Charlie woke up the next morning with more control. She was no longer upset about being placed on USC's waitlist. Instead, she did what any person could do and just simply wait. After looking at the Michigan's admission page in the library just a few minutes ago, one thing was for sure - she liked the school colors but didn't get the vibe that screamed that this was her school. She'd have to wait till after school to look at Florida's admission page, given that she was still phone-less and had heard an earful from her mother for the very little time that they had together.
She stepped into Ms. Fresca's class to her desk with a straight face. She didn't mind attending school early if it meant seeing Mari and Blake first thing in the morning in their first class but after the switch up, she was restless and impatient. She also wasn't counting on Ava to be her new friend in the morning even after the strange encounter the other day.
Just as she sat in her seat with her bag on her desk, Ms. Fresca motioned her over. Charlie stood up and walked towards her, anticipating it to be about her last test grade which was a C, completely out of her norm.
"Someone turned in this phone this morning. It looks like it's yours," Ms. Fresca said, extending a phone out. Charlie grabbed it and slipped it into her blazer pocket, sighing with relief. "Don't lose it and keep it away, okay?"
Charlie smiled, nodding her head and walking back to her seat. She didn't care who had turned it in; she felt the outline of her phone from the pocket and grinned. So maybe her morning was turning out to be much better than expected now that she had found one of the things she couldn't live without.
After Fresca's, she walked with Stefan to their next class. When Charlie fished her phone out to Stefan as if she had just won the prize, Stefan looked quizzical.
"You found it that quickly?" he asked, suspiciously. "Where was it?"
"Fresca said someone turned it in. I guess I left it there by accident."
"Hm, okay."
She turned towards him, confused. "What?"
"It just seems so easy that you get your phone immediately the next morning."
"You're thinking too much into it," she chuckled, playfully. "Trying to pick up a mystery out of something."
"I'm just saying."
"So, what's your plans for after school?"
"Gonna' help Blake clean out Rudy's garage. I swear he's more like Blake's dad than his brother."
"I mean, he kinda is, though," Charlie said, pointing out that Blake's parents were permanent residents in Canada and had been ages since they'd seen each other.
"If Mari is there, you know what to do."
Stefan snapped his head at her, understanding the very thing Charlie was insisting he'd do. "What, no! Are we still doing that?"
"Yes. Now, pick up the slack. I can't be doing this on our own. The more we mess with their minds, the quicker they'll be to admitting it. It's like we're doing them a favor," she grinned, deviously.
"It's Mari, though! The most I've done are one-liners. Not something that we usually do."
"I believe in your flirting skills, Burley," Charlie winked. The bell had ended their conversations and the friends separated into their second classes.
Ria tapped the end of her pen against the table of the SGA conference room. She read the words over and over again but nothing had clicked. Her mind raced against so many possibilities but in the end, she was left to no avail. She watched Ava finish the last bite of her salad. The room temperature was always much icier than outside causing Ria to jolt in a quick shiver.
"So, anything?" Ava asked, rubbing her hands together over her plate and dabbing a napkin at the corners of her mouth.
"No," Ria murmured, rereading the words. "You have the copy of the diary, right? Anything there?"
"I've just been skimming but I'll probably read the last few entries. Something tells me that this could be the last clue."
"Has... Sam figured it out?"
Ava squinted her eyes in annoyance. "No."
Ria failed to hide her demeaning smile. She knew that there was some relationship between those two regardless of whether Ava would admit it or not. She enjoyed the way Ava writhed uncomfortably in her seat, trying to hold the last ounce of superiority in her. Ria leaned back in her seat and grinned, schemingly.
"So, about Sam. Are you two, a thing?" Ria asked, confidently.
"He's just an accomplice in this, okay?" Ava said, clenching her teeth. The room grew silent and Ava couldn't stop itching her knee in agitation. A single pin could drop on the ground to cut through the shards of silence in that very moment.
"I know what I'm going to do with my share, what are you going to do with yours?" Ria asked, condescendingly.
Ava walked back to her seat from throwing her empty salad box away. She rolled her eyes, irritated, and wheeled her chair to the front, placing her feet onto the long conference table.
"God, I don't know," she lied, knowing very well the money would help pay her father's debts. "You're really up my ass today."
Ria pressed her lips together, clearly offended. "Then why is Sam also getting his share? I hardly see him helping us. Why do you care so much about him, huh?"
"Why Sam is my friend is none of your business," Ava snarled. "In fact, you don't even need to help us, do you? I think I'll be perfectly fine figuring this out on my own."
"Wow," Ria said, humorlessly, "you're going to do the exact thing that Charlie and Mari did. I deserve this money more than anything."
"Whatever, Ria."
Ria slung her bag over one shoulder and stormed out the room into the nearest girl's bathroom. Hot angry tears dared to spill out from the corner of her eyes as she held the side of the sink and stared at her reflection. She examined her appearance, deciphering what exactly it was that made it hard for her to keep just one friend. After Reagan, her best friend, had transferred elsewhere, she looked for her surrogate and was defeated every time.
Her brown eyes were pink from the tears and fury rage that was building inside her. Ava was right; she didn't care about the money so much as the others. All it had represented was something that she had the right to possess because after all, if she hadn't switched topics with Mari in the first place, she would be doing this scavenger hunt on her own and in peace.
She wiped the slow tears with the back of her hand and ran a hand through her dark brown hair. It was time for her to stop feeling belittled and weak, rise to the top, and make Ava feel like utter shit.
"Wrong," Blake said, holding his world culture textbook in hand. Mari groaned, pulling the crook of her elbow over her head.
"Japan?" she squeaked.
"China," he corrected.
She sat up on his bed, frowning. "Ugh what a bish."
"A what?" he arched his eyebrow, shutting the book.
The duo were studying for their world culture exam and like always, Mari was struggling while Blake effortlessly answered each question. She fell back into her bed, refusing to get up.
"A bish."
Blake laughed. "Keep repeating it and I'll know what you mean," he said, sarcastically.
"My mom says I need to stop cursing and be more 'lady-like,'" she air-quoted.
"Let's hear it."
"Shit is shiz, fuck is fudge, and damn is dawn."
Blake sat on the edge of the bed and grabbed her feet. His hands kneaded against the bottom of her foot and she sighed in relaxation from the impromptu foot massage.
"Why not dang?" Blake wondered.
"Because she says it's too close to the meaning of damn, therefore dawn it is," she explained. He chuckled and moved closer, nearly hovering over her. He pressed his cheeks against hers, and wrapped his arms around her small waist. A soft giggle slipped from her lips and they rolled all over the bed with soft butterfly kisses. It wasn't until Mari sat on top and crossed her arms down, gripping onto the hem of her shirt that Blake's eyes widened with envy.
She tossed her shirt off to the ground and leaned into kiss him. They continued feeling each other, peeling his shirt off as well, until one of them heard a crackling noise from downstairs. He lifted his head up, pausing and willing his ear to extend to as far as he could to hear what that noise could be.
"Yo, where you at?" Stefan hollered from the garage.
Mari and Blake snapped their heads at one another, eyes alert and big with horror. They immediately scrambled off the beds, throwing their shirts back on. She sat on the bed, grabbing the textbook that was laying on the table beside them onto her lap and casually flipping through the pages while her heart continued pounding. Blake sat on the table, browsing through his laptop when Stefan stepped inside.
"There you— oh, hey Mar! What's up?"
Mari looked up and smiled. "Hey! We're just studying for a test we've got tomorrow."
"Did you forget that Rudy asked us to clean the garage?" Stefan asked Blake, slyly.
Blake shook his head, guiltily. "Crap, I completely forgot. Let's do it after food. I'm kinda' hungry."
"I'd like a turkey sandwich and Mar?" Stefan asked, pointing at her quizzically, "she'll probably get the chipotle chicken, right?"
"You know me so well," she applauded.
Blake rolled his eyes. "Fine, I'll be back with your food, your highnesses."
He grabbed his keys and walked out the room while Stefan sneered. It wasn't until he realized that he was alone with Mari that he lingered by the walls awkwardly. Charlie's words of flirting and playing along was stamped into his brain and every time he saw Mari after that, he wasn't sure whether to do it or not. But once he noticed that Mari's tag was out from behind, the devil in him spoke.
"So, your shirt is inside out," he commented with a hint of tease. Mari glanced down, noticing the obvious stitches and feeling the tag behind her neck. She struggled to hold a casual face, nervously laughing. "It's okay. It happens to the best of us. You can change, though. I don't mind," he smirked.
Mari's face was astonished to say the least before it melted into a half-hearted smile.
"You boys are always at it!" she exclaimed.
"Just for you, babe," Stefan responded and he knew that it would be easier to play along once he imagined him talking to Charlie and not Mari. "So," he said, huskily, walking over to the edge of the bed. "Comfortable?"
Mari missed the connotation of his words and just shrugged her shoulders before looking down at her textbook. "I'm not ready for this test at all."
"You can practice on me," he offered.
"You're not even taking world culture," she frowned. "I should have taken this last year like you and Dustin."
"Just draw the world on me and you can explore my culture," he smiled, deviously but in that moment, his head was screaming at what he was saying. It was Mari of all people, the sweetest girl he's ever known. Charlie owed him big time for making him feel like a jerk who thought between his legs.
Mari gasped inaudibly and averted eye contact and Stefan decided it was time to step back. It was easier for a girl to flirt with a guy not the other way around, as he had just experienced. He sat on Blake's window sill and waited for his car to arrive any moment and save him and Mari from this cringing situation. His eyes caught the sight of an old maroon sedan parked across the house by the curb. He had seen that car before for the past two weeks. Either that make and model was far too common around him or something just didn't seem quite right.
"Mari, has that car been here before?" he asked. She leaned over, completely forgetting their weird encounter just a few minutes ago, and followed Stefan's gaze. She noticed it, too.
"It parked when I got here. It's kinda' strange but I've seen that car around me before."
"Me too!" Stefan agreed. "It's gotta' be a coincidence, right?"
Just then, Mari's phone vibrated. She glanced down at her phone and smiled.
"What she say?" Stefan asked, noticing Charlie's name on her phone.
"Just that she's bored and home alone. I'm glad that she's alright about the whole USC thing. That girl can't handle a lot of bad news or she breaks," Mari explained, knowing her best friend so well.
"Let's hope there's nothing that breaks her," Stefan said, lightheartedly. "Alright, where's Blake? I'm starving."