Chapter 98 – Necessary Reconciliations – Erica Henson

Nyx was toying with me by revealing herself in the Society of Sister’s ChatCat server. Or at least, that was what I thought. Given some more time to think about it I wasn’t sure of Nyx’s motives at all. Without thinking about it on a logical level it easily felt like this was just a mischievous spirit that enjoyed causing chaos throughout the community at large. It was clear that I wasn’t the only one being manipulated at this point. It surprised me to see the Nyx doll join the ChatCat server, but to her, they were all just more puppets to work with.

Nyx was vague about the plan it presented to the others. It volunteered that the members of the group ‘redecorate’ the school. There was nothing immediately incriminating in what it said, but the deeper implication was obvious. She was egging them to vandalize the school somehow. That would be easier to get away with than the nasty intercom hijacking plan that they had before. Also, not all of the school could be secured in a way that would be easy to keep tabs on this sort of thing. Petty acts of vandalism happened on a regular basis, mostly in the form of graffiti. It didn’t even sound like Nyx had a meaningful endgame planned. The damned doll just wanted to sow chaos.

Finding follow up information on that was virtually impossible. Some of the girls in the video meeting suggested putting up their symbols around the school using graffiti. Others suggested that they should try appropriating the official decorations for the spirit week themselves. These girls really didn’t learn anything from Sofi being made an example of. They were all willing to spread their message and risk suspension. From what I was reading they seemed to think of the idea as something noble, like a form of martyrdom. I decided that I’d keep watching them. If Nyx was involved with them then there had to be deeper meaning to this.

Thursday’s spirit week event was the day before last. This day’s particular event was a special memorial day. This day was meant to commemorate Ms. Logan as well as a few other noteworthy people throughout the community. People brought in pictures of their deceased family members, friends, and pets. All of these images were gathered onto a new temporary display in the cafeteria. We were given an additional hour for lunch to pay our respects and celebrate their memories.

I was afraid that the Society of Sisters would try to vandalize this rare display of humanity at our school. Fortunately they weren’t that deranged, and the SCA had a constant lookout around the display area. It left me wondering if they were planning to do anything at all. Without Sofi, they didn’t have a central leader, just competing voices. Although a few of them agreed with Nyx’s proposal, a lot of them didn’t care one way or the other. Sofi, with the Matriarch behind her, was a major driver for seeing through their plans. Now that they weren’t acting as a singular group with singular goals it was hard to keep track of them. I still believed that they planned to vandalize the school. The question was how.

During my extra time at lunch I decided to explore the school for information. It wasn’t my first time doing something like this, and was how I managed to find Alyssa when she was planning an attempt at arson. All of my walks around the school earlier in the week didn’t turn up anything that might reveal Nyx’s plan. After so much time with no results it really seemed like my suspicions about a lack of a master plan were correct. If there was something going on between members, then they were doing well to hide it.

Feeling disappointed, I decided I’d get some fresh air outside before I went back to the cafeteria. I wanted to check out the graffiti on the backside of the school while I was out there. Maybe there would be some clue or hint since the last time I saw it. If there was new graffiti up that would mean that they were active and that all my wandering wasn’t for nothing. Admittedly, this was more out of a need to prove something to myself rather than looking for conclusive evidence.

That was when I stumbled upon an unexpected and strange scene. There, behind the school, a massive brawl was taking place! I was shocked to be seeing it as it was like suddenly being woken from my idle thoughts and stumbling onto a battlefield. I quickly hid myself behind a corner so that none of the girls fighting had a chance to see me walk onto the scene. There were two large groups of girls fighting in the grass, not far from the courtyard behind the school. I scanned the area for anyone I could recognize and the situation quickly became clear as my eyes swept the combatants.

“Naomi…? A few of her girlfriends…? Sam…?” I whispered to myself, “Black Brittney… Candace… Oh… Oh shit!”

I pulled away from the corner I was hugging and ran back inside. I needed to go back to the cafeteria to warn Valentina. She wouldn’t be happy to see me, as always, but as the student council president and head of the SCA she’d have the influence needed to stop the fighting between the two groups. Could I convince her to look past things for long enough to bring her outside? These days she was usually in the habit of quickly dismissing me before I could get a word out. The only times I could speak to her at length was when Holly was encouraging it. I considered running off to the library to get Holly first, but decided against it. Overcoming this would be necessary if I was going to start rebuilding trust with Val.

I bust through the main cafeteria doors and marched right over to Valentina. She was talking to Jay and a few other members of the SCA. She noticed my dramatic entry and turned towards me when she saw me heading straight for her. She glared intensely, like she wanted to shoot beams into my heart, but I wasn’t deterred. This was the one time that I had a non-personal excuse to approach her. A couple of the SCA girls stepped in front of her as I reached where they were standing.

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“Val!” I said, trying to speak past the two guards that stepped in front of me, “I…”

“Save it,” Val said, “We’ve got nothing to talk about.”

“We do!” I said seriously, “It’s an emergency! You and all the SCA have to come outside with me.”

“Outside…?” She asked, “What are you up to this time?”

“It’s nothing that I did! There’s a fight going on outside and…”

“I don’t care about two strangers fighting outside. We’ve got to keep things under control here. We…”

I rushed between the two SCA girls blocking my way and grabbed hold of Val’s arm. Val was taken aback in surprise. The two girls reached out for me. Val swiped their hands away. Val looked down at me with a grim expression.

“You must’ve lost your mind, Erica.”

“You can punish me for this later.” I said. “Right now, I think Sam needs your help.”

“Sam…?” She asked, finally looking concerned.

“Come with me!” I said, pulling her along.

Val signaled to several of her SCA to follow her. I kept hold of her hand as we rushed out of the cafeteria.

“If this is a lie…” She warned me.

“I know, I know. If I’m lying, you can deal with me however you want.” I said. “If I’m telling the truth, though, I want you to take me seriously from now on.”

She didn’t say anything to that. She just averted her eyes away from mine and followed close behind me.

Soon we were outside and Valentina could see the violence for herself. It looked like Naomi’s group was winning whatever ‘this’ was. Valentina looked stunned and her jaw dropped. Then, after collecting herself, she stepped in front of me and pulled a whistle from underneath her shirt. She blew on the whistle, sending a sharp ring throughout the area and causing the fighting girls to stop to look at her. When the girls saw the SCA lining up beside Val they realized what was happening. They all took this as their chance to flee, all of them darting off in different directions.

“Grab them!” Val said to the members of the SCA, “We need to figure out how this fight started! Leave Sam to me!”

The SCA split up and ran after varying targets. Some of them went after Naomi’s girls on the run. Most of them, however, went to Black Brittney’s girls that were lying on the ground bloody and bruised. Sam was similarly bruised and just now getting back up. When she saw Val heading straight towards her she tried to make a run for it. It was no use. Sam was clearly worn out from fighting and couldn’t gain speed fast enough to escape Val. Val grabbed hold of her and wrestled her to the ground. I ran up behind them just as Val managed to pin Sam down. Sam tried to break free but Val wouldn’t budge.

“Get a grip, Sam! What do you think you’re doing?” Val shouted and looked over at me. “Erica, go get Holly and Lilith. They’re in the library. Jay, go ask the nurse for a first aid kit!”

Jay and I both ran back into the school. We eventually split up as I went off for the library. Lilith and Holly were in the library talking as they were putting away books. They both froze and looked at me when they saw me come in. They must’ve known something was wrong by the look on my face.

“Naomi’s group had a huge fight with Black Brittney’s!” I said. “The SCA put a stop to it and now Val is trying to keep Sam from running off!”

“What?” Holly asked, “Where…?”

“Come with me,” I said.

Holly and Lilith both dropped the books they were holding to follow after me. After all this sprinting I was beginning to feel worn out. Although I wasn’t a couch potato, I wasn’t exactly a great athlete either. Holly realized this and decided we should slow down. I tried to explain a few more details to them now that we were walking at a brisk pace.

Val and Sam met us in one of the empty hallways near the backside of the school. Sam was limping with one arm around Val. Val was supporting her as they walked forward. Sam had a black eye, bruised lip, and her nose was bleeding. Holly rushed over when she saw just how badly Sam was hurt. She put her arms on her shoulders and stopped her in place to look her over. Sam avoided Holly’s worried eyes.

“Sam…” Holly said intensely without further comment.

“I know what you’re going to say, but don’t worry about it.” Sam said. “It’s nothing serious. We just got into a little scrap, that’s all.”

“That was a hell of a lot more than a little scrap,” I said.

Sam gave me an annoyed look, but quickly turned back to staring off into the distance.

“Where’s everyone else that was involved?” Holly asked.

“The SCA caught a few, but they mostly ran off in different directions.” Val said. “Mrs. Pierce showed up just as I was pulling Sam aside. I didn’t want her to realize Sam was involved.”

“Thank you for your consideration.” Sam said sarcastically.

“I didn’t do it for you!” Val snapped, “I did it for the student council’s reputation.”

“Reputation…? Yeah, right… How many times has Holly had to talk you down from ruining that reputation?” Sam asked.

Val pulled away from Sam and Sam returned the gesture.

“It’s one thing to act in the heat of the moment and another to have an organized skirmish!” Val said. “Something tells me this isn’t the first time that this his happened.”

“You didn’t have to go and tell a teacher on us!” Sam said. “Now all of my girlfriends that got left behind are going to be sacrificial lambs.”

“That wasn’t my fault. Erica here caused too much of a scene when she came to get me. It’s no surprised that a teacher followed us.” Val said and waved in my direction.

“Hey, don’t blame me.” I interjected, “It was the only way for me to get you to take me seriously.”

Val folded her arms and turned her focus back to Sam.

“Besides, you shouldn’t be worrying about your ‘girlfriends’. You’re a member of the student council first and foremost!” Val said.

Sam scoffed at this.

“That’s not what…”

“Enough of this!” Holly shouted at the two of them. “That’s enough of that. Let’s not make matters worse by descending into meaningless arguments. We can’t afford to be split against each other again, not after we finally patched up our last misunderstanding.”

“She’s right.” Lilith said. “We’ve got to keep our student council in mind.”

“Tell that to her.” Val said. “She doesn’t even see herself as one of us.”

Sam gave Val a long exasperated sigh.

“Whatever, I’m going home.” Sam said.

Sam immediately started walking in a new direction away from us.

“Sam, wait!” Holly tried.

“Let her go.” Val said. “Give her some time. Maybe the next time we talk to her she’ll have a bit more sense. In the mean time I’ll shake down the few of her girlfriends that we captured.”

Val turned on her heels and headed towards the direction she came from. Holly, Lilith, and I were left standing there in the middle of the hallway.

“That didn’t go like I thought it would.” I admitted.

Lilith and I just looked at Holly, awaiting some sort of response to the situation. Holly was staring at Val’s back as she walked away.

“What now…?” Lilith asked Holly.

“Now we’ll need to learn what Sam and Naomi have been up to recently.” Holly said. “I think Val is right about something here. This has been going on for a while.”