Court without its Queen

“What about the others?”

Ashley was eager to move the subject on from her lie. The longer they discussed it, the more likely her deception would be discovered. The last thing she needed was for the Ranger and Victoria to overrule her and insist on taking Leon to the hospital. She couldn’t change her story now, and once they heard that Leon had been jumped, they’d want to call the police. She wasn’t sure that her lie would hold up to police scrutiny, and worse, if the police got involved, even against Ashley’s wishes, the blonde teen couldn’t be certain that the Nine Dragons wouldn’t take that as a sign of betrayal and cut their loses, and Hannah’s throat.

“What others?” Kurt asked dumbly.

“Well, when I left there was more than just the two of you here,” Ashley retorted with a frown.

“Right, yes, those guys.” Finding Victoria alone had temporary ousted the sextet from his mind, as Kurt remembered his fear that they might have gotten lost. “Everyone else is out in the forest completing those tasks you set for us, tidying up the campsite and gathering wood in preparation for the part-”

“Ixnay on the artypay in front of the angerray,” Ashley cut him off, hissing.

“What the fuck is an artypay?” Kurt recoiled in confusion.

But Jennifer was amused, as she quite smugly informed Ashley, “the angerray already nowskay.”

The cheerleader gulped quite audibly with both the terrified realization that the competent, worldly ranger had translated her pig latin, and that she already knew about the party. After everything she and Leon had gone through to set up the party, to get the kegs and the band, for it to fall a part now, at the least hurdle, just because a Ranger found out, felt like the universe was giving her a massive middle finger. It was worse than a joke. She felt sick to her stomach but channeled the nausea into rage. Her eyes fell on Kurt, correctly deducing that he was the only one who would have told Jennifer.

“Now wait a minute let me explain.” Kurt had seen that look to kill on enough girls to know he had to talk fast. “As I told Jennifer, they can’t keep us out of the forest. We’re having the party at the cabin, which is Heather’s property. The park is public, so if people from the party want to take a stroll to Zaffre Falls or the camp site, then that’s just the perks of having the forest on our doorstep, but we technically aren’t having the party in Silver Lake park.”

Ashley’s sapphire eyes shifted towards Jennifer to gauge the truth of his response. Still smiling, Jennifer nodded, and added, “I’m not going to put a stop to your party. It’s Spring Break, and I understand that you kids want to unwind. But I warn you, don’t let yourselves go too much. Any disruptions in the park, and I’ll know exactly where to come.”

“I’ll make sure no one causes any problems. Heather too. You know she’s always loved this place like a second home. Anyone makes trouble and Heather will have their head first,” Ashley assured the Ranger. “Actually, this makes it easier, because I have another request.”

“Shoot.” Kurt said.

“Do the Ravers have a generator that we can use down at the lake? If they don’t, I need to tell Luke to hire one.”

“No, there should be one down below in the storage room beneath the deck. Two, in fact, a large back up generator for the cabin, and a smaller portable gasoline machine that we can carry down to the lake.” Kurt tilted his head thoughtfully, trying to remember what was down there but that room was a mess. Things that hadn’t been used in some time were buried under all sorts of junk, like a gun. “There should be some gas canisters down there as well to fuel it.”

“Tell Luke…” Victoria searched her mind, trying to put a name to the face, a skill she was usually quite apt at.

The inquisitive blonde had been involved with The Busy Bear every year since she entered secondary education, before being appointed as its editor in her senior year, a position that required not only overseeing the publication of a weekly newsletter, but also the annual yearbooks. She'd always been involved in compiling the photos, quotes and club information, but now she had an actual say in how it was, formatted, laid out and bound. All good preparation for the editor in chief she hoped one day to become, although that currently depended on whether her family newspaper could beat the scandal of the hack and having her semen covered face plastered over the front page for all to see.

For four years she had seen seniors come and go, while a new crop of freshmen rose through the grades. She’d lost count of how many faces she’d seen, most of them complete strangers except for a name. It was the surrealist feeling in the world to walk down the main street from Founders Square and see a face coming her way that she’d only ever seen in a book. They probably had no idea who she was, and she had no idea if they were nice or mean, but she knew their name, which was more than some one night stands could say.

Throughout four years there had been several people called Luke. Luke Wayne, a senior who left during her freshman year, who stated in his bio that he was heading to Breakwater on a basketball scholarship. Unlikely. Luke Howler, a current sophomore, who’s picture appeared in his class page and in the computer club spread, where he stood, flanking Victoria’s second cousin. What could Ashley possibly tell him? Then there was Luke Olsen, a boy just one year older, who shirked all club activities. Victoria did know one tidbit about him that wasn’t in the annual though, that he played in a band, The Dark Wolves, who played at the School Winter Formal a few months ago. And suddenly everything fell into place.

All of these deductions, though they would have taken minutes to explain, happened in a matter of seconds in Victoria’s brain. No sooner had she began her search after echoing Ashley’s words, her eyes lit up, empowered by knowledge. “You got the Dark Wolves to play here tomorrow?”

“Yeah, I did,” Ashley smiled. As Victoria’s best friend, the cheerleader was impressed by her quick deductions, but not surprised. “Took me -sorry, us-” she added to Leon, “-long enough to find him though.”

“Ah, so that’s why you were at Toxic,” Victoria made another quick inference.

“Right, we tried Captain’s Cove first, but Hugo told us he was cleaning tables at the nightclub,” Ashley’s voice turned hard, frustrated that the conversation had once again turned back to setting of lies.

This time, however, Ashley didn’t need to concoct a distraction. The universe, it seemed, had chosen to turn that middle finger into a thumbs up, as the six friends returned, dramatically changing the subject as the bikini-clad Amber bounded into the cabin and launched herself at Ashley. Ashley stiffened as Amber tightly entangled herself around her cheermate, almost sobbing. Fake tears, Ashley was sure, but she was taken aback by Amber’s affection. Though teammates, the blondes weren’t the closest of friends, with Amber often being suspicious of Ashley’s relationship with their captain.

“On my god, Ashley. I’m so glad to see you. It was awful. Just awful. Please don’t make me go back out into that dirty, horrible forest again. I’ll be happy if I never have to look at another tree again in my life. Please, don’t make me do any more work,” Amber yammered inconsolably. “Just tell me I don’t have to do anymore work, please. I just want to stay in this cabin and never leave. And after the party I’m never coming back to this place. Never ever. Not for all the cheerleading retreats or hot guys in the world, I swear it.”

Ashley glanced past the girl draped over her to the others standing near the door with an incredulous look. She asked, “What the hell happened out there?”

None of the five provided an answer, most like Gavin and Madison simply standing awkwardly silent, while Chloe and Brandon shrugged. Trent said nothing too, but his attention was on Amber, wondering if something he’d said had affected her. Ashley’s eyes turned to them each one after the other, with all but one remaining silent. Under her heavy gaze, Gavin buckled, and replied, “I don’t know what she’s complaining about. We’re the ones who did all the work.”

“I was humiliated, Gavin.” Amber shot back, briefly looking over her shoulder, before burying her face in Ashley chest for comfort.

“But how?” Trent pondered. He could think of many words for what she might have felt, 'offended', 'attacked', 'bullied', but ‘humiliated’ wasn’t what he’d expected.

“That…that’s none of your business,” Amber insisted, determined that no one would ever known how she was **** to use semen as sunblock.

For her part, Chloe kept her word and said nothing too.

“Is this still about us laughing at you?” Trent asked. He thought she had moved past this issue when she dropped to her knees to suck his cock in the woods, but apparently it was still a point of contention for the cheerleader.

“Y-yes, that’s right. You guys are so mean!” Amber said, latching onto the convenient excuse.

“I’m sure you deserved it after how you treat those guys, thinking you’re superior because of being cheerleader, and calling Gavin a-” Ashley stopped and looked harder at the blonde whose crown was about an inch from her face. “Wait, you just called him Gavin?”

“Of course, I did,” Amber turned her head upwards towards Ashley. “That’s his name.”

“That didn’t matter earlier.” Ashley stared at the others in shock. “Seriously now, what happened in that forest? Four years of Sharon’s influence and you break her in one afternoon in the forest?”

“There may have been a little wager,” Chloe confessed, her cheeks flushing red as her hair. “And we may have gotten a little lost.” Glancing at Jennifer, the redhead didn’t recognize the Ranger, but she did notice the uniform. “A couple of your colleagues helped us find our way to Zaffre Falls.”

“Guy with grey eyes, short black hair and a short, doe-eyed girl?” Jennifer verified, and Chloe nodded. “I can see they were actually able to help, which is good. Colin can get lost himself sometimes if forgets which way he came, and Audra is new and uninviting until you get used to her.”

“No kidding,” Kurt remarked.

“She almost pulled her gun on me!” Amber cried.

“In fairness, we startled them by running through the forest to catch up,” Chloe said charitably. “I don’t think she’d actually shoot us…would she?”

Jennifer shrugged. “Audra can be a little abrupt, but I don’t think she’d shoot someone unless I or Colin gave the order.”

“OhmygodIalmostdied,” Amber clutched at her chest like she was hyperventilating.

“Calm down, you did not almost die,” Ashley defused the other blonde’s panic

“Ashley is right,” Jennifer added. “Maybe I was a little too flippant before. Those guns are for violent trespassers and wild animals. Jumping out of the bushes probably caught them off guard, but it’s quite clear that you’re neither violent nor wild.”

“You haven’t seen her at cheerleading practice,” Madison quipped.

Amber didn’t respond. Her bet with Chloe only extended to Gavin and the redhead herself, but Trent had suggested that she try to be nicer too, especially since this was Heather’s cabin, and she had chosen to invite these people. While she congratulated herself for not saying anything though, she still shot a dirty look over her shoulder at the brunette.

Blinking to make sure it was real, Ashley was again baffled by how Amber had been silenced in a single afternoon with the others. Even if she was still gullible and dramatic, if she wasn’t actively hostile to everyone who wasn’t a hot guy, then Ashley felt she might actually survive the night without strangling the other blonde in her sleep.

“Just look at the positives,” Trent told her. “At least you found the Rangers and they got you back on the track.”

“Yes, that’s right.” Amber chuckled nervously. “And that’s all that happened. You’re right, I’m making a big deal out of nothing.”

“Okay, something definitely happened out there,” Ashley insisted. “One time, Sharon had mono and I had to drop you off home from cheer practice. I took Madison home first because it was on the way, got delayed by some roadworks and ended up getting you home late, and you bitched about it for a week. Chloe got you lost in a forest and it’s no big deal? What the fuck happened out there?”

“Nothing,” Amber said, tight lipped while she scanned the room for a good excuse. Locking eyes with the quarterback, she remembered, “Brandon said we could play a game if I helped out and he’d play with me. I’m just eager to move on from the situation to do that. So, let’s play!”

“Later,” Brandon stretched as he walked through the group, heading towards the kitchen. “I don’t know about anyone else, but I’m famished.”

“I could eat after beating your ass,” Trent agreed, slapping Gavin on the back and following his team captain. “You hungry?”

“Yeah, actually,” Gavin massaged his arms, sore from carrying the logs. “You know, for the first time ever, I think I want steak.”

“Ah, my man,” Trent laughed. “You’re starting to sound like a real red-blooded male.”

“Are there any steaks in the fridge?” Brandon asked Kurt.

“Dunno, let’s go check.” Kurt said, joining the group of men.

“You’re really going to have dinner without your beautiful, amazing host.”

The voice pierced the air, distinctive and commanding, drawing the attention of everyone in the room, from Brandon who had one foot in the kitchen, to Leon who was still slumped on the couch, his ears ringing. Even the air seemed richer, as her perfume pervaded the room, a signature scent so unique that it reminded every boy in the room of how she would walk confidently through the halls of their school, her short pleated skirt bouncing around her thighs. It could be no one other than Heather Ravers.