HOME | DD

Description
Previous Part - Here~

Next Part - Here~

"The last few days had been an utter nightmare. Not for Garrison, at least. But for Rita. Because of their previous talk, Rita had to be careful of what she said or did. Sure, there were a few times she got a few words in but the second she saw that knowing look in Garrison’s eyes, she stopped instantly. And not only that… He also began to give her more and more work to do. Even more so than the other stagehands.

And it was not going unnoticed. While most of them were quite pleased Garrison was barely telling them what to do… At the same time, Rita doing most of the work was just… weird to see. But of course, Rita didn’t say a word. But the looks she often gave showed she was not doing this willingly.

Yet, if she was asked about it, she simply said she was just trying to speed things along and get this stupid play shit done and over with. It was unusual to see her not even attempt to backtalk to Garrison, as she usually rarely let him boss her around. And yet, here, all she simply did was give him a look but nothing more.

It was a concerning thing to see. Travis was especially peeved to see Rita acting so submissive to the old man. Just what dirt DID Garrison have on Rita? He was hoping to figure it out but no matter whom he asked, no one seemed to truly know. Except Garrison. And yet, he knew asking him would do nothing. Other than Garrison either refusing to say or telling Travis to go back to work or whatever…

“Man.. this is just depressin’…” Madison said, watching as Rita was once again tasked with moving most of the props around on her own. Sure, Rita was more than capable of doing it but… By herself? That made no sense at all.

“He’s obviously tormenting her…” Renee said, watching Rita too. Her aura was just through the roof. Frustration. Rage. Sorrow. Yet… She wasn’t doing anything to stop this. It was troubling indeed.

“W-What do we do..?” Luke asked, growing concerned. “This surely isn’t fair, right? She can’t be expected to do everything!” He looked around at the others in desperation, hoping they would agree with him.

“Of course it isn’t fair!” Draven spoke up, looking at Rita with a look of sympathy. “But… She won’t talk to us! But… She’ll have to do it eventually, right?” He frowned, unsure.

“I’d hope so.. I even tried seeing if some food would help. She did thank me for it but…” Xochitl sighed. She had made some genuine Mexican food for Rita in some hopes it’d help her open back up, as she did recall hearing Rita adored spicy food. And her culture had plenty of that! Yet, Rita only accepted the food, thanked her for making it and simply moved on.

"..God fucking... GAAHHH!!" Travis, in his own frustration, hit himself. Usually he didn’t do this in front of others, but at this point, he couldn’t help it any longer. And while it was easy to tell that it hurt doing so.. He seemed to shrug it off easily, with a slight look of embarrassment while trying to act as though it didn't happen. “T-There’s got to be something we can do to help her! Even if we have to get her to speak to us in private! You know… SOMETHING!” It was frustrating Travis to no end that Rita was obviously getting tormented by Mr. Garrison, but was just quietly TAKING it, and not even trying to stop it.

Madison, understandably, flinched slightly at seeing Travis doing what he did. Luke gasped, now checking where Travis had hit himself to ensure he wasn’t hurt. Renee had no direct reaction, but.. “...Are you sure you’re okay?” Her voice hadn’t shown any change in tone either, but at least she was asking, so.. In her own way, she must be concerned to a degree.

“D-Dude..” Draven frowned, also concerned, same with Xochitl. Indeed… That was a bit harsh, but this was frustrating, after all.. It just seemed, no matter what they tried, Rita just… refused to budge. It was hard. Thankfully, Renee’s question didn’t go unanswered. "I-I'm fine... Yeah... Sorry..." Travis's voice cracked slightly, looking embarrassed about the whole thing. Dammit, he usually had a good grip on that.. He tried to clear his throat and get back on topic. "A-Anyways, there just.. Has to be something, you know???"

“But how? If she won’ talk, ‘here ain’ much we can do!” Madison frowned, deciding to try and move past what they just witnessed. “Like tha sayin’ goes, y’all can lead a horse to water, but ya can’ make it drink.” Basically, even if they did try to get Rita to talk, she’d likely still remain silent on the matter.

“P-Please don’t mention horses..” Draven shuddered at a memory of one biting him, and he did not want to recall that event. Not now nor never, really!

“It's a figure of speech.. But sadly it's true.” Renee nodded slowly. “Unless she’s willing to talk.. We’d have better luck trying to get a wall to talk to us.”

Travis looked at her. Now that he thought about it… Clearly she would know the whole sandbag thing was Garrison’s doing, right?! Renee must have sensed he was trying to ask her without words… And gave her head a small shake. While yes, she did know the truth behind that… Like with Travis, Rita had come and told Renee to be quiet about that matter, as well.

And while Renee was more likely to say something without hesitation… The fact it was Rita who asked her to be silent, Renee had no choice but to do so. Ninja code of honor or something, perhaps. Who knows for sure? But like Travis, she also didn’t like having to be silent but… Perhaps for everyone’s best interest, including Rita’s, it had to be done.

Any more delays to the play would only cause Garrison to be further short with them all. And being exposed for his scam would only complicate things further. Perhaps… Rita was waiting until after the play, when they had no more further reason to stay silent? One could hope, anyways…

A sudden loud crash got their attention, it looked like Rita had tripped and knocked several props over. Exhaustion was visible on her face, but she began to try and stand back up. “H-Hey, you okay?” Stan went to help her up and even help clean up.

“Not so fast, Stan! It's Rita’s mess and SHE’LL clean it up herself. Right?” Garrison, once again, gave that look to Rita. A look that she had always dreaded. One she had seen many times before, by another adult… As much as she wanted to yell at him to piss the fuck off… She knew she couldn’t. She took a moment to calm herself a bit, taking every ounce of her willpower to not snap.

“...Yes, Sir.”

“Good! Now, I’m gonna get some coffee, I best see this stage looking spotless, Ambrose!” Garrison went off, smirking as he did. Seeing Rita having to submit and do as he said was oh so satisfying. And the best part… She KNEW if she tried to back out of their deal, her dark little secret would be spilled! Everyone would turn on her! Her reputation, ruined! Oho, this was so DELICIOUS.

Rita shakily stood back up, her every being wanting to go after him and RIP that damn smirk off his face! But she was unable to do anything to him. Not as long as he had that incident floating above her head and out of her reach. She was powerless. And she loathed this feeling. She had endured that before, for a long, long time… And yet, here she was all over again, unable to act or even DEFEND herself.

She shook slightly as she cleaned up the mess, having to keep her other half in check. It wanted to escape so badly, to take control, to ensure it could make Garrison suffer. But she fought against it.. She wasn’t going to swoop to his level. …Not yet, anyways. But it didn’t mean this wasn’t any easier to handle.

Once things were cleaned up, Rita began to make her way to the back doors. She needed some air. Plus she felt the need to just vent without causing a scene… As soon as she made it outside, she made her way toward where the forest met the school playground. Once she was close… She let out the loudest roar she could manage. Panting, she went and attacked the closest tree, her hands turning into claws, ripping at the bark and under it once it was off. She didn’t slow down for a second, just needing to let this out.

The poor tree but it beats doing this to an actual person. …Unless it happened to be Cartman. But yeah… She did eventually slow down, panting slightly. Her eyes had flashed red and black during this.. Just barely containing herself at this point. This was perhaps the first time she was able to vent her emotions out in a long while. And she needed it, badly-

“Rita..?”

She turned her head a bit to see who was there. No big surprise… Travis, Luke, Madison, Sarah, Renee, Xochitl and Draven. All of them looked concerned (Well, Renee doesn’t show it physically, the fun of not being able to openly express yourself!) at the display.

“Enough is ENOUGH!” Travis spoke up first, starting to show his frustration of the whole situation. “You’re driving yourself crazy! Stop with this nonsense and just TALK to us, Rita! Seriously.. You can stop this if you just tell us what’s going on!”

“Travis, easy, this ain’ gonna help-'' Madison began to speak up but was quickly cut off. “No! I’m done with just waiting! You think she can handle this much longer?!” Travis snapped at her. He didn’t mean to but it was obvious his own frustration was clouding his judgment currently.

“Hey! Don’ ya dare snap at ‘er, Travis!” Sarah was quick to defend her girlfriend. “Ya think yellin’ like Garrison is gonna make Rita open back up to us?!” If anything, it’d make Rita MORE unlikely to talk and just close herself off more and more! “Do YOU have any of your own bright ideas on how to do this, huh?!” Travis snapped at his sister. Again, wasn’t his intention but he was also at his own limit. Not just Rita.

“H-hey! Come on.. Let’s not fight!” Luke spoke up, a little timidly, hoping not to invoke Travis’s wrath next but wanting to calm his boyfriend down. “This.. isn’t going to help or solve this at all!” “He’s correct… Acting like this makes us no better than Garrison.” Renee decided to take over just in case and plus she could care less if Travis snapped at her. “We need to be rational. And not act out just because things aren’t going our way just yet."

Rita watched them for a moment or two, her own rage starting to cool down a bit. Her eyes began to change back to normal. She hated seeing them like this and it made her feel awful. But.. she was too far in, she... couldn't stop now. “...Look, guys.” Thankfully, hearing her talk got their attention back on her. “...I can’t tell you what’s going on just yet. It's… personal. Very personal. Heh, I know, call me a massive hypocrite.. But… it's just the truth. I can’t talk about it. Not… until I feel strong enough to handle it.”

With that, Rita walked past the group, her eyes betraying her true emotions. She was still upset but… she had to press on. She could feel her friend’s emotions and it stung her more than ever. She shut her eyes… then bolted back to the school. She didn’t want to linger around and feel their hurt feelings…

“Well… Guess we won’ know wha’s goin’ on fer now..” Madison sighed heavily. She knew Rita, once she made up her mind on something, changing her mind was tricky. “For now… we should respect her decision and wait. …Even if it may not be in our favor for now, Rita will talk when she’s ready.” Renee said, her arms crossed with a small look to her eyes showing she wasn’t enjoying this either.

“I hope so..” Draven spoke softly. He didn’t like this but.. He also understood Rita would open up when she was ready, as she said… He noticed Xochitl was about to go after Rita, but the Austrian boy put a hand on Xochitl’s shoulder and shook his head. Xochitl didn’t need words to understand his actions… She didn’t like it.. But slowly, she nodded and gazed at where Rita ran. “Rita…” She really hoped she would open up to them soon…

With that, the group began to make their way back to the school as well, with heavy hearts. Only Travis didn’t budge. Now his emotions were cooling down, he felt an immense amount of guilt. Thanks to his judgment being clouded before, he had caused Rita to only close up more, instead of opening up, all because he had snapped at her… Luke took notice of his boyfriend. “I’ll catch up, guys.” He went back to Travis and frowned, carefully petting Travis’s back. “Dear..? Are you… okay?” He knew Travis was a bit harsh back there, yelling at Rita, Madison and even Sarah. But he knew Travis didn’t mean any of it… Frustration was a strong emotion, after all.

"...I... I just don't get it.." Travis sighed, rubbing his eyes as he tried to ease himself, still very tense from that entire thing. "I-I didn't really mean to go off like that, I didn't, but.. Dammit, am I the only one trying to push for a solution? It just seems like everyone is just accepting that, yup, this is just "how it is", when really... What is there to hide here??? Just let us in so we can HELP, that's all she has to do! I don't remember the last time we ever judged her for anything! Hell, as uncomfortable as it would be for me.. If you all.. Wanted to know what all I did when Frank kept me captive... I'd do it, and.. That's a story where lives were literally taken... By me..." He sniffed then sat on the ground, with tears beginning to leave him as he had his arms around legs. "...Yet it seems like when I try to fight for people... No one allows me to try, like I'm not trusted with it at all.. Heh... Even my own sister cared more that I snapped at Madison for a second, which I noticed in myself and was about to apologize before Sarah went off on me... She cared more about what I did than she cared about... Anything I've had to say lately..."

Luke frowned, watching Travis… He sat down next to him, embracing Travis close. “I’m.. so sorry, Hon..” He did feel for his boyfriend. “I think… Like you, everyone else… They’re… also lost at what can be done.. Rita’s a complicated one, no..? Any wrong moves could just… make her close up further.” He rubbed Travis’s back with one hand and used the other to dry away the tears that streaked his boyfriend’s face. “Its… it's a hard situation for all of us… I wish she would open up, but.. Whatever Mr. Garrison has on her, it's… got to be big, for her to close off the way she has…”

Travis frowned, resting his head on Luke's shoulder as he spoke to him. Yeah.. He was right... Perhaps everyone, even himself, was lost.. "..I... I get it... Just... I'unno, we've all dealt with what's seemingly been impossible at this point, so... I believed if we all came together to find out what the heck Garrison has on her to make her do this.. Either we can disprove it, make it so if it did ever come out, as knowing him, he may just do it anyways to fill his sick kicks, not a single person would believe it... Just... Wanna figure out what..." He then looked at his boyfriend, inching even closer to him to feel even more embraced by him. "...I believe together, we can solve it and fix this for Rita, no matter what Garrison could bring out, I'm positive... We can get him, maybe even finally get justice for all the kids he's likely done this exact crap to... Though, right now I don't trust my own judgment enough to do it alone.. But... I know you'd keep me in the light, through all of this... If it isn't too much... Could you and I both look into this...? Together...?"

Luke let Travis talk, hugging him, caressing his back and drying away any tears that came. He frowned a bit. “I… I do want to help however I can, Dear… Rita’s a friend and she’s suffering… I’m more than willing to help.” He looked at his love and smiled happily. “Together, then!” He held both Travis’s hands to symbolize his dedication. “Let’s figure this out and hopefully stop Garrison before any more damage can be done!”

Travis smiled weakly, holding Luke’s hands back. “Thank you, L-Luke… You truly have no idea how much this means to me.” He didn’t feel like he was alone anymore.. He was gonna get to the bottom of this, somehow, some way! With a renewed sense of confidence, Travis stood and Luke followed, with the two boys going back toward the school…

While Rita continued to be stubborn about being open… The kids worked along. Time to time, someone would try to talk to her but she avoided answering the questions or gave short answers to give herself an excuse to keep working. It was hard to watch but Rita carried on, only going off when she was able to and vent out her frustrations in some way before coming back once more…

Thankfully, time seemed to show some mercy on the kids, as before they knew it… The night of the play actually came. Earlier in the day, Bebe had shown some signs of fatigue… It was a bit odd but Garrison seemed to actually get that she wasn’t faking it. After all, Bebe had been looking forward to being Alice the entire time. She put in a lot of effort to get her part to be good. Which said a lot about how much she cared about this role… But then, she began to complain that her stomach had been bothering her and she often looked exhausted after doing a part in the play for practice… As much as he didn’t want to, Garrison had no choice but to excuse her and send her home, hoping she would be well enough to come back to do the play…

The night came… And sadly, there was no sign of Bebe anywhere. Even Wendy confirmed she hadn’t heard from Bebe at all, which was a bit unusual from the blonde girl, she had been looking forward to this play since she got picked to be Alice. Mr. Garrison was not happy to hear that… So he called the Stevens household himself, hoping to get some answers… Thankfully, Mrs. Stevens answered!

“Hello?”

“Hello, Mrs. Stevens. This is Mr. Garrison, I’m checking in on Bebe, she’s supposed to be the lead role for the play tonight! Is she coming?”

“Oh! I’m sorry, Mr. Garrison, but I simply can’t allow that.” Mrs. Stevens frowned. “My poor girl’s been very sick! I can’t let her get sick on stage, it’ll RUIN her self esteem!”

“WHAT?!” Mr. Garrison couldn’t believe his ears… Bebe was SICK?!

“Surely you have an understudy for her role? Anyways, I have to go! I need to give Bebe some medicine. Good luck!” Mrs. Stevens hung up.

“W-Wait-!” But it was too late… Mr. Garrison felt himself growing enraged. In his haste to make Rita’s life miserable, he had forgotten to give someone the understudy role for Alice! Fuck! This couldn’t stand..! Not when they were so close and canceling the play now would give the school a worse reputation than it already had!

“What will we do…?” Mrs. Johnson frowned once Garrison had told her and some other teachers of the situation. “We need to find a replacement!” Another teacher said, while another one spoke up right away. “But WHO? It’d have to be a student with a photographic memory AND able to study the lines in a fast fashion! Do we even have SUCH a student among us? Most are lucky to even know basic math at this point!”

It then occurred to Garrison… First, it looked like things were falling apart but then, just by hearing THAT, suddenly, he knew such a student. One he was currently able to keep under his thumb… A smirk came. “Actually, I know just whom to ask, my fellow teachers…”

Meanwhile, Rita was currently pulling up some sandbags with barely any effort… At least she was finally getting a small break from Garrison’s torment for now… But of course, it didn’t last long… She sensed him and the other teachers coming over… Suppressing a sigh, she looked over at them.

“...Yes?”

“Good news, Ambrose.. You’re getting a promotion!” Mr. Garrison said. All that did was earn Rita rolling her dark brown eyes. “...Lemme guess, am I gonna be cleaning the toilets now?” As gross as that would be… At least it’d get her away from Mr. Garrison. Hell, she was almost WISHING for that to be the damn case. The last few weeks had been nothing but pure torture for her anyways…

“Heh, tempting… But sadly, no.” Mr. Garrison nodded. “You’ll be the MAIN STAR of the play!”

Hearing that… The rope Rita was holding onto… Simply slipped right out of her hands, due to her shock… Poor Kenny, who happened to be walking nearby, was suddenly crushed by the falling sandbags. Oh dear..!

“Oh my God…” Stan pointed. “She killed Kenny!” “You bastard..!!” Kyle shook his fist upward… Supposedly at nothing. What were these two even doing-

“Are you KIDDING ME?!” Rita asked, now offended. She had become a stagehand to AVOID being part of this idiotic play! Now he was gonna try to make her take part, but not just any old part… But being the main star?! “I ain’t about to-”

“Ambrose…” Mr. Garrison gave her a look. Did she forget her little promise already..? Tsk, tsk… Guess she really didn’t mind if he spilled the beans then-

“...UGH!” Rita glared back at him for a second… But she soon sighed heavily. “...I really hate you.” But what other choice did she really have at this point..?

Before long, Rita found herself with a script, reading Alice’s lines while she was walking toward the changing rooms. “...Suddenly cleaning toilets really sounds good right now..” Fucking fuck.. This sucked. Now she was getting roped into playing Alice just because she was one of the highest ranking students, if not, possibly… THE highest ranking student in the entire school! And people often wondered why she hid her intelligence?! This was why! It was so bothersome and annoying! And now it landed her in this damn mess-

“Rita!” She heard her name and paused, looking over. The others, now dressed up for their parts (Depending on who it is!), came. “Is it true..? You’re gonna be Alice?!” Luke asked in shock. He couldn’t imagine her in that role…

Sadly, despite his and Travis’s best efforts, they hadn’t yielded much information. They even tried to ask Principal Victoria too but she sadly didn’t give an answer… Despite the fact that she did seem nervous when they asked. So yeah, something had happened… Yet, no one wanted to spill the beans! How annoying!

Rita’s shoulders tensed a bit but she sighed with a nod. “Yeah.. Bebe’s sick so… I got “honorably” chosen for the main role.” She crossed her arms, obviously not too thrilled at this. “But tha doesn’ add up! Yer a stagehand!” Madison said, while Rita just shrugged. “I.. sadly couldn’t refuse.” Rita looked to the side a bit.

“Sure you can! You don’t NEED to do this!” Travis frowned, but this time, trying to control himself. He didn’t want to snap at her again and push her even further away. “Look, they picked me ‘cause I’m good at memorizing stuff on the spot.” Rita sighed. “I could refuse and fuck things up, but at the same time.. I don’t want to.” Partly the truth. It wasn’t ‘cause of the school’s reputation, fuck that, it was already tanked.

“Who cares about Garrison and how he feels? Just say no!” Draven frowned. “Sorry.. My hands are tied.” Rita walked off, deciding to just continue along before they all started to make her feel bad again. But at the same time, she still couldn’t say “no”... Otherwise, her family was screwed. She just had to endure this one thing and that would be IT. She’d be free.

The play was set to start soon. However, Rita hadn’t come out of the changing room yet. Garrison came, followed by Mrs. Johnson and the gang.

“Rita? Dear? Are you okay?” Mrs. Johnson asked with worry. “Do you need me to come in-”

“I am NOT coming out.” Rita replied from behind the door. “I feel so ridiculous..!”

“Ambrose! We’re already behind! Stop acting like a baby and come out!” Garrison snapped, obviously not in the mood to deal with Rita’s stubbornness. “Or… Do I need to-”

“...I really fucking hate you.” Soon, the door opened and Rita stepped out. She was now wearing Alice’s outfit, with her bandana being removed, instead, having the black bow in place. She had her arms crossed, looking to the side, blushing with embarrassment. She was not enjoying this one little bit.. Mrs. Johnson looked concerned… while the gang had their variety of reactions, from worry, shock or even confusion...

While Garrison, for a moment, smirked… He was enjoying seeing Rita struggling. However, he had to stop and make sure this went smoothly. So, the smirk he wore faded and he got back into the proper mindset.

“Where’s the wig, Ambrose?” Garrison asked with a hint of annoyance. “Alice is blonde, if you recall! Bebe didn’t need it ‘cause she is blonde naturally! Don’t tell me you’re now refusing to be accurate!”

“It doesn’t fit me. I can’t wear it.” Rita avoided looking at them still, very much embarrassed still and downright pissed off. This did not fit her at all and she hated this with every fiber of her entire being. “They’ll just have to deal with an auburn haired Alice. Whatever…. Or find someone else to take my place.”

“Need I need to remind you-” Garrison began but for once, he was cut off. “Hubert! Leave her be.” Mrs. Johnson frowned. “If she can’t get it to fit.. There’s nothing more we can do, we have no time to get another wig. Just let it be, we’re behind as it is, stop being so harsh on her.” She had noticed he had been extremely harsh toward Rita specifically.. She didn’t know the reason but she didn’t like this. “We’ll just have to push on.”

“Ugh, FINE. As long as there’s no FURTHER delays! We need to get going.” Garrison decided for now, this would work.. Besides, Rita could be further embarrassed by not being a blonde Alice anyways!

As the stages began to get the stage ready.. Rita was sitting, reading her lines still. Good thing she’d have “breaks” in between stage changes to keep studying for her lines, but for the most part, she was gonna be able to remember her lines pretty well.

“You really sure you gotta do this, Rita?” She looked up when she saw the gang coming over. It was Travis who was asking, with him frowning. "Whatever is making you do this, we help get you out of it.. You know we can..." “...Sadly, Trav, no.. I’m too far in at this point.” Rita sighed softly. “At least once this is done.. This shit will be done and over with.”

“...And then you’ll tell us what’s been going on.. Right?” Xochitl asked, hopeful. “Yeah.. You don’t have to keep holding it in, you know..?” Draven added, hoping to help coax Rita. However, the expression Rita wore didn’t seem to assume anything, outside she was feeling guilty.

“...We’ll see.” Was all Rita said, softly. “I just want to get past this play, then we’ll see where it goes from there.. Okay?” It seemed that was the best she was gonna give at this point. Better than constantly pushing it aside like she had been for the last few weeks.

Travis clearly didn't want to accept this, it was easy to tell, just by looking at him. They've done the impossible before! ..Hell a good chunk of them ARE what people would deem "impossible", surely whatever this was, they could pull her out of this jam!! But somehow.. It was like everyone else saw what he couldn't... Why... Can't... He... Figure... This... Out...?

Sarah looked at her brother, seeing him struggle with this… It was as if a mental block was present and it was not fading away… Not enabling Travis to see for now.. There was no answer... Not right now anyways... "..Alright, Rita... Fer now, tha's fine, but as the ol' sayin' goes..." She sighed softly, closing her eyes and crossing her arms. "...Ya can run, but ya can' ever hide... Not ferever... No one can..." She didn't expect that to do much.. But... She had to at least say something in the hopes that she'd listen at all, even if it was in the back of her mind so she knew talking this out was an option..

For a split second.. It looked as if Rita had needed to hear that… She was about to speak again but a look came to her, experiencing a memory… Before shaking her head, regaining her composure… For now. “I… I’ll keep that in mind, Sarah… Thanks..”

Leaving it at that, the auburn haired girl took her leave. She really hated doing this.. She knew deep down, she could come clean. …But would her family be spared? Fuck no… Garrison would ensure they suffered, all because of her losing control for a moment. But it ONLY took a moment for a situation to be spun out of control… And she will be damned if she would let that happen..

The scene was getting set up, while Rita leaned against a prop tree, closing her eyes. Just taking a moment to calm herself. Just one more night.. She could handle it! She wasn’t directly paying attention to what was going on around her… until she heard yells that made her open her eyes and look over. What was going on NOW?

“Dammit Hyde! How did you manage this?!” Mr. Garrison sounded ticked, but what else was new… Draven, meanwhile, dressed as the Cheshire Cat, had managed.. To get himself stuck up in a different prop tree. "I tried to get into character!! I thought I could get down!!" He said sheepishly, hanging from a fake branch. “How did he even climb up this?!” Mrs. Johnson asked, worried.

"DRAVEN! Oh my god, how did you get up there!?" Xochitl called up, worried for her BFF… Draven looked down at them, still holding a sheepish look. “I wish I knew! ...Someone help me-" Oh boy… “For crying out loud..!” Mr. Garrison tried to grab Draven. “Come on, Hyde..! Stop fooling around!”

“H-Hey! Knock it off Hubert, you might hurt him!” Mrs. Johnson looked worried, as did Xochitl, covering her mouth in horror. “This is gonna be a huge disaster…” Madison mumbled, with Sarah nodding but also worried. Travis was trying to figure out a safer way, as was Renee and Luke. “M-Maybe Renee could t-teleport up there?” Luke suggested, since he knew Renee could do that! “...I don’t think it could hold both of us..” Renee eyed the branch. It looked like it was just barely holding Draven… Her going up there would likely cause it to break and both she and Draven could get hurt- “Besides, don't wanna show off any powers with people around-” Travis said quietly before clearing his throat then resumed thinking. “There's gotta be a safer way, like a-"

“Move.” Rita came, carrying a ladder with her. Everyone cleared the way right away, while Rita placed the ladder against the tree, making sure it was steady before climbing. "Oh- Like a ladder, there we go!" Travis grinned, making sure to be the support in case the ladder managed to slip at all. If it's happened to him before, it can happen to anyone and last thing they needed was for Rita to get hurt-

“C-Careful, Rita..!” Xochitl said, worried for her too.. She hadn’t been feeling well so she wasn’t sure how this would go… But thankfully, Rita made it up without any issues. “...Come on, Drav. I gotcha.” She was thankfully used to this.. She helped Draven out of trees before. …Only not while wearing a damn dress.

“H-heh, thanks, Rita..” The Austrian boy said sheepishly, letting Rita help him onto the ladder, with them both getting down. Whew!

“Heh.. All right, good job, Rita!” Madison grinned, glad to see even when she wasn’t feeling her best… Rita still went out of her way to help out others. Xochitl went to Draven, checking him over. “A-Are you hurt?!” “Nope~ All fine, Lil Sis~” Draven winked, petting Xochitl’s head.

“Okay, with that out of the way… Everyone, places!” Mr. Garrison gave Rita a look. “I take you at least know the lines?” “Naturally..” Rita gave him a look. “Why ask me to do this if you didn’t feel confident in me learning the lines fast? Unless you want this play to crash and burn?” A small spark of her old self fighting back but before Garrison could utter a word, Rita held up a hand. “It's almost time, yeah? Let’s get this going.” She walked off. It… felt good to get back at Garrison for once. And this time, not much he could do as he wanted this play to get going.

Mr. Garrison glared at Rita, snorting. Did she truly forget her place again? Humph! He’ll have to remind her… For now, he went off. Since yeah, they had to get this play going. But truly, this would only be the beginning…

The play went along fine, Rita managing to do her part as Alice pretty well with no issues. Minus a few times of not nailing an expression, she went onward. Another bit she also “messed up” with was singing Alice’s bit in the “Golden Afternoon” song. Instead of sounding bad, she sounded… surprisingly good! Blushing the entire time too but she managed through the song and the part in general.

“What the HELL was that, Ambrose?!” Garrison had been scolding her throughout, during the breaks for the scene to be changed. “What? I sang, didn’t I?” Rita looked up at him, annoyed and tired of this crap. “Yes, but Alice sang that bit poorly! That wasn’t a poor performance!” Garrison rubbed his temples in annoyance. Tch, she should be the annoyed one, not this asshole. “Sorry, I don’t know how to sing like shit.” Rita shrugged a bit. “Ambrose, watch your tone.” Garrison glared at her. “Now get ready for the next scene!”

“...Yes Sir.” Rita turned, walking off to get ready. So far, this was even worse than when they practiced. Only she was doing this on the damn fly. Just gotta get through and finally, she will be free from this torment…"

After a long delay, here's P4 of my fic! Apologizes for taking so long, life has been hectic and still is. Slowly just trying to get past it and continue this series on the side when I can! This part had been worked on, bit by bit, for the last couple of months and I'm glad to finally have it out! Hope you all enjoy~

Xochitl and Draven belong to

Travis and Sarah belong to Tyla~

Description
Previous Part - Here~

Next Part - Here~

"The last few days had been an utter nightmare. Not for Garrison, at least. But for Rita. Because of their previous talk, Rita had to be careful of what she said or did. Sure, there were a few times she got a few words in but the second she saw that knowing look in Garrison’s eyes, she stopped instantly. And not only that… He also began to give her more and more work to do. Even more so than the other stagehands.

And it was not going unnoticed. While most of them were quite pleased Garrison was barely telling them what to do… At the same time, Rita doing most of the work was just… weird to see. But of course, Rita didn’t say a word. But the looks she often gave showed she was not doing this willingly.

Yet, if she was asked about it, she simply said she was just trying to speed things along and get this stupid play shit done and over with. It was unusual to see her not even attempt to backtalk to Garrison, as she usually rarely let him boss her around. And yet, here, all she simply did was give him a look but nothing more.

It was a concerning thing to see. Travis was especially peeved to see Rita acting so submissive to the old man. Just what dirt DID Garrison have on Rita? He was hoping to figure it out but no matter whom he asked, no one seemed to truly know. Except Garrison. And yet, he knew asking him would do nothing. Other than Garrison either refusing to say or telling Travis to go back to work or whatever…

“Man.. this is just depressin’…” Madison said, watching as Rita was once again tasked with moving most of the props around on her own. Sure, Rita was more than capable of doing it but… By herself? That made no sense at all.

“He’s obviously tormenting her…” Renee said, watching Rita too. Her aura was just through the roof. Frustration. Rage. Sorrow. Yet… She wasn’t doing anything to stop this. It was troubling indeed.

“W-What do we do..?” Luke asked, growing concerned. “This surely isn’t fair, right? She can’t be expected to do everything!” He looked around at the others in desperation, hoping they would agree with him.

“Of course it isn’t fair!” Draven spoke up, looking at Rita with a look of sympathy. “But… She won’t talk to us! But… She’ll have to do it eventually, right?” He frowned, unsure.

“I’d hope so.. I even tried seeing if some food would help. She did thank me for it but…” Xochitl sighed. She had made some genuine Mexican food for Rita in some hopes it’d help her open back up, as she did recall hearing Rita adored spicy food. And her culture had plenty of that! Yet, Rita only accepted the food, thanked her for making it and simply moved on.

"..God fucking... GAAHHH!!" Travis, in his own frustration, hit himself. Usually he didn’t do this in front of others, but at this point, he couldn’t help it any longer. And while it was easy to tell that it hurt doing so.. He seemed to shrug it off easily, with a slight look of embarrassment while trying to act as though it didn't happen. “T-There’s got to be something we can do to help her! Even if we have to get her to speak to us in private! You know… SOMETHING!” It was frustrating Travis to no end that Rita was obviously getting tormented by Mr. Garrison, but was just quietly TAKING it, and not even trying to stop it.

Madison, understandably, flinched slightly at seeing Travis doing what he did. Luke gasped, now checking where Travis had hit himself to ensure he wasn’t hurt. Renee had no direct reaction, but.. “...Are you sure you’re okay?” Her voice hadn’t shown any change in tone either, but at least she was asking, so.. In her own way, she must be concerned to a degree.

“D-Dude..” Draven frowned, also concerned, same with Xochitl. Indeed… That was a bit harsh, but this was frustrating, after all.. It just seemed, no matter what they tried, Rita just… refused to budge. It was hard. Thankfully, Renee’s question didn’t go unanswered. "I-I'm fine... Yeah... Sorry..." Travis's voice cracked slightly, looking embarrassed about the whole thing. Dammit, he usually had a good grip on that.. He tried to clear his throat and get back on topic. "A-Anyways, there just.. Has to be something, you know???"

“But how? If she won’ talk, ‘here ain’ much we can do!” Madison frowned, deciding to try and move past what they just witnessed. “Like tha sayin’ goes, y’all can lead a horse to water, but ya can’ make it drink.” Basically, even if they did try to get Rita to talk, she’d likely still remain silent on the matter.

“P-Please don’t mention horses..” Draven shuddered at a memory of one biting him, and he did not want to recall that event. Not now nor never, really!

“It's a figure of speech.. But sadly it's true.” Renee nodded slowly. “Unless she’s willing to talk.. We’d have better luck trying to get a wall to talk to us.”

Travis looked at her. Now that he thought about it… Clearly she would know the whole sandbag thing was Garrison’s doing, right?! Renee must have sensed he was trying to ask her without words… And gave her head a small shake. While yes, she did know the truth behind that… Like with Travis, Rita had come and told Renee to be quiet about that matter, as well.

And while Renee was more likely to say something without hesitation… The fact it was Rita who asked her to be silent, Renee had no choice but to do so. Ninja code of honor or something, perhaps. Who knows for sure? But like Travis, she also didn’t like having to be silent but… Perhaps for everyone’s best interest, including Rita’s, it had to be done.

Any more delays to the play would only cause Garrison to be further short with them all. And being exposed for his scam would only complicate things further. Perhaps… Rita was waiting until after the play, when they had no more further reason to stay silent? One could hope, anyways…

A sudden loud crash got their attention, it looked like Rita had tripped and knocked several props over. Exhaustion was visible on her face, but she began to try and stand back up. “H-Hey, you okay?” Stan went to help her up and even help clean up.

“Not so fast, Stan! It's Rita’s mess and SHE’LL clean it up herself. Right?” Garrison, once again, gave that look to Rita. A look that she had always dreaded. One she had seen many times before, by another adult… As much as she wanted to yell at him to piss the fuck off… She knew she couldn’t. She took a moment to calm herself a bit, taking every ounce of her willpower to not snap.

“...Yes, Sir.”

“Good! Now, I’m gonna get some coffee, I best see this stage looking spotless, Ambrose!” Garrison went off, smirking as he did. Seeing Rita having to submit and do as he said was oh so satisfying. And the best part… She KNEW if she tried to back out of their deal, her dark little secret would be spilled! Everyone would turn on her! Her reputation, ruined! Oho, this was so DELICIOUS.

Rita shakily stood back up, her every being wanting to go after him and RIP that damn smirk off his face! But she was unable to do anything to him. Not as long as he had that incident floating above her head and out of her reach. She was powerless. And she loathed this feeling. She had endured that before, for a long, long time… And yet, here she was all over again, unable to act or even DEFEND herself.

She shook slightly as she cleaned up the mess, having to keep her other half in check. It wanted to escape so badly, to take control, to ensure it could make Garrison suffer. But she fought against it.. She wasn’t going to swoop to his level. …Not yet, anyways. But it didn’t mean this wasn’t any easier to handle.

Once things were cleaned up, Rita began to make her way to the back doors. She needed some air. Plus she felt the need to just vent without causing a scene… As soon as she made it outside, she made her way toward where the forest met the school playground. Once she was close… She let out the loudest roar she could manage. Panting, she went and attacked the closest tree, her hands turning into claws, ripping at the bark and under it once it was off. She didn’t slow down for a second, just needing to let this out.

The poor tree but it beats doing this to an actual person. …Unless it happened to be Cartman. But yeah… She did eventually slow down, panting slightly. Her eyes had flashed red and black during this.. Just barely containing herself at this point. This was perhaps the first time she was able to vent her emotions out in a long while. And she needed it, badly-

“Rita..?”

She turned her head a bit to see who was there. No big surprise… Travis, Luke, Madison, Sarah, Renee, Xochitl and Draven. All of them looked concerned (Well, Renee doesn’t show it physically, the fun of not being able to openly express yourself!) at the display.

“Enough is ENOUGH!” Travis spoke up first, starting to show his frustration of the whole situation. “You’re driving yourself crazy! Stop with this nonsense and just TALK to us, Rita! Seriously.. You can stop this if you just tell us what’s going on!”

“Travis, easy, this ain’ gonna help-'' Madison began to speak up but was quickly cut off. “No! I’m done with just waiting! You think she can handle this much longer?!” Travis snapped at her. He didn’t mean to but it was obvious his own frustration was clouding his judgment currently.

“Hey! Don’ ya dare snap at ‘er, Travis!” Sarah was quick to defend her girlfriend. “Ya think yellin’ like Garrison is gonna make Rita open back up to us?!” If anything, it’d make Rita MORE unlikely to talk and just close herself off more and more! “Do YOU have any of your own bright ideas on how to do this, huh?!” Travis snapped at his sister. Again, wasn’t his intention but he was also at his own limit. Not just Rita.

“H-hey! Come on.. Let’s not fight!” Luke spoke up, a little timidly, hoping not to invoke Travis’s wrath next but wanting to calm his boyfriend down. “This.. isn’t going to help or solve this at all!” “He’s correct… Acting like this makes us no better than Garrison.” Renee decided to take over just in case and plus she could care less if Travis snapped at her. “We need to be rational. And not act out just because things aren’t going our way just yet."

Rita watched them for a moment or two, her own rage starting to cool down a bit. Her eyes began to change back to normal. She hated seeing them like this and it made her feel awful. But.. she was too far in, she... couldn't stop now. “...Look, guys.” Thankfully, hearing her talk got their attention back on her. “...I can’t tell you what’s going on just yet. It's… personal. Very personal. Heh, I know, call me a massive hypocrite.. But… it's just the truth. I can’t talk about it. Not… until I feel strong enough to handle it.”

With that, Rita walked past the group, her eyes betraying her true emotions. She was still upset but… she had to press on. She could feel her friend’s emotions and it stung her more than ever. She shut her eyes… then bolted back to the school. She didn’t want to linger around and feel their hurt feelings…

“Well… Guess we won’ know wha’s goin’ on fer now..” Madison sighed heavily. She knew Rita, once she made up her mind on something, changing her mind was tricky. “For now… we should respect her decision and wait. …Even if it may not be in our favor for now, Rita will talk when she’s ready.” Renee said, her arms crossed with a small look to her eyes showing she wasn’t enjoying this either.

“I hope so..” Draven spoke softly. He didn’t like this but.. He also understood Rita would open up when she was ready, as she said… He noticed Xochitl was about to go after Rita, but the Austrian boy put a hand on Xochitl’s shoulder and shook his head. Xochitl didn’t need words to understand his actions… She didn’t like it.. But slowly, she nodded and gazed at where Rita ran. “Rita…” She really hoped she would open up to them soon…

With that, the group began to make their way back to the school as well, with heavy hearts. Only Travis didn’t budge. Now his emotions were cooling down, he felt an immense amount of guilt. Thanks to his judgment being clouded before, he had caused Rita to only close up more, instead of opening up, all because he had snapped at her… Luke took notice of his boyfriend. “I’ll catch up, guys.” He went back to Travis and frowned, carefully petting Travis’s back. “Dear..? Are you… okay?” He knew Travis was a bit harsh back there, yelling at Rita, Madison and even Sarah. But he knew Travis didn’t mean any of it… Frustration was a strong emotion, after all.

"...I... I just don't get it.." Travis sighed, rubbing his eyes as he tried to ease himself, still very tense from that entire thing. "I-I didn't really mean to go off like that, I didn't, but.. Dammit, am I the only one trying to push for a solution? It just seems like everyone is just accepting that, yup, this is just "how it is", when really... What is there to hide here??? Just let us in so we can HELP, that's all she has to do! I don't remember the last time we ever judged her for anything! Hell, as uncomfortable as it would be for me.. If you all.. Wanted to know what all I did when Frank kept me captive... I'd do it, and.. That's a story where lives were literally taken... By me..." He sniffed then sat on the ground, with tears beginning to leave him as he had his arms around legs. "...Yet it seems like when I try to fight for people... No one allows me to try, like I'm not trusted with it at all.. Heh... Even my own sister cared more that I snapped at Madison for a second, which I noticed in myself and was about to apologize before Sarah went off on me... She cared more about what I did than she cared about... Anything I've had to say lately..."

Luke frowned, watching Travis… He sat down next to him, embracing Travis close. “I’m.. so sorry, Hon..” He did feel for his boyfriend. “I think… Like you, everyone else… They’re… also lost at what can be done.. Rita’s a complicated one, no..? Any wrong moves could just… make her close up further.” He rubbed Travis’s back with one hand and used the other to dry away the tears that streaked his boyfriend’s face. “Its… it's a hard situation for all of us… I wish she would open up, but.. Whatever Mr. Garrison has on her, it's… got to be big, for her to close off the way she has…”

Travis frowned, resting his head on Luke's shoulder as he spoke to him. Yeah.. He was right... Perhaps everyone, even himself, was lost.. "..I... I get it... Just... I'unno, we've all dealt with what's seemingly been impossible at this point, so... I believed if we all came together to find out what the heck Garrison has on her to make her do this.. Either we can disprove it, make it so if it did ever come out, as knowing him, he may just do it anyways to fill his sick kicks, not a single person would believe it... Just... Wanna figure out what..." He then looked at his boyfriend, inching even closer to him to feel even more embraced by him. "...I believe together, we can solve it and fix this for Rita, no matter what Garrison could bring out, I'm positive... We can get him, maybe even finally get justice for all the kids he's likely done this exact crap to... Though, right now I don't trust my own judgment enough to do it alone.. But... I know you'd keep me in the light, through all of this... If it isn't too much... Could you and I both look into this...? Together...?"

Luke let Travis talk, hugging him, caressing his back and drying away any tears that came. He frowned a bit. “I… I do want to help however I can, Dear… Rita’s a friend and she’s suffering… I’m more than willing to help.” He looked at his love and smiled happily. “Together, then!” He held both Travis’s hands to symbolize his dedication. “Let’s figure this out and hopefully stop Garrison before any more damage can be done!”

Travis smiled weakly, holding Luke’s hands back. “Thank you, L-Luke… You truly have no idea how much this means to me.” He didn’t feel like he was alone anymore.. He was gonna get to the bottom of this, somehow, some way! With a renewed sense of confidence, Travis stood and Luke followed, with the two boys going back toward the school…

While Rita continued to be stubborn about being open… The kids worked along. Time to time, someone would try to talk to her but she avoided answering the questions or gave short answers to give herself an excuse to keep working. It was hard to watch but Rita carried on, only going off when she was able to and vent out her frustrations in some way before coming back once more…

Thankfully, time seemed to show some mercy on the kids, as before they knew it… The night of the play actually came. Earlier in the day, Bebe had shown some signs of fatigue… It was a bit odd but Garrison seemed to actually get that she wasn’t faking it. After all, Bebe had been looking forward to being Alice the entire time. She put in a lot of effort to get her part to be good. Which said a lot about how much she cared about this role… But then, she began to complain that her stomach had been bothering her and she often looked exhausted after doing a part in the play for practice… As much as he didn’t want to, Garrison had no choice but to excuse her and send her home, hoping she would be well enough to come back to do the play…

The night came… And sadly, there was no sign of Bebe anywhere. Even Wendy confirmed she hadn’t heard from Bebe at all, which was a bit unusual from the blonde girl, she had been looking forward to this play since she got picked to be Alice. Mr. Garrison was not happy to hear that… So he called the Stevens household himself, hoping to get some answers… Thankfully, Mrs. Stevens answered!

“Hello?”

“Hello, Mrs. Stevens. This is Mr. Garrison, I’m checking in on Bebe, she’s supposed to be the lead role for the play tonight! Is she coming?”

“Oh! I’m sorry, Mr. Garrison, but I simply can’t allow that.” Mrs. Stevens frowned. “My poor girl’s been very sick! I can’t let her get sick on stage, it’ll RUIN her self esteem!”

“WHAT?!” Mr. Garrison couldn’t believe his ears… Bebe was SICK?!

“Surely you have an understudy for her role? Anyways, I have to go! I need to give Bebe some medicine. Good luck!” Mrs. Stevens hung up.

“W-Wait-!” But it was too late… Mr. Garrison felt himself growing enraged. In his haste to make Rita’s life miserable, he had forgotten to give someone the understudy role for Alice! Fuck! This couldn’t stand..! Not when they were so close and canceling the play now would give the school a worse reputation than it already had!

“What will we do…?” Mrs. Johnson frowned once Garrison had told her and some other teachers of the situation. “We need to find a replacement!” Another teacher said, while another one spoke up right away. “But WHO? It’d have to be a student with a photographic memory AND able to study the lines in a fast fashion! Do we even have SUCH a student among us? Most are lucky to even know basic math at this point!”

It then occurred to Garrison… First, it looked like things were falling apart but then, just by hearing THAT, suddenly, he knew such a student. One he was currently able to keep under his thumb… A smirk came. “Actually, I know just whom to ask, my fellow teachers…”

Meanwhile, Rita was currently pulling up some sandbags with barely any effort… At least she was finally getting a small break from Garrison’s torment for now… But of course, it didn’t last long… She sensed him and the other teachers coming over… Suppressing a sigh, she looked over at them.

“...Yes?”

“Good news, Ambrose.. You’re getting a promotion!” Mr. Garrison said. All that did was earn Rita rolling her dark brown eyes. “...Lemme guess, am I gonna be cleaning the toilets now?” As gross as that would be… At least it’d get her away from Mr. Garrison. Hell, she was almost WISHING for that to be the damn case. The last few weeks had been nothing but pure torture for her anyways…

“Heh, tempting… But sadly, no.” Mr. Garrison nodded. “You’ll be the MAIN STAR of the play!”

Hearing that… The rope Rita was holding onto… Simply slipped right out of her hands, due to her shock… Poor Kenny, who happened to be walking nearby, was suddenly crushed by the falling sandbags. Oh dear..!

“Oh my God…” Stan pointed. “She killed Kenny!” “You bastard..!!” Kyle shook his fist upward… Supposedly at nothing. What were these two even doing-

“Are you KIDDING ME?!” Rita asked, now offended. She had become a stagehand to AVOID being part of this idiotic play! Now he was gonna try to make her take part, but not just any old part… But being the main star?! “I ain’t about to-”

“Ambrose…” Mr. Garrison gave her a look. Did she forget her little promise already..? Tsk, tsk… Guess she really didn’t mind if he spilled the beans then-

“...UGH!” Rita glared back at him for a second… But she soon sighed heavily. “...I really hate you.” But what other choice did she really have at this point..?

Before long, Rita found herself with a script, reading Alice’s lines while she was walking toward the changing rooms. “...Suddenly cleaning toilets really sounds good right now..” Fucking fuck.. This sucked. Now she was getting roped into playing Alice just because she was one of the highest ranking students, if not, possibly… THE highest ranking student in the entire school! And people often wondered why she hid her intelligence?! This was why! It was so bothersome and annoying! And now it landed her in this damn mess-

“Rita!” She heard her name and paused, looking over. The others, now dressed up for their parts (Depending on who it is!), came. “Is it true..? You’re gonna be Alice?!” Luke asked in shock. He couldn’t imagine her in that role…

Sadly, despite his and Travis’s best efforts, they hadn’t yielded much information. They even tried to ask Principal Victoria too but she sadly didn’t give an answer… Despite the fact that she did seem nervous when they asked. So yeah, something had happened… Yet, no one wanted to spill the beans! How annoying!

Rita’s shoulders tensed a bit but she sighed with a nod. “Yeah.. Bebe’s sick so… I got “honorably” chosen for the main role.” She crossed her arms, obviously not too thrilled at this. “But tha doesn’ add up! Yer a stagehand!” Madison said, while Rita just shrugged. “I.. sadly couldn’t refuse.” Rita looked to the side a bit.

“Sure you can! You don’t NEED to do this!” Travis frowned, but this time, trying to control himself. He didn’t want to snap at her again and push her even further away. “Look, they picked me ‘cause I’m good at memorizing stuff on the spot.” Rita sighed. “I could refuse and fuck things up, but at the same time.. I don’t want to.” Partly the truth. It wasn’t ‘cause of the school’s reputation, fuck that, it was already tanked.

“Who cares about Garrison and how he feels? Just say no!” Draven frowned. “Sorry.. My hands are tied.” Rita walked off, deciding to just continue along before they all started to make her feel bad again. But at the same time, she still couldn’t say “no”... Otherwise, her family was screwed. She just had to endure this one thing and that would be IT. She’d be free.

The play was set to start soon. However, Rita hadn’t come out of the changing room yet. Garrison came, followed by Mrs. Johnson and the gang.

“Rita? Dear? Are you okay?” Mrs. Johnson asked with worry. “Do you need me to come in-”

“I am NOT coming out.” Rita replied from behind the door. “I feel so ridiculous..!”

“Ambrose! We’re already behind! Stop acting like a baby and come out!” Garrison snapped, obviously not in the mood to deal with Rita’s stubbornness. “Or… Do I need to-”

“...I really fucking hate you.” Soon, the door opened and Rita stepped out. She was now wearing Alice’s outfit, with her bandana being removed, instead, having the black bow in place. She had her arms crossed, looking to the side, blushing with embarrassment. She was not enjoying this one little bit.. Mrs. Johnson looked concerned… while the gang had their variety of reactions, from worry, shock or even confusion...

While Garrison, for a moment, smirked… He was enjoying seeing Rita struggling. However, he had to stop and make sure this went smoothly. So, the smirk he wore faded and he got back into the proper mindset.

“Where’s the wig, Ambrose?” Garrison asked with a hint of annoyance. “Alice is blonde, if you recall! Bebe didn’t need it ‘cause she is blonde naturally! Don’t tell me you’re now refusing to be accurate!”

“It doesn’t fit me. I can’t wear it.” Rita avoided looking at them still, very much embarrassed still and downright pissed off. This did not fit her at all and she hated this with every fiber of her entire being. “They’ll just have to deal with an auburn haired Alice. Whatever…. Or find someone else to take my place.”

“Need I need to remind you-” Garrison began but for once, he was cut off. “Hubert! Leave her be.” Mrs. Johnson frowned. “If she can’t get it to fit.. There’s nothing more we can do, we have no time to get another wig. Just let it be, we’re behind as it is, stop being so harsh on her.” She had noticed he had been extremely harsh toward Rita specifically.. She didn’t know the reason but she didn’t like this. “We’ll just have to push on.”

“Ugh, FINE. As long as there’s no FURTHER delays! We need to get going.” Garrison decided for now, this would work.. Besides, Rita could be further embarrassed by not being a blonde Alice anyways!

As the stages began to get the stage ready.. Rita was sitting, reading her lines still. Good thing she’d have “breaks” in between stage changes to keep studying for her lines, but for the most part, she was gonna be able to remember her lines pretty well.

“You really sure you gotta do this, Rita?” She looked up when she saw the gang coming over. It was Travis who was asking, with him frowning. "Whatever is making you do this, we help get you out of it.. You know we can..." “...Sadly, Trav, no.. I’m too far in at this point.” Rita sighed softly. “At least once this is done.. This shit will be done and over with.”

“...And then you’ll tell us what’s been going on.. Right?” Xochitl asked, hopeful. “Yeah.. You don’t have to keep holding it in, you know..?” Draven added, hoping to help coax Rita. However, the expression Rita wore didn’t seem to assume anything, outside she was feeling guilty.

“...We’ll see.” Was all Rita said, softly. “I just want to get past this play, then we’ll see where it goes from there.. Okay?” It seemed that was the best she was gonna give at this point. Better than constantly pushing it aside like she had been for the last few weeks.

Travis clearly didn't want to accept this, it was easy to tell, just by looking at him. They've done the impossible before! ..Hell a good chunk of them ARE what people would deem "impossible", surely whatever this was, they could pull her out of this jam!! But somehow.. It was like everyone else saw what he couldn't... Why... Can't... He... Figure... This... Out...?

Sarah looked at her brother, seeing him struggle with this… It was as if a mental block was present and it was not fading away… Not enabling Travis to see for now.. There was no answer... Not right now anyways... "..Alright, Rita... Fer now, tha's fine, but as the ol' sayin' goes..." She sighed softly, closing her eyes and crossing her arms. "...Ya can run, but ya can' ever hide... Not ferever... No one can..." She didn't expect that to do much.. But... She had to at least say something in the hopes that she'd listen at all, even if it was in the back of her mind so she knew talking this out was an option..

For a split second.. It looked as if Rita had needed to hear that… She was about to speak again but a look came to her, experiencing a memory… Before shaking her head, regaining her composure… For now. “I… I’ll keep that in mind, Sarah… Thanks..”

Leaving it at that, the auburn haired girl took her leave. She really hated doing this.. She knew deep down, she could come clean. …But would her family be spared? Fuck no… Garrison would ensure they suffered, all because of her losing control for a moment. But it ONLY took a moment for a situation to be spun out of control… And she will be damned if she would let that happen..

The scene was getting set up, while Rita leaned against a prop tree, closing her eyes. Just taking a moment to calm herself. Just one more night.. She could handle it! She wasn’t directly paying attention to what was going on around her… until she heard yells that made her open her eyes and look over. What was going on NOW?

“Dammit Hyde! How did you manage this?!” Mr. Garrison sounded ticked, but what else was new… Draven, meanwhile, dressed as the Cheshire Cat, had managed.. To get himself stuck up in a different prop tree. "I tried to get into character!! I thought I could get down!!" He said sheepishly, hanging from a fake branch. “How did he even climb up this?!” Mrs. Johnson asked, worried.

"DRAVEN! Oh my god, how did you get up there!?" Xochitl called up, worried for her BFF… Draven looked down at them, still holding a sheepish look. “I wish I knew! ...Someone help me-" Oh boy… “For crying out loud..!” Mr. Garrison tried to grab Draven. “Come on, Hyde..! Stop fooling around!”

“H-Hey! Knock it off Hubert, you might hurt him!” Mrs. Johnson looked worried, as did Xochitl, covering her mouth in horror. “This is gonna be a huge disaster…” Madison mumbled, with Sarah nodding but also worried. Travis was trying to figure out a safer way, as was Renee and Luke. “M-Maybe Renee could t-teleport up there?” Luke suggested, since he knew Renee could do that! “...I don’t think it could hold both of us..” Renee eyed the branch. It looked like it was just barely holding Draven… Her going up there would likely cause it to break and both she and Draven could get hurt- “Besides, don't wanna show off any powers with people around-” Travis said quietly before clearing his throat then resumed thinking. “There's gotta be a safer way, like a-"

“Move.” Rita came, carrying a ladder with her. Everyone cleared the way right away, while Rita placed the ladder against the tree, making sure it was steady before climbing. "Oh- Like a ladder, there we go!" Travis grinned, making sure to be the support in case the ladder managed to slip at all. If it's happened to him before, it can happen to anyone and last thing they needed was for Rita to get hurt-

“C-Careful, Rita..!” Xochitl said, worried for her too.. She hadn’t been feeling well so she wasn’t sure how this would go… But thankfully, Rita made it up without any issues. “...Come on, Drav. I gotcha.” She was thankfully used to this.. She helped Draven out of trees before. …Only not while wearing a damn dress.

“H-heh, thanks, Rita..” The Austrian boy said sheepishly, letting Rita help him onto the ladder, with them both getting down. Whew!

“Heh.. All right, good job, Rita!” Madison grinned, glad to see even when she wasn’t feeling her best… Rita still went out of her way to help out others. Xochitl went to Draven, checking him over. “A-Are you hurt?!” “Nope~ All fine, Lil Sis~” Draven winked, petting Xochitl’s head.

“Okay, with that out of the way… Everyone, places!” Mr. Garrison gave Rita a look. “I take you at least know the lines?” “Naturally..” Rita gave him a look. “Why ask me to do this if you didn’t feel confident in me learning the lines fast? Unless you want this play to crash and burn?” A small spark of her old self fighting back but before Garrison could utter a word, Rita held up a hand. “It's almost time, yeah? Let’s get this going.” She walked off. It… felt good to get back at Garrison for once. And this time, not much he could do as he wanted this play to get going.

Mr. Garrison glared at Rita, snorting. Did she truly forget her place again? Humph! He’ll have to remind her… For now, he went off. Since yeah, they had to get this play going. But truly, this would only be the beginning…

The play went along fine, Rita managing to do her part as Alice pretty well with no issues. Minus a few times of not nailing an expression, she went onward. Another bit she also “messed up” with was singing Alice’s bit in the “Golden Afternoon” song. Instead of sounding bad, she sounded… surprisingly good! Blushing the entire time too but she managed through the song and the part in general.

“What the HELL was that, Ambrose?!” Garrison had been scolding her throughout, during the breaks for the scene to be changed. “What? I sang, didn’t I?” Rita looked up at him, annoyed and tired of this crap. “Yes, but Alice sang that bit poorly! That wasn’t a poor performance!” Garrison rubbed his temples in annoyance. Tch, she should be the annoyed one, not this asshole. “Sorry, I don’t know how to sing like shit.” Rita shrugged a bit. “Ambrose, watch your tone.” Garrison glared at her. “Now get ready for the next scene!”

“...Yes Sir.” Rita turned, walking off to get ready. So far, this was even worse than when they practiced. Only she was doing this on the damn fly. Just gotta get through and finally, she will be free from this torment…"

After a long delay, here's P4 of my fic! Apologizes for taking so long, life has been hectic and still is. Slowly just trying to get past it and continue this series on the side when I can! This part had been worked on, bit by bit, for the last couple of months and I'm glad to finally have it out! Hope you all enjoy~

Xochitl and Draven belong to

Travis and Sarah belong to Tyla~