Chapter 97 – An Act of Arson – Holly Hayfield

It took everything that I had for me to not shout at Alyssa right then and there in the hallway. Even my single slap was restrained in terms of the strength I used. Alyssa had become quiet and docile since then, choosing to simply follow me to the library before trying to make excuses again. She must’ve sensed that I wasn’t about to turn her in over this. Rather, I wanted her to understand why this was the wrong way to go about things. She was reasonable enough to understand that she probably deserved the admonishment for doing something like this. That’s why she wasn’t willing to fight my hold on her hand.

When we made it into the library we found Lilith lying on the student council room couch with a book in her lap. She gave me a cursory glance up, probably expecting me, but performed a double-take when she noticed that Alyssa was with me. Alyssa was holding her reddened cheek with one hand and looking down with a dejected expression. Lilith didn’t need to be told to move so that Alyssa could sit down. Lilith simply got up and went over to her normal chair, probably wanting to hear an explanation instead of retreating to the main section of the library. Alyssa sat down on the couch as I gestured her over to it. Soon, Erica came in with a bag of ice for Alyssa’s cheek.

“So,” I said as Erica sat down beside me in Sam’s usual seat, “Tell me now, what do you think you were trying to do?”

She gave me a defiant glare as she held the ice to her cheek.

“Isn’t that obvious?” Alyssa asked.

“Do I need to slap you again?” I asked rhetorically.

She pulled back defensively upon hearing that.

“Is that what happened…?” Lilith asked in surprise.

“Ms. Sampson deserves it!” Alyssa shouted angrily, her voice cracking as it rose, “That bitch made Sofi’s parents go into an irate frenzy by forcing them to meet with her! Sofi won’t even answer my text messages! Honestly, I don’t even know if they’re getting through. Her parents may have taken her phone away for good.”

“Ugh, that sounds like my parents.” Erica said sympathetically. “You still have to admit that Sofi made this bed herself, Alyssa. You can’t go burning down Jackie’s office because Sofi’s house of cards fell down when she got too cocky.”

“That’s what you were planning?” Lilith said at the edge of her seat, “Wow! That’s pretty bold! I would’ve loved to see the look on Ms. Sampson’s face. I bet she’d…”

“Lilith!” I said to cut her off, “We’re not trying to encourage this sort of behavior. Alyssa could’ve hurt someone with the amount of lighter fluid and kindle material she has in that bag. The fire would’ve spread into the main office, and who knows how much more from there.”

“I wouldn’t have let things go that far!” Alyssa said, “I have experience with this sort of thing.”

“Experience…?” I asked, not sure if I wanted to know the answer, “You can’t possibly think you’d get away without serious repercussions, right? There’s a camera near the front door of the office. People witnessed you creeping over towards the front office. Someone would’ve been able to point you out.”

“That’s why I kept the hood up over my face!” Alyssa said. “I took precautions. I’m not stupid! You don’t have to treat me like I’m a little kid!”

“Would you prefer to be treated like a criminal?” I asked immediately, “You tried to commit an act of arson. Don’t pretend like you’re a victim here. Be grateful that Erica and I stopped you before you could go any further.”

Alyssa didn’t respond to that. She just looked away from me with an angry expression on her face. I wasn’t reaching her on an emotional level. Her mind was apparently made up on this and she wasn’t willing to give ideological ground to the tune of moral behavior. No, she clearly didn’t care about the more or legal implications of what she intended to do. Instead, I needed to approach her in a different way.

“Do you really think doing this would make Sofi forgive you?” I asked.

Alyssa turned back to me with an offended look.

“If she doesn’t even have her cell phone right now then how would she even find out? Are you in contact with her at all?” I asked.

“No, but when she comes back to school she’ll…”

Erica cut Alyssa off with a wave of her hand.

“She isn’t scheduled to come back to school for a few weeks.” Erica said. “In that time you’d probably be suspended or expelled if Jackie found out about what you were going to do. Maybe no one saw your face because of your hoodie, but now that I get a good look at it, your bag is pretty distinctive.

Erica paused for a moment to point at the key chains on Alyssa’s bag.

“It has all those charms and cute little key chains attached to it. Seeing as you didn’t remove them beforehand I think it’s safe to assume that you weren’t going to remove them after the fire either. Jackie would’ve eventually figured out by searching for that bag.”

I slapped my hand into my face upon hearing Erica’s explanation. Alyssa went wide-eyed because everything that Erica was saying was completely true. Now that she mentioned it, I remembered seeing Alyssa with this same bag before. This was the same bag that she used on a day-to-day basis for school. Not removing the identifying factors was a pretty amateur thing to overlook for someone that claimed to have experience with this type of thing. Alyssa turned red and sank into her seat now that she considered the fact.

“You should’ve come to us first. Maybe we could’ve come up with something better together.” Lilith said. “The plan you came up with was pretty half-baked.”

“I don’t care.” Alyssa said in a low, rebellious tone, “It was revenge for…”

“For what…?!” I snapped at her, “For Sofi getting tangled up in the Matriarch’s plans even after I told her to keep her distance from the Malorie situation? For Sofi deciding to ignore all our warnings, abandon you outright, and try to hijack the school intercom? Really, Alyssa…? As much as I hate to defend Ms. Sampson on this, was she wrong to step in?”

Tears welled up in Alyssa’s eyes.

“Well what was I supposed to do? Pretend like nothing happen and go on without her? She made up a huge part of my life at this school. I don’t have anyone without the Occult Club. It was the only thing I was invested in here outside of graduating. I can’t join someone else’s group. Not without Sofi…”

I sighed.

“I feel for you, Alyssa. I feel like Sofi ruined your friendship by acting out on her own without good reason. I feel like you didn’t deserve for this to happen to you.” I said to preface my next comments, “That being said, you can’t live your life shouldering your heart on a best friend that may or may not be interested in maintaining ties with you. I speak from bitter experience. There’s nothing worse than being turned on by someone you trusted the most. I’ve been where you are for long enough to say that you aren’t thinking clearly. Instead of declaring revenge for Sofi, you should use this time away from her to explore your other options at this school.”

“You’re telling me to move on?” Alyssa asked with a hint of animosity in her voice.

“I’m telling you to consider your options.” I clarified. “Option one, you get your revenge for Sofi and probably get expelled in the process at the very best. At worse, you’d face criminal charges for arson.”

Alyssa grimaced.

Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

“Option two… you use this chance to make friends aside from Sofi. When we first met properly I thought that Sofi was dependent on you for support. I realize, now, that you two share this codependence. You’re clearly too wrapped up with the idea of Sofi’s approval to function normally. You need to break that dependence on her.”

Alyssa’s face rotated between several emotions as I spoke. She didn’t like what I was saying, but she clearly understood and agreed with it to some extent. It was a hard pill to swallow and she didn’t feel ready. Her dependence on Sofi was straight at the heart of the matter, causing her to act like this. The root of her problem was wrapped around the root of her identity at this school.

Her internal turmoil wasn’t helped by the fact that Lilith and Erica were still sitting on the sidelines. She probably felt like she was a center of attention in a way that she wasn’t used to. She was shrinking into her seat even more and more as all eyes were upon her. Finally, she donned her usual meek expression and looked down at her fidgeting hands. I glanced between Erica and Lilith.

“Lilith, Erica, can you two give Alyssa and I the room? I’d like to talk to her about this privately.”

Erica and Lilith exchanged a quick look between each other as they stood up from their chairs. They shuffled out of the room silently, leaving Alyssa and I alone. Alyssa remained locked in place as the weight of the situation sank in on her. All of the anger and frustration had drained from her face, leaving only grief and melancholy. This was far more akin to her normal self. After seeing her earlier streak of anger I could imagine how she managed to end up at this school. Now that she wasn’t on edge anymore I decided to make this meeting more personal by sitting next to her on the couch.

She flinched nervously when she saw me changing seats. She looked uneasy so I offered her my hand. It wouldn’t have been a big deal to just take her hand and hold it, she didn’t mind it earlier, but this was a symbolic gesture. She took my hand and held it, finally daring to once again meet my gaze. She was a bit like Val in the sense that she was harboring a nasty inner demon. Actually, most of the girls at our school seemed to have something like that inside them. It was just strange to see it in the usually reserved Alyssa.

“I’m sorry if I hurt you earlier. My slap was on impulse, but I’m not going to say that I didn’t mean to.” I said now that we were alone. “When I saw what you were doing, how much you were risking, the fact that you hadn’t come to us first, I let out all my anger at once. The thing is, I didn’t hit you just because you were being stupid. I hit you because you were disregarding the feelings of everyone else.”

“Whose feelings are you talking about?” Alyssa asked. “I don’t think anyone cares if I get suspended or expelled. I don’t know Jenna all that well yet. The only person that would normally care is already suspended and upset with me.”

“What about me?” I asked her, “What about Val? What about Lilith and Erica? You may not see it, but we were just getting to know you after spending time with you these past couple of weeks. It would’ve been nice to use that as a starting ground to become friends in the long term. The fact that you were willing to throw that chance into the fire as well made it seem like you didn’t care about that at all.”

Alyssa’s shoulders slumped and she looked away from me.

“It isn’t like that.” She said. “It’s not that I don’t care. I seriously appreciate everything you all tried to do for me. I’ve been able to come to you ever since this whole thing with the Matriarch started. It’s just that I felt like something was stolen from me and I wanted revenge.”

“You’re out for revenge against the wrong person.” I said. “Ms. Sampson isn’t without her problems and crimes, but she wasn’t the one that took Sofi from you. Yes, she had Sofi suspended, but it was the Matriarch who pushed the first domino. If you wanted to get revenge on anyone then it should’ve been her.”

Alyssa looked back up at me with renewed spirit in her eyes.

“You’re right… She would’ve been a better target… Maybe I…”

I put both of my hands on Alyssa’s hands.

“Now hold on, don’t go burning down her house, Alyssa. That’s not the point I was trying to make here.” I said. “The bottom line is that Sofi already took the fall in this situation. There’s no need for you to go down with her. If Sofi were in her right mind then she wouldn’t want that for you either. I know if I were in her place and one of the student council members were planning an act of revenge for me I wouldn’t want them to go through with it. Ms. Logan actually taught me something important before passing away. I think you need to hear it also.”

Alyssa raised her eyebrows, surprised to hear me bring up Ms. Logan.

“What did she say?” Alyssa asked.

“She encouraged me to try steering my friends on the right path. In a school like this it’s the best thing that I can do for them.” I said. “The student council was never perfect. We all come from broken backgrounds. We were rougher around the edges than we are now. I like to believe that some of my influence has helped guide my friends in the right direction. I think that’s what you tried to do for Sofi. I think that’s what you need someone to do for you right now. We all need someone to help look after us. You’re so used to leaning on your best friend and having her lean on you that her disappearance has broken you. I’m willing to offer you another shoulder to lean on.”

Alyssa’s tense facial expression softened and she let out a soft exhale.

“Are you saying you’re willing to be my friend…? After everything…?” Alyssa asked. “You’ll help me until Sofi gets back?”

“More than that,” I said. “I’ll continue to be here for you even after Sofi gets back. It won’t be just me either. You can talk to any of the members of the student council whenever you need to. They’re all decent people. They’ll help you if you reach out to them, just like you did when Sofi walked out on you. You aren’t as alone as you think you are.”

Alyssa listened and watched me intently. Then she lowered her gaze back to her hands that I was still holding. She considered what I was saying deeply before returning her gaze to mine.

“Wow. That makes me feel a bit better. Although, I don’t know how I can fit in with you girls. You all seem so tight-knit together and fairly outgoing… Me, I’m just…”

Alyssa didn’t finish that sentence. Instead, she just looked off into the distance quietly. I slowly raised my hand and gently touched her cheek. I guided her vision back to me.

“The next spirit week event is an official school overnight. Why don’t you come and join us here in the library? The student council and some of the event committee will be staying the night here. We still have room for more.” I said.

“I…” Alyssa started to say. “I’ll need time to think about it.”

I let Alyssa go after a firm promise of never attempting arson on school property ever again. She agreed that she’d be willing to talk to me again, but didn’t indicate a final decision on my invitation to join us at the school sleepover. I knew she was suffering inside but I didn’t think it would lead her to do something so destructive. She didn’t imagine that the hypothetical fire would rage out of control, but if it did then this situation could be incredibly damning. It was a good thing that I ran into Erica and that we were able to stop her. It gave me a headache to think about what would’ve happened if my conversation with Val had lasted longer and I didn’t come in time to find Erica.

The rest of the casual day event went well. We had our first serious student council meeting in a week and I used the opportunity to explain what Alyssa had planned. Val was pained to hear this but at the same time she was far more sympathetic to Alyssa. Unlike Sofi, Val actually interacted with Alyssa and had time to understand her internal pain. It made it hard for Val to come up with any punishment for her. Instead, she just insisted that everyone within the student council keep a close eye on her. She also shared my goal of making friends with her instead of making an enemy out of her.

So when the night of the school overnight came I was happy to see Alyssa come into the library behind Charlotte and Amy. They, along with several others from the event committee, were invited to stay the night with us in the library. We were all already in our pajamas and making room in the library to make space for sleeping accommodations. This mostly just meant moving tables out of the way and laying out blankets. However, this also meant picking out a place to sleep as we laid our blankets out. The sheets and blankets I brought from home were rolled up in an additional bag I brought with me. I was amongst the firsts to stake a claim on the ground for my sleeping space. Lilith started unrolling her own blankets beside my spot. She gave me a curious look when she noticed me watching her.

“What’s with that look?” Lilith asked. “I thought you’d be happy to have me sleep next to you.”

“I have mixed feelings about it.” I admitted. “You move around a lot in your sleep, you know? I’ve been kicked on more than one occasion.”

“That’s your fault for always sleeping too close to me.” Lilith said. “This will be much easier since it isn’t on a limited bed space.”

“Right…” I said dubiously.

Val laughed at the conversation and started unrolling her blankets on the other side of me. Jay did the same on the other side of Val.

“The fact that you’re aware of her sleeping habits says something.” Val said. “The only time you and I spent the night together was at the hotel. I don’t move much in my sleep. You can cozy up to me if you’re worried about getting kicked by Lilith.”

“I may have to take you up on that.” I said.

“It’s not like I even kick that hard…” Lilith protested.

“Hard enough to give me aching pains early in the morning,” I noted with a slight smile.

I decided to lie down to see how my arrangement felt now that I was all set up. As I was rolling around a bit to try making myself comfortable, Alyssa interrupted me. She placed her own blanket between me and Lilith, forcing us to make room for her. She lied down just beside me and looked at me hopefully. With an expression like that she was probably worried that I’d send her away. I smiled at her.

“Are you sure that’s where you want to sleep?” I asked. “We were just talking about how Lilith kicks around during her sleep.”

“I’m happy here. As long as it’s okay with you, that is?” Alyssa asked.

“That’s perfectly fine. You’ll be my human shield, I guess.”

Alyssa smiled a little.

“I’ve been thinking about what you said and I think you’re right. I need to find my own identity and not bear everything on Sofi. This could be an important period for me.” She said.

“It’ll be for you to decide how this period transforms you.” I said. “I’ve only offered you a potential path to follow.”

“The thing is that I think it’s the perfect path for me. I need to meet more people and overcome my shyness.” Alyssa said. “I’d like to join the event committee, if it isn’t too late.”

I reached out to put a hand on her shoulder.

“It’s never too late to join. Welcome aboard.” I said.