After being cornered by Crista’s questions, the two did at least let themselves admit that they had had sex at that party, three years ago, and that Cassie was the one who caught them; therefore starting the horrible rumor mill that had been their lives for the last three years. But they also stressed that because of that night, it definitely made them wary of doing much else with each other since then. And lastly, they still did not admit anything about having any witch-like abilities. That was just too much truth to risk, even with their only friend.
That afternoon after school, Cassie’s and Crista’s parents had left the two girls in Cassie’s hospital room as they went to get something to eat in the hospital cafeteria. Cassie was entering her second hour of attempting to squeeze a small rubber ball with her hand as Crista yawned and looked down at her phone for the fortieth time or so in those two hours.
“So sorry my road to recovery after three long years is boring you” Cassie told her sister smartly.
“I didn’t say anything” Crista mumbled, though had to suppress another yawn.
“Well maybe you should” Cassie told her bitterly as she tried once more to squeeze that ball which had become her nemesis over the last two days.
“What are you talking about now?” Crista scoffed, though still didn’t look up from her phone.
“Like maybe an apology” Cassie bit back.
That did cause Crista to look back at her older sister, “for what? Yawning?” she scoffed again.
“No for trying to even be friends with the fucking degenerate freaks who did this to me!” Cassie bit back.
Crista just scoffed again, “when are you gonna get it through your head? They’re not really brother and sister. Even their damn parents say so. You think their mom and dad are trying to cover for their kids having sex? Please. They don’t even know the two of them had sex” Crista shook her head as she looked at the phone again.
“You seem to know a lot about it though. Proving what I said about you having the audacity to even try to be friends with the people who ruined my life!” Cassie continued angrily.
“Well, you did ruin their lives right back” Crista mumbled.
That was when Cassie scoffed, “last time I saw them, I didn’t notice either of them in any spike and leather covered wheelchairs.”
“Yeah, did you notice the scars on their wrists though? I’d say that’s pretty unbecoming too” Crista retorted, proving that even this world’s Star and Sky had been more than ready to give up their own lives at least at some point in this world as well; just like Sky had been in the other world, and eventually Star too.
“Just a shame their little Romeo and Juliet routine didn’t end the same way as the play” Cassie growled.
“You are such a fucking bitch Cassie” Crista returned with her own anger, “you’re actually sitting here saying that they deserve to be dead, just because Sky didn’t wanna fuck you? Do you fucking hear yourself?”
“Oh believe me, this is about a lot more than Sky wanting to fuck his own sister instead of me. Have you noticed the fucking wheelchair?” Cassie bit back.
“Not his sister” Crista mumbled angrily again as she forced her eyes back down to her phone again.
That was when Cassie gave Crista another angry look of disbelief, “please don’t tell me that you’re fucking him too now. He does have a thing for fourteen year olds who try to look like corpses. At least you’re not his sister though, right?” Cassie scoffed.
Crista glared back at Cassie then before responding, “maybe they should be trying to use their witchy ways to just fucking finish you off, instead of trying to make you better” and with that Crista stormed out of the room, leaving her sister with that rather ominous statement.
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The following weekend, Connor and Brie decided it was time to drag their two seventeen year old wards off to visit some nearby campuses in the area since it was indeed their senior year. Much to the chagrin of the teens, their parents decided it would allow them to cover more bases if Brie took Star to visit a few schools, and Connor took Sky. The times the two of them were not together were so rare that it almost felt like they were trying to breathe a different kind of air when they were separated. It was beyond a foreign situation for them to find themselves in, even if they didn’t have the added bonus of being under the one on one scrutiny of a parental figure for nearly an entire weekend.
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
Connor had gone into one of the cafes near the campus they were visiting that Saturday morning while Sky waited at one of the tables outside. He was checking his phone to see how Star was faring that day when he heard a young woman’s voice, “Sky Vargas?” she smiled over at him from where she had now appeared outside the cafe with a coffee that had much too fancy a name for anyone to even remember.
Sky looked up at her, a bit perplexed for a moment. His first thought was that she must have been someone he knew from the club, considering her light purple frosted hair, dark makeup, ripped fishnet gloves, black bustier, and tight leather pants. His breath catching slightly at her appearance, he tried desperately to recall if he should be remembering some intimate moments the two may have shared in years past. However, he didn’t recall he and Star ever sharing their surnames with any of their club friends, aside from when they were living with the four college students that summer, in that other reality.
“You don’t remember me, do you?” she teased with an awkward smile.
“Sorry...I...” he just shook his head as his eyes traveled over her again, trying not to look as though he were appreciating her appearance too openly.
“Imagine me as a blonde with pom poms” she teased.
Sky narrowed his eyes for a minute, then suddenly recalled where he had known her from, even if it was in a different world at the time, “Raina? Raina....Chapman?” he struggled a minute to call her name back to memory as he hadn’t seen her since the last week he was in school back in that other world, before he and Star were locked up in a lab for the next three years.
“Yeah, I’ve changed a bit” she chuckled.
“I guess college has been rough” he returned as he allowed a small smile.
“Something like that” she agreed as she took a seat in the chair next to his, “plus I admit I never really went outta my way to talk to you.”
“Well your pom poms did clash with my eyeliner” he smirked.
“To say the least” she chuckled again. She then added, “plus, with all the rumors, it was a bit difficult to justify speaking to you in front of all the wonderful friends I kept in high school” she admitted with an almost apologetic tone.
“Yes, those lovely rumors” he sighed heavily, just then recalling that he may remember her from the other world as just one of those girls, but she remembered him from this world as the freak who screwed his sister.
“So, I’m guessing the rumors have not died down, judging by your expression” she added, looking over his own appearance as he turned his dark eyes downwards.
“Three years and counting” Sky mumbled as he tried to keep his attention on his phone to hide the pain of what still felt like only a week ago to him.
“Well, now that I’m not a cheerleader a year ahead of you in school, and you might be coming here, I guess I should finally just ask” Raina replied as she bit her black-stained lip.
“Do I even wanna know what you wanna ask?” Sky dared as he gave her a wary sideways glance.
“So, is she or isn’t she?” Raina bravely asked.
“Pardon?”
“Your sister, is she or isn’t she your sister?” she repeated more quietly.
“Only by law” he admitted with a shake of his head.
“And did you or didn’t you?” she added with more bravery.
“Dare I ask you to clarify that one too?” he allowed a slightly nervous laugh.
“Come on, if she’s not actually your sister” Raina coaxed, “did you two or didn’t you?”
Sky was then the one biting his lip as he averted his eyes again, “well she isn’t actually my sister” he admitted. After all, they had already admitted that truth to one other person that week.
“Wow” Raina shook her head but smiled, “I at least feel better knowing that she’s not your sister now. But I guess I feel worse about the way my friends, and everyone else, treated you guys, considering” she added more quietly as her eyes turned to the scar on his wrist.
Sky’s gaze followed hers to that faded scar now, as though just remembering it himself. He never even noticed that he still had that scar in this world since he was already so used to it just being part of him. But as it occurred to him that he honestly shouldn’t have it in this world, but he still did; that was a more than unnerving thought.
“Sky?” she asked, noticing his sudden unease.
“Yeah, um, just haven’t thought about that in a while” he managed, taking a deep breath as he readjusted the multiple bracelets he wore over his wrist.
“The scandal that year though. First Cassie falls off a cliff and gets paralyzed, and then all the rumors, and then when you and Star both ended up in the hospital a few weeks later” she shook her head sadly, “wasn’t a boring year at least... in a very bad way” she added.
“Star?” he asked.
“Yeah, that is your sister... well not sister’s name, right?”
“Uh, yeah” he said, trying to cover his own panic at her implication that Star had tried to kill herself in this world as well. He hadn’t noticed a scar on Star, but then again, she usually had long gloves or multiple bracelets or long sleeved jackets on; and when he had her out of her clothes, he honestly paid much more attention to parts of her other than her wrist.
“Sky and Star, that’s pretty cute” Raina smiled, “and your names too” she allowed that mild flirtation.
“Well that was our mom’s little...” he then bit back his first thought, “idea.” he decided on.
“It’s so weird, hearing you say our mom, even though she’s not really your sister” Raina smiled back again.
“Well, Brie and Connor are still technically our parents” he shrugged.
“So how are things with you and Star now?” she couldn’t help asking.
That caused him to quickly look back, “meaning?”
Raina blushed slightly, “I mean, you said the two of you had sex. Then a few weeks later you both tried to...” she shook her head, “and with the rumors still going strong; just wondered how things are between you two now. Are you guys ok?” she asked softly.
Sky couldn’t help a small sound of disbelief at her question, before finding his voice again, though it was choked with emotion, “I think that’s the first time, in seventeen years, anyone has ever actually asked either of us that.”