apology. “I’m new and—”
Why do people say that? Ashley wondered, eyeing the fresh girl distastefully. She was always glad to be late to class. This new girl wasn’t earning any points with her; she hated people who massacred excuses. It was probably because she was great at far-fetched but amusingly ridiculous excuses.
“Mayan aliens came and took my paper because they wanted to learn more about global warming and how it’s already affected the president’s brain.”
“I had to pawn my report in order to raise the ransom money for Claudia’s abducted cat.”
“Madison sneezed on it and it dissolved.”
“What’s your name, dear?” Ms. Randall nodded understandingly.
“Uh, Spencer...” The girl hadn’t yet noticed the evil glare Ashley was directing at her. “Spencer Carlin.”
“Oh, yes, right...” Ms. Randall’s face lit up with realization. “Why don’t you take a seat next to Madison?” She pointed towards the back of the room where Madison was tuning out the class as she listened to her iPod.
Spencer nodded and made her way towards the inattentive girl. She caught Ashley’s eye as she passed by, awarding her with an insolent stare before taking a seat next to Madison.
“What was that about?” Claudia leaned over her desk and whispered to Ashley.
“What was what about?” Ashley had no idea what the girl meant. She tended to tune out people sometimes. Even Claudia.
“You and the new girl shooting daggers at each other...”
Ashley glanced at a stiff Spencer and rolled her eyes with tremendous force. “I don’t like her.”
“Do you know her?”
“No. Well...” Ashley sighed with unbearable aversion. “She’s the one that knocked me down or that I knocked down, whatever.”
“That’s why you don’t like her?” Claudia wasn’t appalled; Ashley could detest someone for much less. She looked over at Spencer with even curiosity. “She doesn’t look as vicious as you described in your anecdote.” She squinted towards the shifty blonde, noting that there were no fangs visible. “Where have I seen her before? She looks so familiar...”
“Look, Claudia, drop it,” Ashley snapped, drumming her fingers against her unopened textbook. “I don’t like her. And you can’t force me to be friends with her, and that also means you shouldn’t be friends with her.”
Claudia smiled, looking at her obnoxious friend. “I’d take a rabies shot for you, but you really push the line at ordering me who to talk to or not.”
“Fine, fine.” Ashley dramatically waved a hand in the air. “Go ahead. Get acquainted with Satan’s baby girl. I was just trying to spare you of that evil.”
“You are so ridiculous,” Claudia said, laughing loudly.
From across the room, Spencer glanced inquisitively at her morning attacker and the trusty sidekick.
----------
“Hi,” Aiden Dennison brightly greeted the new girl as she stepped out of the cafeteria line with her tray.
“Um, hi?” Spencer had no idea who this guy was. Not that he was bad to look at, but still she had no clue who he was or what he wanted.
“I’m Aiden,” he informed her, smiling nicely. He’d seen her around earlier but had been reluctant to approach her, especially because they shared no classes. With Ashley giving him a stalker reputation, he had to be careful with how he approached girls. “We have lunch together.”
She laughed a little at his line, but eyed him warily. “Spencer.”
“I know,” he admitted, looking back and pointing towards a table with several kids. “Madison asked me to come and drag you to our table. I mean, unless you don’t want—or can’t. But, she’s pretty insistent.”
She was new, how many options did she have, really? Spencer nodded thankfully. “Sounds great.”
“Hey, Spencer.” Madison smirked as soon as she and Aiden walked up to the table. She looked at the other girls around her. “We’re done.” And with that the girls briskly got to their feet and scurried off.
Spencer and Aiden sat across from Lincoln’s other dictator.
“So, how’s it been so far, Spencer?” Madison asked, taking a bite of a shiny red apple, she leaned forward, gulping it down. “Anything in particular catch your attention—” She glanced slyly at Aiden. “Anyone?”
Aiden shot her an urging look to back down. He had no idea what Madison wanted with the new girl, but she always had an agenda. He glanced at the oblivious Spencer. “You’re from California, right?”
“That’s right,” she answered cautiously, her gaze suddenly fixed on Ashley, Claudia and Sebastian laughing at a nearby table.
“Oh, my God!” Madison yelped, startling them, and possibly half the continent. She pointed at Spencer. “Now I know where I’ve seen you—”
Spencer tried not to show her discomfort, especially because all tables within a five feet radius were currently aware of their conversation. She knew people would eventually figure it out, but she hadn’t counted on it being so fast.
“Can you keep your voice down?” Aiden hissed at the loud girl, but was very anxious to know what she had to say because he also found Spencer’s face very familiar.
“You’re Paula Carlin’s daughter!” Madison put that unknowing sensation aside as she finally figured out she’d seen the new girl in some magazine.
Spencer limply nodded. Her family was both a blessing and a curse.
A blessing because they were a great, close-knit family and a curse because that family consisted of one A-list actor mother, an acclaimed indie director father and a rising actor brother. She and her adopted brother, Clay, were the only ones not in show business and not interested in it.
“That is so cool,” Aiden gushed, almost a little girly. “Your mom’s awesome! She looked really hot in that movie with Edward Norton. And in that other one with Susan Sarandon—””
“Yes, boy band reject, just keep down the adoration,” Madison sniped, rolling her eyes at him. She glanced curiously at Ashley’s table, where Spencer’s attention was being held. “You met them yet?”
“S-sorry?” Spencer looked over at her, apologetic and startled. She fussed around with her shirt collar, feeling the tie asphyxiating her. The uniform was fine, she just didn’t like that the guys’ attire happened to be gray or black slacks and blue or red polo shirts. The boys only wore ties on Mondays with their blazers.
“I’ll give you some very wise advice,” Madison began seriously, as if she were about to divulge the formula to a happy and healthy life.
Ashley, passing by with her tray, cut in as she overheard her foe’s voice, “Oh, are you gonna tell her how to alleviate crotch burns?”
“Keep walking!” Madison shouted, unsettled and a little embarrassed.
Ashley snorted and continued on her way, but not before catching Aiden’s eye and giving him the most spectacularly evil 'I’m so much better than you' look. “Morons...”
“Who’s that?” Spencer questioned once the crude girl was out of view.
Aiden uncomfortably squirmed in his seat, not saying a word. What could he say, though, ‘the girl I was madly in love with who crushed my heart into a million pieces and then shoved them up my ass?’ Maybe once they were more acquainted...
“That’s the biggest bitch this side of the world,” Madison snarled, looking hatefully at Claudia and Sebastian. They were a disgustingly sweet couple; it just made her stomach turn. “Ashley. Her dad is, like, super repugnantly rich, so she gets away with murder here, and she extends that courtesy to her best buddy Claudia.” The girl pointed at Claudia. “Of course, we’re all a little suspicious as to how such a heinous bitch like Ashley has a saintly best-friend like Claudia...”
“Madison, don’t,” Aiden warned, speaking up after assuming where the vindictive girl was steering her relate.
“What?” Madison asked innocently. “Not like it’s some big secret. And why are you so worried about defending her honor? If anything, you should be trashing her right along with the rest of us.”
“What are you guys talking about?” Spencer was confused, a little tired but also curious about it.
“It’s stupid,” Aiden mumbled, letting Madison’s venomous words get the better of him. “A lot of people think they’re more than friends, that’s all, if you know what I mean.”
“Oh,” Spencer uttered in a small voice, glancing at Claudia and Sebastian.
Madison smirked, thoroughly enjoying Spencer’s troubled look. She hadn’t missed the nasty glances the blonde and Ashley shot each other all throughout class, and she was going to use Spencer intelligently against Ashley. Somehow.

[Suerte]

Chapter One: The Misfits Continued.

“What’s the matter with you now?” Edmund Noriega walked up to Ashley as she leaned against her locker, lost in thought. He was her latest toy and knew it but couldn’t have cared less. As far as he was concerned, she could use him all she wanted.
“Since when do you care?” she asked sourly, looking at him with pure scorn. He was an Aiden carbon copy and she was, frankly, getting bored already. Although, Edmund was much more fun than most of the guys she’d been with lately. “And you’re not supposed to approach me unless I call you. You know that. Can’t you make sense of more than three words at a time?”
He ignored her vile comment. “You hear about the new girl yet?”
She rolled her eyes and groaned loudly. “Ugh, God. What about her?”
“She’s Paula Carlin’s daughter.”
“Big wow,” Ashley replied, not at all impressed with the news or amused with his gossipy side. “Does she expect some sort of special treatment because her mother’s Hollywood trash?” No, Ashley had never been awed with the glitz of Hollywood. This piece of information just gave her another reason to dislike the girl. “Edmund, go away and talk to the Enquirer or someone that’ll pay attention to you, okay?” She shoved him away harshly, looking out into space with a perturbed expression shadowing her face. “Edmund, come back here!”
The boy obediently retraced his steps back to her, hoping Ashley was in the mood to fool around. He raised his eyebrows at her, begging for a reason.
“I’m bored...” She traced her finger around his mouth, smiling lightly.
“Let’s fix that then,” he playfully bit her finger and wrapped his arms around her waist.
“Uh-uh...” she shook her head negatively. “I’m mentally bored.”
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“You’re drinking again?!” Claudia squealed disapprovingly as she barged into Ashley’s room and found the girl morosely cradling a bottle of tequila while sitting in front of the TV.
“What do you mean, drinking again? When did I stop?” Ashley barely regarded her. She wasn’t in the mood for one of Claudia’s lectures. The alcohol numbed her, and she needed that sometimes—most of the time. “Claudia, go nag someone else. Go give your boyfriend crap, preferably about that horrendous green cashmere sweater he gave you last week.”
Claudia rolled her eyes and plopped down on the couch, next to her. “What’s going on with you? You’ve been bitchier than usual since this morning. Did something happen at the party?”
Ashley snickered, her eyes still on the television. She didn’t even know what she was watching anymore, she just needed to break the visual stillness. “Lots of things happened, Claudia...”
That particular detached tone unsettled the Alabama native in more ways than one. “Ashley...” She then shook her head, opting not to pry for the time being. “You wanna get some pre-dinner with me and Sebastian?”
“Nope...” Ashley trailed off uninterestedly. “Frankly, watching the two of you eat is like watching two lions fighting over a gazelle carcass.”
Claudia, fed up, snatched the bottle out of her hands and jumped up.
“Hey!” Ashley protested, not bothering to get up. She figured a menacing glare would overpower her friend. “Give that back, you evil southerner!”
“Come and get it, you bitchy New Yorker!” Claudia taunted, holding the bottle out as bait.
Ashley moaned tiredly, weighing her options. She could get up and simply take back her bottle or she could reach under the couch cushion and pull out one of her flasks. She went with B. Grinning; she flashed the flask at her friend. “Come on, Claud, you’re not dealing with an amateur here.”
Claudia sighed in resignation and placed the bottle on the girl’s desk. “You win. But, just try to keep it down, okay? Your last drunken mishap ended with me getting four stitches.” She lightly tapped her chin as a reminder.
“I think the scar looks cool,” Ashley quipped, her gaze going back to the television screen. “And I offered to have it lasered away for you. Offer’s still on the table.”
“I’m going to dinner,” Claudia announced neutrally. “You’d better be here, and not passed out, when I get back.” And with that she stormed off, always contemplating the same thing when leaving Ashley in a state of inflexibility, always wondering how she’d been tricked into that friendship. Of course, that was the frustration seeping through, she loved Ashley to pieces, ever since meeting her in seventh grade, she couldn’t help it—she was the only person allowed to see the real human behind that monster façade. And it was worth it.
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“What are you smiling about?” Sebastian asked Aiden. They were waiting on Claudia for dinner out in the patio, where they’d decided to eat, seeing as the night was nicely cool. Oregon wasn’t exactly the sunshine state, so they had to seize any opportunity they got.
“Uh, nothing,” Aiden stuttered, peeling his eyes off Spencer as she crossed his eye line. “Well, I was thinking of asking the new girl out—Spencer.”
“Oh, okay...” Sebastian vaguely recalled the blonde from his physics class. “She’s cute. Go for it.” He shifted in his seat as something came to mind. “Oh, but you might wanna move fast because I heard Edmund in the locker room asking about her. And the Speedo king always gets what he wants. You know he’s no stranger to taking girls from you.” It was a bit cold, but it was true. Edmund had made it his hobby to steal girls from Aiden after Aiden injured him during a soccer game and left him permanently benched for an entire season.
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“You out late looking for people to run over?” Ashley impassively asked as she came across Spencer out by one of the most unfrequented footpaths on campus, it was an old one that a lot of people didn’t know about. It led to a small pond hidden in the back woods. She figured the girl must have stumbled upon it by sheer coincidence.
Spencer, who had stopped upon seeing her, pressed her lips together. “It was an accident. You completely overreacted.”
Ashley rolled up her sleeve, revealing a small bruise on her forearm. “You gave me a bruise. That’s not an overreaction.”
Spencer gingerly pulled up her blouse, exhibiting a bigger, nastier bruise on her side. “And I’m not whining.” She calmly let go of her blouse and stared at Ashley, who seemed unfazed by the purplish damage. "Even though I probably should be..."
"I've given worse," Ashley standoffishly disclosed, scratching the bridge of her nose in a sudden itch. "Way worse."
"I wouldn't say that with such pride," Spencer replied, not completely intimidated with the girl. Curious, maybe.
“I hear you met our local malevolence,” Ashley casually commented, her eyes trained on the semi-nervous blonde.
“What?” Spencer didn’t know what to make of this outlandish girl. It was like she spoke her own language while the rest of the world tried to keep up with inaccurate subtitles. “What are you saying?”
“Madison.”
“She’s treated me better than some...” Spencer didn’t know what to make of Madison yet, but she was far better than the girl before her.
“Whatever,” Ashley mumbled, giving the girl a pointed look.
“That’s very articulate of you,” Spencer snapped sardonically.
“What? Save your sarcasm for someone else. I won’t tolerate it.” Ashley was flabbergasted at the girl’s audacity to talk back to her in such a way. No one ever dared talk to her like that.
“Then why are you still standing here?” Spencer wasn’t backing down. If she gave into Ashley now, she’d be bullied the rest of the school year. "If you have zero tolerance for sarcasm and all."
Surprisingly enough, Ashley merely rolled her eyes and pushed past her. She was not about to get into a petty argument with the new girl. She had better things to do, like drinking.
Spencer looked after her thoughtfully. She was snapped out of it as her phone rang. She answered slowly, “Hello?” She smiled grimly as she heard the familiar voice on the other end. “Yeah, yeah, I’m all settled in.” Her eyes clouded over before replying to the person’s question. “I don’t know what I’m gonna do once I find him, but he’s gonna be sorry for what he did.”

[Suerte]

Chapter Two: hard To Get

“Ash, come on, pick up...” Claudia impatiently insisted, sitting from her bed, holding the phone in one hand and painting her toenails with the other hand. “You know I hate talking to your machine.”

Ashley was considerably angry after Claudia and Spencer had been assigned to work together in Environmental Science. She bitched and moaned and tried bribing the teacher to rearrange their partners, but Mr. Fox had been adamant. And she hated not getting her way; therefore the man would soon receive some sort of public humiliation on her part. It was how things were.

Lying on her bed, Ashley listened to Claudia’s earnest voice and finally decided to pick up the phone. “What do you want, Cole?” She only called the girl by her last name when she was mad or annoyed with her.

“Where have you been all day?” Claudia demanded coolly. “And why have you been ignoring me? I’ve been calling you.”

“I just figured you’d be busy with your new friend,” Ashley groused, staring up at the ceiling. She was not happily willing to split her best-friend with the new girl.

“Ashley, come on...” Claudia tried not to laugh at her friend’s misplaced irritation. Lord, could that girl make something out of nothing. “Stop being so childish. She’s not my friend. I have to work with her.” She carefully left out the fact that she’d given Spencer her cell phone number and encouraged the girl to call if she ever needed anything.

“Well, you seemed pretty friendly in class,” Ashley growled out. She knew how possessive she was of Claudia, but she didn’t care. “I thought you were gonna get a hernia from all that laughing you were doing.”

“First of all, you can’t get a hernia from laughing,” Claudia clarified, holding back her laughter, somewhat horrified at her friend’s misconception of hernias and how you obtain them. “And what, I can’t interact with her like a human being? She’s not as bad as you think. You should consider straightening out your little dilemma.”

Outraged, Ashley leapt out of bed, knocking over a bowl of nachos she’d been eating. “What?! She nearly killed me and you—”

“She did not nearly kill you,” Claudia edgily remarked. “Accidents happen. I doubt she woke up that morning wanting to crash into you. Stop being so dramatic.”

Scoffing, Ashley hung up on her. Only Claudia got away alive with that kind of brazen behavior.

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Aiden headed towards the soccer field when he ran into Spencer. The girl seemed to be going in his general direction which worked out great for him. “Walk with you?” he offered.

She smiled evenly and nodded. “I’m just heading to the library. You?”

“Soccer field,” he explained, looking straight ahead. “Practice was canceled and I left some things over there.”

“Oh. Okay.”

He smirked cutely, looking over at her. “Come with and I’ll walk you to the library right after.”

“Sure, why not?” Spencer was in no hurry, and she hadn’t had much opportunity to explore the campus.

----------

Ashley and Edmund sat on the bleachers, overlooking the soccer field. They were pretty high up, as they usually were when they had some devious plan or idea to discuss. They watched as Aiden and Spencer walked onto the field, apparently to collect some of the boy’s equipment.

Ashley chortled maliciously, her eyes full on Spencer. “What on Earth makes you think you can get our celebrity baby to hop in bed with you just like that?” She snapped her fingers at him. “That girl’s got virgin written all over her face.” Ashley Davies—human virgin detector.

“Even better,” Edmund replied, grinning lasciviously. He loved nothing more than de-virginizing, it gave him a sense of indescribable supremacy that wouldn’t wear off for days.

“Are you stupid or what? Virgins are harder to get in bed.”

“Or easier if you play your cards right...” Maybe the boy wasn’t that dim-witted after all. He took his eyes off the field and observed Ashley’s face.

“Three hundred bucks says you fail...” she dared him absentmindedly as she observed the blonde with uneasy attention.

“What do have against her anyway?” In his experience, Ashley wasn’t exactly evil or unnecessarily tormenting towards the weak, she usually stuck to getting revenge on people who’d wronged her in some way. “She just got here, what could she possibly have done to earn your fury already?”

“That’s my business,” she muttered, her eyes glued on Aiden and Spencer. “Ugh, those two better not hook up.” It unexpectedly and curiously bothered her to see them together.

“But if they do...” Edmund smiled at her and was rewarded with a nice grin.

“All the more fun.”

The duo laughed in matching amusement.

“Come on, there’s your opening,” Ashley informed him when she saw Aiden take a call and rush off the field, shouting an apology to the blonde. “She’s all alone.”

“Perfect...”

Ashley watched Edmund tramp down the bleachers and over to Spencer, where she was more than sure he was going to hit her with his country boy charm and she’d swoon, just like the rest of them. It was almost too easy. But to her surprise, Spencer appeared to brush Edmund off in less than three seconds, leaving the boy staring after her, appalled. Edmund looked up at Ashley, raising his hands in confusion.

Well, that was new, she had to admit. She smiled hesitantly, not knowing what to make of the whole thing. The new girl didn’t impress easily, it was disconcerting, to say the least.

----------

“Peace, man, peace...” Ashley held up a large bag of BBQ chips as Claudia opened her door.

Claudia snatched the bag and then slammed the door in Ashley’s face. Two seconds later, the door opened again. “How do you and Sebastian always know how to get back on my good side?”

Ashley’s eyes quickly scanned the hallway to make sure no one was around. “Because we know your weakness.” She smiled humanely at her friend as the girl tore open the bag. “Look, I’m—”

Claudia silenced her by shaking her head. “I know.” Ashley’s apologies over the years had poured in by the tons, so now she simply didn’t let her express regret. It got tiring to listen to repetitively, and she didn’t really need apologies, the girl’s daily actions were more than enough. “I’m watching Bubble Boy, you wanna come in?”

“Can’t. I’m gonna take a shower and then I have to get a book from the library...”

Claudia raised a questionable eyebrow. “Isn’t that code for you sneaking over to the boys dorms?”

“Oh, I’m afraid it’s not this time,” Ashley half-joked, she took a step back from the girl “I’ll call you later, all right? Ah, I almost forgot, Edmund and I are going into town for a party tomorrow. Tell Sebastian, you guys can come with us.”

“I’ll check with him.”

“Fantastic.” Ashley beamed happily, the childlike gleam back in her eye. Sometimes her eyes sparkled with a mind-numbingly, unfounded intensity that could penetrate anyone’s core, but other times they were lifeless, inapt and infinitely cheerless. It was like she had two very distinct sides to her. She had something of a natural cruelty she inherited from her dad, but also she had an extraordinary personality that could surpass any other person’s.

Ashley Davies was a piece of work. Sometimes good. Sometimes bad. Sometimes in between.

She’d once auto-diagnosed herself as a sociopath, and the strange thing was she was boastful of her unhinged nature.

----------

The Lincoln Library was understandably desolate as Spencer sat quietly at one of the back tables late at night. She had enrolled two weeks late and had a lot to catch up on, even though she wasn’t at Lincoln for educational purposes. Her mother wouldn’t be pleased if her grades turned to dirt, and she had to keep up appearances, at least until she found who she was looking for.

“Working hard?” Aiden’s voice made her look up from her textbooks, a little startled. He grabbed a chair and sat down across from her, grinning.

“Um, I guess so...” Spencer thought he was okay, but she wasn’t there to hook up with anyone, and it was obvious that’s what this boy wanted with her, at least she thought so. “What are you doing here?”

He pretended to look offended. “Hey, contrary to what people say, I do know how to read.”

She smirked at the comment. “Hadn’t heard that one. But I’m relatively new, so it might take a while to get the info on everyone.”

“I can help you with that,” he said, leaning closer to her. “Everyone knows everyone’s business here.”

“I see...”

He tilted his head thoughtfully, giving her a vastly inquisitive look. “Why are you here? Shouldn’t you be hanging out with Lindsay Lohan or Nikki Reed or Evan Rachel Wood?”

Spencer laughed a bit hollowly. “I pass on La Lohan, and the other two are okay, I’m just not into all that.” She shrugged disinterestedly. “They have their lifestyle, I have mine.”

“Yeah, but your mom—”

“Gets home from filming and bakes brownies. She’s not so different from anyone else.” She stared closely at him, wondering if he had another angle. “And I’m here because I didn’t want to be bombarded by reporters and paparazzi every day before and after school.”

“I get that,” he granted quietly as she began to close one of the school yearbooks. “But this school can be as suffocating as the media. You just gotta watch who you associate with.”

She smiled kindly at him and his noble advice. “Is this where you tell me who to stay away from?”

“Yeah,” he admitted. “Stay away from Ashley and Madison because those two have a long running civil war going and I have a feeling you might get caught up in it if you’re not careful.”

She looked blankly at him for about three seconds before responding, “I can take care of myself.”

Aiden smiled, getting to his feet. “I, uh, have to get going. But, I’ll see you tomorrow.” He lowered his eyes to the yearbook. “Were you looking for someone in particular?”

“Um, no,” Spencer sputtered, covering up her nervousness. “Just browsing...”

“Okay.” He smiled, appearing satisfied with her answer. “See you later.”

She nodded neutrally and then briefly watched the boy make his way out of the library. Her attention was soon directed towards a text message on her cell phone. She read it and flew up, leaving her things on the table as she ran out of the building.

----------

Ashley toweled her hair as she heard one of those women reporters dish out the latest celebrity news on E! She didn’t watch that channel, but Claudia had a tendency to and always left it there.

She sighed and was about to manually switch the television off when something stopped her.

“And in today’s most shocking news, we have the scandalous photos of Arthur Carlin leaving a hotel room with a very young brunette. Paula Carlin has not been available for comment, but it is deeply rumored that...”

Ashley stopped listening as she finished dressing before heading out to get that book she needed from the library.

She was halfway there when she heard sobbing nearby. It was dark, but she could make out a figure perched on a bench. It was Spencer. She rolled her eyes and was about to keep going her way when she accidentally heard what the girl was saying.

“No, I’m not gonna calm down!” Spencer shrieked, unaware someone was listening. “Dad, how could you do this to mom?! To us?! I—I can’t even—I don’t wanna talk to you.” She hung up and was startled as she heard someone’s throat clear behind her. She turned around, her eyes puffy.

“Hey, uh,” Ashley stammered, trying not to look directly into the girl’s eyes. “Listen, I just heard about your parents and I—”

“And you’re here to what, punch me in the gut?” Spencer retorted dourly. The last thing she needed was Ashley’s mockery.

“No,” Ashley answered quietly, unsure what her motive was at the moment. “Of course not.”

Spencer jumped up from the bench, giving her a withering look. “You don’t care. Just go away.”

Ashley nodded compliantly, for once in her life, walking off and leaving Spencer to glare after her.

----------

“Wait, stop, stop,” Claudia breathed out, gently shoving Sebastian away as he smoothly tried to lower the strap of her tank top during their couch time in her room.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, his eyes narrowing suspiciously.

She pulled her cell phone out of her sweater pocket after feeling it vibrate. “Call.”

He leaned back, somewhat frustrated. “So? Why don’t—”

Claudia ignored him and answered. “Hello?” She listened attentively for a minute before responding, “Are you okay? No, don’t worry about the paper—” She frowned. “Are you drunk?” Another pause. “No, you’re not fine. Because people who are fine don’t hiccup like you’re doing—I’ll be right there.”

“What’s going on?” Sebastian asked after seeing her preoccupied face. “Is Ashley stuck down a well somewhere?” It wouldn’t surprise him. “Because the fire department can handle that.”

“It’s not Ashley,” Claudia replied, getting up and grabbing her coat. “It’s Spencer. She’s completely trashed down at some bar in town.”

“Really? Doesn’t seem like the type.” Sebastian hadn’t had a chance to talk to Spencer yet, but from what he’d been able to observe, the girl didn’t look like someone who’d get trashed in a bar during a school night.

“Yeah, well, considering that family mess she has right now...” She grabbed her boyfriend’s hand pulling him up off the couch and toward the door. “I feel so bad for her. It must suck to have that plastered all over the news.”

He nodded sympathetically. “Yeah. Well, come on, let’s go get her.”

----------

Spencer sat at the bar of the establishment she’d wandered into a few hours earlier. She was glad she’d listened to her cousin and gotten a fake ID before moving up to Oregon. Not that she planned on partying heavily but, considering her mission, she had to be prepared for anything.

Claudia and Sebastian rushed up to her after bribing the bouncer to let them inside and get the drunken girl.

“Hey,” Claudia said softly, placing her hand on Spencer’s shoulder. “Are you okay?”

“Peachy,” Spencer answered dryly.

“How’d you get them to serve you?” Claudia snuck a peek at the wary bartender.

“Fake ID,” Spencer replied, grinning. She looked at Sebastian. “Who are you?”

“Oh, right, this is Sebastian,” Claudia explained patiently.

“Uhhh, maybe you can introduce us tomorrow. I don’t think I’ll remember him in the morning.” Spencer slid off the stool a little, stifling a giggle.

Sebastian caught her arm and kept her from falling. “I don’t think you’ll remember who you are in the morning.”

----------

Claudia rushed around her room, careful not to make too much noise. She gathered her backpack and stuffed a few books inside. A knock on the door made her look up and nervously glance towards Spencer, who was zonked out on the bed. She quickly moved to open the door, finding Ashley smiling brightly at her.

“Hey, you missed breakfast, are you sick?” Ashley inquired, looking a tad worried. Claudia was not one to miss a meal, especially not the very first meal of the day.

Claudia opened the door further, revealing Spencer on her bed.

Ashley merely looked at her oddly, confused. “What’s going on?”

Claudia shoved her out into the hallway, softly closing the door behind her.” Don’t freak. She got really drunk last night and some reporters were harassing her. She lost her keys so Sebastian and I brought her here.”

“Oh,” Ashley said, very, very quietly.

“Well?” Claudia demanded edgily, waiting for the freak-out and insane accusations.

“Well what? I didn’t get her drunk.”

“Aren’t you gonna give me hell about this?” It was almost like Claudia was begging for it, but that wasn’t her fault because it was what she dealt with as Ashley’s friend.

“I know what happened with her dad...” Ashley shrugged helplessly; it was a little early to argue with Claudia anyhow. “I kinda feel bad for her.”

“You do?” Claudia gave her a doubtful look, crossing her arms tightly.

“Yeah, sure,” Ashley aloofly remarked. “I saw her last night. She was outside crying. I even tried to apologize but she just told me to go away.” She rolled her eyes. “The nerve...” she muttered, mostly to herself.

“Not at all shocking with how you’ve been treating her,” Claudia pointed out.

“I guess,” Ashley indifferently and partially agreed. “Anyway, I’m here because my French class got canceled.”

Claudia apologetically shook her head. “I have to get to class.” She paused, knowing that her next request could shatter the planet, but Ashley had nothing to do for the next hour. “Would you mind sticking around? I mean, I don’t wanna leave her alone and she probably won’t remember much...”

Rather than yelping in disbelief, Ashley lazily looked up at the ceiling. “Uh...”

“Please?” Claudia begged in her sweetest voice.

“Fine,” Ashley muttered, giving in. She wasn’t doing this for the new girl; she was doing it for Claudia. “Just get back as soon as possible. Baby-sitting was not in the friendship contract.”

“Funny,” Claudia replied with a smile. “Wasn’t in mine either.”

“I’m not responsible for butchering her if she wakes up...”

“Plead insanity, I’ll back you up,” Claudia stated, giving her a tiny smile and running off down the corridor.

Ashley sighed loudly before going inside Claudia’s room. She barely glanced at Spencer before throwing herself on the couch and grabbing one of Claudia’s inane magazines.

Thankfully her phone went off as a much needed distraction. “Yeah?” she answered, knowing it was Edmund, but pretending not to. She anxiously listened as the boy went on and on about Spencer while smirking at his bafflement over the girl’s premature refusal of his advances. “Look, Edmund, I don’t care how you go about this. And I’m busy, so I gotta go.” She hung up as he was still talking.

She looked over at Claudia’s bed just as Spencer moved around, throwing the blanket on the floor. After two minutes of indecision, Ashley stood, picked up the blanket and tossed it over her again. She went back to the couch and picked up the magazine. “Damn you, Claudia,” she mumbled, not looking at the magazine but at Spencer’s sleeping form.

----------

Madison and her most fervent follower, Sherry, walked down the hallway, not caring that they were already late for their next class.

“Can you believe this?” Madison’s green eyes sparkled as she thrust a newspaper at her friend. “That girl just got here and already everyone’s talking about her drama.”

“Jealous?” Sherry teased, folding the newspaper up.

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Madison snapped, annoyed. “This is good. It’s great.”

“How is this great?” Sherry, as usual, could never keep up with Madison.

“Because this gives Aiden a great excuse to comfort our little celebrity offspring. And can you think of anything that would disturb Ashley more than losing one of her trophies to her?” Madison could almost picture it. “They can’t stand each other, that’s for damn sure.”

“So what?” Sherry asked. “That doesn’t mean she’s gonna go crazy over it. She has, like, a guy for each day of the week.”

“Yeah, but her ego is larger than her playmate roster,” Madison informed her knowingly. If anyone knew what a mental case Ashley Davies was, it was her. “Trust me. This is gonna be a good year.”

“Well, considering last year’s most interesting story was Tamyra Hiller’s bulimia, I’d say yeah.”

They both cringed a bit, painfully recalling Tamyra’s lame scandal.

----------

Spencer groaned softly as she opened her eyes to the unfamiliar surroundings. She quickly bolted up as she got vague flashbacks of the previous night.

Ashley glanced up at her, unconcerned.

“What are you—where am I?” Spencer’s head was spinning, and she was doing her best at not throwing up on the spot.

“This is Claudia’s room of sadomasochism,” Ashley told her, a little amused at the disorientation. “She and Sebastian brought you back here last night. You lost your keys—and your liver...”

“Who’s Sebastian?” Spencer had no idea what she was talking about.

“Tall, annoying, looks like a giant lawn gnome? Claudia’s boyfriend.”

“I don’t remember him...” Spencer said slowly.

“Consider yourself lucky then,” Ashley replied, smirking as the girl clutched her head in pain. “Nice hangover?”

Spencer shot her a ruthless glare which only made Ashley hold her smirk even longer. “Why are you here? Where’s Claudia?”

“She had class.”

“I need to get to my room...” Spencer rushed up towards the door.

“Uh, keys?” Ashley called after her.

“Oh, right,” Spencer said under her breath, stopping suddenly. “I think I might have left them in the auditorium.”

“How do you know that?”

“Because I didn’t have my purse with me at the bar, just my wallet.” Spencer reached for the doorknob, turning it slowly.

“Wait, I’ll go with you—” Ashley slowly got to her feet.

“I’d rather you didn’t,” Spencer told her. “I can manage.”

“I’m sure you can,” Ashley retorted condescendingly. “But, Claudia said not to leave you alone and—”

Spencer said nothing, which was just as good as saying “fine, come on, then.”

It turned out Spencer had chosen to lose her keys inside the old auditorium, which was used only as an alternative for when the new auditorium was in use, which wasn’t that often.

The girls walked inside the barely lit aisle and hopped up on stage, crouching down in search of Spencer’s purse, but it was nowhere to be found.

“Are you sure you lost them here?”

“Yes, I was sitting on the stage. They have to be here.”

“Maybe the janitor picked them up.”

“Maybe,” Spencer concluded with a weary sigh.

“The lost and found is in the Administration building. Come on.”

The girls walked off stage and headed for the double doors. Ashley pushed one of the doors, but it didn’t open.

“What are you doing? Open the door.” Spencer looked on, losing a little patience. Her stomach was killing her, so was her head, all she wanted was to get to her room and sleep it off.

“I’m trying,” Ashley argued, forcing the door. “It’s, like, stuck or something.”

“Well kick it open!” Spencer cried out.

“What the hell do I look like, a kickboxing practitioner?” Ashley whirled around, scowling.

Spencer tried the door herself but was met with the same fate as Ashley, a stuck door. “Ahh, open up!”

Ashley just looked at her, expressionless.

“Let’s try the other doors,” Spencer suggested hopefully.

“No. They’re all locked. They only use this door when the auditorium isn’t being used.”

Spencer gave her a defeated look. “Now what? I can’t—”

“This is no problem. We’ll just call someone to come get us.” Ashley slid her hand inside her vest pocket and frowned when she realized her phone wasn’t in there. “Dammit. I left my phone in Claudia’s room.”

“Oh, great,” Spencer muttered bleakly. “We’re stuck.”

“I see nothing gets past you,” Ashley sardonically commented.

Spencer leaned back against the door, frustrated. “Great. This is just perfect.”

“Someone’s bound to come in here.” Ashley tried to convince herself more than the other girl. “I doubt we’ll die in here.”

“Right. And in the meantime I’m stuck here—with you.”

Ashley looked a tiny bit hurt at the statement, but she wasn’t one to dwell on those things. “You’re not exactly my favorite person in the world, you know.”

“Yeah, I’ll bet...” Spencer scoffed, shutting her eyes tightly.

“The reason we’re even here is because you nearly drank yourself into oblivion and then called my friend.” She narrowed her eyes at the blonde. “We wouldn’t be here if you knew how to hold your liquor or hang on to your keys.”

“Hey, I remember telling you I could do this alone,” Spencer snapped lightly, opening her eyes but not looking at her.

“Claudia told me—”

“Not to leave me alone,” Spencer finished in a fairly mocking voice. “Please. Who do you think you’re kidding? I doubt you take orders from Claudia, and since you don’t care about me, I don’t see how this is any different.”

“Just shut up already,” Ashley barked out, incensed. “You’re like a buzzing insect.” She made a face and walked back to the stage, taking a seat on the edge.

Spencer lingered in place for several minutes before walking down the aisle and taking one of the audience seats. She completely ignored Ashley and fixated on the ceiling. She prayed someone would come around soon because she didn’t think she could stand being in there with this girl for too long. She feared only one of them would make it out alive.

[Suerte]

Chapter Three: Loyalties

Claudia barged inside her room right after her class, hoping she wouldn’t stumble upon a crime scene. But, she stumbled into an empty room instead. “Ashley?” It was pointless, she knew they weren’t there. She flipped open her phone, ready to dial Ashley’s number when a familiar ring tone went off near the couch.

She looked over and spotted Ashley’s phone. “Great,” she muttered, stalking out of her room. She had twenty minutes before her next class and she needed to get in touch with the missing girls, if they were even missing.

Forty-five minutes later she was in class, staring thoughtfully at Ashley and Spencer’s empty seats.

Madison bounded up, crashing down on the empty seat next to her. “Class is half-way through. Where’s your girlfriend, and Spencer?”

Shrugging, Claudia tried to brush her off.

“Maybe they ditched together,” Madison joked, sneering at her. “That or Ashley finally went full out psycho and chopped her up and is burying her body in the woods.”

“Shut up,” Claudia hissed, unnerved. “Shut up...”

Madison grinned, thoroughly enjoying upsetting the usually composed blonde. Claudia was easy to irritate if you knew her weakness—or weaknesses in this case. Sebastian and Ashley were her weak points. “Ask me? I’d say Ashley’s off photographing puddles or something and Spencer’s hiding under a big rock trying to avoid the gossip about her parents.”

“That’s very perceptive of you,” Claudia replied, rolling her eyes. Madison seriously needed to get a pastime; her spiteful obsession with Ashley was getting ludicrous. “But no one actually asked for your worthless opinion.”

“Ms. Cole, Ms. Duarte,” Ms. Randall called out as she finally heard the girls’ chatter. She looked strictly at them from her desk. “Would you ladies like to share something with the class? Something more important than Shakespeare?”

“We were trying to figure out Spencer and Ashley’s whereabouts,” Madison replied innocently, looking at Claudia out of the corner of her eye and smirking. “Since they’re both not in class...”

Claudia shot her an arctic look, two seconds away from tackling her. She pressed her lips together and glanced at the teacher. “Actually, Ms. Randall, Madison was bothering me, as you can see this isn’t her seat. I’m trying to do my work and she just keeps talking here about some toe fungus she’s trying to get rid of.”

Madison looked over at the girl, her mouth dropping in disbelief.

“Ms. Duarte, see me after class. We’ll get you some ointment for the problem.” Ms. Randall looked at Madison disapprovingly. “Now go back to your seat and leave Ms. Cole to her work, please.”

A few snorts were heard as Madison embarrassedly made her way back to her seat. She mouthed bitch to Claudia, who just shrugged inoffensively.

----------

Ashley sighed loudly—excruciatingly loudly—as she lied flat on her back on the stage, staring up at nothing because there was nothing to look at.

Spencer got out of her seat, her ass sore from just sitting in place.

Ashley, still looking up, heard the girl’s movement but was still firm on not speaking to her.

“Have you eaten?” Spencer asked, looking in her direction, her face emotionless.

“No. I’m anorexic,” Ashley derisively retorted.

Spencer rolled her eyes. “Do you take anything seriously?”

“What’s serious?” Ashley asked, her voice normal, not nasty. “Define serious. Is this serious? Is our situation serious? Are you serious?” She smirked, content with herself. “Seriously?”

“Forget it,” Spencer muttered, irked. She sat down again, not much else to do anyhow.

Ashley rolled over on her side, looking straight at the perplexing girl. “Are you hungry?” she asked casually.

Spencer shrugged meekly. She was, a little.

“Look, because if you are I have a Milky Way in my pocket. It was for Claudia, you know, her Scooby snack, but I’d say this might be the only food we get in a while...” she trailed off, gulping hard as she continued. “You can have it.”

Spencer was a little taken aback by this oddly nice gesture. “What about you?”

“I had a big breakfast. I never go to class on an empty stomach.”

“Why not?”

“Because you never know when you might be trapped in an auditorium,” Ashley replied with simplicity. “So, do you want it?”

Spencer was momentarily sidetracked by the brunette’s behavior. “Huh? Want what?” She regained her sense of reality. “Right. Chocolate.”

“God, what do you have, the attention span of a toddler?” Ashley snapped, less annoyed than she normally would have been in that case.

“I got distracted,” Spencer mumbled back uncomfortably.

Ashley looked at her doubtfully. “In here?”

-----------

Claudia pushed her way past several sophomores in the cafeteria as she spotted her boyfriend in line. Sebastian, as usual, was having trouble piling the loads of food onto his tray. “Hey, have you seen Ashley or Spencer?” she asked hastily, slinking up beside him.

“Well, hi to you too, Claudia.” Sebastian smiled, rearranging a pudding cup to make room for a piece of pie. “Good to see you.”

She kissed him quickly. “Hi, how’s life treating ya?” She eyed his tray, almost salivating over its contents. “So, have you seen them?”

He began walking away from the line. “Slow down. Could you explain first?”

“Yeah, yeah...” She walked with him towards a nearby table and explained what the situation was, but not before stealing his pudding.

“You really think they’re together?” Sebastian questioned, tearing open a small bag of chips. “I mean, really? I thought they couldn’t stand each other?”

“Well, yeah,” she validated his point. “But, it’s a little weird that they’re both nowhere to be found.”

Sebastian crunched away, not overly affected by this, but he offered Claudia some chips and volunteered to help look for the girls.

----------

Ashley paced the stage, wrapped up in her thoughts as Spencer looked on while struggling to open the candy bar.

“What are you doing?” Spencer was getting dizzy just watching her go back and forth like a maniac.

“Pacing.”

“I know that...” The blonde gave up with the difficult wrapper and set it aside on the chair next to her.

“I’m bored,” Ashley stressed, not stopping. “In case you haven’t noticed, there’s nothing to do in here and you’re not exactly the world’s best conversationalist.”

“I didn’t think you wanted to talk to me,” Spencer replied, shrugging. Who understood that girl?

“I don’t,” Ashley quickly responded, slowing her pace just a little. “But if you talked to yourself I could just listen.”

Spencer lowered her head to hide a small smile. “That makes no sense.”

Ashley shrugged indifferently.

It took a good ten minutes but Spencer eventually broke the silence. “What if we make peace for a while?”

Ashley came to a stop, a little intrigued. “Terms?”

“We can talk. Play twenty questions or something.” Okay, creativity was eluding the Californian at that point, she was aware of it herself.

“Twenty questions?” Ashley echoed, not looking too convinced or thrilled with the prospect.

“It’s better than pacing a hole on the stage,” Spencer offered impartially. “Not that I’d mind if you fell through one...”

Ashley glared at her, aggravated, while the blonde smiled. “Fine, but let’s get one thing clear. The fact that we’re stuck in here together doesn’t mean we’re gonna bond and come out the best of friends. This is real life, not some freaky adaptation of the Breakfast Club.”

“That is completely fine with me.” Spencer could not be more in agreement.

“Then you’re on, Hollywood.”

----------

Sebastian walked through the East Wing of the main building, hoping to locate the girls, but was having no such luck. He ran into Aiden as he made his way down a flight of stairs.

“Hey, what’s up, man?” Aiden stopped, his arm gripping the banister.

“Have you seen Ashley or Spencer?”

“They’re still missing?” Aiden asked, a little worried. Madison had clued him in and he had no idea what to think of it.

“They’re not missing. We just can’t find them.” Sebastian tiredly leaned his back against the wall. “How do you know, anyway?”

“Madison,” Aiden told him. “You know she knows everyone’s business.”

Sebastian rolled his eyes. He couldn’t stand Madison. “Well, if you see them—”

“I can help you look,” Aiden eagerly offered his services. He liked Spencer, and if she became friends with Ashley it would absolutely ruin his chances with her.

“Yeah, sure.”

----------

“Britney or Christina?” Spencer asked as she and Ashley sat Indian-style across from each other on the stage.

“Neither.” Ashley made a horrified face.

“You have to choose...”

Ashley exhaled softly. “The dirty one.”

“You’ll have to specify on that one.”

“Christina. You gotta admit the girl most definitely can sing.” She paused formulating her next question. “Coke or Pepsi?”

“Coke. Unquestionably.” Spencer frowned in thought. “Rolling Stones or The Beatles?”

Ashley snickered. “You’re kidding, right? My musical taste does not travel that far back. Ask something else.”

“Fine,” Spencer uttered in a low voice while twirling her hair. “Christmas or Halloween?”

“I don’t know...” Ashley mulled over the question. “On Christmas I get vacation, but on Halloween I can—” She cut herself off suddenly. “Christmas, I guess.” She rubbed her knees with her hands; she was rapidly running out of things to ask. “Basketball or soccer?”

Spencer glanced strangely at her. “Uh, soccer, if I really have to pick.” Unlike Ashley she was prepared for next round. “Top Model or Top Chef?”

Ashley gave her a look of singular disbelief. “Chef. Because who would rather watch a bunch of skinny bitches running around while Tyra Banks barks after them than watch food?”

She had a point, Spencer mentally acknowledged. “Okay. Clark Kent or Lex Luthor?”

“Superman movie or Smallville?”

“Smallville.”

Ashley nodded. “Yeah. Clark. He’s a puss, but, my God, he’s a good-looking one.”

Spencer smirked.

----------

Claudia, Sebastian and Aiden crossed the soccer field and headed towards the backwoods. They all knew Ashley sometimes disappeared to the pond, but once they got there, all they saw were their reflections in the still water.

“Sebastian, I’m really starting to worry.” Claudia slid her arm around his and held on tightly. “Ashley doesn’t disappear on me like this.”

Aiden rolled his eyes. Ashley was probably doing this on purpose, just to stir up some drama. But taking Spencer along for the ride didn’t really add up. “What if they’re in town? We’re talking about two girls here; they could easily have ditched and gone to the mall.”

“I don’t know...” Claudia looked dubiously at him, releasing her grip on Sebastian. “It’s just weird—the two of them... I don’t know.”

“You want to go to dean Harper?” Sebastian looked down at her.

“No!” she almost screamed out. Harper hated Ashley; she wasn’t going to give him a reason to punish her. “Let’s just keep looking. They have to be around here somewhere.”

The boys followed after her, hoping she was right.

----------

Spencer and Ashley remained seated on stage, their game evolving a little.

Ashley scrunched her face, moving her head from side to side, trying to lessen her neck pain. “Okay...” She stopped moving her head and focused on the blonde. “Would you rather have all your teeth bashed in with a sledgehammer or your eyes gouged out with an ice pick?”

“What kind of question is that?” Spencer sputtered, her eyes darting back and forth.

“It’s a situation,” Ashley answered, matter-of-factly.

“That’s not a situation,” Spencer claimed, shaking her head. “Not a real one, at least.”

“That’s not true.”

“How could someone ever be in that position?” Spencer demanded, earnestly awaiting an answer.

“You could get kidnapped by terrorists and they might be polite and ask what torture you’d prefer.” Ashley smugly raised an eyebrow.

Spencer couldn’t control her laughter any longer. What was this girl on? “Oh, come on,” she managed to spit out between chortles. “Polite terrorists? Really?”

“Answer the question,” Ashley snapped, appearing to be annoyed, but just barely containing her own laughter.

“Fine. Fine.” Spencer’s face was red as she clutched her stomach. “I don’t know. The ice pick.” Her laughter died as she considered the question. “That was a really sick question.”

“Like you could do better,” Ashley retorted, sulkily. She didn’t enjoy people laughing at her, particularly strangers.

“Sure I can...” Spencer tilted her head, looking straight at the fire extinguisher behind Ashley. “All right, the school’s on fire and you’re the only person who is fire-proof—” She stopped as Ashley gave her a ‘you gotta be kidding me’ look. “Well, it’s more believable than the sledge hammer toothpick thing—”

“Ice pick,” Ashley interjected swiftly, rolling her eyes at the floor.

“Whatever.” Spencer took a minute to reorganize her thoughts. “If you could have any super power, what would it be and why?”

“Just one?” Ashley was disappointed. “Mind control. You?”

“Invisibility,” Spencer said this without hesitation.

“Why, so you can watch people in the shower?”

Smirking, Spencer shook her head. “No. I’m not perverted.”

“I kind of am,” Ashley alleged nonchalantly.

“That must be nice,” Spencer said with mild sarcasm.

“So, if not out of perversion...” Ashley felt like she had to pry for some reason. Probably jaded curiosity.

“Well, it’d be nice to go unnoticed sometimes...” Spencer sometimes wished she could go unseen, but her mother’s limelight usually got in the way.

“Right. While watching someone in the shower.”

Spencer laughed again, much to her chagrin. She was too busy looking down at her shoes to notice Ashley smiling genuinely—for a split second.

----------

“Hey, there, handsome,” Madison cooed as she swaggered towards Aiden outside the library. “Any word on the lost girls?”

“What do you care?” He looked at her guardedly, taking a step back. “Wait, you don’t have anything to do with it, do you?”

“Regrettably no,” she avowed, taking in the preoccupied expression on his face. “And who are you worried about? New York or California?”

“Both of them,” Aiden remarked, avoiding her eyes. Madison had the ability to make him feel both inadequate and uneasy, and she was practically a human lie detector.

“Aw...” She pouted, raking her fingers through his bare arm. “You’re worried about Ashley, aren’t you? Isn’t that sweet?”

“Shut up,” he warned, moving away from her.

“Face it, sweetheart, that girl was never into you. You were just another insignificant lay.” She smiled cheekily as she watched him tense at her words. But, little did she know that Ashley had never slept with Aiden.

----------

Tired of facing each other, the trapped girls were now sitting side by side on the edge of the stage, merely looking out towards the seats as their feet dangled carelessly.

“Chickens lose their feathers when they get stressed,” Spencer proclaimed, kicking her feet together.

“Armadillos can walk underwater,” Ashley declared, rubbing the back of her neck wearily.

“Bananas were discovered by Alexander the Great.”

“Baskin Robbins once made ketchup ice-cream,” Ashley countered; glancing subtly at Spencer’s grossed out face.

“Kit-Kat’s were invented in 1933.”

“There are twenty-five calories in a Hershey’s Kiss.”

“Chicago has the world’s largest public library,” Spencer shot back, not losing the string or flow of their pointless game.

“The Library of Congress in Washington D.C. has the largest collection of comic books in the world.”

“My mom listens to Snoop Dog,” Spencer confessed, unaware she was turning this into something more of a conversation.

“My dad thinks Angelina Jolie’s name is Angelica Joel.” Ashley rolled her eyes. Her father could be pretty clueless sometimes.

“My brother is obsessed with Sophia Bush.” Spencer was referring to Glen, naturally. Clay had better things to do than chase after girls, at least it’s what he said.

“My little sister is probably smarter than both my older sisters put together.” Ashley almost laughed as she said this, but Nicole was something else, it was true.

“I’m a remote hog.”

“I can’t go to sleep unless what I have on matches.” Ashley hadn’t meant to let that slip, but it was too late to retract herself.

“I hate peas.” Spencer shuddered at the thought of them; they were so disgusting to her, those little green marbles of internal mush.

“I like penguins.”

“I’m musically challenged.” Lessons of piano, guitar, violin and cello had only made Spencer realize she wasn’t cut out for a career in music.

“I can’t swim.” Ashley wasn’t even ashamed to admit this, not like she needed that skill back home.

There was a moment of silence as the girls lost sight of one another and concentrated on their newly revealed information.

“Guess there’s a lot of things we don’t know,” Ashley said quietly, lifting herself up an inch with her hands for a brief second.

“And we’ll die ignoring a lot of them...” Spencer was thinking about the calories in the Hershey’s Kiss.

“Well, as long as I know the important ones.”

The blonde looked inquisitively at her. “Like what?”

Ashley shrugged. “If aliens exist or not.”

They stared off in silence, knowing that was a wrap.

----------

Claudia sat at her desk, impatiently glancing at the time on the screen. It was almost quarter to ten P.M. and no sign of Spencer or Ashley. She didn’t know what to do, on the one hand, she didn’t want to report them and cause trouble for the girls, but what if something had really happened to them?

She rubbed her eye and decided to give it another hour.

----------

“I am so hungry,” Ashley complained, lying on her back, next to Spencer, but not too close, she didn’t want to catch something. “I think I’m suffering from food deprivation hallucinations too. I could have sworn my stomach just spoke and said ‘feed me, bitch’, I swear. These things I don’t make up.”

“What time is it?” Spencer was also hungry, but hanging on to her sanity better than the other girl.

“I don’t know.”

“Check your watch,” Spencer insisted, wanting to know how long they’d been in there.

“I can’t,” Ashley moaned, dramatically bringing her hand to her forehead. “If I move I think I’ll faint or die—or faint and die.”

Spencer reluctantly grabbed the girl’s wrist, looking at her watch. “It’s nine-fifty.”

“What?!” Ashley bellowed, mortified. “We’ve been here all day!”

“No way?” Spencer couldn’t push aside the sarcasm; it was like Ashley naturally brought it out.

“Shut up,” Ashley grumbled, sitting up. “I’m starved and I wanna go watch whatever’s on TV. Claudia should have found us by now.”

Spencer sat up now. “If she’s looking for us, I doubt she’d look in here. Nothing would make anyone think we’re in here.”

“Still, it if it were her missing I’d have already hired a search team.”

“No offense, but you obsess on Claudia a little too much.” Spencer was now wondering if what Madison and Aiden had mentioned before was true.

“Oh, I know,” Ashley said calmly with a tiny sneer. “But you’re new and you wouldn’t understand. You’ve been here, what, two days? I’ve been here since seventh grade.”

Spencer stayed thoughtfully quiet.

“And I know what you’re thinking. I know what people say about us, but it’s not true. It’s mostly some big joke, but some idiots actually believe it, and they could not be further from the truth.” Ashley kept rambling on, more or less against her will. “Claudia’s like family to me. But, I don't expect you to understand.”

“Why do you just assume things?” Spencer challenged, raising her voice. “Maybe if you actually told someone they’d be able to understand.”

Ashley gave her a disheartening gaze. “I don’t have to explain myself to anyone. People can think whatever they want. As long as I know the truth, that’s all that matters. I don’t owe anyone anything.”

----------

“Hey, babe, I’ve been calling you.” Sebastian tentatively walked up towards a large fountain where Claudia was sitting solemnly. “Did you talk to Harper yet?”

She shook her head as he sat down close to her. “Didn’t have to. He called me. The attendance secretary told him how strange it was that Ashley and Spencer missed all their classes today without calling it in.”

“So, what’d you tell him?” He reached for her hand, which was freezing, and warmed it in his.

“That I didn’t know anything. Which is true.”

“I think you need to get some sleep and before you know it Ashley will be bouncing on your bed trying to wake you up.”

She nodded but made no effort to stand, she simply leaned her head on his shoulder.

----------

Back in the auditorium, the girls had exhausted themselves to sleep, mainly through arguments and insults.

Spencer sat up with her back pressed against a wall prop while Ashley used her legs as a pillow. The auditorium was dead quiet. The girls were still and the world was tranquil—just for the night.

[Suerte]

So....Guess what.
Yhea. Your wrong. This...I'll leave it up, but I lost the rest of it.
Poof up in a cloud of the computer my sister wiped clean.
I was even going to transfer it, but I didn't get there soon enough.
DARN!
So...your stuck at either a cliffhanger for a while...or a brick wall dead end.
Cause I might get mad, and decide not to rewrite it. For the second time.

Yhea...