SUNNYVALE

(89) PEOPLE NEVER LEARN FROM THEIR MISTAKES

The party organised by Megan Rapinoe was giving Crystal creeps vibes: especially given that last time, it resulted in both her and Lynn Williams' deaths, and the shadows crashing the party. 

The music was loud - almost too loud for people tot talk together - and Crystal could not restrain herself from looking around with the hope of seeing Shelina appear in her field of view. Indeed, other than being deeply worried about the woman she considers to be her soulmate, she had to deal with quite the situation: finding her way straight to Crystal on the crowd was Julie Johnston, formerly her best friend and drug associate, and now somehow her freaking girlfriend - it did not make any sense at all. 

When the blonde finally finds Crystal - and she was obviously pretty drunk - she immediately wraps her arms around the other girl's neck and kisses her straight away with the tongue, giving her whole into the kiss. Not feeling a thing - obviously, she saw Julie as her friend only - Crystal tries to pull away, but Julie just kisses her cheeks, before laughing loudly.

"Babe" the blonde exclaims, visibly amused by something within the party, "have you heard the news ? Tobin's little sis's body was found yesterday - she and Samantha Mewis died in a car crash... weird, right ? I thought they hated each other!"

Weren't they lovers? Crystal asks herself, completely confused.

"Weird..."

"Are you sure you're okay?" Julie asks - the same question than the last twelve times - with her worried eyes on Crystal. When the dark-haired stares at her in the eyes for the first time today, she continues: "You really seem off these days..."

Get it together - you've got no idea how you and Chris ended in that God-forsaken dimension, but you gotta play along, Crystal thinks to herself, before responding:

"Nothing's wrong - I'm just tired."

"Alright" Julie says, pecking Crystal's lips.

Suddenly, an idea comes to Crystal's mind, as she asks:

"Have you heard any news about Shelina Zadorsky?"

Julie's face changes from concern to utter confusion.

"Who?"

"Never mind" Crystal immediately says, frowning, "I guess it's some actress' name or something that stuck into my mind."

"In your defence, Shelina Zadorsky is such a badass name that it can't be a real person" Julie lets out, before suddenly turning around, grabbing Crystal's arm and saying: "Let's go: Allie's prepared some shots!"

Crystal follows her, but Shelina is the only thing stuck in her head right now: what if she doesn't exist in that dimension? What if she disappeared, like Sam and Tierna, and doesn't exist anymore?

So many questions but no responses... yet.

***

Sitting in between Lindsey Horan - who visibly is her roommate since first year of college, so two years - Allie Long - aka the shadow's first victim - and Tobin Heath - aka the latest loss on their side - Christen really felt like she was experiencing some sort of bad trip: as much as she was beyond happy to find her friends again, well and alive, she was scared it might not last, and also that it meant she would never see Mapi ever again, as celestials seem to have wiped out of the surface of the Earth all of a sudden (and even of the universe at that point).

Lost in her thoughts, Christen is called out by Allie, who exclaims:

"Hey, Pressy, don't ignore me when we talk about the real shit!" and, handing Christen a drink - as they were doing a drinking game it appears - she adds: "Either you tell us what's going on with Williamson, or you drink your glass bottom's up!"

"But it's totally filled" Christen lets out, annoyed.

"We don't give a shit, honestly" Tobin smirks.

Obviously, the brunette was hurting since, in that reality, her little sister died only days ago, and everybody could see the hurt in her eyes. But as of right now, she was just drunk, probably trying to forget.

Christen nods.

She then drinks bottoms up, not even making a funny face, while the girls around her cheer loudly. Once she is done, she feels her throat burning and turning sore, as if her whole being was now on fire. 

"Damn" Lindsey comments, shook, "you're a savage, Pressy!"

While everybody laughs, Christen spots a familiar face going through the crowd to meet the group of friends she was belonging to: Megan Rapinoe, as funny and joyful as ever, was dancing her way to them, followed by Emily Sonnett and Rose Lavelle.

Funny how, in this reality, Sunnyvale is not made of fucking idiots thinking West and East can't get along, Christen thinks to herself, as she sees Lindsey, Rose and Sonnett pull each other in a tight hug, as yet another face - this one unknown - appears.

Well, I have never seen you in Sunnyvale in my entire life, stranger, Christen frowns, observing the newcomer dressed in Adidas trainings and with a bun over her head - she belongs to the same soccer team than Christen - salute everybody, including Christen, which indicates that they know each other here.

The newbie stares at Christen, who is doing a funny face.

"Jeez, Pressy, why do I feel like you're looking at me like you first saw me?" the girl inquires, raising her eyebrows.

Searching in her memories, Christen truly cannot find the girl with somewhat of an accent she couldn't quite figure out.

Trying to find a smart answer, the dark-haired only says:

"Shut up, you moron"

"Woosh" Megan comments, amused, "the feud between Christen Press and Jill Roord in the pursuit of captain of Melas College is one again, ladies and... ladies!"

The girl named Jill just gives Christen a tap on the back, before serving herself a drink and sitting down next to Tobin, as they start laughing together. Somehow, Christen couldn't take her eyes away from her: if this is another version of reality, then why is a total stranger here ? Or maybe she was missing something very important ? 

Either way, while thinking about it, Christen would drink the remainder of her drink, staring at the ceiling: where the fuck are the others when you need them? she thinks to herself, missing the rest of their odd yet close-knit group of friends. 

Either way, Jill Roord's presence in this reality is no coincidence...