Edge of the Dark // Noa Olivar

vii. the losers' club

In the spur of the moment, Joey took the CD she made for her ex-girlfriend.

She was gathering her things from the backseat and the little voice in her head was begging her to just grab it and take it. There were songs Joey got burned onto the CD that resonated with their relationship, but the last track wasn't a song. It was about an eight minute long audio clip that they accidentally recorded while drunk.

Most of the beginning was gibberish since they were too far away from her phone for it to collect their voices, but at some point during the audio recording, they got closer to it and their words were a lot clearer. Some of it was of them just laughing and saying silly little things, but then it got to one part where Noa was telling her how she wanted to keep Joey for life, hence the title to the CD.

Joey goes on to explain how happy she was and describe every little thing she felt for Noa and how truly remarkable the girl was. It was a rather lighthearted moment caught on recording that she gave to Noa for their six month anniversary and then deleted off her phone. So, of course, the voice in her head convinced her to take it just so she could hear it again.

Hear how happy she used to be.

And it wasn't like Noa would notice it was gone anyway. There were piles among piles of CDs that were back there, so maybe she wouldn't notice it's disappearance or perhaps she wouldn't care that it was gone.

Yet, even though Joey had it on her desk, she couldn't bring herself to put it on. So, she left it as it was and went to school. While she was sitting around in class, working on some math equations, the intercom went on and Imogen Adams was being notified to go to the principals office right away.

She shared the class with Faran who met her gaze instantly when their friends name was called down to the office. Right after the class ended, they met up with the rest of the girls and waited around the corner for Imogen to finish up her conversation with Principal Clanton.

She walked out looking almost disoriented, and as her gaze moved upwards she met their stare and walked over to them, her mouth hanging open in shock.

"We heard the announcement and assembled." Tabby stated, concern evident in her voice. "You okay?"

"Uh," Imogen stammered, her mind still tangled in confusion. "Karen dropped out of the race."

"Shit. 'Cause of us?"

"Can you think of another reason?" Imogen asked, her voice hushed.

Joey anxiously ran a hand through her hair. "Ah, fuck, we're screwed. She's gonna retaliate. That's what she does. This is probably a step into her fucked up plan to get back at us for what we did."

Tabby rested an arm on her shoulder to keep her composed. "I agree."

"And, um," Imogen continued, her eyes watering as she grew closer to breaking down. "She also took responsibility for trashing the posters."

"See? Female Patrick Bateman." Tabby alleged, keeping her voice quiet.

"And I," Imogen sniffled, her voice quivering. "I am going to be Spirit Queen."

Noticing her growing agitated state, Tabby pushed off the wall and set her hands gently on Imogen's shoulder. "Hey, Imogen, talk to us. We got you." She reassured her, attempting to keep her grounded.

"Oh, you guys." Imogen breathed in shakily, panic crawling at her chest as she tried breathing in normally but falling short. "You guys..."

She was breathing quite heavily, setting the girls into a panic as Tabby took the lead to help her out and ordered, "Bathroom — now."