28 Crossing The Line

McClellan Aviation Museum

Sacramento, California

October 22nd, 1999

1:08 pm

"- weeks of sightings and radar reports culminated in the skies over Washington DC on the night of July 27th, 1952. The night we found out we weren't alone in the universe!"

Marci shuddered as the man's voice rumbled down while the screens all around them showed towering images of people pointing up at the sky as balls of light shot overhead mixed with radar screens that showed more and more of the blobs all heading the same way. Terrified people.

Powerless.

Somehow the grain in the film and the static in the dozens of overlapping voices that started talking all at once just made it worse. "No cause - "

"- advising everyone to stay - "

" - evacuate - "

" - reports coming in from all over the world - "

" - the Red Army is - "

" - mobilizing the national guard and air force - "

The voices and the six different movies were so much noise, but somehow it was even worse when they all stopped and were replaced by just one voice as the same splotchy newsreel repeated all around. One aiming up at the night sky with just a hint of a cityscape under it. One that looked so familiar that she knew that she would recognize it if she just looked down, but she couldn't take her eyes off the lights in the sky.

" - with the army now on the National Mall and I can see - They're just everywhere! I hear our fighters overhead, but I don't know what they can do as the lights… Wait! Wait! One of them is separating from the rest! It's - it's - It's coming down! Oh, God! It looks like it's heading right for the Washington Monument!"

Marci heard the panic in the last voice as she twisted back and forth and watched the same light fall to the ground all around her. It was all the dancing she could do and it wasn't enough. The worst part was that the theater was big enough to be her stage, but there were too many people around and the hard tile was already murder on her feet as she just stood there, so she and made her skirt swish this way and that around her hips so she could lose herself in the feel of the fabric going this way and that.

Feet shuffled all around her as the light got brighter and closer until she saw the hint of the ship behind it and everything just stopped.

Almost everything.

"Pop-Pop told me about this!" Blair whispered as she leaned in close enough that Marci felt the hem of the girl's skirt brush her thigh, but if she was nervous Marci couldn't hear it. Instead, the girl's dark eyes glowed with the reflection of the alien light as she looked up. "Everyone was in the basement of his apartment building and listening to the radio. He wanted to go to the window so he could see for himself, but his mom wouldn't let him or his brothers go near it. Not when his dad was with the rest of the men as they passed out their rifles and - "

"Thanks, Gwen!" Marci hissed because of the idea of it, of being in a basement while her dad….

She hated it, almost as much as she hated the way she saw Blair jump, but at least the girl stopped talking. She just wished the voice on the speakers would.

"- ink it's…. Yes! Yes, it's landing! It looks like the military is already converging on it, but I only see a few tanks and some personnel carriers. I don't know… The lights in the sky - Oh, God, they must be ships, too! They're stopping! They're just hovering now. I don't know - I - I'm just going to stay on the air as long as I can!"

The reporter kept talking, his voice dancing on the edge of excitement and terror as the screens changed again. Now the craft was so much more than a light and an outline. It loomed over them as the film bounced and went in and out of focus and soldiers darted in front. Soldiers with rifles that barely looked any bigger than the one her father used to shoot skeet at the club and she couldn't imagine…

Then the film stopped and the alien ship came into focus. The hull of it was a dark blue and it looked like it was carved rather than put together, it was so smooth. The nose of the craft hung over everyone's head, and the things on the side that looked like wings - that looked like claws…

Marci clenched her hands so tight that she felt her fingernails - her perfect fingernails, the ones she spent an hour on last night just so the pink polish would look perfect for today - dug into her palms because she couldn't imagine standing in front of it, but people were.

The reporter kept talking in the background and his voice was so much noise, but no one on the screens made a sound and that was so much worse. She just saw their mouths move as one man waved soldiers this way and that in front of it and Marci wished she knew what he was saying almost as much as she wished she could make everyone around her move because they were so close.

She just wanted to dance and all she could do was stand there as the words kept coming, " - taken every precaution to meet whatever the situation may require. Every eye - every weapon - is trained on the ship. It's been this way for two hours and the tension - "

The tension broke with an explosion of white steam on the screen and a scream that filled the little theater. Everyone jumped at it, and Marci almost added to it until she saw light cut through the dark around the skin of the ship as a hatch opened and swung down, leaving just the glowing opening of the ship. A glow that had a shadow skitter in front of it as the reporter's voice turned frantic. "Just a minute, ladies and gentlemen! I think I see something moving!"

Then it was there, in the doorway. Something that looked like a crab, only it was as big as her father. One that looked out before it raised one clawed hand and its words echoed out, " We have come to visit you in peace and with good will." Then it skittered down the ramp towards her.

Marci wasn't the only one who screamed this time as the room went black. Screens that went black, and it didn't do a thing for the tension in the theater.

"Hey!"

"What gives?"

"We were just getting to the good part!"

They were a mix of voices, voices that Marci was sure that she'd know if she thought about them for a second, but she never did that. Not when she could hear the edge in all those voices in the dark. All but hers as she tossed her hair back and said, "We spent four hours on a bus for that?"

The laughter was just as nervous as the voices were, but it broke the tension as the lights came back up. Lights that Marci barely even blinked at because she was used to the spotlight as she forced a smile just a little so everyone could see that she wasn't scared.

She just wished that she looked as bored as the tour guide did as the woman stepped up to the door opposite of the one they came in through. "That was what the world saw that night," the woman said as she looked around with what she probably called a smile and Marci's mom would call a disgrace. "The fear, the terror. Everyone who had a television was watching and so many more were listening on their radios. None of them could have guessed that our Visitors were here to welcome us to a wider universe, or believe that the events would so closely mirror a movie that came out just nine months before. If you would follow me into the main exhibition hall you'll see artifacts from that exciting week. Things that usually never leave the Smithsonian, but with us fast approaching the fiftieth anniversary of that day…"

Following was the last thing that Marci ever wanted to do, but she heard the doors open behind her, too, and the voices of the rest of their school as they started to file in for their turn and the idea of seeing any of that again just made Marci's stomach lurch.

No wonder that her mom always turned off the TV whenever anyone talked about aliens. Even those heroes who were mentioned every now and then.

"I hope that they have something cool," Olivia said from Marci's left as she fiddled with the camera in her hands as they walked. It was a real camera, too. Not the little disposable ones that most of her classmates had twined around their wrists but one that looked almost as fancy as the professional used for her ballerina photo shoots.

"They won't," Blair grumped from Marci's other side as she gave Marci looks she knew she wasn't supposed to see, so she didn't. For now. Then her frown died down just a little. "But it'll be great practice for the concert tomorrow!"

The concert…

Marci froze at the words and It took her two 'friends' almost four steps before they realized that she had, but Olivia was the first one who turned back and asked. "Marce?"

So she was the one who got Marci's glare. Her and Mrs. Adams as the old crone called out behind them, "Move along, Ms. Hunter. Girls. We still have two more groups who need to come through."

Marci's stomach twisted and she stomped by them both through the door and into the main hall. It was as big as the auditorium and as tacky as the hanger it used to be and Marci didn't care. Not even a little about any of the exhibits she could see lining the walls and standing in the middle of the room in glass boxes or the people that milled around them all.

All the people in her class and what felt like every other school in California because they thought that this horror show was educational and the sad sacks who were just here.

There were so many and Marci wished that they'd all just go away, starting with the two behind her. "Marce, what's wrong?" Blair said with that same gleeful edge that she always had when she thought that she had an edge.

But there was only ever one Queen Bee.

"What's wrong is that concert is lame," Marci bit out as she glared at the crowd and started stomping down one row of exhibits just so she could see the history. History that was just old machines and photographs and a thing that looked like her old legos made out of a cement block the size of the flowerbed outside her bedroom window. A sign under it said it was a mold of the ship's landing gear. She waved a hand at it as she added, "Even lamer than all of this!"

"What are you - ?" Olivia started.

And Blair finished. "Since when? We've had tickets for months! And you're the one who wanted to go!"

"I didn't know it meant that much to you!" Marci snapped. "Fine, be like the sheep and see yesterday's news. I hear that DJ Duster is coming to town. You two babies want to see him, too?"

"What?" Blair asked with a little gasp that made Marci grin even if she didn't dare turn around. If she did…

"Your parents were that mad?" Olivia asked in a whisper that no one else should have been able to hear, not in the crowd, but Marci still looked this way and that so she was sure before she spun around and glared up at the girl.

"Shut up, Olivia!" Marci hissed out, and the way the willowy girl went pale almost made up for what she said.

But not for Blair's smirk or the way her dark eyes narrowed as she crossed her arms. "What's wrong, Marce? Do you have to stay home and study?" she asked with a sweetness that was as fake as the diamond on her bracelet. "But you did so well on that math test."

She did. That was the worst part. A 99. It was almost perfect. Almost, but Hunters never tolerated almosts. Not when someone else just was.

"This sign is wrong."

Marci closed her eyes when she heard that voice. The only one that never could just get lost in a crowd, that always stood out, that always had to be the best.

It only took her a minute to find the red hair that went with that voice. The red hair that was the first thing that Marci ever noticed way back in kindergarten as the teacher walked the tiny slip of a girl into the class. The red hair and the green eyes that lit up when Marci hugged her and told her about the crayons she'd already found. She was like a doll back then as she followed Marci around and so much better.

"Gwen," Marci hissed as she glared across the room at caught glimpses of the girl who was glaring at another tour guide as she pointed down at a sign next to an old piece of metal junk that was bigger than her father's desk and hidden behind glass.

"Your parents asked me about her just last week," Blair said in a sing-song voice from behind her. "I guess they miss having perfection around."

This time Marci didn't care that her fingers were digging into her palms as she stomped away. People were either smart enough to get out of her way or her glare gave them a lesson they didn't forget as she caught bits of what the red-faced woman was telling Little Miss Perfect. " - wrong with the sign! This radar station was preserved by order of President Truman himself because it detected the first evidence of extraterrestrial - "

"No, it isn't!" Gwen said with a little stomp of her foot that was the furthest thing from being lady-like but reminded Marci so much of the little girl who used to be her friend because she used to stomp her foot the exact same way when they played house and she was the baby. Then Gwen brought up her hand and started counting fingers. "My Grandpa told me all about the crash at Roswell and the Foo Fighters in World War II, and there's an engraving from 1561 that shows - !"

"Young lady, this is a museum!" The poor woman snapped right back. "We deal with facts here, not whatever stories your grandfather told you or the nonsense that they put in your kooky books!"

That should have stopped the nerd. It should have stopped her dead. Marci leaned forward as she waited for Gwen to hang her head and maybe if she was lucky fight back tears, but she didn't. She let her mouth drop for a second, but that was all. Then she shoved her finger out. "They are not - !"

"God, she's gotten worse," Olivia sniffed.

Blair nodded and opened her mouth to say something, but she never got a chance. "I know!" Another girl's voice broke in. One that was almost as eager as her smile and almost as sad as her little black haired friend who was standing next to her who was nodding too hard and Marci just rolled her eyes at both of them. "Did you hear her on the bus? She's pathetic!"

"Excuse you," Blair hissed at the girl who was standing way too close and grinning way too wide as he said it.

Just watching the girl's eyes go wide and her grin die at that was almost enough. Almost. Marci eyed the other girl's streaky blond hair and tossed hers. "I don't remember us talking to you or your little pet, Nadia. But if I ever need help picking out a hair dye from the dollar store I'll let you know." That got the look she wanted, one worth leaving in her dust. "Sad."

"I know, right?" Blair hissed out as she oh so carefully didn't look back because those two weren't worth their time. "But she's not wrong. That look Gwen gave us? Who does she think she is?"

"Little Miss Perfect." Marci almost hissed. God, the way she stood up and told everyone else that they were being too loud? If she was anyone else she would have been as ignored as Mrs. Rogers if she was lucky, but she wasn't. She was Gwendolyn Tennyson and everyone listened.

Even the three of them and Marci didn't know why. She should have been fuming, but she didn't care. Not right now, not as she got closer because she'd never seen the redhead actually argue with a teacher before and a tour guide was the next best thing. Gwen looked so fierce now, but Marci knew her and she knew that the girl would crumble the second the woman said something back like she always did.

Considering the way the woman's face was trying to match Gwen's hair it wouldn't be long either and it was going to be sweet. So sweet that Marci got on her tiptoes just so she could see it better.

It was going to be, anyway, until the new girl reached over and brushed Gwen's arm. Gwen jumped at the attention and her face blanched when she saw the girl's lips twitching because she was that close to laughing. Her control slipped even as she said. "Calme-toi, fille folle. Tu fais peur au gentil homme."

Marci wished that she knew more than a few words of French because she'd heard the new girl say some of those before, but she didn't know what they meant. Just that they always made Gwen look like she wanted to grin or hide. And she wanted to scream when Gwen answered with, "Mais ... mais il a tort." They were just five words, but Marci heard her say more as the two of them laughed with Ms. Robere in a French so perfect that it could have come out of a movie. Not that it mattered.

Gwen excelled at one more thing. Why not?

"Je sais qu'il l'est, mais il ne changera pas d'avis," the new girl said as she shook her head hard enough that her braid danced in the air behind her even she laughed and took Gwen's arm. "Allez, tu peux me donner ma propre tournée. Je sais que tu as lu la brochure."

The words were a rapid-fire that Marci couldn't even try to follow but she knew that Gwen understood just from the way her glare turned into a shy smile as she let herself get pulled away. A smile that turned into a laugh. "Non!"

"Menteur!"

"I hate the new girl," Olivia sighed after the other two disappeared into the crowd.

Blair let out a little sniff as she stopped on Marci's other side. "I know. Our Bestie always get so sad when a teacher won't let her kiss their feet and the new girl just had to ruin it, right Marce?"

Marci didn't say a word as she kept looking until she spotted the two again. Gwen was grinning now, a wicked one as she covered the new girl's eyes and led her through the crowd to the only place that everyone was avoiding. The huge glass case in the middle of the room. The thing inside that Marci could barely see because the other exhibits blocked most of the view and she knew it was set up like that on purpose. She could only see the back from where she was, but she swore that the statue of the thing inside looked like a giant crab with a huge head that was wearing a gold and white suit over its mottled blue body. The same one that he must have worn in the film, but the horror was lost in black and white.

She tore her eyes away from the thing in the case, not that who she saw next was any better. She didn't care about the case that looked like it had a pen in it or the boy standing over it. Not that the boy was looking at the history or her, he was too busy shoving the ginger moron, and Marci could have thanked the stars for that.

She would have if the stars weren't right here and making her skin crawl. The stars and the ginger hair on the boy in front of her - hair the same color as hers - that made her snap out, "When are you going to muzzle your pet, Flint?"

The greasy boy jumped when she called his name, but there wasn't any sign that he was surprised when he turned around. Not that there was room for it between his sneer and the red blotches that were marking his forehead. He held up a hand as the other idiot reared back. "Hold on, Sean, the Ice Queen herself is talking to me. What was that, Princess?"

Marci crossed her arms at the name and the look that came with it. Flint was the only one who could talk about ice and still leave her feeling dirty as he looked at her, but she wasn't about to back down. Not to him. Not to anyone. She was a Hunter. "You heard me," she said just as a shriek filled the hall and every eye turned just in time to see Michelle spin away from the case and start smacking Gwen, who just laughed and laughed even as she caught the hands and pulled the other girl back to the case. "You're always saying Gwen's your pet. Teach her to heel. Teach them both."

A month. She gave the new girl a month.

She never thought that Flint's sneer could get bigger or grosser, but he proved her so wrong as he turned and looked over the other two. "Interesting," he drolled out and somehow he made even that word left her feeling like she needed a shower. "What do you think, Sean?"

The other boy looked over and his smirk was almost as gross. "We could go play peekaboo. I have to admit I'm curious."

"Oh, I am, too," Flint leered as he gave Marci another look. "But what do I get out of it, Princess?"

"Marce," Olivia warned as her hand brushed Marci's elbow.

Marci shrugged her off. "What do you want?"

Flint just grinned. "A kiss."

"Gross!" Blair gagged from Marci's other side.

Marci almost did the same as she imagined that touching her and of him being her first. Then she heard Gwen's laugh again and that was that. Her nod was sharp, but not as sharp as her tongue. "If you can get Little Miss Perfect to shut up."

"Both Ice Queens in one day," Flint purred and Marci almost threw up. Almost, but it was what he said next that really did make her gag as he nodded at Olivia. "I want pictures, too. No one will believe me otherwise. Not even me."

Marci bit her lip as she looked across the crowded hall. "How - "

"Don't worry, we'll take care of that. Just have Olive Oyl here ready. What about you?"

"Marce!" Both girls shouted, one in disbelief and the other hurt, but Marci just nodded even as she seethed at the boy for using that name, the one that her friend had hated ever since first grade.

Flint grinned at her and she never felt so sick in her whole life, but for a chance at being better, even if it was only for a few minutes… "Fine."

"You're on. Come on, Boyo."

"Hey, what do I get out of this?!" Sean demanded even as he turned. "And it better be good, or else I'm gonna show you where you can shove that accent!"

"You can go first," Flint said and Sean just grinned. The words were so much nonsense, but they were boys and what else did she expect? "I want Little Miss Perfect, but just for you, Sean, we'll start with the new girl. What do you think? Pink?"

Sean's smirk came back as he looked over at the two, who were both laughing now. "Army girl like her? Camo. But let's find out." The two ducked into the crowd then and they looked just like big cats hunting as they stalked forward. Only instead of a roar, Sean said, "Don't know what you think you'll see, moron, yours is wearing tights."

"I know that you're too poor to know, idiot, but the best part about presents is - " Flint started with a cackle before his voice disappeared in the crowd and it was such a relief.

The words pecked at Marci, but they weren't anywhere near as annoying as the hand that grabbed her arm or Blair's tone as she hissed, "I can't believe you're going to kiss that!"

"And I can't believe that you didn't get held back a year like Sean did if you're that dense, Blair," Marci hissed right back as she brushed the girl's arm off of hers. "Nothing can shut Gwen up." Nothing but her precious cousin, but why use that card when she didn't have to? "I just want to see what color she turns when Flint uses his charm on her. Olivia?"

"Got it!" The tall girl chortled as she brought the camera up to her face and twisted the lens back and forth. Marci didn't know why and she didn't care. The girl was the best photographer in the school and she knew that she'd get the picture. "He said he was going to start with the new girl. Should I?"

"Oh yeah," Marci grinned and wished that she was as tall as her friend. She didn't have a problem seeing over the crowd, but after all the time Marci spent en pointe, being on her tiptoes was nothing. So she got to see Sean slip around behind the display case while Flint went right up to the two girls.

And Gwen's face go blank as they spun around to face him and she moved between the boy and her new Bestie."What do you think that he's going to do?" Blair asked and Marci didn't need to see her face to know she was grinning.

"Talk to them?" Olivia muttered as Flint stalked forward as Gwen and the new girl both backed away. "What else does Flint have to do?"

It looked like the willowy girl was right until the new girl turned and bolted. "Wonder where she's going?" Blair murmured.

"To get a teacher," Marci guessed with a sneer as she watched the new girl ran for the display case and Sean froze on the other side.

Olivia hummed as she lifted her camera to her face. "Of course she is. They always look out for their pet." They did, they always did, it was just too bad that none of them were anywhere near those display cases or the things inside. No one would be who weren't freaks.

Not that it mattered. If whatever-her-name-was was going for help, she didn't get far. Her hand barely brushed the velvet rope around the case and couldn't have been more than ten feet away from the other two when Flint said something that made her skid to a stop as Gwen went as red as Marci had ever seen her before her hand flew out.

"All those years of karate and she slaps him?" Blair mocked as Flint turned back, his hand on his cheek and a grin on his lips as Gwen stood there like a statue and glared.

"I know. Right?" Marci knew it was all for show. If Gwen had just gone into ballet like she was supposed to, like she said she would, she could have done the same thing.

Still, the crack of her palm against the idiot's face caught some of the sheep's' attention and the ones in the way turned enough that Marci could see everything. Especially how the new girl's face burned, too, at whatever Flint had said as she spun around and lunged towards him like she wanted to slap him, too.

She never made it.

Sean was closer and faster as he darted up behind her and caught the girl around the arms and middle with his left arm. They heard her gasp all the way across the hall as he pulled her back and wrestled her around so they were both facing Olivia and the camera as she fought in his arm. He even looked up and grinned over her head for the picture as his right arm darted down as Gwen spun around and Flint grabbed for her, too, as Sean shouted, "Peekaboo!"

"What's he - ?" Marci started to ask before her hands shot to her mouth and the world turned into a series of flashes.

A flash of bright purple as Sean yanked the front of the new girl's skirt up to her stomach and laughed as he leaned over her and leered down, of white as Olivia's camera went off, and of red as the new girl got her feet back under her and drove the back of her head into the boy's face a moment later.

Every head spun around as Sean's scream filled the museum. Everyone saw him shove the girl away, her long braid swinging through the air, but Marci didn't see her hit the floor. Not with everyone else in the way. She did see the bottom half of Sean's face turned into a bloody horror though before he shoved both hands over his nose. Marci heard gasps all around her as she shoved her hands over her mouth and swallowed hard as her stomach lurched.

People gasped, but no one said a word. No one but Flint.

"You bitch!" The greasy boy roared over Sean's howl and every eye went to him as he shoved Gwen away. No one moved as Gwen almost went sprawling before she caught herself in a room so suddenly quiet that Marci heard her shoes squeak on the tile even as Sean charged the girl on the floor.

And Gwen - who was a good eight inches shorter and forty pounds lighter - stepped between them like she could do a thing. Marci's hands shot up to her mouth and caught her gasp as the girl just stood there even though the boy looked ready to bowl her over before his hand shot out so he could shove her away.

Marci watched it all and she wanted to scream, she wanted to charge forward, but she didn't. No one did. Not to help or to go get help. They just stood there as frozen as she was, as Gwen was as the boy's fat hand reached out.

Then it was like Marci was watching a movie that skipped a dozen frames because Gwen's hands were wrapped around the boy's wrist and she was spinning around - her red hair a blur over her blue sweater - and the boy screamed again as he flipped through the air.

His scream ended when his back slammed into the tile hard enough that everyone jumped. Even Marci, twenty feet away. The only sound he made after that was the sound of him kicking at the floor as he writhed on the ground.

Then the silence was broken by a howl.

Sean didn't try for words as he surged off his knee like he was at football and Gwen had possession. The bottom half of his face was a bloody mess that Gwen couldn't see because she had her back to him. "Look - !" Marci screamed into her palms.

She didn't have to. This time the movie didn't skip. This time Marci saw Gwen spin around, saw her foot kick out as she did and the black leather of her shoe caught the boy right on the chin.

Sean had an inch and five pounds on Flint and he just crumbled as Gwen spun to a stop next to him in a move that would have been at home in a ballet recital if it wasn't for the two boys at her feet. Boys she glared down as she raised her hands to her chest like she was daring them to get back up, and the look on her face as a monster from another world looked over her shoulder...

No one moved.

Then they did. Then everyone surged forward as a hundred voices all spoke at once, their words a babble as they shoved past Marci and filled the space between her and Gwen. Marci almost followed them, almost let herself get swept up in the mob as her heart pounded and tears burned her eyes.

Almost, and then Gwen's head shot up and burned as they met Marci's. Marci jumped back and almost screamed as she ran into something. No, someone. She spun around so she could run and then she did scream when she saw Olivia standing there frozen.

Frozen with her camera still at her eye.

"Get down!" Marci hissed even as her hand shot up and caught the camera strap and yanked. Olivia let out a gasp as the rough fabric dug into the back of her neck. Marci didn't care and she didn't let go as she started pushing their way through the crowd. She'd drag the girl if she had to. "Come on!"

She would have dragged both of them, but Blair was already gone. It only took Marci a second to spot the Chinese girl's black hair and Marci just saw red, but she'd make the girl pay later. Right now she just followed as Olivia mewled and whined behind her.

No one paid any attention to them, and for once that was a good thing. Mrs. Adams bellowing, "Ms. Hallam, what is the meaning of this!" was even better. It gave them a chance.

Somehow Olivia found a hall off of the exhibit floor. Marci didn't know if she'd spotted it before or if she just got lucky and she didn't care. She just kept following as the girl disappeared behind a door. She didn't care if there was another exhibit or storage behind it, but she had to admit that she felt better when she saw the white tile and the long sink on the other side.

There were three stalls, too, and Blair disappeared into the last just before she got sick. "Oh God, Oh God, Oh God," Olivia whimpered. Marci finally let the strap go as she all but ran for the sink. She didn't know if the bathroom was empty and she didn't care until after she got cold water on her hands and splashed it onto her face. She listened as hard as she could for anyone shouting their names or following after them, but for all the noise outside, noise that was almost lost in the sound of Blair heaving and Olivia hyperventilating, she didn't hear that so she let her head sink down.

The porcelain was just as cold against Marci's forehead as the water was and her long blond hair hung around her like a veil that didn't block out nearly enough of the world. "Oh, God," Olivia whimpered again from somewhere behind Marci. "Did you see - "

"Of course I saw!" Marci snapped without moving. She couldn't stop seeing it. Olive skin going ashen with terror and humiliation, green eyes burning and the boys…

The red and the purple.

"She can really…" Blair whimpered, her voice echoing in the stall. "We've been -! We've been - ! And she can really…"

Marci tried to think, tried to remember everything her parents said about staying calm, about thinking and being a leader and she couldn't. Not when her friends wouldn't stop. "He - he - he - Did you know?"

"She moved so fast… All the things we've been saying and - and - "

"Of course I didn't!" Marci bit out as her head swam and she closed her eyes. Shut up. She thought. Shutupshutupshutup. "But it's Gwen! She'd never!"

"Not her! What if…" Blair called out from the stall, her voice a whimper. "What if Sean does that to us!"

Olivia let out a high pitched whine at that even as Marci's head shot up and her hand shot down to the hem of her skirt. "He wouldn't - !"

Dare.

The word died on the tip of her tongue when she saw herself in the mirror over the sink, her face wet and her blue eyes wide and… and she knew that they wouldn't. There wasn't a boy in their school who would now, and it wasn't because of her.

"She didn't - " Blair whispered into the toilet and Marci heard the fear shake her voice. It was the same terror that made her heart pound and Olivia whimper. "God, she put them both on the floor and she didn't even blink."

Marci heard all of that, and something else. Something she never heard in the Asian girl's voice before. Not in all the years that they'd been friends.

Respect.

Marci heard it and she remembered the crowd. She remembered all the blue sweaters and sport jackets that filled it. She could hear them out there even now, even though the closed door. Not the words, but it didn't matter. They wouldn't be talking about anything else. Today, tomorrow, next week.

She heard it all and her mother's voice flashed in her head. There's only one queen bee. "You got the picture, right?" Marci said, her voice flat as she stared into the mirror and saw her mother scowl back. There was only one.

"I - I - "

"Stop whimpering, Olive Oyl!" Marci hissed out and she heard the tall girl gasp at the nickname that Olivia always hated and made her promise that she'd never use again, but she didn't have time for promises. "Tell me you got the picture or else I'll have the whole school - "

"I did! I did!" Olivia whispered, miserable and scared. "Why?"

Marci felt sick. At how she made her friend sound and at what she was thinking, but her mom would stop staring. "When we get home tonight, I want you to develop it."

"Why?" Blair asked for them both as she hiccuped. "God, everyone saw. The school won't - Even Flint's dad won't be able to buy his way out of this one. They don't need a - "

"I don't care about Flint," Marci hissed. She didn't. She knew that the girl was probably right, and even if they weren't… Well, that was just a bonus. "I want you to make copies. As many as you can."

One was for the principal just in case the boys weren't expelled. The rest...

"We're going to teach the boys their place and the girls…" Marci swallowed hard, but she didn't let her voice break even as she remembered the terror on the new girl's face. "The girls will know exactly what happens to anyone who talks to Gwendolyn Tennyson, and everyone will know who's in charge!"

Marci heard the girls suck in a breath behind her and it was too much. She dug her hands into the sink and heard the words pour out of her. "Don't you dare! We gave her a chance and the new girl spat in our face! And Gwen - she already lords it over us! Do you really want to be in a school where she - "

"Where I what?" Gwen asked, her voice low and flat as she cut in.

Marci didn't scream as she spun around, but she was the only one who didn't. Gwen just stood there as the bathroom door swung shut behind her, looking as perfect as she did when she got on the bus a few hours ago except for some hairs that had slipped free from her clip and were fanned across her face. She wasn't even breathing hard. She just stood there and stared as the door behind her swung shut and the world went quiet.

"What do you want?" Marci hissed as she glared right back into those green eyes as she tried to find the strength that just came to her father. Gwen didn't say a word, she just glanced over at the camera that was still hanging around Olivia's neck and the other girl let out another whimper.

That was the noise that was too much. "Calm down, Olive Oyl," Marci barked as she took a step forward. "What do you think she's going to do? Beat us up, too? Like she isn't in enough trouble already."

Gwen's eyes went wide at that. Not much, but Marci saw it. She saw it and she smiled as she took another step forward. "You can't even go running to the teachers now, can you?" Like she always did. Like they were the only ones in the whole school who were worth her time. But now… "Attacking poor Flint and Sean like that. We always knew you were a freak. Your mother is going to be so ashamed, Gwen."

The girl's face went blank at the words, but even Helen Keller could have seen the shudder that went through her body, the one that made her clench her hands into fists to stop. That was it, though. Her face didn't burn and her eyes didn't get wet like they usually did. There weren't any barbs spat right back, either.

Marci's friends didn't play their part either. Olivia just stared at the redhead, her face almost as white as her knuckles were around her camera, and Blair - Blair who always thought that she could be a queen, too - hid in the stall. It didn't matter. Marci didn't need anyone. She hadn't in years. She waved a dismissal at Gwen and sniffed. "I don't even know why you care. The new girl's an army brat and my mother told me all about them. Like the school won't be seeing her with her skirt up soon anyway, the slut."

The words tasted like bile, but Gwen didn't move at all. She didn't even blink. All she did was stand there and stare as her lips thinned. Anyone else would have raged at the words or been ashamed, but Gwen didn't even twitch. She just stood there breathing slowly. Deeply. Everything about her from how she stood to how she looked at them, even how she held her arms down at her sides. All of it was so controlled. Like she couldn't even be bothered to yell at them, to scream at them. Anyone else would have, but not Gwen. She had to be Perfect.

"That's it?" Marci almost screamed as her face twisted. "What's wrong with you?! I thought that she was your friend! Doesn't anyone matter to you?!" Marci did scream those words as she stomped her foot. "I can't - God. You're a - you're a - " There weren't words for it. Or maybe there were because something caught in her throat as she stared at the girl and tried to find some sign of the one she knew. The one who giggled when they played Barbies and cried with her when they watched Bambi. The one who promised that she was going to do ballet, too.

Marci's eyes burned just like they had that day when Gwen came to her house and told her that she wasn't right in the middle of dinner and she saw the look that mom gave her over the other girl's red hair…

The look that said everything.

"This is why nobody likes you, Little Miss Perfect!" Marci spat out, her hands shaking at her sides. "I know that you blame us, but people were sick of you before we said anything! They have been for years, or don't you remember how you used to come crying to me because no one else wanted to play with you? This is why! Always acting like you know everything, you can do anything, like we should be glad you let us in your presence and just do what we're told! You'll see! The new girl will get sick of you, too! Not even that disgusting freak of a cousin you have can - !"

There weren't words for what happened next. It felt like the world skipped frames when she watched Gwen fight the boys, but now the film just snapped as Gwen snarled, "Shut up."

And every light bulb in the bathroom exploded

Three shrieks filled the bathroom as glass rained down. Marci expected darkness when she let her arms drop and opened her eyes again, but the light was still there, it just changed from the glaring off-white to a bright pinkish-purple, and it didn't come from the ceiling. It came from Gwen, from her clenched hands to her arms.

And from her eyes. More of the pink light glowed behind those green eyes, and Marci's heart and voice seized up as she stared. "Wha - ?"

"Shut. Up." Gwen hissed, and her voice echoed in the small room. A pressure that Marci had never felt before blew out away from the red-haired girl in waves that matched the pulsing of the light that clung to her. She had seen Gwen happy and irritated and hurting and sad and bitter and sarcastic and cynical and always, always proper.

None of that was in her face now, and what there was froze Marci's feet to the floor. Gwen just glowed with that unearthly light, a light that promised so much pain. Marci opened her mouth to scream -

- and no sound came out.

The fierce look in Gwen's eyes didn't go away, and if anything, it only increased even as they opened wide in shock. Her hands shot to her mouth and as terrifying as her glare was, her startled laugh was so much worse.

Marci inhaled sharply and grew even more terrified when she realized she couldn't hear the sound of her own breathing. She couldn't even hear her heartbeat. She looked over to Blair, hyperventilating with her back pressed up against the inside of her bathroom stall like a deer caught in headlights, and couldn't hear her either. She looked behind her and saw Olivia babbling something as she slid to the floor and clung to her camera. A prayer, maybe, or silent pleading words, that were as silent as anything else.

The only sound in the room was a cracked, giggling laugh from Gwen as the light burned brighter, burned into an inferno that hid her eyes completely. "So easy," she whispered into her hands before she let them drop and Little Miss Perfect flashed her teeth as she started to giggle, control lost at last.

"It's so easy to make you shut up, Marci. If I'd known... I should have done it months ago," Gwen uttered, cackling while her hair danced in a breeze that didn't exist. She took a step towards Marci, and the pressure increased, almost burning at her skin through her uniform, forcing her backward. Gwen brought a hand up from her waist and unclenched it, reaching towards her face with clawing fingers. "All that time listening to you and all the horrible… And I could make you do anything I wanted and you couldn't stop me. None of you could. I could make you run out there and confess everything, make you get yourself expelled and get Flint and his jackass friend thrown into juvenile hall, or have you put on a show that makes everyone forget how you humiliated my friend - "

The rant sounded crazy until Marci felt a wind that was just as insane whip up from nowhere. It tore at her hair and her skirt as she opened her mouth in a silent scream as her hands shot down, but the wind was just gone before she even touched the fabric. She shoved it back down with both hands anyway as her face burned. It didn't matter. The stomach-clenching sick she felt as Gwen spat out, "You always did look pretty in pink," stayed so much longer.

That was when Blair broke. She came charging out of the stall with her mouth wide open in a silent scream. For just a second Marci thought that the girl was going to throw herself at Gwen, for just a second she imagined herself doing the same thing.

But Blair didn't. The girl was so pale as she dashed by Gwen and raced for the door. She caught the handle and pulled, but it wouldn't move. Wouldn't even budge.

Gwen didn't look back, didn't care about Blair at all even as the girl that she'd known since kindergarten fell to her knees clawing for a lock that wasn't there.

"That's just the start of it, Marce," Gwen hissed as she took one slow step after another towards her until Marci felt her back slam up against the painted brick wall. Nowhere left to run.

Gwen's hand, hot and cold all at once and burning with that light fell onto her forehead, and the girl's fingers dug into her scalp. "The start of what I can do. The start of making you pay for everything you've done to me for years,to mine, and when I'm done I can reach inside your mind and make you forget that I even - " her breath caught with a gasp at that. "Forget this and everything I ever told you because I thought - " her teeth clicked together as the fire that hid her eyes flared and ran down her cheeks, "- forget everything that you've ever thrown back in my face! Everything! Make you forget EVERYTHING." The redhead hissed, and her voice thundered in the room, echoing over and over.

Marci's legs gave out and she sank to the floor. She didn't know how Gwen became this. Where she'd gotten this...this power. It wasn't real, it couldn't be real. The aliens on the other side of the door were horrors, but they weren't this.

She stared up at the monster in front of her with the glowing eyes and red hair that danced on its own and somehow she knew that it was still Gwen, but she couldn't see a shred of the little girl that she had once been friends with - the one that she'd hid from monsters under the covers with. It was still Gwen, and that made it even worse when she flashed her teeth and cooed, "Goodbye, Bestie."

Marci tried to kick away, but the wall behind her trapped her where she was. So she closed her eyes then and curled into herself as she felt fingernails dig deeper into her scalp. She felt her lips move; crying, begging, pleading in a voice that she couldn't hear, Please, please don't, please don't hurt me, please don't do this. Please stop. Please. Please. Please.

Somehow, even with her face in her knees and her eyes squeezed as shut as they would go, Marci still saw the light. Saw it flare as the girl over her muttered things that weren't words.

Please. Please. Please

Flare and die at the last syllable as Gwen sucked in a breath and jerked her hand away as Marci felt something hot soak the back of her skirt. It could have been an eternity or a second before she looked up again and saw Gwen staring down at her as the light bled out of her eyes, the manic look disappeared, and a blank nothing took its place. "I - I'm…" she started to say as she wrapped an arm around her stomach and turned away.

Turned to Olivia and the camera that the girl was still clinging to as she held her hand out. "Give me the camera, Olivia," she said, her voice cracked and Olivia just stared up at her. The hard look came back then, even though the glow in her eyes didn't. It still burned around her hand, though, as she held it out and growled. "Give. Me. That. Camera."

Olivia jerked it towards Gwen so fast that the strap caught on the back of her neck and left a friction burn, but there had been no delay or argument. She handed it over like she had been a puppet on a string controlled by Gwen.

Gwen took the camera and wrapped the strap around it, looking at it for several long seconds. Then her face went hard and she snarled again, and that same wicked light encased it. Destroyed it completely. It didn't melt or burn or catch fire, it just existed one moment and the next…

The next, strap and all, it was turned to glittering charred dust in her palm as she said more things that weren't words, and then Gwen walked over to the sink and calmly, far too calmly, washed her hands and reached for the paper towels.

"Just leave me alone," Gwen said, still glowing, but sounding so tired and miserable then. She dried her hands off, then set them on the edge of the sink and bowed her head. "That's all I want, Marci. You leave me alone. You leave my friend alone. And you stay away from my family." Gwen looked over her shoulder at her. "I'm so over you. You and these harpies can do whatever the hell you want, but I am done with you. Done with hoping that one day you'd remember that we were - " Gwen's voice caught at that and she closed her eyes, but there weren't any tears when she opened them again. "And so long as you leave us alone? So long as you keep quiet and stay out of my way, this is the end of it."

Gwen threw the wet towels into the wastebasket and walked for the door, the glow around her slowly dimming. Blair dove out of the way and cowered, and Gwen passed her by without a glance. The light disappeared completely when she reached for the bathroom door with a shaking hand and jerked it open, and the daylight from the rest of the museum poured in and blinded them all.

Gwen Tennyson walked out and all the sounds that were missing came back; the sound of the door swinging shut behind her, the faint sounds of the chattering and gossip outside. The normal world was just on the other side of that door.

The sound of Olivia and Blair sobbing in the darkness was on this side.

Marci didn't make a sound. She just huddled her legs up against her chest and squeezed them tightly and sat in the wet and the dark and wondered how the little girl she'd once adored, the girl who she eventually became jealous of, sick of, had become that. She wanted to scream at the world, tell them all what Gwen Tennyson really was even as they called her name.

She had to tell, but who would believe her? Nobody. Gwen was Little Miss Perfect and everyone knew it, so she just buried her face in her knees and cried.