Betrayal

-the 12th street underpass-

Florence studied the note that had been slipped into her locker before jamming it into her purse. It was the day after their meeting in the locker room with Derren. What a sick man Derren was to make her choose between self preservation and her loyalty to her friend. It was 2PM and there was no cheer practice so she and Chelsea would soon be departing home together. Usually Chelsea would challenger her to something inane like a race or who could vault a parking bollard the highest, though Florence suspected this wouldn't be the case today. It was late into Autumn by now and even at 2 the sun was just barley dangling above the tree line so it was nice this time of year to get to go home while there was meaningful daylight to illuminate their walk home. These mundane thought exuded her conscious mind as she tried to push the dreadful thought of betraying her one and only best friend. However, all that was in vain when she rounded the corner into the main lobby and found Chelsea waiting for her.

"Hey" Chelsea said with a halfhearted smile and a tone that lacked her usual chipper tone.

"Are you ready to go?" Replied Florence her tone also without enthusiasm (although that was her norm).

"Yeah, I'm ready."

"Alright then."

That was the only words spoken to each other for the first ten minutes of their fifteen minute walk together. Florence couldn't help but recall their conversation just a day prior.

"Waaaaaa! Flo what're we gonna dooooo!" Chelsea was shaking like a leaf after their horrifying encounter with Derren. In truth the whole situation had her nerves on a hair trigger, but she always prided herself on her cool and calm composure and she would ensure this was no different.

"Nothing." While Chelsea was on her knees in front of Florence panicking, Florence remained seated on the bench. Her sharp gaze peered down at her friend, who was near hyperventilating, whilst she gave her response.

"Wha!? Nothing!?"

"That's what I said."

"How can you say that, look at what he did to Coach, Mia, and Miko! What'll we do if he uses his powers on our families!"

"Hmm, yes his so called powers. Do you really think he has powers?"

"Well look at the three I just named! Coach was giving him a BJ in school, in front of students no less!"

"****."

"Eh?"

"I look into everyone extensively before I include them into my life, our beloved coach nearly died in her college years due to taking copious amounts of **** and ****. Her parents did their best to cover for her but if you do enough digging you'll find pay-dirt on anyone. Point being we know that Derren is a degenerate, it wouldn't surprise me to find out he's dealing to Coach and she lets him have his way with her so she can get her next fix. Next is Miko, when she came back from Japan she stuck by Derren even after all Vivian and the rest of us did to burry his reputation and name. It stands to reason she loved him from go and was crazy enough to go along with it."

"What about Mia then!"

"Right the odd piece to this puzzle, I can only conclude ****, but what he may have on her I haven't the foggiest."

"So you really want to take the chance at his powers being legit?"

"You really think magic exists? Come on Chels you're better than that. If we get through tomorrow you'll see our families will be safe and then we can punish that bastard for putting us through this, alright?"

"Yeah, yeah you're right, totally."

"Good come on let's go home."

Despite the fact that they agreed to not betray each other and Florence had laid out the reason why they shouldn't, the tension between them was nevertheless palpable. Chelsea finally breaks the silence.

"Hey, let's go get a smoothy! I feel like we need to take our minds off of things." Chelsea wheels into an alleyway before Florence even got the chance to protest. Sure there was a smoothy place they both enjoyed just on the other side of that alleyway, but this wasn't the time for that! Despite herself she chased after her impulsive best friend. Turning quickly around the corner she is surprised to see Chelsea stopped just a few steps into the alley. She was moving so quickly she nearly ran into her friend.

"Oof! What the hell are you stopping for Chels?"

"Sorry Flo."

"It's alrigh... arg!!" Before Florence can even react she is thrown by her friend into the left side wall of the alley. Her hands pinned behind her by her friend and her head was glued against the wall in such a way that her face was **** to the right and she noticed an alarming presence that she should have picked up on from the start.

"Derren!"

"Hey ladies, I'm glad I guessed right it would have been awkward to make you guys wait like this for 5 minute while I came from the underpass. Guess I text Miko that I was right and get her back here."

"Hey babe! You got it right! Miko owes me a cool fifty haha. Hey, hey, I got strawberry banana and mango pineapple which one you want." Mia holds up two smoothies with a warm smile.

"Well I wanted to keep this intimidating atmosphere going a while longer but thanks my love, I'll take strawberry banana. Hold on to it for me right now though?"

"Mhmm, sorry I didn't wanna ruin your moment or anything!"

"MIA! HOW CAN YOU BE FINE WITH THIS! AND CHELSEA, I'M YOUR MY FRIEND HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO ME. WE HAD A PLAN WE'D SAVE OUR FAMILIES NO MATTER WHAT, WHY,WHY!"

"Well as for me, I love, love, love Derren. I mean I was in this the second he agreed to be my boyfriend, who do you think gave him dirt on all you morons!" Florence felt incredibly crestfallen by the answer Mia gave, it was even more clear to her now that she could make no appeal to the relationship Mia and her once had.

"Friends! No Flo, we were friends, but not for a long time now. Ever since we entered middle school and you were so much better than me at everything! You were always more, athletic and graceful no matter how I trained my body, you were better effortlessly! So, I thought what the hell I'll study like mad and I can be smarter, but no I'd see you barley lift a finger to take notes during class, saw your books collect dust on your desk at home and yet you still would score perfectly in everything. Finally, I figured I could at least be more popular than you, so I put on this stupid, cheerful, bubbly, bullshit act to maybe be more than you in that regard, but no! You always got every guy I wanted and all our friends like you more than me even with your cold demeanor, when can I beat you! Well Derren gave me a way I don't have to worry about my families safety because I think his powers are real and he'll turn you into a mindless ****. My family will be fine, so will yours, but I'll be the better of us finally."

The words of Chelsea who she thought was her friend sent tears flowing down her face. She felt so heartbroken and defeated. If Chelsea was right and his powers were real she would be violated by this man in front of her and no one would lift a finger to help as they'd see it as normal that he owned her. The worst of it all was she always considered Chelsea her best friend and just saw her as competitive. She never knew this hatred was boiling within her! To Florence she never cared about being the best in any of that stuff! She only wanted to hangout with her friend and so she would play along with her friends challenges. If she had just told her how she felt, she could console her friend, and tell her something important. The simple fact was for Florence if she didn't take to it like fish to water she was garbage at it, no matter hard she tired. Cooking? She could burn ice. Gardening? Those poor plants never stood a chance. She could go on and on about skills she couldn't handle! She wished she could tell Chelsea this but currently Chelsea had her hand covering her mouth, clearly whatever Florence had to say Chelsea didn't want to hear it.

"Well I think it's time then!" Derren announced as he made his way to the two girls. The five ten seconds it took for Derren to walk over to Florence felt like an agonizing eternity. She watched in abject terror as he undid the cap of his pen. She bucked against Chelsea's restraint, but despite her better athleticism she was put into a position of powerlessness due to the surprise attack that pinned her here in the first place. She wondered what it would be like to be his mindless ****. Would she really be mindless? What would that even be like? He was in front of her now and she was hyperventilating, and she closed her eyes shut in a fruitless attempt to deny the reality of the situation. She felt pen etch across flesh as she feared for her very mind. And then she felt... completely normal? Well not completely, she had the vague sense that something had changed about her and given time she'd be able to come up with what that was, but she was certainly not mindless. She heard Derren tell Chelsea to let her go and Florence was freed as she opened her eyes. She wasted no time in seeing what was written on her.

Derren Smith's Dutiful Secretary

Of Course! She could almost facepalm herself for how she could have possibly not been able to place something so painfully obvious! That's what she felt! She must serve Derren as a secretary because he owned her as such, duh! But, that was weird didn't he say the one who was betrayed would be a mindless ****?

"Gottcha!" Florence jumped at the exclamation before realizing she wasn't the one being seized nor was it her new boss Derren. No instead the voice came from a petite Japanese woman in a maid's outfit and she had Chelsea in a full nelson.

"Miko what are you doing!"

"What my darling master ordered me to do obviously!"

"Wha- Why, Derren what's happening."

"Heh, boy you're stupid Chels!"

"What do you mean Mia! I did what I was asked!"

"Yeeeeup, you did without considering who you were dealing with. You think a man who is seeking **** because he was betrayed would reward a traitor especially when it's your bff you stabbed in the back, and you wonder why you always lost to Florence in contests of intelligence! If you'd have followed Flo's plan you'd have both been given a favorable position like Florence, but you had to be a dumb bitch one last time huh? Also you betrayed her for nothing you were so blinded by your rivalry with Flo in school you never bothered to compete in other aspects of life. You never realized Flo is helpless in so many life skills you excel at, oh well I guess it's too late for that now." Mia's flippant dismissal of Chelsea made Chelsea want to clock her but she was a bit tied up so she couldn't do much about the situation. In keeping her attention on Mia she also didn't notice Derren writing on her, until it was too late.

"Done!" Derren exclaimed. Miko released Chelsea, and as much as she wanted to swing at him se felt an overwhelming urge to check the arm where the writing was.

Derren Smith's Mostly Mindless ****

"Mostly Mindless?" Chelsea pondered out loud.

"Oh yes that means you can have your mind back only when serving me and my orders otherwise mindless. Oh and I have no orders for you right now."

Suddenly Chelsea felt like she was floating in the calm motionless sea of her own mind she couldn't move, couldn't feel, couldn't want, need, fear, smile, frown, cry about her life being over, she didn't even know how much time had passed for her in this state, she couldn't care about how much time had past, she couldn't even process the concept of time. In this state she might as well have been an inanimate object, and in real time out side her mind she crumpled to the ground like one too.

"Alrighty then, I want her to stay mindless for a bit so Florence could you please scoop her up and take her to my house?"

"Yes sir, and please call me Flo. Also I know it may be impertinent of me but please reconsider keeping Chelsea like this permanently."

"Oh, even though she betrayed you? There's a limit to how loyal a person can be before they are simply a fool you know."

"I'm aware of what I'm asking, and I'm furious at my friends behavior trust me. I just don't think she is deserving of this, I'm asking you to reconsider and give her a second chance. Not now mind you, but once you feel as though she's learned her lesson sir."

"Hmm, I see your point. Alright in time we'll talk about it again, for now scoop her up. Oh and let's fix my claim to you."

With a thought the ink upon Florence's arm vanished in its place the same writing appeared in front of her on the left part of her chest right before her breasts. The wording was now a permeant tattoo that was accented with a green ribbon pattern with a white stripe running through the green in one solid line, to the point where it looked as if she got a prize ribbon tattooed onto herself. Chelsea's writing was only moved up her arm so it couldn't be seen casually and made permanent, nothing fancy was needed for a toy.

Derren grabbed his smoothy and headed out the alley, Mia and Miko bounded out after him leaving Florence to deal with Chelsea. She took a deep breath and pulled her shirt and gazed upon the writing on her chest. Despite the fact that she should be freaked out she felt proud of her new position. Yes, like the others who received rather merciful positions by Derren, Florence was influenced positively by the writing upon her. In time she'd reflect on this moment as one of the most joyful in her life. She scooped up her dear friend in her arms and despite herself smiled a small soft smile and whispered...

"Thank you."