Two Queens

One to Ten

A/N: Today's update is an extra long read, consider it a treat due to my crappy updating schedule - as well as the end of the story coming soon. There's only three more chapters to go! 

Oh, and there's also quite a lot going on as the ball gets rolling from this chapter. There's gonna be DRAMA.

Enjoy lovelies,

D.L.D

~*O*~ ~*O*~ ~*O*~

~Courtney~

After getting back home, I don't feel much better about Heather. Like buzzing mosquitoes, Sierra's cryptic warnings still flit around my brain and Heather's odd behaviour from the mall add to their vigour. Safety was not guaranteed when I had agreed to work with Heather. Even though we are allies, even though we share a common goal, my immunity from her own secret schemes was never guaranteed. Heather wouldn't be that generous; Heather wouldn't be that stupid.

Just like me, Heather has something to gain from this weird alliance of ours. I don't know what it is, I don't know what she could possibly want from me, but there is something I can uniquely do which has her banking on this plan working. Something brilliant was brewing in her mind and it relied on me. Just me. And that is not a settling thought to have when everyone is warning me about the dangers of trusting a devil...

Releasing a sigh, I stare at the screen on my phone. For the past hour I had been texting back and forth with Justin, sharing the details of my dilemma. Like the perfect partner, the most loyal supporter, he had immediately responded, chiming in with his own suggestions and giving me small updates on the whole Gwuncan vs Duncney thing. At first, I didn't want to tell him everything. Being used to hiding the full truth, dodging around manipulative faces, I didn't want to place my whole hand of cards within his. But slowly, gradually, I had cracked.

Maybe it was because Justin did not talk to me in the same demanding and fierce way that Heather does. Maybe it is because he is not as soft as Bridgette, as weak and kind as the girl who would do anything to please all sides. Maybe it is because Justin is different from every other person I have ever known. All through our conversation, not once has he pushed me to do anything for him. Not once has he abused my trust.

Biting my lip, I feel weird tingles settle in the base of my stomach. My brain jolts at the sensation. It is a weird feeling - having someone to trust.

It has been too long since I have had someone to trust.

*New message* - FROM: Justin

Justin - Have you told Heather about Sierra?

My mind stills as I read the message, a frown automatically filling my features. Tell Heather? Telling Heather was the worst possible thing to do after something like this. Meticulous and crafty, Heather liked to have everything under her control. Sierra, her oldest confidant and arguably her only true remaining friend, was someone Heather kept extremely close to her. Like a precious treasure, a dragon's hoard, Heather kept Sierra under lock and key, her claws sunk into the chains that wrapped around the notorious gossip.

Telling Heather that Sierra - her Sierra - had spoken to me about choosing the right path, she would go ballistic. Sierra was the important piece that kept Heather's clock ticking all day long. Without Sierra's undying loyalty, everything Heather had ever built would fall apart piece by tiny piece. First the outliers would leave, no longer threatened by Heather's empty promises; then the others would follow, slowly realising that Heather had no power left.

If I clued Heather into that, if I let her know that Sierra was gradually slipping from her grasp, she would blame me. If Heather blamed me, she would take me down with her - drown me with her sinking ship as the school's seas swallowed us whole. Then the scavengers would come to pick at us - those who even the outcasts didn't want to know - our new place in the food chain solidified by Heather's fall from grace.