This ain't a diary, this is a - mirror?

Chapter 30: A Warning Message? For What Now?!

A/N: I'm just posting the rest after @11kitty_cat_girl11 (thank you so much for the encouragement and the constant support!) encouraged me to. I wrote these ages ago and I'm not bothered to fix them... by the way, there's like 15 unpublished chapters.

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"How did it go?" Samantha asked as Elena opened the door. Her eyes widened as she realised that the person that had opened the door was definitely not Elena.

She leaped to her paws and bared her teeth. "Who are you?! What are you doing in my dorm?! Invasion of privacy, get out! How did you get in here -"

Riley Scaven stepped into the room, spinning a long, sharp icicle nonchalantly with a paw. She smirked at Samantha and tapped the icicle against the ground. "Samantha Rowell, annoying brat and powerless dog." She sneered at Samantha's expression and pulled a piece of paper out from her denim jacket.

"Oh, no, I'm not here to hurt you... yet." Riley cackled. "But I am here to pass a message, since Abbey has decided that she's tired of seeing your ugly snout..." She squinted at the piece of paper for a few seconds, then flourished it dramatically.

"So, word has been going around that you and your... friend have been spreading rumours about us. That we're... the bad guys that... treated you unfairly." Riley snorted and stuffed the paper back into her pocket. "Now, Abbey just wanted to politely -" Riley's smile said anything but polite, "- ask you to stop doing it, because if you continue to do so... there will be consequences."

Samantha narrowed her eyes and gave Riley her best glare. Words bubbled out of her mouth, too fast and angry for her to stop: "Well then, you can go back to little miss perfect with your tail between your legs and tell her that me and Elena, we've, we've done nothing wrong! We've never 'spread rumours' about you guys - everything that's going around is because other dogs have seen you and other dogs thought you treated us unfairly!"

Samantha's tail flicked angrily and she bared her teeth at Riley. "Now, get out of my dorm - I don't even know how you got here, but frankly, I don't care - and don't even think about trying to break in again. Get. Out."

Riley stared at her for a few moments, almost shocked into silence by Samantha's outburst. Finally, she spoke - and started to laugh.

"Feisty, eh? For a useless dog with no powers." Riley cackled loudly, slamming her icicle spear to the ground as she laughed mockingly. "I'd like to see you continue trying... because if you do, I'll get the honours of giving you your... punishment."

Samantha gritted her teeth and gnashed them furiously, unable to speak. Riley sneered at her and picked up her icicle. "Scared now, eh -"

A paper airplane struck Riley on the back of the head and crumpled up from the force it hit her. Riley spun around and almost simultaneously stabbed the paper with her spear.

Bits of paper fell to the ground around Riley. There, a few meters in front of them, stood Elena - paw raised and pointed like a gun. "Get away from our dorm," Elena snarled, her eyes alight with feral fury. "You know what I can do." She clicked with her tongue, imitating the click of a gun as she pointed again.

Riley looked between Elena and Samantha for a moment. Finally, she let out a harsh bark of laughter. "Hmph. Once again, at the most convenient of times. Well, I'll be off. Just remember our message, hm?"

Riley strolled past, still twirling her icicle, and smirked at the two of them once before padding down the stairs.

Elena swore loudly. "Oh, that, that...!"

Samantha groaned and opened the door wider to let Elena past. "Hmph, Abbey and her stupid goons," Elena grumbled as she entered. "So, Samantha, did they do anything to you? If then did, I swear...!"

"They did nothing." Samantha sat down on her bed with a sigh. "Riley just... passed on a message from Abbey. She told us not to... spread rumours." Samantha rolled her eyes and chucked dryly. "Rumours, they say."

Elena closed the door behind her and removed her jacket. "Ha, rumours, huh? They can say whatever - we've done nothing and they can't do anything to us for that. Case closed." She tossed her jacket on her bed and opened her closet. "If they try, though -" Elena turned to Samantha with a smirk, "they'll have us to get past first."

———

Samantha lay awake in bed. Elena was snoring peacefully on her bed, but Samantha couldn't help but lay in a fitful daze.

Finally, she sat up and squinted out the half closed window. The moon glowed silver against the dark sky, speckled with stars. She admired the sight from her bed - after all, today was a surprisingly clear night, contrary to the weather report. She turned to her desk, half expecting her backpack and diary to be waiting, but then remembered that she'd left it and let out a long sigh.

For the first time in a while, she focused and let herself drift into a space of her own. She sat, eyes closed, not really awake and not really asleep.

She listened. It was almost deathly silent aside from her soft breathing and Elena's snores.

H... has it.

Samantha listened harder for that ethereal and bodiless voice, but it never came.

———

Samantha pulled on a sweater and her favourite hoodie. As an afterthought, she decided to wear the denim shorts that Elena had chosen for her too.

She went on to her daily routine of shaking Elena awake and freshening up. After Elena had gotten ready, they'd trotted down the stairs to the cafeteria where they ate waffles with Sharon and Luna.

"We have... health." Sharon read aloud from her timetable. "Huh, health? I've never had that as a subject before. I wonder what it'll be like."

"Probably first aid and other boring stuff." Luna yawned as she took a bite of her waffle. "And this... this needs more sugar."

"Luna, no," Elena chuckled. Her face grew more somber and she sighed. "Well, guys, something happened last night... and it's not good."

"Huh?" Sharon looked up, suddenly worried. "What happened? Did somebody get injured?"

"No..." Samantha sighed. "Riley just walked straight into my dorm and threatened to 'punish' us if we 'spread rumours' about them again. But... we've never spread rumours about them! Even you guys know!"

Sharon's eyes widened with shock. Luna narrowed hers and pawed at the table angrily. "They did what now?!"