Chapter Ten
" I'M IN THE MOOD FOR CHAOS! "

"I heard that Sydney was actually dropping out of the film festival. Do you think that's true?" Veronica sounded concerned but the smirk on her said otherwise. Betty shook her head. "It'd be kind of a bummer for her to drop out this close to the deadline. She worked so hard on her movie."

"How would you know?" Veronica asked, pulling the strawberry off her fork in a harsh manner. Betty shrugged. "I would sometimes see her in the library editing and it looks really good."

"From afar."

"I don't wanna ask but I'm going to: are you still mad about what happened at Pop's? Because come on, Ron. That was three weeks ago. I thought you'd be over that by now." Archie rolled his eyes. "I am over it," Veronica said defensively, "I'm just not sure how her mingling with the Southside is gonna affect Daddy's campaign run."

"Do you really think that Sydney would do something like this? A film club member going out of her own way to sabotage Mr. Lodge. You're unbelievable." Archie leaned back in defeat and rolled his eyes again.

"Why are you always defending her?"

"Because she doesn't deserve it, Veronica. She just doesn't deserve it."

Veronica didn't respond, she just sat there, internally fuming.

_____

Taking a deep breath, Sydney knocked on the door of Thistlehouse. Cheryl wasn't in school today and to be honest, Sydney was a little worried. She hoped it didn't have anything to do with what she said because she meant it. She meant it all ten times over.

The door opened, revealing Penelope Blossom wearing a look of subtle disdain. "Hello."

"Um, hello. I was wondering if Cheryl was there. She wasn't in school today. I'm a friend of hers and I just wanted to know if she was okay."

"I'm sorry," Penelope said, mocking sympathy. "You just missed her. She's on a train to a boarding school in Switzerland. All girls. Now do me a favor and never contact this house again." And with that, Penelope slammed the door in Sydney's face. Sydney turned on her heel and trudged back to the car.

_____

Sisters of Quiet Mercy was an eerie place. Old and run-down, it was the perfect place for conversion therapy.

The door to Cheryl's room opened and a woman in a white costume walked through. Cheryl sat up ramrod straight, obviously frightened. Her face was puffy from crying and her hair was split into two, childish, pigtails. She cowered into the bed as the woman came closer.

"There's no need to be scared," the woman said soothingly, "Sister Mary is going to make you feel all better."

"Thank you, Sister," Cheryl said, lightening up a little and then shrunk right back down when she saw the woman pull out a fairly large needle. "Oh, don't thank me just yet. Tomorrow is when the real work begins." Off came the cap of the needle and Cheryl felt everyone honing in on her.

_____

"Kevin! Kevin, I need your help," Sydney said, picking up speed when she saw who she was looking for.

"Hey, Sydney." Kevin turned around. "How can I help you?"

"Cheryl wasn't in school yesterday and I'm worried. I asked her mom and she said she was off to some boarding school in Switzerland. But it's not like Cheryl to just up and leave just like that. So I know she's not in Switzerland but I don't know what to do," said Sydney. "I'm really sorry, Syd. But what does this have to do with me?" Kevin asked.

"Well, you're gay. If your dad didn't accept you as you are and wanted you brainwashed, where would you go?"

By the sound of what she just said Kevin's face paled a little. "The Sisters of Quiet Mercy."

"Okay. What is that?"

_____

"Oh my god. That's horrible." The two of them were sat in the library and scrolling through Sydney's laptop.

Kevin nodded. "This is definitely the place that Mrs. Blossom would send Cheryl for conversion therapy."

"That's insane. Mrs. Blossom is insane. What can I do to get her out?" Sydney turned to Kevin. He looked at her solemnly. "I don't think there's anything you can do, Syd."

_____

As Sydney sat her desktop later that day, she couldn't help but think about how miserable Cheryl must be in a place as horrible as Sisters of Quiet Mercy.

She continued to edit, checking her phone every once in awhile for responses from Christie or Roan — after having sent another apology text — but neither of them answered. After about another hour of editing, Sydney thought it was time to call it quits. She got into the shower and thought about how she was going to about her movie. It was close to being done and was almost ready for submission. She just needed to add a few finishing touches.

Her phone began to ring and she looked at the number. Not knowing who it was, she hung up and went to bed.

_____

Maybe Sydney didn't get enough sleep. Or maybe she did, but she's half-asleep because not only did she see Cheryl in the studnet lounge, she saw Cheryl flirting with Toni Topaz in the student lounge. Her heart dropped and her stomach got queasy.

Cheryl caught her eye and then she suddenly got up to go talk to Kevin. "Hi, Kevin!" She slammed the hard plastic of the vending machine. "Any other Carrie auditions? Cancel them. Because you're looking at her."

Sydney tuned the rest out because she didn't understand the total one-eighty Cheryl just had. Or maybe she did. After her short-lived conversion therapy and presumed breakdown, her "HBIC" — as Sydney had learned the first day of filming — fever was back in full force. Cheryl put her mask back on because she was a hard candy and everyone just saw her soft center. And as much as Sydney wanted to keep that metaphor, her liking towards Cheryl had gone a little sour.

She tuned back into the conversation as she unfortunately heard, "And this school's gonna burn."