Shauna pulled up outside the school, parking her car in the student lot. Alone.
Heather was in no condition to return to class, at least not today, so she'd feigned illness, not willing, or able, to tell either of her parents what happened yesterday. Whether it had been an unconscious programming Melissa had put inside them, or just the sheer trauma and humiliation of the whole incident, Shauna did not know, or want to know. Bad enough Heather was suffering through today without her.
She'd let Heather scream it out until she was nearly hoarse from the effort, then held her. Told her whatever happened, she was here, and they were going to get out of this somehow. She wasn't sure how, exactly, but at least now they had an ally. How good a one, she wasn't sure, but at some point she was going to have to trust someone, and Chris at least seemed to be a good candidate. It was clear they weren't getting out of this on their own.
But she could not let Mr. Fulton get his hands on Heather again, Shauna vowed. Melissa was evil. He was something beyond that. And Melissa was quite clear they'd both be under his control next Sunday. Little less than a week, Shauna frowned. Did Chris have a sense of that urgency? Could she rely on him to achieve what needed to be done? The clock was ticking, for both her and Heather.
She closed her eyes in her car and let a deep breath in and out. She'd wanted to call in sick herself. Her parents weren't back yet. It would have been easy enough. Heather had stopped her. Melissa would have enough of a 'victory' with one of them away today, and she'd wanted to be alone for at least part of the day. To collect her thoughts. Shauna had lied to her and said she understood, but that she'd be back the minute school let out.
It was going to be the longest school day of her life, she knew, but she couldn't sit in her car and wait for it to be over. She got out and headed toward campus, hating every step in the all-too-revealing outfit she'd been programmed to wear. She was sure the high cut miniskirt and the plunging blouse made most of the guys happy as she approached, but if they knew the reason why she was dressed like this...?
Shauna sighed to herself. If they knew, they'd probably be even more turned on by the whole thing.
"Hey Shauna," a voice called from behind her. "Where's your girlfriend?"
Melissa. Shauna whirled, struggling against her programming to raise a fist. The effort wasn't lost on Melissa. To her credit, the blonde didn't even flinch. She simply grinned with her small entourage of friends and hangers-on. She folded her arms and simply ate in Shauna's fierce glare.
"Go ahead," she challenged. "Do it. You know you want to."
She stepped a single pace forward, goading Shauna on even further. "Just remember who's really gonna get hurt, right?"
Shauna knew anything she did to Melissa would be visited ten times harder on Heather. Still, her fist rose higher. Melissa actually looked at it, never breaking her infuriating grin. "That's a girl," she smiled. "Better make it a good one, though. I wonder how hard you'd punch Heather if I made you? Wanna find out?"
Shauna gritted her teeth as she lowered her fist. She'd almost had to fight Heather yesterday, but fortunately -- or unfortunately considering how it had broken up -- she'd been stopped before having to do so. The thought of landing even a single fist on Heather cowed her. Stopped her completely in her tracks. Her hands went to her side, but her angry, raging stare did not break.
"That's better," Melissa said as she and her small cadre filed past her. "You're learning your place. Be at your house at 8 p.m. tonight. We have some things to discuss." Shauna let the group pass without acknowledging them any further. Her hands were at her side, but they were still shaking with furor.
"And while we're at it," Melissa called back. "Don't make plans for Saturday. Tell your girlfriend to get over whatever's bothering her. You two have a lot of work to do." Her tiny coven of friends giggled to hear the way she spoke to Shauna, but the dark-haired woman found no humor in it at all. Melissa had threatened to raise the stakes. Whatever she had meant by that, Shauna feared she'd soon find out.
* * *
"Yeah," Heather snorted in derision. "Get over whatever's bothering me -- like her father fucking me? Jesus..."
"Just say it," Shauna said as she sat on Heather's bed. "He raped you."
Heather bowed her head. "I know. I know what he did. But," she looked up at Shauna. "I can't bring myself to say it. It's like if I do...he wins. I don't know if that makes any kind of sense at all."
Shauna reached over and put her hand on Heather's leg. "It makes all kinds of sense, and I won't bring it up again," she said. "I just want the bastard to pay for it, that's all."
"I want them BOTH to pay," Heather frowned. "She keeps getting worse and worse. If this keeps up, we'll be out downtown in the red light district turning tricks for her like two..." She grabbed a pillow in frustration and hugged it. Tightly, as if to try and suffocate the imaginary life within it.
Shauna nodded in understanding. Melissa had threatened as much. Whatever Saturday was going to bring it was going to be a lot worse than Sunday. She knew that much. They both did.
"How are you feeling?" Shauna asked.
"How would you feel?" Heather shot back.
Shauna thought for a moment. "Angry. Violated. Scared. Maybe all of that rolled into one." Heather nodded and let her know she was getting close, suggesting she multiply those emotions times ten or twenty.
"In the back of my mind, as you were beating him to death, I wanted to join you so badly," she whispered. "I think that was the biggest frustration...the worst pain of it...I had to take whatever he dished out and then defend him from you. This powder you found...it's a goddamn nightmare in the wrong hands."
Shauna sat back. "I don't know if there are 'right' hands, Heather," she said. "Even ours. I mean, I'd planned to humiliate her, sure. Make her walk through campus in her underwear. Break up with Trey. Start dating the Chess club. Stuff like that. But...nothing like what she's doing to us."
Heather fell back against her pillows. "And now?"
Shauna smirked and looked at Heather, admiring the way her brown locks flowed about her, even though she hadn't brushed them or even changed clothes from the night before. "What was it you were saying about turning tricks downtown?"
Heather rolled her eyes. "As if anyone would pay her."
Shauna giggled. "Oh, I'd make her work cheap. She'd spend a long time paying off whatever debt I set up. Maybe fifty cents a blowjob."
Heather's eyes widened. "Jesus, Shauna!" she exclaimed. "I thought Melissa was the bitch!"
Shauna smiled back for a moment. Heather would never get over what she was going through. She knew that. But at least she could still smile. Even so, her smile turned serious in mere minutes, and she looked Shauna over.
"We're still going to get revenge, right?" she asked. "That's still on the table?"
Shauna paused and shook her head. "Priority one is getting us both out from under her control. After that...we'll have to see."
Heather was on her in an instant. Eye to eye, leaning over her. Shauna wasn't sure if she was about to kiss or slap her, but it was clear she'd said something wrong. Something triggering.
"No," Heather nearly hissed. "We are not going to 'see'. We're going to make that bitch pay. I'm going to make her fucking...rapist...father pay for what he did to me! What he took from me. From us!"
Shauna let her lover vent. Their circumstances had truly shifted. Where at first Heather was mainly assisting Shauna in her scheme, now she had the active, if not leading role in plotting Melissa's downfall. Shauna wasn't sure how to feel about that, but she knew whatever the case, there was something different about her.
"I'm going to destroy him," Heather sat beside Shauna, clenching her fists together. "Make him regret the day he ever brought his demon of a daughter into the world." Suddenly she whirled on Shauna again, causing her to slide back against the footboard of the bed.
"And you," she said, "are not about to back out or have second thoughts about that, do you hear me?"
"Yes. Crystal clear," Shauna nodded. "I'm sorry if it sounded like I was giving up."
Heather got up and paced the room. "I'm so...so goddamn angry right now! I'd drive over to that bitch's place and...I don't know...tear her apart if she couldn't stop me with a word!" Shauna got up and grabbed her, holding her tightly against her. Fighting back her own tears as she felt Heather begin to cry.
"I'm sorry," she whispered as Heather let herself go, sobbing against her shoulder. "This is all my fault. I should never...never have involved you."
So many tears had been cried out between yesterday and today, and both girls knew many more would be shed before anything resembling normality would return. Even still, Heather clung to Shauna and insisted that it wasn't her fault. That she'd gone along with their scheme willingly. And that, whatever might happen, she was grateful she wasn't suffering it alone.
A simple kiss goodnight was enough for either of them. Shauna wondered if Heather would ever want to be intimate with her -- or anyone -- again, and if that even mattered at this point. She didn't simply love the idea of being with Heather. She loved Heather, completely and wholly. As she made her way back to her car, Shauna paused and -- to her mind at least -- prayed. She wasn't religious, but surely someone up there would hear her.
* * *
Melissa's car was parked on the street outside her parents' home. Shauna pulled up in the driveway, looking back just in time to see her get out, striding purposefully and directly toward her as she stepped out of her own vehicle.
"Parents home?" she asked bluntly. Shauna shook her head no. "Good," the blonde walked past her. "Get inside."
Shauna sighed slightly, hoping Melissa didn't hear her, and followed her to the front door, letting her in before her. Melissa walked straight to the living room, the unspoken command that Shauna follow her being fairly obvious to both of them.
"How is she?" Melissa asked. "And if you say 'who' I'm going to slap you."
