Chapter Fifty-One: Days Won't Be the Same
The inner circle was the soccer team.
Freaking stupid, but it made sense because we couldn't possibly let one of us get associated with the Charlies Angels so the closest thing we could find possible to the inner circle was the soccer team.
"Why would I go there?" Mia screamed at the top of her lungs outside the school two days later after we've set everything up for what we were about to do. It was decided from the start that since it was her who suggested the thing in the first place but she's been making scenes from day one that it'd be mayhem.
Even though Mia was the one who randomly said whatever came to her that day (she confessed) but she didn't actually work out this perfectly.
We chose today because yesterday the soccer team didn't have any practices (I had to casually ask Blake for this) and it was today in the free period so we were good to go. Only I hope we were going to nail it and get some important information this time instead of wasting out time.
And for some reason, Mia didn't seem too reliable this time.
"If your cover is blown, just say that you came to get something for your boyfriend or something." Austin, not so helpfully, suggested from the side and we all turned to glare at him for his idiocy.
"She'll be getting something for her boyfriend from behind the locker?" Jayden scoffed. "God, Austin you're even more useless these days."
"You won't be blowing your cover, Mia." I said, reassuring her, even though I wasn't reassured myself about this.
Mia was trustworthy at keeping secrets but not as trustworthy at keeping herself hidden inside of a locker room, moreover to spy on guys. The locker room was a closed space with a lot of smell and guys who were not like Jayden or Sam or Austin and that was a thing to worry about too but I wasn't worried about the latter because I knew Mia would rip their head off if they try something.
"It's really weird to put my sister in the job," Sam said, scratching the back of his neck to which Mia wagged her head.
"She's an idiot, the only thing she's gonna do is getting caught." Austin added again, to which Jayden punched his stomach and smiled at me in victory.
"Thank you Jayden," Vanessa said and then dragged the three of us away from the three of them.
We stopped from a good distance away from them then Vanessa crouched down to get down at Mia's level since she was almost a head taller than her then looked at her full in the eyes.
"Hey, hey, idiot, look at me." She snapped her fingers in front of her eyes. "Look, Mia Caracoro, you do know that we don't really see you as our best friend's little sister, but as a best friend, don't you? So listen to this; if you really are our best friend then you're gonna do it and I'll believe that you can do it. Do not be a poulet, do you hear me?"
Mia looked somewhere else for a second, looking like she was considering this but then just shook her head quickly, denying the whole thing.
Vanessa gave up trying and rose up again and put both of her hands on her hips as though she wanted to kill someone but there were too many witnesses for her to do it. Seeing her hopeless made me more hopeless and for the first time in my life, I had a nasty desire to kick Mia's butt.
We stand there like a bunch of idiots, Vanessa breathing fire with her hands on her hips, me who is always hopeless standing more hopelessly and Mia fussing about why she shouldn't go in.
I glanced around to find a way to convince Mia to go in when out of nowhere, Vanessa grabbed my arm to make me look at her. Shocked, I glanced at her in bewilderment and when I did, I was kind of taken aback by the way she was looking at me in a new light.
"You." She whispered.
I frowned. "Me?"
She nodded quickly, closing her gaped mouth. "Yes, you."
"Me what?"
"You will go instead of Mia, of course!"
I will what?
The earth shatters under my ground, and I feel like the ground is swallowing me inside and hazy photos of a smelly soccer dressing room, the one's I've seen only in movies, cross through my mind. I don't even notice that she had called me something mean but who cares about that.
"Think about it," Mia continued, ignoring the hollow look on my face. "You know all about the school, while Mia knows nothing, she's basically uneducated like the rest of us but you know every aspect of the school; where to hide, when to hide, when to not walk in to the wrong places, what to do when caught. Even your brother is in the soccer team, isn't he?"
Without thinking, I nodded which made everything so much worse than it already was.
"So there you go! It was absolutely a foutaise decision to make Mia go in there in the first place while the better option was always you." With a fierce look in her eyes, Vanessa whipped around, grasping me and Mia in her arms to get back to the guys.
"Change of plans." She announced when we reached there, looking at every one of them blazingly. "Eve will be the one going there."
Before they could even protest, she stopped them, holding her hand up. "It's better this way guys. Besides, Mia is not even a student so how could you expect her to go in there?"
Jayden furiously open his mouth. "Mia was the one who suggested it, why bother Queen?"
Vanessa made a face. "Because even though she's your Queen, she's the one who knows all about school not Sam's sister..."
"You said you see me as your best friend!"
"Not my best friend, but think about it, if Mia goes in there, what if she gets caught? What if she gets seen by the teachers? She doesn't even go to the school!"
Jayden was going to open his mouth again and he even did, but then he just freezes, having nothing to say.
Please no...
"I-She..." He stammers unfinished words out, gulping down for leverage but it was already decided. It was me who had to go to that filthy, slimy dressing room and I didn't know
The plan we made for the last 48 hours was Mia had to go into the locker room, hide behind the lose locker which was a luck sent from Heaven above (the far east corner of the room had a locker that was broken from a long time so to replace it, a new locker was bought but it was so big, it covered the whole area which meant 3 people could finely fit behind it, and no one would even see them- trusted information from Jayden) and listen to the people talking and take notes if she heard something suspicious. It was not a much hard work since the locker room wasn't much bigger than our living room but now that it was me who had to do it, I was kind of getting why Mia didn't want to.
Now that I think about, the whole plan was so stupid. What were we thinking, getting Mia to do the job?
The kids entering in our school gave us weird looks which was mostly getting handled by Austin and looking at him making faces at the students, I thought about it.
I hated to admit it, but Vanessa was kind of right about what she said earlier. Mia was going to be an absolute disaster to do this and I didn't even know what we were thinking, trying to get her inside the school when she wasn't even a student. So if we really ended up doing that, it would've been a nightmare.
But the problem was, how was I going to do that?
"T-There are a lot of creepy guys there." Jayden finally concluded, looking at me frantically over and over.
"And that's your defense?" Vanessa laughed weirdly, making all of us jump. "And? She'll beat those in a second, wouldn't you Eve?" she looks at me for assurance. The sight alone was scary so having nothing to say, I nodded.
"It's settled then," Austin clapped loudly, coming back after terrorizing dozens of pips. "Shorts will go there, try to get teas out while we lurk around, and give Jay-Jay the results and we analyze them when they get back. Is that it?"
Vanessa tried to glare at him but couldn't since what he said was right instead just grimaced and said, "Yeah, it's mostly it."
The warning bell rings through the school right in that moment, letting us know that we had only fifteen minutes left to go to class.
"Alright then," Sam clapped and looked at both of us. "Go in then."
Without really thinking about it anymore, we did.
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"You can do this right? It's just what Mia was supposed to do." Jayden wearily asks as we raced through the hallway to get to our lockers since we were already late.
I struggled to keep up with his pace, panting slightly already. "I think. It's not much of big deal."
Jayden and I had sprinted across the corridor in lightning speed, stood in front of our locker and collected our books and there was only five minutes left when I entered in my class while he ran to Chemistry.
The room was noisy with students talking all over and jumping on each others backs. I ran across the class to sit on my seat and suddenly, as though feeling something prickling on the back of my neck, I looked around before I sat down and my eyes, for a cold, hard moment, met with Rosetta's.
We both didn't look away from each other, and most probably wouldn't have unless the teacher had come in and every one of the students who were lurking outside their seat went to their places. I looked away, gulping dry and sat, trying to look at somewhere else.
And for the first time, I considered Austin's word from two days back.
Maybe I should talk to her, perhaps not as a friend, since I wasn't fixing that unless she stepped in, but as a stranger from whom I was merely taking notes? How about I do that?
I glanced at behind me where I could see her hair dangling in front of her as she stared at one of the books intently, and I couldn't look at it too longer.
Or maybe I wouldn't.
I tried to focus on the class but it was almost impossible now that I had the continuous prod on the back of my head that I had to do a job in the free period and I didn't just know how. I had to go there just before practice ends because the team mostly take times when it's the end, it's merely five minutes when it starts.
I almost gag when I think about the sweaty smells and awful languages I have to hear when I'm going to stand or crouch behind a locker only to hear things that concerns Jayden but not me. I was kind of mad at Jayden for taking me out on that night for no reason. If not for him, I would've been out of the trouble.
But then my own voice came floating back to me. The night when Jayden asked me why I didn't blame anything on someone.
That's why friends are here for. To share mistakes and lessen them.
I shake my head and straighten up. I had a lot of work to do already, I couldn't be discouraged like this.
The class suddenly started to become boring and more boring. Jayden had kind of stopped tutoring me at this point, it was barely once a week or so since he believed I was ready for any test to come. I didn't believe that but nevertheless I let him do whatever he wanted.
I wait for the class to end, suddenly the time seeming stretched out then usual, like it always happens when you're actually waiting for it to end quickly.
Almost unconsciously, I start scribbling on my notebook, a design of a blouse that suddenly pops into my brain. I give them small, dahlia buttons, low v cut neck and a flowery pattern that looked kind of ordinary, but was at the same time, not too common too. You'd only see them in really expensive clothe stores.
It was probably an eternity later when the class ended.
I found myself blurring through all of the class until that moment appeared, suddenly my heart picking up it's pace at the thoughts of me going there, to the boys' locker room. What if I mess up? What if I get caught by someone? And my worst fear...
what if I see Blake naked?
Oh God. Oh my God. No!
I shake the thought out of my head and glanced at the clock quickly, trying to distract myself. This class was going to end in 10 minutes, which meant I had less than an hour to go into the dressing room or so.
As soon as the class ended, I get out of the room and texted Jayden. I wasn't sure whether he had free periods or not, but it was always okay to ask.
Me: we just had the free period.
I waited for a whole ass minute before his reply came.
Mr Biggest Idiot in the World: congratulations buttface.
I rolled my eyes.
Me: what about u?
Mr Biggest Idiot in the World: what do you think?
Me: not?
Mr Biggest Idiot in the World: yeah, exactly queen.
I laughed out loud and typed again.
Me: i guess this is goodbye then. will try not to die.
I bit my lip and wait for his reply but that takes an eternity to come and when I was about to close the screen off, his reply came.
Mr Biggest Idiot in the world: Queen?
Me: yeah?
A small pause then...
Mr Biggest Idiot in the world: good luck ;)
I grinned to myself and clicked my phone shut, sprinting across the school and thinking about what I should do now. The guys were outside now so I could easily sneak off to meet them and spend sometime in downtown or something but instead of that, I head straight to the rooftop.
Dress designing needed much attention and certainly, classes didn't help.
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"I'm freaking out, I don't even know what or why I'm doing this!" I whisper-screamed at the guys who were at the other side of the phone. Jayden and I stood just outside the boys' locker room with his phone on speaker. The caller ID said Vanessa (I kind of got why they trust her so much) but all of them were talking through it.
"Eve, take deep breaths, jut your tits out and go hide in there, it's gonna be fine." Vanessa said coolly and even though it sounded cool, I was freaking out inside.
"Or maybe Jayden should do it." Mia called out. Her voice seemed a little distant in the phone giving out that she was standing further away from the call.
Jayden rolled his eyes. "You think I want to be called homo for the rest of my school days?"
"It's fun."
"Indeed is. Don't worry, my dear Mia Carrassco, you're lucky to get your ass saved today but days won't be the same."
"Yeah sure sure..."
There was a small rise of shouting in the field that you couldn't see from here, giving out the fact that someone had goaled in the last minute of practice. Which meant game was nearly over and they were coming anytime now.
Jayden looked alarmed for a second before quickly saying, "It's time idiots, I gotta go and help queen. Bye."
"Okay. Good lu-"
He ended the call and took my hand to drag us into the room without any warning. And for a second, I was too stunned to speak because of the scene that unfolded in front of me when he slammed the door open.
First off, not that I didn't expect this, it was a mess. A total, absolute, utter mess. Clothes and undies were thrown around everywhere, the floor soggy and dry in only some places and my eyes bulged when I noticed a pink bra in a corner too.
And second: the inside smelled horrible.
It was a mixture of perfumes and body sprays and sweat and (to my horror) a bit of pee too.
In all honesty, I expected a dressing room to be this messy but locker room- it was kind of over the top.
Jayden stared inside the place for a second before chuckling. "Wow, it quite certainly did not improve at all."
I looked at the right corner and saw the locker that we were supposed to move. It would've been a problem at first but then again, we had no choice too. I looked at Jayden and he nodded weakly before we walked inside, toward the locker.
Him and I both tried to skip as much wetness as we could while holding our breath in. I had no idea how long I was going to survive here even though these dressing room sessions lasted for not more than half an hour before the lunch break, and the whole thing was so stupid.
Why were we doing this? Why couldn't we simply...
I try to think about what we could do instead of me standing here like an idiot and listening to the creepiness of guys until I could think nothing.
"Queen quick," Jayden whispered, small jumping across the place to stand beside on side of the locker. "You pull the other way, it's loose."
I grunted, going the other way and holding it tightly. "I know that's why we're here."
"It's amazing though isn't it?" He groaned and pushed as soon as I did as the locker moved easily, creating enough space for me to go in.
I panted even though I did nothing, nodding at him. "What's amazing?"
"That we were lucky enough to get this space, rent-free," he grinned ear-to-ear, pointing at the back of the locker. The locker was slim so it was assured that I wouldn't feel claustrophobic being behind it.
And our luck did amaze me.
"I know, it's as if it was waiting to, you know," I stepped inside, surveying it, "help us or something."
"Alright then," he gets serious this time looking at me from behind the locker. "Are you sure you're doing this?"
I nodded, gulping dryly. The smell didn't seem like a big deal now, all there was now my beating heart in my throat. "Yeah. Not a big deal."
"What if you get caught?"
I shook my head. "Let's not- Let's not think about that."
He stares at me for a second before nodding, understanding why I didn't want to talk about it now. "Alright. I'm gonna move it to the front, you won't be seeing anything but you'll hear people clearly and it'll take merely 20 to 30 minutes. When you don't hear anything after that, slowly push the corner, keep that in mind it's always the corner, not the middle..."
"Jayden, I know, you've been telling this to Mia for like two days already..."
"-and-come-straight-back-to-the-cafetaria-I'll-be-there." He finished like a rail train and I grinned.
"It's okay I'll be fine."
He nodded, swallowing. "Great. Okay."
He proceeded to close the front, me backing up to give him space before he stopped what he was doing and scrunched his nose as though noticing the smell for the first time since we've been here.
"And lastly," he says, while taking his black and white flannel off his body while the white T shirt under stayed, "It smells bloody awful here."
My eyes widened as he did that and then held the shirt up to me, grinning a little lopsidedly like it was hurting him to smile. I wouldn't be surprised, it was hard enough to talk already. "What?"
"Didn't you once say I smelled good?" he said, shaking the shirt. "Take it. Not like I need it right now, it's frigging hot outside."
Another cheer along with a whistle could be heard outside, meaning practice had ended. Any moment now and they'd be here. Without having time to argue about it, not that I wanted to, I took the shirt from his hand and gestured him to block the view with the locker.
"Thank you," I quickly said while he pushed the locker to the front, not saying anything back. The inside turned dark in a matter of second.
Okay... it's not like I'm hurt or anything.
I heard he giving a bang to the door of the locker before his footsteps started to falter and when I was going to slump my back on the wall behind me, I hear a loud holler of him saying, "Oh you flatter me Queen," when the door of the locker slammed shut.
I was too stunned to react for a while then when I registered what he'd just said, I smiled so broadly that it hurt my cheeks and burried my nose on the fabric. It still smelled of cherry and something that was just purely Jayden Flynn and no one else.
Three minutes went by and when there was nothing, someone banged the door open which followed with, what seemed like, a thousands of hollering and shouts behind.
My heart jumped inside for the third time today, as I automatically clutched the shirt on my chest.
I was assured that no one could see me from here, but from behind the locker, there was a sliver of gap between the wall and the old locker and from there there was a pretty clear view of the outside. Which meant even though they couldn't see me, hopefully, I could see them.
I rested my eyes on the gap and watched the team coming inside of the room, all sweaty and slimy. It made me gag but then I held Jayden's shirt to my nose and continued.
The way chatters that filled in the room made me think it was nearly impossible to listen to anyone in particular but then I realized it was kind of easy if you focus on one discussion at a time. For example, I heard about 'some chick' called Yushi to be really hot, and some other stuffs I don't even want to think about, heard about today's goals, really loud bangs of which I don't want to know, and some weird conversations about why pepperoni pizza is better than margherita ones.
But nothing really interesting happens.
The room starts to become less and less noisy and I start losing hope. At this point, I don't think it was possible anymore given it was lunch time and even if the conversations did happen, I don't think I got a hold of it.
When the last person got out of the dressing room, I sighed smally, kind of bummed that I came in no use and was going to disappoint Jayden and all of the guys outside. Maybe Mia could have come to this, she could've been better. Better than me, that's for sure.
Slowly so I don't make any sound, I placed my hands on the side of the locker like Jayden said because it could be a major mess-up if I try to remove it pushing the middle since it was empty inside. It wasn't even a hair I pushed when I suddenly hear someone coming in through the door when I slapped my hands away and backed up, my eyes widening.
There were some clutter, sounds of clothes brushing stuffs, elastics slapping skins and then silence.
A mouthful of it.
Holding my breath, I stood rigidly there waiting for them to get out as soon as they can so I can too from this place until I heard the footsteps come closer and closer to where I was standing.
My heart jumped up to my throat, threatening to come out any second. I clenched my eyes shut, ready to give in to whoever it was. I think up anything for an excuse; I was here to creep around maybe, or smell anyone's shirt or something. Anything.
I stood there for a minute, for an hour or for an eternity.
Nothing happens.
I unfurled my eyes, blinking to adjust the swirling colors around my vision. Nothing happens after the footsteps came closer, not even a single word of anything. I wait for something to come, wait for the locker to move away from me so that I'm caught.
It doesn't.
Instead, I heard something absolutely weird.
"You think that'd be necessary?" a voice said, rising my curiosity. I walk up to the edge of the locker, trying to see through the gaps to see who it was. There seemed to be two people and one was probably waiting inside way before the other one came in but they were beside the locker I was behind so I couldn't see their face.
"Of course." The voice that said it sounded eerily familiar but I was more focused on what they were talking about to know that. "They've started prying too, those fucking idiots."
"But don't you think it'd be too much?" the other one said. "They could get expelled for this, you know."
My heart was beating so fast right now.
"And you think I care?" the one who seemed to be in charge here scoffed. "That's what I want anyway. Send me the pictures by tonight, we need to start working."
The other one was silent throughout this but then after some moment, he said, "Okay I will."
There were no speeches after that then I heard the door closing and there were no sounds.
I backed away until my back hit the wall behind me.
It was absolutely stupid to think that they were talking about Jayden and I but there was a 99 percent chance they were and they were going to strike soon. So Jayden was right. They were someone from the soccer team.
And the pictures? Were they of us? It had to be!
And why did the other one say we could be expelled? We wouldn't, right?
I clutched Jayden's shirt tight in my hand and bring my phone out to text him that I was done and coming back. It was ten minutes past lunch, there were thirty minutes still left for us to discuss everything.
With my shaking hands, I pluck my phone out of the pocket of my pants and went to our conversations.
Me: wait for me, i'm done. it's something big.
I clicked it off, pushing it in my pocket.
I finally push the locker out of my way with a lot of struggle than before, and get out, holding the shirt on my nose. The room was empty and messier than before and the smell seemed to have intensified a hundredfold. I breathed in inside the clothe before I push the locker with my shoulder. Since it was empty it moved without any interruption and a minute later it looked like nothin ever touched it.
Quickly so that I can tell Jayden everything I just heard, I sprinted across the room toward the door and to get out of the place to breath into fresh, clean air and I wrenched the door open, happy about the fact I was gonna breath soon and panicked about the fact of the weird things I just heard.
Maybe, just maybe, I would've loved to say that everything went well after that. Why did I even say maybe, of course I would've. But it was Universe's cruel plan to make a perfectly planned day to an absolute nightmare.
Because when I opened that door, my dear beloved brother stood on the other side of it holding one hand forward as though he was just about to open the door.
He stared at me.
I stared at him.
The first thing that came to my head after I saw him was bolt and run but it wasn't an option because I'd be questioned at home either way so instead of that, I tried Plan B.
I smiled at him.
Blake's eyebrow quirked upward until it couldn't anymore and then he asked the question I was dreading from the moment I came face-to-face with him.
"What are you doing here?"
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once again, i know nothing of French. Forgive me if there was any mistakes.