Trisha took a deep breath to compose herself. "Alright." she started with a smile, looking knowingly at Rayne and Jackie. "Who has number 3?"
Rayne slowly held up her ticket. Even though she knew that there were only two girls left, and she was obviously one of them, she couldn't calm her nerves. As she stood up she noticed Eve and Laura nod subtly in approval, while Trisha smiled and winked at her.
Jackie, on the other hand, was a bit less...well...anything. "Alright, let's get this over with." she said, letting out a sigh as she stood up and moved to the spot across from Rayne.
"Heads, Jackie goes first. Tails, Rayne goes first. Are we ready?" Trisha asked the two girls with a practically giddy smile as she looked back and forth between them.
Both girls nodded, one shaking with nervousness...while the other looked bored to tears. Rayne's heart nearly skipped a beat as Trisha flipped the coin. "What if it lands on heads?" she thought. "What if I end up hypnotized instead of Jackie? What if I...I...oh god, why is this turning me on?" It was a surprising amount of thoughts to go through her head in the time it took for one coin flip. But finally the coin hit the ground, as both young women watched it bounce and spin as it finally come to rest on...
Tails.
Rayne internally breathed a sigh of relief. Jackie, on the other hand, just kind of sighed and stared at Rayne. "Congratulations..." she said in a voice that managed to perfectly portray both sarcasm and boredom at the same time. "Can we get this over with, please?"
Rayne closed her eyes and took a deep, slow breath. In her mind she imagined herself ten feet tall, strong and powerful. Not just physically, but mentally as well. She imagined herself staring down into Jackie's eyes as Jackie slipped into a trance just from the power and confidence that she could summon. This was her test. If she could muster this kind of confidence here...she could use it on Klaire, too. "This is it. " she said to herself. "You can do this."
"You ok over there?" Jackie asked with only the slightest hint of actual concern as she looked at Rayne. "You're supposed to hypnotize me, not yourself...rememb... oh!" Jackie gasped as Rayne opened her eyes and stared directly into Jackie's. There was an intensity to them, a confidence, that she had not seen before. It was as if she was trying to stare her way into Jackie's mind. She could almost feel it.
Rayne didn't say a word, she merely focused on Jackie's eyes and took a small, half step forward, barely closing the distance between them. But that step caused Jackie to take a full step back without even realizing she had done it. Rayne let the sadistic glee that she was feeling slowly creep into her eyes as she continued to stare confidently at Jackie, taking several slow steps toward the now retreating sophomore.
Rayne's look was so confident, so domineering, that even Trisha found herself taking a step back, while Eve and Laura both were fixated on the scene before them. All they could do was stare in shock as Rayne slowly advanced on Jackie, who was automatically retreating one small step at a time. They weren't even sure if Jackie knew she was doing it...or if she had any idea how quickly she was running out of space.
Rayne couldn't help but let out a small giggle as she watched Jackie bump into the wall behind her. The expression on Jackie's face only confirmed the idea that she didn't even realize the wall was there, or that she had been backing up at all.
As soon as Jackie bumped into the wall she quickly slid her hands behind her, as if she was feeling for an opening or some way to slip even further away from Rayne. When she was unable to find a gap, she quickly turned around to check for one. The action only took a second, if that, but Rayne was ready for it. The moment Jackie turned around, Rayne took a very long step, one that more closely resembled a jump, and landed directly in front of her. Leaving them nose to nose once Jackie turned to face her again. All Jackie could do was gasp softly, completely unable to look away.
Rayne smiled confidently as she stared into Jackie's eyes. She had been completely silent the entire time, and was able to keep Jackie's attention with nothing more than her confidence and presence. She was close enough to feel Jackie's breath against her skin, against her lips as she stared into Jackie's eyes.
"Rrrr...Rayne..." Jackie struggled to get out, panting more noticeably than she would have liked. "What...what are you doing?" she asked. She tried to slip away to her left, but Rayne extended her arm and placed it on the wall next to Jackie, blocking her escape. A second later Jackie tried to go to the right, only to have that path be cut off as well.
Trisha, Eve, and Laura sat in stunned silence by Rayne's actions. They knew on a fundamental level what she was doing...well, at least Laura and Trisha did. Eve's skills were only a temporary hypnotic suggestion. None of the girls were sure if Rayne's plan was going to work the way she intended it to, but they couldn't tear their gazes away from her.
