Heather inwardly rejoiced when she saw Ryan leave the sideline bench during an attention-catching play on the football field and sneak off towards the boy's locker room. There was a chain-link fence around the edge of the football field. He walked right along the fence to reduce the chance of being observed, but she saw him.
She thought, Thank God I was watching Ryan - I almost missed his move. Good thing I've been so careful to keep my eye on him, and he didn't even know it, the idiot. He's obviously up to no good, and I'll bet dollars to donuts that he's plotting against Alan. This is my chance to shine! My Sir will be so proud of me when he finds out how I single-handedly stopped Ryan's plan - he's bound to lift the 'no ass' ban and give me a good solid pounding back there. Ooooh God, just thinking about it gets me hot, and it fucking itches soooo much. I can't believe how much I need him to stuff his yummy fat pole up my butt, like he did yesterday!
I'd better get going. Who knows what those assholes have planned. Come to think of it, I haven't seen any of his buddies; where the hell are they? Why is he going along the fence; it only goes toward the locker rooms? A-ha! That's where they must be!
She mumbled something to Joy about having to go pee, grabbed her cell phone from where she'd stashed it under the cheer megaphone, and then quietly slipped away. Luckily, Heather could use the restroom in the girl's locker room, since she was on the squad and the public restrooms were on the other side of a fence, so it didn't look odd to anyone that she was headed in the same direction as Ryan.
In fact, Ryan didn't really care if she followed or not, so long as it was just her. He had watched her, as well as Amy and Katherine, eye him and the other members of his gang on the bench from time to time. He figured that Amy and Katherine wouldn't follow him, judging from the way others had been keeping an eye on them since they'd arrived at school. They knew they could be used as bait and shouldn't just wander off to investigate something. Janice and Joy were acting very protective and obviously had been clued in to the situation at least somewhat.
Heather, on the other hand, was a free agent and potentially dangerous. But Ryan knew her well enough to know that she loved the spotlight and thought her shit didn't stink. If she saw him wander off, she was the type to try to fix things herself. She would never even consider working with others or calling for help. Having already calculated that she was the one cheerleader likely to follow him, he had arranged for his girlfriend, Rebecca, to slow Heather down.
His occasional backward glances confirmed that she started following him after saying only a few words to Joy. The other cheerleaders were busy with their cheers and didn't notice anything out of the ordinary. Not yet, at least. He was wearing his full football uniform even though he was benched for the game, but he also had a cell phone hidden away. It started to ring and he pulled it out.
It was Ivan, another member of Ryan's gang and a wide receiver on the football team. His season had ended two weeks earlier when he injured his big toe. It wasn't a serious injury, and he could still walk and even run just fine. But he couldn't plant his foot properly to run routes, and his toe would take months to heal, so his season was over and he wasn't required to suit up or appear on the field. This freed him to help with Ryan's plot while the other remaining members of his gang had to remain on the bench or even take part in the game. Ivan was also serving as the lookout. He was the one positioned to see if and when Alan left the stands, and his first call to Ryan as Alan headed to the bathroom had set the plot in motion.
Now he was calling a second time. He told Ryan, "He's right where we want him. Christine's still with him. They're headed to the bathroom and they're all alone. There's absolutely nobody else around."
"Good. Lure them away. Just remember, don't hurt her too much. No visible bruises if you can help it."
"Right. Hurry here!"
"I'm on it."
Ryan was almost to the boy's locker room. As soon as he hung up, he speed-dialed Rebecca, who was waiting a short distance away in the girl's locker room. She was on a number of sports teams during the year and her presence there would not seem out of place.
As she flipped open her phone, Ryan said to her, "Becky? Heather's coming. She's following me."
Rebecca replied, "Just her?"
"Yeah."
"Don't worry; I'll stall her."
He asked, "You've got the door taken care of?"
"Don't worry; I've got it."
"The door is locked, right?"
"Yes, already," Rebecca huffed.
"Good. Stall her. Do whatever it takes to keep her there. She can be very determined. And she's like a hundred feet behind me. So get ready!"
The football field was surrounded by a chain-link fence in anticipation of events where there would be a charged admission, so people couldn't sneak in or out. It so happened that there were virtually no such events, since it was a challenge to get a good crowd even for free, but nonetheless the field only had a few access points. The boy's and girl's locker rooms were one of the few ways to get through.
Heather knew this, and thought, Why would they use the locker room? That doesn't make sense! But wait... Ryan's just going to pass through. No worries, though. I'll just sneak through the girls' locker room and then follow him so I can be in the middle of the action and get the big reward. They think they're smarter than me, Heather Morgan? HA! They're so pathetic!
Sure enough, Ryan walked briskly until he got through the door of the boy's locker room. Then he broke into a run through the building and out the other side. Once he was back outside, he started running even faster as he bee-lined to the ambush spot.
Heather walked briskly until she got through the door of the girl's locker room, but then she stopped. She saw Rebecca standing there, obviously waiting for her.
Rebecca stepped forward. "Heather! I'm so glad you're here. I've got some very important information. I think my boyfriend Ryan is up to something no good, and I think I know what it is. You've got to help!" Her plan was to stall Heather for as long as possible with a false confession about Ryan.
Heather, however, wasn't buying it. What's Rebecca doing here? She's Ryan's girlfriend; she has to be in on this, the bitch! I don't know what "this" is just yet, but I'm gonna find out! If she thinks she can stop me, she has another thing coming. NOBODY gets in my way!
She replied brusquely, "That's nice. Tell me about it later," and started to hurry past her.
But Rebecca stepped right into Heather's path. "No! You've gotta listen. This is serious!"
Heather took a moment to assess the situation. Rebecca knows she is no match for me; after all, who is? She must be stalling for time, trying to keep me from going through the locker room. Has she blocked the doors? Probably. Shit, she could have even locked 'em! By the time I get that all worked out, Ryan'll be long gone.
So Heather just said, "This is bullshit," and hurried back out of the building.
Rebecca followed her out, calling, "Wait! Wait!" But Heather wasn't listening. She watched as Heather ran from the entrance to the girl's locker room to the nearby entrance to the boy's locker room. (In fact, it was all part of the same building, but there were no interior connections between the two sections.) She was amazed as she watched Heather open the door to the boy's locker room and rush inside.
Rebecca had no idea what Ryan was really up to because he had told her as little as possible for security reasons. All she knew was that Ryan wanted her to stall Heather, giving her the outline of a bullshit story to tell Heather, and that he had her make some fake screams which he'd recorded. She didn't even know about the feud against Alan. The taboo of going into the boy's locker room, though, was too strong for her to just rush in there, especially since she didn't know if that was what Ryan would want her to do, and she couldn't get out the other side of the girl's locker room quickly because of the obstacles she'd put in place to block Heather.
Still standing at the top of the steps leading into the girl's locker room, she pulled out her cell phone and called Ryan for further instructions. But the phone rang and rang and Ryan didn't answer.
However, Rebecca hadn't been completely unsuccessful. Heather quickly made it through the boy's locker room without seeing a soul. She burst out the other side and looked around for Ryan. But he'd had just enough of a head start to foil her: she couldn't see or hear any sign of him.
She was pissed.
But she kept her cool, and thought, Okay, where would he go? She looked around. A short distance in front of her was the heart of the school, where all the classes and administrative offices were. She knew those would all be locked up. Alan. Alan. Ryan has to be after Alan. Alan wouldn't be that way. He wouldn't be over by the parking lots, either. Where would he be? What if he went to the bathroom or something like that? Oh shit!
The spectator stands lined the west side of the football field, and there was a public bathroom just to the west of that. She broke into a fast run in that direction, keeping her eyes peeled for any signs of Ryan as she went.
However, precious time had been lost.