Deadly Silence (complete) Chapter 75

“How’d you do it, bitch?” The girl with the blue fingers snarled as she and a few of her friends cornered Vivian in the restroom between classes. Vivian was unable to recall her name and wasn’t about to ask for two reasons; first, it would push the girl further over the edge, and second — and more importantly — she just didn’t give a crap.

“I didn’t *do* anything,” Vivian retorted, back against the far wall as the three girls bore down on her. “What am I supposed to have done, anyway?”

“This!” The girl tore off the glove she’d been wearing to hide her blue fingers. Seeing the stain made Vivian want to smile with satisfaction as it was still the same colour as before; they hadn’t managed to remove it at all. “How did you do *this*?!”

“Like I said, I didn’t do anything, especially to you,” Vivian repeated stubbornly, crossing her arms over her chest. “I didn’t even see it happen so how could I have done anything.”

“It had to be you!”

“Why’s that? What possible reason could I have to do anything like that to you? It’s not like you’ve ever done anything to me.”

The silence that followed Vivian’s statement, and the flash of unease that swept over the girl’s face while her two friends exchanging quick glances, confirmed Vivian’s suspicion; the girl had been responsible for the shower incident.

“W-well you obviously blame me for your stuff getting soaked! You even said so yourself.”

“I don’t remember saying anything like that. I said having fingers stained blue is nothing compared to what happened to my stuff, and when you demanded I stay to help you I just reminded everyone that none of them stayed to help me. We may be teammates, but if you’re not gonna act like one outside of practice then I won’t either. Besides, I don’t even know if whoever did it is on the team or not. For all I know someone snuck in during practice and did it.”

The three of them exchanged looks again before one of them, a short girl with chin length black hair and brown eyes, said, “Let’s just forget it for now, Adriana. She probably doesn’t know anything.”

“No one else had a reason to do this, Lola,” Adriana snapped, causing the shorter girl to take a step back.

“Okay, just chill. No need to bite my head off. Jeeze.”

“What reason would I possibly have to do that to you?” Vivian demanded with a huff. “What have you ever done to me, exactly?”

The question made Adriana pause a second time before she let out a frustrated noise and stomped out of the restroom.

Vivian, a little annoyed by them wasting the too short break between classes, was proud at how she’d handled the situation. Them blaming her for what happened had been a given, but without proof there wasn’t much they could do without looking guilty themselves.

It was luck that had kept the encounter from becoming something more. If all of them ended up being late for next period, or showed up with signs of a physical altercation there would be an investigation into whatever happened. An investigation would require the school to pull the surveillance footage from the cameras in the halls and everyone would be able to see the three girls entering the bathroom after Vivian. The rest could be inferred by how they looked on their way out.

If Vivian chose to not defend herself the blame would lay fully on the three girls, which meant they couldn’t do anything without risking expulsion. It was an enticing strategy though she’d prefer not getting the snot kicked out of her if at all possible.

*Wonder what their next move will be…*

—

“I hear your first track meet is Thanksgiving weekend?” Miriam half asked, half stated as she sat on the curved bench Laurent had dragged Vivian to the previous day. Vivian found the spot kind of nice, her brother’s antics aside, and had asked her friend if they could eat lunch outside for a change.

“Is it that weekend? I can never remember.”

“It’s the second Monday of October, if that helps.”

“I guess October is just around the corner, isn’t it? Feels like school barely started.”

“Are you doing anything for the holiday?”

Vivian tilted her head to one side as she wondered what Thanksgiving with the Devreauxs looked like. With the way Samuel tended to do things it would have to be a large affair in some way. Would extended family be invited? She’d seen a lot of them at her mother’s memorial service but had yet to meet any — excluding Auntie Pat.

Did they know she existed? They had to at this point, right? The entire school knew about the Devreaux sister since the start of the school year; there was no way her extended family wouldn’t have heard about her by now.

So why hadn’t she been asked to visit them? Did they not want to meet her?

“Earth to Vivian. Hello?”

“Hm? Oh, sorry,” Vivian gave a small, awkward laugh. “I was just wondering what my family does for the holiday. No-one’s talked about it yet.”

“Oh, right. I keep forgetting you’re with a different family than last year.” A sheepish look had come over Miriam’s face. “Sorry.”

Shaking her head, Vivian said, “It’s fine, I don’t mind. Something tells me it’ll be… over the top compared to the ones I’ve had in the past.”

“Why are you guys out here,” Theo’s voice reached them as he’d turned the corner of the building to find where Vivian had told him they’d be. “What’s wrong with the cafeteria?”

“Fresh air never killed anyone,” Miriam quipped with a grin.

“Who said this air’s fresh? We have one of the lowest air quality readings in the country,” he retorted as he sat on Vivian’s other side.

“Still fresher than the cafeteria. That’s just a big room full of farts.” Both Vivian and Theo stared at Miriam, who shrugged her shoulders a bit. “What? Without the smell of food the place smells awful.”

“Why farts, Miriam? Why would you compare it to farts?”

“It’s the first thing that came to mind, Theo! Leave me alone.”

“So what are you two up to this weekend?” The boy asked, changing the subject with ease as he unwrapped the burrito he’d gotten.

“Mom wants to host Thanksgiving this year, so I’m supposed to help her learn how to make pies for the next week and a half,” Miriam complained as she leaned back and let out a loud sigh. “So my weekend will be dealing with firefighters showing up because she almost burned the house down for each pie attempted. It’s a tradition. We’ll end up going to Grammy’s when she rage quits the Wednesday before, but until then I get to eat pie dough, sliced apples and pumpkin while watching the shit show that is my mom in the kitchen.”

“She’s not wrong,” Vivian added with a nod. “She tried to make a casserole the other weekend and I’ve never seen something so inedible before in my life.”

“The pizza place down the road knows us so well I don’t even have to talk when I call anymore,” explained Miriam, looking dejected. “They just see our number, pick up and repeat the usual order back at me, I say yep, and then show up half an hour later to pick it up. We do get good deals and sometimes extra stuff for being their most loyal customer but it’s still kind of depressing to think about.”

“That’s amazing,” Theo laughed. “I wish I could call a pizza place and not have to say anything.”

“It’s overrated, let me tell you.”

“What about you, Vivian? Big plans this weekend?”

“Homework?” She offered half heartedly. “And some torture — I mean running, I guess. Should probably work on that a bit more if I’m going to do it in front of a crowd…”

“I can’t wait to cheer you on, Vivian,” Miriam grinned. “I’m super excited to watch. Mom wants to come, too. She really liked having you over and wants to make sure you stick around.”

“Then please tell her to never cook for me again,” Vivian told her friend, who burst into giggles. “I’m perfectly fine with pizza. But seriously, your mom was nice. I look forward to seeing her at the meet.”

“What are you up to this weekend?” Miriam turned to Theo once her giggles had subsided a bit.

“I was hoping to hit the amusement park,” he replied. “It’s the last weekend before it’s closed for the season.”

“Amusement park?”

“You don’t know about it?” Miriam poked her friend teasingly. “It’s super fun. It’s, like, a half hour north of us and has roller coasters and everything. My family goes for Dad’s birthday in July, and then again sometime in August — just because. We always have a blast.”

“Sounds like you’ll have a good time then, Theo,” noted Vivian.

“Why don’t you come with me then?”