Emily I'm Sorry; Yellowjackets

thirty-three.

ACT ONE — CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

1996

"Maybe we should go save, Coach Ben," Emily laughed, watching as Misty attempted to get him to dance with her.

"Agreed," Natalie then nudged her shoulder, "Plus I have real booze elsewhere."

The girl linked her pinky with Natalie's pinky. Even small touches like that gave her a sense of security that nothing else ever had.

Emily shrugged, "I never was one for dances anyway."

The Jensen girl lead the way, Natalie trailing closely behind her as they approached Ben, "We're here to save you."

"I have real booze," Natalie added, with a smile.

"Oh my God, yes." Ben stated, wanting more than anything to escape Misty.

The three of them walked off, unnoticed by the rest of the group that continued to loudly sing. Ash grabbed Lottie's hands as she sang along, and half-forced the other girl to dance.

Lottie smiled in response, giving in and dancing with her. The two of them laughed about everyone's poor singing, and just let loose.

"Here," Natalie held up the bottle, "I found it under the porch a few weeks ago."

"Oh, wow," Ben laughed.

Natalie sat down on the other side of Emily, brushing the dirt off her hands. Emily kissed her cheek, and Ben popped open the bottle.

Ben took a sip of the alcohol, and then sighed, offering the bottle to Natalie.

Natalie held out her hands, "This is gonna sound weird but...I haven't really wanted it."

"Well in that case," He held up the bottle as a form of cheers before taking another sip and passing it to Emily.

Emily lifted the bottle to her lips, taking a drink. When she swallowed her nose ruffled up in disgust, "God, that's terrible."

Natalie laughed, leaning her head on Emily's shoulder, after a few seconds, she turned back to their coach, "How much longer are you gonna keep up this... secret boyfriend act?"

Ben chuckled, "Oh, God."

Emily's eyebrows pulled together, watching as the trees in front of them were seemingly dancing. Weird.

"So," he began after a few seconds, "How are you two doing?"

Emily smiled, breaking her gaze away from the trees and lacing her fingers with Natalie's, "We're good."

All of the sudden, Ben pinched the bridge of his nose, "Oh, Fuck. I think Misty poisoned me again."

Emily's head spun and Natalie half-smiled, "I think she poisoned all of us."

Natalie waved her hand in front of her face, "At least I don't think you can die from shrooms."

Emily laughed, "Oh my god! You're so right, this is totally shrooms," the teenage girl laid back on the moss covered ground. Looking up the sky that appeared to be glowing.

Ben turned to them, "You mean like shrooms, shrooms?"

Natalie nodded, "Buckle in."

"Oh this is too weird," Emily murmured, wiggling her fingers in front of her face.

Natalie giggled, "Tell me about it."

Emily smiled, "I wanna be an astronaut. How cool would it be to float in the stars?"

Natalie smiled, "Fucking awesome...I thought you wanted to be a doctor?"

Emily shrugged, hallucinating that she was painting the sky with her fingertips, "I wanna be lots of things."

"An astronaut doctor," Natalie laughed, lying down beside Emily.

"Yes!" Emily cheered, "An astronaut doctor."

"Lot...I feel really strange," Ash stumbled forward, "I think—I think I'm gonna head in for the night."

Lottie's eyebrows tugged together, "You alright?"

"I don't—I don't know," Ash shook her head, "Everything's spinning."

"Do you want me to help you inside?" Lottie asked, starting to feel a bit strangely herself.

"No—no it's okay."

Van laughed from nearby, "You look like a tree! Like a really hot tree!"

Ash's eyebrows pulled together, as she blinked slowly. Van turned to the rest of them, still laughing, "Guys, doesn't Tai look like a tree right now?"

"She kind of does..."

"...Or do the trees look like Taissa?"

"Oh my god," Ash realized, pinching the bridge of her nose, "We're fucked up!"

Javi remained in the dirt on his back, "I feel weird."

Lottie collapsed, her knees landing in the dirt. The girl stared into space, and Ash leaned down beside her, "You okay, Lot?"

Lottie shushed her, "Do you feel that?"

Ash shook her head, "I don't—I don't feel anything?"

"I think I do! Like energy."

"Coming up from the ground," Van added.

"Something's coming," Lottie noted, and Ash shook her head.

"Guys, nothing—nothing is coming, we're just fucked up. It's gotta be shrooms," Ash tried to reason, but the singular time she had done shrooms prior to this made her completely loose her shit.

Shauna gasped, backing up, and Taissa immediately found her side, "What's wrong??"

"It—it moved," she breathed.

"You guys..." Taissa trailed off, "Something's happening."

"No," Lottie denied, "Something's coming."

Ash shook her head, stumbling off to the side, "Nothing—Nothing's coming."

Lottie dropped to her knees in front of a tree trunk, "We won't be hungry much longer."

"Wha—" Ash began to back up, stumbling away from the group. Something awful was brewing underneath the surface.

Though Ash couldn't place if that was the paranoia from the shrooms, or if something was really happening.

Either way, she needed to get away. Ash had an awful—terrible feeling about this. She felt like the earth was rolling beneath her feet as she stumbled away from the group.

Ash was unsure of where she was, but she couldn't hear the others talking anymore.