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< Lacrossing Over | HighSchoolOfShadows | Trapped In The Closet, Chapter 2 >

<Mese> A hunting ground.

<Mese> Intoxicating scents hang heavy in the dusk of the evening. Predator and prey square up in pairs, to execute their grim transaction. A smile, a laugh, a touch. All weapons in the game...

<Mese> ...of coffee.

<Mese> Cole and Ophelia sit at a window table. Helena sits at the next along, by herself. Laetitia enters.

Cole sips at her coffee rather disinterestedly, showing Ophelia some of her poster ideas.

Laetitia orders her usual - double espresso with a shot of black cherry, and takes a seat by Helena. She's gone out of her way to look accessible - her hair's in a tousled braid, her sweater nondescript but welcomingly clinging. "Helena, fancy seeing you here!"

ophelia looks at the posters, trying to be polite, but she is clearly preoccupied and still rattled from her earlier 'outburst'

<ophelia> "I think that one's the best," she points at the one second from the left

<Cole> "...that's not a poster, the marker just bled through."

ophelia flushes and looks at it again

<Cole> "It's all right. Do you want some coffee or something? You seem a little tired."

<ophelia> "Well I guess I like abstracts."

<Cole> "Sure. You've always been the artsy one."

<ophelia> "Um yeah... coffee. That sounds good." Ophelia pulls her long dark hair around over her shoulder and starts to braid it nervously. She finds a leaf stuck in it.

Cole glances at her, then gets up and heads over to the line, nodding to Helena as she passes.

Helena smiles awkwardly at Cole.

<Helena> "So... sorry I'm late. How are the posters going?"

ophelia peels the leaf out of her hair and flicks it under the table once Cole is gone. Then she tries to focus on the posters, taking a pencil out of her purse and sketching another one on the back of the 'abstract.'

<Cole> "Oh, we were just picking out which ones we wanted to do. Ashley and Ping are supposed to come help too."

<Helena> "Hi Laetitia, I was told there was pizza."

Cole smiles to Laetitia, since she's at the table and all.

<Cole> "There's gonna be pizza."

<Cole> "Gotta work first."

<Laetitia> "Cole, you think of everything. I brought glitter!"

Laetitia digs some brightly colored jars out of her capacious purse and deposits them on the table. "Excuse me for a sec, I have to do a thing."

Cole pauses. "Oh. Were you gonna help us with posters also?"

Laetitia has vanished before Cole can reply. She heads over to the bar and sidles up to a scruffy young man leaning over a volume of Greek verse. "Hesoid, huh?"

<Mese> "Oh. Yes! Hi." says the man.

<Mese> He smiles, bashfully.

Laetitia glances at his notes. "It's pretty funny, right? He spends all this time composing intricate verses about the virtues of honest labor?"

Laetitia giggles and bats her eyelashes in an obvious fashion.

<Mese> "Uh.. yeah. I don't think I got to that bit yet..."

Laetitia sits down in his lap. It is easy because she is small. "Well, let me explain..." She holds the book up close to their faces and points out relevant passages.

<Mese> The dude blushes crimson. "A..are you making a pass at me?"

Laetitia raises one perfectly plucked eyebrow. "Want to take a little walk with me and find out?"

<Mese> "Oh. Oh wow... oh..."

<Mese> "Sorry I.. this has never happened to me before."

<Laetitia> "Really? Howcome? You have such cute little ears."

Laetitia nibbles on one suggestively.

Cole raises an eyebrow as she observes that, then comes back with Ophelia's coffee and hands it to her, before glancing through the jars of glitter.

<Mese> The dude drops his book, grabs his coffee, puts his coffee back down, and then lets his hand drop to his sides. "Oh... wow. Uh.. yeah let's get out of here."

<Mese> He says this way too loud.

<Laetitia> "Great idea."

<Mese> He kinda backs off and falls over his own stool.

Helena leans over Ophelia across the table, brushing against her. "So which poster are we doing? I like that one over there."

Laetitia drags him out the door.

<Mese> Many of the patrons watch the couple go, some laughing a little to themselves.

<ophelia> Ophelia does not look pleased by the addition of glitter to their repetoire. "Uh I think we're going to do a couple."

Cole looks at Ophelia's drawing. "Hmm."

<Cole> "That's not bad."

Laetitia comes back a short time later looking very annoyed, carefully rebraiding her hair. She leans over Ophelia's seat. "I like this one."

<Mese> ***SUSPEND PREVIOUS LINE***

<ophelia> "Thanks, Cole," Ophelia says, (SINCE LAETITIA DIDNT SAY THAT)

Laetitia smiles at the young man, baring her teeth a little. They glint in the moonlight. "You look good enough to eat."

<Mese> "Haha, wow, I have never hear that before.."

<Laetitia> "I'll tell you something else you've never heard before."

Laetitia locks eyes with him.

Cole pulls out the construction paper and whatnot, and passes it around.

<Laetitia> "You are going to let me drink your blood. Then you're going to tell all your friends that you made a pass at me in a cafe and I slapped you."

<Mese> He nods slowly. "Yes, that is reasonable."

<Mese> He bares his neck, smiling dumbly.

Laetitia takes a long, warm, refreshing drink.

ophelia copies her sketch onto another couple of pieces of paper and hands them to the people who had liked her design.

<Cole> "What do you think, Helena?"

<Helena> "I think it looks good. Right?"

<Mese> Afterward, the dude blinks a bit. He has two obvious bite marks on his neck. He recovers his focus and then says: "...woah, uh, sorry. Hey. I mean. I must have read you... wrong."

<Laetitia> "Just don't talk to me again."

Laetitia heads back into the cafe, rebraiding her hair and looking annoyed. "Hey, nice work, Ophelia!" There is a red smudge on her lips.

<Mese> "Yeah, sure.... I'm going to go and see my friends now." He wanders off, clutching his not-actually slapped face, oblivious to the slight leakage from his neck.

Laetitia wonders if the kid is going to put a bandaid on that.

<Mese> The door opens and Ashley enters.

<Mese> She's clearly gone home and changed since school; now there's lip gloss, earrings, a cuter sweater with a deeper neckline.

<Mese> She glances nervously at Cole, but she smiles broadly when she sees that Helena is here.

<Helena> "Hey, you."

<Mese> "Hey," she says, and leans in for a kiss on the cheek.

<Cole> "Hey, Ashley. Pull up a chair."

<ophelia> "Uh thanks. You got a little..." she points to her own mouth.

Helena nibbles on Ashley's earlobe.

<Cole> "Thanks for the glitter, Laetitia."

<Mese> "Hey Cole. Uh... I heard Julie is gonna be okay... it was a clean break, she says." She isn't sure where to look.

<Cole> "Oh, good. I was worried."

<Mese> She giggles as her earlobe gets nibbled, but puts her hand to her mouth.

<Helena> "Such a rare thing nowadays, a clean break..."

ophelia keeps her section of table clear of glitter, and uses markers and pens, creating shading with a layering and crosshatching technique she'd worked on last year in Art class

<Mese> "She's.... hee! She's gonna haveta... wear a cast for a few months though." She frowns. "Did you uh... get in trouble?"

<Mese> (No teacher had approached Cole about it... yet.)

Cole draws with neat, sharp lines, working quickly and efficiently, although her work is a little cold.

<Cole> "Not yet. I mean, it was just accident. Something must've been wrong with her arm, right? All I did was grab her, I couldn't have hurt her that badly."

<Cole> "I hope whatever she has isn't too bad, though."

<Mese> "...yeah." she says, clearly uncertain. "Anyway she kinda doesn't want to talk to me any more. She uh..."

<Mese> "She doesn't... approve."

<Mese> She looks crestfallen.

Cole smiles. "Well, I wouldn't worry about that if I were you."

<Cole> "You can hang out with Helena and me."

<Cole> "And Ophelia."

<ophelia> "That's not very nice of her," she says, looking between the two girls and their obvious affection for eachother

<ophelia> "What is she, 'phobic or something?"

<Mese> Ashley nods, and turns to Helena, and whispers in her ear: "We still need to talk.."

<Helena> "Um... okay."

<Helena> "Here? Now??"

<Mese> "Julie's.... Julie." Ashley says, to the table. She clearly doesn't want to talk about it. "Me and Helena are gonna go outside for second okay?"

<Cole> "Okay."

<Cole> "Okay, Helena?"

<Mese> "C'mon, Helena..."

<Helena> "Be back, guys... I guess.

Helena follows Ashley out the door.

<Mese> Ashley leads Helena around the side of the building, and once they are mostly out of eyeshot from the street and the cafe, she lunges right in for a kiss.

Helena kisses back.

<Helena> 'So, is this all you wanted to get me alone for? I thought something was wrong.'

<Mese> "You have no idea how long I have wanted to do that." she breathes.

<ophelia> "So that was weird."

<Mese> Ashley brushes her hand through her hair. "So..." She smiles, nervous. "I've... never done this before. I... like you. A lot."

ophelia continues coloring her poster, looking down to notice the eyes she'd drawn on Cole's face are the wrong color.

<Helena> "Really?"

<Helena> "I've never done this either."

<Mese> She smiles. "That's okay." She seem to be waiting for something.

<Cole> "Apparently this coffee shop is a happening place."

<ophelia> "Well where else are people gonna go?" She shrugs

<Helena> "So..."

<Mese> "So.. do you like me?" she says.

<Helena> "What is the deal with you and Julie? Is she jealous?"

<Helena> "Sure. You're great."

<Mese> "Can we not talk about Julie, god!"

<Mese> "I mean, do you LIKE ME like me."

<Helena> "What do you mean? I said I liked you."

<Mese> She sighs. "I want to be your girlfriend, Helena. Do you want to be mine?"

<Mese> "Like, dating."

<Mese> "Are we dating?"

<Mese> "Tell me what this is!"

<Helena> "I don't know what this is. I don't know what I want."

<Mese> Ashley looks stricken.

<Mese> "But you want to kiss me, right? You like that?"

<Helena> "Yeah. Of course."

<Helena> "Maybe we should just have fun."

<Mese> "Fun? So what, this is a game for you? Don't PLAY WITH ME!"

<Mese> She starts crying.

<Mese> "Do you have any idea how hard this is for me? DO you have any fucking idea?"

<Helena> "No, what do you mean?"

<Mese> "Are you dense? I'm losing my best friend over this fucking game of yours!"

<Helena> "She's a horrible person. Why do you even care about her?"

<Mese> "Because she cares about me, and apparently you don't!"

<Cole> "Geez, they're taking forever out there. Do you wanna go see what's going on?"

<Helena> "I told you I like you, I just want to experience everything I can."

<Mese> "Oh, it's a fucking EXPERIMENT, I get it. Well I hope you had fun with my feelings, bitch!"

<Helena> "How dare you..."

Helena tackles Ashley.

<ophelia> "Uh they're probably making out or something. Do you really wanna see THAT?"

<Mese> Ashley gets knocked, hard, into the wall of the alley. She screams out. "You bitch! You bitch..." She just cries, great hacking sobs, as she squats in the garbage, bleeding a little from her scalp.

<Helena> "Oh god, I'm so sorry... I didn't..."

<Mese> "Get away from me! GET THE FUCK AWAY!"

<Mese> Helena runs heedlessly out of the allet and down the street... where she runs smack into a police officer.

<Mese> "Ooof! Hey, slow down! Are you the girl that was screaming? Can you tell me what happened?"

<Helena> "Oh, thank god you're here, Officer. There was a horrible boy with tiny ears, and I think he attacked my friend..."

Helena leans forward and breathes deeply, pointing her cleavage at the man.

<Helena> "You've got to help us."

<Mese> The cop smiles and flexes slightly. "Of course, I'll help you. Where's your friend? We should get her safe first."

<Helena> "She's in the cafe."

<Mese> "Is she hurt? I can call an ambulance."

<Helena> "She's just shaken, come this way."

Helena leads the officer into the building.

Cole looks up, seeing Helena coming back in with a cop, and frowns.

<Helena> "Laetitia, this gentleman heard about your problem with that creep, outside earlier, and he's here to help."

<Mese> "Officer Mahoney." he says, flashing a badge. "Here to help. Do you have a description of this boy?"

Laetitia looks up at the police officer examiningly. "Nice to meet you, Officer Mahoney."

<Helena> "I'm going to take a look around, see if anybody else has seen anything."

Helena heads back outside.

<Mese> Officer Mahoney assumes his best professsional frown. He turns to Laetitia. "I am sorry this happened to you. So there was screaming a moment ago, that was you?"

Laetitia shakes her head. "No, there was a young man who was a little too grabby, but he didn't seem dangerous, and eventually he did back off. I'd be surprised if the screaming had anything to do with him. He was reading -Hesiod.-"

Laetitia says it like that is an indication of an extremely effete character.

<Mese> "Oh... so you weren't doing the screaming? I heard screaming. Is it possible someone else has gotten hurt?"

<Mese> He looks around. "Are these all your friends? Is anyone missing?"

<Mese> He looks over the whole group: Ophelia, Cole, Laetitia.

Laetitia widens her eyes theatrically. "Why, yes! I heard there were some shady characters slinking around...can you take a look around for me? To make sure we're safe?"

Laetitia leans forward and takes a deep, gasping breath.

<Mese> He frowns, deeply. "Are you all messing me around? This is important, someone could still be in danger!"

<Mese> "If I discover you have misled me at all, you could all be complicit in a crime."

<Mese> "So tell me, who screamed? Or do I have to search the whole area?"

Laetitia glances around. Where did Helena go?

<Laetitia> "I don't mean to tell you your business, Officer, but the alley beside the cafe is a pretty sketchy place. Maybe the scream came from th---hey, where did Ashley go?"

Cole inwardly rolls her eyes.

<Mese> "Alley, Ashley. Right."

<Cole> "Ophelia and I were just working on these poster, sir."

<Mese> "You all need to stay here, please."

<Cole> "I'm running for class president."

<Cole> "We didn't see any of the stuff they're talking about."

<Mese> "That's nice, but I may need a statement from you anyway." he says, getting up to go. "And its best if you stay where there are people, if this assailant is still at large."

<Mese> He goes to the door, to go for the alley....

Laetitia prods her espresso. Just about body temperature now. Splendid.

<Cole> "Actually, sir, unless you're putting us under arrest, you can't tell us to stay here."

<Mese> "Hrm. A lawyer, huh? Well I'm not telling you, I'm asking, okay?"

<ophelia> "What the hell is going on?" Ophelia mutters.

<Cole> "All right."

<Mese> The officer exits the cafe and heads to the alley.

<Mese> Inside the cafe, there is a moment of silence.

Cole sighs, and keeps coloring.

<Cole> "Maybe you should go home, Ophelia. You don't want to deal with this."

ophelia shrugs, and since Cole's continuing with her posters, she does too. "Deal with what? I don't even know what's going on."

<Mese> Out of the corner of her eye, reflected in the liquid of a coffee cup, Ophelia sees the Queen smile at her for a moment.

<Cole> "I don't either, but the cops are involved."

<ophelia> "I didn't do anything wrong," she protests, nervously staring at the coffee.

<ophelia> "I don't even have any... uh... stuff on me anymore." /not since the night you died./

Cole 's lips thin. "Well, that's a relief. Me neither."

<ophelia> "Yeah, I figured." She nods a little, and pushes the cup away from herself. "You've changed a lot."

<Cole> "You think so, huh?"

<Cole> "I wonder why."

<ophelia> Ophelia thins her own lips. It wasn't HER fault. It had been Cole's idea anyway.

<ophelia> "Maybe I will go home."

<Cole> "Well, we wouldn't want you to get in trouble, would we?"

<Cole> "...thanks for your help."

<ophelia> "No," she says, standing up and putting her backpack over her shoulder. "I guess not." She takes a few steps from the table, before looking back over her shoulder. "You're welcome," she says sadly.

ophelia goes home.

<Mese> After Ophelia leaves, the cop returns, with a bruised, concussed, slightly bleeding Ashley in tow.

<Mese> Officer Mahoney finishes radioing in: "..so we'll need an ambulance car at the cafe on 5th. I'm just going to take some statements."

<Mese> ****TO BE CONTINUED****

< Lacrossing Over | HighSchoolOfShadows | Trapped In The Closet, Chapter 2 >