Chapter Text
It’s a beautiful dawn as Victoria chills in her bedroom with her usual sidekicks, Taylor and Courtney. Her hazel-green eyes flicker against the morning sunlight. The girls chat happily and listen to obnoxiously loud music, unfitting with the hour. They knew Kate’s room was empty while she was still in hospital, and Brooke wouldn’t do shit. It was a good morning in Arcadia Bay.
“So, what’s happening with the everyday heroes contest? Has Mr. Jefferson said anything else about it?” Taylor inquires, flicking through a magazine.
Victoria winces as she recalls the previous evening. She had used her portfolio as an opening to entice Mr. Jefferson and secure her win in the competition. Ultimately, he had rejected her advances and wouldn’t budge on the subject. That had infuriated her. The teen wasn’t used to not getting her way and bit back, hard. Once her rage had settled, she knew she’d made a mistake and had pushed things too far. She’ll never forget that look of disdain from her idol. How would she face him in class? Thinking about it was absolutely mortifying. “I… Spoke with him. He won’t announce a winner until that hipster-shit submits a photo too!”
“That is such bull.” Her friend frowns.
“Totally.” Courtney agrees.
“I know. She doesn’t even want to enter! It’s not compulsory. I don’t see why he has to push it so much.”
“It’s ‘cause she’s his favourite.” The girl with pink highlights chimes in.
“That’s probably it.” Taylor agrees with a nod.
“Who knows, maybe she’s doing extra-curricular activities with him.” Courtney grins snidely and presses her tongue against her cheek.
“Shut up. Mark wouldn’t stoop to that level, let alone with that indie freak.” The young woman fumes. In truth, she knew it was Max who wouldn’t be the type to do that sort of thing. Victoria wonders what the girl’s reaction would be if she knew she had attempted to seduce Mr. Jefferson. It would probably be a mixture of disgust at her actions and intolerance for threatening to blackmail him. Knowing Max, another result would be her trying to reach out to Victoria and worrying about her. God, she had such a fucking hero-complex.
She taps her nails agitatedly on her desk. “You know what?”
“What?” Both of her friends ask in unison.
“I’m going to confront her.”
Taylor chuckles. “What, right now? It’s 7am.”
“Yeah, right-fucking-now.” Victoria smirks back, feeling emboldened.
The Queen bee and her followers head across the hall to dorm 219.
She firmly raps her knuckles on the door.
“Open up, we need to talk.” The teenager commands.
“I know you’re in there, you twee-shit.” Courtney and Taylor cackle quietly at this.
The girl looks back at her friends. They shrug. She turns the door knob abruptly and busts through.
The room is empty.
“Oh.” She frowns.
“Well, that was anti-climactic.” The long-haired blonde says.
“Yeah.” Courtney agrees.
“She’s probably in the bathroom taking a dump.” Taylor jokes.
Her companions laugh at that.
“Well, once she’s finished doing… Whatever it is she’s doing. We’ll be waiting. I won’t let anyone get in the way of this competition going ahead!” Victoria declares.
“Hey, what is all this shit?” Taylor asks and gestures towards masses of papers scattered messily around the room and side tables. She approaches a page and examines it. “Time-travel?” Her tone is quizzical.
The other two teens join in snooping. Eventually the three of them move to her desk and view a wall of post-its with a similar theme. They’re an assortment of random facts, odd quotes and drawings.
“What the fuck, she’s such a weirdo!” Courtney giggles.
“Agreed.” Victoria sighs. “Let’s just get out of here and wait for her to come back.” She waves a hand. The trio departs, ready to pounce whenever the girl returned.
Hours pass, but still no Max. It was strange, Victoria actually heard her return yesterday afternoon and was sure she hadn’t left after that. Maybe she had gone out after curfew?
“She’s probably at that blue-haired chick’s place. What was her name again?” Taylor thinks.
“Chloe.” Victoria reminds her scornfully. She never liked that bitch. Too upfront and difficult to intimidate. Kind of like Rachel in that respect.
“Oh, that’s right.”
“Or with Warren.” The other adolescent offers.
Victoria sighs. “This is getting boring. Let’s go get something to eat then confront her when we get back.”
“Yes please!” Taylor perks up.
As the girls make their way to the school carpark, Victoria can’t help shake the bad feeling she has. It’s similar to the one she felt the day she learned Rachel Amber had disappeared.