Thin As Water

18.

Tina stretched out on her bed, then let out a low growl. She pushed herself back up and pulled a picture off the bulletin board she had up. It was a picture of her, Grace, Hazel, Lia, Daisy, and Lil in the quad from two years ago.

"Give it a rest, cuz."

Tina looked sharply over at Katherine. "I am. Look." She carefully tore the picture down the middle, leaving Daisy and Lil (and a bit of Hazel's hair) to flutter to the floor.

Kat rolled her eyes. "That's not giving it a rest Chrissa. Look, I hate the bitch too, but she can get us in trouble every single time we pull something. And that's not going to get any more fun to deal with."

Tina glared. "No! There's gotta be some way to do something."

"Do something about what?" Alivia poked her head in through their adjoining suite. 

"That biatch," Tina gestured pointedly to the ripped photograph, "is absolutely ruining my life."

Liv sighed. "I don't think she's purposely doing it."

"Whose side are you on, anyway?" Alissa joined the other girls and sneered at her roommate.

"The side where I don't get my butt smacked because you," Alivia pushed Alissa slightly back, "have bad ideas."

Alissa started to protest.

"ENOUGH."

The girls stopped and stared at Tina, who was normally the quietest one.

"I can't do this anymore! She's so perfect, all the time! How is anyone this damn perfect? I wasted my time on being perfect for years and look what that got me. Absolutely nothing! She ruined my chances and now I want to ruin hers!"

Alissa raised an eyebrow. "So you wanted to be head girl?"

Tina glared. "I'm just as smart and better behaved than she was. Why shouldn't I be?"

Kat sighed. "Look, Chrissa. I get you have your whole own thing about her. But what's done is done, yeah? Calm down, it's for 6 more months and then we can forget all about her."

"What ever happened to blood is thicker than water? You're supposed to be protecting me from her!" Tina glared at her cousin.

"Maybe I'm protecting you from yourself now. Look, why don't you audition for cheer? That's something Lilian wouldn't touch with a 10 foot pole."

Tina shot another dark look at Katherine but then sunk down on her bed. "Fine. When is tryouts?"

"Next Thursday. November 30."

Tina glanced at the calendar on her wall. "That's 10 days from now. Think I could get on the team?"

"Sure! We'll have to work on your back handspring a bit but your front is just as good as any of ours." Kat said soothingly.

"You should do it Kris!" Liv encouraged.

Tina glanced over at Alissa, who was the head cheerleader. The blonde just shrugged. "Why not?"

Tina smiled. "Ok, sure."

Kat grinned. "Perfect. This will be great."

Once the other girls had left the room, Tina glanced over at her cousin again. "Katie?"

"What, Chrissa?"

"What do you mean you're protecting me from myself?"

Kat walked over to her cousin and began absently brushing her fingers through her hair. "Blood is thicker than water. I don't want you getting in any more trouble. If you want to screw with her head, you'll need to think harder."

Tina smirked slightly. "Like what?"

"Find her weak spot."

"Lilian doesn't have a weak spot."

"Everyone does, Chrissa."

Tina pondered this. "Her old one was not being as good as James, but she did that. She made head girl. When she had me in that room, I tried jabbing her about her position. I told her she didn't deserve it. But it didn't affect her."

"Hmm. What else?"

"I tried telling her we aren't friends anymore. That seemed to upset her the first time. But that didn't do anything either."

"Didn't she react at all?"

"No! Not a thing until-" Tina paused suddenly as her eyes connected with the torn picture once again.

"What is it?" 

Tina smiled as she picked up the scrap and brushed her thumb gently over the smiling blonde girl.

"I know her weak spot."

AN: Please note, it is canonically November 20 at this point. The last chapter was set only a couple days previously because, even though the letter was from November 8, it took quite a while to send.

Also, we're pretty much now to where the climax gets started. There's still going to be plenty more chapters, but you can expect them a bit more frequently as I have a much better idea of exactly what's going to happen in them. And uh, buckle up.

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