?I'm so not looking forward to this,? she said.
Ashton had been in the bathroom collecting toiletries and whatnots while Diana laid on her bed, mostly ignoring her continuous string of complaints.
?I know you'll have things under control while I'm gone. I'm not worried about that. It's mostly spending time with my mother. We haven't been alone in a car since she dropped me off here, and we've got two campuses to look at. I don't know what the hell I'm going to do,? Ashton said, coming out of the bathroom with her hairbrush, hair dryer, toothbrush and soap compartment.
Diana inserted a cream cheese cracker into her mouth uninterestedly as Ashton passed her.
?Hopefully this is the last time, and hopefully that thought will keep me cool, but who knows for sure. All I know is the sooner we graduate, the sooner we can move past all this ****.? Ashton placed her hands on her hips, her six-pack exposed in that half-tank top as she looked over the contents of her duffel bag to make sure it wasn't missing anything. ?Is that everything?? she asked.
?Are you asking me? I don't know,? Diana answered sarcastically, knowing Ashton always forgot to pack a few important things whenever she voiced her routine checks before a big trip back home for a visit or otherwise. She placed another cracker into her mouth when Ashton rose an eyebrow at her. Diana finally pointed at her makeup bag on the computer desk. When Ashton found it, she remained silent as her way of saying thanks.
?You should have everything you need. Text me if you need anything, and text me even if you don't. You can help me not go insane this week. I should be back next Tuesday. Just be smart like you always are. Don't get baited into any confrontations,? she warned.
?Ashton,? Diana interrupted, laughing. ?I got it.?
The two stared at each other for a borderline testing moment before Ashton eventually wavered and approached her best friend, sitting on the bedside next to her with her hands laced together between her freshly shaved legs.
?Is that low-fat cream cheese?? Ashton asked cautiously.
?No,? Diana answered, popping another in her mouth just as Ashton disregarded her diet in lieu of taking her criticisms and wrestled her over custody of the plate's remains, spilling more than could he saved. Giggling escaped from Diana's mouthful of snack food.
Ashton was a day into her trip visiting campuses with her mother when news reached the school that Terry had been stabbed and the balance of power was shifting. Diana, now in charge of the Fitness Academy, had to convince its considerable member-base that that was not the case.
?Come on girls,? she began from the fountain. ?What's the first rule of St. Mary's? Don't listen to to the gossip. Unless you hear it from Ashton, Kiyomi, or Terry, nothing's changed.?
?What about Jamie? She'll be back from juvie soon, I hear,? a girl retorted with a shoe and an exposed muscular leg up on the fountain.
?Until she's back, what I said holds, and do you roll with Emily Barker now? Get your foot down.? Diana no sooner looked a the girl's shoe and it was brought down to the ground. It could have been brought down faster, she thought.
She sighed when the girls went back to eating their lunch and resuming their conversations. Gossip was always going to exist, and it was very difficult to persuade the direction it went in despite her efforts to discourage conflict within St. Mary's factions.
Doing that was harder than ever this semester.
?Hey Diana,? Siri asked, approaching her a little more timid than she was known for acting at school. Diana looked surprised for just a moment, not recognizing the voice nor the submissive tone it reached her with. When she saw it was Siri?in all her bruised glory?her heart immediately went out to her.
?Siri,? she said, instantly ready to help the girl. ?What's wrong??
?I'm fine. I just wanted to tell you ? I know Ashton's gone for a little while, so if you ever need help with anything ? I just want you to know you... you don't even have to ask.?
Diana watched her return to her former strength almost in that very moment. It was a declaration of loyalty, Diana thought, but she also noticed that it carried a faint undertone of revenge. Siri wanted to get her attackers back, which meant things were still personal with her.
Diana nodded very business-like. ?I think I have things under control, thank you.? An accompanying hand to Siri's shoulder to make her cold words sting a little less. A teaspoon of sugar.
Siri nodded and wandered off from the fountain playing with the pebbles beneath her sneakers. It was apparent she was brainstorming on alternatives to getting back at her attackers, and Diana made a very shorthand note in her spiral notebook to put a couple girls on her for surveillance duty. When that was done, she checked her very thin and effeminate numberless Disney wristwatch. She had less than half her lunchtime left and all of her 300-calorie pasta salad, concocted by Ashton, unopened from its baby blue tupperware container.
Better start sooner rather than later, she thought, but it would appear her lunch would have to wait. Jia was waiting to see her behind two of her guards. Jia never came to talk to the Fitness Academy.
?C'mere, Jia,? Diana said, beckoning her to the fountain where she sat to dismiss her girls from blocking her.
?About time,? Jia answered, moving past the juniors that were very brutish for their grade. ?I thought we were tighter than that, Dee.?
?What do you want, Jia? I haven't eaten lunch yet.? A pleading face to Kiyomi's left hand of the Asian Culture Club, or at least that was how Diana always looked at her. Right hand sounded far too useful to fit Jia.
?Well shovel it down or do something, but I wouldn't take too long. Roz is in the alley right now with Kiyomi, and she wants to talk to the head of the fitness club; says one of her girls got beat up for using a weight bench she had no business using; says she got roughed up pretty bad. Somebody's gotta deal with this,? Jia said, pulling an errant thread from her skirt.
Diana didn't say anything, taking in all that she said and weighing it. The case Jia had laid out was a heavy one, and demanded perfect handling. This was right next to a worst-case scenario, but in the same breath, it was the most-expected of the scenarios that she'd be dealing with while Ashton was gone. She'd have to choose her words carefully and respect all involved parties, and, of course, there was the possibility that there wasn't even a meeting at all waiting for her in that alley.
Either way, her lunch was over.
?Yes, someone has to.? Diana stood up, shoving her notebook and her lunch in her bag and walking with it next to Jia. She shrugged with her phone out, texting one of her subordinates while addressing another one right across from her. ?Stay here and watch the fountain for me while I'm gone. Don't give Lizzy or her people an inch closer to it than where they're at now. I mean that.? A hair toss from the Chinese-American scholar, her text complete and her phone put away.
?You're not going alone, are you?? the girl asked.
?Stop being so paranoid. The clubs are unified now. There's not going to be anymore warring, not from us. You just guard our turf until lunch is over.? Diana pointed at the girl, showing her very rarely seen assertive side despite it being a very prominent part of her character. She just seldom got to showcase it because Ashton was always the one who gave all the rallying commands. Jia was more amused than she was impressed, but both were definitely driving forces behind her sneaky little smile. When Diana started walking off from the fountain, Jia matched her pace very quickly.
?Wow, Dee. You might want to think about filling in for Ashton on a more permanent basis. You've got this down pat.? Teetering on busting out laughing, Jia held it in all along the walk to the alley. When they arrived, it was just as she said. Kiyomi and some of her girls were all striking leans while Roz stood in the center like the head of a house. Diana thought right away that she was acting far taller than she really was.
?Jeez, Diana. Did you get the big box at Grady's Chicken? What kept you?? Kiyomi asked, coming off the brick wall now.
?I haven't eaten yet, actually, so let's be as quick as we can about this,? she said.
It sent a good and a bad message right off. For the bad, she came off inconsiderate to the girls, and for the good, she came off business-like. Luckily, and playing into Diana's hand, she was doing business with Kiyomi today, and Kiyomi couldn't have cared less about how inconsiderate Diana might have sounded, and Kiyomi was also fond of settling bothersome things?like business?as quickly and painlessly as possible.
?Damn, girl. Alright, so Roz has a complaint she'd like to voice. She says one of her girls was at the gym and tried to use one of the machines and some of your girls jumped her.? Kiyomi nearly shrugged in her retelling but refrained so as not to look too aligned with Diana in this case, but she really didn't see the severity of the issue beyond a mild disciplinary ruling. Still, there were these channels that had to be gone through.
Diana looked at the girl who she very quickly put together would have been brought before them: she looked like the most loyal kind of servant for Roz, Diana thought. She'd taken a beating alright, but it didn't look like the kind any of the girls at the gym would have dished out. It reminded her of Siri, but it was hard not to think of her. They both had worn bandages on their faces to expedite the healing process, and neither girl's feminine features shone through despite their best efforts with their makeup. Roz was waiting in-front of Diana's eyes right after she was done looking at her girl.
?Blood for blood,? she said quietly.
?We don't do that here,? Kiyomi said after seeing Diana didn't have an immediate reply cocked and loaded. ?We find out who did the punching and the kicking when they're not supposed to be punching and kicking, and we take away some of their privileges for a little while. You haven't been here as long as the rest of us, Roz. We don't start fires this close to graduation.? She made sure her point was gotten across before looking to Diana.
?Now, Diana, do you know which of your girls did this??
?No, I was not aware there had been an incident at the gym,? she said coolly.
?It wasn't just one girl,? Roz said, turning to her bruised and beaten lackey and beckoning her from the wall to the center of the alley with her. ?Jackie, tell 'em who it was.?
Nervously, the girl spoke out with her mousy voice. ?It was... Tonya... Susan... and... Siri...?
?For the love of God,? Diana exhaled with frustration and turned, riling Roz instantly with her lack of belief and demanding Kiyomi step in-front of her to keep her from approaching Diana.
?Whoa, whoa,? Kiyomi said, making sure Diana wasn't going at her, and she wasn't. Diana was just walking to the wall to think while she dipped her head, hands on her hips, and blew out her piling frustrations that had waited until the day she'd carry all of the responsibility for the Fitness Academy. After seeing Diana had shown no signs of aggression, Kiyomi turned her back on her and addressed Roz fully, shoving her back.
?What did I just get done saying? What the **** kind of leader are you trying to be, Roz? You don't solve your people's problems by fighting whoever fought your girl, and you definitely don't come after another head of a club ? I don't care what they did ? and you REALLY don't want to try doing it in-front of ME.? She shoved her again, this time right into her group.
?You bitches are taking sides!? Roz accused, slinging her arms free of the aid from her girls.
Kiyomi had heard enough.
?Go finish your lunch, Diana.? She turned her head to her. ?Go ahead and let Ashton know about this as well when you get a chance. We'll talk later. I got this.? Kiyomi had went from looking very bored to very annoyed, and it was never long after someone annoyed Kiyomi that they abruptly stopped suddenly. A wave of her hand and some Asian Culture Club muscle was moving Roz and her girls out of the alley, and not without some choice advice from Kiyomi along the way.
Diana stood there in disbelief that this pitiful excuse for a feud was trying to gain momentum so close to graduation. With any luck, she'd be able to resolve it this week with proper delegating between the clubs. Hopefully the other heads would agree with her that the Roz army didn't need to see any further recruitment. There was a lot on Diana's plate already, and she had a lot on her mind for it to just be lunchtime. Before heading back to the fountain, she made a note that she would have to thank Kiyomi later for freeing her up.
The day came to a close surprisingly faster than Diana expected. Keeping busy with text messages to all Ashton's usual information gatherers and point guards as well as Ashton herself. She met Maisie Didier and Siri Paszke at the track field where plenty of her girls were out stretching. With all their phones pointed at one another in their pseudo-huddle, Diana gave them their instructions.
?Both of you make sure you get the directions. It can be hard to find this place,? she said, popping a bubble with her two sticks' worth of gum.
?How much is dinner there? I don't have a whole lot of money right now,? Maisie said.
?I got you,? Diana was quick to reply, stuffing her phone back in her pocket after seeing both girls' phones chime confirming they'd received her message. ?Siri, don't go anywhere alone, okay? Take one of my girls with you if you have to go somewhere. I have something to go do. I'll see you this evening.? She began walking from the field with her bag over her shoulder.
?Where are you going?? Siri asked.
?I'm going to see a friend,? she said before she got too far and had to say it too loudly. Turning back, a hair-toss, and she was on her way out from St. Mary's gates.