Chapter Text
Raelle Collar answered her cell phone with a heavy sigh after the third time it rang in as many minutes. “I’m coming! I’m coming!” She said, not giving her best friend a chance to speak before hanging up and tucking the phone away in the back pocket of her ripped skinny jeans. Raelle pulled on the flannel shirt hanging over her desk chair and grabbed her backpack from its spot by the door.
She flew down the stairs, shouting out to her parents as she reached the bottom and yanked open the front door. “I’m going to school. Bye Momma, bye Pops!”
“Raelle! You haven’t eaten breakfast!” Her long suffering mother called after the teen, but she might as well have saved her breath as the front door slammed shut behind Raelle.
She trotted to the end of the drive where her best friend - and next-door neighbour - Tally Craven sat waiting for her in her car. “Sorry, sorry!” She said, throwing herself in to the front passenger seat with a sheepish smile. “I overslept.”
“You always oversleep, Rae.” Tally rolled her eyes, but the other teen was a good-natured soul and her irritation didn’t last long. Within minutes she was animatedly talking about Senior Homecoming.
Raelle, who couldn't care less about Homecoming, nodded along like she was listening until they pulled up in the high school parking lot. Fort Salem was a small Massachusetts town with a single high school and more churches than coffee shops.
Raelle had moved to the town from the Cession with her parents four years ago and had become fast friends with the bubbly redhead living next door.
Tally, who was tall and graceful, was the polar opposite to Raelle; who could be known to trip over her own untied shoelaces at times.
The pair climbed out of Tally’s car while their other best friend looked on from her usual parking spot. Abigail Bellweather made a show of checking her watch as they greeted her.
“You’re late. Again.” Abigail was a type A personality and the last person in the world Raelle ever expected to consider a close friend, but the other girl’s bark was worse than her bite. The pair had started off on rocky ground, friends only through Tally - who had known Abigail since kindergarten - but they’d soon warmed to one another. The trio were practically inseparable.
“Tally slept in.” Said Raelle.
“What? No, I didn’t! It was Rae!” The redhead grew flustered, her cheeks turning the same shade as her hair.
“Relax, Tal. The only time you’re ever late is because of Raelle.” Abigail rolled her eyes. It was the same thing every time. Raelle Collar would be late for her own funeral, given half a chance.
Raelle opened her mouth to defend herself when a muscle car pulled up in the empty spot beside Abigail’s SUV, old school rock blasting from the speakers at an obnoxious volume that set Raelle’s teeth on edge.
“Morning, ladies!” Said the dark-haired teen who stepped out of the front passenger side. He flashed them a grin as he did up the single button of his suit jacket. As usual, he was far too overdressed for a day at school. Raelle wasn’t sure she’d ever seen him without a collared shirt on other than when he was in his lacrosse uniform.
“Morning, Byron!” Tally greeted him with a cheerful wave before addressing the driver of the car as he slung his satchel over his shoulder. “Hey, Porter! Excited for Homecoming?”
“Sure am.” He Answered with an easygoing smile. Porter Tippet was the All-American-blue-eyed-boy that every small town high school had. He was the star of the lacrosse team and most likely to be crowned Homecoming King. Raelle had to hand it to him, though. He was a nice enough guy. “Hey Raelle, Abigail.”
“Hey.” Said Raelle, doing her best to ignore the dark-haired girl climbing out of the back of Porter’s car. Scylla Ramshorn had her face buried in a book and didn’t so much as acknowledge the other girls as she walked off ahead of the boys. Byron and Porter followed at a more leisurely pace, waving at the girls as they left.
Raelle watched Scylla walk off with a scowl. “She’s so fucking rude!”
“Here were go again…” Abigail chuckled. “Here comes another Ramshorn Rant.”
“Well, she is!” Huffed Raelle. There was no love lost between her and the other senior. “Would it kill her to say hello? She thinks she’s so above everyone else!”
“Rae, be nice.” Scolded Tally. She knew all too well how Raelle could get about the other girl when she got going. The two had butted heads right from the start in a clash of personalities.
“She’s right, Tal.” Said Abigail. “I honestly don’t see what Porter sees in her. Like, I get Byron’s his best friend, but that doesn’t mean he has to put up with dating his sister. It’s been two years, and he still hasn’t traded her ass in. He could do so much better!”
“Guys! Seriously, be nice. Scylla’s had it really hard!”
“So her parents died, boo-hoo. That doesn’t entitle her to be a total bitch.” Abigail gave a dismissive shrug of her shoulders. Tally gave up trying to defend the other girl and moved the conversation to what she’d be wearing for Homecoming, knowing full well the best way to get Abigail to drop something was to distract her with something else.
Raelle popped her airpods in to her ears, blocking the conversation about dresses and sequins out as they walked in to the school. Raelle’s locker was down the hall from Abigail and Tally’s. She left them to go drop off her heavy calculus textbook. She wouldn’t need it until third period and she’d be damned if she was going to lug it around with her all morning.
The downside of Raelle’s locker, other than being down the other end of the hall from her friends’, was that it was right next to Scylla’s. The other girl was already standing there when Raelle walked up to the row of lockers.
She entered the combination and popped open the locker, carelessly tossing the calculus book inside with a bang. Meanwhile, Scylla stood by her own locker, preening at her hair in front of a mirror fixed to the inside of the door. Along with mirror were countless pictures of Scylla, Porter and her twin brother Byron.
The twins obviously weren’t identical, but they both had the same striking dark looks. Where Byron was a social butterfly, Scylla was something of an introvert. Raelle rarely saw her with anyone other than Byron or Porter. From what she knew, the twins had been close with Porter forever, and nobody was surprised when Scylla and Porter started dating a couple of years ago.
Raelle watched as the boy in question came up behind Scylla, wrapping his arms around her waist and making her jump as he scooped her off his feet. “Porter!” She slapped at his shoulder with a giggle that grated on Raelle’s last nerve. She slammed her locker shut, ignoring the couple.
Her foul mood from waking up late carried over in to the morning and the lesson before lunch; AP Biology. Raelle normally enjoyed Professor Izadora’s class. She’d had her for Chemistry the year before and the eccentric teacher insisted they either address her by ‘Professor’ or her first name. Her lessons were usually engaging and interesting, but Raelle couldn’t focus on what was being said. She sat doodling in her notebook instead.
Her lack of attention didn’t go unnoticed by the eagle eyed teacher. “Collar, can you tell me which part of the brain you would find the auditory cortex?” Izadora stood at the front of the classroom, her arms crossed and her expression impatient.
“Uh…” Raelle looked up from her notebook to find the entire class staring at her. Her cheeks grew red as she struggled to recall the answer; despite Izadora having been speaking about just that for the last ten minutes. Beside her, Tally desperately tried to catch her eye as she pointed to the answer in her notes. “I…”
Across the room, Scylla’s hand shot up. Raelle clenched her teeth as Izadora turned and pointed at her. “Yes, Miss Ramshorn.”
“It’s in the frontal lobe, Professor.” She said, that smug smile of hers sitting proudly on her lips as she answered. Raelle bit back a sneer as the other girl glanced back at her.
“That is correct, and what is the purpose of the auditory cortex, Raelle?” Raelle wasn’t sure if that was a rhetorical question or not, but she answered anyway.
“For listening, Professor.”
“Listening! That is correct! Please do me the kindness of engaging your auditory cortex for the rest of this lesson and then see me after class.”
“Yes, Professor.” Raelle muttered. She glared at the back of Scylla’s head as Izadora carried on with the presentation up on the board.
When the lunch bell rang, Raelle packed up her things slowly, hanging back by Izadora’s desk as the rest of the class filed out; including Scylla, who was met at the door by a waiting Porter. Raelle rolled her eyes as the pair took off hand-in-hand.
“Raelle, talk to me. What’s going on?” Izadora wasn’t one for small talk. She viewed her time as far too valuable for that, and took one of her brightest students daydreaming through her class personally.
“Uh, late night. Sorry, Professor. It won’t happen again.” Said Raelle, doing a good job of looking thoroughly chastised despite the older woman barely having said a word. Izadora pursed her lips.
“See that it doesn’t. You’re a bright kid, Raelle. Don’t throw away all that potential on partying, or boys.”
Raelle bit the inside of her cheek to keep from laughing. Izadora couldn’t be further off base. Boys were the last thing on Raelle’s mind. “No, ma’am. I won’t.” She fidgeted with the single strap of her backpack slung over her shoulder. “Um, can I go now?”
“No, you may not.” Said Izadora. Unlike most of Raelle’s other teachers, she wasn’t placated by cheap lip service. “What do you plan on doing next year, Raelle? What do you want to do for college?”
Raelle glanced down at her beat up old Converse, avoiding Izadora’s piercing gaze. “I, uh, I’m not sure I’m going to college.” She admitted.
“You’re kidding me, right?” Izadora frowned, throwing her hands in the air. “Raelle, you’re one of my brightest students! When you listen, of course. You can do anything you want, there must be something that takes your interest?”
What interested Raelle wasn’t the problem. Her mom was a nurse who worked all the hours God sent and her dad a mechanic who did the same, but even then there was barely enough to cover the bills each month, never mind save for college.
Raelle shrugged her slender shoulders, her flannel shirt bunching up. “I dunno… I guess I’m interested in medicine.” The truth was, Raelle had wanted to be a doctor for as long as she could remember. She wanted to save lives and make a difference like her momma; but there was no way she or her parents could ever afford four years of college followed by five years of med school.
Her pride refused to let her admit she would need to work her ass off just to pay her way through community college. Izadora was no fool, though. She’d taught enough bright kids from poorer homes to know what was holding Raelle back.
“A doctor, huh? Well, you’ll need to know about the parts of the brain for that.” She said with a smirk, unable to resist taking another jab at Raelle’s earlier ignorance. “There are scholarships you could apply for. You’re GPA is certainly high enough and you’re an athlete too, that always helps.”
“Really?” Raelle had put little stock in scholarships. She didn’t think people like her got them.
“Really.” Said Izadora. She patted the younger woman on the arm. “We’ll look in to some together and I’ll help you apply.”
Raelle didn’t know what to say. She tucked her hair back behind her ears, her mood lifting. “Professor, I… thank you.”
“Don’t thank me, just engage more in class, okay?”
“Sure thing, Professor!” Raelle nodded, a surge of hope swelling in her chest. She’d been resigned to working some dead end minimum-wage job after graduation and maybe putting herself through nursing school at some point.
So the idea of actually getting in to college - of leaving this small town behind - had her walking to the cafeteria with an extra spring in her step. Tally and Abigail were waiting at their usual table for her. It was actually two tables pushed together which twelve of them jammed on to, an eclectic mix of most of the top senior athletes and cheerleaders.
Abigail and Tally were both track stars and cheerleaders, while Porter, Byron, Clive, Gerit and Adil were all on the lacrosse team. Libba and Glory were on the varsity diving team with Raelle, and Hillary was a cheerleader.
The odd one out among them was Scylla, who wasn’t an athlete or on the cheer team. She only sat with them because of Porter and Byron. She sat at the far end of the table, her head still buried in the book Raelle had seen her reading earlier that morning.
Beside her, Byron and Porter horsed around. Porter, the oldest and tallest of the two, had Byron in a headlock and was busy messing up his hair. Scylla looked up from her book and smiled at them.
It was a genuine smile, not one of her usual infuriating smirks. It lasted for only a few moments until Scylla caught Raelle watching her. The smile vanished and Scylla went back to her book, ignoring the rest of the table. Raelle decided not to let it bother her. She was in too much of a good mood to let Scylla Ramshorn bring her down.
“Everyone!” Abigail stood as Raelle took her seat, commanding the attention of almost everyone at the table. “I just wanted to let you all know there’s a party at my place tomorrow night. Mom booked a last minute weekend spa.”
“Alright, party at the Mayor’s mansion!” Hollered Byron, wrestling himself free from Porter’s headlock. “Your parties never get shut down.”
Byron was right. Abigail’s parties were never interrupted by the police; mostly because her mom was the mayor of Fort Salem. It helped that they lived in a large house up on a hill overlooking the rest of town, and Abigail’s nearest neighbours weren’t close enough to warrant any noise complaints to the police.
Across the table from Abigail, Libba Swythe rolled her eyes with a sneer, “Only because the Mayor slips the sheriff a few bucks to look the over way.”
“Hey!” Said Byron taking personal offence. “The sheriff isn’t that cheap! It’s a couple of Benjamins or nothing!” The whole table cracked up laughing — All except Scylla, who scowled at the back of her brother’s head.
Sheriff Anacostia Quartermaine was their foster mother. She’d taken the twins in five years ago after the car accident that killed their parents. She wouldn’t appreciate Byron cracking jokes about her integrity.
Abigail carried on as the laughter died down. “You’re all invited, so bring a bottle and your lovely selves to my house for seven o’clock!”
Raelle hid a sigh behind a fake cough. Abigail had sprung the party on her at the same time as the others. She’d already invited Raelle and Tally to stay over at her house tomorrow night. She knew Raelle hated parties. At the other end of the table, Scylla wore the same less than enthusiastic expression.
After School Raelle walked home by herself. Tally and Abigail had cheerleading practise and Raelle had far too much to do to stay back and watch them. It was only the first month of senior year, yet Raelle was already drowning in homework.
She caught her mom leaving for work as she walked through the front door. “Hey, Sweetie. There’s lasagna in the oven to warm up for dinner.”
“Thanks, Momma.” Raelle dumped her bulging backpack on the sofa.
“How was your day?” Asked Willa Collar, making small talk as she fixed her hair in front of the mirror in the hallway.
“Fine.” Said Raelle. She didn’t mention her conversation with Professor Izadora about college and scholarships. Her parents loved her and would work themselves to death to put her through college if they knew she wanted to go in to medicine. Raelle couldn’t put that on them.
“Hey, Momma, is it okay if I stay at Abigail’s place tomorrow night?”
“That depends, is she having a party?”
Willa could read her daughter like a book. Raelle only asked if it was okay to sleep out if one of her friends were having a party; usually hoping to be told no.
“Yes.” She answered honestly.
“Will there be boys and alcohol?”
Raelle pulled a face at her mother’s question. “You hardly need to worry about boys.”
“So alcohol then?” Willa paused to think about it with her hand on the front door. “Alright, you can go. Just be sensible. I see enough kids getting their stomachs pumped on a Friday night without watching you go through that.”
“I’ll be careful, Momma. I promise.” Raelle smiled as Willa kissed her on the forehead.
“Alright then. I’ll see you in the morning. Your daddy will be home soon, don’t forget about that lasagna.”
“I won’t.”
Raelle started up the oven once her mother left and set a timer on her phone to remind her about it before she grabbed her schoolbag and trudged upstairs to make a start on her homework. She wanted to get it finished and out of the way so she could spend the rest of the night looking up scholarships. For the first time, Raelle felt a glimmer of hope on the horizon.