Her eyes, his lies

Chapter 11

They'd been talking for so long they hadn't noticed the time pass.

The sounds of the late-afternoon training sessions reached all the way to their spot beneath the bleachers. A trio of girls cheered the boys on from nearby.

Jane got on her knees, looking through the vertical space between the seats. Teenage boys ran in circles around the field, huffing. An overweight coach blew his whistle in time with their cadence. It reminded her of dog training.

Victoria, at some point, had fallen asleep. Her blonde hair hung over her face as she lay on the ground, head cushioned by Jane's jacket.

Jane had only her undershirt on. Her pale shoulders, dusted with freckles, were nearly the same color as the benches themselves. They hadn't been touched by sunlight in months.

She spotted a lanky boy outrunning the rest of the athletes, sans his shirt. It was Ryder. His fellow players seemed clumsy in comparison to the athletic prowess he was displaying, easily out-pacing any other kid on the team. The coach nodded encouragingly at him as he passed.

Jane couldn't believe it. Was this boy really asking her out? But she was a nobody. She'd never even really spoken to him before today. The idea that he had suddenly become romantically interested in her seemed absurd. Perhaps he just wanted to hang out. As friends.

Beside her, Victoria stirred.

"Hey," she said, looking up at Jane between blonde bangs.

"Hey," Jane replied. "You fell asleep."

"Oh, wow, really?" Victoria asked, sarcastically. She rose from the ground, picking up Jane's jacket as she did.

"You're always wearing this," she commented, dusting the jacket off.

Jane didn't say anything, returning her gaze to the athletes. They were performing some sort of stretching routine now. Victoria came up next to her, squatting down to see at the same level as Jane.

"You are such a perv," she teased.

Jane noticed that she didn't look away from the football team either. Hypocrite.

"Vic, I need you to help me with something," Jane said.

"Sure, anything."

"It's kinda a big ask," Jane warned.

Victoria grinned, smugness in her lips. "Spit it out already."

Evidently exhausted, Ryder had flopped on the grass alongside one of his teammates. The other boys were still completing their stretching.

"When I hacked the school documents, I couldn't find anything on Beatrice. Because someone erased it all," Jane explained. "I need to get access to the original file, somehow. Or even the computer it's stored on."

Victoria looked away from the boys this time, raising one eyebrow at Jane.

"Are you asking me for super-duper illegal advice?" she asked.

"Yeah, I guess... I don't really know how I'm going to get to that file. I can't access it remotely."

Victoria bit her lip, thinking. "Well, I know exactly what to do. But you're gonna have to trust me."

"I'm not gonna like this, am I?"

A slow smile crept over Victoria's face, devilish in nature. "We're gonna break into the school!"

Jane chewed on her thumbnail, idly wondering if she'd made a massive mistake by roping Victoria in. If they got caught, she would be punished too. Jane might be able to get away with it, being the new girl, but Victoria was already notorious for being a rule breaker. Breaking and entering would stick.