xp_logs | Topaz and Maddie: A Mysterious Discovery

"Since when do I own so many clothes?" Topaz muttered as she began sorting through the pile on her bed. She definitely hadn't had this much when she'd moved here.

"...Since when do I own that?"

The that in question was a short skirt, probably about the right size for someone Topaz's height -- but definitely not something she would ever consider wearing. And she was fairly certain Molly didn't own anything like this either. Actually she couldn't imagine any of the girls wearing this. One of the graduates, maybe?

Either way, the owner was probably missing it. And since Topaz had no way of tracking her down, the best thing to do was probably leg it down to the laundry room and leave it there. Maybe leave a note on the journals saying she'd found it and it was down there in case the owner was missing it.

Good plan.

She kept the skirt tucked into her side as she walked through the halls and down the stairs, feeling just slightly self-conscious, though why she couldn't begin to say. Still, it was a relief to get to the laundry room where she was greeted with the soft whir of the washers and dryers, and the banging of metal doors in closing quick succession.

Maddie rushed around the room frantically searching the unused machines for her lost item of clothing and muttering obscenities, hoping that the Sock-Eating Dryer Monster hadn't decided to up his game. She had put it in to wash, that much she knew for certain, but it was missing her freshly laundered and neatly folded clothes. Had it gotten stuck in a washer or dryer by accident? All of the dryers she had checked thus far were empty, and she wasn't about to go and open those that were currently running; she did know proper laundry room etiquette.

Topaz stopped in the door, blinking as she watched Maddie dart from machine to machine. She knew the redhead was a bit...odd. But this was strange even for her.

Hiding the skirt a bit more, she said, "Lose somethin', Maddie?"

Hearing the voice behind her caused Maddie to jump slightly, though not enough to bump her head on the inside of the dryer she was currently searching. "Uh, yeah," she said as she rose and turned around to face Topaz. Her plan was to play it cool and nonchalant. "Just something I distinctly remember putting in the washer but was not with all my other clothes when I was folding them."

She paused and eyed her classmate. "You don't... you didn't happen to find anything in your clean clothes that wasn't yours, did you?"

The only outward response Topaz gave to that was a raised eyebrow as her mind flew back to the skirt in her hand. Maddie wouldn't own something like that...would she? "S'matter of fact I did." The attempt at being casual had her accent coming out a bit thicker than usual. "I doubt it's what you're lookin' for, though. I thought it was one of the graduates or somethin'."

"Let's cut to the chase." The redhead slowly strode toward Topaz. "I know you're hiding something behind your back and you don't want me to know what it is." To Maddie, the other girl's actions were as easily read and couldn't be any more apparent if she had a neon sign around her neck.

"We can go back and forth with me trying to cajole it out of you and you playing dense, which by the way is not a good look for you. Yeah. No. You look like a fish at the bottom of the ocean. And I'm not going to tell you what it is I'm missing because for all you know it could be something embarrassing like a Yankees shirt, which I would never admit to owning anyways."

"Why would you own a -- oh, wait, there's a sports team called the Yankees. Right." And the only reason she even knew that was because of the journals. Americans were so strange sometimes. "Anyways I'm fairly certain this isn't yours. I can't imagine you wearin' a skirt that would be better fit for a streetwalker."

Maddie signed then took a deep breath. "Would you please let me see the skirt, Topaz?"

She held up the skirt silently and obediently. She really didn't believe it was Maddie's -- no matter how hard she tried she couldn't imagine her classmate in something like this.

In a quick flash of white, Maddie's arm shot out, swiped the skirt from Topaz's hand, and stuffed it inside the front of her shirt. She knew as soon as the other girl mentioned that the item of clothing she had found was a skirt that it was her missing piece of laundry. Or she suspected anyways. And the milisecond glance she had ben able to steal before reclaiming the piece of clothing was more than enough to confirm her suspicisions.

This was what she was afraid of, someone other than her finding the skirt. "Go ahead," she said. "Ask what you want to ask."

Topaz didn't bother trying to stop to Maddie - in a game of a keep away with a telekinetic, she was going to lose. And normally she wasn't one to pry - went out of her way not to, really - but Maddie had given her permission...

"I'm not gonna claim to be an expert on what you own, but I know I've never seen you that before. What's it for?" Her first thought was maybe another play. But there would have been something on the journals and Maddie probably wouldn't bring her costume home.

"Cheerleading."

"Cheer...?" Topaz couldn't quite keep the shock out of her expression. "You don't mean...the thing with the pom-poms and...?"

Having resigned herself to this fate, Maddie nodded. "With the pom-poms and the yelling and the pep and the like. Yes."

"The skirt's not that short, really, and we wear something under it."

"Well I don't know much about skirts so I'll take your word for it." Topaz shrugged, coming to terms with this admittedly strangely discovery. "And why exactly are you hiding it?"

The redhead fidgeted, acutely aware of the polyester fabric itching against her chest. "Because of that look," she said. "When you found out that I'm a member of the pom-pom brigade. And I only told you because I know you won't care or spread it around."

"Maddie what you do in your free time is your business." Topaz shook her head. "But yeah, I was a bit surprised. Doesn't really seem like your thing." She wouldn't spread it around, though. Of course she wouldn't.

"Because it's not!" Frustrated, Maddie threw her arms in the air and began to pace in place. "I'm a hardcore 'blood, sweat, and tears'. Soccer. Football. Hell, I'll even do volleyball and basketball. But cheerleading?" She abruptly stopped and spun to face Topaz. "Cheerleading. I'm not a cheerleader."

Except for the fact that she was, but saying that probably wouldn't have gone over well. "Do you enjoy it?" Topaz asked instead.

"That's the problem!" The redhead made it sound like it was the end of the world. Which, in a way, to her, it was. Out of all the strange events that had happened since she arrived in New York, with Slendermen and Magical Caves and a million other little things that happened on a daily basis, this was the one she was having the most trouble reconciling. "I love it! But like you said, it doesn't 'seem like my thing'. And it shouldn't be, but it is!"

"It's so embarrassing."

Huh. Get sucked into an alternate dimension with monsters that wanted to eat their emotions, no problem. But liking cheerleading was a crisis. "You just found somethin' new like. It happens. People get interested in new things all the time, don't they?"

"You don't get it!" Why was she trying to explain this to Topaz? She was all British. There was no way she would ever understand in a million years. "Cheerleaders are supposed to be all ditzy and airheads. Not like the ones who do all those throws and flips into the air cause that takes athleticism. This is like... cheering."

"I really don't," Topaz admitted. "Anyone who knows you knows you're not a ditzy airhead. Not gonna lie, it's a bit strange to think of you as a cheerleader, but...there are worse things. You could be a serial killer."

That made Maddie smile. "You never know. I could be both. Perfect disguise."

"Well I better stay on your good side then," was Topaz's dry reply. "I know you're secret, after all." Made her the logical next victim.

"I guess you better." All things considered, Topaz finding her cheerleading skirt was definitely the lessest of all the evils. "I need to put this skirt away. Want me to help you with American history? I know it must be a difficult adjustment for you having to think of the the Revolutionary War as a fight for independence and not a bunch of rabble rousers who needed to be taught a lesson."

"Well it's definitely different learnin' about it from an American perspective," Topaz agreed wryly. "Makes you think about what they mean when they say history's written by the victors. But alright. Your suite or mine?"

"Mine. We have better snacks."