Mother of Darkwaters: Book one of the Vessel series by Tony C. Skye Page B

thinking?”, a skinny six-foot three-inch Tamara Stilliard imposes. The other three girls turn to face the brown-eyed bleach blond closing in on their area. Looking at her bff, Jennifer raises up her phone.
       “Oh,” Tamara speaks with a tone of recognition, “So you showed it to them already.”
       Jennifer raises one of her eyebrows slightly, “It's not my fault you just got here. You should have texted. I could have sent it to you.”
       “My card’s full – need to get another one. I’m not losing the music I have for a cheat video. And I told you I was going to be running a little late, Jen.”
       “And I told you the sisterhood always comes before your boyfriend's body parts,” Jennifer counters.
       Caroline drops her purse in frustration. The tiny, five-foot five-inch girl lunges forward. She grabs a fistful of Tamara's shirt with her right hand and her left grabs Jennifer. Marching forward, Caroline walks the girls back first into a set of lockers. The sound of the impact causes nearby onlookers to stop and stare.
       “You stupid piggies need to stop acting like little preschool girls before someone decides to rip out your little pigglet throats!”, Caroline yells.
       “Geezus, Caroline. Take it easy,” a shocked Rebecca pleas.
       Caroline lets go of the two girls, backs away a couple of steps with tears filling her eyes, and attempts to reconcile, “I - I...What did I just do?”
       The gathering crowd is sure to clear a path while Caroline quickly turns to find her purse. No one tries to say anything as she heads for the girl's bathroom. After the door closes behind Caroline, Rebecca glares at Jennifer and Tamara,
       “Nice going you two. You both know about her dad.” Rebecca shakes her head as she walks off to find Caroline. Jennifer and Tamara watch as the bathroom door closes behind Rebecca.
       “Show's over freaks,” Tamara threatens the staring crowd, “Get to steppin'.” Tamara sees a few stragglers still lingering. “Now!”, she reiterates her threat. The lower socialites follow the cheerleader's command and disperse with unrecognizable mutterings.
       When Jennifer and Tamara feel as though they can speak in private once more, Jennifer rubs her chest, “That little thing must be on some kind of roids or something.”
       Tamara shakes her head, “I don't know what that was. But it didn't feel like any muscle thing to me.”
       “Oh, I forgot. You're the expert. You just got off a muscle thing about twenty minutes ago.”
       “You know what I mean, Jenny.”
       Jennifer looks towards the girl’s restroom, “Let's just try to forget about it and go see if she's alright.”
     
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       knock. knock.
       “Occupied by S.V.C. Get lost,” Rebecca snaps at the unseen faces behind the girl's bathroom door.
       Jennifer cracks the door enough to peer her head inside, “What if it's a couple of really stupid Sister Varsity Cheerleaders?”
       Rebecca looks at Caroline. When she receives the okay within her friend's eyes, Rebecca gives Jennifer and Tamara permission with a nod. Caroline turns to face the other girls as they enter. Her messy face is a direct result of tears mixing with makeup.
       “We're sorry, Caroline. Can you forgive two stupid piggies?”, Jennifer pleas.
       “Yeah. We're really sorry,” Tamara confirms.
       Caroline pouts and holds out both arms, “Me, too.”
       Rebecca joins her three friends in a group hug. It is Caroline, however, who is sandwiched in the middle of the tight squeeze. When they release one another, Rebecca notices something wrong.
       “Oh, gawd. You're face.”
       Panic reverberates in Caroline's green eyes. She runs over to the wide mirror placed above the row of sinks. Looking back at her friends, her silent begging motivates the other three to action.
       “Turn around,” Tamara directs.
       “We got this, girl,” Jennifer says while