Repeat and Retribution

Chapter 39

“Are you sure this is where she is?” She kept phasing back and forth as she was still unable to find the person they were looking for.

They’ve been waiting at the school's soccer field since they were informed that that's the usual spot where the person would be seen.

“She’s usually here,” Brittany huffed in frustration as she wasn’t able to calm her friend down.

For some reason, Crystal was unable to take it off her mind. For the past few days, she had been thinking about several things concerning the incidents that have been happening around her.

“Then where could she be?” She could not help but whine, there were just so many things that she wanted to clear out right now.

“Why are we looking for her anyway?” Sitting on a nearby bench Brittany massaged her aching legs.

They’ve been there for quite some time now after their last class and she didn’t really get the gist of doing all of this.

“I just can’t help but worry about her. Besides, I think I’m responsible for her current demise.” Crystal was now silently praying that nothing bad had happened.

There was something at the back of her mind that kept poking at her conscience telling her all of this had something to do with her.

“What?” Brittany ended up folding her hands to her chest, one of her brow rising up upon hearing it.

“It’s just that so many things have happened these past few years and all of it seems to stem from what I do, like this thing with Eric,” she tries to explain it as clear as possible as she knew there was a better way to explain all of it, but she was just unable to do so.

Brittany ended up snorting as she tried to hold her laugh. “You can’t be serious about that. Girl, the world doesn’t revolve around you. You can’t blame yourself for something that had just happened because of someone's stupid decisions.” Standing up from the bench she quickly grabs hold of Crystal to finally stop her.

“But, I don’t remember this happening before,” She couldn't help but pull her hair in frustration.

Seeing as how things were going wonderful for her, she couldn't remove the thought that all of it might have caused problems for other people.

“Oh, I can easily answer that one,” Brittany quickly blurted out waving the idea out of her mind.

“How?” Crystal could not help but frown at her, placing her hands on her hips as she faced her friend.

Brittany let out a smirk as she tried to suppress her laughter again. “Because your world revolved around Clyde during that time, or have you forgotten?” she says in a mocking tone, trying to remind her of their old past.

“No it didn’t,” she scoffs as she pouted.

Though she did remember about it, she just couldn't accept the fact that she was so unaware of the things that were happening around here. Seeing as she did remember certain current events and scandals on their old timeline.

“Yes it did, you were so enthralled by him that the world basically seemed so oblivious to you. Why do you think you are able to suddenly notice small and simple things happening around you right now? You can’t really blame yourself for what happened to that girl, it’s just not right,” Brittany scolded again because of the said thought.

Though she wanted to believe that, there was a part in her mind that kept telling her some other thing.

“But what if me going back here did cause it?” Biting her lower lip Crystal tried to calm herself, not wanting to break down right now.

“Then what of it? Girl if you’re always thinking like that, you’re going to keep regretting this for the rest of your life, then you will just end up the same all over again. You have to understand that even if we didn’t go back to this timeline, there is no changing the fact that each and every person's action have an impact on others, not just you! And their reaction to it does not solely depend on you, we are talking about real independent free-willed thinking people here, not some god damn programmable robots. They have a decision of their own, they can do what they want whether we influence it or not.” Brittany’s voiced boomed as she began waving her hands in the air.

That somehow managed to make her feel better, it was true that she did not have control over that, yet there was still something that kept whispering within the back of her mind.

“Then I can at least care as a person can’t I? I mean, I do know how it feels to be in her situation.” Half smiling all she could do was lower her head that time, not wanting to get another mouthful from her friend.

Brittany's face contorted. “That’s going to look kind of weird and creepy don’t you think, since you two weren’t really close from the get-go, or have you forgotten that?” She even made a swishing motion with her finger into the air like using a wand.

Crystal swallowed hard realizing that. It would look like that seeing as they only met twice, and it wasn’t really the friendly kind of meeting too.

“Maybe you’re right, but I just can’t get it off my mind.” Stomping her feet in annoyance since her conscience would not stop telling her so.

Brittany let out a deep sigh. Grabbing her shoulders so that would face one another she gives her a very serious look.

“Girl, you overthinking too much again,” she gives her a playful slap on the cheek.

She ended up laughing a bit. “Maybe I am, but I feel I need to do this and this is something that I’d really don’t want to regret later on.” Her shoulders fell as she felt so downtrodden.

Shrugging her shoulders Brittany just rolled her eyes in surrender. “Suit yourself.”

Crystal gave her friend a hug, happy that she somehow tried to understand her dilemma again. As if by chance her eyes caught a glimpse of the girl she was looking for.

“There she is,” she shouts in excitement, pointing at the girl who was walking fast just a few meters away from them.

Moving away from her grip, Brittany quickly turned to look at the person she was pointing to.

She ended up frowning upon seeing the young woman. “Whoa! The girl looks like a wreck, what happened to her.”

It was true, even she was surprised to see her like that. Her hair was disheveled, her clothes seem to have mud and leaves on them, and she was hugging her books to her chest while walking quite fast.

“C’mon, Brit, we need to catch up with her.” Not wanting to pass up the chance Crystal dashes towards her in a chase, not even waiting for her friend.

Brittany was quick on her feet to follow, yet she was watching her every step as she was wearing her heeled shoes at the moment.

“Wait, hold on girl, I ain’t wearing no running shoes!” Brittany was gasping for air as she was trying to be careful not to fall down.

“Mary! Hey Mary!” Crystal waved the moment she knew she was in earshot.

The girl quickly turned around eyes wide while raising her hands to her face, frantic and a bit disoriented as she seemed trying to use her books to protect her face.

“Wha- What do you want?” Mary screamed starting to wave her books like it was a weapon.

Crystal and Brittany ended up stopping mid-way, brows raised at the sudden yet futile attempt of an attack being done by the girl.

Crystal was only able to speak the moment that the young woman stopped and returned to her defensive-like posture.

“Uhm hey, it’s me, Crystal, remember?” She finally says.

That somehow made the girl lower her books to look at them. “Oh, it’s you, sorry.” Standing straight, Mary quickly fixed her clothes and things as she tried to smile at them.

“Are you all right?” Crystal could not help but ask, noticing how the young girl acted. She wasn’t really like that the first time they met.

“Yeah girl, you look as if someone dragged you back and forth all over the school,” Brittany comments gesturing to the girls' clothing.

They were now able to see how dirty and messy her uniform was. It really had mud on it and she even had leaves on her hair. A part of her ribbon on her necktie was even ripped apart and she had a few bruises on her cheek.

“Brit!” Crystal hiss giving her friend a quick smack on the arm.

“What?” Brittany moves back, lips crumpled as she tried avoiding her.

Mary shakily laughs because of that. “That’s actually what happened, maybe I should’ve learned from the first time not to mess with Dana and her friends,” her voice cracked when she said those words.

It was obvious that she was trying not to cry in front of them. Crystal could not help her heart from aching seeing how beaten up the girl was.

“Oh, that again,” She wasn’t really able to say anything else as she didn’t know what to say at the moment.

“Girl, you really should choose your battles more carefully,” Brittany nodded then started patting the girl's shoulder to remove some of the dirt there.

Mary just bit her lower lip, lowering her head in shame. “I actually tried avoiding them, since they found out I was the one who told everyone about her and Eric,” she sobbed, quickly wiping the tears that were running down her cheeks.

“They attacked you,” Crystal could not help but raise her voice.

All along she thought that Mary instigated it like before, but hearing about it just now quickly made her blood boil.

“That’s why I looked like this.” The girl let out a sarcastic laugh, eyes still teary though she was smiling at them.

“That girl’s really getting on my nerves. You know, I bet she wouldn’t be able to do s**t if she didn’t have those lackeys of hers tagging along,” Brittany gritted her teeth as she gave the girl a comforting pat on the back.

It took a while for them to get chatting again as the girl started to cry, they ended up taking her to a nearby waiting shed to help the girl clean herself up and calm down a bit.

“Maybe you should stay in a group to be safe, especially since Dana’s quite the trouble maker.” Crystal thought that it was the best option seeing as the girl was in for a very hard time if the other woman decides to continue with her actions.

“Thanks, but I wasn’t really able to get any close friends that would stick with me.” Mary chuckles, somewhat feeling relieved for letting them know about it.

“Let me guess, It’s cause your ex-boyfriend Eric didn’t let you right?” Brittany rolled her eyes.

Mary let out a half-smile. “She wasn’t really comfortable with me hanging out with my classmates,” she sighed.

“Figures, you understanding what’s happening here Crys,” Brittany turns to her, raising one brow.

It seems that she wasn’t the only person who ended up being so enthralled by her relationship, feeling sympathy for the young girl she decided to at least help her out.

“Why don’t you hang with us then, we can come to pick you up after your class just so we can be sure your safe around campus,” she tells her.

Mary’s face quickly straightened as her color suddenly turned beet red. “You really don’t have to do that.” Waving her hand in panic.

“But I insist, I can’t let Dana continue doing this kind of thing,” Crystal firmly said, grabbing the girl's hand.

“Yeah girl, no need to worry about it since we too have a score to settle with that hoe. Plus you can be sure that b***h won’t be touching you if you're with us,” Brittany added.

“Thank you.” That made Mary smile wide. Her eyes began watering again as this time she was crying tears of joy.