Lizzie - Chapter 21 - The Eruption

"You really think this will work?"

"It's how they always do it in the movies right? Get them riled up and they're bound to make a mistake. And when they do, that's how we catch them."

"But…"

"You mentioned they haven't asked for anything recently right? If we just sit here twiddling our thumbs, who knows how long it'll take?"

"Fine, but what if we get caught?" 

"We won't. But if you are too scared or you don't trust me, then I can do it myself. That way only I'll get in trouble." Madison looked away, but not before Lizzie caught her biting her lips. "If it means I can earn your trust back."

"No. Let's do it."

Her friend turned back with a smile, and Lizzie couldn't help but smile back. 

Their plan would work. It had to.

It was late in the day, and the normally chaotic school grounds were nearly silent. Only a few cars were littered about the massive parking lot. 

The two approached the front door. But when Lizzie gave it a tug, it wouldn't budge. 

"Dang, they closed up already?" She frowned. "What are we going to do now?"

"Let's try another entrance."

They tried two other doors along the East wing, only to be met with the same result.

"It's no use, they probably locked everything up already. Maybe we can sneak in tomorrow morning instead?"

"Nah, we're too likely to get seen then and that would ruin the entire plan. C'mon let's go try one more door." 

Madison led her around to the rear of the school, toward a secluded pathway. Dumpsters lined the side of the already narrow alleyway that curved down behind the school.

A crow flew out from the side, racing by and causing Lizzie to grip her friend's hand. "Are you sure about this? Isn't that door always locked, even during the day?"

"Trust me."

They walked quickly down the spooky path until they reached the door. But as Madison pulled on the handle, it didn't budge.

"If it's locked, let's go," Lizzie said, looking over her shoulder as she tugged on Madison's sleeve

"Let me try something," her friend said, and began pushing up against the door while jiggling the handle.

"What are you—" but before she could finish, the door swung open. "How did you?" 

"You know why they always keep this door locked?" Madison whispered as the two slipped inside.

"Because it's the shadiest part of the school, and they don't want kids loitering about doing who-knows-what."

"Have you ever noticed that there's always a few kids here regardless?"

"I guess."

"And why would that be if the door is always locked? Unless—"

"Unless the door doesn't actually lock like it's supposed to? But how the heck do you know how to open it?"

"Let's just say I know some of them, and while I wouldn't exactly call them friends, they know things about the school others don't, and it's always nice to keep a few of those types of people close."

Lizzie flashed her friend a look.

"Okay, I see how you got the manipulative vibe from me now. But it's different with you, I promise I—"

"Don't worry, I understand." She smiled. "Let's hurry, before we run into a teacher or something."

The two snuck their way toward her locker. The squeaking of their shoes seemed to echo way too loudly down the long empty corridors. 

Only a few lights were on, casting long shadows throughout the building. Occasional sounds of the janitors and other staff faintly rang out through the building, and Lizzie kept looking over her shoulder, for once glad her locker was in the basement. 

Madison fished around in her backpack, before pulling out a small GoPro. 

"It's Marco's," she explained. 

On a different day, Lizzie might've teased her friend about it, but right now her focus was on getting out of this ghastly place as soon as possible.

With that in mind, the two moved quickly to the other side of the hall.

"Here." Madison weaved her hands together in front of her, letting Lizzie boost herself up. 

Once she was on top of the locker, her friend passed her the GoPro.

"Quick, I think I hear someone coming!"

"Pass me the tape!"

"Make sure you don't cover the lens!"

"I know! I know!" Lizzie whispered back, scrambling as her fingers got stuck on the tape.

A whistling echoed from down the hall, and began getting louder.

"Quick!"

"Done!" Lizzie said, slipping off the edge, landing with a soft thud. The two grabbed their bags and raced off the other way.

"Here!" Madison grabbed her arm and pulled her into a small cubby by a set of lockers. 

Her heart thumped in her ears as the whistling inched ever closer, and the two held their breath.

The footsteps approached, each thumping step growing louder. Then there was nothing.

Lizzie shut her eyes, squeezing her friend's hand. But just as she thought their cover was blown, the whistling resumed, slowly getting quieter as it continued down the hall. As soon as it was out of earshot, the two bolted back the other way, through the exit and back to safety.

"You think he noticed?" Lizzie asked in between breaths.

"Nah, I think we're good. Now let's hurry home before our parents get worried."

Lizzie's phone rang as they reached the bus stop. 

"Are you coming home soon?" Jennifer asked.

"Yes, we just finished. I'm waiting with her at the bus now. See you in a bit."

"How did you explain it to your parents again?" Madison asked as she hung up.

"I told my mom we had some late night chess club paperwork to handle."

"Isn't your mom normally strict about this type of stuff?" 

"Yes, but I think it's my reward for doing well at the tournament."

Madison gave her a look, but didn't say anything. "Anyways, now onto phase two of our plan."

***

"Hey, sorry for missing you girls yesterday, we were just busy with club stuff," Lizzie said as she and Madison sat down at their usual table. 

"All good, so how was the tournament?" Anna asked.

"It was great! There were a bunch of strong players and some of the games were really tough, but in the end, Madison and I both made it into the regionals!"

"Wow, congrats!"

"Stop selling yourself short. She beat a 2000 and drew the highest-rated player at the tournament!"

Lizzie blushed at the compliment, looking down at her food instead of replying.

"So when is it?"

"In just under a month! In fact we both are gonna start preparing after school today."

"Dang!"

"It's gonna be a busy few weeks, but I think Lizzie has a good shot! Anywho, enough about us, what were you girls up to over the weekend?"

"I went to see the new Kung Fu Panda with my family!"

"How was it?" Lizzie asked. "I heard some mixed reviews."

"It wasn't as good as the previous ones, but my younger brother still loved it. So much so he spent the rest of the weekend practicing his karate chop on me." Anna rolled her eyes. "Anyways, have you all watched any movies recently?"

"We had a little last minute sleepover party at Morgan's on Friday and watched Everything Everywhere All at Once," Selina said.

"What's that?" Lizzie asked.

"You've never heard of it?" Morgan asked, her mouth open wide, as if it was the most outrageous thing she'd heard all year. 

"It's a multiverse movie but with a twist," Madison explained. 

"Yeah, only one of the best movies ever!" 

"I definitely enjoyed it, but I honestly thought it was a bit… too wild at points." Madison shrugged.

"Yeah, some of the scenes definitely made me wonder what the creators were on," Selina said.

"What do you mean? You said it was…" Morgan's voice trailed off, a frown flashing on her face briefly.

"Anyways, speaking of parties, didn't you go to Vanessa's?" 

Eyes turned to her as she blinked.

"Oh yeah," Lizzie said, her mouth still half-full.

"Okay, but give us the deets girl."

"Unless all you did was sit alone all night," Morgan said.

"Woah, that's no way to talk to the new beer pong queen!" Raymond exclaimed, appearing from behind Lizzie.

"What?" 

"Yeah, new girl showed up and wiped the floor with everyone, myself included!"

"No way! Aren't you a god at beer pong?" Selina asked. "You beat Morgan and I easily last time and we're already pretty good."

"Sure, you two are aight. But she's a dang natural." Raymond put a hand on Lizzie's shoulder. "No shot it was your first time, with how you were sinking cups left and right. Anywho, came by to say there's another party this weekend at my place, you and Madison in?" 

"What about the rest of us?" 

"Sorry, gotta beat me at beer pong first." Raymond stuck out his tongue. "Anyways, I'll see you two there?" 

"Yeah, we'll be there," Madison said, fist bumping him before he walked off.

They continued chatting for a few minutes before Lizzie and Madison finished eating and excused themselves.

The two found Raymond in the hallway, who left the rest of his group and approached them.

"Hey, thanks again," Madison said.

"Nah, no problem at all. Not hard selling a story that's actually true. But what's up with it anyway?" He eyed Lizzie as he asked. 

"It's for a secret operation. But we'll tell you after it's all over if you really want to know," Madison replied.

"Nah, we good." Raymond backed off. "I don't deal with all that girl-drama anyways. I gotta bounce, but see ya all this weekend?"

"Yup, yup."

"Wait the party was real?" Lizzie asked after the boy was out of earshot. "Didn't we just have one?"

"Yeah, it is. There's basically one every week." Madison shrugged, and the girls continued down the hallway.

"Isn't that tiring?" 

"Now you can see why I don't go to all of them!"

"So… Do you think they bought it?"

"Yeah, a hundred percent. We sold it perfectly."

"Now what do we do?"

"Well, we just wait and hope they take the bait."

***

And wait they did. 

Lizzie could hardly pay attention in class, checking her phone so often that it almost got confiscated during History.

In between periods, she rushed to her locker, yet each time it turned up empty. 

She even checked it once more after chess club only to once again be disappointed.

That night, she tossed and turned on her bed. Perhaps it wasn't someone from choir, but if not, then who? Of the people she'd narrowed it down to, they were the ones she interacted with the most. Had she miscalculated something?

The obvious question also hung in the air. If Madison hadn't revealed her secret, then who did? She'd never told anyone else, so how could it have gotten out?

Lizzie tugged at her hair. This was driving her insane.

***

"Lizzie!" The pounding on her door shook her awake. The door swung open. "You aren't up yet? I called you twice already!"

"Hm? What time is it?"

"8:15."

Lizzie shot up out of bed. "I have a Science test today!"

"Better hurry then. Get dressed, I'll pack your breakfast and you can eat it on the car."

Lizzie scrambled through her morning routine, throwing on whatever clothes she could find.

"Here's your lunch." Jennifer said as she hopped onto the car. "Did you bring an umbrella?"

"Yes, yes, let's go quickly please."

She arrived just as the first bell went off, and she sped-walked to her class, checking the time on her phone as she did so. Only as she entered the room did she let out a sigh of relief, Ms. Jones was still at her desk and the students were still chatting about. With a smile, she went to her chair.

As she sat, her bottom squished against the seat. 

Her smile vanished. 

She had forgotten to change.

Her eyes darted around, but Ms. Jones chose that moment to begin handing out the tests.

Her phone chimed, and as Lizzie scrambled to silence it, the message caught her eye.

"pee into ur goodnites"

"What?" Lizzie whispered.

"pee into ur goodnites… u have 10 seconds"

Lizzie had hardly processed the request when another message popped up.

"if you dont ill just share your secret during the morning announcements… 10… 9… 8…" 

"u cant be serious?!"

"7… 6… 5…"

With the threat of her secret escaping into the world, she had no other choice. Lizzie shut her eyes, and squeezed.

Nothing.

You're always leaking when I don't want you to and now the one time I need you to!

"4… 3… 2…"

She groaned, begging her body for release. She pushed, her body shaking as she willed it out of her.

A tiny leak escaped her. Vanishing as quickly as it had appeared into her goodnite.

It was all she needed. She scrambled, firing off a message that she'd done the deed. 

It was just in time too, as Ms. Jones handed her the quiz sheet.

However, a few minutes later, a force began to pound at the walls of her bladder.

No, no, no… not now!

A jolt seared through her in a reply, her body's angry cry against the torment of being forced to leak only to be shut back down. 

"No! Please!" Lizzie winced, clutching onto her stomach with one hand as she tried to write with her other. 

But between the test and her screaming bladder, soon it was all too much. And before she knew it, her floodgates burst open. 

It cascaded out of her. Lizzie shut her eyes, as the padding between her legs began to grow warm.

She squeezed her legs, stopping the flow as quickly as she could, but the damage had already been done.

She bit her lips, only barely managing to hold her tears back. No, it was pointless to cry now. She just needed to rush through her test and change, and maybe, just maybe no one would notice.

But as she turned the page, the words on the paper began to morph. She squirmed, feeling the mass between her legs beginning to bulge as she tapped her pencil against her head. Science was usually one of her best subjects, but today, none of the problems seemed to make any sense.

Worse yet, she felt the padding somehow continuing to grow. She shook her head, forcing the distractions out of her mind.

It felt like an eternity before she finally finished. She'd even left a question blank, and it was undoubtedly going to be her worst mark of the term, but she didn't have time to worry about that now. 

She needed to change.

But, as she got up to hand in her exam, her heart sank. She could feel herself waddling as she walked. The padding between her legs was heavy and massive, spreading her stance. Lizzie squeezed her legs together as much as she could, trying to imagine how she normally walked. 

To make matters worse, as she handed her the test, Ms. Jones asked her to stay behind. And so, while her other classmates left after finishing, she was left squirming in her soaked goodnite. She felt the padding continue to grow, until it felt like she was sitting on a cloud.

A boy she didn't know pointed at her, whispering to his friends before they all laughed. She turned away, feeling her cheeks burn.

"Nice diaper." Lizzie turned around to see Selina and Anna, who were staring at her with suppressed giggles.

"How do you…" Lizzie's voice trailed off as she looked down, gone were her jeans and in its place sat a humungous white diaper, clearly soaked through. She looked up, only to see everyone staring at her, pointing… laughing…

Lizzie jolted up from bed, her heart pounding in her chest.

Her clock read 5:30.

Lizzie took in a deep breath, thanking the gods that it was all a dream.

Her relief was short-lived, as she became aware of the familiar dampness around her lower half.

With a sigh, she got up and changed into a fresh goodnite before flopping back onto her bed.

***

"Madison!" Lizzie called out to her friend as she sprinted down the hallway. "It happened!" she whispered, showing the pink slip to her friend.

"What, when?"

"Just now. I was about to go to the restroom but checked my locker and found it. It wasn't there before lunch!"

"Let me check the camera then." Madison pulled out her phone, and the two began scrubbing through the footage.

"There!" Lizzie said as a figure, dressed in black, paused by her locker before continuing down the hallway.

"Let me rewind and zoom in." 

Lizzie could feel her heartbeat begin to quicken as she held her breath.

They replayed the footage, slowing it down, they saw a girl in an oversized hoodie, walking down the hallway sneakily, before slipping something pink through the vents into Lizzie's locker. However with her head down, the hood obscured her face from the camera.

The girl began to leave, and just as Lizzie was about to lose hope, the girl glanced over her shoulder, and Madison paused, rewinding a few frames. The perpetrator's face was clear as day.

"Let's go to Principal…" Madison started, but Lizzie leaped up, racing down the hallway.

"Lizzie, wait!" Her friend's voice called out from behind her, but she didn't stop. This had dragged on for far too long. She was going to end this. Today.

***

"Selina!" 

The girl turned around as Lizzie stomped toward her, the vehemence bleeding out beneath her every step. 

"What's up, Lizzie?"

"Don't you what's up me." She bit every word, all of her willpower only barely able to contain the fire that flared within her. "You know why I'm here."

"What do you mean?"

"Oh come on, stop the act!"

"Please calm down, I really don't know what you're talking about!"

"This!" Lizzie waved the pink note in her face. "Look familiar?"

"Woah woah. Yeah it does, but I have no clue what's on it! Morgan just asked me to drop it off at your locker earlier today! Said it was some game you guys were doing."

"What?"

"I promise! You can ask her! She gave it to me in the drama room just a few minutes ago!"

The blood coursing through her veins seared as she stormed toward the drama room. Morgan! Of course! How hadn't she thought of it earlier? For whatever reason, the girl had always had it out for her. 

It still didn't explain how she knew her secret. She clenched her fists, she would find out soon enough.

Bursting into the room, she found Morgan painting a prop in the corner.

The girl noticed her, and her brows furrowed for a moment before returning to normal. "Um, what are you doing here?" 

Lizzie ignored the question, instead storming right up to her foe. "I know it was you."

"Know what was me?" The girl returned back to her painting. 

"This!" Lizzie stepped closer, holding up the now-crumpled note.

Morgan briefly glanced at it before rolling her eyes. "Cool, a piece of paper, is that supposed to mean something to me?" 

"Oh, just drop it! You might be in drama but your acting is god-awful." Lizzie pushed the note into her face. "Selina told me everything. You made her drop this into my locker. I know it's you that's been blackmailing me this entire time!"

Morgan swatted her hand out of the way, and stood up. The taller girl towered over her, but rather than back off, Lizzie stepped forward, looking up and locking eyes.

"Yo, back off." Morgan said, taking a step back.

"Not until you apologize," Lizzie said, taking a step forward and holding up the note once again.

"Apologize for what? Like I said, I don't know what you're talking about!" This time she pushed her, causing her to stumble backwards.

"You—" Lizzie stopped herself, taking a deep breath as she unclenched her fist.

She was fighting versus a brick wall. Ramming into her head first wasn't going to help her win. Sighing, she turned around, maybe Madison was right, maybe they should just go to the principal's office.

"Yeah, walk away!" 

Lizzie ignored the comment, biting her tongue as she headed toward the door.

"Old MacDonald had a farm, E-I-E-I-O…" 

The voice caused her to freeze in place.

"And on his farm he had some cows, E-I-E-I-O…"

She turned around to see Morgan watching her phone, smirking.

"You know, you looked quite cute in this little getup. It suits you well."

"Delete that right now!" 

"And lose this wonderful performance? Never. Actually, just to be safe, maybe I should post it on YouTube instead!"

"I said delete it!"

"Or what?"

"If you won't then I will!" Lizzie sprinted toward Morgan, arms outstretched for the phone. The taller girl stumbled backwards, but reacted at the last second, pulling the phone away and out of reach. 

"Hey, back off!" Morgan exclaimed, but Lizzie squished against her, arms flailing.

"I said back off!"

Lizzie felt a hand against her chest, hardly registering the shove before it came.

The push was much stronger than last time, and she stumbled backwards, landing on her butt with a yelp as the shock rattled through her.

A sickening feeling spread through her as she felt a warmth grow from beneath her.

No! No! Not again! Her eyes widened, clamping her legs together as her cheeks lit up.

"Oops, sorry! I didn't realize just how small and weak you are." Morgan looked down at her, a smirk on her face. "Aww, don't cry. It makes you look just like a baby. Maybe you should wear a diaper and pacifier in the next video."

Lizzie said nothing, instead she barely sat up, wrapping her arms around herself and curling into a tight ball. If only the ground could open up and swallow her whole.

"Alright, I'm sorry! Gosh… It was just a joke, you don't have to be so sensitive."

Morgan hadn't seemed to notice, but it didn't stop the tears from breaking out onto Lizzie's face.

"Oh my god, can you not? Stop being such a crybaby!" Morgan spat. "Acting so frail and pathetic when you literally have everything, you disgust me!"

Lizzie blinked, wiping the tears from her eyes.

"You really don't get it do you?" The girl rolled her eyes. "I'll admit I never liked you to begin with, always puppying up to Ms. Taylor and the others, but it was fine when you kept your distance.

"And then you had to come along and make it personal. Do you know how long I'd been trying to get close to her? How long I'd been trying to join that circle? To get invited to those parties? I was so close, so close until you came out of nowhere and ruined everything!

"What does she like about you anyway? I was the one that got her to join choir and help her practice. I was the one that organized her gatherings. I was the one that was by her side all this time!

"Yet she and everyone else always end up flocking to you! Just what do they all see in you anyway? Is it because you're a cute helpless baby that they want to protect? Or is it because they think you're so smart and cool just because you play chess and ace your exams? 

"Everyone claims you're so smart, and yet you're still dumb enough to fall for my fake notes and dance like my puppet!"

Lizzie's head shot up. "What?"

Morgan laughed. "Oh my god, you still never realized? You really are dumber than I thought! Yeah, that's right, I made up all of it! When you started gloating about Vanessa's party, I knew I had to take you down a peg. So I planned it all from the start! I never expected it to work so well. Heck, I didn't even know you had a secret. But everyone has secrets. That said, being the goody-two-shoes you are, I'll bet it's something lame, like a bad test you hid from your parents or something."

Lizzie climbed to her feet, saying nothing as the emotions swirled within her. Everything from the past week came flooding back, all of the torment, fear, and anger boiled throughout her body in a searing sensation. 

Morgan, seemingly unaware, turned around and returned to her prop.

"To think you got so worked up over it. It's actually quite hilarious. I was hoping you and Madison would fall out over it, but oh well. You should've seen yourself in pink and overalls though. Actually, maybe you can after I—"

"Ahh!" Lizzie screamed as she charged forward. Before the other girl could react, she threw herself at her. 

The two crashed onto the ground. Morgan cried out, arms flailing as she tried to push her away. But Lizzie grabbed a fistful of her hair, causing the bigger girl to yelp.

"Get off of me!"

Something smeared across her face. Blood or paint, Lizzie didn't care. Instead, she threw her hands, lashing out at the girl who had caused her a week of agony — at the girl who had almost cost her her best friend.

She pulled back her fist, collecting all of her pain and suffering together — preparing to let her feel just an ounce of what she'd been forced to deal with. 

"Hey!" A voice pierced the air. "Lizzie! Morgan! Stop this right now!"

Through blurred eyes, she could make out Madison running toward them with Mr. Henning in tow. 

The red slowly cleared from her vision and Lizzie looked back down. From between the hair strewn across her face, Morgan's normally prideful eyes stared back at her, wide with fear.

And in that moment, all of the screaming voices in her head went silent.

Lizzie unclenched her fist, her hands falling to her sides as arms wrapped around her, tearing her away.

---

Hey all, sorry for the small delay since the last chapter. I had a busy couple of weeks and it took a while to edit. I'm already working on the upcoming chapters, but (in my opinion) they are the most difficult two chapters in the entire story to get right. I'm mostly done, but there's still a few things I'm not entirely happy with. That being said, I'm anxiously excited to share them and see what you all think, so rest assured they'll be released soon.

Anyways, this chapter finally brings the blackmailer to light. What did you think of the buildup, reveal, and events that followed?

As always, I hope you enjoyed the read, and hope to hear your thoughts in the comments!