Chapter Text
Something fishy was going on.
In any other situation, it would be a dream come true to be left alone by your bullies. Unfortunately, it just managed to make me more paranoid. It would happen, occasionally, that they'd leave me alone for a bit in preparation for a more major ‘prank’.
Though I couldn't quite tell why it was, this didn't seem to be that. You could never be sure, though, so I remained vigilant.
The first and most obvious clue was this: Sophia hadn't come to school for a couple of days. It wasn't too uncommon for her to skip, but being gone for days at a time was unheard of. I hadn't overheard there being any consensus as to why, but then again people were a bit hesitant to talk about Sophia behind her back.
Clue number two, not as obvious but no less glaring: Emma was looking at me strangely. Now, obviously, she never looked at me in a good way. It was always anger or schadenfreude or superiority or something else equally shitty. Certainly, the look she was currently giving me, as I sat opposite the classroom from her, still contained anger at the very least. Poetically, I might call it cold fury.
No, the strange thing was that any time I'd peek over at her out of some morbid curiosity, Emma would look away. Not just casually, either. The movements were almost too fast, too much like she'd been caught doing something. I didn't think anyone else noticed, because most people hadn't had a long and arduous course in Safety 101: Reading Emma's Microexpressions.
There was also this odd way her lips would twitch in that brief moment our eyes met. This strange twinge of her eyes. I wouldn't have recognized it had I not seen it on my dad's face frequently the past few years. Regret. Which was probably the last thing I'd expect to see on Emma's face. The only thing I could think of that made sense was that her and Sophia had had some sort of falling out. But why was she looking at me weirdly?
Maybe I reminded her of Sophia, since they seemed to bond over fucking my life up. Which would just be absolutely hilarious; which is to say it would fucking suck.
Thankfully, I was uniquely positioned to gather intel on whatever the hell was going on. Local omniscience plus Thinker support equals an open book in the form of Emma Barnes.
Not that I'd actually ask Lisa for help unless I found something really genuinely dire, but still. Option was available, as she so often liked to tell me.
When class rung out I hustled, as usual, to the least occupied bathroom. The good thing about having a live-updated heat map of activity in the school was I could always tell which one was my best shot. I ducked away into an often unlocked staff bathroom and actually locked it behind me. It had been a minor godsend when I discovered it, and my power helped immensely with accessing it. Knowing where people were at all times, surprisingly, helped with stealth.
As I got to work eating, my myriad eyes and ears turned to Emma, who was on the roof with Madison. It wasn't too common they went up there, but it was the most private place in school since it seemed somehow they had the only key or something.
To begin with, they only talked about the same shit as usual, which was wholly and completely uninteresting to me. They weren't a rival gang, so I didn't bother the slightest with searching for some hidden meaning in their words — it was all genuinely inane bullshit.
After a few minutes of that, though, things got interesting. Madison put her food down, and turned bodily towards Emma. Confrontational.
She said; “Okay, no, seriously. What the fuck is going on? Sophia's not here, and you're acting like something's crawled up your ass.” Then she said, like one would say to a kid who's given up on their favorite toy; “You haven't even done anything to Taylor for days! You love fucking with Taylor.”
Madison gestured as though plaintively handing the toy — me — back to her.
Emma, on the other hand, almost fucking flinched at the mention of Sophia and, worst of all, at the mention of me.
“See! What's that about?” Madison continued, proving herself more observant than I'd have given her credit for.
No-longer having to hide that there was something to hide, Emma let out a low, wailing groan and dropped her face into her hands. One reached out to paw weakly at Madison, who obligingly took her hand. It made me a little sick to see Emma acting like a normal girl.
“I fucked up,” mumbled Emma through her hand.
“With Sophia? She's like the fuckup, I think that kinda thing comes with her— Uh.” She glanced around the roof. “With her territory.”
“Not that,” Emma mewled, like a kicked cat. Really, she was the one dragging it out.
The other girl shook her hand with frustration, and bounced a little on the spot. “Then what? Spill, I smell dyke drama.”
What?
‘Dyke drama’ from Emma, the girl who bullied me relentlessly about being gay for no other reason than that she felt like it.
She said, as though it made any fucking sense; “I said the wrong name.”
A truly impressive cackle burst out of Madison, which caused Emma to aggressively retract her hand and place it once again on her face.
Said the wrong name when? And why did that matter?
Wiping the tears from her eyes, Madison seemed to eventually calm down. She wheezed, and took a deep breath, and sighed it out all pleased-like.
“So what? She's a big girl, she'll get over it,” she declared, patting Emma on the back. Madison then fidgeted, and an energy buildup seemed to force its way out in the form of words. “Who was it?”
The timing of when she said the wrong name clicked in some small back-end part of my brain when Emma refused to elaborate. I couldn't really believe it, didn't really want to.
“Girl this isn't even your first fight,” Madison continued. “She reacted bad enough she's not coming to school, though, so you must have really fucked it, huh? If it was literally anyone other than you and her I'd think you said like some Empire kid. I could see you moaning Sunny! I mean, she's hot, but ew.”
What the fuck?
“I'm pretty sure Sunny's gay,” Emma mumbled.
She waved her off. “Pshaw, you can be gay and Empire, just look at Rune.”
“I hate you,” said Emma without any heat.
Madison said; “Who was it, Ems? You literally have to tell me.”
Emma shook her head like a petulant child. Her friend sighed, and tapped a finger to her chin in thought.
“So, you said the wrong name during sex, okay,” said Madison, sounding eerily like Lisa did when setting up for a deduction spree. “It was bad. Bad enough that she's not showed for a few days. She's not answering your texts? No? Damn, okay, really bad. We've ruled out Empire, it wouldn't be Grue…”
Again, what the fuck?
Madison continued, to Emma's increasing agitation; “A girl, definitely — gay-ass — who goes to our school. A girl who— I—”
She seemed to reach a conclusion, but stumbled over it like an olympian fucking up the last hurdle in the race.
Emma hissed; “Shut up. No.”
But Madison didn't relent. “No, hold on! Oh my god!!” She fought off Emma's hands as the girl tried to silence her.
“Mads! Madison! Shut the fuck up!” she hissed again, quietly, angrily.
“You—!” Madison almost yelled it, but seemed to catch herself. She smiled, wide and wicked, and leaned in close to Emma who was glaring intensely at her.
Every bug I had nearby did literally nothing but listen. They stopped flapping wings, they stopped scurrying about, they almost stopped breathing.
The girl leaned in close to my tormentor, to the girl who had been so dear to me, and she whispered; “You said Taylor Hebert's name during sex!”
I would have rather died than have Emma confirm that declaration, but she didn't say a thing, and that was really answer enough.
Almost meditatively, I got up from my spot crouched in the staff bathroom, and then I just walked home.
She said my name during sex?