SS(S)S - The home stretch

Back at CCL House, you don’t have much to do to get ready. You already prepared yourself as though for a date, and you’ve just taken a shower. So all there is to do is choose an outfit, perfume, and do your makeup. Your heart still hasn’t properly slowed down since the shower. That moment when she turned to face you is stuck in your mind on repeat.

You have to face the truth: this is not going the way that you thought. It’s going much better, or at least, it seems to be. But Sal… she’s not what you expected. She’s not some infamous villain or anything, but a few offhanded comments that you’ve heard around CCL House have made her sound like kind of a bitch. This thing with Athena just solidified that in your mind.

But Sal’s behavior with you tells a different story. However, now that you are out of her immediate proximity and your thirsty lovesickness is kind of removed from the equation, you’re ready to be suspicious. Sal is impossible to read. For all you know, she could be just as cunning as you, or even as smart as Athena.

She could be onto you. Or she might have fallen for it, but she isn’t just being a nice person: she’s being a predator. Maybe she’s trying to capitalize on the perceived vulnerability of this disgruntled CCL pledge. Maybe she thinks she can use you. That seems to be the most likely option, but you don’t know. You thought that you would be able to do this with the same headspace that you had when you first broke into CGH House, but you can’t. You just can’t stay that calm.

You feel like you did after you met Athena for the first time. Confusion is too mild a word for it. You look at your outfit in the mirror, just a little seafoam surplice dress with white heels. You have a pink backpack as your overnight bag. You’re overdressed, but that’s in character and… the character is you. That’s a weird feeling. You gaze at your reflection. Supposing, just supposing, that you meant something to Athena, what would she think about this?

You shake your head. You can’t think about that right now. It’s time to go.

As your heading down the stairs, the front door is opening. Athena, Yuki, and Nancy are back. They’re carrying stuff in. All the supplies, their bags… there’s a ton of it.

They stop at the sight of you, all dressed up, making your way down the stairs like a Hollywood starlet. Your stomach does a flip. Not only are you busted in the middle of a mission, but there’s an added layer of shittiness. You ran out on them. Now you’re going to do it again. They’re exhausted and still working to get that stuff into the house and put away.

Miserably, you hurry down the steps and get out of the way. They don’t know what to say. You don’t either. Their eyes feel like laser beams.

You can’t take it. You squeeze past Yuki and hustle to your car.