Chapter 94 – The Crackdown – Holly Hayfield

Monday was turning out to be a busy day for me and the rest of the student council. In the morning we submitted our spirit week schedule to Ms. Sampson and the other members of the staff. Ms. Sampson was pleased to see that this 'event' was composed of other smaller events. It would achieve her goal of creating a suitable distraction to take everyone’s minds off of the local murders. She had a practically evil smile on her face as I was leaving her office.

I had mixed feelings about helping her to quell this outrage, some of it perfectly justified. I just didn't think that it was healthy for all the students to be focused on mystery and murder for the duration of their school life. It was especially troubling to me that everyone seemed to accept that this was some sort of paranormal intervention. The view that Malorie Noelle had arisen from the grave to enact some lethal vengeance seemed to be a common one. It was amazing how everyone just accepted that idea in stride.

Ms. Sampson's hope that a new event could distract the student body from these concerns was initially a dubious one. Somehow, it actually managed to work. All the rumors, gossip, and passing conversation I heard in the hallways had changed like the seasons. With the club system in full swing, a lot of clubs were using this spirit week as a new recruitment opportunity. They could show their school spirit by showcasing their club activities. Preperation week was turning into a massive second club recruitment event.

Val cancelled our after school student council meeting saying that she had something else to take care of. That was good for me because it gave me the chance to organize the event committee once again. Practically all of the same girls were willing to volunteer once again, with a few new additions. On top of that, Naomi lived up to her promise of helping out. When school ended she and a few of her girlfriends came to help the event committee out with a few official decorations for the spirit week event.

Lilith took this as her cue to leave. She said she didn't want to put up with Naomi's touchiness again after keeping her at bay during our Saturday meeting. In truth, I felt that Lilith was actually more concerned about the situation with Zoe. She had purposely avoided being alone with me throughout the day, probably afraid I might bring it up. By leaving school as soon as it was over she'd be able to put off any sort of meeting between them.

"Lilith is going home...?" Naomi asked when she noticed that Lilith was leaving the library with her things.

"She doesn't like being in large groups like this." I said.

"Plus, I'm pretty sure she hates you, boss." Sam said playfully.

"What...?" Naomi asked in a high-pitched, incredulous voice.

"She doesn't hate you." I said in a placating tone, "She just doesn't like to be touched. You have to admit that you're a touchy person."

Naomi reached out and wrapped her arms around me, as if to prove me right.

"I can't deny it!" Naomi said, "Still, I saw you touching her."

"That's... different." I said, "She doesn't really care for me touching her, either. She's just more willing to endure me."

"What's your secret for getting close to her?" Naomi asked in full seriousness, "I want to be able to hold her just like this."

I laughed.

"She's not a puzzle you can solve with a few cheats." I said. "However, since you asked me so seriously I’ll try to give you some advice. I'd mainly warn you not to push her too quickly. Lilith operates at her own speed and isn't very flexable. She'll come to like you more if you're patient and work with her."

"Yuck, that doesn't sound like me! I'm too impatient." Naomi said, "Maybe I'll just tackle her into a hug next time I see her!"

Naomi said, hugging me tighter.

"That'll really make her mad." Sam said. "Trust me, I've tried it too. It didn't end well. She can scratch pretty hard."

After a few more minutes of playing around we all got to work. The members of the event committee were somewhat averse to working with Naomi's girlfriends. It especially didn't help that Jin wanted to smoke a cigarette right there in the middle of the library. It was good that Lilith already left because I'm sure she'd have a few nasty words about that. In the end, the members of the event committee appreciated their help when it came to making poster cut-outs. We were using a large special paper that had to be cut using one of the paper cutter machines in the library. Naomi's girlfriends were good enough at following directions to produce several stacks of these cut-outs for us.

The rest of us just went ahead and started filling the posters with information about the spirit week events and the associated schedule. We only needed enough for the main hallways so we'd likely be finished by the time this production session was over. It was going incredibly fast with so many people. Just as I was almost ready to call it a wrap, Erica bust through the library door. She had a wide-eyed look on her face and froze up when she noticed that everyone turned to look at her come in so loudly. She probably wasn't expecting so many people to be here in the library.

"Holly!" Erica shouted from across the room.

I stood up from the table I was sitting at.

"Erica! What's wrong?"

Erica looked around at the crowd of girls watching her walk into the library. She seemed to be torn between blurting out her comment or waiting to walk over to me. In the end she waited until she was only a few feet away from me to speak up.

"Did you sanction the student corrections authority to intervene on the Society of Sisters?"

"What?!" I asked in a barely controlled manner.

"I went to go see if I could get some insight into what Sofi was doing. A few of the SCA goons caught me snooping around outside the Society of Sister's clubroom and told me to get lost."

"Val!" I hissed, "She told me she'd talk to me before doing something like this!"

"How many of them are over there?" Sam asked.

"I don't know. They never let me inside. I just saw the two standing guard." Erica said.

"Can you take me to where the Society of Sisters clubroom is?" I asked.

"I'm coming with you." Sam said, "I don't think those SCA girls are going to just let you waltz in there."

"We're coming too," Naomi said and signaled to a few of her girlfriends. "I've got your back if anyone decides to cause problems."

"Okay, let’s go!" I said.

Erica led us over to where the Society of Sisters club room was located. Interestingly enough they were using a room in the same hallway that hosted several other after school groups. Just like Erica said, there were two girls standing watch outside the door with their arms folded, barring entry to anyone else. Only, I hadn't expected such a large crowd outside of the clubroom. There were already a few people trying to peek inside and see what was going on.

"Riley!" I said when I recognized one of the girls guarding the door. "What the hell is going on here?"

"Official business," Riley said unhelpfully with a smirk.

"Let us pass." Sam demanded.

"Or what...?" The girl beside Riley asked mockingly.

"Or you'll be needing more makeup tomorrow than you put on today." Naomi said. "Let Holly and Sam through. They're part of the student council."

"This has nothing to do with the student council." Riley said. "This is SCA business only. So why don't you and your love birds get lost."

Naomi glanced back to her girlfriends behind her. A few of them stepped up to carry out Naomi's threat without hesitation. However, the door to the club room opened fully and Val stepped out.

"Let Holly and Sam in. There's no need to fight over something stupid." Val said. She flicked Riley in the head before turning back around. "If Holly tells you something then you listen to her as if she's me, got it?"

Val waved us inside. Sam and I followed her in, with Sam and Riley exchanging glares as we walked by. Erica, Naomi and her girlfriends waited outside. Inside, the rest of the SCA seemed to be in full control of the situation. They were all standing and had all the members of the Society of Sisters sitting in chairs throughout the room.

“Val, what the hell is going on in here?” I asked. “You promised you’d talk to me before doing something like this, remember? We were specifically supposed to have a student council meeting about this.”

"I didn't lie to you." Val said defensively, "Or at least, I didn't mean to. I meant to go through with a meeting about this just like you wanted to. Things changed when I figured out what the Society of Sister's new plan was."

"Which is...?" I asked.

Val nodded over to Sofi who was sitting at the front of the room with two SCA members posted on each side of her.

"Why don't you try asking Sofi for yourself? If she'll talk to you, that is." Val said. "She hasn't been cooperative this entire time. Thats proof that the outreach method can't work with her."

I grimaced at what Val was saying and looked around the room. It wasn't just Sofi that looked angry and avoidant. All of the Society of Sisters seemed to be silently protesting. Val probably failed to get anything useful out of any of them. It wasn't any problem for the SCA to take control of the room, but getting them to speak was another problem entirely. Maybe my method didn't provide ideal results, but neither did this method apparently.

I took one of the free chairs and brought it over to where Sofi was sitting. I sat down just in front of her and she continued to stare at the ground, pretending like I wasn't even there. I put a hand on Sofi's knee and she shrugged my hand away. I sighed as I realized that this setting wouldn't be good for talking to her. The SCA was practically holding them hostage.

"This is exactly the situation I was trying to avoid, Sofi." I said, unable to hide the annoyance in my voice, "I'm not here to tell you that I was right, though. I'm here to talk to you about how we can fix things."

"Yeah, right..." Sofi muttered softly.

"In the few weeks that you've known me do you think I'm the type of person that would lie about that?" I asked, "Look at me and tell me I'm a liar and I'll leave you alone."

Sofi turned to look at me with a glare. As angry as she wanted to be, her facial expression softened as she studied me. She let out an aggravated sigh of her own and closed her eyes for a moment.

"You're helping the very woman that I wanted to oust." Sofi said. "It's not that I think you're a liar, but I still can't trust you."

Her voice was unusually flat and lacked her usual energy. Her voice sounded sore, like she had just got finished yelling. There was probably quite the shouting match when the SCA took over the room. That would also explain the crowd. It was no wonder that they weren't willing to cooperate.

"What did you do, Sofi?" I asked her directly. "Tell me you didn't do something that you're going to regret."

Sofi looked me straight in the eye for a moment, then glanced over to Val. When she returned her vision to me she looked full of conviction.

"I regret nothing." Sofi said without a hint of remorse in her voice.

That was when I heard someone else stomp into the room. I thought it was Naomi or Erica forcing their way past the SCA guards, but I was horribly wrong. I turned around and found Ms. Sampson walking into the room with Angelica trailing closely behind her. She had a particularly smug look on her face, like she was ecstatic to see the SCA in full control of the place. The SCA split down the middle as the two of them made their way to the front of the room where I was talking to Sofi.

"You don’t need worry about talking to her, Holly. She's going to be suspended for quite some time." Ms. Sampson said.

"Suspended...?" Sofi and I asked at the same time.

I was mystified, but Sofi was incensed by the threat.

"Well, yes," Ms. Sampson said casually, "I do believe that planning to take control of the front office to hijack the intercom system for an utterly heinous act of slander warrants suspension for a few weeks, at least."

I looked at Sofi with newfound horror.

"Is that what you were planning to do?" I asked Sofi.

Sofi didn't answer me directly. She just looked up at Ms. Sampson with a glare.

"How did you even find out?" Sofi asked.

That's when another one of the SCA members stepped over towards the front of the room.

“Actually, I'm the one responsible for that." Gayla said, "Infiltrating your group for the SCA was a plan that I helped Val come up with. It's easy to do with all of you recruiting so heavily."

Ms. Sampson gave Gayla a pat on the back.

"Well done! Well done!" Ms. Sampson cheered, "This SCA thing may be better than I suspected."

Ms. Sampson gave a nod to Angelica. Angelica walked by me to wrench Sofi out of her seat.

"You're going to have a lot of time in the front office now." Angelica said, "Your parents are already on their way."

"What?" Sofi shouted.

"We're going to have a very serious talk with them about your future here at this school." Ms. Sampson said smugly.

Ms. Sampson stared down the other members of the Society of Sisters.

"Let this serve as an example to the rest of you! If I catch any of you involving your selves in anything like this again then we'll be having a chat with all of your parents. Don't forget it!"

Angelica dragged Sofi away and Ms. Sampson turned to follow her. She stopped just beside Val and gave Val a proud smile and touch on the shoulder. Val looked down at the ground with obvious mixed feelings as Ms. Sampson continued on. Val gave me a pained look. I understood what she was feeling, but I couldn't help myself and looked away. It felt like this entire thing was done behind my back. Even if she didn't agree with me, she should've talked to all of the student council about this before going ahead with it.

Val came over to put a hand on my shoulder to try consoling me. I stepped out of her reach before she could.

“Don’t,” I said. “Not now.”

She didn’t push to try convincing me otherwise. Instead, she just gestured to the other SCA girls to leave the room. They filed out one-by-one, leaving the Society of Sisters members to think about what Ms. Sampson said.

“We’ll talk after you’ve had some time to think about things.” Val said. “I hope you’ll see why I had to do this.”

The troubling thing was that I already did. All my attempts to steer Sofi in the right direction had failed miserably and this was all Val was left with. At the heart of things, this was at least partially my fault. Val probably wouldn’t say something like that to me out of consideration. I understood, however, that I still had room to improve.