Hidden Valley (D. SWING)

XXII. Finesse

Paulette stood before her coach, her mentor, her friend, the woman she trusts the most to bring this topic to.

An explanation came quick and it was fluent. "When I was a kid my Uncle's neighbor raped my cousin and just... she got weird. She was out there. She was loud at first, obnoxious almost... but, then she got kinda' distant? She didn't want to change around us and we were all girls. She barely would go to the beach. She was always fighting, always had an attitude. She was a new person. It was weird..." Paulette's head drops for a moment. "It's kind of wrong to jump the gun like this but, I like to cross this off first when my friends act different. People react to trauma in a bunch of different ways. I just don't want to be blind to the changes in my friends like my family was to my cousin."

"Paulette."

She shrugs her shoulders, facing her coach once again. "It's a little dramatic... I know, but I just like to get it out of the way. Except, this time, my friend's acting more and more like my cousin."

"Paulette, who is it?"

Time slows down to come to a halt as the teen faces a difficult ultimatum. She has all of the necessary prior knowledge needed to think of every reason why she should not come completely clean to her cheer coach. In this moment is when her brain quickly weighs the options presented to her within her internal ultimatum. Paulette's eyes dart to the left and to the right, up and down. Her quick thinking cannot save her.

Paulette folds her arms across her chest, pulling out her favorite poker face as a cushion to her nerves. "Answer my question and I'll answer yours, Coach." Suddenly, the two are playing a sad, sad game. They both understand that you must first give some in order to get some and with the both of them seeking the knowledge that the other possess, words are chosen carefully.

"You don't know, Paulette. You never know— which why I'm trying to get you to cooperate so that I can at least try to find alternatives."

Paulette unfolds her arms, still staring back at her coach as her internal flame dwindles down upon the realization of the fact that was spoken on Lucille's behalf. She doesn't know, she only thinks so. Cynthia could've been so tired that she decided not to shower. She could be telling the truth about the food court event, maybe, Don's the one is wrong in the entire situation. Cynthia ditching her usual shorts and tank tops in practice and going for tracksuits from head to toe may really be because she is naturally changing. It might not be, but, Paulette will never know at this rate.

Paulette stands up, taking a look around the office as silence settles over the room. A hint of unexplained emotions slither through her veins. "I think Cyn's still in the locker room if you want to talk to her..."

Satan himself kicks up the school's thermostat as Lucille leaps from her chair. She maneuvers around her desk before jetting into the locker room with Paulette right behind her, though her reaction was slightly delayed due to a state of shock. Paulette and Lucille walk into the locker room and take a look around every corner. Cynthia's locker is closed and the lock is sealed. Paulette falls down on the bench and takes a very necessary breath.

Lucille's open palm unleashes a force against the nearest locker. "Fuck!"

One would say that there is no true rush, they can always wait until tomorrow or the next practice. Unfortunately, you never know if there will be a tomorrow because in any kind of situation where someone is teetering on the border line of insanity, time is not on anyone's sign.

You can imagine that not a single DeGrate brother is running on the clocks in there house, if not, you should. None of the three are in their right mind as of current.