Chapter 27 - Search Party

*click*, *click*, *click*

“Daphne…?”

*click*, *click*, *click*

“Daphne, will you stop that?!”

Daphne snapped back to reality, her fingers ceasing their rhythmic beat against the car window.

“Ah there she is!”, exclaimed her mother, “You’ve returned from wonderland, mija.”

A couple weeks earlier, Daphne fantasized endlessly about getting back to Varney, but now, as she watched the car drift past a sign reading, “Crestfield Welcomes You!”, all she felt was appreciation mixed with a dose of dread.

Pushing her feelings down, she erected a smile for the benefit of her audience, saying, “Si, mami, I’m here, just a few more minutes, though, and I’ll be out of your hair”.

Myra scowled, not liking that sort of talk, “oh sure, out of my hair…”

Daphne’s phone buzzed, putting her face-to-face with the problem itself. It was a notification from ExclusiveFans that read “SprinterStuffer has posted new photos”.

Though Daphne had kept up with Sadie’s onslaught of content - after all, she was a subscriber - she didn’t know what to say to the girl in real life. Daphne’s ignored the many texts she’d received over the break, or least all the ones since discovering Sadie’s alter-ego.

Daphne had investigated the girl, enabled the girl, befriended the girl, but simply had no idea what to do with the new information. Typically so sure of herself, Daphne was at a loss…

“Daphne!”, called a sharp voice, her mother’s, followed by a gentler, “We’re here”.

Daphne had drifted back into her ongoing daze without even realizing and looked out and saw her mom was correct - she was back at Varney.

As her parents parked and began unloading the car of Daphne’s belongings, she took the opportunity to dive back in. “Why on earth does it matter?”, she wondered, “So she’s a feedee… who… uh… gains weight on purpose…, who cares?”

It was a mighty struggle, but Daphne had to be honest with herself. She didn’t have any problem with Sadie’s habits when she, seemingly alone, was enabling them. But now that she turned out to be doing it for people on the internet, suddenly it was life shattering?

Deep down, as Daphne helped carry her things back to her dorm, she knew she wasn’t being fair. And when it came time for her parents to depart, her mother gave her a big hug and whispered, “I left you a little something in your fridge, hija, now that you’re “out of my hair”.

The moment the door closed, leaving Daphne in solitude, at least until her roommate arrived, she checked the fridge. It was a big bag of her mom’s special holiday cookies, the ones she thought she had finished off over the holidays… And as she gazed at this motherly gift, a familiar warm feeling spread through her body. She knew someone who’d probably love to eat one… or two… or the whole bag.

Daphne took out her phone, went to her chat with Sadie, and finally wrote, “Hey girl! Sorry for being a stranger the past couple weeks - it’s been crazy busy… but now I’m back on campus. We need to catch up. You free for dinner tomorrow night?”

———

“So did you hear about the balloon?”

“Oh my god, yeah. I heard they had a whole disciplinary thing for her. Can you imagine?”

“Really? I just heard she was cut! Man, that would be the worst, but she, like, must’ve totally deserved it”

Daphne had been in the track locker room, minding her own business, changing into her uniform, when she’d overheard the conversation between two of her teammates.

“Sorry, what? The balloon?”, she asked, clearly interrupting.

“Oh, uh…”, responded the first girl, Riley, not having planned on being overheard, “Well, we don’t call her that all the time, but you know that girl that, like, never came to practice and absolutely bombed at the meet last month? I think her last name was Horton or Highway or something. Anyway, It sounds like she was cut from the team before break”

“Oh, for sure, I know who you mean”, Daphne responded as she feigned an almost comedic expression, “Sucks about her being cut. But why The Balloon?”

At this, Riley went pink, her friend opting to return to rummage for something in her locker, “Well… it’s just that…”, she began slowly, obviously embarrassed, “it’s not like she got smaller or fitter as the semester went on, you know?”

Again, Daphne pretended to find amusement in it all, and laughed, “Cmon, Riley, I know exactly what you mean. All good and it’s true, she and I were friendly, but she definitely got buddy buddy with the Freshman 15.”

At that, Riley looked relieved, seeing that her cattiness was to go unpunished. She looked like she had more to say on the subject, but Coach Ryan took that moment to yell into the locker room, “Let’s go, Ladies!!”

Later, as Daphne did her warm up exercises, she processed the new information she’d learned. It had been a week since she’d returned to campus, and Sadie was nowhere to be found.

She wasn’t responding to messages and she wasn’t showing up in the cafeteria, where Daphne had sat for hours one day waiting for her to turn up. Now, she learned she was off the track team. Out of everything, this was the least surprising news given, well, everything, but why hadn’t Sadie said anything?

Daphne mulled the mystery over in her head as practice continued to progress. When it eventually ended, she had decided to stake out Myers Hall and see if she could get to Sadie’s dorm. But before she could leave the locker room, Riley approached her once again.

“Oh hey!”, she called out, “Before you go, my sorority is having a party tonight. It’ll be at our house on Clover, just off campus, you can’t miss it. Think you can make it, say around 10?”

Daphne mulled over the invitation. Evidently, she realized, Riley was under the impression that their earlier conversation had suggested a level of friendship that perhaps didn’t exist. But either way, a party sounded fun, and Sadie could wait…

———

As it turned out, “on clover, just off campus” was almost too descriptive a description. After all, there was only one sorority house in the neighborhood with music loud enough to wake the dead on a Tuesday night.

It was 10:15 when Daphne rounded the corner and made her way towards the house. “Gee, could that be the place?”, asked Karim, who had insisted he come with. At the time, Daphne had laughed and said, in agreement, “Sure, but only because you’re soooo chivalrous”. Now, as they walked up to the house, encountering two freshmen vomiting into the bushes, she rolled her eyes and replied, “Yup, this looks like it”.

If the outside had been any indication, the inside was an absolute madhouse. Lights of all colors flashing with epileptic abandon, music thumping to the tempo of early onset tinnitus - Daphne found it to be magical. Not that this was her idea of the best time, of course, but the free expression, the wild unpredictability of it all, it was unlike her pre-Varney life in the best of ways. All she could say was a soft, unheard, “Wow” - a sentiment offered in kind by Karim.

Despite the bedlam, it took only a few minutes to locate Riley who, drink in hand, stumbled up to Daphne and slur, “Oh my god, you made it!”. She was absolutely sloshed and wasn’t likely to outlast anyone that evening. Karim cracked up laughing, “you must be Daphne’s friend. Great party you got here. You ok?”.

“I’m gr- greatttttt”, replied Riley with unmasked joy. She was clearly in her element. “But, but where’s your drinks? We gotta do shots!”. Before Daphne, or even Karim, could answer, cups of punch were thrust into their hands by Riley’s sorority sisters, followed by the promised shots. “One… two… go!”, Riley shouted as she downed her shot before anyone else had a chance.

“Uhh… is she always like this?”, Karim asked before downing his own shot. “Not sure, I don’t actually know her that well”, replied Daphne. The pair smiled at each other and laughed loudly and began to consume their punch. It was sickly sweet, yet full to the brim with every cheap liquor the local store likely carried. But it did the job.

Soon enough, Riley had disappeared, probably to pass out somewhere, while Daphne and Karim continued to take in the party. They drank, they played beer pong, and encountered all kinds of fun, drunk characters. And soon enough, they were one of them, swaying and laughing like all the rest.

It was nearly 1am when Karim checked his watch and asked, “Shouldn’t we, like, head back or something. I’ve got shit to do in the morning.” Daphne, feeling free-er than she had in quite some time, sobered up slightly and replied, “uggggh… I guess you’re right… but lemme use the bathroom first”.

Locating the usable bathroom on the first floor, the line continued all the way down the stairs. Daphne turned to Karim and said, “You can go home without me if you like, this looks like it’ll take a while”.

“Nah that’s alright, I really should walk you back”, replied Karim, “But that said, I will wait outside though. The music’s starting to get to me.”

As Karim left, the line to the bathroom finally began to move forward. And 10 minutes later, she was nearing the front. Tired of looking at her phone, Daphne began to take in her surroundings, watching the drunk Varney-ites amble around. Eventually, when she was next in line, her eyes settled on a woman leaning against a wall down the hall from the bathroom. She was alone, except for a drink in her hand. Contrary to everyone else, she appeared not to be outwardly drunk, but rather solemn and staring out into the crowd between sips.

Finally, it was Daphne’s turn to use the bathroom. She was mid-pee when something clicked. She finished as quick as she could, and bolted from the bathroom, finding the woman exactly where she’d been a few moments earlier. She looked a little bigger than Daphne remembered, with an expression on her face that she’d definitely never seen there before. “Oh my god, Sadie, what are you doing here?!”