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chapter twenty-two: caught
{a/n:
just a note, the last two chapters (and this one) happened in the span of a day. i'm just saying this so no one gets confused lol
enjoy!}
⚠︎ tw: cher bellucci ⚠︎
(slander her as much as you want in the comments <33333)
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IT WAS A QUATER TO FOUR o'clock when Cher was hanging around in her fathers office. She was slumped over his chair, legs resting on top one of the arms. A vanilla protein shake was clutched in a hand, and she took small sips out of it while scrolling on her father's desktop.
It was something she did every once in awhile.
Looking through some of the students records. Glancing at the upcoming schedules and teams. Spying through the surveillance cameras. Sometimes moving players around to divisions where she though they belonged...
It was evil, she knew that, but she couldn't help but long for the thrill it gave her; knowing she was doing things that could get her in big trouble.
And usually, she always got away with it.
The corners of her lips were stretched out into a menacing grin as she watched through a security camera in one of the common rooms. A horrendous scene played out on the computer screen; a group of older students tormenting a smaller teenager, presumably a sophomore in high school.
Cher cackled wickedly— like the witch that she is.
The whole scene was comical for her. Of course she knew this wasn't just coming from a television show, and that this was happening in real time— maybe even yards away from her.
But she disregarded it for her own entertainment.
After a couple more seconds, the girl decided she was bored. The kid looked so beaten up that it started to even make her feel bad.
So, Cher kicked her legs off the arm off her father's chair, and straightened out her posture.
As she started flipping through several other channels on the security cameras, she tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear, and began gnawing on her lower lip.
It took mere seconds until she landed on an amusing sight.
Cher's mischievous grin only widened as the video on the screen began clearing up. She was about to get some people in trouble.
There were a lot of rules you needed to strictly follow if you wanted to attended Westbrook Academy-- one of them being; not allowed to display any public affection in the main buildings.
That stuff was saved for downtime in the dorm rooms.
Once Cher is able to succeed in uncovering the couple locking-lips on the couch in the recreational room, it's game over.
But it didn't look like that was going to be the case for today.
The blonde's mouth fell agape as she recognized Adam Banks over the footage, who was now slipping out of hit shirt. That girl Vera was underneath him.
So much tension builded up that her neck-chords were standing out, and her face flushed bright red. Her lips pressed together into a thin line, and as much as she wanted to, she couldn't look away.
She was infuriated.
It took a beat until she finally collected herself. The girl reached to the keypad and directed the camera to a different part of the room, initially making it beep.
Cher framed her face with her thumb and index finger and leant over so she could rest her elbows on the desk. She began to message her temples, closing her eyes as she doze into thought.
She could report them as that's normally what she would've done-- but Adam didn't deserve to get kicked out, and deep down, she knew Vera didn't either.
The girl rose her head back up. That's when her eyes caught onto a tab that was opened in the search engine.
It was labeled: 'Westbrook Academy 1998-1999 Team Rosters'.
Curiously, Cher clicked on it. A spreadsheet listing everyone in the academy popped up, and they were divided into six sections. She clicked on a name and grew excited as she realized the could edit and make notes on each student.
Her menacing grin returned to her lips as she scrolled down to Adam and Vera's names. Needless to say, it wasn't a surprise they both made it onto one of the top teams-- together.
An overturned sigh fell from Cher's lips, shaking her head slightly.
'It didn't have to be like this.' She thought to herself as she backspaced on Adam's name, and typed it into the sixth section on the spreadsheet. She added a couple notes and signed it off as one of the head coaches.
She moved Vera down a couple divisions down too, but not to the same one as Adam.
The couldn't be together. This will teach them.
Cher crossed her arms over her chest as she relaxed into the chair, an egotistical smile lingering on her lips. A bigger plan formed in her mind then, and she giggled to herself quietly as she realized how much power she had over them now.
They should be grateful I didn't choose to kick them out.
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VERA ALMOST TRIPPED OVER HER own feet as she flew around the corner in the main building, catching her balence by grasping onto a pillar before speeding towards the dining hall. She's lost track of time when she was with Adam, and now she was running late.
Julie sounded so excited to introduce her friend, but now Vera wasn't sure if she was going to meet them. She was late by half an hour.
The brunette pushed her body through the two heavy, wooden doors and glanced around anxiously. The room was mostly empty except for a collective group of students who were either studying or playing a card game with their friends and visiting. She spotted Julie just moments upon entering.
She was perched on a windowsill with her knees against her chest, reading a book. There were two half-drunken mugs of coffee in front of her.
She was alone.
Vera sighed with culpability as she slowly wandered over to her friend.
Julie seemed to sense her presence as she glanced up from her book. Once noting her, she took a bookmark out from the front page and tucked it between her current chapter.
"Hey," Vera mumbled softly.
Julie smiled a bit. "Hi," She patted the spot in front of her indicating that she should sit. The girl took up on the offer, only after clearing the mugs and placing them on the table beside them.
She could tell Vera felt guilty just by how gentle she was acting."Don't beat yourself up. You barely just missed her." The blonde shrugged a shoulder, sitting herself up in a cross-cross position.
"I should've been here, though."
Julie chuckled, almost comically. "I just said that you shouldn't beat yourself up!" The girl reached out and lightly nudged Vera's shoulder with her hand sprightly. "For whatever reason made you late, I understand."
The brunette rose her eyebrows. Stuff like this never happened with her other friends.
Usually they'd just blow her off.
"Actually?"
"Actually." Julie's grin tugged brighter. "You've already been dealing with a lot of stuff. It would be a waste to get upset for something like this."
It was like a weight fell from Vera's shoulders; relief visibly flooding over her features. But as quickly as it washed over, a new feeling fluttered over her as Julie began speaking again.
"Now, I know there's quite the reason you were late."
Vera tilted her head to the side, confused.
Julie was quick to clarify. She motioned a finger to her own neck. "You got a little something around here."
Oh my God- The girl knew exactly what her friend was talking about. Her face flushed, and she wanted to bury her face into the ground.
"Something you wanna talk about? I'm all ears, babe."
Vera ran a hand across her jaw. She glanced elsewhere for a moment, swallowing, then looked back at Julie. "We kinda made out-- but not really."
"Kinda?" She laughs. "It looks like a vampire tried to suck everything out of you. I didn't think Banks was that type."
The brunette rolled her eyes. She found a napkin beside her that held a few tiny crumbs, and picked it up. She crumbled it and threw it at Julie. "I said, not really."
Emphasizing the words seemed to do the trick because the balled up napkin strikes her right in the face. She gasps lightly at the sudden contact, then flicks it off her lap with a finger. "But he gave you a hickey."
"I don't think he meant to."
"Bullshit."
It was Vera's time to laugh. There was no stopping her smile as she remembered how he looked on top of her. Maybe he did mean to.
"You still there, V?" Julie was frantically waving a hand over her friend's face. She'd just zoned out completely for a couple moments.
Vera's body shivered as she regained the sense of her surroundings. She looked at Julie. "Hm?"
"Damn. You're dick-whipped."
The girl whined a protest, but it didn't help much because it was honestly true. She gave up with a droller sigh. "Maybe just a little."
"I could honestly see why. He's cute, but he's like a brother to me." She scooted a little closer then, a troublesome smirk on her face. "And honestly, he doesn't really radiate BDE-"
"Julie!"
"He's so shy!" The girl struck her palms up in defense.
Vera's lips had suddenly tugged outward, too, and she leaned in a bit. "That's what makes me think he does. It's always the quiet ones-"
"Vera!"
-
TANIYA SHAH WAS laying stomach-down on her bed with a nail kit on her bed. An old magazine was sprawled out, and both of her hands were pressed against it as she waited for the fresh, pale-blue nail polish to dry on her fingernails.
It was then Cher came bursting into the room with a devious smirk.
Taniya immediately knew something was up, and took a couple seconds to question why she was even friends with her.She found herself doing that a lot recently, and was beginning to think there was something about her best-friend that had changed drastically these past few weeks.
"What did you do this time?" The girl groaned.
The blonde wasted no time explaining the evil thing she'd just committed. "I found a way to separate them. They're bound to not be together anymore!" She rambled on excitedly, and Taniya was just confused.
She rose her eyebrows. "What? Who?"
Cher cheerfully took a seat at her desk chair, crossing her legs and folding her hands in her lap. She sighed contently. "I found a way to move people around on the roasters."
"You what?!"
"Yup!" For a second, Cher thought her friend was excited for her. "I moved Adam down a couple teams and added some notes on how his performance had dropped since he got here. Now-- he'll for sure need a training coach...me!"
Taniya's mouth had dropped agape as the blonde continued, unbeknownst to how crazy she sounded.
"So now, they're going to have completely different schedules. And I know he'll get so worked up and just automatically forget to spend time with her. She'll be so pissed that they'll break up!"
Words couldn't explain the amount of rage that had built up in Taniya. She sat up from her bed, her face not showcasing her expressions just yet, until...
"Cherilyn Adelaide Bellucci... what the fuck are you thinking!?"
Cher jumped back at the tone and the usage of her full name.
"Why can't you just refrain from being selfish for once in your life? You're ruining a perfectly good thing that doesn't even involve you! And for what? So you can have another boyfriend that you'll dump in less than a month!?"
"I won't dump Adam in a month. He's too fine for tha-"
"We're here for hockey, Cher. Hockey! Not to waste it all on this guy who has a girlfriend. This isn't a movie. Things aren't just that easy." Taniya yelled, her hearing-aid buzzing a whistle from how loud she was being. She didn't let that stop her though. "Plus, do you know how many kids would kill to have this opportunity? Hundreds, you dumbass!"
Cher was silent the whole time.
Her body seemed to shake with every word that poured out of her friend's mouth.
It wasn't a secret that she was frightened-- but also upset.
A friend is supposed to be there to support you in everything, right?
A friend is supposed to help guide you so you don't do something stupid, but that didn't seem to be Cher's mindset.
The blonde stood up from the chair and began walking towards the door, muttering, "I'm going to dinner. Let me know when you cool down."
She only felt more pissed as she left the room and went down the hall. Whatever Taniya was talking about wasn't going to stop Cher.
In fact, it made the whole thing a little worse.
The girl was now determined.
Whatever little spark in her that was telling her to stop this whole thing deflated, and she was left with her mind creating another section to her plan.
She's going to need some help, and now she can't look to Taniya for that. But there may be one other person.
It might take awhile-- maybe even months, but it'll all be worth it in the end.
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mari speaks!!
cher is pure evil. like i'm certain there's something mentally wrong with her
also i really don't like this ! the ending is so rushed goodbye
but it's really just a filler chapter so i don't mind. the next few parts are about to get really interesting tho
and now that we've kinda settled in, hockey is going to start playing a big role!
(it should've from the beginning but i was a little distracted by adam and vera lol)
thank you all so much for reading!! i really appreciate it <3
**not edited
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