Who: Jules and Phee When: Afternoon, January 12, Friday Where: School ... and Other School Status: complete
School was a major annoyance. Just as she and Bash had talked about a couple of days ago, it felt surreal to be there. Pointless. There was so much going on that math tests and history projects felt super unimportant. Not to mention the fact that Jules was distracted almost all day. Not only by needing to talk to Bash’s sister, but by the tingling in her palms, just beneath the skin. Jules had been trying to ignore the nauseated feeling that plagued her on and off throughout the day, thinking if she didn’t give it any attention, it would just stop. It didn’t. All she could do was beg her body not to do it. Puking in class would only trigger the whispers and gossip and by the end of the weekend all of her friends would think she was pregnant. At one point her hands hurt so bad Jules couldn’t even grip her pencil and she seriously considered just going to the nurse to get sent home.
But she had a reason to stay. Jules needed to talk to Bash’s sister, and they didn’t have any classes together, so she had to wait for school to let out before she began the hunt for the other girl. Jules knew she could probably put it off until another day, but she didn’t really think time was on her side. Or Jaspers’, so Jules searched the halls after the last bell until she spotted Ophelia. Alone, thankfully. Jules hurried through the crowd of students on their way out the doors.
“Ophelia,” Jules called, feeling breathless by the time she reached the girl. “Hey. Do you have a second to talk?”
It was a normal day for Phee. She was happy it was Friday, kind of excited about opening night for Bash’s play, and looking forward to spending some time with Greg over the weekend. And learning some more magic from her father. Nothing crazy had happened for almost a week, and it was a relief to get back to something resembling normal. As much as was possible for a teenage witch, anyway.
She was at her locker when someone called her name. Phee looked around and her eyes widened when they landed on Jules. For a second she was sure the blonde girl couldn’t be talking to her, but there was nobody else named Ophelia at the school, and Jules was looking right at her. Her heart started to beat harder, stupid nerves washing over her. What could Jules Cooper possibly want to say to her? Was she going to tell her to keep her damn mouth shut about what Greg told her? How had she found out? “Uh ... yeah?” she offered, sounding unsure. “What’s up?”
There were still students milling around so Jules tried to think quickly of a place they could talk privately. The back hall would be full of jocks hanging out in the weight room. The gym would have basketball and cheer practice. It was also opening night of the play, so the auditorium would be packed. "Let's go somewhere," Jules suggested, aware that it sounded ominous, but she tried to keep her tone light as she touched Ophelia's elbow and began to walk down the hall in the direction of the school where the woodshop rooms were. Those would definitely be empty by now. "Are you going to Bash's play tonight?" she asked casually, filling the silence until they could get to where they could talk without people hovering.
Had Jules ever touched her before? Phee wasn’t sure. As she walked with the popular girl, her mind tripped all over itself to try and figure out what this was about. Maybe she’d heard something and she was just checking on Sebastian. Maybe she did know that Greg had told and wanted to tell Phee her story herself. Maybe she was going to beat her up or something. That last one was just mean girl paranoia, she knew, but it still flashed through her mind. Jules had always been decent to her because of her brother, and she had no reason to think today would be any different. “Yeah, the whole family’s coming,” she said, giving Jules an uncertain smile. “Are you going?”
Jules was only vaguely listening as they walked down the hall together, but she caught Ophelia's question a second or two after the fact and Jules refocused, trying to sort her thoughts out. "Oh. Maybe. I'm not feeling great, so... if I can't make it tonight, I'll be there tomorrow." Probably. Maybe. She didn't want to miss Bash's play, but she didn't think she could sit in the auditorium and focus for that long. Not with how itchy her hands were feeling. The noisy chatter from the halls had faded, and there didn't seem to be any teachers around as they turned the corridor to the hall that housed all of the workshop rooms. She could smell sawdust, but the hall was silent. There didn't seem to be any teachers around either, which was good. "So... this is going to sound weird," Jules said, stopping near the open door of one of the classrooms and turning to face Ophelia. "But, how's your mom? I mean... I know she was hurt in the fog. But has she been acting strangely at all since then? Mood swings, or anything like that?"
They were definitely going somewhere isolated, and Jules seemed distracted and out of it, so worry chewed at Phee’s stomach some more. The questions took her off-guard and her eyes widened slightly, her hands coming up to nervously adjust her backpack straps. “Um ...” Phee said to stall as she tried to kick her brain into working right. This wasn’t about Jules’s hands at all, it seemed like, or even Sebastian. “She’s been kinda moody, yeah, actually. Like -- I think it was Wednesday? -- she was a total bitch to me, she bit my head off for no reason. She’s been cleaning a lot ... kinda testy whenever I see her. I just thought it was stress over what happened with Bash, but ... you think it’s connected to the fog thing?”
Moms could be total bitches, so Jules wasn't sure if that was unusual for Mrs. McCarthy or not. Then again, if Ophelia and Bash's mom was a bitch frequently, Ophelia probably would have said so. "I don't know, maybe," Jules admitted with a slight grimace. "Jasper got hurt in the fog too. And he's been having days where he's definitely not acting like himself. If other people are acting the same way, people who were injured too, then maybe there's something going on. He was really hyper the other day... in a really good mood. But as soon as we got alone, he kind of crashed, like all of the energy got sucked out of him. Could you maybe watch your mom a little? See if her energy kind of shifts all over the place? If something's happening to them, I need to figure out what it is." Jules didn't know if she could do that on her own, but Jasper's dad said he would help and maybe it would be easier to do that if it wasn't only isolated to Jasper.
Brianna could be a bitch to Phee, but it was a completely different vibe of bitch. She got kind of cold and condescending and judgy instead of snappy and riled. Her mother had always struck her as a person who cared a lot about self control, be it in attitude or diet. Her mood that day had definitely been different. Phee listened to Jules with a deepening line between her brows. She’d heard that Jasper Lucas had gotten hurt in the fog too, but hadn’t thought much about it. “Yeah of course, I’ll watch her,” she said, tucking some hair behind her ears. She was worried now too. Gods, would the shit storm ever stop? “Was he acting like a total dick too, or was is it just ... happy vs. tired?” Hadn’t Greg said that Jules and Jasper were fighting before she crashed her car? Phee couldn’t remember now exactly.
"Yeah, he was a total dick," Jules admitted, the faintest of smiles appearing on her lips before fading just as quickly. She didn't need to go into the details of his behavior. It hadn't been him, not really. "I know people would say that's normal for Jasper, but he's never like that with me. And then his up and downs moods since then... it's just... there's something wrong. And I didn't know many other people who were hurt other than your mom, and that new girl Elodie, and I really don't want to have to talk to her." Jules was starting to feel a bit nauseous again and she suddenly wanted Ophelia to leave so she could just sit down on the floor for a while until she felt like she could make it home. "If you could... text me or something... if anything happens with her. Bash has my number."
Phee didn’t know anyone else who’d been hurt either, just her mom and Jasper, and what she was hearing was pretty worrisome. She was also suddenly worried about Jules, because she looked pale and not good. Was she sick? A small fear snaked through her stomach as she recalled again what Greg had told her. Phee reached out to lightly touch Jules’s arm like she’d done earlier, concern etched into her features. “I will, yeah, I promise,” she said, sounding a little distracted. “Are you okay though? You don’t look so good ...” It was always risky to tell another female that, especially one as pretty as Jules, but she really did look like she needed to puke.
Jules wanted to shake her off and tell Ophelia that she was fine and should go now, but she didn't think she could speak without vomiting. A sheen of sweat seemed to cover her entire body now and Jules shook her head, hoping maybe it was just the flu or something. She was just getting sick, that was all. It was January and there were germs everywhere. It was nothing to worry about. But then her hands started to burn again, and just like before, it felt like something was inside of her palms, ripping open the skin. The pain was excruciating and Jules clenched her teeth to muffle her scream. Every light in the ceiling above them flickered and then burst, pitching them into darkness but for the grayish daylight from exit doors near the end of the hallway.
Startled, Jules took a step back from Ophelia, but felt her shoe slide on something wet beneath her, causing her to nearly fall. There were puddles of something dark all over the floor, some kind of thick goop, but she couldn't make out what it was. Holes of various sizes covered the entirety of the walls, all clustered together like a honeycomb. Some of them were so tiny they looked like the size of irises. Others were the size of a fist. But they were all moving rhythmically, like a collective heartbeat, the same dark liquid from the floor dripping from many of them. The colors of everything around them were muted, like the woods out by Overlook, where she and Greg had seen that smiling creature. They were still in Chamberlain, that much was obvious, but... this wasn't their high school. Breathing heavily, Jules looked at Ophelia. "Are you okay?" She had practically whispered the question, but it echoed in the space around them, like they were in some kind of deep cavern rather than their own high school.
Phee was pretty sure Jules was about to pass out, and she was moving in slightly and bracing herself to help when everything changed. She let out a little cry of surprise when the lights overhead exploded, her eyes squeezing shut for a second. When she opened them again, she saw what was all over the walls and ceiling, and Phee had to clap a hand over her mouth to keep from really screaming. Her gut twisted with fear and disgust as she looked around at this ... place. From what Greg had told her, she’d thought that maybe a hole of some kind would open up, like a doorway to look through, but whatever Jules had accidentally done had transported them completely, it seemed like. Her eyes came back to Jules and Phee clutched at her arm, fear and alarm all over her face. “What the fuck,” she whispered back in a rush before she could word it better. “What the fuuuuck, ohmygod, where are we, are you okay?”
Jules didn't know where they were beyond the fact that it was the high school. Only not. She licked her lips and nodded, the nausea gone from her gut and her hands throbbing with a dull ache now instead of the sharper pain from before. She looked down at her palms, grimacing at the sight of something dark smeared across them. Like blood. Only it was black, like the puddles on the floor. Jules wiped them absently on her sweater and looked around. It was so quiet, and Ophelia's voice echoed in the same way Jules's had, even with a whisper. "I'm sorry," she said, shooting Ophelia a desperate sort of look. "I can't stop it. I didn't know it was going to happen again. We just... we need to find a way out." Really Jules needed to figure out how to get them out. She had closed whatever it was in the woods with her hands, so she knew she had to be able to do it here too. Wherever this was. She was terrified, but Jules didn't want to break down in front of Ophelia. Jules took a step forward when she heard something moving in one of the classrooms behind them. A skittering sort of sound, like a small animal racing across the floor. It seemed louder than it should have been and Jules grabbed Ophelia's hand to tug her along the slippery floor in the opposite direction. "We have to go."
A way out would be fantastic, because Phee didn’t think she’d ever been this scared. It was almost like shock, with her senses sharpened and heightened and the all-over compulsion to run. That awful sound just made it beat louder in her skull. She gripped Jules’s hand tight and started moving with her, trying to avoid the dark puddles on the ground and look everywhere around them at the same time. This was way worse than what Greg had described, he hadn’t been in the Other Place, but Phee knew they were absolutely not in their normal world anymore, and she saw no hole to take them back home. Plenty of other holes, though ... she tried to swallow down her revulsion and keep moving. “Has this ever happened before?” she asked breathlessly. “Greg said ... the car, but ... but you weren’t in it, right?” Phee’s shoe slid dangerously as she stepped in a wet patch, but she managed to keep her balance.
"What?" Jules glanced breathlessly at Ophelia before realizing a bit belatedly that Greg must have told her what happened. She knew she probably ought to be upset, but at the moment she didn't care. She just wanted out. When Ophelia nearly slipped, Jules reached out to grab the wall to keep them both upright. The cluster of throbbing holes in the wall seemed to latch onto her hand and it immediately felt like thin needles were thrusting into her skin. Jules shrieked, yanking her hand away quickly. Her palm had tiny pinpricks in the skin now, dark goo oozing from them. Jules dry heaved at the sight of it and wiped her palm quickly on her sweater. She was going to burn the damn thing when she got home. If she ever got home. The skittering seemed to get louder behind them, like there was more than one of whatever was causing the sound. Jules didn't want to look behind her. Couldn't. She grabbed Ophelia harder and began to quicken her pace, trying to run despite the slippery floor. "We can talk about that later. We just need to get out of here. Just don't fall. And don't touch the walls. Don't touch anything!"
Phee gave a little scream when Jules did just out of sheer empathy, and she caught a glimpse of what had happened to the other girl’s hand. It was like being thrust into a waking nightmare, and part of her wanted to just start shrieking and never stop. The urge to look behind her was strong, but so was the compulsion not to look behind her because she did not want to see what was after them. Not touching anything was definitely her plan, but she couldn’t say so, since all of her focus was now on running with Jules as best they could without falling.She didn’t even know where they were going, just that they had to get out of there. They dodged around the black puddles as best they could, and Phee hugged her other arm to her chest to try and avoid touching anything.
Seeing the school the way it was now was something Jules didn't think she would ever forget. Was this some other dimension? Or was this all there, in their real world, just beneath the surface. She didn't know how any of this worked, but it was making her feel sick. The stale smell in the air, the nasty holes covering the walls, the dark puddles that Jules was pretty sure was probably blood of some kind. Blood of who, or what, she didn't know, nor did she want to. Some detached part of her brain had completely forgotten Ophelia was even there. The only thing that reminded her of the fact that she wasn't alone was the arm Jules was still clinging to with one hand and the fall of the other girl's footsteps. Jules led them to the double doors just outside the cafeteria that led outside, down to the football field and track. But there was something covering them, a thin membrane of some kind stretched across the doors, pulsing along with the cluster of holes that framed the doors. It was disgusting for so many reasons and Jules came to a stop, suddenly wondering if the school was some kind of living thing and they were inside of it. The skittering had stopped behind them, leaving them in silence and when Jules found the courage to look over her shoulder, there was nothing there. She let go of Ophelia, who looked pale and terrified. "I don't know how to get out," Jules whispered. "I don't know what to do."
The instinct to get out of the quote-unquote building was probably a good one, Phee realized when she spotted the door they were headed toward. This place was barely recognizable as their school, it was like a horrible nightmare version of it, with all the blinky-breathing holes and the goop everywhere and that horrible feeling that they were being watched by something not human. Phee’s eyes raked over the door, her mind racing. Gods damn it, why wasn’t her magic useful at all? She couldn’t fireball anything, she couldn’t create sharp icicles for weapons, she couldn’t do anything! Plants would not help them here in this dead, fucked up place! Jules sounded like she was understandably freaking out, and that made something in Phee start to step up, sharpening her focus. They needed to get into a wider area, away from the creepy wall-holes. Phee didn’t want to touch the door, so she lifted one leg and kicked it, aiming for the push-bar handle. Her foot slid in the goop and she almost toppled over again, but some arm flailing saved her. “Goddammit!” she growled through her teeth. Phee shifted her position a bit and kicked the door again, harder this time. It banged open and she grabbed Jules again to rush them through it.
Jules was startled when Ophelia suddenly kicked the door, her shoe pushing through the membrane and releasing all of that slime. Bile rose in her throat, but then Ophelia kicked again and the door flung open. Despite the horrible situation, Jules found herself momentarily impressed, but then she was moving, because the other girl had grabbed her and was pulling her through the door. Jules supposed it was stupid of her to expect to see Point Pleasant as it should have been. Snow-covered and gray, but still normal. The woods out by their neighborhood had been partly normal and partly... not, like she and Greg were looking into an open window of some kind. But this wasn't a window. This was awful. Something that looked like dust floated in the air, but never actually fell. Trees nearby were covered in those awful pulsing holes - apparently whatever it was wasn't limited to wall space only. The same dark liquid dripping from branches. No cars. No people. A light mist covered the ground up to their calves. Not like the fog, thank god, but it still sent a sense of foreboding through Jules that they couldn't see the ground in front of them. In the distance, there were shadows of buildings, and lampposts, just like home.
And then there was something else by one of the lampposts. It moved so quickly Jules wasn't sure if Ophelia saw it, but it had been something small enough to disappear beneath the surface of the mist. It hadn't been a person, that much she knew. In a way, it reminded her of the ocean, when she would randomly see something in the distance surface for just a second before sinking back into the darkness. Jules let go of Ophelia and was determined not to panic. "We have to stay here," she said, bringing her hands up to try and get them working again, however that might happen. "Just... give me a second to figure this out. Maybe put your shirt over your mouth so you don't breathe in whatever this stuff is. Can you... just watch out ahead of us. If you see anything coming closer, tell me."
Phee hadn’t been thinking enough to expect anything in particular, but what she saw outside was fucking horrible. It was like someone had dropped a bomb full of nightmares out there, it looked straight out of a horror movie. Were they in Hell suddenly? If Phee hadn’t already known that Jules had this accidental portal problem, she was pretty sure her sanity would’ve cracked already. It felt pretty goddamn close now, as she spotted another short thing pop up and then down into the fog again, some distance away. She pulled the front of her sweater up to cover her mouth and nose, her stomach cramping and rolling over from the smell of the air, and tried to look around them for any danger. Which was a laugh, because it all looked dangerous, but Phee tried to be vigilant about anything extra bearing down on them. “Please hurry,” Phee said, her voice strained and high-pitched.
Jules didn't know if she could hurry, because she didn't have any control over what was happening. At least she didn't think she did. Maybe this wasn't really happening, and it was a dream. Maybe she fell asleep in the class during last period and she would wake up any second being admonished by the teacher. This wasn't like what happened with Greg. Unless she had changed everything around them and they hadn't noticed, just looking into the trees that day. Jules knew she was thinking too much and not focusing, but she just wanted to be back home. And if not home, school... actual school and not this place. If anything happened to Ophelia, Bash would never forgive her. That is, if she was able to get back at all. Maybe she and Ophelia would just be missing forever, stuck in this place. No. That wasn't going to happen. Jules felt something slither around her foot beneath the mist and she shrieked, panic and unbridled fear surging inside of her. The pain in her hands exploded again as she grabbed for Ophelia. And then it was really cold, still gray, but much brighter than it had been. Jules watched a car drive down the street beside them. The trees were trees again, the mist was gone. Wide eyed, Jules looked at Ophelia. "Are we back? Are you okay?"
Phee hadn’t had her coat on yet, so the drop in temperature registered before anything else did, that cold biting at her exposed skin. She gasped in a deep breath that almost hurt it was so crisp and frigid. But there was nothing floating through the air anymore, and the low-hanging fog was gone, replaced with the gleaming blanket of snow that covered everything. She was clutching at Jules’s arm just as she was being clutched, looking around with wide eyes. It wasn’t until she spotted some people walking down the hill toward the parking lot, like everything was completely normal, that she really believed that they were really back. “I think so,” she said in a thin voice, still taking those big deep breaths. A laugh that was more crazed than amused came out of Phee, and she covered her mouth with her hand. Had anyone seen them? What had that even looked like to an outsider, had they just disappeared from next to the shop classroom and then reappeared in front of that door? Had they ran there through this world too, looking insane? “I think, yeah. Ohmygod, holy shit.”
Jules had the same thoughts. Had they disappeared into whatever nightmare that had been? Had anyone seen them running through the halls? Had they just reappeared outside? It wasn't funny but she released a shaky laugh of her own, mostly because it was laugh or cry, and if she started to cry she might not stop. Jules let go of Ophelia and looked down at her hand. The black goop had definitely been blood, because it was smeared across her palm and her sweater where she had tried to wipe it off. Her skin was covered in tiny pinpricks from where she had touched the wall. She wasn't in pain, though her hand was a bit numb so maybe the pain would come later. Ophelia's shoe was covered in some kind of nasty beige colored slime streaked with blood too, evidence of their brief ordeal, and Jules scrunched up her nose as she brought her gaze back to Ophelia. "I... don't even know what to say..." Her voice was shaky and she hugged her arms around herself to fight the chill, and maybe try to hide the blood on her sweater. "Greg told you what happened before?" Maybe that was why Ophelia hadn't completely lost her mind... or maybe the mental break was coming now that they were home and she would have time to process what had just happened.
As good as it was to breathe the fresh air, it was stupid to keep standing outside. As long as they were actually back, of course. For a terrible second, Phee thought that might be true, they might just have gone somewhere else that looked like home, and like ... people’s faces would be upside down in this dimension or something. That was so stupid though. Jules brought her back into the moment with the question, and she blinked at the other girl. “Here, come on, let’s ... back inside,” she said, turning to push the door to the school open again. Phee peered in before she took a step in there, but there were no holes in the walls, no goop on the floor, just on her shoe. “Yeah, he told me,” she answered once they were in the heated hallway again. Phee started back toward her locker, expecting Jules to stay with her for the moment. “He was really freaked out and he just had to talk about it with someone. I haven’t -- I won’t tell anyone.”
Jules was torn between irritation with Greg for telling someone about what she had done, and being thankful for it, mostly because Ophelia could have really lost her shit and Jules wasn't sure she would have been able to not lose her shit in the process too. She followed Ophelia, not really sure where they were going or what she was doing just yet. Jules wanted to just run home and shower and lock herself in her room for a long time. She still felt scared, unable to shake off the way that place had made her feel. Was that what their school looked like underneath all of the normal stuff? Was that really Point Pleasant, or was it some kind of nightmare world Jules had created? If she cut off her hands, would it all stop? Sucking in a sharp breath, she refocused on Ophelia, only catching the last bit of what the other girl said. "Oh... thank you... it's... Bash knows," she said, almost as an afterthought. "I told him about it the other day. I'm just afraid the more people who know, the worse it'll get. Are you going to be okay?"
Sebastian knew too? That was probably good, it was something she wouldn’t have to keep from him, but if Jules was trying to keep this a secret, it wasn’t going very well so far. But it was her thing, so she could tell anyone she wanted, of course. Part of Phee’s brain was still freaking out, trying to grope for an explanation of what had just happened too, to try and place that place into the reality she knew ... but she knew that wasn’t possible. It hadn’t been their reality, not even close. She just knew she never wanted to go back there. “I don’t ... I don’t know,” she answered Jules’s question the only honest way she could. Phee lifted one of her hands and saw it was still shaking. As they reached her locker, she stopped and looked at Jules again, her gaze sweeping down finally. She was kind of bloody, her sweater was definitely ruined. “I have another hoodie ... do you want it?” she offered, concerned eyes coming back up to Jules. “You should probably like, wash your hands ASAP.”
Jules couldn't help but feel guilty that Ophelia had experienced all of that. But Jules had to wonder why it had just been them. There were other people in the school, but it seemed like only she and Ophelia had ended up Somewhere Else. Clearly the rest of the school hadn't been affected, otherwise she was sure they would have heard screaming or seen panicked kids by now. When Ophelia offered her a hoodie, Jules looked down at her clothes and grimaced. She needed to go home and burn her sweater. And maybe her shoes, which sucked because she loved her shoes. But yes, she should probably wash her hands, and soon. "No... no I'm okay. I'm going home," she murmured. "Do you need a ride?" She would offer, but she wouldn't blame Ophelia in the least if she declined it.
Phee shook her head. “No, I’m s’posed to meet Greg,” she murmured and had the instant impulse to check her phone. How long had it been on this side of things? Just a few minutes? Hours, days? Who the hell knew. Phee swallowed the thick panic that was threatening to rise. “Are you gonna be okay to drive home? We can take you if you need ...” she asked instead, trying to keep her focus on Jules. Who did not look okay to drive, but Phee wasn’t going to push if she wanted to be alone now. Or to just find Jasper or someone she was actually close to. Phee half-turned to start to put in her locker combination, but her shaky hands kept fucking it up. Dammit, she needed her coat.
Well, at least Greg would be able to comfort her, since he knew Jules was a major freak now. She was already imagining herself living alone in some creepy cabin in the woods, isolated because nobody wanted to be around her knowing she could transport them to some hellish world with no notice. "No, I'll be okay," Jules said, noting how Ophelia's hands kept shaking. "Is Greg around now? Do you want me to go find him?" He could at least help Ophelia get her locker open. Jules would offer, but her hands were gross and Ophelia probably didn't want any of the lingering yuckiness on her locker. Really, Jules kind of thought the two of them should just have a massive freak out and scream for a while, just to get it out of their system. But that would definitely draw attention from teachers who were still hanging around. Which reminded Jules that she probably ought to leave soon if she didn't want to get caught and questions about her bloody sweater. But she felt bad leaving Ophelia alone, even for a few minutes. Greg would be so much better at this.
There were definitely screams caught in Phee’s throat that she would let out in some safe place -- hopefully she could hold off that long. Maybe in Greg’s car while he held onto her, parked somewhere nobody would hear her. She definitely couldn’t do it in the middle of the school hallway. It felt weird to have Jules Cooper be all concerned about her, and Phee swallowed down a stressy-snappish answer. She was perfectly capable of finding her own boyfriend. “He’s probably waiting for me by the front,” she said instead, glancing up toward the big clock that was in every hallway. It hadn’t been that much time since the bell had rung, there was that, at least. “It’s okay, just ... go clean up, that stuff could be like, poisonous or something.” Phee shot Jules a worried look. If that was the case, it might be too late, but letting it sink in deeper probably wasn’t good either. Her locker finally clicked right and she opened it. “A-are you sure you’re all right? Really sure?” she asked, kind of flailing inside. Phee wanted to help, but she had no clue how.
Jules wasn't sure if she was concerned or just slightly terrified to be completely alone. She was stalling, but she knew she needed to go home. Greg was waiting for Ophelia, and hopefully he could make her feel better. Doubtful, but he was definitely better equipped for that than Jules was. Her hand seemed to throb as soon as Ophelia suggested the stuff she had touched could be poisonous, but she refused to look at it again. In fact, the urge to vomit was strong, and growing stronger by the second. But she wasn't going to puke in front of Ophelia McCarthy, and she wasn't going to puke out here where someone else might see. "I'm fine," Jules breathed, stepping back. "I have to go. I'm sorry." She turned on her heel and hurried off toward the nearest bathroom. It would delay her getting the hell out of this place, but it was what it was. Hopefully Ophelia would be okay, because there was nothing else Jules could do for her at this point.
Phee was torn for a moment between going after her and running off herself. If she and Jules had been actual friends, the choice would’ve been easier. But she barely knew Jules and there was all that social hierarchy and ... ugh. Phee felt bad leaving her alone, but she didn’t want to be too clingy and weird either, so once she’d gotten her coat and everything out of her locker, she turned to leave. Her gooped-shoe squeaked with every step, but Phee hurried down the hall toward the front doors, her heart still racing and that feeling of something menacing right over her shoulder plaguing her the entire way.